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Sacramento Kings Rookie Report: Marvin Bagley has his best week as a pro

By Ryan Ritter

SACRAMENTO, CA - MARCH 17: Marvin Bagley III #35 of the Sacramento Kings runs back onto defense against the Chicago Bulls on March 17, 2019 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
SACRAMENTO, CA - MARCH 17: Marvin Bagley III #35 of the Sacramento Kings runs back onto defense against the Chicago Bulls on March 17, 2019 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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As the Sacramento Kings recover from an epic collapse, Marvin Bagley has easily his best week as a pro, and Harry Giles is bit by the injury bug. The Rookie Report looks at both rookies’ weeks.

Sacramento Kings rookie Marvin Bagley had his best week as a pro. That’s a sentence I’m actually pretty sure I’ve written in this space before, which is the great thing about Bagley. His talent and ceiling keeps rising from week to week, but this week is something different altogether as he had career weekly averages in several categories. Meanwhile, Harry Giles had been chugging along until going out with a thigh injury, so let’s dive into both rookies with the Rookie Report this week.

As always, the Rookie Report considers a week to be from Sunday to Saturday. Thus, the Rookie Report this week is only looking at the games against the Bulls on 3/17, the Nets on 3/19, the Mavericks on 3/21, and the Suns on 3/23.

On to the Rookie Report!

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Marvin Bagley

Weekly Stats: 21.8 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.5 stls, 1.3 blks, 58.6% FG, 50.0% 3PT, 82.4% FT

Overall: 14.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.0 apg, 0.6 stls, 1.0 blks, 51.9% FG, 29.3% 3PT, 71.1% FT

Advanced: 19.3 PER, .578 TS%, 15.1% TRB, 6.0% AST, 3.4% BLK, 23.5% USG, ORtg 113, DRtg 109

If it wasn’t for the historical collapse against the Nets, we’d all be talking about Marvin Bagley’s big week. This was easily the best four-game run of his short career, putting up 22 and 10 along with over 58% shooting and almost a block and a half.

Defensively, he played a role in the Brooklyn collapse (unfortunate since that might have been his best game as a pro), but one can only hope that he takes it as a learning experience and move on. The fact that his play didn’t dip against the Mavericks or the Suns indicates that he might have done just that.

I’d like to point that it’s true that last week’s schedule was cupcake-y and he should have balled out. However, I’m not sure that argument matters much when you’re a highly drafted rookie. Besides, it’s always seemed like an unfair argument to discredit a player for playing well against inferior competition. Especially since if he played poorly this week, the level of competition would suddenly be really important.  Sorry, I’m yelling at clouds again.

Anyway.  His PER is up to 19.3, which roughly equates to a second offensive option.  His current trajectory lines up with that.  It’s not impossible to imagine a starting lineup this fall with De’Aaron Fox conducting Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley as the one-and-two scoring option. The Kings might just have one more leap in them if Bagley can live up to his increasingly limitless potential.

Harry Giles

Weekly Stats: 8.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.7 apg, 0.7 stls, 1.0 blks, 52.4% FG, 0% 3PT, 75.0% FT

Overall: 7.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.5 apg, 0.5 stls, 0.4 blks, 50.3% FG, 0% 3PT, 63.7% FT

Advanced: 14.3 PER, .526 TS%, 13.9% TRB, 15.2% AST, 2.3% BLK, 23.2% USG, ORtg 101, Drtg 108

Harry Giles has suffered from his own injury woes, although one much less worrisome that the ones he has had in the past. Giles suffered an injury to his thigh against the Mavericks and ended up missing one game last week for his troubles (he didn’t suit up on Sunday either, it should be noted). Hopefully, he won’t miss much more time as his productivity had continued to improve up until the injury.

His shooting overall has crossed to 50% threshold, and his true shooting has risen to .526. For  those who were wondering, his assist percentage has remained at about 15% since the beginning of the season.

Next. What will Willie Cauley-Stein command in free agency?. dark

Overall, a minor setback for the ever intriguing big man, and we to see him on the court again soon as the season wraps up.

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