The Sacramento Kings have a lot to gain in this week's NBA draft. They have almost 3 first rounders (they have the first pick in the 2nd round). They have 3 unrestricted free agents, Bobby Jackson, Calvin Booth, and Cedric Simmons. Only Bobby Jackson really played this year and he only started 10 games. So, they aren't loosing anything. The starting five consist of pg Beno Udrih, sg Kevin Martin, sf Anres Nocioni, pf Jason Thompson, and C Spencer Hawes.
This team is in store for a lot of improvement. Nocioni was only there for part of a season as was Martin (due to injury). Thompson is a young player still developing. Udrih and Hawes may get better, but they are really bench players forced into action. Sacramento has the 4th, 23rd, and 31st picks of this years draft. The best situation the Kings can hope for is for Ricky Rubio to fall to the 4th pick. This may happen. Whether it does or not will be seen. Instead of guessing who they may get, let's look at how successful these positions have been:
4th pick--In the past 14 drafts, 5 all-stars and 10 starters have been produced. This is a very good spot to draft from. Only 2 have been flops.
23rd--This too is a decent slot. It has produced 10 productive players with 2 of them being starters.
31--This is interesting because it gave us an all-star in Gilbert Arenas and 4 bench players.
Based on history with these 3 picks, they almost have a 50% chance of landing an all-star. Most likely they will get a starter and a bench player. Not bad King fans.
Keywords: basketball, draft, kings, nba, rubio, sacramento
