Deni Avdija - Part II

Frichuela · Post #441 » by **Frichuela** » Wed Feb 21, 2024 3:33 pm

At least Deni has already scored with his left hand a few times :lol:

?s=20

Kanyewest · Post #442 » by **Kanyewest** » Wed Feb 21, 2024 7:21 pm

tontoz wrote:
Dolevi wrote:All of u think it's just because Deni has improved his game, you are 100% dis-respecting the influence of the mental and psychological areas in sports. Deni did improved his game, but it's not just that. It's the touches he gets, it's the role he has now, it's the fact that it's not Beal's team anymore, not Russ and not anybody else. It's not only the USG% rating, it's the trust of his teammates and coaches that want him to be the ball handler. U can't just like that becoming a ball handler and play as a PG. It's a process. I'll remind you that a lot of coaches have come and gone since Deni has been drafted. A lot of players came and go. Chemistry changes all the time. And chemistry between players inside the roster also. Both these factors, have also a big part why a player can suddenly show different skill set. The atmosphere in your team has a big part on it. Deni couldn't do the things he does now before. Not *only* because he has less skills.

Beal missed roughly half the games over the last two seasons. What did Deni do when Beal was out?

Wes was the coach last year and until Jan 25 this year. Deni started attacking the basket more at the start of the season while Wes was the coach. Are you trying to say Wes prevented him from driving last year, then suddenly changed his mind this season?

No coach would ever tell Deni not to drive when a defender closes out aggressively. This year Deni finally started attacking, had some success, and as a result of that success got more touches. It isn't rocket science, and it certainly wasn't Beal or Wes that prevented Deni from driving to the basket.

Yeah, not sure if it is really related to Beal either given that they essentially swapped Beal with Jordan Poole. Maybe overall Deni has more opportunities with less guys on the floor like Porzingis, Beal, Rui, and Morris which allowed him more opportunity to play. But in reality it just seems like he's stronger and more assertive at finishing at the rim which has opened up the rest of his game and he's shooting 40% from 3. I tend to think Deni's improvement just took time and I'm glad he's figured it out.

typedrat · Post #443 » by **typedrat** » Sat Feb 24, 2024 6:48 am

I know that there's no chance that the team would let Deni go, so despite having started out just looking for potential future Kings, I think I'm a Wizards fan now because of him.

Post #444 » by **nate33** » Sat Feb 24, 2024 2:29 pm

typedrat wrote:I think I'm a Wizards fan now because of him.

For the sake of your mental health and well-being, please reconsider. It's a soul crushing commitment with absolutely no payoff.

payitforward · Post #445 » by **payitforward** » Sat Feb 24, 2024 8:45 pm

Aaaawww, nate... come on!... How about this board? Isn't this board the payoff?

typedrat · Post #446 » by **typedrat** » Sat Feb 24, 2024 9:07 pm

nate33 wrote:
typedrat wrote:I think I'm a Wizards fan now because of him.

For the sake of your mental health and well-being, please reconsider. It's a soul crushing commitment with absolutely no payoff.

I got back into the Kings at the end of the 2016-17 season after Boogie left, when we were trying to convince ourselves that Buddy Hield was just some personal growth away from turning into another Steph. Nothing can hurt me.

9 and 20 · Post #447 » by **9 and 20** » Sat Feb 24, 2024 11:53 pm

Man, f the kings. You dumped sorry Mitch Richmond on us at the end of his career and we gave you back a young Webber. You know nothing of pain.

dckingsfan · Post #448 » by **dckingsfan** » Sun Feb 25, 2024 5:08 am

9 and 20 wrote:Man, f the kings...

Hey!

Runner300 · Post #449 » by **Runner300** » Sun Feb 25, 2024 3:08 pm

Any updates on his injury?

PaulinVA · Post #450 » by **PaulinVA** » Tue Mar 5, 2024 11:10 pm

Read on Twitter

dobrojim · Post #451 » by **dobrojim** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 8:05 pm

it's not Deni's fault, he's definitely gotten better this year... but Chris Miller...sheesh.
Saying Deni is "unstoppable" should be a fireable offense. Come on man. What a shill.

CntOutSmrtCrazy · Post #452 » by **CntOutSmrtCrazy** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 10:45 pm

dobrojim wrote:it's not Deni's fault, he's definitely gotten better this year... but Chris Miller...sheesh.
Saying Deni is "unstoppable" should be a fireable offense. Come on man. What a shill.

You know how many horrible Kuzma and Poole misses I've had to listen to this troll swan over everything they do before they brick a shot, only for him to try to overcompensate and say they did everything right there.

Chris Miller is a used car salesman through and through.

CntOutSmrtCrazy · Post #453 » by **CntOutSmrtCrazy** » Fri Mar 15, 2024 3:38 pm

[x]

Read on Twitter

?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet[/x]

But, but only Kuzma can handle more usage...

On a serious note, those numbers are impressive considering the stretches of games his teammates ignore him. He's basically making it impossible for the coaching staff to tolerate that from teammates.

That stretch also includes his recent 5-6 game slump from three.

Frichuela · Post #454 » by **Frichuela** » Fri Mar 15, 2024 3:44 pm

CntOutSmrtCrazy wrote:[x]

Read on Twitter
?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet[/x]

But, but only Kuzma can handle more usage...

On a serious note, those numbers are impressive considering the stretches of games his teammates ignore him. He's basically making it impossible for the coaching staff to tolerate that from teammates.

That stretch also includes his recent 5-6 game slump from three.

Yes. Deni has been the bright spot this season. His contract extension looks like a bargain now! 8-)

MOSH · Post #455 » by **MOSH** » Sat Mar 16, 2024 10:04 am

Runner300 wrote:Any updates on his injury?

