Roster & Rotation Evaluation

[SUPERBALLMAN]

We've seen enough games now that we can start evaluating this roster as far as how these players fit together, what they bring individually, and what kind of rotations would make the best use of our personnel. Players go through hot streaks and cold spells, and injuries strike, but in general we've gotten enough of a sample size to get an idea of what we have.

Kevin Seraphin has been quite a revelation and a surprise so far. He is playing with high effort and energy, rebounding and defending, hitting shots, and even passing out of double teams. He seems to be solidifying his case as Gortat's primary backup.

Temple's offensive game has fallen off a cliff. On the other hand, Butler has proven to be the right guy to keep with that final roster spot, and given his status as a longtime vet off the bench he seems to be someone who can be depended on to continue to produce as a reserve.

Once Beal returns to the starting lineup, I think I'd like to see a primary backcourt rotation of Wall/Beal backed up by Miller/Butler.

SF the Pierce/Porter rotation is proving to be strong. PF with Nene and Humphries is looking very good as well.

This is leaving out Gooden, who has played well when he's been on the court, and Blair who hasn't even seen the floor. Of course the main benefit of these 2 is the inevitable Nene derailment, which we're already having with his plantar fasciitis. With Nene out we're likely to see Humphries start, backed by Gooden. Which is fine, and it's probably not a bad idea to go ahead and leave him out a couple weeks to recover as fully as possible, maybe bring him back with Webster as kind of a mid season boost.

Further depth will be added with Webster who should be back sometime in December. With Webster, we can use him at SG behind Beal, or SF behind Pierce. We could go with a small perimeter unit of Beal or Butler at SG, with Webster at SF and Pierce at PF, with Nene or Humphries at C. We can throw out a defensive unit of Wall, with Temple, Porter, Blair and Gortat.

Ultimately, the main 9 man rotation will probably end up being Gortat, Nene, Pierce, Beal, Wall, Humphries, Porter, Webster, Miller.

[FreckleFace]

I honestly think Porter should start before the playoffs. I just love when Porter, Beal, and Wall are on the court together. But Pierce has done a great job of helping Wall minimize his bone head plays from taking the ball off a rebound and not passing to Wall until he speaks to him first I love that.

Seraphin is playing pretty good I just feel lime its fool's gold. But im enjoying it. I wish Satoransky would've came over Miller is good so far but how long will he last.

[dckingsfan]

OK, I will take the devil's advocate roll.

PG:
Wall - has been good (better than last year, IMO) but... still having trouble closing out games. And this will be problematic.
Professor - Solid but... there are still matchups where there are constant blow-byes. Feel like we should have added a backup PG with speed (and youth).

Wings:
Beal - looks really good in his return but... it seems like he is trying to prove he is a ball handler and that has been pretty ugly.
Temple - SUPERBALLMAN said it all - cliff.
Butler - Some of the best bball of his career. Solid pickup
Webster - don't anticipate him coming back full strength this year (or maybe ever). We will see
Pierce - started of badly but coming back. Still having trouble staying in front of athletic SFs, still not enough time as a stretch 4, IMO.
Porter - pleasant surprise - have him as a top 3 in his year's class
Glen Rice - MIA

FC:
Nene - plantar fasciitis - ugh - not a terrible start to the season. Father time is definitely catching up to him when it comes to finishing in the paint, IMO
Gortat - solid - basically the same as last year
Humphries - very solid pickup; I thought he played even better last year and I see him rounding into that form this year when he gets comfortable
Seraphin - one of the most debated players on this team - still rebounding like a guard and fouling at a very high rate. Has been Gortat's primary backup
Gooden - minimum minutes - will probably be the starter with Nene out
Blair - MIA

Randy Wittman - Has been pretty resourceful with the wing injuries. Overall, seems like game-time decisions this year are better. He would look even better if Wall could be clutch down the stretch.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

I honestly think Porter should start before the playoffs. I just love when Porter, Beal, and Wall are on the court together. But Pierce has done a great job of helping Wall minimize his bone head plays from taking the ball off a rebound and not passing to Wall until he speaks to him first I love that.

