An attempt to explain the Kings questionable pick

 After yesterday’s draft, I’m sure Kings fans left and right are critisizing their team for selecting Nick Stauskas over Noah Vonleh. When I head Stauskas’s name called with the 8th pick over Vonleh, I admit it, I was shocked. I thought no doubt, Kings have to select Vonleh. Then in reaction to me be dumbfounded I said to myself, "Well that was a bad pick." 

Now that a day has passed since that questionable pick, I’ve had time to think about it. I’ve also read an analytics report from one of the posters on this site on Vonleh. (I can’t remember who it was, and I don’t care to look who it was right now) but any way shout out to that person. Let me just tell you that the numbers weren’t good. (I explain later what I mean). But since then, I have had some time to think about the pick, and I think I have come up with a reason why the Kings pick Stauskas over Vonleh.

First off let me preface this by saying, I am not a Kings fan. I am a diehard Jazz fan, but as a fan of the game of basketball and the NBA, I also like to dissect a team, and figure why they make the decisions they do, and offer some constructive criticism with an unbiased viewpoint. In other words I also like to take another team’s situation and view their decisions from that viewpoint. This topic is exactly an illustration of that.

First let’s at the Kings starting lineup before the pick was made in other words their starting lineup when the Kings were on the clock. Thomas, McLemore, Gay, D. Williams, Cousins. That’s a very young starting lineup. The oldest being Rudy gay who has made a name for himself in Sacramento. Before he was someone who teams were a lot better off with out. They were great with him, but even greater without him, once he was traded. This is now Gay’s third team. And so far he has changed his value to an organization but that besides the point, good for him. Bottom line this lineup is young with a very good veteran piece in Rudy Gay, who is helping the development of the rest of the team. It is also a complete team, there are no positional holes. Most of them are young and still have a lot of room to develop, so if you look at it from that viewpoint in all reality all the Kings really needed with the pick was just some minor holes here and there to fill. Fixable in a draft. (especially with as deep of a draft as 2014 was) So just what is that hole (or holes)? Well, looking at the backcourt and wings you have Thomas, McLemore and Gay. Gay and Thomas are really the only shooters in that team. The Kings selected McLemore last year because they believed he was a better shooter. I still think the jury is out on McLemore but in all reality if this team is almost there (to the playoffs as a low seed with promise) then you really just have to look at McLemore’s shooting and decide whether or not he is a good shooter right now and disregard all the potential he may have. I think we can all agree that he is not a good shooter right now but a developing shooter. Ideally you want to have a team where all wings (PG, SG, and SF) can shoot from any where on the court. So now we know that one of the Kings needs before the 8th pick was some definite shooting. 

Now lets look at their front court. Cousins and D. Williams. Cousins is a great post guy, but not too much defense. He is the anchor of this team in the post while Gay is the anchor on the wings. No problems with him, just his attitude and maturity level but that’s another argument entirely. I don’t think we can count out Derrick Williams quite yet. True, he didn’t have a great season this year, but he just came from the Wolves midseason. The Wolves, that was team that drafted him. A team that we all know is horrible at developing young talent. They selected Williams back in 2011 when they already had Kevin Love. They selected him thinking he could play the 3 too, but they were dead wrong. Consequently, Williams was forced to develop behind Love. Well, of course that never worked out. We all know that a young player needs time to develop, time try things out, and adjust, but they can’t do that if they are stuck behind a great PF, who they are never going to surpass. I’m not saying that Williams is not a good player and we should all give up hope on him, I’m saying that he was forced to try new things, adjust and develop behind a great PF, and it obviously did not work out for him. We all know what a difference a change in scenery can make for a player (especially a young one like Derrick Williams) Next season will be his first full year on a different team. So let’s suspend judgement for now. There is still some hope in Derrick Williams. He’s young, he’ll figure it out. (I hope) So the Kings must have some a lot of faith in Williams, and kudos to them for having that faith. You have to if you want your players to develop. Maybe he’s not what we all thought he would be in the future, but he can still play. Remember when he was on the Wolves, and Love was hurt. Williams started in his place, and played quite well. He had some pretty good numbers, then once Love came back he disappeared again because he was stuck behind a great PF, and couldn’t play the SF alongside him. Then when he was first traded to the Kings before Gay got there, he was forced to start at the 4, and he played quite well. Not very many wins but still the numbers were nice. Then once Gay was traded to them, he disappeared again. I think the reason why he disappeared is because now that he is with a new team, he has to learn how to play team basketball. He can no longer lead a team to victory like he was asked to do so at Arizona in his college days. He has never had the chance to learn the team concept. He couldn’t do so with the Wolves, because they can’t develop players period. (I feel kind of bad for Zach LaVine and Shabazz Muhammed) So now he has to learn to do so with the Kings. I think he will learn how to do that. They look to be a better run organization than the Wolves. Again, maybe he’s not the player we all thought he was coming out of the 2011 draft, but he’s still not a player. He’s just young and needs more time to develop a team game. I hope he will benefit from a change of scenary.

