Who do we draft?

Sucks if true. I would've loved him at 10. I'm not too fond of any other lottery pick, including Markannen or Collins. In fact, if Bridges returns to school, I'd be ok with trading it. Maybe something like the 10th pick for the Blazers 20th and 26th pick.

...and with the 10th pick of the 2017 NBA draft, the Sacramento Kings select...Rodions Kurucs!

Bridges was the guy I was counting on to avoid having the Kings draft Markannen.

Eh. Things are not shaping up to favor the Kings at the moment.

Every year its the same feeling I get toward the end of the season until draft. Somehow someway we're getting screwed and thats just how it is. Of course this year is no different and its shaping up to do us in again. We are always picking right at the cut off from elite talent to role player talent. I'll say though, I have a little more faith that Vlade will make the right decision regardless of our position, so thats something I guess.

He's not gonna get any longer in a year, not sure if he can help his stock much.

Well, you can blame Vlade for agreeing to the pick swap and top 3 protection for N.O. thereby guaranteeing the Kings have a very, very minimal shot at a top 3 pick (only if they and Philly jumped up).

And last but not least you can blame the Kings for losing the tanking contest by winning 5 of their last 9 while Dallas, Minny and NY have only won 1, 3, and 3 respectively.

This franchise continually does the opposite of what they should do.

Vlade is a bad GM. Bad trade after bad trade. Then he allows our coach to be anti tank in a draft that has players that fill our most glaring needs. At this point Vlade is up there with Isaiah Thomas, Billy King, and James Dolan.

I had a strong feeling this was going to be his decision. And he's the only guy I really liked for us in the 9-10 range too. Sigh.

Yep, me too. Have to hope somebody else slides.

My best case scenario using the results of my spin on Tankathon today.

1. Magic - Fultz
2. Lakers - Ball
3. Suns - Jackson
4. Celtics - Tatum
5. Sixers - Monk
6. Knicks - Ntilikina
7. Wolves - Markkanen
8. Kings - Fox
9. Mavericks - Smith
10. Kings - Isaac

Given his insistence on the triangle I think there's a good chance that Phil Jackson drafts Ntilikina.

This scenario makes a lot of sense. I could see Phil doing that, especially give his success drafting foreign Prozingis, but also because the Wolves are the worst 3p shooting team in the league. Markkanen is actually a really good fit for them. He's line up a lot better next to Towns than Dieng.

If we are sitting on the 9th and 10th pick, none of the top names will bother working out for us. Players like Collins, Anunoby, Justin Jackson, and a bunch of 2nd rounders.
Just looking at draftexpress, they have us taking Dennis Smith at 9 and Collins at 10. Isaac goes 8 to Dallas but interestingly they have Ntilikina dropping to 11. So perhaps not all is lost. Collins climbing bodes well for this draft especially with Bridges likely decision.
And hopefully Minnesota falls in love with Markkanen.

Ya this is perfect but I can see Minnesota going Issac over Markkanen

Remember that Draft Express mocks list players by ranking until the draft order is set. Then they start considering team's needs.

Thanks, I was not sure how draftexpress does it, but even by player rankings they have Markkanen at 7 which is likely where the Wolves might pick and they have Ntilikina dropping and Zach Collins rising. So that's a positive in my opinion. Some team or two that picks before us might want to go big increasing our chance of a good PG and SF.

I'm still thinking drafting Frank Ntilikina at 8/9 and trying to trade our #10 pick for Stanley Johnson is our best option. We need some help though to actually get Frank Ntilikina that low.

It's extremely difficult to find any tape of him(mostly because he plays for a Spanish Junior team). However, why does DX have him around 16-25 all season long, yet have no information about him?

I'm not going as far as best option, maybe, but I still hold out that Stanley has not come close to showing what he's capable of. That mix of Ntilikina and Stanley would fill our voids and put some serious defensive savvy in our lineup. As I recall Joerger likes defense.

Well that is crap!

I think his returning was the most likely scenario. It may bite him in the buttt, like Rabb last year, unless he really shows a defined SF game next season. However, next years draft should not be as highly thought of.

