First game thread for 2019-20 season

[Illmatic12]

We are going to get destroyed in several games this year with Ish and Chiozza at PG. Is IT going to be any better on D? can't get much worse on offense

The midget PGs are going to be an issue defensively.

Think they’re gonna have to close out games with Beal/Brown/Bonga at PG/SG/SF .. that’s the only way to get adequate guard defense out there .

You're going to kill Beal with that lineup at end of games. McRae perhaps? he's the only other guy we have that can create offense even if the D suffers a little.

Yeah they can certainly mix that around based on the matchups. Maybe McRae/Beal/Brown for a little more experience and scoring .

But clearly we need a bigger guard next to Beal down the stretch.

[Ruzious]

The beginning of the end was when Chiozza subbed in and Brunson manhandled him. It was a great game though and a learning experience.

Fwiw, Chiozza had a better game than Brunson - who was really bad last night.

[Illmatic12]

Side note My boy Issuf ballin .. just needs another year to marinate then we can bring him over here

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[NatP4]

I’d like to see a Brown-Beal-Bonga-Hachimura-Bryant lineup when Brown Jr is back healthy. Once we add Lamelo Ball, it’s gonna be a fun team.

[Shoe]

The beginning of the end was when Chiozza subbed in and Brunson manhandled him. It was a great game though and a learning experience.

Fwiw, Chiozza had a better game than Brunson - who was really bad last night.

I was fast forwarding through a recording and saw Brunson bully his way to a few baskets before a timeout was called. This was in the first quarter though. You're right Chiozza was a part of the comeback in the 2nd half.

[Ruzious]

The beginning of the end was when Chiozza subbed in and Brunson manhandled him. It was a great game though and a learning experience.

Fwiw, Chiozza had a better game than Brunson - who was really bad last night.

I was fast forwarding through a recording and saw Brunson bully his way to a few baskets before a timeout was called. This was in the first quarter though. You're right Chiozza was a part of the comeback in the 2nd half.

I think Chiozza's role has to be to use him in spurts of maybe 5 minutes - where he can increase the tempo and harrass the opposing PG. He's a hustle/energy player who's very limited - but he plays smart - like a poor man's Fred Van Vleet.

[Illmatic12]

I’d like to see a Brown-Beal-Bonga-Hachimura-Bryant lineup when Brown Jr is back healthy. Once we add Lamelo Ball, it’s gonna be a fun team.

And I thought I was alone on Lamelo island around here..

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[payitforward]

Bryant was terrible. He can’t guard on the perimeter and provided no rim protection. Was even worse than last year. He would be hard to keep on the court if we were a real team. He’s got to start getting it this season on the defensive end.

Credit to Brooks for keeping him out until Mo Wagner, of all people, fouled out. Tough love.

Thanks. I only saw the 4th quarter. Stats can be misleading, I guess....

Except that what trast wrote is nonsense. I watched the whole game.

Porzingis did one thing well last night; he went 3-7 on 3-pointers. Otherwise he was ineffective. He didn't outplay Bryant, & he wasn't the reason we lost. Nor was Bryant.

If you put your opponent on the line 15 more times than you get there, you will lose. Every single time. Period. No exceptions. Can you find me a game where that's not true, someone? Didn't think so.

It was nice to see Mo go 4-5, but in 17 minutes he committed 6 fouls & turned the ball over 5 times. The idea that there was some kind of *benefit* to keeping him in is plain ridiculous.

In fact, Mo, Bertans & Chiozza committed 15 fouls in 65 minutes -- that's a team rate of 55 fouls per game.

Combine that with Brad going 1-11 on 3-pointers, & we beat no one. In fact, Beal & Bertans, our 2 best shooters by far, combined to go 9 for 33 (27%).

As to the Mavs, 4 guys played well for them last night -- Doncic was amazing. Wright, Finney-Smith, & Justin Jackson were effective in a combined 72 minutes.

Porzingis was mediocre at best, & the rest of them sucked.

For us, it was great to see Rui look solid. Bryant was too. Bonga was really good.

Oh, & b/c I assume that someone, maybe Trast, will point out that we were -16 with Bryant on the floor, I feel I should point out that McRae played pretty well, but we were -7 in his 23 minutes. Beal had a terrible night, & we were +1 while he played.

Most important of all, I note that Justin Robinson played 1 minute, & so did Garrison Mathews. We were up +3 in each of their minutes. That means that if those guys had played 20 minutes each, we'd have been +120, right?

Go Wizards! Lets get the Thunder tomorrow night!

[Ruzious]

I’d like to see a Brown-Beal-Bonga-Hachimura-Bryant lineup when Brown Jr is back healthy. Once we add Lamelo Ball, it’s gonna be a fun team.

And I thought I was alone on Lamelo island around here..

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I liked the put-back dunk, but the 3's were with nobody really guarding him.

