Sacramento Kings: Luka Doncic and other recent draft regrets

2015 – Willie Cauley-Stein, 6th overall 

The Kings decided to draft Willie Cauley-Stein at No. 6 overall despite DeMarcus Cousins already firmly cemented as the franchise center. Looking back, this idea of having both WCS and Boogie on the court simultaneously is horrifying, but at the time, pundits predicted the pair to be a defensive powerhouse.

Coming out of college, Cauley-Stein was touted as a defensive beast, using his superb athleticism and size to protect the paint. He averaged 2.9 blocks per game and was awarded the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. He seemed to have all the tools to be a defensive stalwart; that just never materialized at the NBA level.

Instead, the Kings’ front office can openly admit this pick was a disaster. Sure, we got to see some high flying dunks and short bursts of his huge potential, but consistency was never his forte. The Kings’ interior defense has been abysmal since the arrival of Cauley-Stein and is only starting to recover now that Richaun Holmes has taken his place. The fact that the Kings let Cauley-Stein walk after just four years, despite being a lottery pick is a pretty big indication of how his tenure went.

Offensively, he brought what you would expect an athletic 7-footer to bring; rim running, the occasional alley-oop highlight, and of course, absolutely no threat of scoring outside the paint. Over his four year tenure, he averaged 10 points and six rebounds without attempting a single 3-pointer. Cauley-Stein never really tried to expand his skill set to fit the modern game and his efficiency paid the price.

The cherry on top, of course, is the fact that many far more successful players were drafted after him, so let’s get this out of the way.

Firstly, Myles Turner was picked at 11, followed by Devin Booker at 13 (sigh) and even the sleeper pick of Montrezl Harrell down at 32 – all three of whom fit very well into the modern game.