The ‘Position-less’ Problem: Bagley is a center and the Kings should deal with it

In a Sacramento Kings media availability session over the weekend, The Bee’s Jason Anderson asked coach Luke Walton about where Marvin Bagley will fit on the court going forward.

“We see Marvin as a player that, down the road, is going to be pretty much a position-less type of basketball player,” Walton said. “For now, and getting him back, we got him getting most of his reps at the five and the four.”

That response is not surprising, but it is still unsettling. Anyone who has paid attention to the team’s stated vision for Bagley and his actual performance on the court knows there is a disconnect.

General manager Vlade Divac famously claimed Bagley “can play small forward” in a news conference following the 2018 draft. While that quote is now 2 years old, there still appears to be a lingering belief that Bagley is one of the few do-it-all talents that elevates past the traditional concepts of position.

WHAT IS A POSITION-LESS PLAYER?

The concept of position-less basketball is not what most people think. No team puts their five best players on the court and lets them all do a bit of everything. While some of the best teams in the league come close to that free form of play, there are always players better suited for different roles.

In particular, point guards and centers are as real as ever in modern basketball. Players can be confined to these positions and still be great. Steph Curry and Damian Lillard received All-NBA honors last season. They are point guards. Rudy Gobert and Joel Embiid did the same. They are centers.

The traditional positions that are fading from the modern game are shooting guard, small forward and power forward. As players with more diverse skills enter the league, the distinctions between the two, three and four spots blur.

Those positions are often replaced by players simply referred to a wings. Modern wing players can score like a shooting guard, provide the versatility of a small forward, and hold up against larger players like a power forward. They can even have shades of point guard-style playmaking.

Not many players fit the bill of a position-less modern wing. LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard do it best. Paul George, Jimmy Butler and Khris Middleton have become stars by checking these boxes as well. Luka Doncic is the youngest player to join these ranks, making Divac’s postdraft comments even more frustrating.

WHY BAGLEY IS NOT POSITION-LESS

Bagley has shown virtually nothing that suggests he has any of those modern wing skills in his arsenal. In fact, he has shown a whole lot that suggests he would be a great fit at center.

He has recorded exactly one assist per game in his professional career. It would be basketball malpractice to have him initiate an offense. He is a play finisher, not a play starter. We don’t have to pretend he is both.

Bagley is a 28.8-percent shooter from 3-point range. That would be an intriguing number for a center. He has put together hot streaks that are impressive for a big man. But for a position-less player, that would be a terrible percentage.

When he is close to the bucket, everything works. Bagley has connected on 68.9 percent of his attempts within 3 feet of the basket. He is a gifted and explosive finisher from that range. Any offensive scheme that downplays that effectiveness is flawed.

Bagley’s defense still needs work. He is young and he hasn’t been put into the best situation as far as a winning defensive mentality goes. But he has shown far more promise defending on the interior than the perimeter. He even led the team in blocked shots as a rookie.

Another impressive aspect of Bagley’s game would also be reduced if he played on the perimeter. He is a solid defensive rebounder who will only get better with time and added strength. His second-jump ability that wowed scouts back in 2018 is as dominant as ever. That skill could make him an elite offensive rebounder, if not the very best in the league.

WHAT BAGLEY ACTUALLY IS

Nothing about Bagley suggests that he is one of these new-school wings, or even a blend of a wing and a big man. And that would be totally fine, if the Kings could just accept it.

The team’s refusal to define Bagley as a big man actively hurts his effectiveness. Like so many of Sacramento’s recent problems, this situation is completely self-created.

Forcing a square peg in a round hole would do no good for anybody. At least it seems Walton will play Bagley in a traditional big man position, for now. But referring to him as position-less is counter-productive.

Call him a center. Call him a big man. Call him a stretch-five. Don’t call him anything at all if you don’t want to. But everyone would be better off if the Kings franchise would stop portraying Bagley as a unicorn-type talent that can be whatever they want him to be.

Bagley is a good player that still has a chance to be great. But he will only fulfill his potential if his team can accept who he is and play to his strengths ⁠— at playing center.