The Official NBA Draft Day Thread 2014 Edition
- Thread starter Tetsujin
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I love his personality and charisma - but he has to prove that he has x's and o's acumen I think. I didn't see an offense last year - so lets see what happens.
As for the all the Warriors disses... I don't follow. The Warriors are a lot more successful and exciting than the Kings over the last 8 years or so. If in fact "Vlade is not coming thru that door. CWebb is not coming thru that door. Bibby and JWill and Christie are not coming thru that door.".... then maybe emulating the Warriors isn't half bad.
I sure do wish we had more defensive stoppers on the team though.. I really really wish it.
As for the all the Warriors disses... I don't follow. The Warriors are a lot more successful and exciting than the Kings over the last 8 years or so. If in fact "Vlade is not coming thru that door. CWebb is not coming thru that door. Bibby and JWill and Christie are not coming thru that door.".... then maybe emulating the Warriors isn't half bad.
I sure do wish we had more defensive stoppers on the team though.. I really really wish it.
I'm willing to still wait until free agency starts opening up before I really go on a rant here about Pete, why open your mouth and talk that your looking to acquire either another first or a second round pick and do nothing while teams left and right acquired numerous assets. Besides all that, we needed shooting and we needed another player that has good basketball IQ and I feel Nik can bring that along. I am on board with this pick considering what was available, can't speak on Payton I have never seen him play and the same applies for Vonleh.
http://i.minus.com/i89OZ2Tj7Agys.png
I stumbled across this image while watching the post-draft conference. I think I can get some play out of it.
"The Kings were in the bottom third of defense last year. Did you consider getting a defender in the draft?"
"The Kings were last in the league in assists. Do you need to address the PG situation?"
"You had a lot of calls in the War Room. How many of those calls were from your mom?"
"Your power forwards are Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, Quincy Acy and Reggie Evans."
I stumbled across this image while watching the post-draft conference. I think I can get some play out of it.
"The Kings were in the bottom third of defense last year. Did you consider getting a defender in the draft?"
"The Kings were last in the league in assists. Do you need to address the PG situation?"
"You had a lot of calls in the War Room. How many of those calls were from your mom?"
"Your power forwards are Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, Quincy Acy and Reggie Evans."
mike malone is becoming an increasingly confusing individual to me. the carl landry signing was supposedly a "culture change" move with his stamp on it. and apparently he was raving about nik stauskas well in advance of the draft, when a guy like marcus smart (who was projected anywhere from 4 to 10 in mock drafts) or elfrid payton would seem more in line with his "defense first" principles. now he's talking about playing ben mclemore at the 3 and rudy gay at the 4?! for a guy who earned his reputation as a defensively-oriented assistant, he sure isn't talking as if he even has any interest in giving his defensively-inept team a chance to compete on that end...
mclemore is already overmatched at the 2--the weakest position in the entire league--much less the 3, where guys like kevin durant play. and while rudy gay's length would seem tantalizing for a coach who believes he can motivate his team towards their defensive potential, you're probably not gonna squeeze much of that defensive potential out of rudy at the 4-spot. i just... i have no idea what to make of this new regime. quite often they've said all of the right things, but i'm more and more concerned that they are either incapable or simply too inexperienced to actually deliver the right things...
mclemore is already overmatched at the 2--the weakest position in the entire league--much less the 3, where guys like kevin durant play. and while rudy gay's length would seem tantalizing for a coach who believes he can motivate his team towards their defensive potential, you're probably not gonna squeeze much of that defensive potential out of rudy at the 4-spot. i just... i have no idea what to make of this new regime. quite often they've said all of the right things, but i'm more and more concerned that they are either incapable or simply too inexperienced to actually deliver the right things...
The Warriors haven't had a single team that was a threat to win anything in the entire existence of the Sacramento Kings. Hell, before then. 40 years. Even their "good" teams, have until the very last 2 years, been run n gun gimmick squads with a strict ceiling. They have been a nothing franchise since before half of their fans were even born. Good for flash, dash, and not much else. To whatever degree they have threatened to change that in the last couple of years, a large chunk of that has been precisely turning their back on at least some of the losing philosophy infecting the entire franchise. Nellieball does not work. All offense no defense does not work. Shooters are not the key to everything.
