With 42.9% of the vote, Yaxel Lendeborg is off the board for the Kings Herald Community Draft Board. He joins Brayden Burries, Mikel Brown Jr., Keaton Wagler, Kingston Flemings, Darius Acuff Jr., Darryn Peterson, Caleb Wilson, Cameron Boozer and AJ Dybantsa off the board.
This is the readership’s opportunity to create a democratic draft board which represents the order in which we as a collective would like the Kings’ draft board to look like. It does not represent the desires of individual writers or fans, but some semblance of the community’s collective thinking.
When a choice comes up, pick who you’d want the Kings to pick given all the players remaining. Note: THIS IS NOT A MOCK DRAFT. This is a draft board, a ranked list of prospects you’d like to see the Kings pick. In other words, if we were the Kings front office, when our pick came up, we’d take the top name left on our board. So pick your choice, not who you think Scott Perry or anyone else would choose in a slot.
Explain your choice in the comments, and lobby for who should be added to the next pick’s choices. We’ll be doing this every weekday morning over the next few weeks.
For me it’s between Labaron Philon and Aday Mara here. If I was going with need, I’d go with Philon but I’m going to stick with BPA here and go with Mara. Yes, we already have Sabonis and Max at Center, but it’s not every day you can draft a 7’4 rim protector who also has a nice passing touch. Plus I’m not sure Sabonis is long for Sacramento anyway.
Same. Mara is BPA, an not necessarily best fit. With the consensus around here that no one on the team is worth building around, fit should be absolute last on the list.
I mused the other day after seeing Mara climb a lot of analysts’ draft boards, is that if Perry thinks he is BPA at #7, would be we be cool his him being the pick? Part of me wonders if the reason he is climbing is the league’s apparent return to 7’+ rim protecting centers. The Wemby effect.
Went with Philon. The offensive improvement from his Freshman to Sophomore season was nice to see.
Watching Yaxel’s highlights, I’ve never seen a player admire more of his shots than him. Dunks, mid-range and threes, he just loves to look at his own shot instead of getting back on defense. I don’t know if this is indicative of a problem. But quite noticeable.
OT: I thought it interesting that the Bulls have now worked out Wagler, Acuff, Flemings,and Brown Jr. That’s all the guards slotted around where the Kings are picking at #7. Notably, the Bulls, who pick #4, have not worked out any the top 4 consensus prospects.
The Bulls have a ton of cap space this summer and already have a bunch of guards under contract. What they don’t have is a starting center. Sabonis trade involving #4 and #7?
They also have #15, #38, and #56. Maybe they are looking at moving up and getting another top 10 pick, along with retaining #4?
That would be my thought.
For a Kings hypothetical, Sabonis and #7 for a bunch of cap space, expirings and #15, and maybe some 2nd rounders. Kings have been working out a bunch of dudes slated to go early in the second round.
Kings would eat Patrick Williams’ deal, but get an expiring guy like Okoro and maybe one of their prospects in Buzelis or Essengue.
I don’t see the Bulls sending out Buzelis. Maybe Essengue.
But giving up Sabonis and #7 to move back 8 spots, get some cap relief, take on the Patrick Williams deal, and add 2nd rounders? That seems like a Vlade special.
I concur and let me add another caveat: Most lottery bound teams next year will be fighting for the middle spots to get the best odds with thr new system. This year when it was the easiest way to tank, the Kings couldn’t even finish last because “they were always trying to win blah blah.” Now that teams will put a bit more effort to win and get the middle spots, the Kangz are gonna get pushed even further down, finishing probly dead last in a lottery system that does not reward last place anymore.
So Kangz need to get BPA, not waste a high pick and clean the cap next year. No more Vlade moves, por favor.
If it was Sabonis for 15 and matching salaries (Okoro, Williams, etc.), then I would be okay with that.
Like you stated, the Kings need to stay out of the bottom 3 next season, so they need to have some talent on the roster, and/or have the existing players perform much better. The new rules are going to make it harder for teams to trade away their higher end players for picks/young guys because they need to stay competitive. At least next year’s draft doesn’t sound like it’s great, so maybe this will be the best season to kinda suck and pick later in the draft?
Only the Kangz could be so self defeating if they trade down to be out of the Wagler/Acuff/Flemings/Brown (maybe Burries) race. I would say I couldn’t imagine them being that dense – but we know that Vivek/Matina have their collective head up their ass since Day 1 – and we all know that GM Divac is lurking in the shadows.
The Calipari connection (whatever you want to call it) is a saving grace IMO that the Kings will chose Acuff.
If there is some agenda to acquire Ja in exchange for LaVIne, then I could totally see them trading back to #15 for a guy like Carr.
Voted Okorie. Broken record, see previous comments, etc.
Who I’m lobbying for now is Dailyn Swain to be added. I know that Cameron Carr has long arms and a great vert. He’s also an old sophomore. Swain on the other hand is a young junior (just two months older than Burries!), and I think his numbers back up the eye test. I like how he gets to the rim and I assume that the shooting will get better over time once he’s a pro.
At 11, Philon and Cameron Carr. Need says Philon, but my BPA at this point is Carr, who is not yet an option on the board. The Kings need another shooting guard like they need a hole in the head, but if the long game has LaVine (and maybe Monk) eventually out of here, Carr just feels like a guy that will wind up being better than a lot of guys taken before him.
My first write-in! Cameron Carr.
Voted Mara the last couple of days. Think he will be solid.
Yaxel reminds me of some other older prospects who will come in and be solid and people will think “how did he fall so far?” But I think he will tail off quickly.
I went with Jayden Quaintance here. Size and athleticism were the main factors for me. Once we’ve passed the lead guard grouping and Yaxel, I would prefer the Kings target versatile defenders that won’t limit future roster flexibility. Cameron Carr and Morez Johnson are a couple of players that criteria. 7’4″ places Mara ahead of most other options as well.
I like Cam Carr as well (I think I wrote him in this last time, I hadn’t voted for Yaxel), but this time let’s go with Mr. Intagible: Allen Graves, the 6’8″ Santa Clara Freshman. His hits his 20th birthday at the end of July. Does all sorts of things well, stats wise. Not a fast twitch, springy legged athlete. His comp is… Kyle Slow-Mo Anderson.
Or – Morez Johnson, Jr. who has a sort of Buck Williams vibe.
I am tossing caution to the wind here. I can look at who’s left and can only poke holes. Not that I know anything. I absolutely, unequivocally do not. Quaintance seems most interesting, but I am still getting over Harry Giles. Mara? I guess, he can battle the bigs: Aday vs. Rudy, Wemby and Edey. He is more the speed of Edey, being that they say his name takes him that long to get downcourt (A day). Okurie and Philon have Malik Monk comps. Eeek. Nate Ament has been consistently in the Top 10, and probably who I should go with, but he is a project and the words Kangz and Project are oil and water – they do not mix.
Heard Brown Jr/Acuff/Flemings and who knows who else have worked out or are slated to workout for all the teams in range besides the Kings (homers like Matt George suggesting Kings would be Acuff “preferred destination” lol)
it wouldn’t be June if we weren’t taking about draft prospects avoiding Kings like the plague and the predraft workout data sheet looking as slim as the leftover turkey after a thanksgiving at Oliver Millers house
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