Wiggins is far and away a better talent than Cousins. If a offer ever came up like that that the public knew about and the Kings turned it down, I would stop being a fan. It's that easy of a decision.
Your strategy works better in video games, albeit, a fun idea. Generally, only like 1/5 draft picks even pan out to be anything useful.
I think it's a lot closer than you're making it sound. Cousins is easily a top 5 center right now and has the potential to be the best center in the league. You don't give those type of players up for an unproven rookie who we haven't even seen play in college yet. I've heard the hype, watched some of his highlights here and there, and read many scouting reports. He is a very talented young man who has the potential to be a superstar in this league, but so does Cousins. And at least with Cousins, I know that he will at least continue to be a top 5 center rather than the risk of Wiggins not amounting to anything.
Only a 1/5 of drat picks pan out to anything
useful?! Useful? Really? I don't think that statement is close to right even when we take 2nd rounders into account. Since all of these draft pick values are in the 1st round range that makes your statement even more bizarre. Why don't we review some past drafts to see if this "1/5 of draft picks pan out so something
useful" comment is at all true.
2007 Draft
Kevin Durant
Al Horford
Mike Conley
Jeff Green
Corey Brewer
Joakim Noah
Spencer Hawes
Thaddeus Young
Rodney Stuckey
Nick Young
Marco Bellinelli
Jared Dudley
Wilson Chandler
Aaron Brooks
Arron Afflalo
Tiago Splitter
Carl Landry
Marcus Williams
Glen Davis
Josh McRoberts
Marc Gasol
Ramon Sessions
21 players divided by 60 players = 35%
15 first round players divided by 30 players = 50%
2008 Draft
Derrick Rose
Michael Beasley
OJ Mayo
Russell Westbrook
Kevin Love
Danilo Gallinari
Eric Gordon
DJ Augustin
Brook Lopez
Jerryd Bayless
Jason Thompson
Brandon Rush
Anthony Randolph
Robin Lopez
Marreese Speights
Roy Hibbert
JaVale McGee
JJ Hickson
Ryan Anderson
Courtney Lee
Kosta Koufos
Serge Ibaka
Nicolas Batum
George Hill
Nikola Pekovic
Mario Chalmers
Deandre Jordan
Omer Asik
Luc Mbah a Moute
Goran Dragic
30 players divided by 60 players = 50%
24 first round players divided by 30 players = 80%
2009 Draft
Blake Griffin
James Harden
Tyreke Evans
Ricky Rubio
Stephen Curry
Jordan Hill
Demar DeRozan
Brandon Jennings
Gerald Henderson
Tyler Hansbrough
Jrue Holiday
Ty Lawson
Jeff Teague
Eric Maynor
Darren Collison
Omri Casspi
Byron Mullens
Taj Gibson
DeMarre Carroll
Wayne Ellington
Toney Douglas
Sam Young
DeJuan Blair
Jonas Jerekbo
Jodie Meeks
Patrick Beverley
Marcus Thornton
Chase Budinger
Nando De Colo
Patrick Mills
30 players divided by 60 players = 50%
21 first round players divided by 30 players = 70%
2010 Draft
John Wall
Evan Turner
Derrick Favors
DeMarcus Cousins
Ekpe Udoh
Greg Monroe
Al-Farouq Aminu
Gordon Hayward
Paul George
Ed Davis
Patrick Patterson
Larry Sanders
Kevin Seraphin
Eric Bledsoe
Avery Bradley
Quincy Pondexter
Greivis Vasquez
Landry Fields
Lance Stephenson
19 players divided by 60 players = 32%
17 first round players divided by 30 players = 57%
2007-2010 draft: 42%
2007-2010 draft (1st round only): 64%
I think it is pretty safe to say that a lot more than 1/5 of draft picks pan out to something useful, and considering in this scenario we would be getting 9 1st round picks, it makes sense to apply that 64% "pan out" rate. That would give us approximately 6 useful players on average while shedding massive amounts of salary which would give us plenty of cap space to sign free agents.