Yeah they need Rubio too, but they RE-signed Beno Udirh to a near-max deal just last season, I don't think they've lost faith in him THAT much that they'd rather miss out on Griffin. I CAN see them trading it away, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them pick Blake.
Trust me. We hate Beno in Sacramento and have zero faith in him. 36 year old Bobby Jackson and reckless chucker SF Francisco Garcia are moretrusted at the PG position than Beno in northern Cali. If we get Griffin, it will have nothing to do with Beno at all, but with the fact that having the worstrecord in the league means you don't overrate your talent and you get the best player available.
It becomes so easy for people to fall blindly in love with their hometown players. Hawes and Thompson are good and have great futures ahead of them, yes. But Ididn't see any all-rookie first or second team selections or rookie all-star selections between them. That might not be the best criteria, especiallybecause they started to play their best ball after Miller and Mikki Moore got shipped out of town, but the point is, neither of them seem to be a sure enoughthing that we pass up a guy like Griffin, who in my opinion is looking like a perrenial all-star, just so they can keep starting. One, why not let the threebattle it out for playing time and trade one later on if their trio doesn't work out? And two, depth never hurt anybody (Odom, Bynum, and Gasol do fine).We have garbage coming off of the bench and better players than Hawes, Thompson, and Griffin come off the bench in this league all the time.
Rubio being the draft is simply a luxury for the Kings. We have dreadful luck. Anyone who has seen the injuries and their timing through the years and thatLakers series knows what I'm talking about. If we get the 2nd pick rather than the 1st, it's not the end of the world--that's all Rubio means. Wedon't pick him first or trade Washington for him unless they want to give us Caron or Arenas or take some of our horrendous contracts (each of which theydon't seem likely to do). If we get the 3rd or 4th pick, on the other hand, it pretty much is the end of the world in Sacramento.
Ideally, we draft Griffin and try to improve at the point through free agency or trades. I think we should go after Ramon Sessions. I've been hearingrumors about Marvin Williams and Hedo Turkoglu too, but both would likely cost way more than they're worth, and with Nocioni's contract and those twonot even being that much better than him (I really mean that; Turk is overrated), I think we stand pat at the 3 position at least for another year. Noc/Garciais decent enough. And if we have to go after a 3 for whatever reason, I think trying to get Marquis Daniels for cheap would be wiser than Marvin Williams orTurkoglu. K9 comes off the books next year. I think we should do most of our FA shopping then, and just develop Martin/Hawes/Thompson/(Griffin or Rubio) fornow.
