As a mobile big man, this directly limits his ceiling.
On the periter, it’s another story with the sixth pick Hield.
Unlike Stan, Hield wasn’t a Kings draft pick; he ca over from the Pelicans in the past Cousins’ three-team trade.
When Hield first joined the Kings, he played 25 gas, starting in 16, averaging 15.1 points, attempting 5.5 three-pointers per ga, shooting 42.8% from beyond the arc.
After Mitchell joined last season, he was pushed to the bench, and his average points dropped to 12.1, with 5.1 three-point attempts per ga, but his percentage actually increased to 43.2%.
In the NCAA, Hield was primarily a breakthrough player, but in the NBA, he developed an almost elite level of outside shooting, proving his shooting talent.
However, he’s also a player with very obvious strengths and weaknesses. His three-point shooting is excellent, but his defense is quite diocre, you might even call it a sieve.
With a height of 1.93 ters and a wingspan of 2.04 ters, it’s barely passable, but compared to Mitchell, it falls short, and his lateral movent is also much worse than Mitchell’s.
A player like this, much like Cole from the Bulls back in the day, is best suited to being the team’s sixth man.
But the Kings’ true sixth man isn’t Hield, but another player, Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Bogdan was a first-round pick in 2014, selected 27th by the Phoenix Suns, and the draft rights eventually ended up with the Kings. Last season, the Kings signed him to a 3-year, $27 million contract.
Hansen is very impressed with Bogdan, but not because of his performance in gas, rather what he knows from "history."
As Jokic’s national team backcourt partner, Bogdan’s personal skills and ga temperant are outstanding. He has a classic saying: The East University n’s Basketball Team players don’t know how to play basketball.
Bogdan is a swingman who can both organize with the ball and play off the ball. Last season, he averaged 11.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists, shooting 39.2% on 4.1 three-point attempts per ga.
Besides that, there are also a bunch of young players like Skal Labissiere, Justin Jackson, and others.
In terms of depth on paper, the Kings are now teeming with talent.
But there’s a reason the Kings have been dubbed a "rookie graveyard" in the past; just look at the developnt of Tyreke Evans, clearly aligning with concerns about previous managent’s developnt level.
Mitchell being able to break through last season is fundantally similar to how Jimmy Butler did back in the day, with strong skills and ntal toughness.
Additionally, such a team’s characteristic can be observed from the tilines of these players joining the League. Although it was a team Hansen "assembled single-handedly," they were mostly chosen in recent years, and the rookie benefits are more than halfway through.
If the team can’t achieve exceptionally good results in the next two to three years, it will face massive rookie contract renewal issues by then.
So it seems like Hansen has ample ti, but in reality, it’s quite pressing.
However, the greater the risk, the greater the reward.
If he can lead such a team to reach the summit, even if just once, it will be more valuable than any championship in the past.
Because it would truly be a single-core championship victory.
After they finished talking about the team’s lineup, they had almost finished eating.
By now, it was already evening, the sun was setting in the west, and the weather was much cooler.
Hansen invited Lue to go boating on the lake.
The lake’s area is about 13 acres, larger than a soccer field, like a gigantic key.
According to previous real estate reports, it is filled with various fish species.
Once on the boat, Hansen sat on the edge fishing while continuing to chat with Lue.
"Have you t with Vlad?" Hansen asked, turning to him after drying off his fishing line.
Typically, Lue’s first task upon arriving in Sacranto would be to sign a contract with the team, so he must have t with Divac.
Sure enough, when Hansen asked about it, Lue nodded: "We talked about so things concerning the coaching staff, and he recomnded Jeff Hornacek to ."
Hansen had just cast his fishing rod and couldn’t help but hold his forehead.
If it weren’t known that Divac was already settled with a family, Hansen would suspect he had taken a fancy to Hornacek’s daughter, Abby.
But more realistically, Divac has his own ideas.
And that’s only natural, everyone has their own ideas and will put in effort to make them a reality.
"What about your own choice?"
Hansen wasn’t going to interfere with Lue’s choice of assistant coach, after all, it’s Lue’s coaching team, his partners.
"Jeff Van Gundy."
However, Lue ntioned a na not on the list Divac provided earlier, soone quite unexpected.
Van Gundy last coached in the NBA during the 2006–2007 season when he led the Rockets, in the 2007 playoffs first round, to a 2-0 lead against the Jazz but then got overturned, which led to his dismissal by the Rockets.
After being dismissed, he worked as a comntator for ESPN and ABC, and it has now been 12 years since he’s coached.
Hansen, being from East University, is certainly familiar with Van Gundy; in his previous life, he had mixed feelings about this "bald Van."
Because of him, Yao Ming grew into his career peak, becoming one of the top two in the League for a period and dominating another center.
But also because of him, Yao Ming’s career was prematurely ended due to excessive growth.
Of course, those were his thoughts in his previous life; now, after playing professional basketball for so many years and going through so many things, his perspective has changed.
Just like he ntioned when talking to Ross earlier, players sowhat understand those risks in their hearts.
They’re all adults, no one is forcing you to make choices, rather the choices are presented to you, and you make the choice yourself.
So when fans lant or regret those things, perhaps Yao, like Ross, chose a shorter yet more glorious career.
"Why him?" Hansen was a bit curious.
But after pondering, he rephrased: "Can you convince him?"
Van Gundy thrived as a comntator, arguably one of the most popular besides the TNT crew.
Moreover, his style is bold, often criticizing referee decisions, making him unconventional among comntators.
"Yes, I played for him." Lue appeared full of confidence.
Hansen was stunned upon hearing that.
After rummaging through his mory, he recalled.
Besides having strong communication skills, Lue was also a "drifter" during his playing career, playing alongside many superstars.
He started with the Lakers with the "OK duo," then gained fa for defending Iverson, went to the Wizards and beca a teammate of Jordan, after Jordan’s retirent moved to the Magic and beca a teammate of McGrady, and afterwards went to the Rockets with McGrady and beca a teammate of Yao Ming, and in his last year, he was even a teammate of Howard.
And when Lue ntioned playing for Van Gundy, he was referring to his stint in the Rockets period.
Lue’s strength lies in his communication ability, similar to how Hansen always resonates and builds connections with teammates; this foundational skill allows him to understand others.
That’s why Lue is so highly regarded by these superstar teammates (even Wizards’ Jordan claid Lue was the best teammate during his Wizards stint), aning he also thoroughly understands the level of the coaches he served under.
But Lue seeking Van Gundy is sowhat against the norm.
After all, Van Gundy once coached Lue, and now he would have to beco Lue’s lead assistant.
For anyone else, it would be an impossible task, but Hansen knew Lue’s communication abilities were exceptional.
"If necessary, you can say I appreciate his coaching level and look forward to working with him," Hansen offered his support to Lue.
Even though he never had direct dealings with Van Gundy, he’s known in the NBA for being an excellent coach.
Even Joerger had ntioned the "carry" talk, which was sowhat effective.
"Thank you, Han. With you saying this, my confidence went from 80% to 120%," Lue was ever the diplomat.
At that mont, the water’s float abruptly sank.
A fish was on the hook.
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