With a bevy of new talent entering the picture this upcoming season, the Sacramento Kings‘ roster is now painted with a spectrum of ages, skill sets, and past accomplishments. While the front office (read: vice president of basketball and franchise operations Vlade Divac) opted to add some seasoned but hungry veterans this summer, the developing young players joining them present some intrigue.
Guards David Stockton and Seth Curry present some hope for continued depth behind Darren Collison, Rajon Rondo, and Marco Belinelli, but beyond the backcourt, much of the youthful potential is housed in former Wisconsin Badger Duje Dukan. He is an exotic brew of both size – six-foot-ten, 218 pounds – and perimeter skill, shooting .319 from beyond the arc in college and .417 during the Kings’ Summer League contests this July. The son of a former European player and Chicago Bulls scout, Dukan’s physical build and skill set highlight a trend among the Kings’ most promising (and in some cases, now delivering) players: daylight between what might be their prescribed positional duties based on biology and their contributions on the floor. DeMarcus Cousins and Willie Cauley-Stein, were they to suddenly move in such a direction, could function purely as defensive post presences, hoarding rebounds and nailing block-outs – classic back-to-the-basket, lanky center play.
Though Cauley-Stein’s offensive habits have yet to be defined and refined in the context of NBA play, Cousins has become a poster child for the end result of the post-Ewing era: the center who doesn’t mind showing off footwork and finesse while spouting the occasional jump shot. Should his inclinations be similar, Cauley-Stein could form a tandem tower dynamic with Cousins, creating a loose frontcourt system based on interchangeable perimeter and penetration options.
Dukan’s size and current skill set give him a toolbox which few are afforded in the NBA: guard abilities (e.g. long-range shooting and perimeter mobility) and forward proportions, giving him the option of girding himself over time for tours of the lane. Though that potential lingers as Dukan embarks on an NBA career, it seems unlikely that even for his size, this is more likely than not a caveat in his scouting report, not its core.
Were Dukan to see much time on the court this season, he and Caron Butler would establish a solid threat from three-point range while allowing the likes of DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo to operate close to the rim. In pick-and-roll situations, Rondo and Cousins could use some solid third options. Having, say, Caron Butler in perched on the weak side corner with Dukan at the strong side wing would give some breathing room.
Butler’s presence is likely to add some value in the way that Andre Miller did briefly in the 2014-2015 season, but he could serve as an excellent mentor for players like Dukan, whose competencies certainly make him look like a worthy successor.
Butler may, in fact, be hearing some Electric Light Orchestra in his head: “Duje Duje want my job.”
In these situations, having taller targets to whom they can kick out would make the Kings something of a unique force: a team able to go small with combinations of Rondo, Collison, Stockton, or Curry, while keeping shooting utility with their vertically-gifted forwards.
Going forward, the Kings’ coaching and development staff would do well to fashion Dukan as an answer to Gordon Hayward. Like the Hayward of years past, Dukan is a promising perimeter operator through whom many sets can be run. First, he’ll have to develop a niche in while dwelling in the nest. The aforementioned walk-on sharpshooter role may be the best way to do that before he can put himself forward as the idiosyncratic offensive hinge on which the team’s offense swings. As seen below, that could grow to include drives to the basket, but some conditioning and explosiveness would be in order were Dukan to commit to those responsibilities.
With Butler a shout away from his late thirties, and with Rudy Gay’s youth draining away, George Karl is likely to remain open to lineup experimentation in search of fluid, dynamic play. Inserting both veterans and (when appropriate) young upstarts into his rotations could help to develop Cauley-Stein, Stockton, Curry, and Dukan. Having those newcomers in the mix may provide some spark (i.e. intra-squad competition) for more experienced contributors like Ben McLemore, Kosta Koufos, and Quincy Acy.
Truth be told, one can’t help but feel a preference for watching those younger players over the more established acquisitions of the summer. The Kings’ long-term building process is reliant on them having a circle of next-wave players who can establish not only their names in the coming years, but their team’s name. Their playmaking skills give them a decent checkbook, but it’s up to the Kings organization to cash them in. Otherwise, these fresh faces may enter the slew of former Kings who sojourn to become familiar in jerseys not doused in purple (or baby blue).
The beginning of Duje Dukan’s NBA story has the makings of a great underdog story: the son of a basketball scout, an on-again-off-again redshirted college player who missed out on a national championship at the hands of Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke machine, undrafted but undeterred, makes it to a languishing NBA team –
How the story continues depends (as is the case with all of the league’s green chutes) on numerous external factors. Dukan has experience knocking down obstacles already, however. That mindset can do a lot to continue laying bricks in his career path.
Next: 25 Best Players to Play for the Sacramento Kings
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