Around the League: 2020 Offseason

[LloydFree]

I see Beal asking for a trade sooner rather than later.

I seriously doubt that. This makes Washington better than they've been in at least 3 years. Washington will be in the playoffs this year. Maybe even the 7th seed. They're better than the Pacers and Magic now.

[76ciology]

Tillman declaring CP3's contract the worst in professional sports and ultimately ending up with John Wall is just priceless.

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This.

[Kobblehead]

The Wizards might be pretty distracted right now. Big contract extension for Bertans, drafting Avdija in the top 10, making a blockbuster trade for Russell Westbrook. Now might be a good opportunity to take advantage of their laxed focus and try to syphon off one of their ancillary pieces.

Troy Brown is an obvious target. Big wing with strong defensive abilities. Decent passer with the ability to develop his shooting further.

I'd also like to take a flyer on Isaac Bonga. Like Brown, he's bringing size (although just height in his case), defense and passing to the table. And there's some variance with his shooting potential. Could go either way.

[Arsenal]

The Wizards might be pretty distracted right now. Big contract extension for Bertans, drafting Avdija in the top 10, making a blockbuster trade for Russell Westbrook. Now might be a good opportunity to take advantage of their laxed focus and try to syphon off one of their ancillary pieces.

Troy Brown is an obvious target. Big wing with strong defensive abilities. Decent passer with the ability to develop his shooting further.

I'd also like to take a flyer on Isaac Bonga. Like Brown, he's bringing size (although just height in his case), defense and passing to the table. And there's some variance with his shooting potential. Could go either way.

Yes bringing in Russ means a "win now" focus in DC. I wouldn't be surprised if they're willing to sell on Bonga, Brown, Wagner, Rui, Bryant, and even Avdija.

They appear desperate to make the playoffs in order to keep Beal happy enough to stay. He only has 2 years left on his deal.

[SparksFly87]

I'd offer Tobias Harris for Wizards spare parts. I would offer him to hornets to pair with Hayward. I want him out of here.

[Kobblehead]

I wonder what the Wizards are envisioning their starting line-up as.

Obviously both G spots will be locked up by Westbrook and Beal. I'm assuming Bryant will man the C position. The F spot is where it gets interesting and appears to have a lot of congestion.

Bertans got a big money extension so I'm assuming one of the conditions of that deal was to give him a starting spot.

C - Thomas Bryant
F - Davis Bertans
F -
G - Bradley Beal
G - Russell Westbrook

That leaves one spot for Hachimura, Avdija, Brown and Bonga. Someone is getting squeezed out.

[the_process]

I see Beal asking for a trade sooner rather than later.

I seriously doubt that. This makes Washington better than they've been in at least 3 years. Washington will be in the playoffs this year. Maybe even the 7th seed. They're better than the Pacers and Magic now.

You overrate Westbrook IMO. They were a fringe playoff team before, and I don’t think this makes them better. Also playing with Westbrook looks like torture.

[the_process]

I'd offer Tobias Harris for Wizards spare parts. I would offer him to hornets to pair with Hayward. I want him out of here.

Wiz don’t have any big salary to match other than Beal unfortunately. Charlotte, on the other hand, might be the perfect place to send Tobias.

[LloydFree]

I see Beal asking for a trade sooner rather than later.

I seriously doubt that. This makes Washington better than they've been in at least 3 years. Washington will be in the playoffs this year. Maybe even the 7th seed. They're better than the Pacers and Magic now.

You overrate Westbrook IMO. They were a fringe playoff team before, and I don’t think this makes them better. Also playing with Westbrook looks like torture.

No, I think you over rate the bottom 7 of the East, if you think Westbrook and Beal won't dominate any and all of them.

[Kobblehead]

You overrate Westbrook IMO. They were a fringe playoff team before, and I don’t think this makes them better. Also playing with Westbrook looks like torture.

You don't think Russell Westbrook is better than the combination of Isaiah Thomas and Ish Smith? Because that's what they were rolling with at PG last year. Of course they'll be better. You can argue that this just makes them a treadmill team and is ultimately pointless, but they'll still be significantly better than they were last year.

[Arsenal]

I wonder what the Wizards are envisioning their starting line-up as.

Obviously both G spots will be locked up by Westbrook and Beal. I'm assuming Bryant will man the C position. The F spot is where it gets interesting and appears to have a lot of congestion.

Bertans got a big money extension so I'm assuming one of the conditions of that deal was to give him a starting spot.

C - Thomas Bryant
F - Davis Bertans
F -
G - Bradley Beal
G - Russell Westbrook

That leaves one spot for Hachimura, Avdija, Brown and Bonga. Someone is getting squeezed out.

They'll have to prioritize outside shooting around Westbrook. None of those guys can shoot, but the best option is likely Troy Brown.

[Sixerscan]

It's kinda crazy how the Rockets PGs in the last three seasons were Chris Paul, then Russell Westbrook, then John Wall. Three consecutive hall of fame talents shuffling in and out.

The issue for the Rox for me is they can’t address their lack of flexibility.

If harden playing with a PG won’t work, why keep doing that? What’s the back up plan when you are shooting blanks in a game 7?

Why go double down by playing micro ball when they were we saw how important it is to be able to play big and small. We’ve seen the Warriors or the Lakers being able to be flexible with the size of their line-ups based on match-ups.

Anyway, Rox kind of address this issue this offseason with Woods and Boogie. But its too late.

