3 Best second round picks in Sacramento Kings history
By Mat Issa
2. Vinny Del Negro
Career Stats (771 Games): 9.1 PPG/2.3 RPG/3.2 APG/0.7 SPG/0.1 BPG on 53.4% True Shooting
Stats with Kings (156 Games): 8.4 PPG/2.4 RPG/2.9 APG/0.8 SPG/0.2 BPG on 52% True Shooting
Before he was an NBA head coach, Vinny Del Negro was an NBA player. Del Negro got his start as an NBA player when he was selected in the second round by the Kings.
Unlike Whiteside, Del Negro had some quality years with the Kings. Not the team he played his best with, but a close second. During his two years with the Kings, Del Negro played 156 games (31 starts), averaging 8.4 PPG and 2.9 APG on 52% true shooting in that time.
Like Whiteside, Del Negro spent two years overseas after his two years in Sacramento (the poetic justice there is uncanny). However, Del Negro spent his two years in Italy instead of Lebanon and China.
Del Negro returned to the NBA to play for the San Antonio Spurs. This is where he had the best years of his career. Along with being a quasi-consistent starter (starting 331 of the 433 games he played in) on a perennial playoff team that featured one of the greatest players ever (David Robinson), he also averaged 11.2 PPG and 3.6 APG on 54.5 true shooting.
After half a dozen years with the Spurs, Del Negro spent a combined four seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, and Phoenix Suns.
From 2008 to 2010, Del Negro served as head coach of the Chicago Bulls. Then, from 2010 to 2012, he fulfilled the same role for the Los Angeles Clippers.