Official 2008 Draft Night Thread...the future is now.

[BMiller52]

Ballings are you saying you like it or hate it??? I can't tell.

"Pretty solid" - relative to liking it

Oh ok. I see now that you were responding to the last post on the page before.

[chriswebb86]

So apparently it isn't ballsy to draft a player that you think will be good but you KNOW you'll get slammed for by everyone in the basketball world because THEY thought he'd go lower?

That's not true. They have already stated that they thought GSW would take him at #14.

Which just means that the Ws would have been bashed last night for taking him at 14 instead of the Kings getting bashed for taking him at 12. The fact is that a lot of people were bashing this pick last night (not just Kings fans, other team fans and some media pundits) because there were a lot of mocks that had him in the mid to late 20s. The more I think about it and the more I learn about Thompson, the more I like this pick. Franky if he would have got to some major college he would have easily been a lotto pick...maybe even a top 10. Unfortunately he gets disrespected by the press (and those who only rely on BSPN for their info) just because he went to a small school.

Edit: You know, thinking back to last year, I seem to remember a lot of people around here bashing the decision to take Hawes at 10. IIRC, many of those bashing that move the most were some of the ones now bashing this pick. How did Hawes work out?

I actually read somewhere today, that he accepted his offer to Rider when he was a Junior and then the big schools came a calling his senior year and they turned them down.

[chriswebb86]

Am i the only one but i think we had a terrible draft thursday !

I am ver dissapointed so far

I hope petrie does his magic with deals

we don't need to add salary at all if we want to make a play for big name free agents in a year or 2 then we cant spend the money on guys unless we get rid of the deadwood bloated contracts by
reef,k9,& miller

The more I read about the players we took, the happier I am about this draft. I would have to say most NBA funs do not know a lot about smaller school players or ones that are not talked about much. However, each of these guys is going to help this team a lot. They bring some much need help on the defensive side. They all bring lenght and a lot more!

[chriswebb86]

I don't think that Petrie has any magic really. He's a good drafter but doesn't have much talent for trading.

I disagree big time on this. Some of the best players this team have had, has been because Geoff has made a trade to get them. You may be able to argue that he got them at a low value point, but I feel that Geoff trys to get the most when he makes a deal and thats why he may be waiting.

[SacTown Kings]

The more I think about it the more I am comfortable with picking Thompson. At the time I thought we could of done way better, but I didn't know about Arthur's medical condition. Thompson sounds like a solid pick although Randolph's potential is higher IMO, but more of a risk. I still sort of wished we would have picks Speights instead, but I know Petrie worked out Thompson twice plus saw him at the Warriors workout so I trust he knows better than me.

[Ballings7]

Arthur didn't have a medical condition, ultimately..

The easy explanation is the kidney. Nothing showed up on the NBA's physical. Arthur played with this undisclosed condition at Kansas.

But when teams heard about it and requested lab work, Arthur declined. Red flags were raised. The former South Oak Cliff star relented and allowed Washington's medical staff to do a complete workup. He was cleared.

It came too late. As one general manager told me late Wednesday evening, Arthur was, "dropping like a stone."

But there is more to this. French forward Nicolas Batum failed a stress test in one of his workouts and was forced to undergo a battery of cardiological tests. He went two spots ahead of Arthur.

Arthur's gonna be a good player, and at least he'll get to play a lot in Memphis.

[KF10]

Arthur didn't have a medical condition, ultimately..

The easy explanation is the kidney. Nothing showed up on the NBA's physical. Arthur played with this undisclosed condition at Kansas.

But when teams heard about it and requested lab work, Arthur declined. Red flags were raised. The former South Oak Cliff star relented and allowed Washington's medical staff to do a complete workup. He was cleared.

It came too late. As one general manager told me late Wednesday evening, Arthur was, "dropping like a stone."

But there is more to this. French forward Nicolas Batum failed a stress test in one of his workouts and was forced to undergo a battery of cardiological tests. He went two spots ahead of Arthur.

Arthur's gonna be a good player, and at least he'll get to play a lot in Memphis.

Yeah, that's bad to hear. Arthur got screwed, unfortunately. He was projected in the lotto. Especially, a target for the Kings.

[Rugged Ron Ron]

Im surprised Arthur fell so far down just like everyone. Since it look like he never got a promised, Im kinda suspicious as to why he canceled all those workouts. Maybe there is something about his health he's trying to hide.

