Deni Avdija - Part II

[tontoz]

Even Keefe hasn't been Deni friendly really. He has benched Deni several times at the end of close games.

[Pistol King]

With Deni's 43 pts performance he surpassing some notable players' career highs:

Lameo Ball - 38pts, Scottie Barens - 32 pts , Franz Wagner - 38 pts, OG Anunoby - 36 pts, Bam Adebayo - 42 pts, Collin Sexton - 42 pts, Ben Simmons - 42 pts, Domantas Sabonis - 42 pts

He ties the career highs of Zion Williamson, Chris Paul and Paulo Banchero.

Banchero's 43 pts performance stat sheet:
13-25 FG, 11-14 FTs, 4 Reb, 5 Ast in 45 Minutes.

Deni's 43 pts:
13-24 FG. 11-13 FT, 15 Reb, 3 Ast, 1 BLK in 39 minutes.

Yep, it was a night to remember.

[Lucky Once]

Even Keefe hasn't been Deni friendly really. He has benched Deni several times at the end of close games.

I understand you specified closing games but Deni is averaging over 30 minutes a game since Keefe took over. He's getting plenty of opportunity and he's taking advantage of it. I've really enjoyed watching this version of Deni.

[arusinov]

They are running more plays for him now.
Most of his drives or pull up shots are a result of proper ball and player movement.
Like setting a proper pick, or properly spacing the floor, etc.
Presence of a proper PG and absence of a one Kuzma - also helps.
It's all on Youtube.

Running plays for him? He is going at guys 1 on 1 and scoring. He has been successful at it which leads to him getting more touches. Sometimes he gets a pick but most of the time he isn't. He is just going at guys off the dribble, something he rarely did in his first 3 seasons.

Sometimes he just brings the ball up, drives and scores without anyone else even touching the ball.

I just posted a film breakdown of the Mavs game and the guy was showing Deni scoring off the dribble over and over. It wasn't due to any scheme or ball movement.

Well. ISO sometimes is also kind of play... like in Boston game when Deni went on left side against Brown and all other Wizards players went out of the way to the right.

Also you actually can see some cases when Wizards did run plays with Deni as shooter which didn't happen before (on other hand it's much more logical to set picks for 40% 3P shooter than 30% one)

The main change IMHO simply that Deni handles ball much more this season, and especially in recent games... Why does this change happen - more complicated question

[montestewart]

This is the last I will talk about this because it may be the most boring argument in the history of Real GM.

And Nate has seen some snoozers, so that's pretty special recognition.

I'm just happy to see something working out for a change. Go Deni!

[tontoz]

Even Keefe hasn't been Deni friendly really. He has benched Deni several times at the end of close games.

I understand you specified closing games but Deni is averaging over 30 minutes a game since Keefe took over. He's getting plenty of opportunity and he's taking advantage of it. I've really enjoyed watching this version of Deni.

That's just because Deni has played big minutes the last 4 games. Prior to that a several guys here were complaining in the game threads about other guys playing more minutes than Deni.

Deni only played 20 minutes against the Cavs last week which was close.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

I just hope people here won't loose their minds when he has 1/8 from 3 and 4 bunnies in a game..
Highs and Lows.. this is just one game - lets enjoy the long road..

That's just it, it hasn't been just one game. He scored over 20 the previous 3 games shooting well over 60% in all of them. For the month he is averaging 23/9 with a TS of 71%.

For the season he is shooting 40% from 3, a sentence i really didn't think i would type this year.

In 33 minutes a game. It's not even like he's playing an absurd amount of minutes.

[nate33]

I just hope people here won't loose their minds when he has 1/8 from 3 and 4 bunnies in a game..
Highs and Lows.. this is just one game - lets enjoy the long road..

That's just it, it hasn't been just one game. He scored over 20 the previous 3 games shooting well over 60% in all of them. For the month he is averaging 23/9 with a TS of 71%.

For the season he is shooting 40% from 3, a sentence i really didn't think i would type this year.

In 33 minutes a game. It's not even like he's playing an absurd amount of minutes.

One thing about Deni is that I don't think it is very likely that he can average more than 32-33 minutes so long as he is our designated stopper on defense. One out of every 5 or 6 games he will get into foul trouble and end up playing 23-26 minutes. So even if he is playing 35 minutes in most games, those foul trouble games are going to pull down his minutes average. It won't be a situation like Luka, or Brunson, or Donovan Mitchell where he get to guard lousy offensive players and avoid foul trouble.

[pancakes3]

i can only think of one 20+ppg scorer in the league that also pulls primary stopper duty on defense and that's Kawhi.

i actually think if Kuz+Deni can be 20-22 ppg scorers, and bilal+kispert be 15-18 ppg scorers, we'd be a hell of a balanced team, minus JP.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

That's just it, it hasn't been just one game. He scored over 20 the previous 3 games shooting well over 60% in all of them. For the month he is averaging 23/9 with a TS of 71%.

For the season he is shooting 40% from 3, a sentence i really didn't think i would type this year.

In 33 minutes a game. It's not even like he's playing an absurd amount of minutes.

