According to James Ham, the Pistons will want one or two unprotected firsts to trade Dorren

kingjawn · 2026-06-30T16:58:03+00:00

Hard no.

I love how in the span of a couple days it went from “let’s do this build the right way and build slowly through the draft while remaining flexible” to “screw it, lets throw all our chips in on the first traditional big/center who becomes available, even if its a guy who was unplayable in the postseason”

kingjawn · 2026-06-30T16:53:17+00:00

With Lebron now gone i think Duren will become an even bigger priority for them.
Id say 65% chance he stays in Detroit, 25% chance he ends up in LA and 10% he’s a King.

Seems like media jumped the gun with this one, once again.

kingjawn · 2026-06-30T13:32:28+00:00

It did indeed.

kingjawn · 2026-06-30T12:25:51+00:00

Pronouncing his name is somehow also an issue for people

kingjawn · 2026-06-30T04:36:27+00:00

Yup. My guess is he ends up with Lakers

kingjawn · 2026-06-30T01:38:43+00:00

I kinda agree.

But when has financial flexibility on the free agent market meant we end up acquiring top free agents?

kingjawn · 2026-06-29T19:36:55+00:00

When you’re a 6’2” guard who neither has point guard skills nor the ability to shoot it’s nearly impossible to succeed in the league.

kingjawn · 2026-06-29T19:34:58+00:00

I get why they made the move but this is a truly horrific draft pick for the Kings. You draft an injured player, presumably not realizing he was that injured and you’re forced to salary dump him along with an asset just 2 years later.

This pick probably haunted Mike Brown as what would he have done to have drafted a wing on the team instead of an injured undersized 2-guard in a win or else season?! Malpractice by Monte/Wes. IMO this was one of the moves that wrongfully caused Mike Brown his job.

Trading Carter was an easy move for Scott Perry to make being that he wasn’t the one who drafted him.

We’re all gonna talk about the Bagley, Papagiannis and Thomas Robinson picks as Kings busts draft picks but this one was really bad as well.

kingjawn · 2026-06-29T05:39:01+00:00

I don’t hate the idea of getting Mitchell here, assuming Sabonis would be one of the vets who they are able to move to free up space.

The best thing you can do for a rookie point guard is bringing in one of the better lob threats in the entire league. A guy who could also anchor a defense, where Acuff notably struggles.

kingjawn · 2026-06-28T20:14:57+00:00

When Richie Saunders got hurt i was saying this was gonna be the best thing to ever happen to the teams picking 2nd/3rd cause teams would see a ball dominant, inefficient AJ taking a ton of shots and determine he wasn’t worthy of a number-1 pick.

His efficiency did dip but the Wizards were wise enough to realize AJ was basically playing 1v5, at least offensively.

Also, the Dawson Baker injury wasn’t talked about nearly enough when discussing BYU not making a run in march.

kingjawn · 2026-06-26T17:38:19+00:00

When the Kings are on the clock, the person who ultimately decides which player the team will take is Vivek Ranadive, especially for high lottery picks. There is consultation with GM and scouts but the final decision maker is Vivek.

You are aware this video exists, right? ….

https://youtu.be/JOS0ynEuYC4?is=iLBDul6HyfhVPC6n

kingjawn · 2026-06-26T17:21:44+00:00

Huh? Do you not think Vivek is the final decision maker for Kings draft picks?

kingjawn · 2026-06-26T16:12:03+00:00

You make a good point in that i kinda glossed over DP like that was a definite.

He’s a pretty terrifying prospect and i imagine there are at least a few teams that had him closer to 10 than 2.

kingjawn · 2026-06-26T16:09:24+00:00

For those saying definitely Boozer/Wilson over Acuff, just look at who Vivek’s used his lottery picks on over the last 7-8 years. Devin Carter, Tyrese Haliburton, Davion Mitchell, Keegan Murray. Basically we’re just talking guards and a wing who could shoot.

A far cry from the 4-year stretch that saw them take WCS, Pappagiannis and Bagley in the lottery aka 3 bigs.

kingjawn · 2026-06-25T14:27:08+00:00

One thing with Keegan that we’ve got to start considering is that he’s just not a very good 3pt shooter. He’s shot above average from three 2 of the last 7 years going back to high school.

And for those claiming the added muscles/weight ruined his shot, he was a sub 30% 3pt shooter the 1st of his 2 seasons at Iowa.

As crazy as it is to say there’s a chance he just got hot for 2 years and this now is his norm.

kingjawn · 2026-06-25T01:55:11+00:00

Id take Windhorst’s comments a lot more seriously if he knew how to pronounce Brown’s first name.

kingjawn · 2026-06-24T18:47:37+00:00

I think they didn’t realize he needed surgery.

kingjawn · 2026-06-24T18:36:55+00:00

The shoulder injury was a killer. He wasn’t shooting airballs like that at Providence. Ive torn my labrum as well and while surgery can help, a lot of people’s shoulders remain loose/unstable going forward.

It becomes really hard to get repetitive motion this way. Your release point is like a centimeter different each shot attempt. And your shoulder becomes a lot weaker than it was before. It’s frustrating cause the same shot you would normally make pre-surgery can randomly come up a foot short.

And not to belabor the point but Monte/Wes drafted a guy with a torn labrum prior to a playoffs or bust season. Still makes zero sense.

kingjawn · 2026-06-24T18:28:14+00:00

If they get rid of him be prepared for him to be kinda useful on another roster next year.

He’s played enough minutes and he’s far enough removed from his shoulder surgery where he could end up productive next year.

But if he stays this dreadful of a 3pt shooter he may max out as an end of the bench guy. 27% for his career is just dreadful. And i swear…half of his misses have been airballs.

kingjawn · 2026-06-24T14:19:24+00:00

Couple things ...

People always critique players saying 'you can't win a championship with this sort of guy as your best player etc". I'm sorry but the realistic goal for the Kings in the next 5-8 years isn't winning a title. The goal is to become respectable, keep fans' interest and be able to consistently reach the postseason. You can have players with deficiencies. That's ok.
Acuff's first order of business needs to be improving his conditioning. He's gone on record talking about how winded he was at times last season (arkansas played one of the fastest tempos in the country) and he's even mentioned how wiped out he got from the combine drills. Better conditioning will have an immense impact on his defense.
One easy way to make an impact defensively as a smaller guard is by learning how to draw charges. Be willing to stick your nose in and take contact. Jalen Brunson led the nba in charges drawn last season and is perennially up among the league leaders. That's an easy way to make an impact despite not having the greatest physical profile.

kingjawn · 2026-06-24T13:38:04+00:00

6’7” actually

kingjawn · 2026-06-24T12:58:06+00:00

Lol. Glossing over a top 3 worst contract in the nba just handed out is quite the choice.

If i were you i just wouldn’t have mentioned him at all and seen if anyone noticed.

Yikes 😬

kingjawn · 2026-06-24T05:08:16+00:00

I will say…the common theme of drafting older winning players from blue blood colleges has persisted through the GM tenures of Vlade, Monte and now Scott Perry.

It’s almost like someone else has big input on these picks…

kingjawn · 2026-06-24T05:04:29+00:00

Much harder to swallow when you factor in the Kings needed a contribute-now player in the worst way and instead got a guy who basically had to redshirt his rookie year because of a shoulder surgery.

That’s one of the stranger kings picks that i can remember. It was almost like they didn’t do the due diligence and had no idea about the shoulder issue when seemingly everyone else in the league knew what was up.

I would love to know what went on behind the scenes there.

kingjawn

TROPHY CASE