Bagley progress and pending return

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He has to slowly get used to his new shoes so he doesn't get blisters.
He needs to wait till he gets back onto his home court. All the traveling through airports are dangerous, its not like we cannot win convincingly with 3 of our best players sitting. Playing basketball professionally can be extremely dangerous especially with thumbs and finger injuries. Look what it did for WCS.
 
Coach Walton is going to want MBIII to get in a couple of practices AT FULL SPEED before he inserts him into the lineup.
I think the general angst that Kings fans are having is because of how overly cautious the Kings tend to treat some of their players. Especially, as we watch our season teetering.

MBIII had over 6 weeks to heal a broken thumb and start integrating back into part time practice mode, yet the Kings have not given him the proverbial "thumbs up" to play yet.

I think it's a matter of "Come on dude, it's just a broken thumb (on his off hand), man!". One would think that a grown man can play basketball, especially if he's coming off the bench, without needing a couple of full speed practice to play 15-20 minutes of ball.

At some point, the Kings have to take the kid gloves off and let the players play.
 
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Great news about Bagley. For his first game back needs to come back for the Mavs game so we can hear all the fatuous comparisons between him and Donkey Doncic. :rolleyes::D
I'm starting to think that the Kings are holding Bagley out until they get a "Full Speed Practice" in, so that Bagley doesn't have to play in the Dallas game against Doncic.

I guess no need to hear the endless Doncic comparisons after Doncic gets his near triple double numbers on the Kings while Bagley is just trying to get his feet wet again. This may be a case of asset (psyche) and PR management for the Kings.
 
I hope 'they've been practicing offensive sets with Bagley ad-naseum - (ie pick and pops, pick and rolls, and medium range jumpers and so on). Sending him on the floor with Holmes is a good idea to alleviate defensive pressure too.
 
Looks like Marvin is going to make his debut when the Kings return home against OKC on Wednesday.


If the Kings are being this cautious with Bagley's thumb and needing a "full speed practice", my guess is that they are probably going to insert him back into the starting lineup from day one.
Straight into the starting lineup? Can't see that happening. I think he'll come off the bench at first, and can earn a starting spot rather than having it handed to him.
 

VF21

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SME
I hope 'they've been practicing offensive sets with Bagley ad-naseum - (ie pick and pops, pick and rolls, and medium range jumpers and so on). Sending him on the floor with Holmes is a good idea to alleviate defensive pressure too.
Not sure how much focus they've put on that during this road trip...
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
Since the injury has just been a thumb injury, he should be practicing daily and should be in game shape right?
Based on what we've seen in the pre-game broadcasts, it sure looks like he's been working hard. "Just a thumb injury" is a misnomer, however. Try shooting a basketball with an injury to your off hand. It doesn't work very well - the right hand (in his case) is part of the guidance system for the shot.
 
Based on what we've seen in the pre-game broadcasts, it sure looks like he's been working hard. "Just a thumb injury" is a misnomer, however. Try shooting a basketball with an injury to your off hand. It doesn't work very well - the right hand (in his case) is part of the guidance system for the shot.
Not undermining the injury, just saying that he has a lot of other things to work on. It's not like a torn ACL where he's in a boot all year long.
 
Based on what we've seen in the pre-game broadcasts, it sure looks like he's been working hard. "Just a thumb injury" is a misnomer, however. Try shooting a basketball with an injury to your off hand. It doesn't work very well - the right hand (in his case) is part of the guidance system for the shot.
Yeah except the thumb shouldn’t be. Maybe this will help his shooting by keeping his off hand thumb off the ball
 

Kingster

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So whose minutes does he "take" and how will Walton use him? Any guesses? Other than using him in the post to draw double teams to get some open shots for others, I really don't know.
 
So whose minutes does he "take" and how will Walton use him? Any guesses? Other than using him in the post to draw double teams to get some open shots for others, I really don't know.
Bagley will take ALL of Dedmon's minutes (approx 15 min/gm) for sure. Probably some of Ariza (7 min) and shave off a couple of minutes from Bjelica (3 min) and Holmes (3 min).

He should be around 28-30 minutes per game, if his game progress like we hope it will.
 
All I know is we're playing .500 ball with Fox and Bagley out. We're getting solid wins, but it's taking heroics to get it done. Kings are down to an 8 man rotation, even on a back to back. That's not a recipe for success over the long term.

After the ASB, teams are going to turn it up even more. There is a definite need for an infusion of talent and fans shouldn't be worried much about not breaking up the current flow the team has. We should be worried about being able to win games when it really matters, which is the second half of the season and the playoffs. To get that done, the Kings will need Bagley. So get him his minutes, let the team adjust and gel around Bagley and Fox and go from there.
 
While I never question the guys effort and athletic ability, man the way he plays/understanding of the game just scares the crap out me when he's on the floor, at this point it's still huge upgrade over Dedmon/GIles but he's got a long way to go the motor is there but jury still out for me.

I'd really prefer to see him as a pick'n'roll and garbage man role like Holmes than the iso stuff at this point.
 
All I know is we're playing .500 ball with Fox and Bagley out. We're getting solid wins, but it's taking heroics to get it done. Kings are down to an 8 man rotation, even on a back to back. That's not a recipe for success over the long term.
That's who they are, heroes. They are winning against top teams in the league, even on the road, b2b. They have enough talent, but they do need the deeper rotation, 8 man is unsustainable. Also, they should give Bogi a few days/games rest. They need him to get healthy again.
 
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While I never question the guys effort and athletic ability, man the way he plays/understanding of the game just scares the crap out me when he's on the floor, at this point it's still huge upgrade over Dedmon/GIles but he's got a long way to go the motor is there but jury still out for me.

I'd really prefer to see him as a pick'n'roll and garbage man role like Holmes than the iso stuff at this point.
I heard an interesting point on the radio that the tweener gap used to be between the 3 and 4 but now it has moved to the 4 and 5. I am worried that is squarely where Bagley sits.

He isn’t big enough or defensively aware enough to play the 5. He is getting pushed around and his awareness on defense to switch and cover is poor.

His shooting and passing ability aren’t strong enough to play the 4. He shot some ugly outside shots and his awareness on the pass is low.

Dedmon was supposed to address this issue by playing good defense and shooting outside.
 
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He's still fresh off the injury and probably a bit rusty, so I'll give it some time. With that said, he needs to add strength. He's way too skinny to defend bigger 4s and 5s. His defense overall is pretty poor in general. However I figure both of those are things you can work on with coaching and strength training. Right now he's a string bean.

I'm not really worried about his offense. I think he can be a 20ppg type of guy and I trust that his shot will develop. His rebounding is fine so no concern there either. But again, he needs to add strength and his defense is a liability that must be dealt with.
 
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