Recapping Sacramento Kings Drafts During Playoff Drought

 

Sacramento Kings have the longest active playoff drought in the NBA, they havent made it since 2006.

A big reason why is poor drafting and poor decision making on draft night.

Here is a look back at every Kings first round draft pick from 2006-2019.

2006 – Quincy Douby (19)

Kings career – 3 years (143 games) – 4.1 ppg

Draft hindsight – Rajon Rondo was picked 21, Kyle Lowry 24

2007 – Spencer Hawes (10)

Kings career – 3 seasons (220 games, 113 starts) – 8.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg

Draft hindsight – Joakim Noah went one pick earlier and Thadeus Young was drafted two spots later

2008 – Jason Thompson (12)

Kings career – 7 seasons (541 games, 405 starts) – 9.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg

Draft hindsight – Brook Lopez was drafted two spots prior

2009 – Tyreke Evans (4), Omri Casspi (23)

Kings career – Evans – 5 seasons (271 games, 253 starts) – 17.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.7 apg; 2010 Rookie of the Year

Casspi – 5 seasons (306 games, 100 starts) – 9.6 ppg

Draft hindsight – James Harden went one pick before Evans and Steph Curry was picked three spots later at 7

Instead of Casspi, Kings could have had Taj Gibson or DeMarre Carroll

2010 – Demarcus Cousins (5)

Kings career – 7 seasons (470 games, 448 starts) – 21 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 1.2 bpg; 4x NBA All Star

Draft hindsight – this was absolutely the right pick

2011 – Bismack Biyombo (7)

Draft hindsight – Biyombo, picked 7th, was traded on draft night to the Hornets in a three team deal that landed 10th pick Jimmer Fredette in Sacramento. Bucks picked Jimmer, on behalf of Kings

The very next pick (11) was Klay Thompson and five picks after Jimmer (15) was Kawhi Leonard.

Jimmer played 3 seasons with the Kings, averaging just 7 ppg

2012 – Thomas Robinson (5)

Kings career – 1 season (51 games) – 4.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg; traded halfway through rookie year as part of a package for Patrick Patterson

Draft hindsight – the next four picks after Robinson went fifth – Damian Lillard, Harrison Barnes, Terrence Ross, Andre Drummond. Yikes

2013 – Ben McLemore (7)

Kings career – 5 seasons (312 games, 216 starts) – 9 ppg

Draft hindsight – the next three picks after McLemore was picked seventh – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Trey Burke, CJ McCollum. Giannis Antetokounmpo was drafted 15th.

2014 – Nik Stauskas (8)

Kings career – 1 season (73 games) – 4.4 ppg; traded after one season to 76ers, along with 2019 first round pick for cap space

Draft hindsight – Anyone would have been better. Elfrid Payton (10), Dario Saric (12), Zach LaVine (13), Gary Harris (19). Marcus Smart and Julius Randle were picked immediately before Stauskas.

2015 – Willie Cauley-Stein (5)

Kings career – 4 seasons (295 games, 199 starts) – 10.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg

Draft hindsight – Kings missed out on Karl Anthony-Towns, D’angelo Russell, and Kristaps Porzingis. The guys drafted immediately after weren’t great but the big lottery misses were Myles Turner (11) and Devin Booker (13)

2016 – Marquese Chriss (8)

Draft hindsight – Chriss was traded on draft night to the Suns for Georgios Papagiannis and Skal Labissiere.

2017 – De’Aaron Fox (5), Zack Collins (10)

Kings career – Fox – 2 seasons (154 games, 141 starts) – 14.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg; Collins was traded on draft night for Justin Jackson and Harry Giles

Draft hindsight – Fox developed in his second year. No regrets there. At 10, Kings could have had Donovan Mitchell or kept the pick since Collins has proven to be better than both Jackson and Giles (who came along nicely at end of 2019)

2018 – Marvin Bagley (2)

Kings career – 1 season (62 games, 4 starts) – 14.9 ppg, 7.6 rpg

Draft hindsight – Drafted Bagley over Luka Doncic and Trae Young

New Orleans Pelicans Draft History Since 2012

Pelicans won the 2019 draft lottery, despite a 6% chance to win and will take Duke’s Zion Williamson. 

The last time the Pelicans won the lottery was 2012, when they had 13% chance. They drafted Anthony Davis. 

Davis is on his way out as Zion is on his way in. Why does Davis want out? Maybe it’s because Pelicans have mortgaged their future time and time again having very few draft picks over the past 7 years. 

With Anthony Davis on the roster, between 2012-2019, the Pelicans compiled a record of 251-323 (44%), making the playoffs just twice. They were swept in 2015 (and now-Suns head coach Monty Williams was fired). And in 2018, they won just their second playoff series since the franchise moved to New Orleans (first since 2008), sweeping the Blazers, before losing to the Warriors in five games.