This is not going well for the Kings so far. Their pick is not early enough to get the top notch talent and the pick from Pelican gets the scraps of the top 10 in what is reported as a draft with top 10 prospects being the clear top 10. Last year there was clear top 8 and we ended up at 8 and traded down because the player that was left on the board was the one we liked the least.

I sense similar case being this year. If Kings can trade those top 10 picks to move into the top 3 then I would suggest they do that if it gets them a franchise level player.

So assuming we pick 8 and 10 I think there will be either a SF or PG at 8 that we can all agree on. I think one of Isaac or Nitilinka will be there. Picking 10 will be more interesting for sure.
I have said it before but I sure hope Markkanen and Zach Collins impress the hell out of some teams before 10 and I like our chances of filling both positions of need.
Glad the season is over, I can use to change my focus.

All he had to do was rest one of Collison or Lawson in MIN game and if necessary bench active player in 4th like he had been doing previously and subsequently. Then we'd potentially be in coin flip with Knicks for the 6th pick. Collison was 7/7 and Lawson was 21/11 in that win. Our offense was humming against 28th ranked defense and PG on floor the whole time. This was strategic blunder that likely costs the Kings Fox or Isaac.

I wish more people would think that way. I do not look forward to the endless "we shouldn't have won (fill in name of game here)". It's over. We're in the lottery with two likely picks and another in the second round. To cry over spilt milk at this point is just silly IMHO.

Oh please...

If we got our PG at #8 and we're on the clock at #10 and none of the top guys dropped, Zach Collins is a very good consolation price. Yes, we already have Willie and PapaG but I'd argue he is a better propect than both. 7ft center that can protect the rim, switch on the perimeter AND shoot like he can are immensely valuable.

And while they have progressed nicely, neither Wilie nor Papa have shown that they have the position locked down. Collins is also versatile enough to play some minutes with them. I also love his fit with Skal. Some scouts even seem to think he has all star potential down the road.

Another option of course would be to go with a 3&D guy. I really like Anunoby but his knees scare me. Maybe Ferguson? Tough to say.

I agree, if Collins looks real good in workouts then at 10 I'm willing to take BPA. If Kosta and Tolliver are not in the long term plan, then nothing wrong with bringing in another big. We need a PG probably more than a SF but if the better prospect is a SF at 8, I'm also OK and let the rest sort itself out. Fortunately there is no SG's in the top 10 except Monk so we don't need to over think the position where we are already loaded.

Except we have our pick next season, which is pretty much slated to turn into a hell of a lot of good big men and Luka Doncic draft.


For what it's worth Draft Express (still not considering team needs) has the Knicks taking Lauri at 7, which would be a total GM Phil Jackson thing to do, and us taking Isaac at 8 (yes!) and Frank still being available when we pick at 10 (double yes!)

What? Pay Collison and Lawson and aquire one or two vets? Are you trying to extend the playoff streak well into the next decade?

It's a very good draft, but beyond 5-6 there are issues and risk. At the same time, from 7-10, teams can draft somebody that might be truly great. Luckily, the Kings get two cracks at it. You draft the best player available twice, hope you go 2 for 2, but will settle for 1 for 2. Try to bring over Bogdan. See if there is a FA that helps you in the short term but you can develop into a better player down the road (and thus, it makes sense to overpay him to come to Sacramento.) If you can't find that guy, then you: sign Lawson to help groom the PG you drafted because he will be much cheaper than Collison; try to rent some cap space; and fill out the roster with high character vets that know they are coming mostly to babysit and not play.

Other than a hot last two weeks, with several wins over tanking teams, the Kings weren't on 30 win pace post Cousins trade. Even if you think the Kings will have 3-4 prospects that will be really good in a couple of years, it's a team of young raw players without a serious candidate to make the All Star game next year. That's a recipe for a 25 win season.

I can't see how the team chases vets to chase 33 wins, pick 7-8 again, and delay the development of young players that need to play.

I get why fans want to think the team is close ... but they aren't close.

The thing is that barring Rudy deciding to stay for another year, the Kings are going to be so far below the salary floor that they simply have to make one more or another to take up some of that cap space.