I think the Kings have a lot of faith in Bogdan Boganovic, and likely saw Luka Doncic as offering a duplicative skill set in a lot of ways (despite the fact that he's got star potential). Couple that with the reality that the Kings clearly want to play
fast, with the ball in Fox's hands, and it's much easier to see why the team drafted a superathlete and rim runner supreme like Marvin Bagley over Doncic.
For the first time in years, it seems like the Kings truly do have a plan and a vision for this team. Though drafting Bagley may have rankled many among Kings fans who had starry eyes at the prospect of drafting Doncic instead (I count myself among them -- he was 1B to Bagley's 1A on my board for the second pick), I think it might be more prudent to celebrate the fact that the Kings are no longer wandering around in the goddamn dark. Instead of Vivek, Vlade, and Joerger looking like the Three Stooges, bumbling about with no clear direction, they look like the Three Musketeers, united in their quest to transform this team. That kind of synergy between ownership, management, and coaching staff is essential. It's what made the Kings teams of the early 2000's hum so effortlessly.
Every decision the franchise has made since the end of last season, from drafting Bagley, to attempting to sign Zach Lavine, to signing Nemanja Bjelica, to pushing the pace at an ungodly speed as the regular season opened, to their newfound emphasis on taking extremely high percentage shots (a recent
Ringer piece states that the "Kings are
generating and
converting shots at the rim at top-10 rates" and that "just
nine of the Kings’ 178 3-point attempts have come with a defender within 4 feet of the shooter") points in the direction of a
very obvious teamwide identity. And the players are buying in. Willie Cauley-Stein has never looked better. DeAaron Fox looks like an all-star in waiting. Bjelica looks like the smartest veteran signing since Vlade himself donned a Kings uni. And Marvin Bagley looks like the ideal beneficiary of all this team play.
I've been as cynical as any among kf.com's members as these twelve years without a playoff appearance have passed, and even I cannot help but be deeply encouraged by the fact that my expectations have been shattered through 7 games. Now, it could all go belly-up tomorrow. The Kings are exactly the kind of franchise that would tease tantalizing early success only to fold in on themselves when the pressure of sustainability rears its head. Something similar happened to the Magic last year after a strong start. But color me excited to consider the possibility of what it might mean if they actually
could sustain this level of success.