Nick King Thread

I'll have something on him tomorrow. If he's the kid I'm thinking of, this could be one of our more interesting Summer League adds.

 

So we'll have two Kings on this team...

 

So I just started working on Nick King. I remember him from the Combine where he got my interest. He's an interesting addition, but I'm not sold on his fit with us.

Pros-

• Probably the best scorer we've added to our Summer League team. He's a natural kid who can get to the basket, can hit outside, can draw fouls.
• He's got tenacity putting the ball in the basket. He's not the most athletic kid, but there's something about the way he scores that is reminiscent of Boogie Cousins. Cousins finds ways to muscle to the rim and has a natural feel for his own basket. Quick second jump reading his own misses for easy putbacks. He doesn't necessarily have the greatest footwork, but he's creative and aggressive about scoring.
• Versatile player. He can be a three or four in the NBA and might even be able to guard fives if he puts his a little muscle on.
• Knows the offense well. He's often directing traffic and talking out there. Can be very demonstrative.
• Can grab and go on the boards. He's got good length and can cover ground surprisingly well.
• Plays with good energy when he's engaged and fresh. Good trait for a role player.
• Very solid passer when he's locked in. Can get lazy sometimes, but when engaged he can find his teammates nicely.

Cons-

• Slow footed. Reactions aren't great. He shows some agility on the offensive end, but is inconsistent defensively. He's a little bit cumbersome to be a wing, but not strong enough to be a big.
• Not a great screen setter although some of that could be scheme. In some of these Middle Tennessee games I see them setting these awful phantom screens that touch nobody. I can't tell if it's a coaching thing or if they're just really bad at it. A lot of their screens don't make contact.
• Sometimes lacks discipline. Leaves his feet defensively. Middle Tennessee used him at PF a lot, but he has very little feel for shot blocking or rim protecting.
• From a physiological standpoint, looks like he doesn't spend much if any time in the gym. This is a bit of a pro in the potential department because maybe the gym does him good, but right now he gets tired quickly and while he's built strongly, he could be better.
• He can be emotional on the floor and demonstrably frustrated with his teammates which can be grating. To be fair, some of his teammates are pretty bad and fail to see easy passes when they should, but that could be tough to deal with for new teammates if he brings that to Summer League.
• Too easy to keep him off the boards. He plays with energy, but can be easily blocked out on the glass.

He's an interesting kid, but he'll have to show some significant growth to catch on at an NBA level. Nick King dominated his conference though and deserves some recognition as a legitimate prospect. He lead his team to the NIT championship game where he was beat by a much better Louisville team.

 

Agreed, if nothing else this allows us to keep adding to our data base of players we've worked out and seriously evaluated. So that in the future if we come across them again we have a base line which can help us determine if they have improved or do we want to sign them to a 2 way contract, training camp invite, or something.