NBA Draft 2017: 5 targets for the Sacramento Kings
By John Buhler
The Sacramento Kings have the No. 5 and No. 10 picks in the 2017 NBA Draft. Here are five players they could end up taking with either first-round pick.
2016-17 was more of the same for the Sacramento Kings. Not only did Sacramento fail to reach the Western Conference Playoffs for another season, the Kings traded away their best player during All-Star Weekend in New Orleans, ironically to the New Orleans Pelicans.
Sending All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins to the Pelicans was painful, as the Kings would only go 32-50 last season, finishing in 12th place in the Western Conference. The big piece Sacramento got back in that Cousins deal with the Pelicans was shooting guard Buddy Hield. He could be a player to keep an eye on in 2017-18, but he’s not the sole reason Sacramento dealt Cousins to New Orleans.
Sacramento was able to garner the Pelicans’ 2017 first-round pick, which turned out to be the No. 10 pick overall. The Kings have their own lottery pick coming in at No. 5 after an unfortunate right to a pick swap with the Philadelphia 76ers pushed them down from No. 3.
Nevertheless, the Kings have a great deal of leverage in the upcoming 2017 NBA Drat. They can stand pat and draft two franchise cornerstones at No. 5 and No. 10, respectively. Sacramento even has the ammunition to move up higher on the draft board with their two first-round picks as trade bait. Here are five players Sacramento has to be targeting with their two first-round selections.
Zach Collins
Power Forward/Center, Gonzaga Bulldogs
In recent years, Sacramento simply loves to draft young big men in the latter part of the top-10 of an NBA Draft. Eventually or not, one of these young 7-footers is going to pan out. Since Sacramento has two first-round picks, the Kings can afford to take another dive into the big man market at No. 10 overall.
One guy that Sacramento could be interested in is former Gonzaga Bulldogs power forward/center Zach Collins. Though he only played one year in Spokane for Mark Few’s Gonzaga program, Collins was an impactful player for the 2017 NCAA Tournament’s national runner-up. Collins averaged 10.0 points and 5.9 rebounds in just 17.3 minutes per game for the Bulldogs.
At seven-feet, 230 pounds, Collins has the frame to be a solid center in the pace and space era of the NBA. Leaving school three years early was a questionable move made by Collins at the time. However, he does project to be a lottery pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, going somewhere in that No. 8 to No. 14 range.
Ideally, Collins could use a year split between the NBA and the G-League to get more playing time and refine his potential NBA game as a stretch five. However, Sacramento would be one of the few teams that will likely play young players on the fly. Competition will be key to bring out the best in Collins in year one with the Kings, but he could be a steal at No. 10 if he can live up to the hype he is brining with him out of Gonzaga.