NBA Mock Draft 2016: Pre-Combine Edition

player. 67. I said it in the first mock and I’ll say it once again: I don’t think that DeMarcus Cousins is going to make it through the offseason still as a member of the Sacramento Kings. If I’m wrong on that front, than this pick makes absolutely no sense for them. If I’m correct (and I of course believe I am) than the Kings taking center Jakob Poeltl out of Utah seems like a smart, logical selection for Sacramento. <p>There were plenty of people that expected the big man to enter the draft after last season, but he elected to return to the Utes instead and had massive amounts of success as he led them to the top of the Pac-12 in the regular season. Though they faltered ultimately in the tournament, Poeltl still showed that he’s a versatile, savvy, and skilled post presence with solid size and a deceptively good frame and/or strength about him.</p> <p>Especially if Cousins were to be shipped out of Sacramento, the prospects of teaming Poeltl and Willie Cauley-Stein together in a frontcourt are ctually more intriguing to me than Cauley-Stein and Cousins playing together. The hyper-athletic sort of raw talent being harnessed alongside the more grounded game of Poeltl is highly fascinating and something that might actually work quite well in practice in the Association. Obviously there are a lot of “ifs” with this pick, but we shall see. </p>. C. Utah. Jakob Poeltl. 8