[payitforward]

The beginning of the end was when Chiozza subbed in and Brunson manhandled him. It was a great game though and a learning experience.

Fwiw, Chiozza had a better game than Brunson - who was really bad last night.

I was fast forwarding through a recording and saw Brunson bully his way to a few baskets before a timeout was called. This was in the first quarter though. You're right Chiozza was a part of the comeback in the 2nd half.

Chiozza was better than I expected given his start to the game. Brunsen was bad. 9 points on 10 shots & 4 FTAs. Turned it over 2 times more than he stole it.

[Ruzious]

Bryant was terrible. He can’t guard on the perimeter and provided no rim protection. Was even worse than last year. He would be hard to keep on the court if we were a real team. He’s got to start getting it this season on the defensive end.

Credit to Brooks for keeping him out until Mo Wagner, of all people, fouled out. Tough love.

Thanks. I only saw the 4th quarter. Stats can be misleading, I guess....

Except that what trast wrote is nonsense. I watched the whole game.

Porzingis did one thing well last night; he went 3-7 on 3-pointers. Otherwise he was ineffective. He didn't outplay Bryant, & he wasn't the reason we lost. Nor was Bryant.

If you put your opponent on the line 15 more times than you get there, you will lose. Every single time. Period. No exceptions. Can you find me a game where that's not true, someone? Didn't think so.

It was nice to see Mo go 4-5, but in 17 minutes he committed 6 fouls & turned the ball over 5 times. The idea that there was some kind of *benefit* to keeping him in is plain ridiculous.

In fact, Mo, Bertans & Chiozza committed 15 fouls in 65 minutes -- that's a team rate of 55 fouls per game.

Combine that with Brad going 1-11 on 3-pointers, & we beat no one. In fact, Beal & Bertans, our 2 best shooters by far, combined to go 9 for 33 (27%).

As to the Mavs, 4 guys played well for them last night -- Doncic was amazing. Wright, Finney-Smith, & Justin Jackson were effective in a combined 72 minutes.

Porzingis was mediocre at best, & the rest of them sucked.

For us, it was great to see Rui look solid. Bryant was too. Bonga was really good.

Oh, & b/c I assume that someone, maybe Trast, will point out that we were -16 with Bryant on the floor, I feel I should point out that McRae played pretty well, but we were -7 in his 23 minutes. Beal had a terrible night, & we were +1 while he played.

Most important of all, I note that Justin Robinson played 1 minute, & so did Garrison Mathews. We were up +3 in each of their minutes. That means that if those guys had played 20 minutes each, we'd have been +120, right?

Go Wizards! Lets get the Thunder tomorrow night!

Gotta agree with most of that. Wagner shot great and still had a poor overall game. Bryant was solid and a bit better than Porz. Beal can't have more games like that - that was pathetic shooting by him. Doncic was a man among boys - so much better than anyone else in the game. Beal and Doncic were the 2 "stars" in the game, and Doncic live up to that while Beal was lousy - except for a couple of small stretches. And Bertans was a flop.

[trast66]

If you don't think after watching Thomas Bryant last night that his defense is a concern, then will just agree to disagree. I'm not saying he can't become average at some point, he's still a young big. Some matchups will be more favorable for him. Also his screens were soft as charmin.

[doclinkin]

Except that what trast wrote is nonsense. I watched the whole game.
...
For us, it was great to see Rui look solid. Bryant was too. Bonga was really good.

Nobody was really good. At best they were better than expected, but only given low expectations. Bryant was out of position on a few rotations and a step slow on recovery with lateral movement issues. Players got to the interior undeterred and unafraid. Mo Wagner got blown by consistently. Bonga was a matador at times. Team defense was meh all around. There was reaching and hacking and no defensive footwork or cohesive force rules or whatever. These are young players who haven't been together long, and I expect they are learning new systems and principles as well. And scouting and analysis won't yet have caught up with who does what well so maybe it improves as the year goes on. But nobody on the squad can hang their hat on their defense this game.

Jemerrio Jones woulda shut down that smirking punk Doncic.

[nate33]

I didn't see it before, but I see it now. This team will really struggle this year. We have some pieces, but wow.

I don't mean to be rude but how did you not see this before? We have guys that are barely G-Leaguers out there and rookies like Schofield, who isn't an NBA player yet. Was hoping the team would be competitive because they were fun to watch in preseason.

Good question. I anticipated Brooks doing more to be competitive. Playing Brad, Rui, Bryant high 30s and staggering them. Not having exclusive bench lineups. I was under the impression that Chiozza, Schofield, Bonga, Wagner were more likely to be on the g-league team than the actual rotation. I'd also point out that the team is injured. CJ Miles, Troy Brown Jr, Isaiah Thomas.

