2019 NBA Draft: Sacramento Kings fill needs in final mock draft
By Justin Fried
![DAYTON, OHIO - MARCH 20: Shamorie Ponds #2 of the St. John's Red Storm handles the ball against Remy Martin #1 of the Arizona State Sun Devils during the second half in the First Four of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 20, 2019 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) DAYTON, OHIO - MARCH 20: Shamorie Ponds #2 of the St. John's Red Storm handles the ball against Remy Martin #1 of the Arizona State Sun Devils during the second half in the First Four of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 20, 2019 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/761074b3f081eb152dfb5db9384599826a61e2985fbdeb54a7baff4254f13ab4.jpg)
Round 2, Pick 47 — PG Shamorie Ponds (St. John’s)
After filling their hole at center, the Kings could switch their attention to their backcourt and try and fill the vacancy at backup point guard. St. John’s Shamorie Ponds represents an intriguing option to fill that role.
Ponds is an offensive-minded scoring threat who excels at both creating his own shots and shooting off the dribble. He’s extremely impressive as a shooter but his playmaking is something that’s improved immensely throughout his college career as well.
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At the same time, Ponds has a tendency to be a shoot-first type of point guard which isn’t always advantageous to his team — especially when he gets on one of his many cold streaks. His basketball IQ is still a work in progress and he could sometimes get a bit too aggressive on defense.
However, some of that aggressiveness turns into steals as his 2.6 steals per game ranked first out of all players in the Big East and ranked ninth nationally.
Teams will overlook him due to his size (6-foot-1) and boneheaded mistakes from time to time, but his speed and shooting ability would make him a great fit coming off the bench for the Kings. Ponds’ size and shooting ability are reminiscent of Golden State Warriors point guard Quinn Cook and he could likely fill a similar role with Sacramento.
It’s hard to argue with the upside of this pick if Ponds is available at No. 47 overall.