The results are in!
| Team | Selection |
| Minnesota | 1 |
| Golden State | 2 |
| Charlotte | 3 |
| Chicago | 4 |
| Cleveland | 5 |
| Atlanta | 6 |
| Detroit | 7 |
| New York | 8 |
| Washington | 9 |
| Phoenix | 10 |
| San Antonio | 11 |
| Sacramento | 12 |
| New Orleans | 13 |
| Boston (via Memphis) | 14 |
After two consecutive seasons of jumping in the NBA lottery (we're just going to ignore the Kings-less first round of the 2019 draft), the Sacramento Kings were neither smiled nor frowned upon by the lottery gods this year, remaining in their original position of the 12th overall pick in the NBA Draft. With potential stars Anthony Edwards and James Wiseman almost certainly out of the picture, the Kings will be focusing their attention on prospects such as Patrick Williams, Aaron Nesmith, and Tyrese Maxey, while an outside chance remains that a player of Cole Anthony's or Devin Vassel's caliber falls their way.
Overall, the Kings will walk into draft night with four darts to throw at the board, the 12th, 35th, 43rd, and 53rd picks, which rank as the 10th most valuable combination of draft assets according to tankathon. It remains to be seen when the draft will take place, however, as Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported a possible delay in both the draft and free agency early Thursday afternoon, which could inadvertently help the Kings find the time to establish a management group before critical roster decisions must be made.
While the Kings may not have experienced the same lottery luck as in 2017 and 2018, they still hold the opportunity to add another key piece around De'Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley, and rest of the team's core, as long as the team hires the right personnel to make those decisions in the coming weeks.
With the 12th pick in 2020 NBA Draft, the Sacramento Kings select Jason Thompson !!
I like that I can down-vote a comment now…I read this from HKKF and laughed, then said to myself “not funny”.
Just tell you that I am not the one that “down-voted” you…
I just being sarcastic………
I really thought we were going to “jump”…but once again…disappointment
My first down vote. ð
I really dislike the downvote function.
Did I just drink several glasses of Scotch for nothing? Or, because they didn’t move down, was it not for naught? I just need some justification for drinking this early.
Being a Kings fan is justification enough
Frankly I’m surprised more of us don’t just drink straight gasoline.
To wash down the cyanide tablets.
I dont know why I expected us to catch a break and make a big jump in the draft for a franchise altering player. Oh yeah, we already had that gifted to us.
If you want to make yourself feel better – consider that if we hire a qualified GM – there is a decent chance that we land a better player at #12 than Vlade would have landed with an earlier draft pick.
Here’s Ujiri’s first round draft record:
+ 2011 Pick 22: Kenneth Faried
+ 2012 Pick 20: Evan Fournier
+ 2014 pick 20: Bruno Cabalo
+ 2015 pick 20: Delon Wright
+ 2016 pick 9: Jacob Poeltl
+ 2016 pick 27: Pascal Siakam
+ 2017 pick 23: OG Anunoby
Here’s Vlade’s lottery picks:
2015: Willie Cauley-Stein
2016: Georgios Papagiannis
2017: De’Aaron Fox
2018: Marvin Bagley
And that of course doesn’t include trading a lottery pick to free up cap space to sign Rondo or trading away from Mitchell and Bam in the lottery to draft JJ and Giles.
We need to hire the right GM / front office. But there’s a reason why tanking is a very overrated strategy (beyond a few games at the end of the season). Good GMs generally don’t need to and typically do not stay in the high lottery for very long. Meanwhile, bad GMs keep demonstrating why they are bad GMs.
Who’s Georgios Papagiannis?! Haha jk but please don’t remind us!
Bruno was picked 6 years ago. And he’s still two years away.
There aren’t any franchise altering players in this draft.
I’m not a draft connoisseur, but that just seems unlikely. Has there ever been a draft in which there wasn’t a single legitimate all-star caliber player? I guess I can see an argument that there’s no way to predict which player will ultimately be franchise altering, but that’s different obviously.
All Star and franchise altering are two different things.
DMC was an all star, and it could be perhaps argued (pun intended) that he was franchise altering, just not in a good way.
Hands down the closest modern draft to that is 2000.
The closest to a franchise altering player was Michael Redd at pick 43. Outside of that you could argue for Kenyon Martin, Hedo, or Mike Miller as the 2nd best player.
