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THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAYING CENTER @o_a_khan here with another film thread! This time breaking down Marvin Bagley's minutes at Center last night. Lets dive in.
There's a number of us at TKH that have called for Bagley to get more minutes at the 5 for a number of reasons. First is the obvious spacing that having five shooters on the court offers. Here see how pulling Embiid away from the rim gives Barnes a runway to the rim going left
Here Embiid cheats to the paint, giving Bagley a clear look at the corner three he's been so effective hitting this season
Very next possession, Embiid is put into a bind. Fox blows by Thybulle, then notice how Embiid tries to guess where Fox is going to go with the ball; he bets that Fox will try to hit Bagley, so he stunts at Fox and tries to recover out. He guesses wrong and Fox gets an easy layup
Compare this to the spacing Fox gets with Holmes on the court. Fox has an angle on Thybulle here going left but Embiid is parked right in the middle of the paint, so Fox spins back right and takes a tough shot.
Kings didn't score but this is beautiful basketball ending in a great look. Playing with 5 shooters stretches a defense so thin. Almost none of this is scripted, it's all read and react with great flow from one action to the next. Walton deserves credit for this offensive system
Playing at the 5 also makes Bagley a more dangerous scorer out of screen/roll actions. Here, Bagley pops out for three after the screen, Embiid stays in the paint to defend the rim against Fox, and no Sixer rotates.
But Bagley also has the size and athleticism to dive to the rim for alley-oops, so the defense needs to be prepared for both options
Bagley doesn't get enough credit for how hard he runs in transition. Bigger, plodding Cs will have issues trying to contain him on fast breaks. Here Bagley does a good job drawing a foul running at a retreating Embiid
Eventually, Bagley is going to develop that face-up game and use his combination of shooting and quickness to cause problems for bigger Cs out of the mid post.
One thing Bagley should continue to work on is screening. Bagley's screen doesn't give Fox enough separation here, though Fox should have kept the dribble alive, strung out the big, and see who got open, either Bagley rolling or a weakside shooter who's defender rotates to Bagley
Defensively there's plenty of both good and bad. Bagley is comfortable doing the basics, like here he calls out the coverages to Barnes through multiple actions, then executes a solid deep drop preventing the lob to Howard while GR3 trails the ball handler
Another basic, but solid play: Bagley drops, calls out for Fox to switch, smothers the ballhandler, and rebounds the miss. Nothing spectacular, but important to do consistently
Bagley's mobility caused issues for Embiid, like here beating Embiid to the spot and drawing a charge.
And here is what makes Bagley so intriguing as a C in a fast-paced system. Ben Simmons is a freight train in transition, but Bagley is able to beat him to the spot and draw a charge. This is a tough defensive play to pull off against someone like Simmons
Bagley also put in a hell of a shift trying to front Embiid. Look at the multiple efforts, and a quick double traps Embiid in the corner. As the ball is swung, Haliburton's instincts for deflecting passes shines as he creates a turnover
Now the bad. Bagley's main deficiencies involve more subtle aspects of playing the 5 and assuming the role as the main rim protector, which is significantly more responsibility than playing the 4.
Like here, Bagley barely offers help vs Embiid after the switch, but he has to learn that, as the 5, he's the last line of defense. He has to sell out to protect the rim in situations like this and rely on his teammates to rotate to his man. He doesn't, and it's too easy
And here, Bagley plays drop coverage, but rotates late to defend the rim against a rampaging Embiid. Bagley has to sniff out threats before they materialize and rotate *early*. He should be rotating as soon as the pass is thrown from Curry. Even a half-second delay is a killer
The other issue with Bagley is that he has a tendency to gamble in the passing lanes. Here he tries to reach around to steal the entry pass and surrenders good inside position to Embiid going left.
Here, Bagley is fronting and tries to intercept the lob pass out of midair, losing contact with his man. Embiid gets behind Bagley, Simmons cuts behind Bagley's back, and it's a dunk
And here again Bagley tries to steal the entry pass, losing contact with Embiid. He gets lucky Embiid trips, but the Sixers score anyway.
Bottom line is that there is enough for Bagley to start getting more minutes at the 5, so that he can start learning to pick up the nuances of the position defensively.
The Kings have recently went to Whiteside at the backup 5 spot, but they would be better off using those minutes to develop for the future, especially since Whiteside isn't lighting the world on fire. The more the Kings can get out of Bagley, the more benefit the franchise sees.
