Sacramento Kings: Previewing The 2015 NBA Draft

The Sacramento Kings, somehow, didn’t get the short-end of the stick when it came to the 2015 NBA Draft Lottery this week.

Entering Tuesday’s lottery, the Kings had a 6.3% chance to get the #1 overall pick. While unlikely, the Cleveland Cavaliers have proved in recent years just how lucky one team can get come lottery time.

Any long-time supporter of the Kings will tell you, that the odds mean nothing when it comes to Sacramento. Year after year, for over a decade, no matter the odds, the people of Sacramento get their hopes crushed.

The team not only typically loses out on the top overall pick, but actually falls down the draft order, with other teams with even lower odds leap-frogging them.

This is why, thankfully, nothing happened in the draft lottery. They had the sixth-best odds, and finished sixth. No news is good news for this team when it comes to the draft lottery.

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Picking sixth in the 2015 NBA Draft likely means the clear-cut top picks will not be available. The likes of Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor, and D’Angelo Russell are favorites to go in the top three, but from there, a lot more wiggle-room and options exist.

The New York Knicks pick fourth, and no one really knows what goes on in the zen-master Phil Jackson‘s mind. He is just as likely to trade the pick for the ancient body of Kobe Bryant as he is to draft a solid player.

Next is the Orlando Magic, who have a lot of young weapons already, and could be looking for just about any position to bolster their rebuilding roster.

So, by the time it gets to the sixth pick and Sacramento is on the clock, there is little certainty that any one player will be available. Assuming he is still there, the Kings would likely be best off drafting the other exciting big-man out of Kentucky this year, Willie Cauley-Stein.

The man known as WCS, or “Trill” by teammates and his official government records, is a 7’0″, 242-pound Center from Olathe, Kansas. A three-year player for the Kentucky Wildcats, he has shown incredible talent and athleticism on the court.

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Cauley-Stein certainly has the intangibles, playing Tight-End for his high school football team, in addition to being an amazingly athletic basketball player. He was named SEC-Defensive Player of the Year this past season, in addition to being named a First Team All-American.

The Kings desperately need help on defense, as it was often Demarcus Cousins left to stop the big men and the attacking guards of opposing teams. Cauley-Stein would provide Cousins with the opportunity to play at the Power-Forward spot, and face much smaller opponents (Josh Smith is much more manageable to stop than, say, Dwight Howard).

This would provide the often frustrated Cousins a bit of a break, as he wouldn’t be the only one defending the big men and boxing out on the boards. By providing Cousins with a fellow Kentucky alum, and fellow defensive big man, this would have to appease him and make his job more enjoyable, and less stressful.

Fans were worried that Cousins would demand a trade, or possibly be traded by management before any request was made. This tension seemed to be eased by new man-in-charge, Vlade Divac, on the night of the draft lottery:

Given this direct support of Cousins, the team would be pretty sneaky and/or pretty crazy to trade him. Given that this (thankfully) is not the Maloof-era any longer, it seems safe to say that alienating the fan base and the star player(s) won’t be happening in this decade.

This is proof that the team wants to continue to add to the young talent around Boogie, and continue to elevate the status of the team as they prepare to move to their fancy new downtown area in 2016.

The Kings seem primed for a big 2015, with a full offseason of coach George Karl, a committment to the star player, and a top-ten draft pick poised to bring a lot to the team.

Next: How Can the Kings Become Relevant Once Again?