An altogether average week for our Sacramento Kings rookies was overshadowed by possible chaos in the front office. How will this affect Marvin Bagley III and Harry Giles going forward?
The last calendar week was kind of rough for the Sacramento Kings for a variety of reasons. For that reason, the Rookie Report is going to be a tad different this time. Given that most of the Kings’ scuttlebutt this week is likely to revolve a report from Yahoo Sports that involves both of these players, let us roll the stats and then we will talk about what that report should mean for the team going forward.
As always, the Rookie Report considers a week as Sunday through Saturday. As a result, this report takes a look at the games against the San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies, and Houston Rockets from 11/11 to 11/17.
On to the Rookie Report!
Marvin Bagley
Weekly Stats: 10.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 0.7 apg, 0.0 stls, 0.7 blks, 50.0% FG, 0% 3PT, 80.0% FT, 22.9 mpg
Year-to-Date Stats: 11.9 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.4 stls, 1.1 blks, 50.7% FG, 38.9% 3PT, 62.9% FT, 22.6 MPG
Advanced: PER 15.8, .561 TS%, 13.0% TRB, 5.0 AST%, 4.3% BLK, 23.3% USG, ORtg 102 DRtg 111
Harry Giles
Weekly Stats: 7.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.7 apg, 1.0 stls, 0.0 blks, 64.7% FG, 0% 3PT, 50.0% FT, 9.9 MPG
Year-to-Date Stats: 4.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 0.6 apg, 0.6 stls, 0.2 blks, 44.8% FG, 0% 3PT, 33.3% FT, 9.8 MPG
Advanced: PER 8.2, 44.4 TS%, 15.0% TRB, 8.7% AST, 1.5% BLK, 27.1% USG, ORtg 81, DRtg 107
It was a fairly average trio of games from the two rookies, although Giles at least got off to a good start after being seemingly rejuvenated in Stockton (as discussed last week). Bagley also had his best game of the week against Houston, dropping 16 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Nothing eye-popping in either a negative or positive direction.
Let Us Get Into The Juicy Stuff
So. That Chris Haynes bombshell. This report is not good any way you slice it, but it could be especially bad news for our rookies if the Kings do not handle this immediately.
Let us assume for a moment that Vlade Divac and Vivek Ranadive are seriously considering a coaching change after a surprisingly good start to the season (those who were around in 2014 know this too well). I am not a giant Dave Joerger apologist or anything, as past articles should prove. But if there is a sincere clash between the coach and the front office over how Joerger is choosing to develop Bagley and Giles, firing him and pulling the rug out of the locker room and these young guys is one of the worst imaginable ways to resolve it.
Look, if the Kings had their own pick this year, there is an argument to be made that just throwing Bagley into the lineup and placing Giles consistently in the second unit is fine. But seeing as they do not, demanding Joerger to suddenly pivot to player development instead of “win-now” (which, again, the best start in five years!) is simply non-sensical. Also, it is not Bagley or Joerger’s fault that Nemanja Bjelica is playing above expectations in the starting lineup. If Vlade did not want to run the risk of a veteran outplaying their prize draft pick, perhaps he should not have gone out of his way to convince one to sign here.
But let us consider the other possibility that someone within the organization is trying to make a power play here. I am not going to speculate who might be behind such a play, although people have their theories. But this would indicate a significant amount of dysfunction in the front office. And that should be even scarier to a Kings fan.
Back To The Rookies
To tie this all back to the Rookie Report, it is shameful that Bagley and Giles have to deal with this right now in any capacity. As has been pointed out in this space already, Bagley has looked fine relative to his role. Giles is on a slower path, but there is lots of reason for optimism.
The fact remains, however, that Bagley has weaknesses in his game that are going to be exposed against starting competition. It is also unavoidable that Giles has a significant injury history in his past, which is why bringing him along slowly makes sense. In short, Dave Joerger’s development plan has been absolutely fine so far (at least to me), so it is odd that it has turned into this big contentious thing. But such is life with Sacramento basketball.
The best one can hope for is that the locker room stays together through all this. Even if Bagley and Giles remain down in the rotation for the foreseeable future, they are able to see the forest for the trees and keep their eyes on the long-term plan. The Kings are winning right now, and that should rise above everything else.