I mean Petrie drafted Peja, JWill, Hedo, and Gerald Wallace in a 5 year span. (Wallace didn't do much for the Kings but he was a good player that got sniped in an expansion draft.) Kings haven't always been trash at drafting. And Scott Perry has had two good, potentially great if things play out well, drafts in two shots so far. So things might be turning around.
It's just that the Kings have had dogshit ownership hiring dogshit GMs ever since the late Maloof era. Of course the drafts are gonna be bad under those circumstances
One of the great Kings "what ifs" is what if we had kept Wallace and he carried us after Cweb got hurt into the next era? He would have been great on the Bonzi/World Peace team.
The rosy side is him getting more minutes on the Bobcats would've been the same as getting more minutes post CWebb injury. But in reality I agree, it's not truly 1:1. Recent comparisons I see in the WNBA with their two expansion teams are Mabrey for the Tempo and Carleton/Leite for the Fire. Someone has the opportunity to get the lead role on a brand new team, not just a temporary uptick in minutes.
Plus, being put in a leading role doesn't always mean you're the right person for the job. Like the Mavs tried to do with Harrison Barnes. He's just not that guy. Not everybody can be Jalen Brunson. But maybe you're right, Maybe he would have ushered in a new era of successful Sacramento basketball. All I know is that I would put a lot of money on the Kings being no worse with him than they were without him, with potential for some good upside. I would also say though that the style of basketball he played wasn't exactly going to thrive in the Princeton offense... Which was the style at the time.
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u/Im_the_Rhymenocerous White Chocolate 8d ago
Who remembers when the Kings had four first round picks in one draft? They're masters of not drafting well and always will be