The Sacramento Kings announced that Domantas Sabonis will represent the team at the NBA Draft Lottery. The lottery will be held on Tuesday, May 17th at 5 PM PT.
Tune in to @espn on Tuesday to find out how Sabonis and the Kings fare, presented by @sac_coe! pic.twitter.com/o4hLklmi9L
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) May 13, 2022
It's hard to believe the lottery is just a few days away! With all the focus on the coaching search, the lottery focus has taken a little bit of a back seat so far this year.
The Sacramento Kings enter the lottery in the 7th spot. They have a 32% chance to move into the Top 4, and 7.5% chance at the first overall pick. The Kings also have a 34.1% chance to fall to the 8th pick, which is their most likely outcome statistically.
We need full-head-of-hair-Fox back
He was not so over paid then.
That’s right. he can afford to pay for a haircut now. 😉
Is there anything to read into this being that Sabonis is new to the franchise and Fox not being included? I’m so jaded as a fan, I just can’t help but think there’s always more behind simple things like this with a franchise that has wallowed in poor decisions and general player happiness.
Naw, I doubt it. Fox has already gone once. It may just be a timing and schedule thing that worked out for Sabonis. I wouldn’t read anything into it.
I wouldn’t read anything into it. They’re just going to pick the person who is available and willing and who they think will give Kings fans the most excitement.
It’s just an unnecessay, unfounded, positive clickbait article.
Typical article by Greg, that marriage-busting dismissive littl- oh, hi Greg!.
Definitely see that considering the passive aggressive sub title of the article!
“Mark” in The Room is played by an actor named Greg. Coincidence? I think not.
Thank you for talking me off the ledge. I’ve come to find that it’s too easy to find disfunctionally plausible situations for this organization. No bad news surprises me anymore. 😒
“On the ledge” is a terrible place to begin.
If there is a message being sent it’s that Sabonis is a part of the Kings core moving forward and not just a temporary addition for win now mode.
The draft lottery is being held in Chicago.
They are sending Sabonis.
It’s pretty obvious they are dangling Sabonis to the Bulls.
Glad it’s not Vivek or any of his offspring.
Doesn’t Hobby916 want to see me?
No thanks.
7.5%
HERE WE GO !
I’ll be drinking something heavier than that, believe me.
Drake wasn’t available?
http://images.thepostgame.com/assets/public/2-Drake-and-Vivek-Ranadive-compressor_0.jpg
?width=660&height=374&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp
He’ll be there is spirit. /shaka
The link to the top photo is funny. On my phone screen it says https://images the postgame.com/ass
ets/public/2drakeblahblahblahblahbla
the top line ending in “ASS” made my day.
The shaka runs in the family 🤙
We need a thumbs down button.
We had one. But we probably boo’d too much and Greg took it away from us as punishment. Then he took it home and it’s been in hiding ever since.
I do miss the posters that would vomit down votes all over every thread based on weirdly obsessive imagined beefs.
I miss the downvote option. I rather enjoyed it, personally. I’m sure it was difficult to keep from an administrative standpoint, but that’s another issue.
My take remains that anything that keeps the downvote person from having time to comment is an asset to the entire site. I was rather good at collecting them without help, but it’s just funny seeing the most benign or obviously correct comments catch a stray.
Honestly, I think the site was better when people could register their distaste without needing to write an entire dissertation about it.
As some of you do.
Down votes were understood as well.
Speak for yourself, you Gemcity Moronabus.
Drake is a hard core Toronto fan so sending him would indeed be a message.
I get a Sabonis when I think of us landing the 1st overall pick.
Da Dum Tss…
Wow, that’s really cool. Kudos to for finding that image!
I’m totally geeking out over this image.
Yeah! Me too.
Sac Bound
Shouldn’t that be tropical storm Johnson?
Is that some sort of off-shore “swell?”
It’s a high pressure zone.
This cracked me up!
Personally, I’m hoping for 2…or 7?
I wouldn’t want to have to pick between Smith Jr. and Holmgren. If I choose wrong at #1, I’m probably fired. If I pick wrong at #2, I’ll probably be ok. As long as no one ends up being Marvin Bagley.
At 7? Murray, Griffin, Mathurin, Sharpe. In that order.
Or maybe Tari Eason?
