Soooooo, trying to put a happy face on our trade in which we acquired two 2nd round picks in this recent draft from the 76érs, I decided to do a little research on both prospects. Of the two, Gudaitis looks to have the best chance at an NBA career. Having said that, I don't think we'll be seeing him in a Kings uni anytime soon. But he does show potential. To look at last years stats is misleading, because he was returning after missing over a year with a knee injury. Prior to that, he was regarded as one of the best young prospects in the league. He came back almost a forgotten man who had to prove himself all over again. Despite all that, he did play well, and proved that he was back to full health without seemingly losing any of his athleticism.
He was abandoned as a child, and grew up in very rough, tough surroundings. He didn't take up the game of basketball until the age of 14. So he's a late bloomer. Despite that, he demonstrates an advanced post game, and is a tenacious rebounder. He's not without flaws or mistakes, but most of his mistakes come from being too aggressive. He seems to thrive on physical contact, and defensively, he's very effective against players much taller and larger than him. He's an excellent athlete and an explosive leaper, which lends itself toward being a good rim protector. Although he shot the ball well from the three, he seldom takes shots from there, and the sampling is far too small to come to any conclusions. One thing in his favor is that he's a very good freethrow shooter, who I might add, gets to the line at an above average rate.
He's very aggressive on defense, and is a good pick and roll defender, where his athleticism allows him to stop and push the ball, but still get back to defend his man. He's an excellent shot blocker, and overall post defender, many times holding position against players outweighing him by 50 or more pounds. In short, he brings toughness to both the offensive and defensive side's of the ball. Defensively, I think he would be fine defending PF's where the matchup's would be more equal. He certainly has the athleticism to defend that position.
Which brings us to the question, what position would he play in the NBA. At the moment, he doesn't project to be a stretch four (hard to believe that's now considered a requirement), and he appears to be a little undersized to play center, with no disrespect to Chuck Hayes. For that reason I don't think we'll see the Kings try to bring him over until his position is more well defined. From what I've seen, I think he has a chance to play in the NBA someday. Considering how little time he's had to develop, (from the age of 14), one has to think he's a fast learner. Ending up with a rotational player out of this deal down the road would be a bonus. But I wouldn't get your hopes up too high. Here's a little video of Arturas