Rim Protecting bigs the Sacramento Kings can sign – Willie Cauley-Stein
Willie Cauley-Stein signing with Sacramento and playing even the smallest role would be a great redemption story. Cauley-Stein was selected 6th overall by the Kings in the 2015 NBA Draft. At the end of the 2018-19 NBA season, he left in free agency and has struggled to carve out a role anywhere since.
Over the course of his four-year stint with the Kings, WCS played in 295 games. As his game and production didn’t progress as some had hoped it became clear he would have a very hard time living up to his draft spot.
When the Kings let him go it made sense. He even flashed his promising traits a few more times after his Kings stint when he was playing with the Dallas Mavericks.
Cauley-Stein saw his playing time drop year after year before we got to this season. After playing in a total of 20 games last year he remains unsigned this year.
Still, the Kentucky product wants another shot and is working hard for it. He is currently playing in the NBA G-League for the Rio Grand Valley Vipers.
What he is doing there is all the Kings would need to ask him to do for a few minutes per game at the NBA level. Rolls to the rim, easy putbacks and finishes, defensive rebounding and most importantly, contesting shots at the rim.
He brings size that the Kings current backup centers can’t match. With his length and reach he can make life a lot more difficult for opponents at the rim. He also would give Mike Brown a different style of player than he currently has to put out there at the five spot.
It’s at least worth going thru his footage this year in the G-League and seeing if he really could help at the end of the bench. It seems like he would be able to offer more value than someone like Alex Len right now.