Seraphin is playing pretty good I just feel lime its fool's gold. But im enjoying it. I wish Satoransky would've came over Miller is good so far but how long will he last.

I'd like to see Porter start sooner than later as well, but the playoffs are precisely what PP was brought here for, and I don't see Porter surpassing Pierce on the depth chart until next season, especially if Paul can keep giving us games like he did vs the Bucks.

If anything Porter might get pushed further down with the return of Webster added to the mix.


And what if we can get Ray Allen? http://www.bulletsforever.com/2014/11/2 ... -broussard

Who would we cut loose? Butler is the obvious choice, but what about Temple, or Rice, or Blair?

[Nivek]

Seems a decent place to drop this

http://kevinbroom.com/2014/11/24/wizard ... -the-east/

In the above link, I address the myth that Seraphin has been a "revelation" this season. Among other things.

[Zonkerbl]

"Revelation." Pah.

[FAH1223]

With Nene out, the rotation should be

Wall
Beal
Porter
Pierce
Gortat

Spread teams out and Pierce is still a decent rebounder.


Second unit

Prof. Miller
Beal (I guess Temple with a breather)
Butler
Humphries
Seraphin

It's not that hard. Wittman is so unimaginative.

Not sure Pierce at PF would work vs. NOLA but it would work against many other teams

[closg00]

Morning tip: Wizards ready to 'tweak' rotations?

http://www.csnwashington.com/basketball ... -rotations

[dckingsfan]

Things that they could do:
Otto to the starting lineup and PP off the bench - not going to happen
Seraphin out of the lineup - not going to happen
Nene to the second unit - not going to happen

OK, that about exhausts it for me

I just think our defense when Wall is out of the game suffers terribly - we don't have another wing defender (good wing defender that is).

[nate33]

Things that they could do:
Otto to the starting lineup and PP off the bench - not going to happen
Seraphin out of the lineup - not going to happen
Nene to the second unit - not going to happen

OK, that about exhausts it for me

I just think our defense when Wall is out of the game suffers terribly - we don't have another wing defender (good wing defender that is).

If their concern is the lack of quickness on the second unit, then it is unlikely that they'll start Porter. All they can really do is try and get Beal to play more minutes with the second unit.

[Dat2U]

Cringing at the thought that Otto might be removed from the rotation.

[nate33]

I think we should play Nene for three 5-minute shifts each half. Start him. Take him out at the 7:00 mark. Put him back in at the 2:00 mark. Take him out at the 9:00 mark in the 2nd quarter. Put him back in with 5:00 to go. That keeps his minutes down to 30 and it puts him on the floor with the bench to pick up their defensive slack and give them a primary offensive option.

With Nene on the floor with the bench, we could then play Garrett Temple at PG in place of Miller against certain matchups. We could run the offense through Nene.

Frankly, I wouldn't mind us putting Paul Pierce on the same pattern. That gets him off the floor early so Porter can spend more time with the starters (where I think he'll thrive). Likewise, Pierce could handle some of the scoring load and ball handling duties on a 2nd unit that is pretty weak in both departments.

[LyricalRico]

Here's what I'd like to see once Beal is healthy:

Nene/Gortat
Pierce/Hump
Porter/Butler
Beal/Webster
Wall/Sessions

And then use the final roster spot to pickup a young SG to compete with Webster. Probably won't happen because of their love for Seraphin and hatred of small-ball, though.

[JWizmentality]

Here's what I'd like to see once Beal is healthy:

Nene/Gortat
Pierce/Hump
Porter/Butler
Beal/Webster
Wall/Sessions

And then use the final roster spot to pickup a young SG to compete with Webster. Probably won't happen because of their love for Seraphin and hatred of small-ball, though.

We can all keep dreaming. Nothing will change until Wittless is out of here.

[gambitx777]

Here's what I'd like to see once Beal is healthy:

Nene/Gortat
Pierce/Hump
Porter/Butler
Beal/Webster
Wall/Sessions

And then use the final roster spot to pickup a young SG to compete with Webster. Probably won't happen because of their love for Seraphin and hatred of small-ball, though.

