Line-ups, rotation, analysis thread.

[payitforward]

Of course, Kuz is talented! Every player in the NBA is HUGELY talented.

So too is it true that "better shot discipline" (i.e. more makable shots = more shots made = higher FG%) would improve Kyle Kuzma. As it would improve absolutely any human being playing basketball at any level whatever!

But, look, this is Kuz's 6th season in the league. Next off-season he'll turn 28. He's 2 years & 1 month younger than Bradley Beal. He's got enough $$ to buy a new leopard skin coat, but he ain't changing his spots.

As to being "the kind of talent you need to win in the NBA," Kuz hasn't helped any team win anything. Speculating about what he would become if, first, he became a different player... it's meaningless.

We need the same things we needed 10 days ago when we'd just lost 10 straight -- as many draft picks as possible & a competent FO. That is "what you need to win in the NBA."

I suppose I should expect this by now: win a few games in a row, & everyone suddenly thinks we really may have it, we really may be ready to go places. Cloud-cuckoo-land.

You know who's gonna go places? The Houston Rockets. A lot sooner than we are. Why? Because they are actually showing that they are willing to rebuild.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Quietly but surely Deni is turning a corner .He is ready to attack the basket more and shooting without hesitation. This isnt to say he's going to turn in to high quality offensive player but he is becoming efficient. His forte will be that glue guy ,doing everything else that helps win games .
I get excited seeing him paired up with Rui who has that scorers mentality but Deni is stronger in the intangibles. Also we're seeing Rui,Deni,Kuz and KP on the court together and the ball still moves amongst them .

Avdija always seems to play better when there is an injury to the backcourt so he gets to fill in as a secondary ball handler.

nate33, what you might think is me being too hard on Beal is my belief that Deni is a capable SG. He’s better defensively than BB.

Recall years ago the Wizards under Eddie Jordan made the playoffs playing Jared Jeffries at SG. The year before Larry Hughes was acquired Jeffries played G. Deni is about the same height as JJ and he’s a much better ball handler and passer.

[nate33]

Of course, Kuz is talented! Every player in the NBA is HUGELY talented.

So too is it true that "better shot discipline" (i.e. more makable shots = more shots made = higher FG%) would improve Kyle Kuzma. As it would improve absolutely any human being playing basketball at any level whatever!

But, look, this is Kuz's 6th season in the league. Next off-season he'll turn 28. He's 2 years & 1 month younger than Bradley Beal. He's got enough $$ to buy a new leopard skin coat, but he ain't changing his spots.

I don't agree.

Dismissing Kuzma's talent because everyone in the NBA is talented is a patronizing argument. When I say Kuzma is talented, I mean he can do things that most NBA players cannot do. It's true that talent alone doesn't make one an extremely effective player, but it gives one more potential to be an extremely effective player.

And Kuzma has already demonstrated that he can change his spots. He did the low-usage role player thing alongside Lebron and then changed roles into a high usage guy after coming here and playing without Beal. I think he is looking at this opportunity to see how far he can go as a high usage player. It's a lot like what Jerami Grant when he left his low usage role in Denver and became a first option scorer for Detroit. He absorbed the usage fairly well and expanded his game quite a bit, but ultimately he just wasn't efficient enough to be the #1 option. Then he got moved to Portland who had better first option scorers, and has now found a healthy balance between his too-low usage Denver role and his too-high usage Detroit role. He is now averaging 22 points a game on a .616 TS% for an above-.500 team. Why can't Kuzma do the same?

[DCZards]

But, look, this is Kuz's 6th season in the league. Next off-season he'll turn 28. He's 2 years & 1 month younger than Bradley Beal. He's got enough $$ to buy a new leopard skin coat, but he ain't changing his spots.

I disagree. Players have and do change, especially when put in different roles and circumstances. Personally, I would be offended if I were still just 27 years old and you claimed I was not capable of changing--or improving.

As to being "the kind of talent you need to win in the NBA," Kuz hasn't helped any team win anything. Speculating about what he would become if, first, he became a different player... it's meaningless.

Nonsense. The Lakers won a championship with Kuz averaging 23 minutes off the bench. So to say he hasn’t helped a team win anything is clearly not true. I know how you hate to give Kuz credit for anything...but c'mon man.

You know who's gonna go places? The Houston Rockets. A lot sooner than we are. Why? Because they are actually showing that they are willing to rebuild.

The Rockets have a nice collection of young players. But they're a long ways from being good and I don't know if they ever will be without making some roster changes. The Rockets have won 10 games this season…and their only real vet, Eric Gordon, thinks they are not really getting any better. Here’s Gordon’s quote:

"There's no improvement," Gordon said when asked what improvement he's seen from Houston since the beginning of the season. Gordon went on to explain that the Rockets continue to struggle with turnovers, as they have all season long. Part of them comes from the team not always playing together as a group.