The draft produced 3 total all stars and one was Jamal Magloire in the East when the team had to have two “centers.” He averaged 14-10 with 1.4 blocks, a 47% FG, and 0.3 VORP that year.
Basically, it was epically bad. Even “bad” drafts in other years tend to be far, far above 2000.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_2000.html
2014 is looking pretty bad depending how “franchise altering” you see Embiid, at least until you get to Jokic, the 41st pick.
I guess we’d have to define what franchise altering means. There have been a number of All-Stars I would t call franchise altering. But yes, the better point is probably to say I don’t think there are any players that are, individually, a good bet to be a franchise altering talent. There ultimately will likely be good players that come
out of this draft, I just think they’re nearly as likely to come in the second round as they are to come in the top 5-10.
All Star voting is a popularity contest, and also flawed because it limits the number of players chosen for positions, so that for instance in a period with excellent guards, some big guy gets voted in due to a lack of flexibility.
Do you know that Rik Smits was a one time all star?
So although All Stars are usually pretty good players, plenty of them are not franchise altering.
By all star caliber I just meant top 30-40ish player in the league during their prime. There’s just not a great way of saying that. Basically someone about as good as we expect Fox to be. I guess I just think that’s a player that would alter the trajectory of this franchise.
And chances are there are at least a couple top-40 potential players in this draft. I just don’t think anybody has any idea who it’s going to be. I think it’s nearly as likely to be Desmond Bane (usually mocked in the 2nd round) as it is to be Edwards or Ball. So I don’t think jumping in this draft makes a team especially more likely to find them.
Yeah, the basketball gods only create and hand out so many Magics, Michaels, Birds, Kobes, LeBrons and Lukas … you sort of have to jump on it when you have the chance.
Here’s a fun game. Hypothesize on what Vlade would have done with this pick, and imagine what Dumars will do.
Mine: Vlade would trade the 12, Fox, and a like new Walt Williams Jersey for the #5 pick and a chance to pick Deni Avdija, only for him to be picked at 4.
Dumars: selects Jahmius Ramsey at 12, picks up another pick for Bjelica.
That isn’t fun.
You’re right. I should have prefaced it as, “Here’s a sad reality”.
“to add another key piece around De’Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley, and rest of the team’s core”
I don’t see Bagley as a “core” anything at this point, the new mgmt team will have no reason to treat him as anything other than a project as he was not their pick and they are not tied to him in anyway. I’m sure the new mgmt team will do the same as most Kings fans and hope Bagley can become a productive player at some point, but beyond that, he is not part of any core.
At this point in the off-season, I’m hoping that Jeffries is the starting PF next year slotted between Barnes (SF) and Holmes (C).
It’s semantics really. I agree that he’s not part of the core (yet). However he is a piece new management should keep around for now and see if they can drag anything good out him. The upside is to high for them to throw in the towel 2 weeks after getting the job.
I’d trade Holmes. He’s a backup center. Although he outperformed his contract, he was ironically the worst free agency signing of the offseason because he gave Luke Walton the option of not playing Giles. And all those memories of being schooled by the likes of Kenny Thomas come back to haunt Luke Walton and he benches Giles. We need playmakers.
Richaun Holmes was easily the Kings best post player. He outplayed Giles in every way. But people are still obsessed over what Giles could have been instead of what he is.
To be honest Giles will not be more than a 20minute a night guy. And even then he will Hurt your team due to his inability to play defense.
Because Giles is 22 with about a season’s worth of minutes under his belt. Why wouldn’t we and the team be more focused on what he could be rather than what he is. Again, why do people seem to keep talking about Giles like he’s a mid-career vet that’s taking up vital roster and cap space?
As for Holmes, he’s a great fringe starter rim-runner on a good deal. A team like the Kings (ie. one that is going to have to make a number of moves before they’re ready to compete) should absolutely be looking to sell high on a player like that.
If the Kings are honest with themselves they should be targeting the playoffs in 2022. As such all moves should be serving that end. Holmes will be a FA next offseason. Do you get a good return for him now since he’s a good role player on a good deal? Or do you end up committing too much money and years to hold onto another role player like we have with Hield and Barnes. Like Hield and Barnes, the Holmes archtype is a nice one to have, but it isn’t the one that’s going to make you a competitor. So, if he has value that can get you a better chance to acquire those impact players, then you trade him. Locking the team into a Fox, Hield/Bogdan, Barnes, Bagley/Bjelica, Holmes core for the next 3-4 years is locking the team into a fringe 8th seed competitor ceiling.