I also hoped we would've traded both 2nd rounders to move up and take someone like Mario Chalmers.

[SacKingZZZ]

My hopes for invites to out summer league team are as follows:

Marcus Dove and Davon Jefferson.

That would make me happy.

They are showing the newest NBA Draft: The Journey Begins on NBATV periodically and it features Jason prominently. Very interesting story and I am sure if you watch it you'll feel much better about the pick. I just really hope he gets a TON of minutes this year. If would be nice to finally have a rookie with a shot to get ROY.

[KF10]

My hopes for invites to out summer league team are as follows:

Marcus Dove and Davon Jefferson.

That would make me happy.

They are showing the newest NBA Draft: The Journey Begins on NBATV periodically and it features Jason prominently. Very interesting story and I am sure if you watch it you'll feel much better about the pick. I just really hope he gets a TON of minutes this year. If would be nice to finally have a rookie with a shot to get ROY.

He does. Sort of.

17. Jason Thompson, PF, Kings
The most surprising pick of the draft, Thompson is multitalented and going to a team desperate for help inside. He can shoot, too, which is a must for Kings GM Geoff Petrie.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/s ... ies-080627

At least, he has some consideration.

[SacKingZZZ]

Well if he's stuck behind Reef, Mikki, and Brad he has a 0% chance of even being in the discussion. Sometimes it all comes down to who gets the time. If Spencer was a starter for us last year and got major minutes I am pretty sure he would have been in the running last year with what he showed when he got time.

I just had a thought. I'm thinking more and more that the Kings were going to pick Thompson over just any PG that dropped. If we really wanted Bayless why wouldn't we just pick Rush for Indy and do the deal instead of Portland?

[pillwenney]

Well if he's stuck behind Reef, Mikki, and Brad he has a 0% chance of even being in the discussion. Sometimes it all comes down to who gets the time. If Spencer was a starter for us last year and got major minutes I am pretty sure he would have been in the running last year with what he showed when he got time.

I just had a thought. I'm thinking more and more that the Kings were going to pick Thompson over just any PG that dropped. If we really wanted Bayless why wouldn't we just pick Rush for Indy and do the deal instead of Portland?

Spencer shot 46% from the floor last year, and had pretty horrible rebounding numbers even per minute. He wouldn't have been close.

As for the second part, part of it was probably because Geoff didn't want to give up extra young talent--in fact I know that was part of it. What young talent exactly--I don't know, but I'm guessing that the Pacers didn't want wings, but a backup PG. And also Portland can afford to package a lot of their youth together for risky trades because they have a lot more depth in their youth than we do--because they can buy picks, because their owner could probably buy the league if he wanted to.

[KF10]

I won''t say Hawes is as a horrible rebounder. When he started at the Center position. He averaged 7.6 rebounds per game. Eh, it is pretty decent number if you include various factors. Ex: Hawes' age, he gets pushed by stronger centers/forwards, and etc. But he shown that he could box out pretty well even though he gets pushed alot.

[VeeJay24]

Well if he's stuck behind Reef, Mikki, and Brad he has a 0% chance of even being in the discussion. Sometimes it all comes down to who gets the time. If Spencer was a starter for us last year and got major minutes I am pretty sure he would have been in the running last year with what he showed when he got time.

I just had a thought. I'm thinking more and more that the Kings were going to pick Thompson over just any PG that dropped. If we really wanted Bayless why wouldn't we just pick Rush for Indy and do the deal instead of Portland?

Spencer shot 46% from the floor last year, and had pretty horrible rebounding numbers even per minute. He wouldn't have been close.

As for the second part, part of it was probably because Geoff didn't want to give up extra young talent--in fact I know that was part of it. What young talent exactly--I don't know, but I'm guessing that the Pacers didn't want wings, but a backup PG. And also Portland can afford to package a lot of their youth together for risky trades because they have a lot more depth in their youth than we do--because they can buy picks, because their owner could probably buy the league if he wanted to.

Mitch, you keep giving credit to Paul Allen's money but I think you aren't giving Portland's front office a lot of credit. True they have been lucky landing high lottery picks but go back and check on the past 4 or 5 drafts they have made some excellent deals and have compiled some nice young talent that really has meshed. The last piece I guess was Bayless and they jumped on it.