This is always a weird take to me. I want the highest pick possible. I’d much rather control my own destiny than take what falls to me just so I can have a built in excuse.
Same. Give me the pick with the most options and value. If nothing else, the higher the pick, the higher the trade value.
And I especially agree with you cuz I hadn’t considered trade value.
But the option to trade the pick is only worth something if you actually trade it.
What would it take to get you to actually pull the trigger on a trade cuz I wouldn’t feel confident in the Kings ability to get equal value in such a trade. Especially long-term.
The more I think about it, I think I like your idea quite a lot. As long as, it is a trade down and includes a pick in the top 8-10, and comes with the right sweeteners.
Based on the current front office, why do you feel that way?
I agree
That said, put yourself in Monte’s shoes and the stakes are much higher.
So are the rewards. I’m sure that if you gave McNair the option of the #1 pick right now, he’d grab it without thinking about it twice. The better the assets, the better his opportunity to improve the roster. If he ultimately fails, it won’t matter whether he had the 1st or 7th pick.
If he picks Holmgren, at two and he pops he’s even better off. And he looks like McGenius whether he wanted Smith Jr., or not. Rather than push all his chips in on #1, he’d probably prefer to play more even odds down the line.
Wait, do you seriously believe this? If your GM cares more about the optics of their choice than the actual impact of their pick, you need to find a new GM.
When you frame it as a chance to have a “built in excuse” there’s no choice but to agree with you. If you had framed it as a chance to play a lower stakes game later in the lottery as opposed to pushing all my chips in on one boom or bust prospect, then I’d also agree.
The Kings cannot afford another Marvin Bagley sized mistake again.
No, it would be explained to us that McNair merely made the obvious choice, and he deserves no credit whatsoever.
Hello darkness my old friend
This makes me think: what if Vlade had traded down from #2?
Some notables from outside the top 5 in ’18:
Mo Bamba #6
Colin Sexton #8
Mikal Bridges #10
Miles Bridges #12
Wait this list is already getting long and I’ve already skipped some guys!
I have to assume the Mavs deal was on the table for them as well. You also forgot arguably two of the best options, WCJ and SGA.
I didn’t forget. When I started the list, I immediately realized the futility. It would be easier to list the un-notables.
Yeah, the Kings found one of the very few ways to get it totally wrong.
There was also DDV @ #17, whom the Kings acquired eventually after a couple tries recently for, ironically, none other than MBIII.
Even then, I think Joerger was onto something with Bagley. Bagley just never really worked out mainly due to health.
I’m not saying that Bagley was the right pick, but what I am saying is that under different circumstances it could have worked. The Kings, as they’ve shown so often, don’t work out pretty much at anything.
I realize you can say that about alot of failed prospects, but I don’t think Bagley’s story is really that unique. It just didn’t work.
I’m not sure what he would have been onto with Bagley. IMO, his ceiling was always as a fringe stater energy big. MAYBE a 2% outcome of something vaguely Amare-esque. Though Bagley never had the power or suddenness that made Amare successful.
I don’t think he was especially close to the top of that class in terms of present (at the time) skills or future potential.
Well, I think Joerger was trying to work the rough edges off him. Which I thought at the time, and certainly more so in retrospect, was a great way to handle him.
Vlade didn’t agree with it, obviously, and the franchise wanted Joerger gone anyway. A better franchise could have made Bagley work. The talent was and is there. But the organization needed to develop him was obviously not. And the approach by Bagley needed help, too.
I hate player comps and I never thought of him as Amare like.
I don’t disagree with much of that, I just think making Bagley work means he’s a fringe starter rebounder/rim runner that teams are always looking to upgrade from. When you say the “talent was and is there” I’m curious what talent specifically you’re referring to and the talent was and is there to what? I’ve always been of the opinion that Bagley can and will be a useful rotation piece as a mobile energy big. I just didn’t see where the upside that you’d want to see from a #2 pick in a strong draft was supposed to come from.
I didn’t think it was likely that Bagley would be a star, which is why is he was #9 on my draft board. However, it seemed like Joerger was developing him into a player who could be a worthwhile starter.
Sure. Like I said, a fringe starter. A guy that could start assuming the fit is right. But not someone you bother building around or making decisions based on.