But that doesn't even matter. In previous seasons Brooks would have stuck to his normal minute rotation in the 1st held and then shortened Brad's rest in the second half to push for the W. That didn't happen today. Brad only played 32 minutes. Also, my post isn't o say that I thought we'd be a good team. But I didn't think that we'd actively try to tank by giving massive amounts of minutes to bench players. All in all, I understand the strategy.

The rotations didn't bother me at all. I don't particularly want to see Brooks stagger Brad, Rui and Bryant (and Brown). I want them playing as many minutes as possible together because they're the core of our future. If it means our all-bench lineups lose big time, so be it.

Clearly, the plan is for our all-bench lineup to play fast and chuck 3's. If enough 3's drop, they'll hold their own. If they don't, they'll get blown out. But it's really the only option they've got. There simply aren't enough defensive personnel to try and grind out games with the 2nd unit.

[payitforward]

The beginning of the end was when Chiozza subbed in and Brunson manhandled him. It was a great game though and a learning experience.

Fwiw, Chiozza had a better game than Brunson - who was really bad last night.

Yep. I killed Chiozza early in this thread, but he played with some poise in the 2d half. Better than Ish, anyway.

[nuposse04]

If you don't think after watching Thomas Bryant last night that his defense is a concern, then will just agree to disagree. I'm not saying he can't become average at some point, he's still a young big. Some matchups will be more favorable for him. Also his screens were soft as charmin.

Bryant's biggest problems yesterday was posting up way more than he has in the past. I don't know why he is being enabled to do that, but it simply isn't why he was so great last year offensively. Stick to what works. PnR and Pn Pop. His defense wasn't horrible at the rim, and he did get burned by Luka some, but if a guy is gonna hit that many step back deep 3s... you aren't probably going to stop him unless you double em like Curry.

KP was unimpressive and I don't even know who their center was yesterday. Kleiber?

[I_Like_Dirt]

It was nice to see Mo go 4-5, but in 17 minutes he committed 6 fouls & turned the ball over 5 times. The idea that there was some kind of *benefit* to keeping him in is plain ridiculous.

Mo would be better off replaced by one of those 3-point shooting robots. There would still be the turnovers but there would be fewer fouls. Every time he moves out there, something bad happens. He basically just stands there and shoots 3s - that's his value. The team went on a run because they happened to get a few stops when Wagner happened to hit a couple 3s in a row but that doesn't make him a good NBA player.




Likewise with Chiozza, he happened to be out there when Wagner hit a few 3s and the Wizards got some stops because the Mavs let up a bit with a big lead. That doesn't make him a better player.

Bertans... by rights he should be better than this because he was last season but he was really bad. He's got some defensive issues of his own to iron out, which is a pretty common theme for the Wizards team in general, though too be expected with such a young team.

[payitforward]

If you don't think after watching Thomas Bryant last night that his defense is a concern, then will just agree to disagree. I'm not saying he can't become average at some point, he's still a young big. Some matchups will be more favorable for him. Also his screens were soft as charmin.

No, I agree that "his defense is a concern." Not that Porzingis is a great defender -- but that wasn't your point.

I don't know what you mean by "average," however -- probably "average as a defender"?? If so, then why not think that he can become *better* than average. He doesn't lack either speed or quickness. & he certainly doesn't lack the will -- kid's a definite hard worker!

But, you gave no credit whatever to what Bryant did do last night. That was why I reacted to your post.

As nate has pointed out multiple times, last year Thomas Bryant was already better than about half the starting Centers in the league. But tons of people would prefer to view him as "a project." This is an extremely good player, extremely good already -- & he turned 22 less than 3 months ago.

Compare his numbers last year to those of Karl Anthony Towns (who's almost 2 years older than Bryant) if you'd like a little shock. Even better, compare them to KAT's numbers in 2016-17, when he was the age Bryant was last year.

[payitforward]

Except that what trast wrote is nonsense. I watched the whole game.
...
For us, it was great to see Rui look solid. Bryant was too. Bonga was really good.

Nobody was really good. At best they were better than expected, but only given low expectations. Bryant was out of position on a few rotations and a step slow on recovery with lateral movement issues. Players got to the interior undeterred and unafraid. Mo Wagner got blown by consistently. Bonga was a matador at times. Team defense was meh all around. There was reaching and hacking and no defensive footwork or cohesive force rules or whatever. These are young players who haven't been together long, and I expect they are learning new systems and principles as well. And scouting and analysis won't yet have caught up with who does what well so maybe it improves as the year goes on. But nobody on the squad can hang their hat on their defense this game.

Jemerrio Jones woulda shut down that smirking punk Doncic.

Now you're talking!

Then again...

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"Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow"

[gambitx777]

I don't think Bryant was awful last night. Was he good in D, no not really but it wasn't lack of effort or flat out him nor knowing what to do. He just need to work in D thats all give the 22 year old kid some time. Hes a good starting center with a great price tag.

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