Me and NBA2K10's Draft and 2010-11 Preview

To tell you the truth, I have no idea what possessed me to write this at 1:05 in the morning, especially since I have finals for school tomorrow. While reading these posts about why the Kings should draft this player and hearing all that you guys have to say, I felt like I needed to give my own insight on how I think next season is going to go. With the draft only days away, I used a few rumors as well as hopes of a good position to draft the BPA. What else could a seventeen year old stat freak do? I jumped on NBA 2K10 and simulated a Kings Franchise.

In the first season I simulated, I used the same starters and typical minutes that Westphal gave his players toward the end of the season. The Kings ended that season with 27-55, only two games better then the Kings actually did. The stats were pretty much the same, minus Landry's scoring. (He only averaged 10.1 in the simulation). Not to bad. The Kings ended up with the second pick - a pick I would of been happy to accept in real life. However instead of keeping the pick and nabbing Evan Turner, I spent some time going through the RealGM's draft projected and traded each player to the team they would likely get drafted by. (I wanted to make this simulation somewhat realistic). So in the end, the Kings drafted DeMarcus Cousins out of Kentucky and he was quickly inserted into the starting lineup in place of Spencer Hawes. I dont remember how, but I ended up nabbing Wesley Johnson in a trade of draft pick for players, so I put him as a rotation player. Nocioni was BEGGING for a trade, so I followed the rumors and sent him to Toronto for Hedo. I didnt use any of the Kings cap space on free agents other then the 2 million for the Hedo trade and 1 million total to resign Ime and Brockman.

My starting five then looked like this:

PG: Beno Udrih

SG: Tyreke Evans

SF: Hedo Turkoglu

PF: Carl Landry

C: DeMarcus Cousins

with Jason Thompson, Spencer Hawes, Wesley Johnson, Donte Greene, and Omri Casspi on the bench.

Not bad.

I simulated the season, the Kings finished with a 39-43 record. Not too bad.

Now being the stat head that I am, I'll post some fun little statlines to the Kings players, as well as some from the top rookies.

KINGS

Beno: 10.2 points | 5.4 assists | 40% from three

Tyreke: 18.7 points | 5.2 rebounds | 5.7 assists | 2 steals

Garcia: only played three games

Johnson: 7.8 points | 1.7 rebounds | 38% from deep

Hedo: 14.7 points | 3.4 rebounds | 3.3 assist

Casspi/Greene: 4.2/4.4 points | 38%/36% from three

Landry: 9.1 points | 7.6 rebounds | 80% freethrow

Thompson: 8.2 points | 6.6 rebounds | 54% field goal

Hawes: 9.1 points | 6.1 rebounds | 34% from deep

Cousins: 14.4 points | 8.5 rebounds | 1.9 blocks

[led rookies in double doubles and blocks]

Now for the rookies...the only ones we actually care about at this moment in time....

John Wall - Rookie of the Year - 16.4 points | 3.2 rebounds | 4.1 assists | 34% 3PG

Evan Turner - 15.1 points | 3.0 rebounds | 45% 3PG

Al-Farouq Aminu - 8.3 points | 5.8 rebounds | 1.0 blocks

Derrick Favors - 12.6 points | 7.6 rebounds | 1.4 blocks

Cole Aldrich - 8.7 points | 9.0 rebounds | 1.7 blocks

So do I think we might potentially draft Cousins? I sure hope so. From the simulation and the real life projection, Cousins looks like a risk that will pan out for the Kings. That being said, I have full trust in Geoff. I just hope we dont draft Hassan Whiteside. He doesnt seem like he'd pan out while in a Kings uniform. We need a bruiser who can defend and score, and DeMarcus is that guy. If he is off the board, then I would take Wesley Johnson. He is a versitile wing who can score...something we need. Plus if we trade Nocioni on draft night, maybe we can get some sort of low post threat.

Holla at me, give me some advice. Hell, just talk amongst yourselves. i really should be sleeping for finals. hah.