Joerger thought Bagley was not worthy of playing time. One of the reasons he was fired. He spoke his mind and was correct.
Vlade drafted the guy who was 2 years away from being 2 years away.
He is still only two years away. Luckily on another team though.
Yeah, Joerger was developing Bagley in a way that made me feel optimistic about Bagley after his rookie year. I didn’t feel optimistic about Bagley after Joerger was fired.
Yeah Richie, that’s what I felt optimistic about, too. It felt like Bagley could be productive with the right support system around him (which obviously was not there).
I didn’t feel as optimistic about the organization after Joerger got fired, generally speaking. Hoping it would work, but wasn’t especially surprised it didn’t.
My recollection was that the most mocks had Bagley higher than most or all of those guys, but I could certainly have that wrong. I’m pretty sure that none or very few of them had Bagley higher than Doncic, though.
He was generally mocked around 3-5. Not on my personal list, but in consensus, yes, he was higher than all those guys.
The mocks had Bagley ahead of them, but I had WCJ ahead of Bagley based on what I saw when Duke played. There was a guy at CBS Sports who had Bagley #1 b/c he loved Bagley’s athleticism, but Bagley’s lack of skills made me worried about him. I had Bagley at #9 on my draft board.
Kings Front Office, circa 2018: “If we had the number one selection, we would have taken Luka.”
I think every website that did the 2018 “Redraft” did not have Bags in the top 20. Another Vi-wreck masterpiece
“If I pick wrong at #2, I’ll probably be ok”
Vlade says Hi!
I’ll also say, I think it’s weird that Banchero is being left out of the top tier. He doesn’t have the defensive upside (though I think he’ll be average, and Smith’s defensive upside is being oversold), but he has by far the most present on-ball creation ability of the 3.
Your totally right! B/R has Banchero at #1 now on their top 50 prospects for similar reasons. I have purposely left him out of the convo because of his seeming duplicity with Sabonis. And the more we talk the more I’m seeing reasons for exploring options to trade down if they land a top 4 pick.
I don’t imagine Sabonis would be excited about them drafting his replacement.
And Ivey wouldn’t make much sense to me either.
I’m just not as high on Ivey as most people. I’m generally not a huge fan of high usage players that don’t pass well. I also think he’s going to have to make decently significant changes to his shot. Without thinking too much about it, he would probably be closer to the 3rd tier for me. And not necessarily at the top of that tier.
Interesting
I think Banchero is different enough and good enough to not worry about the fit too much. Sabonis is more of a high post facilitator. Banchero is more of a perimeter creator. I also believe in Banchero’s ability to stretch the floor. They aren’t a perfect fit, but they aren’t a disastrous fit either.
I just don’t see them taking Banchero unless it’s to trade him. I wouldn’t mind seeing him with Sabonis, but I don’t love it. For a team wanting the playoffs in 23/24 drafting a rookie who takes the ball out of Fox/Sabonis’ hands seems unwise. He’ll need the ball in his hands to be effective, and time to develop. I predict a lot of turnovers in the interim.
I think the “taking the ball out of _______’s hands” theory is pretty much always flawed. More playmakers is always better.
Having more playmakers is almost always better, but there needs to be a balance of playmaking & shooting. Having too many playmakers who can’t shoot is a problem.
Of course, those two things aren’t mutually exclusive. Clearly there are a number of things you need on the floor beyond just playmaking. But that is the #1 most important thing, and there’s nothing that says playmakers can’t also be shooters. In the case of Banchero, I think there’s plenty of reason to believe in his shot.
Either way, what you would be talking about is avoiding a selection because you don’t believe in their shot. Not because they can create and therefore might “take the ball out of _______’s hands.”
Those are two different takes.
Agreed, I’m not 100% certain that he won’t go number one, depending on which team has the pick.
Most mock drafts I’ve seen have Banchero in the top tier & plenty of them have him at #1.
irrelevant prediction: Next year, Coach Mike Brown will be representing the Kings in the lottery.
Bring us luck Domas!!!
Good work.
I have a great feeling the Kings will jump to the top 3 this upcoming draft lottery.
Kings take the #1 pick. They are due for one.
Not really. Even if “due” actually existed, the Kings jumped into the top 3 two of the past 5 drafts.
The Kings are probably more due to fall than jump.