I think Petrie is methodical, he knows what he likes the most in a player and really doesn't stray from it. If he does other stuff well then it is a bonus. Also, Petrie is a cautious trader, he wants to get the best out of the deal. If there is a questiong then he doesn't deal. The difference the last few years is he really hasn't been trading for talent, he has been trading for salary cap and Lux tax relief.

My only complaint is the drafting of Douby. When there were guys who were ready to play PG with no maturing, training or converting to be done. Hopefully, I am wrong and Douby will turn out to be a decent player, even if he does he will come off the bench since he isn't the type of player who would mesh well with Martin. I just think if Petrie would have drafted Williams, Farmar, Lowry, Rodriquez, or even Rondo either one of those guys would've contributed more at this point than Douby has.

[KingInExile]

^^ I agree about Douby. So far he's looking to be a bust. And knowing who we left on the table makes that pain sting.

[PaKwAn]

This may be off topic but when do we know the list of invites/rosters for the summer league team?

[RoyalCourtJestr]

Alright, it's been a few days sense the draft.

I'm feeling mUCH MUCH more comfortable with Thompson. Conflicting reports on weither he is a good defender or not, but he's atheletic and can score and rebound. I'm looking forward to seeing him work.

I'm also looking forward to seeing Singleton too. He got very good stats in college... I hope he's a steal. And a athletic defender is something we've needed forever, so I'm pretty happy with everyone we've got.

[Ballings7]

Well even though he played in a lesser conference, he did win DPOY there, has good overall size, frame, and the impression I get is he has the work ethic and mind-set to advance his defensive game to the NBA.

[pillwenney]

Well if he's stuck behind Reef, Mikki, and Brad he has a 0% chance of even being in the discussion. Sometimes it all comes down to who gets the time. If Spencer was a starter for us last year and got major minutes I am pretty sure he would have been in the running last year with what he showed when he got time.

I just had a thought. I'm thinking more and more that the Kings were going to pick Thompson over just any PG that dropped. If we really wanted Bayless why wouldn't we just pick Rush for Indy and do the deal instead of Portland?

Spencer shot 46% from the floor last year, and had pretty horrible rebounding numbers even per minute. He wouldn't have been close.

As for the second part, part of it was probably because Geoff didn't want to give up extra young talent--in fact I know that was part of it. What young talent exactly--I don't know, but I'm guessing that the Pacers didn't want wings, but a backup PG. And also Portland can afford to package a lot of their youth together for risky trades because they have a lot more depth in their youth than we do--because they can buy picks, because their owner could probably buy the league if he wanted to.

Mitch, you keep giving credit to Paul Allen's money but I think you aren't giving Portland's front office a lot of credit. True they have been lucky landing high lottery picks but go back and check on the past 4 or 5 drafts they have made some excellent deals and have compiled some nice young talent that really has meshed. The last piece I guess was Bayless and they jumped on it.

I think Petrie is methodical, he knows what he likes the most in a player and really doesn't stray from it. If he does other stuff well then it is a bonus. Also, Petrie is a cautious trader, he wants to get the best out of the deal. If there is a questiong then he doesn't deal. The difference the last few years is he really hasn't been trading for talent, he has been trading for salary cap and Lux tax relief.

My only complaint is the drafting of Douby. When there were guys who were ready to play PG with no maturing, training or converting to be done. Hopefully, I am wrong and Douby will turn out to be a decent player, even if he does he will come off the bench since he isn't the type of player who would mesh well with Martin. I just think if Petrie would have drafted Williams, Farmar, Lowry, Rodriquez, or even Rondo either one of those guys would've contributed more at this point than Douby has.

Oh I'm not saying that Pritchard doesn't deserve credit. He certainly does (and yeah, what he did in 06 was particularly impressive), but I think he gets a little too much credit at times. When you can buy picks to constantly add assets, then you can package them together in deals without giving up any depth really at all. Like even if Bayless were a SF (just for this example), and they didn't get Diogu in the deal, they could have easily afforded to trade McRoberts and Jack because they have so much depth--they can trade Jack because they have Sergio for instance (because they bought him). It has a domino affect.

[Wolfay]

^^ I agree about Douby. So far he's looking to be a bust. And knowing who we left on the table makes that pain sting.

That's what I've been saying since before we ever even drafted him. He's had a couple of years to adjust to the big time show of the NBA, but he has never gotten rid of that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look about him. Fortunately, Martin and Garcia turned out to be two invaluable players despite being late 1st round picks, which leads me to believe that the mistake of picking Douby was a one-time thing. I have faith Thompson will be a good player.