From what I understood, he twisted his knee.
I think he is fine, but they might rest him.

Post #456 » by **nate33** » Sat Mar 16, 2024 1:08 pm

CntOutSmrtCrazy wrote:But, but only Kuzma can handle more usage...

Deni has averaged 18.9 points and a .612 TS% over that stretch.

FWIW, Kuzma has averaged 24.5 points and a .588 TS% over his last 15 games as well (with 7 rebounds and 4 assists).

One thing to keep in mind is that with our centers hurt, we've been playing a lot of 5-out with Kuzma at center. That has opened things up and allowed guys to post some nice offensive numbers, but the defense has been embarrassingly bad.

CntOutSmrtCrazy · Post #457 » by **CntOutSmrtCrazy** » Sat Mar 16, 2024 2:34 pm

nate33 wrote:
CntOutSmrtCrazy wrote:But, but only Kuzma can handle more usage...

Deni has averaged 18.9 points and a .612 TS% over that stretch.

FWIW, Kuzma has averaged 24.5 points and a .588 TS% over his last 15 games as well (with 7 rebounds and 4 assists).

One thing to keep in mind is that with our centers hurt, we've been playing a lot of 5-out with Kuzma at center. That has opened things up and allowed guys to post some nice offensive numbers, but the defense has been embarrassingly bad.

I looked back at this because it didn't quite track with my memory. Yeah there's been a couple of game we've played games without a center, but having a center in there hasn't really impacted Deni's ability to put up scoring numbers. Of those last 15 games Deni has played (remember he missed three), in games where a starting center has played 20+ minutes (either Gafford or Bagley), Deni has put up scoring numbers of:

-24
-9
-25
-43
-15
-15
-16
-14
-18

So about 20 ppg. 17 ppg if you take out the 43 point outbreak. And oh yeah, Deni put up that 43 piece without Kuzma.

Nate, seems like you willing to defend that only Kuzma can handle high usage to the end of the earth.

Agreed, the defense has sucked though over that stretch as it has for the whole season.

Post #458 » by **nate33** » Sat Mar 16, 2024 3:11 pm

CntOutSmrtCrazy wrote:Nate, seems like you willing to defend that only Kuzma can handle high usage to the end of the earth.

Agreed, the defense has sucked though over that stretch as it has for the whole season.

I just call 'em like a I see 'em.

Deni is without a doubt my favorite Wizard. Since his breakout at the end of December, he has been the best player on the team. But I still think Deni is an opportunistic scorer, not a guy who imposes his will against a set defense. He just doesn't get the same defensive attention from opponents that Kuzma does. I don't think he could replace what Kuzma does on offense, at least not yet.

CntOutSmrtCrazy · Post #459 » by **CntOutSmrtCrazy** » Sat Mar 16, 2024 6:30 pm

nate33 wrote:
CntOutSmrtCrazy wrote:Nate, seems like you willing to defend that only Kuzma can handle high usage to the end of the earth.

Agreed, the defense has sucked though over that stretch as it has for the whole season.

I just call 'em like a I see 'em.

Deni is without a doubt my favorite Wizard. Since his breakout at the end of December, he has been the best player on the team. But I still think Deni is an opportunistic scorer, not a guy who imposes his will against a set defense. He just doesn't get the same defensive attention from opponents that Kuzma does. I don't think he could replace what Kuzma does on offense, at least not yet.

I don't even think we are in disagreement there that Kuzma gets more defensive attention. I just feel like this default reaction to whenever Kuzma does stupid stuff on the court, especially on offense, that it's because he has to. Because he's the only guy that can handle more usage, when the results just don't bear that out.

Deni can handle more usage, and Kuzma and Poole look him off far too often is what's the issue here. I've said plenty of times Kuz has a nice bag, his problem is he doesn't realize when it's time to showcase it and when to pass the ball. Also, his love for fancy jumpshots and early clock contest junk shots are likely why he is a career sub-efficient player despite his bag of tricks. So we as observers can only go with what he does on a night to night basis.

There's a reason why Kuzma has an on-off of -6.6 this season, and Deni is a +4.9. That's an 11.5 point swing there. This whole Kuzma is a victim of circumstance has become such a stale argument.

Post #460 » by **penbeast0** » Sat Mar 16, 2024 9:00 pm

nate33 wrote:
CntOutSmrtCrazy wrote:Nate, seems like you willing to defend that only Kuzma can handle high usage to the end of the earth.

Agreed, the defense has sucked though over that stretch as it has for the whole season.

I just call 'em like a I see 'em.

Deni is without a doubt my favorite Wizard. Since his breakout at the end of December, he has been the best player on the team. But I still think Deni is an opportunistic scorer, not a guy who imposes his will against a set defense. He just doesn't get the same defensive attention from opponents that Kuzma does. I don't think he could replace what Kuzma does on offense, at least not yet.

The issue isn't whether Avdija can replace Kuzma's scoring, it's whether the team as a whole can. Even if Deni can't handle another 10 shots a night, he can handle one or two more, Tyus one or two more, Bagley/Bilal/Kispert can each shoot a little more and if they are just league average efficiency, Kuzma is a bit under league average efficiency so it's unlikely the team loses a lot of scoring efficiency.

We do lose the secondary playmaking, but hopefully anyone eating Kuzma's minutes plays better defense than Kuzma has been playing, particularly the Kuzma at center experiment, so as a team it would probably be like when we moved Poole out of the starting lineup. No, Bilal doesn't create shots for himself at Poole's volume but considering the amount of those shots that were missing, our starting lineup hasn't suffered offensively.