They both padded stats rather quickly, and we lost.
There was improvement, but its a longtime notorious thing in the NBA that the last month you start seeing lots of aberrant numbers being put up by young guys and end of benchers suddenly unleashed. Its the season's own garbagetime. It did, I think, bump the hope meter on Ben from complete bust to well maybe in a few years. But that's about as far as you can extend it. We may end up keeping Ben, but now its probably just because we idiotically held onto him so long we trashed his entire value.
Malone has always preached that. Everyone thinks that because he's a defensive specialist that he wants defensive players. That's never been what he's talked about. His big thing in GS was team defense... getting the most out of a team with mainly offense first players and no plus plus defenders. He wants to get guys that are lights out offensive players and help them defend better.
Similar to Belichick in football... he's a defensive guy so he tries to get buy without spending any real assets on that side of the ball figuring he can scheme good enough to make up for a lack of talent. Gotta give Smart a chance.... year one he turned Demarcus into an all-star caliber player. Year two I think we'll see him develop someone else (McL, Stauskas, Ray?) as well as take our team defense up a notch.
Similar to Belichick in football... he's a defensive guy so he tries to get buy without spending any real assets on that side of the ball figuring he can scheme good enough to make up for a lack of talent. Gotta give Smart a chance.... year one he turned Demarcus into an all-star caliber player. Year two I think we'll see him develop someone else (McL, Stauskas, Ray?) as well as take our team defense up a notch.
http://i.minus.com/i89OZ2Tj7Agys.png
I stumbled across this image while watching the post-draft conference. I think I can get some play out of it.
"The Kings were in the bottom third of defense last year. Did you consider getting a defender in the draft?"
"The Kings were last in the league in assists. Do you need to address the PG situation?"
"You had a lot of calls in the War Room. How many of those calls were from your mom?"
"Your power forwards are Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, Quincy Acy and Reggie Evans."
I stumbled across this image while watching the post-draft conference. I think I can get some play out of it.
"The Kings were in the bottom third of defense last year. Did you consider getting a defender in the draft?"
"The Kings were last in the league in assists. Do you need to address the PG situation?"
"You had a lot of calls in the War Room. How many of those calls were from your mom?"
"Your power forwards are Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, Quincy Acy and Reggie Evans."
The moment we drafted Stauskas, I thought to myself they drafted Reke's perfect backcourt mate a year after he left. This team gives me so much sadz lol. With that said, I'm excited for the pick and roll possibilities with Nik and Big Cuz. Stauskas has a little Brandon Roy/Manu Ginobili in him. Hope we don't wait to find his perfect backcourt mate till he's gone.
So I have slept on it and I am still not sure what is the vision and thinking of this hierarchy!
Stauskas is not a bad pick. He is a solid prospect that will be a solid NBA player. Comparisons to Jimmer or Ben are ill-advised. He is a great shooter with his feet set in catch and shoot situations, good coming off screens and not bad creating off the dribble. His handles are very good for a SG. Those are the things that will translate. Hish basketball IQ and a willing passer. Good height for a SG as well. With his size, handles and shot he will no doubt find a spot in the NBA. Right now, Stauskas is a better player than Ben. Defensively, he will struggle. In time you hope he turns into a solid defender. Much like Peja did. Not great but good enough not to be a liability at that end out there.
However, from perspective of our current make up, this pick makes little sense. For a FO that is so protective of McLemore, this picks flies directly into face if everything they have been saying about Ben. Now I am no fan of Vonleh either. Something about him is just not quite right. Payton intrigues me and if you tell me our future backcourt will be Payton-Stauskas pairing, I have a reason to be excited.
