I can't be too mad at them for taking Murray over Ivey because they're married to DeAaron Fox and just took Mitchell last year. I'm still in the group that thinks Fox is overrated and that he should have been the one sent packing his bags instead of Haliburton. If they would have done a Fox-for-Sabonis trade and then used the 4th pick on Ivey it would have been a nice trio of Sabonis, Haliburton and Ivey to build around.
I don't agree. Monte McNair is very bright and his staff is competent. I can tell you, the situation is a lot more complicated. First, the OWNER with the Kings makes the final call and he will change his mind frequently..... and in the case of Ivey, his people made it VERY clear that he would not play for the Kings. On top of that, the OWNER wanted Murray. So if you are the GM of the Kings, what are you supposed to do when the owner says he wants an inferior player and the player says he will not play for you? Even with the player saying he wouldn't play for the Kings, the GM wanted to draft him.... and the owner steps in and says take Murray.
It's still funny to me that Ranadive wanted his team to play full court press the entire game because he used that strategy on his girl's middle-school basketball team with some success.
It gets worse: CJ claims that Sacramento Kings promised Lillard in the 2012 draft and went Robinson, promised him CJ in 2023 and went McLemore.
It's kind of amazing that the Kings massively overpaying Fox has essentially cost them Haliburton and Ivy, both much better (or seemingly better, in Ivey's case) guards.
Actually if you back even further the fact that Fox was on the roster actually kept them from drafting Luka because they thought Bagley would be a better fit. So in keeping Fox they lost out on Luka, Haliburton and Ivey.
They shouda sent Fox to the Lakers for Russ, THT & 27-29 draft pick package, draft Ivey. They still coulda made a play-in run in 22-23 with their current roster (even coulda kept Russ if they wanted to). Mind you, they're not GOOD, but good enough to win 38 games and make the play-in? Why not.
Ivey bawling at the draft was not a good look to me. Way too emotional. That will impact his career in some way. Maybe positively, I guess, but probably negatively, IMO!
Ivey, player Kings passed on to take Murray, was crying uncontrollably in his interview after being drafted by the Pistons. His mom was right by his side as he was crying and answering questions about her. Every ESPN personality thought it was the greatest thing ever.
