Since the draft, the Kings have made some roster decisions through trades and the draft that may turn out to be very interesting for the future of the team.
First off, the drafting of Tyreke Evans instead of some other point guard, such as the Spaniard Ricky Rubio, or Johnny Flynn. Evans is a demon - a defensive monster who dominated every point guard put in front of him with his size and wingspan during the pre-draft workouts and with a reputation for toughness second to none. Only problem is that he is hardly an NBA quality point guard, at least not yet. Though this is the position he played at Memphis his last year, he is a slasher who can get to the line for free throws just about at will. He is not quite a natural point guard and likely never will be. He is a terrific 2-guard - the position currently being held down by Kevin Martin. The sneaky rumor mill in SacTown has been hinting that Martin may get traded away eventually to make room for a better defensive version of Kevin, who needs to improve his outside shooting to make that happen for real.
Second, the drafting of Omri Casspi at the 23 place of the first round - the draft pick the Kings got from Houston in the Ron Artest trade. First Israeli player drafted that high, so all the hopes of the country behind him (they had like a national holiday the day after the draft to whoop it up). If he becomes a good player, we need to learn his name, I guess. He is a small forward, also comes to the NBA with a reputation for toughness and a solid active player who could fill out some and provide the small forward the Kings really need. He is raw to the NBA style of play, though, and probably will get frustrated with the standing around typical for pro offenses when he is used to running, moving without the ball and slashing to the basket for passes. The problem is that he will be getting in the way of both Evans and Martin - who will be colliding under the basket routinely, I guess, unless Evan works out as a point guard.
Finally, the trade of the 31st pick in the draft to Portland for the "other" Spanish PG Sergio Rodriquez and a later draft pick in the second round, at #38, who turned out to be Jon Brockman. Beno Udruh, lest we forget, is the starting point guard for the Kings. Let's forget anyway. Petrie overpaid for Udruh, who apparently is a bit weak in the knees on the toughness scale. No one here would be surprised if poor shooting Rodriquez ends up running this team by mid-season, over both Udruh and Evans. SOMEBODY will need to play point here. So this little trade may turn out to be the most important of all.
However, Rodriquez is not the only guy the Kings got for #31. We also drafted this dude, Brockman. Why did he fall so far in the draft, after leading the Pac 10 in rebounding two seasons in a row? He is strictly a power forward type, that's why. No chance of him turning into a guy who could do some small forward work - not particularly a good shooter and he is also slow. He is also smallish for a PF, at 6'7" with short arms. Small, lacks wingspan, and slow. So why draft him and expect him to even make the roster? Because he is a jarhead marine warrior who has literally knocked the teeth out of HIS OWN teammates, let alone opponents, to get rebounds. I have no idea how this will translate to the timid (Ha!) NBA, but eventually somebody will get fed up with this guy perforating their craniums and go after him, which my guess will be adding more pain to whoever tries to do that. Brockman has no fear, no pain threshhold and a Spartan's approach to confrontation. Why he did not pursue a football career is the only real question about him.
So the Kings decided to become tougher. All the additions are of that caliber. It should be a more interesting roster, and I wonder how many fouls they will be accumulating and how slow the Kings' games will end up being because of it, but the defense should improve at least.