But IMHO our #1 priority this offseason is to improve our defence, get that shot blocker and defensive anchor and pair him with a defensively minded backcourt player to even out the balance in the line up. Today we are no closer to doing that and in some cases we are worse off because we added another player that will never be an elite defender (though there is hope he can be a solid one in time). Meanwhile, our #7 pick from last year gets competition for minutes which is not a bad thing but it is when two years in a row you draft players playing the same position and suffocating each other for playing time and opportunities.
I do believe we just improved the SG depth with this pick but it was not our most pressing need and we just burnt our biggest assett and did not get significantly better.
Like I said if you tell me the plan is Payton-Stauskas backcourt on the future, I am excited but its not and we don't have time to waste. We need to make significant strides forward this off-season and despite a lot of rumours, we can away from the draft, standing pat and picking a shooter who will never be a great defender. I will judge this off season come training camp but we are not off to a good start. Again nothing against the player as I think we got a nice player there who would fit next to Cousins and Gay and provide them with some much needed spacing but that was not a pressing need. There were much more important things to address a d we failed to do so. We don't have much trade bait to get much better and no cap room to get there via free agency. It will once again be the case of trading for some overpaid talent with teams wanting to shed that salary (ie Rudy Gay tupe deal and potentily Josh Smith) but that is not a way to build a team.
Meanwhile, for two offseasons in a row, the New Orleans Pelicans are making the moves that I wish our front office would make. That team is a team of young, talented pieces that fit. Asik, Davis, Tyreke, Holiday, Anderson....very nice core there to build around. Will cause all sorts of headaches to opponents for years to come if they can stay healthy and get a half decent coach!
Stauskas is not a bad pick. He is a solid prospect that will be a solid NBA player. Comparisons to Jimmer or Ben are ill-advised. He is a great shooter with his feet set in catch and shoot situations, good coming off screens and not bad creating off the dribble. His handles are very good for a SG. Those are the things that will translate. Hish basketball IQ and a willing passer. Good height for a SG as well. With his size, handles and shot he will no doubt find a spot in the NBA. Right now, Stauskas is a better player than Ben. Defensively, he will struggle. In time you hope he turns into a solid defender. Much like Peja did. Not great but good enough not to be a liability at that end out there.
However, from perspective of our current make up, this pick makes little sense. For a FO that is so protective of McLemore, this picks flies directly into face if everything they have been saying about Ben. Now I am no fan of Vonleh either. Something about him is just not quite right. Payton intrigues me and if you tell me our future backcourt will be Payton-Stauskas pairing, I have a reason to be excited.
But IMHO our #1 priority this offseason is to improve our defence, get that shot blocker and defensive anchor and pair him with a defensively minded backcourt player to even out the balance in the line up. Today we are no closer to doing that and in some cases we are worse off because we added another player that will never be an elite defender (though there is hope he can be a solid one in time). Meanwhile, our #7 pick from last year gets competition for minutes which is not a bad thing but it is when two years in a row you draft players playing the same position and suffocating each other for playing time and opportunities.
I do believe we just improved the SG depth with this pick but it was not our most pressing need and we just burnt our biggest assett and did not get significantly better.
Like I said if you tell me the plan is Payton-Stauskas backcourt on the future, I am excited but its not and we don't have time to waste. We need to make significant strides forward this off-season and despite a lot of rumours, we can away from the draft, standing pat and picking a shooter who will never be a great defender. I will judge this off season come training camp but we are not off to a good start. Again nothing against the player as I think we got a nice player there who would fit next to Cousins and Gay and provide them with some much needed spacing but that was not a pressing need. There were much more important things to address a d we failed to do so. We don't have much trade bait to get much better and no cap room to get there via free agency. It will once again be the case of trading for some overpaid talent with teams wanting to shed that salary (ie Rudy Gay tupe deal and potentily Josh Smith) but that is not a way to build a team.
Meanwhile, for two offseasons in a row, the New Orleans Pelicans are making the moves that I wish our front office would make. That team is a team of young, talented pieces that fit. Asik, Davis, Tyreke, Holiday, Anderson....very nice core there to build around. Will cause all sorts of headaches to opponents for years to come if they can stay healthy and get a half decent coach!
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