One thing about Deni is that I don't think it is very likely that he can average more than 32-33 minutes so long as he is our designated stopper on defense. One out of every 5 or 6 games he will get into foul trouble and end up playing 23-26 minutes. So even if he is playing 35 minutes in most games, those foul trouble games are going to pull down his minutes average. It won't be a situation like Luka, or Brunson, or Donovan Mitchell where he get to guard lousy offensive players and avoid foul trouble.

Yeah his exertion on defense does make you wonder how many MPG he can realistically play.

I'll say this some say his defense has fallen off a bit this season, and maybe it has a tad, but he on most nights is asked to guard the opposing team's best player 1-4 and is usually taking many turns guarding their second or third best player depending on the sets they are rolling with. Game in, and game out, you can see that opposing offenses are doing everything in their power to get their best offensive players away from him. Guys are starting to not even try to go at in like they did in his younger days, they just kick the ball away or ask for a screen. Maybe some of his advanced numbers have fallen off on defense because when he is scored on it's more often a broken play where the breakdown has happened somewhere else (granted this team has a lot of broken played.

Point is, as you mentioned, he's still working his butt off on defense and expending a lot of energy there. 34 minutes is what I'd like to see, but I don't want to come at the expense of his defense.

[doclinkin]

I keep saying this for 3.5 years, if the team will move the ball on offense Deni will look like a completely different player, I know everyone will focus on Deni's scoring, but I'm more happy to see on the court something that resembles a team that plays together.

Do you think a sudden change in the offense is the reason Deni is going off?



Deni is doing almost all of his damage off the dribble. He is just going at guys 1 on 1. He isn't scoring from off ball catch and shoot plays like Klay Thompson. He gets the ball on the perimeter and drives, something he seemed scared to do in his 1st 3 seasons.

Agreed. This play wasn't just some change in the team's offensive philosophy. Deni just got better. The idea that he was capable of doing this 2 years ago but we just refused to try it is silly.

It also sorta goes against the argument that the Wiz can't develop players.

Though fair if you want to say it was the change to Keefe that allowed him the room to grow. Except folks will have to edit out any posts where they criticized Keefe for pulling him out of a game. Anyway, yeah, this is fun. More of this Deni.

[doclinkin]

I think rebuilding got a lot to do with player development, I don't know how you can separate the two, I mean, that's usually how it goes, especially with a team that probably isn't going to attract already established stars, this team's rebuild is based on its young assets and draft picks, so if the GM and first coach were fired because of shifting toward a rebuild, that means the team didn't thought they were doing a good job in that area.

I would say Wizraeli is right inasmuch as the ball movement is better anytime either of Kuzma or Poole is out of the game. Especially Kuzma in Deni's case since he gets all the touches that Kuz might have had.

I'd say it could be mindset as well. It is possible Deni is better in part because of the lack of pressure to perform. We are not struggling to win-or-die. Or win-or-be-fired. He's not even playing for a contract. Its settled so he can just play.

I also think he entered the season with a seriousness of purpose and maturity I hadn't seen before. My personal assessment was that I think global events may have sobered him so that he didn't metaphorically live or die off of his performance within the game. He didn't check out and feel sorry for himself the way it seemed he had under the Beal led teams. Beal who was notorious for his bad body language when things didn't go his way. Not to trivialize tragedy and war crimes, only saying any number of things can contribute to a player accruing wisdom. Paul Pierce became a better player when he was stabbed near to death in a club.

Lastly I think all of this essentially only serves to prove what I've been saying all along. Because you know, everything is about me as far as I'm concerned. Since early on many of Deni's biggest supporters have been bemoaning his development and complaining about his opportunities etc. My response has been: Deni is fine. He is precocious on defense, the part of the game that is hardest to learn, and will improve as he gets comfortable and learns what does and does not work at this level. Smart as he is, the game will slow down for him and he will take advantage of his opportunities. Said at the time: Deni is fine. He is just young. He will get better. Relax.

Where I will give props too though, and again nod to Wizraeli, is to say I have been surprised with his physical speed. He was blowing past PFs at the Israeli level even from a standstill drive, but seemed a step slower when he reached this level. Hesitant maybe. Split seconds of difference. His end to end speed though is actually legit quick, exceptionally quick off the dribble for a guy at his position.

He started bragging about being called Turbo Deni in practice, fastest guy end-to-end, and shortly thereafter he started employing it in games. He reminds me of Steve Nash in that Nash knew he was was never going to be the fastest guy on the court starting from 0/mph, so he learned that his advantage was to get up to speed and sustain it. Deni follows that model AND he is naturally quick. He does best when he can stay in motion and force defenders to chase and shift. So yes, keeping in motion, and keeping the ball in motion will help all players. He has learned now to attack without a pause to gather, so players have to scramble to adjust.

In this respect I do give some respect to Wes Jr who came into the league as an offensive coordinator promoting the Princeton motion offense. He couldn't make players do it consistently, he let Poole and Kuz break the scheme, but the scheme was there, to Deni's advantage.