2012 – Drafted Anthony Davis #1 and Austin Rivers #10

Davis was the obvious consensus choice at the time and even in hindsight, remains the obvious consensus choice. The only flaw in Davis’ game has been his health. He has played in 466 out of a possible 574 games in his 7 year career. In those 7 years, he has averaged 23.7 ppg and 10.5 rpg.

Rivers was drafted with the #10 pick, which was part of the 2011 Chris Paul trade that sent him to the Clippers for Eric Gordon, Al Farouq-Aminu, and Chris Kaman. Rivers spent 3.5 years with New Orleans, before being traded in 2015. He was initially sent to the Celtics in a three team deal that involved the Grizzlies receiving Jeff Green and the Pelicans receiving Quincy Pondexter. Celtics never used Rivers, trading him days later to the Clippers, to play for his father, in a deal for mostly backups and draft picks.

2013 – Drafted Nerlens Noel #7 and immediately traded him to Philly

Picking Noel a year after Davis felt weird at the time, until you saw what the plan was. This was the start of “the process” for Philly, who sent Jrue Holiday to New Orleans for Noel. Noel tore his ACL at the end of his only year at Kentucky and missed his whole rookie season.

Noel had #1 overall hype during his season at Kentucky, but the knee injury hurt his stock and he never really got back. For his career, Noel has averaged 8.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg and he become a quality bench player.

2014 – Pick was sent to 76ers as part of Jrue Holiday trade

That 2013 draft night trade cost the Pelicans two first rounders. Noel in 2013 and in 2014, 76ers originally drafted Elfrid Payton, but he was traded immediately to the Magic for the rights to Dario Saric. Saric was a key component of the Sixers’ trade for Jimmy Butler last season.

2015 – Pick dealt to Rockets for Omir Asik

In July 2014, Asik was dealt to the Pelicans in a three way trade that netted the Rockets a first round pick. Asik started 79 games that season, averaging 7.3 ppg, 9.8 rpg and providing efficient defense next to Anthony Davis as a key role player helping lead the Pelicans back to the playoffs. That performance, earned him a 5-year, $60 million extension in the 2015 offseason.

Asik would play just 83 more games with New Orleans (64 in 2016 and 19 in 2017) as injuries plagued his career. At this time, he is considered “retired” for medical reasons.

The pick the Pelicans traded to the Rockets was #18 and was used by the Rockets to draft Sam Dekker. Dekker has already played for 4 different teams in his short career, starting only 8 games, averaging 5.5 ppg as a bench player.

2016 – Drafted Buddy Hield. traded him to Kings for Demarcus Cousins

When the Pelicans drafted Buddy Hield it seemed like they finally struck gold, having their own draft pick for the first time since 2013 and their first actual rookie on the roster since Davis in 2012.

Hield last just 57 games before being the centerpiece in the Demarcus Cousins trade in February 2017. Hield averaged 8.6 ppg in his short season with the Pelicans. In 2018-19 with the Kings, Hield scored 20.7 ppg.

Meanwhile, Demarcus Cousins played just 65 total games, as he suffered a season ending Achilles injury in late 2018, missing the Pelicans playoff run.

2017 – Pick was part of the Demarcus Cousins trade

As part of that 2016 trade deadline move for Cousins, the Pelicans also parted with their 2017 first round pick. Kings picked 10th and drafted Zack Collins. They traded him on draft night to the Blazers for #15 and #20. Kings drafted Justin Jackson at 15 and Harry Giles at 20.

2018 – Traded first round pick for Nikola Mirotic

Mirotic was acquired by New Orleans from Chicago in February, he played 30 games and averaged 14.6 ppg, 8.2 rpg and was a big part of the Pelicans success in making the playoffs and winning their first round series. Mirotic stepped up when Cousins was injured.

2019 Decision

It’s probably 99.9% likely that the Pelicans keep the pick and draft Zion Williamson. The big question will be how the Pelicans build a team around him and what kind of success they can have in the postseason

Charlotte Hornets Draft Mistakes

 

Hornets drafted Kemba Walker in 2011 and he has been a 3X time All Star. Hornets have made playoffs twice in Walker’s tenure but have yet to win a playoff series. Perhaps if they had done a better job drafting, winning a playoff series wouldn’t have been such a large obstacle.

In hindsight, let’s look back at some of the Hornets mistakes.

2011

Drafted Kemba Walker 9th overall. In hindsight, this wasn’t a bad decision but worth noting that Klay Thompson went 11th and Kawhi Leonard went 15th.

Also drafted Tobias Harris at 19, but immediately traded his rights and Stephen Jackson to the Bucks as part of a three way trade that netted the Hornets Corey Maggette and Bismack Biyombo.

2012

After Anthony Davis went first overall, Hornets drafted his Kentucky teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist #2. Bradley Beal was drafted third, Damian Lillard 6th and Andre Drummond 9th.