I am now of the opinion that Kevin should be cut, so should Gooden. Bring in some new blood! If you hate small ball so much fine, but for the love of god get someone better than Kevin, get rim protector that can play with wall! Eli Holman and Viacheslav Kravtsov would be perfect back ups for gortat, then you can let Blair play a few minutes! Hell Yi Jianlian would be better than Kevin (See what hes doing in China). As for replacing Gooden, Arnett Moultrie or Trey Thompkins, They both rebound well, defend well, and they can space the floor a little bit. As for guards, I would consider working a buy out with Webster, he might take it, seems like he is not to keen on playing much longer any way. I've been calling for Seth Curry for months now, but I would be happy with Dominique Jones or a return of Jordan Crawford! Changes need to be made, look at the pistons, they are not going to win this year but they are trying, they are not going quietly into the night! Neither should we! It's not too late to load up for a play off run.... but .... it's almost too late...

[dckingsfan]

Here's what I'd like to see once Beal is healthy:

Nene/Gortat
Pierce/Hump
Porter/Butler
Beal/Webster
Wall/Sessions

And then use the final roster spot to pickup a young SG to compete with Webster. Probably won't happen because of their love for Seraphin and hatred of small-ball, though.

We can all keep dreaming. Nothing will change until Wittless is out of here.

Yep but Checkers first...

[LyricalRico]

“It’s that snowball effect that adds up to big things, and they’re getting bigger and bigger as we speak,” Wittman said. “Until we do something differently, [nothing will change], and if I have to do something differently lineup-wise, whatever. We’re just continually hitting our heads against the wall.”

“That’s huge. We play the last couple of minutes of quarters like it’s a pickup game, and it’s the same thing,” Wittman said. “We talk about it, we work on it and we keep doing the same thing. What’s the [definition] for insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome? That’s what we’re doing.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html

If Witt is serious about change, here's my latest stab at a better lineup/rotation once Beal is back:

Gortat/Nene
Hump/Pierce
Porter/Butler
Beal/Sessions/Temple
Wall/Sessions

Getting Hump and Porter into the starting lineup gives us more rebounding and defense. The starters should also be able to have a more free-flowing offense, which helps a guy like Gortat who runs the floor and flourishes in PNR. Nene and Pierce should be more successful against reserves. We need Rasual's 3pt shooting, but he should strictly play SF not SG. Webster's giving us nothing, so I say let Sessions play with both Beal and Wall to see if he can regain his former scoring form. And then Temple is available if we need a bit more defense. No Seraphin unless there's foul trouble.

I could see that group stemming the negative tide, and even going on a mini-run to close out the year and go into the playoffs with confidence and momentum.

[Dark Faze]

Hump and Gortat both have a tendency of becoming soft bodies on defense for that starting lineup to have much success imo, especially with Porter looking like a guy who's forced to play basketball some nights.

Wall/Temple
Beal/Rasual
Porter/Web
Pierce/Hump
Nene/Gortat

is something I think I'd like to see. Basically hope that you can run an offense through Gortat constantly attacking second team centers

I don't like Sessions so he's not in my lineup.

[Dat2U]

Hump in the starting lineup is no go for me. He's too porous a defender at the 4 spot. Pierce is actually a much better low post defender despite being 3 inches shorter.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Here's what I'd like to see once Beal is healthy:

Nene/Gortat
Pierce/Hump
Porter/Butler
Beal/Webster
Wall/Sessions

And then use the final roster spot to pickup a young SG to compete with Webster. Probably won't happen because of their love for Seraphin and hatred of small-ball, though.

I do think we just need to shake things up a bit...

I would move Pierce and Nene to the bench. This would A. Improve the development of Porter, and B. Improve the effectiveness of Nene and Pierce. C. Open up pt for Webster to return to form.

Gortat / Nene
Humphries / Pierce
Porter / Webster
Beal / Butler
Wall / Sessions