GM 38 DET @ DC

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Have you been watching any games this season?

This is the Wizards rotation. Wes always keeps one of Kuzma or Avdija on the floor at all times because they're the only guys on the roster who can play PF, and he always likes to have at least one ball-handling forward on the floor to compensate for Bilal and Kispert having no off-the-dribble skills.

The only way to do this is to either bench Avdija early and bring him back in with the second unit, or to bench Kuzma early and bring him back in with the 2nd unit. Wes has settled on the former. It makes the most sense because Deni is developing his PG skills so it's good to have him out there with the 2nd unit that lacks a true PG.

This is the rotation; and this is why he does it. There isn't a lot of flexibility with it - at least with respect to Deni and Kuzma. So stop complaining when Deni comes out first.

Yes but sometimes you can adjust and not take the hot hand out. It's one thing to have a method and a rotation, it's a whole other thing to just be a mechanical robot out there. Kuzma has been garbage on both end tonight, but because WUJ is mechanical he just does the same old pattern rotations. Meanwhile, Deni doesn't barely touch the ball since being subbed out.

It's not like we are playing great either, barely keeping pace with a historically crappy team.

If he doesn't pull Deni out early, he has to do one of two things: either delay Kuzma's opportunity to rest - which means Kuzma will end up playing 15 consecutive minutes, or rest Kuzma in place of Deni, which means Kuzma will run with the 2nd unit and not Deni - something they're not used to.

You don't blow up a whole rotation just to ride a hot hand in the 1st quarter. And it's not like Deni had 18 points in 6 minutes or something. He had 8 points. That's nice, but it's not exactly Klay Thompson scoring 37 points in a quarter.

That's such an absurdly bad argument. It ended at 8 points because he took him out. And I'm not even saying he was going to have anything close to a 30 point quarter or a 20.

Keep giving cover to a garbage coach though...

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

And another thing about rotations. God forbid we experiment out there when this team is going nowhere. This season is already over, why should WUJ rotations be treated as sacred? We should be trying new things out there, putting players outside their comfort zones, developing new sets, not sitting on their hands because WUJ has a precious rotation that has led us to 7 wins.

We are losing to a team with 3 wins on our home court that has one what, 1 came in their last 38?

*LARRY DAVID VOICE*: Musn't mess with the sacred WUJ lineup, we got a sacred WUJ, 7 win season lineup to contend with here.

[Endless Loop]

Is this the same team that beat Atlanta (which is currently beating SAS by 30) by 28 two days ago?

Is there something about Bagley and/or Livers that we don't know (yet)?

[Wizraeli]

You don't blow up a whole rotation just to ride a hot hand in the 1st quarter.

Yes you do, if your goal is to win the game, and if your rotation and offensive system gets "blown up" because it isn't flexible enough to go with the hot hand of the player that just scored all of your points until that moment then there's something wrong with your system, so either way WUJ's coaching level doesn't look very good.

[queridiculo]

Watching Duren play I am just glad that we have Johnny Davis holding it down for the Wizards!

[nir2610]

Poole is such a c××p .. cant watch him. even if he'll score 30 pts

[Eli Babak]

Good job lads. Losing rebounds 52-33 and Kuzma shooting 7-21 (rest of the team FG 50%). Oh well...

[closg00]

Where can I find our W/L record for afternoon games, it’s gotta be a low %…pitiful showing today

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

The sacred WUJ rotation getting us punked on our home court by an awful Detroit team. I don't even want to hear about Gafford's injury, or Deni's, or Kuzma getting ejected.

WUJ should be serving White Claw at the concession stand, his consistent patterns and demeanor would be perfect for that. Not head coaching material, but I guess you can't lose when your dad won the team a chip.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Good job lads. Losing rebounds 52-33 and Kuzma shooting 7-21 (rest of the team FG 50%). Oh well...

But, but, but... Kuzma is the only one that can absorb the usage on the team...

[Frichuela]

Here is to hoping the Wizards get an offer they can not refuse for Kuzma before the deadline. His shot jacking is getting ridiculous…

[Runner300]

God forbid you run some plays for BC.
He can shoot from 3. He can dribble, finish, dunk.
Let the rookie gain some confidence.
Anyting...

[BobbyD10]

Not sure why everyone is upset about losing to the “awful” Pistons. News flash… the Wizards are awful too

[dckingsfan]

I felt that Deni was playing the best of the starters - not saying much. But he did have those ugly TOs. My beef is that Poole got more minutes than Deni - puzzling. I know, I know, WUJ has his rotation, he isn't going to get Kuz minutes.

And some of the minutes I would have wanted him to have would have come from Coulibaly - guess I would have been bitching about that as well

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

I felt that Deni was playing the best of the starters - not saying much. But he did have those ugly TOs. My beef is that Poole got more minutes than Deni - puzzling. I know, I know, WUJ has his rotation, he isn't going to get Kuz minutes.

And some of the minutes I would have wanted him to have would have come from Coulibaly - guess I would have been bitching about that as well

Why is it the mentality that Kuzma has earned the right to play like crap and not have his minutes reduced? I just don't get it. Maybe he'd clean up some of these disaster shots he forces up constantly if there was sone stick to go along with the carrot. He just has zero incentive to be a better player because there's no consequence for playing selfish.

He's been atrocious on defense too for the vast majority of the season, too.

Odd that some people talk about how he genuinely wants to be here or that he's showing leadership. All I see is a guy that wants to get his counting stats.

[Frichuela]

We are an utter embarrassment. Nepo Wes has to go.

Read on Twitter

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[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Not sure why everyone is upset about losing to the “awful” Pistons. News flash… the Wizards are awful too

Yes we are awful, but you can have an eye to the future while also tanking. It's not about the loss, it's about benching a young guy when he's playing well because you have a preset rotation, or letting Kuzma jack up 21 shots (missing 14 of them), playing no defense, and still get his playing time, or not sitting PBJ for a long stretch after he played some really good minutes.

[payitforward]

The bench posted a TS% of .692 -- including Baldwin showing that shooting prowess nate was asking for from him.

[pancakes3]

Kuz is the best player on the team by a significant margin. he absolutely has earned the green light, and has a TS% of 55.5 on the season. yall are misdirecting yalls frustration on the wrong dude.

[nate33]

Kuz is the best player on the team by a significant margin. he absolutely has earned the green light, and has a TS% of 55.5 on the season. yall are misdirecting yalls frustration on the wrong dude.

Agreed. Kuzma is not the superstar he seems to think he is, but he is still easily the best offensive option on this team. People on this board continue to underrate the difficulty of volume scoring, even at below league average efficiency. Guys like Deni, Tyus and Kispert could not score near as effectively if they were subjected to the defensive attention Kuzma is, and if they were forced to take isolation possessions like Kuzma does.

Kuzma deserves some criticism for his heat checks and the ill-advised shots early in the shot clock, but the hate on this board is excessive.