But much of the props goes to Deni himself. The fact that he improved his handle and strength and can now actually finish at the rim, means it has become a weapon he did not have in his arsenal as a teenager new to the league. He developed his three ball, which meant he could force players to guard him so that his advantage in driving could be unleashed instead of allowing players to sag off him, daring him to shoot. He worked on his game. He got better in the places he was deficient. Kid grew up. No complaints.

The next hurdle, and the hardest to develop that the HOF players all agree on, is consistency. Nice to know you CAN do it, now can you do it every night. Can you do it when teams try to stop it. Can you do it when it doesn't matter. Can you do it when it matters most. That part is the last thing to develop and the first thing to go when a player reaches their decline. The ability to sustain it is what determines your all-star status and everything that follows.

[Lucky Once]

Even Keefe hasn't been Deni friendly really. He has benched Deni several times at the end of close games.

I understand you specified closing games but Deni is averaging over 30 minutes a game since Keefe took over. He's getting plenty of opportunity and he's taking advantage of it. I've really enjoyed watching this version of Deni.

That's just because Deni has played big minutes the last 4 games. Prior to that a several guys here were complaining in the game threads about other guys playing more minutes than Deni.

Deni only played 20 minutes against the Cavs last week which was close.

That really just highlights my point though. In one game, Deni only played 20 minutes. If you drop that he's averaging almost 32 minutes in that span. For a guy that is bringing the ball up court and the most active defender, those are a lot of minutes. It's more than his season, or career average by a fair bit. This is small sample size theater, but my point is that there isn't anything to suggest Keefe "hasn't been Deni friendly." We have no idea why he only played 20 minutes against Cleveland, but he is playing plenty of minutes under Keefe with significant usage.

Here's to hoping that Cleveland game was an anomaly.

[DCZards]

Let's not overlook Deni's durability. He was one of only 3 or 4 players to play in all 82 games a couple of seasons ago, he only missed 6 games last season, and he's played in all 54 games this season.

[tontoz]

That really just highlights my point though. In one game, Deni only played 20 minutes. If you drop that he's averaging almost 32 minutes in that span. For a guy that is bringing the ball up court and the most active defender, those are a lot of minutes. It's more than his season, or career average by a fair bit. This is small sample size theater, but my point is that there isn't anything to suggest Keefe "hasn't been Deni friendly." We have no idea why he only played 20 minutes against Cleveland, but he is playing plenty of minutes under Keefe with significant usage.

Here's to hoping that Cleveland game was an anomaly.

Deni played under 28 minutes in 6 of Keefe's first 7 games as coach. Poole and Bilal were playing more than Deni and Deni was frequently on the bench in crunch time.

I would assume that Keefe has gotten the memo after Deni's recent run but there was a lot of talk in the game threads about Deni's lack of time, especially at the end of games. The top of page 17 was a tweet about this.

[Kanyewest]

I think it's now safe to say that Deni is the best Wizards draft pick since Beal. I think it's pretty reasonable at this point to project Deni ahead of Otto Porter - particularly if you factor Porter's health.

Deni may be be better going forward than Otto although it is interesting to re-examine.

Deni was better than Otto in their respective rookie seasons. Although Otto was better in his 2nd (for the postseason run especially) and 3rd seasons- I wonder if the Wizards would have ended up making the playoffs had they had Otto instead of Deni (at least it would have been harder for Wes Unseld Jr to cut Porter's minutes). But it seems to have worked out in the Wizards benefit in that Deni was willing to sign a much more friendly team contract - even in absolute terms Otto made more than Deni which is semi crazy considering that salaries are higher than in 2024.

Also, the Wizards seemed to avoid worse picks by taking Porter over guys like Nerlens Noel, Zeller, and Alex Len. Giannis/Gobert was in the draft although I don't think anybody reasonably expected the Wizards to take him. Whereas the Wizards could have taken Halliburton.

Either way, the Deni pick is looking like a good pick even if the Wizards did mess up by passing Halliburton.

[AFM]

Porter also was a nice jump shooter who benefitted from playing with Wall and being at best the 3rd option on the team. Deni is scoring a lot by himself off the dribble and plays with Jordan PooPoo and some fringe NBA level talent.

[QMemphis]

Grizz fan here back, I wanted him before the 43 points lol. What realistic offer would you guys consider for Deni.
Ziaire Williams, Jake Laravia and 24 pick currently #6 would be my offer.

[tontoz]

Grizz fan here back, I wanted him before the 43 points lol. What realistic offer would you guys consider for Deni.
Ziaire Williams, Jake Laravia and 24 pick currently #6 would be my offer.

We already resigned him to a pretty cheap deal before the season. I can't see any scenario where they would trade him now.

[QMemphis]

Grizz fan here back, I wanted him before the 43 points lol. What realistic offer would you guys consider for Deni.
Ziaire Williams, Jake Laravia and 24 pick currently #6 would be my offer.

We already resigned him to a pretty cheap deal before the season. I can't see any scenario where they would trade him now.

Yeah I can see that but he is your teams best asset and could net a real return.