To continue with that, let’s now look at Derrick Williams vs who most of us think the Kings should have selected Noah Vonleh. Since Williams is still young and needs to develop a team game, lets assume that the Kings think the world of Derrick Williams and think he will be a great PF. If you just look at Derrick Williams right now compared to Noah Vonleh, I think we can all agree that Williams is better than Vonleh. Vonleh is a project, and needs some time to develop. (I like Vonleh, and I hope he does develop well, but I did hear that although he is big and has big hands, he can’t catch.) And we all know he is extremely raw offensively but has the potential to be a great player because of outstanding measurements, his attitude, a willingness to get better, and not a bad outside shooter. Right now he’s not great, but it is coming along nicely and I think he will develop quite a shot. Bottom line Vonleh is a project, and from the Kings standpoint they have already committed themselves to Derrick Williams. So while we all can dream that a front court of Cousins and Vonleh would have been amazing, at the end of the day if the Kings have already committed themselves to Derrick Williams then they shouldn’t give up on him quite yet. Ultimately, I would like the Kings to have a bigger frontline but we can discuss that later when we cann fully give up on Williams. But for now we can’t give up on him, so the Kings and their consequently their fans are committed to Derrick Williams and therefore should not try and get any big with a ton of potential project or not. Stick to Williams.

And now to finish this topic. We all agree that one bigtime hole that the Kings needed was a lot of shooting from the wing. Well, there are two great shooters in this draft and both were available when the Kings were on the clock in Doug McDermott and Nick Stauskas. McDermott plays the 3 and Stauskas plays the 2. McDermott is not very athletic, and not very good on defense but he is an outstanding shooter. Stauskas is the epitome of a great shooter.  Perfect form, and also an outstanding shooter in his own right. He is also deceptively athletic, and not a bad passer, but I believe from the Kings standpoint that is just an added bonus. The Kings are not a bad shooting team on the wings, they just need immediate help in shooting from the 2 spot. Well, Stauskas plays the 2, and he is great shooter. Now its true, that McLemore is young too, and still developing. I still have faith in him, and as an unbiased fan I have to question the Kings undenying faithfulness in Derrick Williams yet their doubt in Ben McLemore, who are both young players. But then again, maybe Stauskas is just that a great shooter who can play a shooting role for a contending team like JJ Reddick. (Who I actually is a very good comparison for Stauskas. So I think the Kings are thinking that Stauskas will come off the bench most of his career and backup McLemore and provide some great outside shooting and a scoring lift for when this team needs it. Maybe the Kings selected Stauskas to be a 6th man. Not a starter. 

So from that standpoint, I can confidently say that the Kings came into the draft with one goal in mind. Get a great shooter. They did that by selecting Nick Stauskas. Goal accomplished, excellent. Now let’s hope that works out for them. On the other hand if I were grading the Kings on their draft I wouldn’t give them an A, because they could have selected Stauskas a little lower. He definitely was not the best value pick at 8. He fills a need but their were other players available at 8 that have more long term value than Stauskas. But then again, the Kings were trying to trade down, or possibly out entirely for some veteran help, but couldn’t find any takers, so they just picked the guy that fills a need. Maybe not the best value pick, but at the end of day, at least they accomplished their goal. I believe when you are going into a draft you have to be a little self centered, and look at which guy(s) would fit your team and just that. Don’t worry about who other teams will or might select. Just look at your own team. Go into the draft with a big board that focus on just the need that you have decided to fill, and draft the best available player. Once you have decided who that player is, then look at your pick and what is still available. If better talent talent is available try and trade down, the Kings did that. Unfortunately there were’t any takers to trade down. But I like how they didn’t throw their goal in the trash and BPA. They stuck to it regardless of the fact there was better talent available at their pick. I believe this is what every team does when they are going into a draft.

I realize that to explain the pick I took the King’s management side, and this may come as a dissapointment to some diehard Kings fans. But I hope you won’t neg me too harshly. (And I really don’t care if you do either) but I hope as fan of the game not of your team, that you will be happy that I could provide a legitamate argument of the Kings questionable pick. This should give some peace of mind to Kings fans who were undeniably upset at the Kings pick Nick Stauskas when Noah Vonleh was still available.