For teams committed to rebuilding, there are two ways to speed up reconstruction. One is to hoard a large number of contract players, plus the rest of the good chips, using ample salary space to attract players who want big contracts and are good at the same time. Another, and the current norm, is to swing the impact lotto picks. Today's Grizzlies have selected a group of players with very good potential and ability after the collapse of recent years, and now rank third in the West, one of the most successful cases.
However, there is a team that has been on the road to ruin for nearly sixteen years, and they are likely to break the record for the longest consecutive time a team has missed the playoffs this season. Over the past few years, they have not failed to pass the high pick, but as if blinded by lard, their success in the draft is very few, yes, this team is the Kings. Indeed, Cousins, Fox, and Haliburton are all very good players.
However, the personality problem of "Examining God" makes the team intolerable. Fox still didn't show the ability to lead the team to the playoffs, and Haliburton was sent to the Pacers as a chip, which was a big surprise. And the rest of the year, they wasted multiple draft picks and missed multiple All-Stars, so let's get into the inventory and see how "hot" the Kings' operations in the draft are.
1. James Fredette
Speaking of Fredette, most CBA players must be familiar with him, and during his time with the Shanghai team, with the terrifying three-point projection, he once became a nightmare for many teams, and even got the reputation of "CBA Curry". However, he is only a marginal figure in the NBA.
In the 2011 draft, the Kings voted him out of the house in the hope that he could bring his college performance to the NBA, but his career average was only 6 points per game, and his shooting percentage of 40.9% was a testament to the Kings' failure. And they missed out on multiple stars including Thompson, Leonard, Jimmy Butler.
2. Thomas Robinson
In 2012, the Kings, who had lost on Fredette, set their sights on the interior players, and they held the fifth pick, and immediately decided to win Thomas Robinson. Indeed, although the shooting ability is poor, but the height of 2.09 meters, the weight of 108 kilograms, but has the ability to explode, the arm span is also up to 2.22 meters, so it seems that Robinson is also a player full of potential.
To this end, they missed Lillard, and Robinson is a "no-compromise" parallel cargo, the rookie season averaged 4.8 points per game, 4.7 rebounds contribution is also very subtle, he is also unable to attack on the court, can not defend, is a major burden to the team. The King also chose to trade him the following year, declaring the failure of the draft.
3. Ben McLemore
The 2013 draft did not seem to be a particularly outstanding year at the time, after all, the winner of that year's draft, Bennett was an uncompromising big parallel cargo, and could compete for the players of the "Parallel Cargo President Mountain". However, there are indeed stars who have played, in addition to the alphabet brother, CJ McCollum, Adams, Schroeder, Gobert have a good performance,
The Kings selected McLemore with their seventh overall pick, a career defender who currently averages 8.9 points per game. Both CJ and Schroeder were much better than McLemore, but the King was still stubborn and ended up wasting a high-roller.
4. Nick Stauskas
2014 was a recognized year for the rookies, including Wiggins, Embiid, LaVine and Randle, who were already at the heart of their respective teams and had achieved very good results. And the Kings, who were eighth in the row that year, wanted to pick a defender, and they unexpectedly chose Stauskas, averaging 6.8 points per game in their careers.
And after playing only 2 games for the Heat this season, he was cut off as a "parallel cargo". And behind Stauskas, there's Raven, Nurkic, Capela, it's really unbelievable. However, at the end of the first round, they also found Bogdanovic, which was also a windfall.
5. Willie Cowley Stan
In 2015, this time the team set its sights on the big men in order to find an inside helper for Cousins. In fact, they can't be blamed for the results, after all, before the sixth pick, Downs, Okafor and Porzingis have all been selected.
Therefore, they can only take Stan hard. And although the performance in the first two years was average, Stan was able to play an average of 12.8 points and 7 rebounds in the game, which is not enough to be called a parallel cargo. However, after him, there are devin Booker, Miles Turner, Oubre, Rozier and other players, which is indeed a pity.
6. Marvin Bagley
In 2016 and 2017, the Kings had a good eye, they selected Hield and Fox, whether they were the best players in their class, at least they played well. Hield's three-pointer and Fox's speed have helped the Kings a lot. And in 2018, they once again wanted to choose an inside lineman, and they had a look at Marvin Bagley.
Indeed, Bagley still has a very good talent even now, and he is known as the "next Bosh", even if he can't catch up with the strength of his predecessors, he will not reach the point where he is now. And the problem is the cultivation of the Kings, there is a huge problem. In addition, missing Doncic, Trae Young, and Alexander is also quite regrettable.
The above is the Kings' draft situation in the past decade or so, although this season's David Mitchell has performed well, but it is not enough to help the team change completely, and many times missed potential players, and the "play blind box" draft is enough to prove that the Kings are a completely bad team.