Heading into the 2018-19 season, the Kings will have 2017’s 20th overall pick and 2018’s 2nd overall pick on the floor for their rookie seasons. Could both Sacramento Kings big-men be contenders for Rookie of the Year?
Harry Giles missed all of the 2017-18 season recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in college. Marvin Bagley III will be a true freshman heading into the 2018-19 season. Both are heading into their rookie seasons for the Sacramento Kings.
Only one Kings player has won rookie of the year since the franchise relocated to Sacramento, Tyreke Evans in the 2009-10 season. Marvin Bagley and Harry Giles could change that.
It won’t be easy for either of them to win the award, however. This year’s rookie class is loaded with top-tier talent such as Jaren Jackson Jr., Luka Doncic and DeAndre Ayton but Bagley was the 2nd overall pick for a reason. At least, that’s what Kings fans hope.
With that said, it shouldn’t be Bagley who is considered the favorite for the award on this Kings. It should be Harry Giles. Granted, we haven’t seen him play much and haven’t seen him play any minutes in the NBA’s preseason or regular season. While the same can be said about any first-year player in the league, not all of them are coming off of a major knee injury.
Regardless, Giles should be ahead of Bagley when it comes to preliminary RoY power ranking both on the Kings and in the NBA. Similar to Ben Simmons, Giles was able to take a red shirt year last season. While some people (looking at you Utah) might claim he’s not a true rookie, he is. Giles will be coming into his rookie season with a year’s worth of learning, practice and chemistry with this Kings team, despite never taking the floor.
It’s hard to understate how big of an advantage that is for a young player compared to his true-freshman peers. That experience will help Giles adjust much more quickly than other rookies, save for maybe Luka Doncic.
That doesn’t mean that Marvin Bagley III can’t take the lead over Giles for RoY before the end of the season. When it comes to Giles, Bagley has an advantage over him as well. Giles could very well find himself on a minutes restriction to start out the season and doesn’t have a clear path to the starting lineup. Bagley, on the other hand, won’t face those issues.
He isn’t coming off of a major injury, he won’t have his health closely monitored and he *presumably* doesn’t have anyone blocking him in the starting lineup. Zach Randolph, Skal Labissiere and Nemanja Bjelica could all see time at the four, it’s unlikely any would get the starting nod over Bagley. Even if they do, it wouldn’t be long before Bagley eventually overtook them, similar to De’Aaron Fox and George Hill last season.
Giles won’t have that opportunity, playing behind Willie Cauley-Stein as well as battling with Kosta Koufos and the rest of the power rotation for minutes. He can still be a factor for RoY but he’s going to have to earn his minutes first, something that could cost him a legitimate shot at the award.
Closing Thoughts
While both of the Sacramento Kings big-men will have a shot at the award, it remains to be seen how realistic that shot is.
Theres plenty of question marks surrounding both players as well. Is Giles totally healthy? Does he still have the athleticism necessary to anchor and NBA defense? Will his off-ball awareness and play improve?
For Bagley, we don’t know if he can anchor a defense either. We don’t know if he can become a more impactful defender, or if he can shoot better from the free throw line. These things will all be answered in time, but heading into the season they could become big concerns.
There are also reasons to believe in both players right out of the gate. During the draft process, Mark Titus of The Ringer pegged Bagley as “The Draft’s Most NBA-Ready Player”. For Giles, it’s east to forget he was formerly the #1 high school prospect in all of America before knee injuries derailed him.
Despite their flaws, it’s hard to remember a time the Sacramento Kings had two players with a legitimate shot at winning RoY. It’s hard to remember a time when there was so much optimism surrounding the Kings young players for that matter.
It is, however, important to remember there’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ rookie. But for the Kings, perfection isn’t what matters. Neither is winning rookie awards. What matters is putting future building blocks in place throughout the lineup. If Bagley or Giles can develop into that? Well, winning Rookie of the Year would just be icing on the cake.