Sacramento Kings: What Should They Do With Their Draft Pick?

By Nick Avila | May 9, 2015

The Sacramento Kings haven’t had much luck in the NBA Draft Lottery in their 30 years of existence. In fact, if they hadn’t had terrible luck in the draft, they’d have had no luck at all. In 20 of their 30 seasons in Sacramento, Kings failed to make playoffs — which means they’ve been in the lottery two-thirds of their time in Northern California.

More from Sacramento Kings

But the event that perhaps, best epitomizes the Kings’ rotten luck in the lottery came in 2009 when the Kings had the NBA’s worst overall record, thus, the best chance to win the lottery.

However, in an almost comical way, the Kings dropped as many spots as they possibly could have, ending with the fourth pick in the draft, With that pick, the Kings selected Tyreke Evans, who would win Rookie of the Year, but, Blake Griffin was the first overall selection that season.

So, with that sort of history behind them, most expect that the Kings will end up with the sixth pick in the upcoming draft, rather than making any kind of leap into the top-three.

The Kings have gone from having teams who showed some promise before the start of the season, to having lackluster rosters filled with “me first” type of players who have contributed to Sacramento losing 50-plus games by season’s end.

What can the Kings do with their first-round draft pick this season? Should they add another young player in a stacked draft class? Or, should they try to snag themselves a coveted veteran by using the pick as trade bait?

This all boils down to one question: Should the Kings keep or trade the pick?

ARGUMENT TO KEEP THE PICK:

The Kings have a ways to go before they can get into any serious type of playoff conversation. The Kings have a solid foundation in DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay, who’s played some of the best basketball of his career in Sacramento.

The Kings will also have Darren Collison returning to the fold after missing 37 games last season. While playing career high minutes, Collison impressed by averaging a career high 16 points and almost six assists per game. He also shot at a productive .473% from the field, according to Basketball Reference.

The team would also have a pair of shooters in Ben McLemore and Nik Stauskas getting more time under their belt. McLemore made some strides in his sophomore season and definitely showed some of the potential that many saw while he played for Kansas.

Stauskas looked uncomfortable at times, but as the season progressed he also seemed to find more of a rhythm and had a good flow with the team.

The biggest improvement of any player though, had to come from Ray McCallum who took over the point guard position when Collison went down. McCallum averaged 11 points, four assists and almost four rebounds as a starter for Sacramento.

According to several mock drafts, the Kings would seem to have a solid chance at landing Willie Cauley-Stein of Kentucky or, a less publicized player in, Kristaps Porzingis of Latvia.

The seven-footer, Cauley Stein, was the heavy focus of many scouts, due to his outstanding athleticism and his skills as a rim protector. While he isn’t much of an offensive threat, he could easily be used like a DeAndre Jordan type of player on pick and rolls and back-screens for easy alley-oops.

His wingspan (7’2″ according to nbadraft.net) is an amazing asset to his game and would offer Cousins some help on the interior, something he rarely got with Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, etc..

While DRtg isn’t something that should define a player, especially in college, Cauley Stein’s 80 DRtg per-100 possessions is outstanding. Also, while at Kentucky, his 6 WS (win shares) was second only to Karl-Anthony Towns, whom some have as the top prospect in the draft. Cauley Stein also runs the floor exceptionally well for a big man.

“Many NBA scouts and executives feel the 7-footer is the most gifted international player to come along in the past five years.”

The lesser known player, Porzingis, is also somewhat of a phenomenon. Standing 6’11”, he’s a completely different player than Cauley-Stein, but the type of player the Kings desperately need — a good stretch-4.

Porzingis is high on some scouts’ radar and ESPN’s Chad Ford even says “Many NBA scouts and executives feel the 7-footer is the most gifted international player to come along in the past five years.”

That’s saying quite a bit with players like Nikola Mirotic, Rudy Gobert, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Vucevic joining the league in the past few years. But, that just shows you how highly touted Porzingis is.

He’s not a stellar rebounder for his height, but he can do more things Kings need, like stretch defenses with his jump-shot. He also defends well, whether it be in the post or the top of the key. Additionally, given his height, he’s also a solid ballhandler according to reports.

If paired together, he and Cousins could bring back a lot of the Chris Webber–Vlade Divac, high-low memories back to Kings’ fans, and that’s definitely saying something.

ARGUMENT TO TRADE THE PICK:

The Kings haven’t had an overwhelming amount of success in the recent drafts and that’s somewhat scary with the type of talent that has come into the league. This of course, begs the question — Why should Sacramento continue to risk draft picks on a young players who may not develop when they can get a known, and proven, veteran with that pick?

Good question.

The Kings have been rumored to want Ty Lawson, due to his past with George Karl as well as his known intentions of wanting out of Denver. Lawson would be an upgrade over Collison but what would the price tag be and more importantly, would he be worth it? The Nuggets wanted too much for Lawson at last season’s trade deadline and nobody was buying, which is why they had no choice but to keep the disgruntled guard.

Lawson running a familiar system with talent like Cousins, Gay, and McLemore around him does sound very appealing and potentially explosive. But you also have to ask if he’s worth the team’s first round draft pick when they already have an experienced guard in Collison, as well as a 23-year old backup in McCallum, who’s shown some signs of leadership as well as above average talent.

If the Kings can get Lawson with a player like Wilson Chandler or Danilo Gallinari, does that make the deal more appealing? Of course. Gallinari had a down season in 2014-15, but he’s only 26-years old. He has shown that he’s capable of hitting shots and he’d be a solid addition to a Kings team who is probably losing their backup small forward in Derrick Williams.

Gallinari would also be an upgrade to Omri Casspi who sometimes played backup for the team.

More from Golden Gate Sports

The athletic Chandler would also be a nice compliment for the Kings. He could even be seen as a more controlled Williams. He’s been an off-and-on shooter in his career, though, so that’s a knock. The Kings definitely need shooters who can put the ball through the hoop.

Another rumor that’s been floating around is the potential Kings-Bucks swap of first-round picks. It’s being rumored that in exchange for swapping picks, the Kings will also receive power forward/center John Henson.

Henson has been seen as a troublemaker by some, but at 24 he’s definitely got a ton of upside. His per-36 career averages are a nice 15 points and 10 rebounds, but he’s only averaged 19 minutes per game in his career.

He’s a force on the defensive end, especially last season when he had a 98 DRtg and averaged a career high two blocks per-game in 18 minutes. Pairing him with Cousins is also something that looks nice on paper. It would be a tough, physical front court that would absolutely bully other bigs.

There’s plenty to think about for the Kings that goes much deeper than just what to do with a draft pick. It could be interesting to see how many new faces the 2015-16 Kings will be putting on the floor. Sacramento desperately needs a turnaround season soon, or they could end up having to build around a new star once again in a few years — since they’ll surely be in the lottery and in a position to take one.

Next: Sacramento Kings Podcast: Reviewing The Kings Season & Expectations For The Offseason

Home/Sacramento Kings