Two things I won’t accept until the bitter end:
i think it makes sense for Harry and the Kings if they bring him back on a one year deal, and trade Holmes. Then just see what you have next year with a front court rotation with Bagley starting at Center, and Bjelly, Giles and Parker (and Len if he’s cheap) in some sort of big man rotation.
Then just load up on wing defenders and/or secondary playmakers in the draft and Focus on development. The defense will probably be bad, but who cares they aren’t making the playoffs anyways. At least you can get a better idea if Giles can develop into a rangy big who’s a passable defender. If you couple that with his already elite passing for his size (and playing more within himself), then he’s almost a poor man’s Bam or Horford type center.
I just don’t see Giles getting the lateral quickness to defend anything like Bam or Horford. I really like watching the kid, but he’s gone.
Well, yeah. But he doesn’t have to defend like them to be useful/good. He just has to be something approaching average.
But, I agree. I think he’s gone and I’ve already prepared myself emotionally for that.
I predict The new Kings GM trading the pick along with some other players(Bogi, Hield, etc) to move into the Top 4.
All 3, Chicago, Cleveland, and Atlanta, are intriguing for that possibility. Particularly Chicago holds some intrigue. I could see them being interested in someone like Bogi and there are pieces there that could work. With their pick, I could see us going for any of Avdija, Halliburton, Wiseman, or Okongwu.
Bogi’s a restricted free agent. Free agency starts after the draft, and Bogi has the freedom to negotiate with any team. A trade could happen, but it would not be on draft day. That means the team that’s interested would not draft a player on our behalf.
I’m still thinking the best way to get value from Bogdan is probably to match his likely COVID-depressed deal, and hold onto him at least until the next deadline.
That’s why I’m more in the “Trade Buddy” camp. Not that I don’t enjoy watching him shoot, but he can get us the best value in return.
if any of these teams hire Vlade in their FO I bet some types of dumb deals like these could be done
Vlade will never have decision-making power in the league again.
Breaking: After a thorough search, Vivek and Dumars have decided to rehire Vlade Divac as GM of the Sacramento Kings.
our job is not to please other teams. Please stop talking about Bogi like a commodity.
He is a commodity.
If he is, we got no-one to replace him. his name should not be tossed around in trade ideas. This is not baseball.
I like Bogi. He seems like a good guy, and he knows how to play basketball. He is no where near the caliber of player who should have a virtual no trade clause.
We don’t have to have his replacement on the roster now. This team is going to turning over a lot players before it’s good. If Bogdan is one of them, so be it.
He’s a starting two guard on a 30 win team who averaged 15 points 3 assists and 3 boards. He’s in back half of his twenties, and he’s not a lockdown defender or an outstanding shooter/scorer. He is most definitely replaceable. If they can get him at a reasonable price I’m all for it but if he’s trying to get Buddy money that is a hard pass.
Why do you hate Bogi? Let him go to the Spurs and get a couple six man of the year awards. No player deserves to spend their whole career in this cesspit.
Also, considering what other teams would want if how you actually get deals done. Nobody’s going to make a deal they don’t think benefits their team.
I understand what you are saying. I just think it’s better as a general rule not to try to solve other team’s problems, not to suggest trading players we want to keep. If you actually want to trade someone, fine, but I think we all like Bogi, we all think he has at least 3 peak years left, we all think he fits in Sacramento, and we all want to see him in a Kings uniform next year. Therefore, we don’t toss his name out like something we’re giving away in a McDonald’s meal deal.
Not a Bogi fan at this point. Can’t defend, and seems to believe that he is a better player than he is, resulting in erratic shot selection and ball handling. Can help another team where he understands his limited role, but will not accept such a role here, and, in any event, the team cannot be successful building around a group of players as defensively inadequate as Bogi, Hield, Bagley and Fox.
Sadly, Bogdan may be the best defender on that list. Eventually Fox should be.
Obviously you don’t trade him unless you think it helps the team in the long run.
I just don’t see it. Maybe if they’re willing to give up a future pick. Otherwise, they don’t have enough to move up unless they’re willing to give up Fox or Bagley.
