https://youtu.be/roiu-DwjS_w
I’m looking at Marvin Bagley’s statisticals right now, and you know what I’m seeing? The same thing that everyone should be seeing: a 20 and 10 guy. The “20 and 10 guy” archetype is one of the most sought-after in the league, right behind “3 and D guy” but ahead of “ridiculous wingspan and nothing else guy”. Every big in the league dreams of becoming a 20 and 10 guy, unless they’re already there.
Bagley’s numbers aren’t there in real life quite yet, but on a per-36 basis, he’s basically been there his whole career. Not a huge sample size (he’s just passed the 82-game threshold for games played, and he’s already in his third season), but large enough where I’m confident in saying that if he was given the minutes and touches befitting a former 2nd overall pick, 20 and 10 would be a certainty.
When you’re thinking about 20 and 10 guys on the Kings (which should be a quite common thought for any true NBA fan, casuals are kindly being shown the door right now), though, your first thought shouldn’t be Bagley. And it shouldn’t be Jon Brockman. It really shouldn’t be Jon Brockman. Or Chris Webber. You should be thinking of one man and one man only:
Jason Thompson
Thompson, in a fair universe filled with nothing but equality (as of the time of this writing, it’s Martin Luther King day, so this is particularly relevant), would have been a perennial 20 and 10 guy for the Kings. He spent his first 7 years with the team, but since our universe is unjust and discriminatory, he never got the opportunities to really prove himself. Now his career is over, his existence nearly forgotten even by the fans of the team he dutifully slaved away for for the better part of a decade.
But I don’t forget. And I won’t let the knowledge of the 20-and-10-guy-ness of Thompson pass into the screaming void of the cosmos without a fight.