With 54% of the vote, Scottie Barnes got the 5th spot on the Kings Herald Draft Board. He joins Jalen Suggs, Jalen Green, Evan Mobley and Cade Cunningham.
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 Monte McNair 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.
This poll ends at 7 AM tomorrow. The next one will begin shortly after. We will go roughly 20 picks deep.
Akis is purposely taunting me at this point. I have Moses Moody over Jonathan Kuminga, Alperen Sengun, Davion Mitchell, James Bouknight, and Keon Johnson.
Moody seems like the guy who would win in a run-off election. Few people are going crazy over him but no-one crossing him off the list. Not an all-star but a projected starter in the league. Not getting our #1 votes but not polarizing either, so at the end his name is the one everyone at the table can agree on.
I have Wagner above everyone except Kuminga (& I also have him above Moody).
Moody will be a steal at #9.
I still need some convincing on Wagner. Seems like you can shut him down with your worst defender just by forcing him left.
Wagner & Moody seem to have a lot of similarities to me. It seems like the biggest differences are Wagner’s playmaking & Moody’s wingspan. Wagner has enough size & length that I think his playmaking puts him above Moody.
This is pretty much where I land. I think Moody has more potential than Wagner, but I just think Wagner’s length, defense, playmaking, and rebounding make him so easy to fit into any team and any system. Moody is more of a bet that his wingspan will make him a plus defender, and he also has more scoring upside. If he develops he’ll be better than Wagner, but if they both continue on a similar path Wagner will be a jack of all trades guy on a very good team, and Moody will be a lifetime 3&D type. Would be happy with either.
I’m there too. This is why I think this draft isn’t great. Beyond the top three or four, it’s kind of a crap shoot. I’d take Moody or a handful of other guys ahead of anyone on the list shown.
C’mon Akis! Open up that range of candidates. It is not so clear cut after the top 4.
We know Bryant wants Moody on the list. Who else do you want to see added?
Giddey, Wagner, and maybe Jalen Johnson are a few names I would pick
I do think we are getting to the point where Moody, Giddey, Wagner, and a couple of others are coming into play. I think even just adding an “other” option works just as well. Thanks GW.
Wagner, Z. Williams
I’ve been out of town and doing this on my phone for the most part the last few, but I’ll add an “other” option tomorrow as well.
On a trip with Carl, eh?
Maybe other, fill in would be good at this point.
Bouknight. Please add Moody next time
I’m in a bit of a Moody, feeling kinda Giddy. Barnes could be the steal of the draft, Bouknight it!
Kuminga again BPA not even angry that Barnes went last pick. These two are similar if not exact value when it comes to purely BPA.
Is anyone else kind of liking the potential for what might be available at #9? Assuming we stay pat and keep this pick where it’s at, this will be a real test of McNair and the FO assessing talent because I like a lot of what could be at 9. Sengun, Bouknight, Wagner, Kai Jones, Keon, Jalen Johnson, Moody, Giddey, even Ziaire Williams.
There will be an all star where we pick or after, on Mcnair to identify that player.
I haven’t been impressed with Mcnair in terms of FA and trades, but he has the benefit of the doubt after the Hali pick when it comes to the draft.
I think that you’re suggesting to every draft has had guys drafted nine or later that later became all-stars, and that they are simply ripe for the plucking.
Without doing any research whatsoever, I’m going to suggest that you’re wrong.
2008: Brook Lopez (10)
2009: DeMar Derozan (9)
2010: Paul George (10)
2011: Klay Thompson (11)
2012: Draymond Green (35)
2013: CJ McCollum (10)
2014: Zach LaVine (13)
2015: Devin Booker (13)
2016: Domantas Sabonis (11)
2017: Donovan Mitchell (13)
2018: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (11) – He was snubbed this year.
I stopped there, because the 2019 players haven’t necessarily had a chance to establish themselves yet.
I think Booker made it last year as an injury replacement.
You’re right! I edited that bit out.
It’s not every draft, but my compliments for the work digging all of that up. I’m jealous of your free time during business hours.
An all star caliber player isn’t saying much. The NBA has had tons of all star players selected outside the top ten, I don’t know what’s so outlandish about that statement.
Just look at how many players we passed up over the last 15 years that were drafted after where we always pick (6-9 range) that made all star teams.
Feel free to look up draft results from the last 15 years.
I mean Sims statement that there isn’t an All star nearly every year selected after the Kings isn’t accurate…but I think the general gist that it’s not that common is fair. I just went back from 2012-2017. 2018 and on was too recent and seemed like decent enough sample. In those 6 drafts, 11 All Stars were selected after the Kings pick. Out of 136 selections.
So the first round hit rate of an All Star picking after the Kings is 8%.
So they aren’t exactly falling from trees and it’s not at all easy to do. Blind luck you would think the Kings might have found one of those though. Especially selecting in the top half of the draft.
I think both premises can be somewhat true for the past Kings draft scenarios.
NONE OF THE ABOVE DAMMIT.