2013

Hornets drafted Cody Zeller 4th overall. Zeller hasn’t lived up to the hype of 4th overall, but has been far from a bust. Giannis was the 15th pick in this draft. At the time, Nerlens Noel felt like the right pick, but in hindsight, Zeller has carved out a better career than Noel.

2014

Another first round Hoosier, this time Noah Vonleh 9th overall. Zach LaVine was picked 13th.

They also drafted Shabazz Napier 24th and traded him immediately to the Heat. If they chose to keep the pick, they could have had Clint Capela.

2015

This one hurts – drafted Frank Kaminsky 9th overall. After him was Justice Winslow (10), Myles Turner (11), Devin Booker (13)

2016

A rare non-lottery pick as the Hornets made the playoffs in 2016 and picked 22nd. They drafted Malachi Richardson, immediately trading his rights to the Kings for Marco Belinelli. Two notable breakout candidates were picked at the end of the 2016 first round – Pascal Siakam (27) and Dejounte Murray (29)

2017

With the 11th pick, the Hornets drafted Malik Monk, two spots before Donovan Mitchell went 13 to the Jazz. Mitchell has led the Jazz to back-to-back playoff appearances while averaging 22.1 ppg cumulatively. Monk has come off the bench every game of his career and has averaged 7.9 ppg

2018

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was drafted 11th and was part of yet another Hornets’ draft day trade. He was sent to the Clippers and fellow rookie Miles Bridges to the Hornets. Maybe Bridges will turn into a star. But Shai started 73 games at PG for the Clippers (played all 82) and was a big part in helping them get to the playoffs, averaging 10.8 ppg in over 26 minutes per game. Especially with Kemba Walker heading for free agency, this feels potentially regretful.

2016 NBA Draft Mistakes

 

Suns and Kings waste the draft

You want to know how bad teams stay bad? They make decisions like the ones in the 2016 NBA draft. There is a reason these two teams have the longest active playoff drought

First, the Suns drafted Dragan Bender with the #4 overall pick. Two spots ahead of Buddy Hield and three ahead of Jamal Murray. Bender’s averages over three years with the Suns are 5.3 ppg and 3.8 rpg.

Kings drafted Marquese Chriss 8th overall, but immediately traded him to the Suns in a package that included picks 13 and 28 and Bojan Bogdanovic

At 13 the Kings would draft Georgios Papagiannis, who played just 38 total games for the Kings, averaging only 12 mpg and 4.2 ppg. He is already out of the NBA. At 28, they took Skal Labissière, a very highly ranked player out of high school who never quite reached that level at Kentucky. He did average 8 ppg in 3 seasons with the Kings (an increase to his 6.6 ppg in college). Labissiere was later dealt to Portland.

In Phoenix, Chriss started 124 out of the 154 games he played, averaging 8.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg. He never really impacted the game at the level the Suns should have hoped for, for a top 5 draft pick.

Magic make a terrible trade

Whoa boy. If you think the Kings and Suns did bad, well the Magic want you to hold their beer.

Orlando picked 11th. They drafted Domantas Sabonis. He was immediately traded on draft night to the Thunder, along with Victor Oladipo and Ersan Ilyasova for Serge Ibaka. Is Ilyasova alone worth Ibaka? Probably yes, but all three is ridiculous.

In fact, it’s so ridiclous that one year later the Thunder turned Oladipo and Sabonis into Paul George, who finished in the top 3 for MVP voting in 2019, while Oladipo was an All Star in 2018 and 2019.

Ibaka played just 56 games and the Magic did not make a miraculous playoff run with him on board. He was traded halfway through the his lone season in 2016-17, to the Raptors for Terrence Ross.

Everyone passes on Paskal Siakam and Dejounte Murray

It’s always fun to judge team’s decision making in hindsight. When the Raptors drafted Paskal Siakam, out of New Mexico State, I barely even shrugged. Raptors had the 9th pick in this draft (good job, Knicks) and Siakam seemed like an after thought. And through last season that was mostly true. But in 2019, Siakam has had his big breakthrough, increasing his scoring average by over 9 points per game (16.9 ppg) and increasing his numbers all across the board, while starting 79 games, after just 43 starts in the two years prior. At times, Siakam has looked like the second best player on the Raptors, if not definitely the third.

Two picks later, the Spurs drafted Dejounte Murray at 29. People shrugged at the idea that he would be the heir apparent to Tony Parker at point guard, but he certainly played like it in 2017-18. He missed 2019 with a torn ACL but will assume the role of starter next season.

This was a pretty bad draft. In fact, the proof in that statement comes from the fact that the 2017 Rookie of the Year was a second round pick, the first time that’s ever happened. When the Bucks drafted Malcolm Brogdon 36th overall, it’s hard to say they knew he’d become a core player for them.