NBA Draft: Re-drafting the historic 2009 NBA Draft

The Sacramento Kings — who received this pick along with Bobby Jackson, Donté Green and cash via a trade with the Houston Rockets for Ron Artest, Sean Singletary and Patrick Ewing Jr. — actually took Casspi here.

While dunking on the Kings for dumb organizational decisions is basically low-hanging fruit at this point, picking the Israeli combo forward was far from the worst move they’ve ever made (and there have been a lot).

Casspi stood out in his three seasons with Maccabi Tel Aviv using his athleticism and smooth 3-point stroke. But like most international players who cross over to the United States, there were concerns about Casspi getting lost in the shuffle against the heightened competition in the NBA.

All things considered, Casspi found his lane as a stretch four, averaging 7.9 points per game while shooting 36.8 percent from downtown in 10 seasons with the Kings, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Rockets, the Golden State Warriors, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Memphis Grizzlies and the New Orleans Pelicans.

Casspi never really reached that Hedo Turkoglu threshold, but Casspi’s been a productive floor spacer in a league where those sort of players are vital to team building.

It seems odd, but the Kings got this one right, given what was left on the draft board. He isn’t a star by any means, but for the level of players typically available at this point in the draft, this is a move that makes sense.

Sacramento could have bungled this like they always do, but much as they did in the legit 2009 NBA Draft, the Kings found some value in a late-round pick. As they say, even a broken clock is right twice a day.