Eric Moreland agrees to contract with Sacramento Kings

Eric Moreland, an undrafted free agent from the 2014 NBA Draft, has reached an agreement to sign with the Sacrmanto Kings, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com.

There are no reports on the terms of the deal, but I’d be surprised if it was much more than a small guarantee to come to training camp with the team. However, the Kings do have a couple of open roster spots, meaning they could potentially have guaranteed him more.

Moreland impressed in Summer League with the Kings this season after being a surprise early entrant into the draft. Despite only averaging 3.5 points during the team’s run to glory in Vegas, Moreland also corralled 8.8 rebounds and swatted 2.7 shots despite only playing 19 minutes per contest. His energy was absolutely relentless, and he put all of his athletic gifts on full display. At nearly 6’11 with a 7’3.5 wingspan, Moreland has the size, leaping ability, and quickness to play in the NBA; it was always just difficult to get him to show those skills in college.

At Oregon State, Moreland averaged a respectable 8.9 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game, but there seemed to be underlying problems as to why he wasn’t playing better. His effort fluctuated depending on how engaged he was in the game, and his game log shows an awful lot of inconsistent numbers. Also, there is the note that he was suspended by coach Craig Robinson for the Beavers’ first 14 games this season after committing an unspecified violation of team rules. He ended up only serving a 12 game suspension after successfully fulfilling the requirements set forth to him, but there was definitely something going on in Corvallis that didn’t allow Moreland to get the best of his abilities.

I would expect Sacramento to end up putting Moreland in the D-League for this coming season with the Reno Bighorns. He still needs to improve his skill level to have a shot at playing in the NBA. After all, we are talking about an undrafted prospect here. However, with his size, rebounding, and shot blocking ability, there is definitely a shot that he can work his way up through the ranks and eventually earn a spot in the Kings’ rotation.