Official Thread: Preseason Wizards vs Heat (10/4/16)

[AFM]

This could low key be Ernie's most impressive off season yet. He managed to take a mediocre team, with max cap space, and make it worse. Truly astounding.

[dangermouse]

No worries -- tighten it up a little and we can still win 35 games... maybe.

We got trounced. Steam-rolled. Even tho the final score only shows a deficit of 11 points, this was a lot more like a 25 point defeat. And it was at the hands of a team that most people on this board have projected to be behind us in the standings this season. No, not so much.

The only reason it was as close as 11 points is that we got to take 11 more shots than they did, and 8 more FTAs as well. The best thing you can say about Burke last night is that he didn't turn it over. Or commit fouls. He wasn't good, don't get me wrong, but he was actually better than I expected him to be.

Satoransky looked ok. It's nice to have a bright spot of course, and "ok" in your first ever NBA action, even preseason, is pretty good. The other guys who looked better than I expected were McLellan and O'Bryant -- Johnny looked a lot better than Nicholson or Smith, that's for sure.

I didn't bother watching the garbage time in which Oubre got his points. In what I saw of him, he looked as raw as last year.

I thought Sato looked more than OK. If Brooks isnt having him start at PG tomorrow (barring a Wall return) then, in my opinion, this won't be a great start for Brooks as coach.

[gambitx777]

Geebus, I can understand not liking Burke, but why use this game as evidence that he's so gosh awful? ... That was not a Maynor-like performance.

OTOH, it wasn't a Kay Felder-like game either!

Just watching him on NBA TV -- he's taking apart the Orlando starters! Wow.

But, I agree w/ Ruz: Burke wasn't terrible; he just wasn't real good. What he did that helps tho, is that he didn't turn it over and he didn't commit egregious fouls. And the only thing that kept us in the game even vaguely was that we got more shots (not turning it over helps with that) and FTAs (not fouling helps with that).

I would argue that. not being terrible is burke's job. It's not really his job to be great. Yeah it would be nice if he was great. But we are paying him less than a few mill a year, to be the 4th guard on our team. we don't need him to be amazing. we just need him to not **** anything up when he does get on the floor. I like Obryant too. He should get the last big man spot. with that it looks like we have one last spot on the team open. that would be for our 6th guard. Are we cutting casper ware?

[payitforward]

Geebus, I can understand not liking Burke, but why use this game as evidence that he's so gosh awful? ... That was not a Maynor-like performance.

OTOH, it wasn't a Kay Felder-like game either!

Just watching him on NBA TV -- he's taking apart the Orlando starters! Wow.

But, I agree w/ Ruz: Burke wasn't terrible; he just wasn't real good. What he did that helps tho, is that he didn't turn it over and he didn't commit egregious fouls. And the only thing that kept us in the game even vaguely was that we got more shots (not turning it over helps with that) and FTAs (not fouling helps with that).

I would argue that. not being terrible is burke's job. It's not really his job to be great. Yeah it would be nice if he was great. But we are paying him less than a few mill a year, to be the 4th guard on our team. we don't need him to be amazing. we just need him to not **** anything up when he does get on the floor. I like Obryant too. He should get the last big man spot. with that it looks like we have one last spot on the team open. that would be for our 6th guard. Are we cutting casper ware?

Unnnh no. There is a big long road of difference between "wasn't terrible" and "great." No one expects him to be great, but all the same, he's not checking off a box by not being great.

You want to be good? Then get the best players you can at every spot, starters and back-ups. In the case of Burke, and this has nothing to do with the Miami game, there is no way he was the best player available at the price we paid. Not even close.

As to O'Bryant, yeah, he was extremely active, very vocal on defense (tho he did over-help at least one time, leading to an easy Miami bucket), and he looks to be a solid athlete w/ some fluidity, etc.

Then again, the Cleveland Cavaliers -- who you'd think would have less concern about maximizing their last few bench spots than a crappy team like the Wizards -- feature Corey Jefferson and Jonathon Holmes, both of whom looked a lot better vs. Orlando last night than JO did.

[queridiculo]

$30 million this year for Mahinmi, Smith, Nichols and Burke, it's going to be a long damn season.

[stevemcqueen1]

The best way to limit how much Burke hurts you is to not play him at all. I'd rather have Marcus Thornton chuck up jumper after jumper.

I'm not ready to give up on Burke yet. He's a good shooter from distance and the FT line and he's a good ball handler. He can grow into a role as a back up similar to how Sessions did. I think that once he logs enough minutes with Mahinmi and/or Gortat, he'll be effective running PnRs when he's playing on the ball.

Thornton can't run point. Sato can't handle the kind of minutes to keep Burke on the bench at this point in his career. He's not very strong and he's coming off a season where he played 24 MPG in Europe. That's so different. NBA games are twice as frequent as games in Liga ACB and the athletes are so much stronger and the game is more physical in the NBA. He's going to get worn down like Otto did last season. I'd say we should consider ourselves very lucky if he plays 24 MPG again this season. But we're more likely to get about 20. No matter what, Burke is going to have to play.

