2014 Draft Prospects:

Unless the Kings jump up to the top 3 in the lottery I'd absolutely think about trading the pick. It might be the best move actually.

And even if the Kings land in the top 3 I'd want them to listen to offers. There is no LeBron or Duncan in this draft. There is a ton of potential and no sure things.

I viewed Cauley-Stein as the contingency plan for the Kings. Not a guy who will ever be a star and with some very obvious flaws but whose strengths were just what the doctor ordered as a front court mate for Cousins.

With WCS out, the Kings likely drafting in the 7th or 8th slot and me not having much confidence in PDA's drafting acumen I'd welcome a trade for a veteran piece that fits well.

Well, I could shoot a lot of holes in some of the things stated in that article, but I simply don't feel like it at the moment. My favorite line was when he was concerned that Parker was more efficient against bad defenses. Somehow, he saw that as a negative. If your a good offensive player, you should be more efficient against bad defenses. I would be concerned if he didn't put up better numbers against a bad defense. Does anyone find it a negative when Cousins destroys a team with an undersized or weak center? He's doing what a good player should do.

Maybe I'm old fashion, but I can watch a player play, and tell whether he's a good player or not. It's not hard to see if he has good footwork, or good form on his shot. Whether he blocks out for rebounds, etc. While stats are useful, there are too many things they don't tell you. When you consider Parker played out of position all year long, and he was the focus of the other teams defense for the most part, I thought he had a good year. If he wants to criticize Parker for taking to many shots, fine! But I would ask him, would he take any of those players he listed with a higher efficiency rating than Parker, over Parker in the draft? His answer would certainly be no.

I loved how he tried to be fair toward the end by throw a couple of bones Jabari's way. And then, when he said he'd consider moving Smart, whose efficiency rating is in the toilet offensively, ahead of Parker on his board, he lost all credibility with me. In the first place, this isn't a contest between Parker and Melo. If someone wants to say that Parker will never be as good a player as Melo, I say, so what! Most of the comparisons between Parker and Melo by the scouts had to do with how they played the game. Parker has a similar post up game, and has some of the same moves that Melo has. None of the scouts implied that Parker would be as good or better than Melo. Who the hell knows! Actually, no one said that Parker is going to come in and tear up the NBA. What was said, was that of all the players in the draft, he was one of the most ready to play in the NBA.

I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me that he seemed to fade as the season went on. Not sure why, but maybe it had to do with his conditioning. I thought he looked like he could lose a few pounds from the beginning of the year. Maybe he's not used to getting beat up inside on a regular basis. Don't know, but despite all that, I think he's going to be a fine NBA player, and maybe a star.

Well trading the pick is an idea, but it depends on who your trading the pick for. I wouldn't trade the pick just to be trading the pick, and I don't think that's what you meant. Unlike you, I do think we can get a good player at the 7th or 8th spot. And unlike you, I have no reason yet to doubt PDA's ability to make good choices in the draft. I know people are down on McLemore, but anyone that watched him play in college knew he was a bit of a project. He was drafted on upside. Two years from now if he's averaging double figures and playing good defense, everyone will suddenly be saying how they wanted us to draft him.

I remember when I first brought up Cousins on this forum as a player I wanted us to draft. I caught more flack than you can shake a stick at. Where are they now? Everyone, well most everyone, loves Cousins now. My point is, PDA got the job with little or no time before the draft. He didn't have a scouting dept to rely on. He had almost no time to bring in players for workouts and had to rely on Petrie and some of his staff, along with bringing in players they had arranged to bring in. So I can't throw too much negativity his way. McCallum has turned out to be a good choice. So I'm willing to wait and see what he comes up with this time around. I realize that PDA and Malone are both first timers in their positions. But both have been around the league for some time. Its not as though they just got out of college. They've both been in the trench's for a while getting experience. Especially Malone. Doesn't mean they can't fail. Doesn't mean they will either.

If the kings get stuck around 7, I think it'll be best to trade down. The Suns have 4 picks this year with 3 in the 1st round. The Sixers have 7 picks this year and 2 in the 1st round.