There might be a way to do a trade with Charlotte that includes Buddy + #12 for the #3 pick plus a bunch of Charlotte’s bloated contracts. I’m just not smart enough to figure out the PPP, and I never know what a fair trade looks like.
I don’t think top 4, but if someone we liked such as Halliburton slides to 7-8, I do wonder if we could package the #12 and something reasonable to move up 4-5 picks.
Would 12 + Holmes + two 2nds for #7 + mediocre contract get it done?
I would much rather buck the trend of previous regimes and draft a wing player instead of another guard/big. Especially in a weak draft where we’re looking for diamonds in the rough.
If we’re going to trade into the 7-9 I’d rather take someone like Okoro or Vassell, or Avdija if he slips that far. Or the Kings can just hope Nesmith or Bey fall to 12. Attaching a minor asset like Holmes to the 12th pick should get the Kings into that range.
Unofficial measurements:
Haliburton – 6’5, 6’11 wingspan
Okoro – 6’6, 6’8.5 wingspan
Vassell – 6’6, 6’9.5 wingspan
Thanks for this. Haliburton is long. He has the potential to play 3 positions.
if he fills out a bit, sure.
He definitely needs to fill out. I’m just pointing out that Okoro and Vassell aren’t really ideal wing sized. They’re essentially Bogdan sized. And we’re constantly complaining about him being undersized as a SF. We may be able to think of Okoro’s strength allowing his size to play up (ala Jimmy Butler), but it’s certainly not ideal. They all kinda depend on what type of SF is across from them.
Well I guess SGA is 6’6, 180, 6’10.5″ wingspan and he doesn’t really struggle to play 2-3 positions. I’m probably overthinking the weight difference.
And I shouldn’t be complaining about the Kings actually adding secondary playmakers for once.
I mean, personally, I rate those guys all pretty similarly. On ceiling, I’d probably go Okoro, Haliburton, Vassell. On floor, I’d probably reverse it. Maybe I’d put Haliburton’s floor above Vassell’s but it would be close enough I wouldn’t argue about it.
Overall, I’m still more a fan of trying to trade back and/or out than up. But I think there are valid arguments all around.
I agree about trading down or out, or keeping the pick. I just think if our new front office is enamored with one of those, it would be relatively easy to trade up to 7-9 and grab that player.
Agreed.
Trade Buddy, Bagley, and maybe a future first for Minny’s pick.
Anthony Edwards does not worth so much……
I agree. He was good in ER, but not great. Also no guarantee he’ll reach the level he reached in “Top Gun”.
You forgot one:
Ok fine. Buddy and Bagley to Minny for the 1st pick.
Fox and Edwards sounds nice. Edwards could be Donovan Mitchell 2.0
We make up for the mistake of not taking Donovan in the first place!
Buddy, our pick at 12, a future pick for Culver and the 2.
They have a younger, better Buddy in Malik Beasley. Not gonna happen
Yeah. I don’t see the Wolves being interested in Buddy. Nor the Bulls. In the top 5 only Charlotte and Cleveland are logical fits for Buddy. They both currently have two PG/combo guards that don’t fit all that well together.
Does Malik lead in the top 3, 3-PT made in the last few years, or is he even in the top 20? James Harden made 299, followed by Buddy with 271, then Damian Lilard. It is interesting to see that Ben McLemore is 12th with 181 and JJ Redick just trails him. Donovan Mitchell is tied with Fournier at 18th.
Jason Tatum is 10th with 189. What you would think is real by rhetoric and stats are sometimes surprising. If you have a player with such a skill in shooting, you’d make him a ball handler and harp on the weakest skill in your trade comments.
The Rest of the one sided trade ideas are obviously just being funny.
Yeah, Buddy has been getting more playing time longer than Beasley because he’s been on worse teams. So he’s taken (and made) a lot more 3s. Beasley’s per 100 numbers are close to Hield’s and since he started getting Hield minutes (because he moved to a bad team) he’s been shooting and making just as many at a Hield level clip.
Ultimately, they do the same thing, at an easily similar enough clip and thus offering roughly the same benefit to an offense to justify the Wolves thinking they don’t have to pay for Hield to do it.
I’d be more interested in trading Buddy and Bagley elsewhere and looking at our 12 for MIN’s 17, 33 and more.
