Grantland released a short documentary on the NBA Draft that took viewers inside the Sacramento Kings' draft day war room. In the short eight minute film, viewers were exposed to a number of things, including the balance of scouting versus analytics, projected floors and ceilings for players as they saw it as well as trade discussions, and of course a brief Wiggins or Parker debate.
Among those trade discussions were two potential deals with Philadelphia. Sixers fans may take comfort in knowing that before the stress fracture in his foot was revealed, Joel Embiid was the clear No. 1 target on their board, as he likely was sat atop many other team’s boards. One catch was that it was revealed that the Kings were not in possession of Embiid’s medical records, while the Sixers were. That led to a discussion with the outside analytics team they spoke to, in which everyone agreed that Embiid’s ceiling was Hakeem Olajuwon and his floor, because of his medical concerns, was Greg Oden.
Despite that uncertainty though, General Manager Pete D'Alessandro consulted his room about trading up. He did not think Embiid would make it to their No. 8 slot and made the attempt to trade up with the Sixers to acquire the No. 3 pick.
“Should we just go for Embiid?,” asked D'Alessandro. “Should we just try to move up? I swear, he’s not going past six.”
A few minutes later, he was on the phone with the Sixers, though it is not sure if it is with General Manager Sam Hinkie or another member of the Philadelphia brass. The sequence went as follows:
“I’m talking to Philly right now,” he said to the rest of the war room.
“Did you think about anything on that? Okay. I appreciate it, I’ll talk to you,” he said on his cell phone, hanging up rather quickly.
He put the phone down and announced to the room, “He said ‘no’.”
They then sat in the room and pondered their next move as selections began to trickle down the board. They then received a call from Philadelphia, as this time they tried to move up for their spot from No. 10 to No. 8. The Kings weren’t interested.
D’Alessandro said frankly to the room, “I’m not doing the deal with Philly to go out to ten.”
Kings owner Vivek Ranadive then asked for clarification on the details of the offer Hinkie proposed.
“They want us to take ten and two second rounders for our eight?,” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m not doing that,” D’Alessandro assured and Ranadive acknowledged his support of the rejection.
Ultimately the Kings got their man and the guy the room in unison wanted, Nik Stauskas. Up until now, we did not have any concrete reports or evidence of what exactly Hinkie was trying to do. Who was he targeting at No. 8 for his proposed deal? It is hard to imagine it was for Saric, as he was not projected to go nearly that early. That likely choice would probably be Noah Vonleh, who went ninth overall, sandwiched between Sacramento and Philadelphia.
While we do not know for a fact it was Vonleh, it at least suggests that Hinkie was not so insistent on taking two guys that would not play next year, Embiid and Saric just to double-tank. It suggests they were simply taking the guys they targeted according to the board, a strategy to support.
If you have any interest in seeing how a War Room operates, check out the video:
