The Kings worked out Michigan center Moussa Diabate on Tuesday, per Andrew Slater of Pro Insight (via Twitter). Sacramento holds the Nos. 4, 37 and 49 picks in next week’s 2022 draft. Diabate is ranked as the No. 70 prospect on the ESPN big board.
The 6’11” big man was voted onto the Big Ten All-Freshman Team in his lone NCAA year. Slater adds that Diabate logged the best vertical of all center prospects, 36.5″, at the pre-draft combine in Chicago. Through 32 games with the Wolverines, Diabate averaged 9.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and 0.9 BPG during 24.9 MPG during the 2021/22 season.
There’s more out of California:
- Among first-round candidates, Baylor forward Jeremy Sochan worked out for the Kings on Sunday, per Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee. Anderson notes that the 19-year-old is among the top defensive players in the 2022 draft. During his lone college season, the 6’9″ combo forward averaged 9.2 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.3 SPG and 0.7 BPG in 30 contests. ESPN lists Sochan as the No. 15 pro prospect on its latest big board.
- Lakers rookie Austin Reaves had quite the first NBA season. After going undrafted in 2021 out of Oklahoma, he latched on with L.A. and soon found himself earning the praise of All-NBA forward LeBron James. Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times takes an in-depth look at the development of the 6’5″ shooting guard. Though Woike writes that Reaves had received some interest in the second round of the draft, Reaves and his representation demanded a guaranteed contract from any team with interest in taking him. His preferred destination was Los Angeles, and when he fell out of the draft, Reaves eventually signed with the Lakers on a two-way contract. The team promoted Reaves ahead of the regular season to a standard two-year deal. “When you have an opportunity to see the arc of a player, to discover him in the scouting process, bringing him in for workouts, acquiring him, developing him and bringing him along, seeing that arc is really satisfying,” team president Rob Pelinka said. Through 61 games, including 19 starts, Reaves averaged 7.3 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 1.8 APG in 23.2 MPG for the Lakers.
- All-Star Warriors forward Draymond Green played a big part in Golden State’s critical 104-94 Game 5 Finals win over the Celtics on Monday thanks to his disruptive defensive pressure and offensive court sense, per Marcus Thompson II. Though Green scored just eight points on a respectable 3-of-6 shooting from the floor, he also notched eight rebounds, six assists, and a steal. Thompson reports that Boston players converted just 7-of-23 (30.4%) of their looks with Green defending them during the series’ past two contests, both Warriors wins. Those players otherwise connect on 49.3% of their attempts from the floor. “I felt more like myself… aggressive on both ends of the ball,” the 32-year-old Green said. “I look forward to going into Game 6 with the same energy and effort.”
Geez, Don’t the Kings have enough Bigs?
Yet they keep Working out more.
Sabonis, Richaun Holmes, Alex Len, Damian Jones, Neemias Queta, Chimezie Metu, etc.
When they go Small and play either Holmes or Sabonis at the 5 it will essentially render the rest of those Bigs as wasted roster spots.
It is rather ironic for you to complain about a team having to many bigs. Sacramento is obviously not on a position to be that picky. Most of bigs you list are G-league, or summer league players. So, what is your complaint? Sabonis and Holmes are keepers. Lens is fringy…The rest you can dump.
True, I ‘ve wanted the Warriors to add one more, traditional Big, during the season, preferrably a Defensive-minded, Big.
My ideal Roster has 3 traditional Bigs on it.
The Warriors carried only 2 all season long. Looney and Wiseman, and Wiseman was hurt. We were fortunate Looney stayed healthy all season long. Would like the team to add one more, either in Free Agency or via the draft on June 23rd. Would limit the amount of Minutes that we ask Draymond to defend larger players during the regular season. Can save more of those Minutes for the playoffs. Looney is the rebounder, Wiseman is the scorer, so could use a rim protector like Christian Koloko from the Arizona Wildcats. That would free up the other 4 players to hound the perimeter instead of always collapsing into the paint and surrendering so many open 3s.
My point above about the Kings is that they already have more than 3, so when they played Holmes at the 5, those other Bigs were kind of stuck to the bench. Anyways, it was just an observation on my part after watching so many of their games this past season.
Amazing that Dray and Smart don’t have universal respect as great players and core pieces you can build a great team around.
Probably two of the top 10 players I would have liked the Knicks to get over the last decade.
Most teams build around young athletic scorers because that is what fans want to see. Defense first players are almost never built around. Can you name a defense first player taken in the draft top 3 ever?
Mobley, Barnes, Williams, JJJ… OKay those include #4s… Hard to say as I go back in time but you’re on track historically.
Defense got popular last year with Florida St players and Mobley playing center while his older brother took the 4.
I would say Holmgren is more about D, Banchero not, and if Murray gets #4, it will be his D potential… so the defensive trend is still in effect.
Maybe the LAL can find the next Caruso or Reaves again this year.
Fresh legs, good defense and high basketball IQ.
Way better than those washed-up vet-min signings that killed the team last year.
Reaves stood out to me immediately in the 1st summer league game in Sacramento. In the right spots, played the right way, etc. I thought he should have played more sooner. If they have any spacing on this roster going into next year, I think he is going to be very useful for them
Did Draymond, Wiggins, and GPII (the Warriors’ defense) figure out the Celtics well enough to end the series in 6?
Good question
I’ve said this a couple times, that I think the Warriors have more urgency for the moment than Boston does.
The Celtics know in the back of their minds they’re young and they’re good and they’ll be back next year and the year after.
Warriors not so much. They realize an injury to a key guy or just facing the wrong team at the wrong time in the playoffs and it’s over. I think they go into Thursday with this mindset of, we’ve gotta give it everything right now. We may not get another chance as we’ve seen the last two seasons when they didn’t make the playoffs at all.
Warriors in 6 ish
As good of a game Klay, GP2, and Poole had in Game 5, it was Green who had the most impact in the game after Wiggins. As long as Green plays this well in Game 7, Warriors will win another title! Go Warriors!!!