Just in case you weren't hyped enough about our draft...
- Thread starter The Hammer
- Start date
Thanks for the video, Hammer.
It opens an opportunity for me to share my final thoughts and observations following the draft:
1. I think the strategy was spot on.
I argued before the draft we should not trade up, as I always felt confident Fox will be there at 5. Luckily, I was not proven wrong.
I think that moving up to 1, or 2, would have netted us a different prospect (I don't buy Vlade's argument he would have taken Fox in any case), but the cost would have been too heavy.
The Kings do not have many assets, and we would have probably had to give both our first-round picks. And as we have so many glaring holes in our roster, we can't justify sacrificing two assets for a concentrated bet on one.
Moving down was again, in my opinion, the right call. Funnily enough, this exact move was discussed during the mock draft exercise we did on this site, prior to the draft (but did not materialise).
I believe that picking at 10 is always far from a surefire bet (even though this draft was stacked with talent). So diversifying the bet (two bets at 15 and 20) instead of one makes a lot of sense. And we did not take a bad contract with that trade, which makes it a coup.
2. Picking Fox was a no brainer.
I am not saying he will become a HOFer (seems like discussions are already heading that way in other threads...), but I believe he has as much potential as other players who were picked higher than him. And we desperately needed a PG.
3. I like Justin Jackson at 15. He fills a hole, now that Rudy opted out. Having said that, I think Vlade will need to address this position via trade as well. I am less enthusiastic about Giles at 20. And I may be in the minority here. It has more to do with his injuries than anything else. I accept his ceiling is high, but I disagree there is no risk in drafting him at 20. If he becomes injury-plagued, we just wasted a valuable asset (taking a chance on a young healthy prospect). But Vlade has one clear advantage - access to his medical files. And if the medical staff reassured him Giles will be able to stay on the floor, then I have no beef with this pick. I will keep my fingers crossed. Lastly, any second round pick is pretty much a wild guess. Mason III is as good as it gets with the 34th overall.
TL;DR - Vlade gets the thumbs up from R2D2.
It opens an opportunity for me to share my final thoughts and observations following the draft:
1. I think the strategy was spot on.
I argued before the draft we should not trade up, as I always felt confident Fox will be there at 5. Luckily, I was not proven wrong.
I think that moving up to 1, or 2, would have netted us a different prospect (I don't buy Vlade's argument he would have taken Fox in any case), but the cost would have been too heavy.
The Kings do not have many assets, and we would have probably had to give both our first-round picks. And as we have so many glaring holes in our roster, we can't justify sacrificing two assets for a concentrated bet on one.
Moving down was again, in my opinion, the right call. Funnily enough, this exact move was discussed during the mock draft exercise we did on this site, prior to the draft (but did not materialise).
I believe that picking at 10 is always far from a surefire bet (even though this draft was stacked with talent). So diversifying the bet (two bets at 15 and 20) instead of one makes a lot of sense. And we did not take a bad contract with that trade, which makes it a coup.
2. Picking Fox was a no brainer.
I am not saying he will become a HOFer (seems like discussions are already heading that way in other threads...), but I believe he has as much potential as other players who were picked higher than him. And we desperately needed a PG.
3. I like Justin Jackson at 15. He fills a hole, now that Rudy opted out. Having said that, I think Vlade will need to address this position via trade as well. I am less enthusiastic about Giles at 20. And I may be in the minority here. It has more to do with his injuries than anything else. I accept his ceiling is high, but I disagree there is no risk in drafting him at 20. If he becomes injury-plagued, we just wasted a valuable asset (taking a chance on a young healthy prospect). But Vlade has one clear advantage - access to his medical files. And if the medical staff reassured him Giles will be able to stay on the floor, then I have no beef with this pick. I will keep my fingers crossed. Lastly, any second round pick is pretty much a wild guess. Mason III is as good as it gets with the 34th overall.
TL;DR - Vlade gets the thumbs up from R2D2.
The trade was brilliant, because the players available at #10, like Collins, Mitchell, and Monk, really did not fit in with our team.
It was great to trade down and get a player that the Kings really needed in SF Justin Jackson at 15, which we probably would had taken at 10, if we didn't complete the trade.
Getting Harry Giles with the extra pick at 20 was gravy. Giles was basically a free player to the Kings with huge upside, because of the trade. Giles may end up the best player in the draft, if he can stay healthy.
De'Arron Fox will be an excellent leader at starting point guard.
Frank Mason is a gamer. He will be a very good back up point guard and he could start, if needed.
The Future is looking bright with these young Kings.
It was great to trade down and get a player that the Kings really needed in SF Justin Jackson at 15, which we probably would had taken at 10, if we didn't complete the trade.
Getting Harry Giles with the extra pick at 20 was gravy. Giles was basically a free player to the Kings with huge upside, because of the trade. Giles may end up the best player in the draft, if he can stay healthy.
De'Arron Fox will be an excellent leader at starting point guard.
Frank Mason is a gamer. He will be a very good back up point guard and he could start, if needed.
The Future is looking bright with these young Kings.
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For sure! One all-star in two drafts is solid. Especially without a top 3 pick in either. Especially when you look at our recent draft history.
The fact that Vlade hedged his bets by getting us a bajillion 1st round prospects is some great GMing. I also really dig that he made a nice mix of "safe" and "swing for the fences" picks.
When the Cuz trade went down, I never would have thought I'd be this excited/optimistic about the Kings a few months later (even with realistically low expectations for our winning percentage next year)!
The fact that Vlade hedged his bets by getting us a bajillion 1st round prospects is some great GMing. I also really dig that he made a nice mix of "safe" and "swing for the fences" picks.
When the Cuz trade went down, I never would have thought I'd be this excited/optimistic about the Kings a few months later (even with realistically low expectations for our winning percentage next year)!
Of course but as we all know, drafting isn't an exact science. It's one thing when you reach for a guy like Jimmer when there are plenty of good players on the table and it's another when you take McLemore who was considered BPA by a lot of people when we picked him. I don't blame the McLemore pick but most of us are still bitter about the Jimmer pick. If Fox and crew don't turn out all that great, we really can't be too mad because most of us think we got about as good a draft as you could get at the time they were taken. The rest is kind of a roll of the dice.
