GT #17: Bullets @ Pistons 7 PM (MSN/980 AM)

[remi_222]

Not that i didnt like Kuz's game, but his approach was very selfish in the 3rd and 4th quarter, and it worked he scored 13 or 14 in that quarter. But on the long run, you need to dev a dynamic where as a leader you gotta share the ball in order to be less predictive bc he wont face Livers everynight. He will never be Kobe, but can be Kobe vs Detroit
Imo he should have involved more his teammates when they were up by 15, there was around 10 successive possessions where he had the ball on the post or up and just played 1v1 ... not creating any synergy to progress as a team, but was only taking an individual approach and was looking to score for himself !
Works vs Detroit but Washington doesnt need 2 JP (maybe thats why he was benched bc if he was there they would have lost with those 2 on the court !!!)

I agree that there was a stretch where Kuz played selfishly, especially in the 4th quarter when the Zards had a decent lead and he should have been dialing it back rather than trying to go one-on-one.

But Kuz has played smart and unselfishly most games this season so I’m gonna give him a pass on this one. He was clearly feeling himself…playing in his home state and seemingly scoring at will.

I absolutely agree and understand with the smart part, but during this kind of game it was perfect to perfect the team synergy by involving more players (surprised he never passsed the ball being 2 ass away from a triple double, that would have been good selfishness)

[nate33]

I watched the game last night (I usually watch them a day later so I can skip the commercials).

I'm really excited about the development of Avdija. And I think Wes is too. I get the impression that Wes believes that Avdija is now the second most important player on the team behind Kuzma. You can tell by the rotation pattern that Wes always wants one of them on the floor at all times. And when Deni is on without Kuzma, Deni essentially plays the Kuzma role. He runs the offense and often brings the ball up the court. It's also exciting to see Deni's confidence grow and grow. He now BELIEVES he is the second best player on the team and he attacks the opposition whenever they put a weak defender on him.

Another thing I noticed was that Avdija's defense was elite in the first half, just absolutely shutting down anyone he guarded; but he got beat couple of times in the second half by Ivey and Cade. Wes is asking Deni to do an awful lot, and I think fatigue becomes a factor late in games. In the past, Deni could rest on offense because he was either standing in the corner, or he was guarded by a weak defender. But Detroit hounded him in the second half with Ausar Thompson, which made Deni work a lot harder to bring the ball up the court and to get open. Working that hard on offense impacted his defense a bit. I think Wes is aware of it and is trying to distribute some of Deni's responsibilities to other players when possible. He has Coulibaly hound the point guard whenever he can instead of Deni. And last night, he had Shamet bringing the ball up the court instead of Deni from time to time.

Kuzma was awesome in the second half and I don't want to take anything away from him, but I do wish he'd dial back the heat checks a little bit. Near the end of the third quarter, Kuzma was going 1 on 5 too much. He is definitely a good scorer, but I wish he'd still try and work within the flow of the offense, even when he gets hot. Let Tyus set you up in your spots if Tyus is on the court. That's his job!

I really like Shamet. Right now, he is unquestionably the best shooting guard on the roster. We are easily better with him on the floor in place of Poole. He's not a great player or anything, but he is competent. He does all the things you need from a shooting guard: shooting off the move, secondary ball-handling, effort on defense, low turnovers. He reminds me of Hubert Davis back in the Michael Jordan era, or of KCP a few years ago. He's a pro who does his job.

Gafford looked real good last night. Gafford is a solid center against 70% of the centers in this league. His main problem is that he gets destroyed by the really big behemoth centers like Embiid, Jokic, Lopez, Robinson and Valanciunas. But against the more average centers in this league who don't outweigh him by 30 pounds, Gafford is good. Unfortunately, if we ever become a good team, we will have to win playoff games against good centers, not average ones.

[dobrojim]

Fwiw, I almost never watch in real time.

DET was gawdawful. Kuz got hot and we got a rare dub.

[AFM]

I only watch in real time if I'm bored af, I'll open it in another tab. Otherwise the games are available on youtube with all the filler removed

[DCZards]

I'm really excited about the development of Avdija. And I think Wes is too. I get the impression that Wes believes that Avdija is now the second most important player on the team behind Kuzma. You can tell by the rotation pattern that Wes always wants one of them on the floor at all times. And when Deni is on without Kuzma, Deni essentially plays the Kuzma role. He runs the offense and often brings the ball up the court. It's also exciting to see Deni's confidence grow and grow. He now BELIEVES he is the second best player on the team and he attacks the opposition whenever they put a weak defender on him.

Noticed the same thing about Wes’s increased reliance on Deni. Deni is usually the first starter that Wes subs for so that he can put Deni back in the game when he subs for Kuz.

Kuzma was awesome in the second half and I don't want to take anything away from him, but I do wish he'd dial back the heat checks a little bit. Near the end of the third quarter, Kuzma was going 1 on 5 too much. He is definitely a good scorer, but I wish he'd still try and work within the flow of the offense, even when he gets hot. Let Tyus set you up in your spots if Tyus is on the court. That's his job!

When Kuz started doing too much hero ball in the fourth quarter Wes immediately put Jones back in and put him in control of running the offense.

I really like Shamet. Right now, he is unquestionably the best shooting guard on the roster. We are easily better with him on the floor in place of Poole. He's not a great player or anything, but he is competent. He does all the things you need from a shooting guard: shooting off the move, secondary ball-handling, effort on defense, low turnovers. He reminds me of Hubert Davis back in the Michael Jordan era, or of KCP a few years ago. He's a pro who does his job.

Spot on regarding Shamet. There’s a comfort level that I have when he enters the game. I wasn’t expecting that.

[nate33]

I only watch in real time if I'm bored af, I'll open it in another tab. Otherwise the games are available on youtube with all the filler removed

The youtube games only show the made shots though, not the misses. I won't include a link, but if you do a duckduckgo search for "NBA replays", you will find a couple of sites that provide the entire game.

[payitforward]

I only watch in real time if I'm bored af, I'll open it in another tab. Otherwise the games are available on youtube with all the filler removed

The youtube games only show the made shots though, not the misses. I won't include a link, but if you do a duckduckgo search for "NBA replays", you will find a couple of sites that provide the entire game.

Of course you can just record them -- usually what I do.