Top 10 Draft Picks in Sacramento Kings History

8 of 12

Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

#5

Tyreke Evans – Greivis Vasquez – Rudy Gay

Tyreke Evans was drafted with the 4th pick of the 2009 NBA draft out of the University of Memphis. At 6’6″/220 lbs, Tyreke possessed rare size for an NBA point guard.

Inserted into the starting lineup immediately for the poor Paul Westphal team, Tyreke was asked to do everything and responded by joining Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James as the only players to average at least 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists a game during their rookie season. Not bad company, eh? Oh, and to cap it off he was also named Rookie of the Year.

It seemed like Tyreke was on his way to becoming the next great Sacramento King. All he had to do was improve his jump shot to stop teams from begging him to shoot. Those efforts were not as fruitful as Kings fans hoped and Tyreke was never able to match the production from his rookie season.

The ball dominant Evans was resistant to moving to small forward in order for the Kings to use a starting point guard that would encourage more ball movement and he also had on-court chemistry issues with DeMarcus Cousins and Isaiah Thomas which led to the Kings trading Evans to the Pelicans in a deal that brought back Greivis Vasquez.

Season	Tm	Pos	G	MP	FG%	3P%	2P%	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
2009-10	SAC	SG	72	37.2	.458	.255	.485	.748	0.9	4.4	5.3	5.8	1.5	0.4	3.0	2.8	20.1
2010-11	SAC	SG	57	37.0	.409	.291	.432	.771	0.8	4.0	4.8	5.6	1.5	0.5	3.2	2.5	17.8
2011-12	SAC	SG	63	34.3	.453	.202	.484	.779	1.0	3.6	4.6	4.5	1.3	0.5	2.7	2.2	16.5
2012-13	SAC	SG	65	31.0	.478	.338	.508	.775	0.9	3.6	4.4	3.5	1.4	0.4	2.0	2.0	15.2
4 seasons	SAC		257	34.9	.449	.276	.477	.765	0.9	3.9	4.8	4.8	1.4	0.4	2.7	2.4	17.5

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Greivis Vasquez was a hot commodity following his 2012-13 season in which he finished 3rd in the NBA in assists per game at 9.0 APG. At the time, I wasn’t sure what to think of the deal. Greivis was clearly a better distributor than Tyreke and I thought he would also be an upgrade from Isaiah Thomas that would allow Thomas to bring energy off the bench.

Greivis never got it going and Isaiah was outplaying him night-in and night-out. It seemed as if the Kings had received the short-end of the Tyreke trade when the everyone was stunned by a multi-player deal with the Raptors that brought in Rudy Gay.

Season	Tm	Pos	G	MP	FG%	3P%	2P%	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
2013-14	SAC	PG	18	25.8	.433	.320	.490	.938	0.3	1.6	1.9	5.3	0.3	0.1	1.5	2.1	9.8
1 season	SAC		18	25.8	.433	.320	.490	.938	0.3	1.6	1.9	5.3	0.3	0.1	1.5	2.1	9.8

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports

Rudy Gay came over from Toronto at a time when he was receiving a lot of criticism for his inefficiency as a scorer after a poor 2012-13 season and an even worse start to the 2013-14 season. From his first game with the Kings, he quieted those critics and put together the most efficient stretch of scoring since entering the league in 2006.

Rudy followed up that with a 2014-15 season in which he averaged career highs of 21.1 point per game and 3.7 assists per game.

Season	Tm	Pos	G	MP	FG%	3P%	2P%	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
2013-14	SAC	SF	55	34.4	.482	.312	.516	.836	1.5	4.0	5.5	3.1	1.2	0.6	3.0	2.3	20.1
2014-15	SAC	SF	68	35.4	.455	.359	.479	.858	1.4	4.4	5.9	3.7	1.0	0.6	2.7	2.3	21.1
2 seasons	SAC		123	35.0	.467	.341	.495	.848	1.5	4.2	5.7	3.4	1.1	0.6	2.8	2.3	20.6

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Tyreke Evans, Greivis Vasquez, and Rudy Gay’s Combined Statistical Totals

		G	MP	2PM	3PM	FTM	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
		398	13727	2387	282	1581	419	1549	1968	1759	512	187	1074	935	7201

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