[Dark Faze]

The Smith signing was really odd given they didn't like Hump and Hump is basically Jason Smith with a 3 ball and better rebounding

[Dat2U]

The best way to limit how much Burke hurts you is to not play him at all. I'd rather have Marcus Thornton chuck up jumper after jumper.

I'm not ready to give up on Burke yet. He's a good shooter from distance and the FT line and he's a good ball handler. He can grow into a role as a back up similar to how Sessions did. I think that once he logs enough minutes with Mahinmi and/or Gortat, he'll be effective running PnRs when he's playing on the ball.

Thornton can't run point. Sato can't handle the kind of minutes to keep Burke on the bench at this point in his career. He's not very strong and he's coming off a season where he played 24 MPG in Europe. That's so different. NBA games are twice as frequent as games in Liga ACB and the athletes are so much stronger and the game is more physical in the NBA. He's going to get worn down like Otto did last season. I'd say we should consider ourselves very lucky if he plays 24 MPG again this season. But we're more likely to get about 20. No matter what, Burke is going to have to play.

Burke isn't a good shooter. Look at his numbers. He's historically been a streaky shooter with long stretches of poor shooting. Sessions worked offensively because he always was a very good slasher but often times he didn't have the spacing available to be effective. Burke is not that type of player. Burke struggles to break defenders down & can't finish against bigger guys in the paint.

We've not even touched the biggest issue. Burke is a miserable defensive player. Watching him guard Goran Dragic the other night was ugly.

Let Sato run point & Thornton play off the ball running around screens for looks. Burke is more of a fifth guard. But honestly I'd be kicking the tires on adding Mario Chalmers if he could pass a physical. Fact is we need help behind Wall, Beal & Sato and the answer probably isn't on the roster yet.

[Dark Faze]

Whatever the solution is I hope decisions are made quickly and preemptively, there's no reason to lose 10 games prior to the all-star break completely due to the bench when there's tape and stats telling you exactly what's going to happen with most of these guys. If a deal needs to be made then make it before we lose all those games. It's going to be a very tight race for the playoffs in the east this year.

[queridiculo]

Sixers vs. Washington, Burke is still awful, and in the first quarter it's donuts for everybody except Beal (4pts), Gortat (7pts) and Oubre (10pts).

Oh yeah, and they managed to surrender 30 points, so that defense appears to be coming along nicely.

[queridiculo]

Sato is doing it on both ends, playing well.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

$30 million this year for Mahinmi, Smith, Nichols and Burke, it's going to be a long damn season.

I think Ochefu, O'Bryant...maybe Seth Curry at a cheaper than Burke rate; sounds much better to me.

Nicholson and NO Smith woulda made great sense to me FWIW.

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[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The best way to limit how much Burke hurts you is to not play him at all. I'd rather have Marcus Thornton chuck up jumper after jumper.

I'm not ready to give up on Burke yet. He's a good shooter from distance and the FT line and he's a good ball handler. He can grow into a role as a back up similar to how Sessions did. I think that once he logs enough minutes with Mahinmi and/or Gortat, he'll be effective running PnRs when he's playing on the ball.

Thornton can't run point. Sato can't handle the kind of minutes to keep Burke on the bench at this point in his career. He's not very strong and he's coming off a season where he played 24 MPG in Europe. That's so different. NBA games are twice as frequent as games in Liga ACB and the athletes are so much stronger and the game is more physical in the NBA. He's going to get worn down like Otto did last season. I'd say we should consider ourselves very lucky if he plays 24 MPG again this season. But we're more likely to get about 20. No matter what, Burke is going to have to play.

Burke isn't a good shooter. Look at his numbers. He's historically been a streaky shooter with long stretches of poor shooting. Sessions worked offensively because he always was a very good slasher but often times he didn't have the spacing available to be effective. Burke is not that type of player. Burke struggles to break defenders down & can't finish against bigger guys in the paint.

We've not even touched the biggest issue. Burke is a miserable defensive player. Watching him guard Goran Dragic the other night was ugly.

Let Sato run point & Thornton play off the ball running around screens for looks. Burke is more of a fifth guard. But honestly I'd be kicking the tires on adding Mario Chalmers if he could pass a physical. Fact is we need help behind Wall, Beal & Sato and the answer probably isn't on the roster yet.

Burke is all what you say, Dat.

However, he played with ginormous stones at Michigan State. I think perhaps if three or four other guys around him can mask his weaknesses, and at the same time allow his strengths to be a net asset; Burke could become a clutch player.

Situational dependencies can perhaps be managed well. Hope that makes sense...

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[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Whatever the solution is I hope decisions are made quickly and preemptively, there's no reason to lose 10 games prior to the all-star break completely due to the bench when there's tape and stats telling you exactly what's going to happen with most of these guys. If a deal needs to be made then make it before we lose all those games. It's going to be a very tight race for the playoffs in the east this year.

He he he ... Wizards. PRE-EMPTIVE decision?

Hope is the operative word. Certainly would be a new trend if it happens.

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