If I were MIN, I might look to trade down a few picks and get more. Edwards is a pretty good fit for them, but Okongwu is tailor made to play next to KAT. I may give a call to CHA to see if I could build something around #3, a future pick, and Rozier for #1 and Johnson (expiring).
Shit-canning Vlade and Peja used up all our luck for a 7-day period. But I’m OK with that trade-off.
This pretty much guarantees the Kings will be the worst team in the West next year. Go get a GM who knows how to draft and nail the next 3 lottery picks to give us a chance to compete in the 2020’s.
Thought the exact same thing. Towns, Russell and #1 pick is superior to the Kings in every way. We will be a top 6 pick in 2021.
Honestly? I’m fine with that. It’s a deep draft and we’re not headed anywhere as constructed today. Keep Fox, if he’ll stay, and see what Bagley can do, if healthy. Ride out the Barnes contract until he can be packaged for some relief. Give Jeffries more minutes. Deal Buddy ASAP. Try to find a S&T for Bogi and a trade this summer for Bjelica. Grab a little relief next summer with the ending deals for Joseph, Parker, and any others acquired. Draft well.
I was talking aloud I suppose. I agree with all that you said. Although I’d rather keep Buddy and use him more properly. I’d like to see Len brought back on a short term deal too. I think he can be a trade asset if done properly.
Len is a backup center, and having him on the roster would give the coach an option to not play Giles. We want Giles on the court. By the way, did you see how James Harden looked like an all-nba defensive team selection when he shut down Len and discouraged him from playing in the paint?
I don’t mind bringing Len back on a cheap deal, but I think bigs like him are about as replacement-level as it gets.
I wouldn’t want to commit much money or lock him into a long deal. If he gets a better offer, we should be able to replace his handful of minutes and role (bigger body banger, sceener) for dirt cheap.
Yeah, there’s no reason to pay guys like Len or Baze real money. Perhaps a small familiarity bonus, but in general you can fill those roles for something close to the min.
I’m sure my affection for Kyle O’Quinn, for example, is well-established.
And their pick next year goes to GSW (top 3 protected), so they will not be tanking.
I’m hoping the Kings draft 1 of these 3…but the biggest pick of the next few years is who will be the GM and what is his vision.
Tank for 2021
I am all in for tanking…….
Like others said, give all playing time to Jeffries, J. Parker…..Giles (If he stays)
Seeing the growth of the above players…
That’s would still be a fun season
I think the only growth capability Parker has left is around the middle.
my brain can somehow imagine a future Kings frontcourt of Parker and Giles functioning correctly (somewhat). The Duke ACL bros. giving up 120 points, but scoring 125.
Did I mention I decided to have beers prior to the draft lottery?
Not sure how much fun there will be if Lose Alton still coaching this team come 2021
Okoro!!!
I’m hoping they draft Tillman and show that defense helps the team more than another scorer.
I like Tillman with our 2nd rounder, might have to move up to the last first rd picks.
It would be a shame to miss out. I don’t think 35 would do it.
Among the 3 items below, most long term impact on the Kings: (1) the Kings taking the time and spending the money to smartly hire a really good GM; (2) should that fail to happen, Kings fans voting with their wallets and sending Vivek packing over several year; and a distant (3) this draft.
A bit off-topic…
If Bagley (2018 draft version) was in this year’s draft…
Which spot will he projected to be landed ? (Top 5 or even Top 3 ?)
Easily top 3, probably 1 or 2.
wow…then that’s really imply this is a pretty weak draft….
There are two strong players who could be great: Edwards and Ball. There are two complete wildcards with big potential, but several unknowns (Avdija, Wiseman), and another few who have the intangibles that have made guys like Ja Morant, Bam, and Booker stand out (Toppin, Halliburton, Okwongyu). But there are not multiple near-certain potential perennial All Stars here, which is what Bagley’s class had. While the jury is still soundly out on him, he was easily and solidly seen among that cadre for his draft.
Here’s an even more fun question … if 2018 were re-drafted, would Bagley go higher than 12?
I’d probably say 8 or 9. Somewhere in there. It would play out this way, in my opinion:
1. Luka
2. Trae
3. Ayton
4. JJJ
5. Porter
6. Bridges
7. Carter
8. Bagley
He still has potential, and when he did stay on the court during year one there was real talent on display. We’ve seen him about 4 times since, and therein lies the problem.