Looking Back At Harry Giles’ Season And The Hype That Surrounded Him
By Rafe Wong
Although Harry Giles did not play a single minute in his first NBA season, he still became a winner within the Sacramento Kings community. This article will explain why.
A Royal Pain continues its series on analyzing and grading how each player on the Sacramento Kings performed during their 2017-2018 campaign. This article will be about Harry Giles and how his rookie season panned out.
With the 20th selection in last year’s draft, the Kings selected Giles out of the University of Duke. The sense was that the Kings got tremendous value at the #20 spot, but it was still a risk due to the health issues surrounding Giles’ knees.
For the last couple of years, Giles suffered multiple ACL tears in both his knees which have hindered his development and have lowered his player stock since. It has been a long and rough journey that Giles has endured, but hopefully, the best is about to come.
The Hype Of Harry Giles
The Kings took the cautious road with Giles as they sidelined him for the entire season. With that being said, however, it did not stop Harry from causing a spark within the organization.
Throughout this season, many teammates of Giles have raved about the 20-year old’s basketball talent. To specify, players like Garrett Temple, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Vince Carter revered the way Giles could pass, defend, and make smart plays on the court. Bogi even compared Harry’s game to Kings’ legend Chris Webber.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Harry Giles has had one heck of a season without even taking a step on the NBA hardwood. The hype surrounding him has made him into a fan favorite within the Kings’ community and a potential core piece to the franchise’s future.
Although everything is going well on the Giles hype train now, nothing is guaranteed. He still has not recorded a second of NBA basketball and all the compliments about his game have not been proven yet.
Harry is set to make his professional basketball debut in July during the NBA summer league games. So hopefully that gives basketball fans a better perspective of what kind of impact he could make for this upcoming season.
Next: 15 Best draft picks in Kings history
A lot of excitement will happen for Kings fans during this summer and upcoming season, and a big reason why is because the Kings community will finally get to see Harry Giles in action. Although a ton of hype is surrounding the 20-year old, hopefully, he is not phased by the pressure and just goes out on the court and has fun playing the game he loves.