I'm surprised that some of you people aren't being critical of the type of athletic shoe Bagley's wearing. Two games, and two double/double's. There was a time when this forum would have been thrilled if JT had been able to do that. Or Willie for that matter. But no, not to be for Bagley, because he's not the player you wanted the Kings to draft. Well get over it. He hasn't even played an entire season of games yet. And the games he has played have been broken up into segments with large gaps in between. In short, his personal progress has been severely stifled.
Bagley is a very competitive player who wants to win. He's playing with a chip on his shoulder, which can be both good and bad. Good because it's incentive, but bad because it can cause you to try and do too much. Overall, I'm pleased with what he's accomplished so far. It's going to take some time for him to get back into the flow of the game. Last season the Kings were near the bottom of the league in rebounding, and now this season, we've killed the first two teams we've played on the boards. Bagley is part of the reason why.
Instead of criticizing him for not being someone else, just judge him for who he is, and what he accomplishes, or doesn't accomplish. But be fair! He's our player on our team. Support him, instead of being petty and nit picking. That doesn't mean you can't be critical, but don't ignore his accomplishments. Yeah, he doesn't use his right hand much when attacking the basket. Well neither does Fox. Can anyone tell me which hand Antetokoumpo uses? Do you even care? All you care about is the results, right? Well judge Bagley on his results, not on which hand he scores with.
By the way, he did attack the basket with his right hand one time last night, so all things in good time. Players aren't static, they're constantly working on their game. While on the subject of Antetokoumpo, (see what I did there) let's do a little comp.
Antetokoumpo:
1st year: 24 mpg - 6.8 ppg - 41.4% fgp - 34.7% 3pp - 4.4 rpg - 1.9 apg - 0.8 stl's - 0.8 blks - played in 77 games
2nd year: 31 mpg - 12.7 ppg - 49.1% fgp - 15.9% 3pp - 6.7 rpg - 2.6 apg - 0.9 stl's - 1.0 blks - played in 81 games
3rd year: 35 mpg - 16.9 ppg - 50.6% fgp - 25.7% 3pp - 7.0 rpg - 4.3 apg - 1.2 stl's - 1.4 blks - played in 80 games
Bagley:
1st year: 25 mpg - 14.9 ppg - 50.4% fgp - 31.3% 3pp - 7.6 rpg - 1.0 apg - 0.5 stl's 1.0 blks - played in 62 games
It wasn't until Antetokoumpo's 4th season that he exploded into the player he is today. In total, Giannis played 4,437 minutes of NBA basketball his first two years, compared to Bagley's 1,900 minutes in his first two years. If you don't think that extra experience doesn't matter then there's no point in having this discussion. Expectations have to be tempered by reality. We don't live in a fantasy world. Well, maybe some of you do...