Ex-Kings GM Vlade Divac: 'Time will tell' if drafting Marvin Bagley over Luka Dončić was right decision
https://www.nbadraft.net/players/marvin-bagley/
Bagley ranked #2 overall by a well trusted nba mock draft website.
Honestly, the main thing that he was never able to overcome was his lack of low/mid post scoring. Dude has ZERO touch within 10 feet. Like, he can't make crap. Still can't to this day.
Edit: Crazy looking back at this synopsis of his potential. None of his strengths and ALL of his weaknesses reared their heads. Makes me think it was all on him and his lack of body of work. Maybe Marvin is just a douche. I'm guessing Marvin is just a douche. That's probably why they interview these players, right? Well obviously Vlade is a notoriously BAD interviewer/negotiator (Buddy Hield and his Shaq like shenanigans, Marvin Bagley, Luke Walton). Jeez Vlade actually tried and was almost as bad as Bill Russell sleepwalking thru the job lol. Only Sacramento smh.
Bagley ranked #2 overall by a well trusted nba mock draft website.
Honestly, the main thing that he was never able to overcome was his lack of low/mid post scoring. Dude has ZERO touch within 10 feet. Like, he can't make crap. Still can't to this day.
Edit: Crazy looking back at this synopsis of his potential. None of his strengths and ALL of his weaknesses reared their heads. Makes me think it was all on him and his lack of body of work. Maybe Marvin is just a douche. I'm guessing Marvin is just a douche. That's probably why they interview these players, right? Well obviously Vlade is a notoriously BAD interviewer/negotiator (Buddy Hield and his Shaq like shenanigans, Marvin Bagley, Luke Walton). Jeez Vlade actually tried and was almost as bad as Bill Russell sleepwalking thru the job lol. Only Sacramento smh.
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While I absolutely visit the site, I don't really regard nbadraft.net as "well trusted" - sometimes I think they've got a screw loose.
BUT
Regardless of what they may have done in terms of updating their 2018 mock draft post-hoc to match the real draft, it does appear that they did have Bagley in the #2 slot for much of the 2017-2018 mock draft year.
For instance, here's a internet archive hit on Bagley's page from June 2 2018 (so 3-4 weeks before the draft) that shows he was mocked at #2
https://web.archive.org/web/20180602082905/http://www.nbadraft.net/players/marvin-bagley
To reassure you that somehow this page that was archived before the draft didn't somehow get updated later, here's an internet archive hit from December 4 2017 showing Bagley in the #1 spot on the mock:
https://web.archive.org/web/20171204213356/http://www.nbadraft.net/players/marvin-bagley
I looked for archived versions of the mock itself, but there don't seem to be any of the 2018 draft from the time of the draft - my guess is that they changed the URL of the mock draft pages sometime after 2018 and that if one knew what the URL was back in 2018, one could find archives of the full mock. Nonetheless, for looking at where they had Bagley mocked, the Bagley page will suffice. And I didn't look through every hit (there are a bunch), but it looks like they basically had him mocked at #1/#2 all year.
BUT
Regardless of what they may have done in terms of updating their 2018 mock draft post-hoc to match the real draft, it does appear that they did have Bagley in the #2 slot for much of the 2017-2018 mock draft year.
For instance, here's a internet archive hit on Bagley's page from June 2 2018 (so 3-4 weeks before the draft) that shows he was mocked at #2
https://web.archive.org/web/20180602082905/http://www.nbadraft.net/players/marvin-bagley
To reassure you that somehow this page that was archived before the draft didn't somehow get updated later, here's an internet archive hit from December 4 2017 showing Bagley in the #1 spot on the mock:
https://web.archive.org/web/20171204213356/http://www.nbadraft.net/players/marvin-bagley
I looked for archived versions of the mock itself, but there don't seem to be any of the 2018 draft from the time of the draft - my guess is that they changed the URL of the mock draft pages sometime after 2018 and that if one knew what the URL was back in 2018, one could find archives of the full mock. Nonetheless, for looking at where they had Bagley mocked, the Bagley page will suffice. And I didn't look through every hit (there are a bunch), but it looks like they basically had him mocked at #1/#2 all year.
I can't believe that anyone thought that @Capt. Factorial, of all people, might have been making stuff up.
Thanks for the research Cap'n. I'm going off memory but I was sure they had Bags mocked at #2 at the time of the draft.
Iirc most sites had him mocked top 5 at least, and above triple J. With where the league is now, obviously nobody would mock Bagley over triple J anymore.
All that to say, Bagley was mocked as a can't miss prospect due to his athleticism. And we all know how that turns out.
Just happy to have Monte now who values IQ and skill over athleticism. It's nowhere near as "splashy" but hard to argue results (I still think Davion can be a solid NBA player, he just needs the right fit for someone so short and with a short wingspan).
Iirc most sites had him mocked top 5 at least, and above triple J. With where the league is now, obviously nobody would mock Bagley over triple J anymore.
All that to say, Bagley was mocked as a can't miss prospect due to his athleticism. And we all know how that turns out.
Just happy to have Monte now who values IQ and skill over athleticism. It's nowhere near as "splashy" but hard to argue results (I still think Davion can be a solid NBA player, he just needs the right fit for someone so short and with a short wingspan).
Yes, but that's not exactly what the discussion has been about. I would say that among NBA fanbases I think Luka was the consensus #1 pick everywhere except Phoenix (who basically knew they were taking Ayton, so...) - including among the Sacramento fanbase. The point being disputed is about whether Bagley was routinely mocked outside of the top 5 (answer: generally no), not whether he was routinely mocked/considered inside the top 2 (answer: also generally no).