But okay fine, Kuminga
The choices are getting more cloudy for me at this point. I think this is where the actual draft may begin to see some surprises. That being said, I’m going with Kuminga because I know about as much as Rob Hessing.
Gotta be Bouknight. I also just performed a little thought experiment where I tried to foresee the ‘redraft’ that analysts like to do a couple years after each class comes out. By this, I mean I tried to select the players based purely on if they all reached their ceilings, who are the guys we’ll all one day say to ourselves “I can’t believe Player X slipped to Pick Y” (essentially a measure of highest potential). Here is my best guess at the future redraft of the ’21 lottery:
After this experiment, I’ve found myself mostly believing that at #9 the Kings can’t afford to NOT take a homerun swing on this top 10 of players, even if they may strike out.
I don’t anticipate Barnes being available at 9, but I’d be ecstatic if this happened. 🙂
Yeah this isn’t a mock draft nor a big board, just a best guess at who the guys most likely to be the Kawhis, Giannises, Stephs, etc. who slip to the mid-late first round and end up being the best player in their respective draft.
I’m coming around to the view that whoever of that Top 9 is available is who the Kings should pick. This team needs top tier talent and you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take by going the safe route with a Wagner, Moody, etc.
Why are you so high on Mann?
I watch his play and see a shiftiness ala Steph, Trae, or Harden. He’s slight but he is so agile and has such incredible angles when he makes a cut at 6’5″ that I can’t help but think when he’s 23 and had a few years of an NBA weight program he’s gonna make us all look really silly back here in 2021. I buy his handles and 3 level scoring potential and think he’ll be a great combo next to a more apt facilitator like Fox or Hali, and eventually be an average to even plus defender. If he can improve his playmaking he could really be special.
I think you have to go with Kuminga at this point. Keon Johnson gets listed as a wing, but he’s too small to handle NBA wings, despite his excellent defense and athleticism. The rest are guards, so JK is the pick.
I consider Kuminga the BPA since it seems like he should at least be a solid defender & he has a lot of potential. I’d like to see Wagner added to the choices.
OT:
BabyG posited this trade on Twitter.
I think Buddy would be a snug fit spacing the floor with Zion.
From our perspective it all depends on how high you are on Lonzo. I’m not a big fan of his, and he’d be kind of redundant with Fox and Hali. Adams although vastly overpaid is kind of what this teams needs, and he’d instantly become a fan favorite.
Of course we also get rod of Bagley which is a plus.
It’s an interesting trade idea, I don’t hate the trade but I think there will be better S&T options.
SAC
In: Ball ($18M), Adams ($17M), Gabriel ($1.7M)
Out: Hield ($23M), Bagley ($11M)
Total in: $34.7M
Total out: $34M
NOP
In: Hield ($23M), Bagley ($11M)
Out: Ball ($11M), Adams ($17M)
Gabriel ($1.7M)
Total In: $34M
Total Out: $28.7M
I would do that trade. Is Ball an RFA? That might complicate things.
So you think Fox, Hali and Ball playing the 1, 2 and 3 spots together would work? I haven’t really seen Ball, curious how his game would fit with those two.
I think they would make a good 3 guard rotation and playing together would be fine. Lonzo is bigger and plays solid defense, can play off the ball (no pun intended). I don’t think he would want to play in Sac though.
Having a presence like Adams under the rim and Ball on the wing would really stiffen up the defense on this team. Get a future piece in the 3 guard rotation for the price of two players we have no idea what to do with and who don’t want to be here? Easy. Not to mention getting Buddy’s contract off the books.
I would def like the defense aspect of this trade. Throw in a player that can play some D with our 9th pick and we can see marked improvement. Plus,
subtracting Buddy and Bagley would automatically improve the D.
Yeah. Someone like Moody, or Jalen Johnson (he scares me a bit though) could add to this team with Ball and Adams.
Fingers crossed, I won’t hold my breath though
Yes. Yes I do.
Rumors say the Pels won’t match. Something to consider.
If you’re (not you specifically) convinced that Lonzo is your full-time wing capable of occasionally covering SF & PF for the next several years, and that his three-point shooting can remain around league-average or improve, then maybe you want to get in on it.
I see a guy who still misses a chunk of games each season, and that makes me hesitant to consider a nine-figure deal, which isn’t out of the question once the market opens.
In a heartbeat. Dumps 2 malcontents, brings in an enforcer, could flip Ball for something else.
I’ve long had a secret crush on Adams. I’d love him on the Kings just for the post game interviews and off the court humor. I’d also love the toughness.
I think that Kuminga is now being undervalued. I take him here (at 5, actually) and moving forward.
Shhhh keep cooling the Kuminga stock until it manifests as him falling to us at #9
Kuminga. Good defender with length at the 3, a ton of potential, if he can develop a shot he could be one of the best players available in the draft.
Moody meant every word of his initial stupid tweet, just didn’t like the backlash he likely got from that and his agent
Hes a mediocre prospect anyways
Even without studying this draft, and watching only a few videos in our range, Jalen Johnson is a better prospect if wing role players are on tap
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