NEW YORK — Marvin Bagley III’s Wizards career began in the starting lineup Thursday and ended with a result he saw a lot of in Detroit before his trade to Washington on Sunday — a loss.
Bagley finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds in his debut for the Wizards (7-33). Jordan Poole finished with a team-high 24 points. The Knicks (25-17) were led by Jalen Brunson’s 41 points and Julius Randle’s 21.
“I think I did pretty good,” Bagley said. “Started off a little slow on the rebounding, just trying to get in better position but came out second half got better positioning and just tried to go out and get every one that I could get and everything else kind of fell in line. … Just learning on the fly, continuing to learn the system and keep stacking days.”
Bagley certainly made a positive first impression on his new coach.
“That’s a heck of a start for him,” Wes Unseld Jr. said. “Played a well-balanced game, offense and defensively. Even things that happened on the fly I thought the group in general helped talk him through situations to keep him organized. That’s growth for us.”
With Daniel Gafford out with a concussion, Unseld had the option to start Bagley despite being new to the system; go with Patrick Baldwin Jr., who has played well in recent games; or go small by inserting rookie Bilal Coulibaly into the starting five. Unseld went with Bagley, whom the team sees as the anchor of its second unit whenever Gafford returns. He described the debate to start Bagley as “a very long-winded conversation. But it made sense.”
Bagley had an inkling he would be starting.
“I had an idea yesterday in practice,” said the former No. 2 overall pick from Duke. “I was with that group; Gaff was out. I kind of had an idea, but officially [Thursday] morning before we watched film, before shoot-around, I found out officially. I was ready, not used to playing that many minutes this year coming from Detroit, so to go out there and play, it felt good.”
Unseld said before the game he doesn’t expect Gafford out for long and added, “He’s progressing.”
The Wizards stayed attached throughout the first half with their defense. The Knicks committed 10 turnovers, which the Wizards turned into 15 points. Three-point shooting was a premium for both teams in the first half, when they combined to make about 20 percent of their shots from deep. While Brunson and Randle paced the Knicks, the Wizards got contributions across the board. Five players scored multiple baskets for Washington in the first half.
The Wizards trailed by just one entering the fourth but ran out of answers for Brunson, who got to the foul line 10 times and scored 20 points in the final period. Unseld said the actions were there as was the team’s resolve, which is why he liked what he saw.
“I thought our competitiveness, the effort, I thought we really played well,” he said. “You give yourself a chance. They stretched it a little bit, seven or nine, and we just had to respond, so we showed some resilience. Struggled to make some shots but I thought our process was positive. Created open looks and I can live with that. You create easy offense or good offense, and now it becomes make or miss. I thought overall our defense was solid. Brunson had a night, but he’s a hell of a player.”
Unseld said part of the decision to start Bagley was that he showed in just a practice and a half his ability to pick things up quickly. His first basket came on a floater with 5:36 left in the first half. The 6-foot-10 newcomer had six points on 3-for-6 shooting in the first half before doubling his total in the third quarter.
Tyus Jones repeatedly looked for Bagley, down low or through the pick and roll to score. All of Bagley’s baskets came in the paint as he missed all five free throw attempts. His rebounding was crucial; he accounted for six of the Wizards’ nine offensive rebounds.
After the trade, Unseld focused on the similarities his playbook has to Detroit’s as an easier way to acclimate Bagley and Isaiah Livers, who also came over in the deal but did not play Thursday. Unseld said before the game he expected a steep learning curve on the defensive side.
“I feel like offensively it’s the same thing,” Bagley said. “I feel like defensively they do a few things different here than in Detroit. I think I did a pretty good job tonight with the couple walk-throughs that I had and the practice that I had.”
Unseld said Livers has to work his way into the Wizards’ rotation but added that opportunities will come for the former Michigan guard.
“I think the biggest difficulty would be the defensive terminology,” Unseld said. “Sometimes it’s easy. A lot of teams are similar in nature. Some of the early actions are very similar; we just call it different things. It’s not always the same defensively. So I think it takes a little more time, more reps to get comfortable on the defensive side of the ball.”
Despite the lack of defensive lingo, Bagley filled the stat sheet with a pair of steals and three blocks. The Wizards will need more of that defense with the San Antonio Spurs and 7-foot-3 rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama coming to Washington on Saturday followed by Nikola Jokic and the defending champion Denver Nuggets on Sunday.