What The Kings Have To Work With: 7th, 35th, 60th

Geoff Petrie has sufficient young high end talent in Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins to morph into a threatening playoff team by the time they either move to Anaheim or shovels hit the ground to build a new arena in Sacramento. Assuming Evans has a healthy bounce back season and Cousins levels out his inconsistent maturity, the Kings probably won’t have a pick as high as No. 7 again to add to this core.

The 35th pick gives the Kings another chance to add to the core, preferably a player worthy of a gamble as they did a year ago with Hassan Whiteside.

The Kings will also have the opportunity to select this year’s Mr. Irrelevant at 60.

What The Kings Need: With Evans and Cousins established as the obvious cornerstones, the Kings are in search for running mates for each.

The Kings need to pair Evans with a backcourt mate capable of playing off the ball, and at least one such player will be available and possibly two.

Finding the right center to complement Cousins in the long-term will be far more difficult, both in terms of achieving the right kind of nuance and the lack of NBA-ready options available in this draft.

While not quite as big of a need, the Kings could also pick a small forward if a player at that position unexpectedly drops.

Who May Be Wearing The Kings Jersey By The End Of The Night: While not an utter foregone conclusion, the Kings will almost certainly draft either Kemba Walker or Jimmer Fredette. The decision between the two, if the Raptors pass on Walker, is one that will be complicated and frequently scrutinized in the coming years. It would also be an appropriate culmination of a 2010-11 college basketball season that saw these two players compared and debated ad nausea.

There is division within the franchise on who would be the better pick and it is easy to see why since there are so many compelling pros and cons for each player. The tiebreaker for me is I expect Walker to eventually become a passable perimeter shooter, while I highly doubt Fredette ever advances out of his mediocre defense phase.

If the Kings were playing the long con, Jonas Valanciunas would be worth No. 7 to add to this team, but the team doesn’t have the patience to wait on his buyout/development.

The other area where Sacramento can look at with No. 7 is Kawhi Leonard or Jan Vesely since there is a good chance one will slip.