Kingster
Hall of Famer
Well this goes to my original comment of being fascinated with this mindset. The mindset of needing to punish someone for being talented and knowing it.
If we're being honest, that approach has more to do with being jealous of someone's natural talents and believing that for whatever reason (I'll let people soul search on their own reasons even though I have my assumptions), that person isn't deserving of those talents. That it's the "bosses" job or the mobs job to beat him into submission.
Still haven't heard anyone in the organization say Marvin wasn't a hard worker or that he wasn't a good teammate for that matter.
It's not about punishment. It's about training. Parents hopefully don't punish children for the sake of punishment, unless they are evil people. They train their children. Bagley was a "child" when he came into the NBA. He needed some tough coaching love, not punishment for the sake of punishment. From my gleanings, if anything Walton pandered to the kid, the opposite of the tough coaching love he needed in order to become an NBA professional. It's no wonder that Bagley wanted to do what he wanted to do when he'd been sucked up to by recruiters, coaches, AAU guys, etc. for most of his adolescence Throw in his stupid family's influence, plus all the injuries, and it's a wonder he's come this far. He nows seems to know his role, which is rebounding, defense, and making some open outside shots or inside shots when he can get them. He also knows that the offense is not going to revolve around him. It's a start.