When you're a team that isn't doing so well, sometimes you just want the season to end. And with the season ending, your gift becomes being able to put your team's name in the NBA Draft Lottery hoping that your team can come away with a player that can change your team's future. That's your gift for being bad.
And sadly, both the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings have been bad.
Though the lottery order is still unknown at this time, ESPN's Chad Ford released his Mock Draft 1.0 strictly based on current record and the Kings have the no. 7 pick. The Warriors would be no. 9 but that pick goes to the Utah Jazz instead. The Warriors do, however, have the 27th pick from the San Antonio Spurs.
So who would they pick?
Ford has the Kings selecting North Carolina freshman power forward James Michael McAdoo. McAdoo hasn't put up monster numbers in his freshman season but with all the talent on the Tar Heels, you can understand why. But his upside alone still has him worthy of a lottery pick and thus a look by the Kings. The Kings already have players who need the ball to be effective and McAdoo doesn't. But he could still go back to school so it's still early in the process.
Ford has the Warriors taking Syracuse sophomore shooting guard Dion Walters. He'd bring some scoring punch to the bench with a similar playing style as the recently-departed Monta Ellis in that he's a slasher more than a shooter. But he's also an underclassmen with a decision to make on whether to declare.
It's still early but the Kings and Warriors will yet again look to the draft to try to help them finally get over the hump and into the Western Conference playoffs.