With Two (Potential) Picks in the Lottery, The Future Lies With Vlade Divac

As of now, the Sacramento Kings have lottery picks #7 and #10. By the season’s end, this could get slightly better or worse. But in a much-hyped draft, Vlade Divac and his management staff have two chances to strike gold. 

Major caveat: Will managing partner Vivek Ranadive keep his sticky fingers out of the picking?

The young core for next season is composed of Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Willie Cauley-Stein, Skal Labissiere, Georgios Papagiannis, and Malachi Richardson. The terrific upside of these “works in progress” must be tempered with the expectations of a necessary growth curve.

Returning veterans are Kosta Koufos, Arron Afflalo, Anthony Tolliver, Langston Galloway, and Garrett Temple. This is a solid core of proven players.

Veterans not under contract are Tyreke Evans, Darren Collison, Ty Lawson, and Ben Mclemore. Who will resign and who will depart?

Listed down below are my thoughts on the some of the situations that the Sacramento Kings’ front office will encounter this upcoming summer.

Keep Darren Collison?

Collison in the past three years has been excellent, but is it worth it for the Kings to open the checkbook for the seven-year pro? It’s hard to imagine the Kings going into next season without a veteran point guard. Send Darren a postcard and urge him to stay.

Future For Rudy?

Rudy Gay had notified management of his desire to leave after this year, his option year. But with his torn Achilles tendon on the mend, one has to think he will opt in to play out his contract with the Kings. He will do this both to prove he has recovered (and perhaps be available to be traded) and to collect his $14.3 million salary that is due next year for him.

Guards That The Kings Could Draft?

The upcoming NBA Draft is rich with guards, but there are two standouts that might be around when the Kings are on the clock.

Malik Monk is one of the guards that comes to mind. In his recent campaign with the Kentucky Wildcats, the 6’3″ freshman averaged 19.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. Monk also recorded shooting success rates of 45% from the floor, 39.7% from the perimeter, and 82.2% from the free-throw line.

Another guard that the Kings should consider is Frank Ntilinkina. This year, the 6’5″ guard has been playing basketball in the country of France where he is a member of the team called Strasbourg. During his campaign (23 games) with the team, Ntilinkina is averaging 4.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per contest.

Could The Kings Draft A Stretch-Four?

The talent in this year’s draft contains a lot of talented players that play various positions as well. Although not a primary need for Sacramento, Arizona’s Lauri Markkanen is a name that the Kings should take serious consideration in drafting.

In his sole season with the Arizona Wildcats, Markkanen averaged 15.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while shooting 49.2% from the court, 42.3% from the perimeter, and 83.5% from the charity-stripe. Ideal numbers for a stretch-four.

Why Believe In Vlade?

The collective NBA brass and many Kings fans scratched their heads when Vlade let #8 pick Marquese Chriss go to the Phoenix Suns back in last year’s draft. At the age of 19, Chriss has been starting all season for the Suns and is shooting 44.9% from the court, 32.2% from the perimeter, and 62.1% from the free-throw line in 21 minutes per game. Not bad at all.

But in return, the Kings got Georgios Papagiannis, Skal Labissiere, and the rights to Bogdan Bogdanovic. Have the Kings gotten three future starters in return? Three starters with unknown upside?

Kings fans, get ready for the draft in June. Go Vlade!