Tankathon Update: The Kings Sputter to the End
Apr 9, 2018, 12:00 AM | Updated: Jan 4, 2019, 11:26 am
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Welp, the end of another season is nigh, and the Kings look to be in a semi-familiar spot. With Orlando’s win Sunday night, Sacramento is all but assured to have the 6 spot in the ping pong ball supply. Here are some notes:
Good news and bad news:
Between 2005 and 2015, the sixth worst team has moved up 5 times, twice to #1, twice to #2, and once to #3.
That’s 50% of the time.
But
Those 5 picks were:
Andrew Bogut
Greg Oden
Hasheem Thabeet
Evan Turner
Enes Kanter— Carmichael Dave (@CarmichaelDave) April 9, 2018
Yikes. YIIIIIIKES.
It doesn’t get much better when you look at the last few years of players taken at 6:
Isaac
Hield
Willie Cauley-Stein
Marcus Smart
Nerlens Noel
Damian Lillard
Jan Vesely
Ekpe Udoh
Jonny Flynn
Danilo Gallinari
Yi Jianlian
Brandon Roy
Martell Webster
Josh Childress
Now, of course past is most certainly not prologue, and the next franchise player could be just sitting there. By now, you’ve probably already mentioned in your head the names Donovan Mitchell, Kyle Kuzma, or even Dennis Smith. It happens. But the odds are against it.
Then again, when aren’t the odds against the Kings? Maybe we are due for a break.