I think the Kings can trade with the Suns for their two 1st rounders this year. They're projected to draft around 14 and 17. A player I've mentioned was Elfrid Payton. I'll bring up his stats again. He's a great defender and pass first pg. I typed out his overall profile view some pages back, bu tthese are his measures and stats:

6'4 180lbs 6'7 wingspan Louisiana Lafayette
36mins 19.2pts 2p% 54.1 3p% 25.9 FT% 60.9 5.9asts 3.6tos 2.3stls 6rebs

Another late 1st round pg prospect is Deonte Burton from Nevada.
6'1 190lbs 6'6 wingspan Nevada
38.6 minutes 20.1pts 2p% 0.553 3p% 0.314 FT% 0.742 4.4asts 2tos 1.5stls 4.3rebs

A quick overview of him
Positives-
Great athleticism
Great finisher
Decent shooter
Good defender
Good scorer

Negatives-
Shoot first pg
Inconsistent shooter

I think he can be a player similar to Damian Lillard if he can get his jumper down. He might shoot too much for our liking's, but Nevada is a pretty bad team. He has shown the ability that he can ignitate the offense at the next level.

A different position and prospect is SF KJ Daniels from Clemson.
6'6 198lbs 6'9.5" wingspan Clemson
33.7 minutes 17.1pts 2p% 0.527 3p% o.34 FT% 84.2 7rebs 2.8blks 1.6asts 1.1stls 2.3tos

A quick overview of him
Positives-
Good rebounder
Good scorer
Great defender
Good rim protector
Does not need to shoot to be impact the game

Negatives-
IQ McGee like
Poor shot selection
Inconsistent shooter
Needs improvement on footwork

I think he's a high risk high reward player. He looks like he can be a solid SF in the NBA and reminds me a little bit of Gerald Green. Daniels has a lot of potential to work with.

Just to clarify, I'm not saying that I think D'Allesandro is a bad drafter. I'm saying I don't have any confidence because he doesn't have a track record. He grabbed the consensus best player on the board in the first round and snagged what looks like a solid backup PG in the 2nd. That's not bad. Especially considering that this is was an exceptionally weak draft. And for the record I was in favor of the McLemore pick. The guy I liked was C.J. McCollum but that was also because I was assuming Tyreke would be resigned and I saw him as a better fit since he could provide additional ballhandling, some playmaking etc. If anything my questioning of PDA's ability to assemble a team came from him letting Evans walk, that nonsense with Iguodala, pursuing Calderon (not a bad player but not a difference maker either IMO) and then the Landry signing which I thought was flat out awful.

I'm not saying there won't be a good player at #7 but if Boston were willing to deal Rondo for a package that included the pick, yeah I'd listen. If someone dangled a guy who would be a great fit at PF with Cousins I'd listen. Don't trade to trade, but with Gay (in all likelihood) and Cousins the Kings have some core pieces the right veteran could make them playoff contenders rather than waiting for another rookie to develop. That said, if they jump up into the top 3 and Embiid is on the board I'd pull the trigger barring an absolute blockbuster trade offer. With Wiggins and Parker you take them because they are great talents but I'd be a little more willing to make a trade in the case that the Kings pick 2nd or 3rd and Embiid is gone only because of Gay's presence. Then again, I might just take Wiggins and let him get minutes at SG and SF because I think his ceiling is so high.

And for the record, I was always in favor of drafting Cousins. I have no issue admitting when I am wrong (and this year alone I was wrong about Otto Porter and Michael Carter Williams) so I feel okay to crow a bit when I get one right.

Cousins does feast on weaker defenses for the simple reason they can't take full advantage of Kings' bad spacing. Parker had almost GOAT spacing for college hoops, and when he had to attack top-100 defenses (we're not talking elite, just top third defensively of college programs), he looked pretty bad. My point is Parker might show pretty bad efficiency early on given that he will face NBA-level defenders every game.

That's definitely a valid argument but we don't know how he'll adjust to (a) not being forced to play center and (b) going against NBA defenses and the extra space that affords.

Parker played center, when match-up allowed him to. Jefferson and Plumlee took 30 mpg of center position, but it wasn't steady 30 minutes every game. When opposing team had 6'9", 220 pounds center, Coach K had no problem playing Parker at center full time. I don't believe Parker playing center was a factor at all. Plus Parker had as much spacing as anyone among draftable prospects outside of maybe Doug McD.