Well I think the issue is you are assuming the goal for those rockets teams were to build the best and most unbeatable team. It wasn’t. The whole strategy was acknowledging that, no matter what they did, the Durant Warriors were always going to be the most talented team, but the rockets could build a roster that had an upside to beat the warriors when the roster played really well. And they got closer than the 28 other teams did to doing so.

When you’re the underdog it’s all about increasing variance and upside. If you shoot 50 three a game there’s always a chance you can make 25 of them and then it doesn’t matter how many hall of famers the other team has, you will almost certainly win. And yeah if you only make 10 you’re probably going to lose but you were probably going to lose if you played them straight up anyway.

Last years team was obviously limited by Fertitta wanting to stay under the tax but even that is related. They didn’t *have* the assets to put together a championship caliber team that could play both big and small so they tried a gimmick that was probably ultimately doomed but allowed the possibility that they could just get insanely hot for a few weeks and overperform their talent level. At the end of the day they won a playoff series which 22 teams in the league can’t say.

[the_process]

I seriously doubt that. This makes Washington better than they've been in at least 3 years. Washington will be in the playoffs this year. Maybe even the 7th seed. They're better than the Pacers and Magic now.

You overrate Westbrook IMO. They were a fringe playoff team before, and I don’t think this makes them better. Also playing with Westbrook looks like torture.

No, I think you over rate the bottom 7 of the East, if you think Westbrook and Beal won't dominate any and all of them.

Let’s say that’s true. Is being the 7 seed and having to watch Westbrook stat pad for 90% of the game going to make Beal happy?

[LloydFree]

You overrate Westbrook IMO. They were a fringe playoff team before, and I don’t think this makes them better. Also playing with Westbrook looks like torture.

No, I think you over rate the bottom 7 of the East, if you think Westbrook and Beal won't dominate any and all of them.

Let’s say that’s true. Is being the 7 seed and having to watch Westbrook stat pad for 90% of the game going to make Beal happy?

Who is Beal? He's never won anything. How is he going to get mad at Westbrook for getting him to the playoffs? He couldn't do it.

[the_process]

No, I think you over rate the bottom 7 of the East, if you think Westbrook and Beal won't dominate any and all of them.

Let’s say that’s true. Is being the 7 seed and having to watch Westbrook stat pad for 90% of the game going to make Beal happy?

Who is Beal? He's never won anything. How is he going to get mad at Westbrook for getting him to the playoffs? He couldn't do it.

Beal is the best player on the Wizards right now. And he and Wall clashed over sharing the spotlight, having to take a clear backseat to a guy like Russ isn’t going to improve his disposition any. You can dismiss him as some dude who doesn’t help winning, and that’s fine. I’m just saying I would be stunned if he doesn’t ask out next summer, if not earlier.

[Kobblehead]

Bradley Beal just had an embarrassing year as the #1 guy on the 8th worst team in basketball.

Not only did he miss the playoffs, but nobody even respected his empty individual stats, as evident by him not even making the allstar team in the East.

I'm pretty sure he'd be fine taking a back seat to another star if it helps him get back to relevance.

[LloydFree]

I wonder what the Wizards are envisioning their starting line-up as.

Obviously both G spots will be locked up by Westbrook and Beal. I'm assuming Bryant will man the C position. The F spot is where it gets interesting and appears to have a lot of congestion.

Bertans got a big money extension so I'm assuming one of the conditions of that deal was to give him a starting spot.

C - Thomas Bryant
F - Davis Bertans
F -
G - Bradley Beal
G - Russell Westbrook

That leaves one spot for Hachimura, Avdija, Brown and Bonga. Someone is getting squeezed out.

They'll have to prioritize outside shooting around Westbrook. None of those guys can shoot, but the best option is likely Troy Brown.

Troy Brown is the best player out of those guys by far, but I'm not sure he's the best fit. All of them are more ball handlers than shooters, but the acquisition of Russ may force them to put Hachimura into that lineup. Some team with multiple 3-D wings, needs to try to steal Troy Brown from the Wizards, if his role is minimized.

[blargh]

I wonder what the Wizards are envisioning their starting line-up as.

Obviously both G spots will be locked up by Westbrook and Beal. I'm assuming Bryant will man the C position. The F spot is where it gets interesting and appears to have a lot of congestion.

Bertans got a big money extension so I'm assuming one of the conditions of that deal was to give him a starting spot.

C - Thomas Bryant
F - Davis Bertans
F -
G - Bradley Beal
G - Russell Westbrook

That leaves one spot for Hachimura, Avdija, Brown and Bonga. Someone is getting squeezed out.

They'll have to prioritize outside shooting around Westbrook. None of those guys can shoot, but the best option is likely Troy Brown.

Troy Brown is the best player out of those guys by far, but I'm not sure he's the best fit. All of them are more ball handlers than shooters, but the acquisition of Russ may force them to put Hachimura into that lineup. Some team with multiple 3-D wings, needs to try to steal Troy Brown from the Wizards, if his role is minimized.

I would have said a lineup of Westbrook, Bertans, and Hachimura would be unplayable in terms of perimeter defense, except the Wizards have shown they have no problem trotting out truly horrific defensive lineups.

[Kobblehead]

Given that Beal and Bertans jack up a ridiculous 16+ threes per game between the two of them, I'm not certain that the 5th starter needs to be a floor spacer.

[Sixerscan]

They started Bonga and Rui last year, Bertans only started 4 games. Rui and Bertans will both play a lot but they won’t start together.