08-04-2023, 07:39 PM
(08-04-2023, 09:46 AM)mvossman Wrote: If I recall, one of the biggest reasons Duke played zone was because Bagley was so bad at defense. I can't count how many times I have read something like, "just coach him up on defense and with his athleticism he should be good" but it rarely plays out that way. I can think of a few wings that have turned there career around with defense (Wiggins, DSJ) but I can't think of an offense only big who came into the league and turned his career around with defense.
Before I make my point again, I want to apologize for triggering you with my “coach him up” comment…my bad. If you noticed, many of my statements were from the article I posted. I wasn’t trying to sell anything. I was simply replying to an earlier post in a manner I thought was unique to this board…to support the idea around “what if” regarding Bagley instead of bashing the idea. I thought it would be refreshing.
You may be right regarding player development histories. I’m not going to research it because it misses the point I was making. What I will say is you chose to make a comment that wasn’t aligned with my statement. I never said a good defender…I said average defender. I’m not sure how you distinguish the two but based on your examples, I have an idea.
As to your “turned his career around” comment, again you chose to go to an extreme to try to make a point. My statement was needing to be average on defense. IMO, he already has utility on offense, it’s BAD defense keeping him off the court. Would you not agree that if he were just average, he would have significantly more value. Is average unachievable for a 23 year old based on his background?
Regarding your comment that Bagley was the issue at Duke, this is what the article had to say:
There were a lot of bad defenders on Duke’s team, and they were all freshman—Trevon
Duval, Gary Trent Jr., Wendell Carter Jr., Bagley
Is that true. I don’t know, but it was what I was referring to. I’m not looking it up because again it misses the point. However, I know that the author also included a statement from a Duke staff member stating the team had issues. I guess it’s possible that he was referring only to Bagley.
As far as development and the dreaded CU phrase, this was the section from the article that got me wondering:
Bagley himself only played 3 years of high school ball and was allowed to do whatever he
wanted at every level. His AAU program was run by his father and he never participated
in any USA basketball events. Has he ever truly been coached defensively?
Is that true? Again, I don’t know and felt no need to do a deep dive, it’s not that important to me. I did however think based on what was presented that it was a really interesting question.
My point was simple. Could it be that the issues with Bagley’s defense stem from a lack of history and focus at that end of the court? There is nothing from Bagley’s makeup that would suggest that he should be bad. He has the feet, the athleticism, the temperament, etc., yet he is bad.
I never suggested the Mav’s should get him, nor did I suggest a trade for Hardaway. I actually said based on recent history, the Mav’s might not be the best team to teach defense. What I did suggest is that there may be something there worth taking a chance on at the right price. In my opinion, Bagley with AVERAGE defense would actually have value at PF.