Here’s a fresh reminder for Bulls fans: things can always be worse, in more ways than one.
Late Sunday evening after the All Star Game concluded, the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings shocked the NBA world by announcing a trade that will send superstar big man DeMarcus Cousins to New Orleans. In return for Cousins and Omri Casspi, the Kings will receive Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway and the Pelicans’ 2017 first and second round picks.
When news of the trade broke, NBA analysts and fans everywhere gave a collective quizzical look and said, “…That’s it? Wow. The Kings got hosed.”
#HireGarPax
Good news, Bulls fans. We don’t have the most incompetent front office in the NBA. That award rightfully belongs to Sacramento. Looking at their track record, the manner in which they lost a franchise star is merely the culmination of several years of ugly mismanagement.
First of all, the Kings took the Pelicans deal because it was reportedly the best offer on the table. Check that – it was the best offer on the table right now. Teams have thrown much better offers at the Kings for Cousins in recent seasons, but until midday Sunday the team (led by VP/GM Vlade Divac) repeatedly insisted Boogie “wasn’t for sale.” A change of heart, likely due to the fear or reservations about signing Cousins to a max deal worth upwards of $200 million, and the Kings were forced to act quickly and take what they could get.
That’s a hasty ending after Sacramento spent the last six years trying to build around Cousins. 10 straight years in the draft lottery and DeMarcus is the only franchise player Sacramento found. So they were forced to make trades in an effort to bring in talent. That meant sending away draft picks left and right.
Mired In Stupidity
In 2015, the Kings sent Nik Stauskas, dead contracts, a 2017 pick swap option and an unprotected 2019 pick to the Philadelphia 76ers. Why? They needed to free up cap space to sign veterans Rajon Rondo, Kosta Koufos and Marco Belinelli. The goal was to give Cousins enough veteran help to make the playoffs, but that 2015-16 team only managed 33 wins. Belinelli has since been traded, they’re actively shopping Koufos and the Rondo Experiment didn’t warrant a second season.
In 2011, Sacramento traded Omri Casspi and a protected first round pick to the Cavaliers for J.J. Hickson. The Kings waived Hickson a few months later, and that pick is still owed. Nice moves, Kings. Really nice.
Bulls fans are always hot to talk about Gar Forman and John Paxson’s whiffs in recent drafts, and rightly so. But they hit a home run in 2011 by selecting Jimmy Butler at #30. Guess what the Kings did that year? They took Jimmer Fredette with the 10th overall pick, leaving names like Butler, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, Iman Shumpert, Kenneth Faried and Reggie Jackson on the board. What’s Fredette doing now? He actually just made headlines for dropping 73 points in a game…in China.
The Kings did strike gold late in the 2011 draft, snagging undersized point guard Isaiah Thomas with the 60th and final pick. Thomas impressed in his first season, winning Western Conference Rookie of the Month honors on multiple occasions. In the 2013-14 season, Thomas upped his performance to the tune of 20.3 points and 6.3 assists per game. What did Sacramento do? They sent him to Phoenix in a sign-and-trade deal, acquiring $7 million and the rights to Alex Oriakhi. “Who??” …Exactly. Despite helping the Kings win the 2014 Summer League, Oriakhi didn’t stick. He left to play overseas, and currently plays in Mexico. Meanwhile, Thomas is having an MVP-caliber season with a Celtics team poised to make noise in the playoffs.
GarPax might have some bad moves on their resume, but the Kings represent an entirely different level of exasperating failure. See, Bulls fans? It could be worse.
So Much For That
Speaking of “it could be worse”, this Cousins trade is a killer for Chicago. Not in the sense that the Bulls weren’t the team to land Boogie. If you count yourself among the fans hoping for a Boogie arrival in Chicago, educate yourself and then count yourself lucky. As bad as the trade looks for the Kings, they clearly factored his behavioral issues into their decision. He’s a chore and a half, and Fred Hoiberg can’t seem to handle the Bulls locker room as is.
No, the Bulls got hosed because of the expected tanking from Sacramento through the remainder of this season. The protected first round pick the Kings sent to Cleveland in 2011 eventually went to Chicago in the Luol Deng trade. That pick is top-ten protected. At the All Star break, Sacramento’s 24-33 record is the 11th worst in the league.
There’s no guarantee that’s where they’d finish if they kept Cousins, but it was certainly possible. That would’ve meant a perfect situation for the Bulls, getting the Kings pick at its highest possible point in a loaded 2017 draft. Now, without Boogie’s 27.8 points, 10.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game, the Kings are essentially guaranteed to fall into the bottom ten. That means they’ll keep that first round pick. Instead of having an extra pick just outside the top ten, the Bulls will get Sacramento’s second round pick.
How much NBA-level talent will fall off the board between those two picks? We’ll find out soon enough, but it’s a harsh reality for Bulls fans to face in the meantime. For an organization trying to build a young core, finally prying that first round pick from Sacramento would’ve been a huge bonus for Chicago. If GarPax had their eyes on a particular lottery-level player, they could’ve used that pick and their own first rounder to trade up for a potential star to play alongside Butler. So much for that idea.
The Kings look like the ultimate joke of the NBA with this Cousins trade. It’s a nice reminder for frustrated Bulls fans that things can always be worse. Much like the fake promotional videos for Cleveland tourism that claim, “At least we’re not Detroit!”, Chicago’s basketball fans can proudly shout, “At least we’re not the Kings!”
…We’re not the Kings!
…Sure would’ve been nice to nab that first round pick, though. Such is life.