You could be right, but I always tend to go with my gut, and my gut tells me that he'll be a better NBA player than he was a College player. He does a lot of things right, and mostly what he did wrong, defense aside, was simply miss a lot of shots. His missing contested shots didn't bother me as much as his missing open shots. I think he's a better player away from the basket, however I think the fact that defenses can't just stack the paint in the NBA like they can in college will help him quite a bit.

He started off the season shooting at an unrealistic pace and continued it for 12 to 13 games. But no one in their right mind thought he could continue at that pace. Every player is going to have hot streaks and cold streaks. At the end of the day, you take all the games you watched him play into consideration and pass judgement as best you can. I think he's a very talented player. If by some miracle we draft him, I sure hope I'm right.

Well we've all been wrong at times. I think the jury is still out on both Porter and Williams. I wasn't a fan of Williams, but I just have a problem with players that can't shoot. He still can't shoot. Same problem I had with Rubio. I loved Tyreke, and he was a different story because of his incredible ability to get to the basket. Lets revisit both players in a couple of years. I was a big fan of JT's at Rider, and I thought he would be better than he's been. And who knows, maybe in a different system on a different team, he might have turned into a different player.

I remember the first time I saw Chandler Parsons play at Florida. I saw his long hair, and loose fitting uniform, and thought he didn't even look like a basketball player. At the end of the game I thought he was one of the luckiest players out there because every ill taken shot went in. Then I saw him play a second time, and with the same results, and thought, this kid is pretty good, and he plays defense as well. I thought he would be a low first round pick and was shocked to see him sitting there in the second round when it was our turn to pick. And of course, we didn't pick him. Then on the other hand, I thought Jeff Green was going to be a star. We all make mistakes!

No one is talking about Saric - is that because no one has seen him much, or because we have Gay? Or because there's a decent chance he won't come over next year (although he's open to it)?

He's very talented, he can do everything and do it well offensively. He does need to improve his outside shot. Surprisingly strong rebounder, fantastic passer and ball-handler especially for his size. Very smart player, long with solid athleticism. If I knew Gay was going to opt out and wouldn't resign, Saric would be near the top of my list now that WCS isn't declaring. He's very young and extremely productive against good competition, his numbers are very, very impressive. It's much more difficult to put up stat-stuffing numbers in Europe due to rule differences but he does it.

I'd probably take him ahead of Gordon at this point. If none of Wiggins, Embiid, Randle, Parker, Exum and Smart are available, we should take a long hard look at Saric. I'm not as big a fan of Vonleh as others are, though admittedly I've only seen him play a handful of times.

Well the reason I'm not talking about him is because I haven't really seen much of him other than some videos, which are always slanted to favor the player. I've heard good things about him, but I have to defer to people like you and Gilles who may have actually seen him play.

Saric has nothing to do with Gay. He will be a PF: doesn't have footspeed at SF, plus his best half court offense comes from being a screen man in P&R. Problem is he's even shorter than Gordon.

That remains to be seen. I'm not at all convinced he won't be a SF. You really hurt your credibility with your definitive statements on players. Remind me of a bull in a china shop.

I don't see a problem with his foot speed as a SF. I'm also curious as to why you think he's shorter than Gordon? He's likely a full inch bigger than Gordon. Either way his size is fine even if he is a PF - just needs to get stronger. Everywhere lists him at 6'10''. I'd imagine he's 6'9'' in shoes.

Watch highlights from his triple-double game: most of his assists in half-court came after he screened his guard, moved away, got the ball back and then pierced reacting defense. As for height it doesn't really matter: he might be 6'10", maybe even 6'10.5", but his wingspan is only 6'10", which makes it reasonable that his standing reach might be 8'9" or even lower and that's really short for a big minutes PF.
Edit: Clint Capela returned home, and had a good game: 15 points (6-11FG%, 3-3FT%), 9 rebounds and 1 block in just 18 minutes (foul trouble). He looked pretty bleak in Hoops Summit, but maybe he just needs structure and feels out of place in free-flowing setting of All-Star games?

That's an interesting point about Capela. Some of these guys do really well with structure.

Saric is definitely the wildcard of this draft. Although, he seems about the worst fit for this current roster, specifically with Cousins. But if he's a future above average NBA player, you have to consider taking him and dealing with the chemistry later.

Parker has officially declared.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/co...0140417/jabari-parker-declares-for-nba-draft/

Love his demeanour and personality. Has that star air about him, which is more important than people think. Charisma and intelligence are important to some degree.

