[Game] Kings @ Hornets - Thursday, Jan. 17 - 4PT/7PT
- Thread starter VF21
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Bagley was awful last night. He played 23mins: 15pts 8rebs 1asts 3 tos on 6-11 FG.
On the surface that might look semi good, but stats don't tell the story. He was our worst big man. He hurt us on both ends. On offense he would bump into players including Giles and WCS and end up causing horrible floor spacing. He made questionable decisions when he had the ball, a few times forcing up a bad shot. He didn't play within the flow of the offense. He had a usage of 29.6% highest for the team. Just for comparison, Buddy was at 22.5 and Bogdan at 23.4.
His defense was worse than his offense. His def rtg was 133.3! For context, Willie was at 103.5. He provided no rim protection as Tony Parker finished at will. Marvin also had no answer for MKG down on the block. He just powered him with his strength then used his quickness to put up shots. Marvin got abused on defense wherever he was. There are a lot of growing pains with Bagley. You can tell his bball IQ is raw. His basketball skills are raw. Everything is a work in progress, but the game has to slow down for him. Without Willie and Bjelica out there, you could tell how lost both Bagley and Giles were.
If playoffs are our goal, it would be best to keep Bagley as an energy man off the bench instead of trying to feature him in our offense. Even if Bjelica has another night like tonight where he only goes 1-5 from the floor, he'd still bring more value than Bagley as a floor spreader, passer, defender, defensive rebounder, and IQ.
On the surface that might look semi good, but stats don't tell the story. He was our worst big man. He hurt us on both ends. On offense he would bump into players including Giles and WCS and end up causing horrible floor spacing. He made questionable decisions when he had the ball, a few times forcing up a bad shot. He didn't play within the flow of the offense. He had a usage of 29.6% highest for the team. Just for comparison, Buddy was at 22.5 and Bogdan at 23.4.
His defense was worse than his offense. His def rtg was 133.3! For context, Willie was at 103.5. He provided no rim protection as Tony Parker finished at will. Marvin also had no answer for MKG down on the block. He just powered him with his strength then used his quickness to put up shots. Marvin got abused on defense wherever he was. There are a lot of growing pains with Bagley. You can tell his bball IQ is raw. His basketball skills are raw. Everything is a work in progress, but the game has to slow down for him. Without Willie and Bjelica out there, you could tell how lost both Bagley and Giles were.
If playoffs are our goal, it would be best to keep Bagley as an energy man off the bench instead of trying to feature him in our offense. Even if Bjelica has another night like tonight where he only goes 1-5 from the floor, he'd still bring more value than Bagley as a floor spreader, passer, defender, defensive rebounder, and IQ.
I feel like I've heard every excuse possible when we lose on the road. Back to backs (even though the back to back was Sacramento, then Phoenix), altitude changes (not in Denver), jet lag (even though these guys are the best conditioned athletes in the world, flying private first class in basically Lazy-Boys, and are in the their 20's), etc. If our only hope of winning on the road is a non back to back, where our guys get an extra day of rest, and the altitude conditions are perfectly ideal then we are in trouble long term.
I view it as a short term problem, not a longer term one. There are reasons that veteran (not old) teams do well on back to back's in my view: 1) they are more efficient in their play, (less energy yielding better results), and 2) they have better stamina. People talk like 19-20 year old's have fantastic stamina. They don't, not relative to 25-31 year old's. You typically don't find 19-21 year old marathoners coming away with gold medals at the olympics. https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20833515/whats-the-ideal-age-for-marathoning/
I don't like it either. I'd love to see the high-octane play every game, but it's just not realistic. The Kings are a somewhat tired team right now, thus the declining pace compared to other teams. They'll bounce back. If you could monitor the collective fatigue of a team I would expect it goes in waves, and the Kings look to have just experienced a "trough" in one of those waves.
I don't like it either. I'd love to see the high-octane play every game, but it's just not realistic. The Kings are a somewhat tired team right now, thus the declining pace compared to other teams. They'll bounce back. If you could monitor the collective fatigue of a team I would expect it goes in waves, and the Kings look to have just experienced a "trough" in one of those waves.
It is getting annoying hearing the excuses about travel/B2B every time the Kings lose a game now. They lost against Charlotte because they got outplayed (mostly in the 2nd quarter). The offense wasn't very good for most of the game and the 2nd quarter defense was terrible.
You are what your record says you are. The Kings are a slightly above average fringe playoff team this year. They are an exciting team to watch and they are on the rise absolutely........but they are far from a finished product. Much as with every team around .500 they have flaws that need fixed. They should be consistently better next year.
People (Kings media included) need to stop pretending this is an upper echelon playoff team that only loses because of factors outside of their control (i.e. travel). More often than not they lose because the other team executes better.
You are what your record says you are. The Kings are a slightly above average fringe playoff team this year. They are an exciting team to watch and they are on the rise absolutely........but they are far from a finished product. Much as with every team around .500 they have flaws that need fixed. They should be consistently better next year.
People (Kings media included) need to stop pretending this is an upper echelon playoff team that only loses because of factors outside of their control (i.e. travel). More often than not they lose because the other team executes better.
Marvin is raw and gets lost on offense. This is true. Which is what makes his numbers more impressive.
They played the Hornets less than a week before. Scouting happens. Teams adjust.
Tony Parker scoring at the rim is really a guard issue and it pulls the big men out of position trying to cover for the guards. Kemba and Parker killed us in that respect.
MKG and Marvin Williams were ok. But no better than Bagley in this game. That was a wash.
Bjelica doesn't spread the floor if he doesn't hit shots. He didn't this game. He was no help.
Bottom line is that the team as a whole didn't play well or except for a couple of guys. Bagley and Hield were the ones who actually played their usual game. So I while I agree with the assessment of some of Bagleys weaknesses, this was a team loss.
They played the Hornets less than a week before. Scouting happens. Teams adjust.
Tony Parker scoring at the rim is really a guard issue and it pulls the big men out of position trying to cover for the guards. Kemba and Parker killed us in that respect.
MKG and Marvin Williams were ok. But no better than Bagley in this game. That was a wash.
Bjelica doesn't spread the floor if he doesn't hit shots. He didn't this game. He was no help.
Bottom line is that the team as a whole didn't play well or except for a couple of guys. Bagley and Hield were the ones who actually played their usual game. So I while I agree with the assessment of some of Bagleys weaknesses, this was a team loss.
Bagley and Buddy will be our go to offensive weapons in the future. Fox isn’t a natural scorer but he’s good for 20 a game in his prime easily.
Bagley wants the ball literally every possession. The man has so much confidence in himself and the time will come when there won’t be a player who can stop him. You can see it in his eyes and his demeanor. His game just isn’t ready yet for prime time but it will be.
Bagley wants the ball literally every possession. The man has so much confidence in himself and the time will come when there won’t be a player who can stop him. You can see it in his eyes and his demeanor. His game just isn’t ready yet for prime time but it will be.
That is not necessarily true, as his man always sticks to him whether he is hitting or not hitting. Case in point, a play from this game where Fox is running a fast break and Buddy and Bjelica are running on the wing, and one defender is back and he chooses to go to Bjelica leaving Buddy open for three! I mean that is ultimate spreading the floor when the defender chooses to leave BUDDY HIELD open. 
(video below is at that play)
(video below is at that play)