I still have Parker as the best player in the draft.

I agree with you completely, I think what the team needs is established NBA quality talent that fit well with the roster. In terms of trade targets in the #7 pick range I would look to players like Ed Davis(QO), Taj Gibson and Iman Shumpert that can come in fit right in to a role.

I would also add in John Henson who can be our shot blocker

I can't see Milwaukee looking to deal Henson. Not with Udoh still being too raw/green and Sanders approaching train wreck proportions with a $40+ million dollar deal.

Sanders might be available on the cheap if the Bucks are just looking to cut ties and deal him for cap relief. The Kings have the ending contracts but that's a huge gamble. But as bad as the Bucks have been I think they feel they have two major building blocks in Antetokounmpo and to a lesser extent Henson. I think Antetokounmpo will likely be the best player from this weak draft in a couple seasons.

If Milwaukee ends up with the first or second pick I'll be interested to see which way they go. Embiid just adds to their glut of bigs, but he and Henson could be a really nice tandem. It would make the Sanders extension look even more terrible, but que sera sera. Tough when you have the worst record in the NBA and two of the three consensus "best" players in the draft play the same position and your only big bright spot.

I'm hoping for a lottery win and Wiggins or Embiid.

Not trying to be overly negative, but my guess is that Gibson is close to untouchable for the Bulls, and the early reports around Jackson signing up to lead the Knicks FO often mentioned his fondness for Shumpert. That said, I imagine Davis is attainable, but that would be through free agency.

I'm not a big fan of Henson's. I mean I like him but I'm not in love with him. He's sort of what we need, but not quite. First, he couldn't guard Cousins at all. Now there's little doubt that Cuz is just bigger and stronger than Henson. So I grant you it was a mismatch. But what that tells me is that Henson can't guard centers. or least big centers. However in that same game, Cousins put the ball on the floor and went by Henson as well. Which meant that Cousins was not only bigger and stronger, but he was quicker. So can Henson guard PF's well enough to play along side Cuz? Maybe! Just not sure, but as I said, he's not my first choice.

My first choice of course would Derrick Favors, who I doubt we could pry loose from Utah. My second choice would be Ed Davis who is playing behind Zach Randolph. Don't know if he would be available or not.
He's a restricted freeagent, and we have no capspace if Gay opts in. So we'd have to do a sign and trade. I'd love to have Gibson, but I think he's in the same catagory as Favors.

I would be all for getting Gibson, but Henson? Just no. He was promising as a rookie, but this year he was last in Milwaukee in team points allowed per 100 possessions: with him on the floor Bucks allowed points at the highest rate among all his teammates.

In all fairness to Henson, the only player who played for the Bucks who didn't wind up coming off as a complete waste of air was Giannis and even most of that is based on potential

In his little chat with local writers yesterday PDA mentioned that he's trying to acquire a second round pick. Which I think is a good idea. There's going to be more talent in the second round this year. Players that might not help us immediately, but could in a year or two are going to be available. I thought I'd list ten of my personal favorites. I've listed players that for the most part won't get drafted until the second round, but there are a few that could get picked at the bottom of the first.

1. K.J. McDaniels: 6'6", SG/SF. Probable bottom of 1st round choice, but could slip to 2nd round. Two way player.
2. P.J. Hairston: 6'6", SG. Probable bottom of 1st round, but could slip to 2nd round. Possible two way player.
3. Mitch McGary: 6'10", PF. Top of 2nd round. Coming off back injury. If healthy, could be a huge steal. Very talented.
4. Shabazz Napier: 6'1", PG. Probable mid 2nd round maybe higher. Good shooter, leader, and decent defender. He's a winner.
5. DeAndre Daniels: 6'8", SF. Probable 2nd round. Possible two way player. He defined his position this year.
6. Jabari Brown: 6'5", SG. Probable mid 2nd round. Good shooter.
7. Nick Johnson: 6'3", PG/SG. Great athlete with lots of potential. 2nd round pick.
8. Johnny O'Bryant: 6'9", PF. Mid 2nd round pick. Should develop into solid backup.
9. Spencer Dinwiddle: 6'6", PG. 2nd round. Coming off injury. Team won 14 and 3 with him, and went 10 and 9 without him.
10. Jordan Clarkson: 6'5" SG. Didn't shoot well after sitting out a year. Could be an aberration. 2nd round.

None of these players are going to be game changers, but but a few could turn out to be very good players.

There may be a way of unloading Landry here somehow. I admit it, I have Landry in my nightmares.

1) McDaniels would be a major steal as a 2nd rounder. That's the problem with exposure in general; does anyone watch Clemson basketball? Kid is athletic. He had 59 dunks this season--easily top ten in all of college--and pads steal and block combinations, hustles and very accurate at tipping in shots off o-boards. Power forward level of handles and sorely needs to improve his jumper, but that's a ton of athletic clay to work with. He's a late lottery pick (14th) in my book.

2) Hairston is 13th in my ranks (also late lotto). Yeah, I get the possible personality baggage, but that's no different from say, a JR Smith, a player that has a pretty high correlation to what Hairston does. Streak jumpshooting-based scorer, essentially. Hairston's not a passer, but interestingly his venture to the D-League saw very efficient shooting inside of the three point line, which pales in the face of his UNC competition. He also passed the ball like PFs, but he brings enough to the table here.

3) McGary--my mock is not a fan. I have him as the last pick of the draft, talent-wise (60th). Yeah, I get the hype--dude is active as a rebounder and gets a ton of steals and blocks, can finish and score efficiently. But with age concerns, injury concerns (also a smaller dunk rate this season too compared to last), a really shady free throw percentage, and a complete inability to draw fouls, I think there's some that work sagainst him. He's known as a heart hustle player with maybe the upside of a Nick Collison, which is what a playoff team wants though, so I wouldn't be surprised if he gets late 1st round consideration. But, there are a ton of questions, perhaps more than what he brings to the table.

4) Napier--33rd (early 2nd rounder). He's been there throughout the season, and frankly, it's finally great to see him get consideration. He isn't athletic (o dunks this season, plus awful finishing numbers) and his jumper at times is hit and miss, but he draws fouls well, has that scoring mentality, and I do think he limits turnovers enough to be a point in this league. He's worth that 2nd round flyer.

5) Daniels--undrafted. You've got to look past this season, and look at prior seasons. He's got power forward handles. I'm thinking Rasual Butler. Not good enough.

6) Brown--Late 2nd rounder (52nd). He handles the ball/has vision like a PF, and he's 6'4"ish. Red flag right there. Scorer

7) Johnson--Unfortunately, undrafted. I have a bunch of Euros that are absolutely littering the 2nd round of my mock, and he's one of the casualties. Dude can dunk, has improved his shooting, can defend, but he's a 6'2" shooting guard. Not even a point. I think he's better than what my mock says, in the same way that McGary is, as teams can crossmatch him and he brings several things to the table at an adequate/good rate. But, those short arms have got to hurt, and I'm not exactly sure if I can really buy into the shooting.

8) O'Bryant. Undrafted. I remember when he was a 218 lb'er---he went to 260 in a flash to become a full time big. He has the shot jacking mentality and frankly accuracy of a Glen Davis. Haven't seen a big shoot 39% from the field at college for a while.

9) Dinwiddie--A personal favorite of mine, perhaps early 20s to late 20s (later in 1st round--22nd). Yeah, I know he isn't an above the rim guy and he can't finish, but he's aggressive, draws fouls and hits threes, while handling the ball well. That's enough to get some looks, but he's not a PG (despite Colorado trying to force that down on us). Eh defender and pretty shoddy defensive playmaker though.

10) Clarkson--59th (right before McGary). We've seen them gunner guards before. Got a lot of transfer hype he didn't live up to.

Saric gets rebounds and assists, but everything else is pretty subpar. I'm not even sure if he can score much less shoot--I kind of doubt his shooting inside the three point line as well. I think he's going to run into a ton of stumbling blocks, and I do sense bust potential in this one.

I want absolutely no part of Napier. He thinks he's far better than he is, which is the reason he was a good college player, but it won't fly at the next level. He's fearless and has very active hands defensively, but I don't like him.

As for who I like in the 2nd round - Vasilije Micic, Jokic (may go much earlier), Bogdanovic, Markel Brown, Damien Inglis, Mitch McGary (big fan of his if he's there in the 2nd just for value), KJ McDaniels. May even take a flyer on Isaiah Austin even though I'm not his biggest fan.