“Same old thing all year. We have a small margin for error," Gordon said. "It’s a lot of things. It’s mindset. You got to play for one another. Do what’s right by your teammates. If you do that, it’d be more fun. You give yourself a better chance to win”

[DCZards]

Quietly but surely Deni is turning a corner .He is ready to attack the basket more and shooting without hesitation. This isnt to say he's going to turn in to high quality offensive player but he is becoming efficient. His forte will be that glue guy ,doing everything else that helps win games .
I get excited seeing him paired up with Rui who has that scorers mentality but Deni is stronger in the intangibles. Also we're seeing Rui,Deni,Kuz and KP on the court together and the ball still moves amongst them .

Avdija always seems to play better when there is an injury to the backcourt so he gets to fill in as a secondary ball handler.

nate33, what you might think is me being to hard on Beal is my belief that Deni is a capable SG. He’s better defensively than BB.

Recall years ago the Wizards under Eddie Jordan made the playoffs playing Jared Jeffries at SG. The year before Larry Hughes was acquired Jeffries played G. Deni is about the same height as JJ and he’s a much better ball handler and passer.

Just like Jeffries needed a Gilbert Arenas on the court with him for the Zards to make the playoffs, Deni needs Beal. Neither Jeffries nor Deni are good enough offensively to fill the shoes of Arenas or Beal.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Avdija, Morris, Wright, and Goodwin can each play G with Beal. Jeffries did need Arenas, correct, DCZ. Wright or Avdija would both be even better with Brad than Monte IMO.

Not to knock Morris, because I like how he plays usually without creating turnovers.

[nate33]

Quietly but surely Deni is turning a corner .He is ready to attack the basket more and shooting without hesitation. This isnt to say he's going to turn in to high quality offensive player but he is becoming efficient. His forte will be that glue guy ,doing everything else that helps win games .
I get excited seeing him paired up with Rui who has that scorers mentality but Deni is stronger in the intangibles. Also we're seeing Rui,Deni,Kuz and KP on the court together and the ball still moves amongst them .

Avdija always seems to play better when there is an injury to the backcourt so he gets to fill in as a secondary ball handler.

nate33, what you might think is me being too hard on Beal is my belief that Deni is a capable SG. He’s better defensively than BB.

Recall years ago the Wizards under Eddie Jordan made the playoffs playing Jared Jeffries at SG. The year before Larry Hughes was acquired Jeffries played G. Deni is about the same height as JJ and he’s a much better ball handler and passer.

If you are pointing to Jared Jeffries as your justification, you are going to lose that argument.

Jeffries was very bad as our starting SG in 2005-06. Jeffries started alongside All-NBA Gilbert Arenas, All-Star Antawn Jamison, and Caron Butler who would be an All-Star the following season. They also had a rock-solid defensive anchor in Brendan Haywood. And despite all that talent, they won just 42 games. Anyone looking at that lineup would point to Jeffries as the clear weak link.

The dirty little secret about Jeffries is that he wasn't actually that good of a defender. He was designated as our "stopper" because he couldn't do anything on offense, but he wasn't really stopping anyone on D either.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Okay, you got me.


In 2023, I’m choosing my battles. Jeffries was pretty sorry.

Nate33- 1
CCJ - 0

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

What I remember about Jeffries:

Maryland had just beat the Indiana Hoosiers in the NCAAs the year the Wizards drafted Jared Jeffries. In that draft I wanted a player out of U Conn named Caron Butler. As fate would have it the Miami Heat selected one pick before Washington. The Heat picked Butler.

Funny how it all worked out. Caron gets dealt to the Lakers IIRC for Lamar Odom. Kwame Brown, in Ernie’s BEST DEAL gets sent to the Lakers for Caron. (I hated the deal at the time. Big and young for smaller and older. I was wrong). At the same time Jeffries was dealt and I’d have to do a search engine to recount what happened afterwards.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Back to lineups:

I love Morris, Kispert, Kuzma. Gafford, Porzingis as a starting lineup!

Deni, Rui, and Wright are killing it off the bench.

Serendipitously, Bradley Beal’s injury placed Kispert EXACTLY WHERE HE NEEDS TO BE. At shooting guard. He’s getting clean looks and teams aren’t able to stop him from cutting to the rim.

[tleikheen]

Its always been a false narrative ,building around Bradley beal when by signing him to such a burdensome contract you actually have to subtract any player breaking out as a star player.
Its BS to say we have to trade Kuz or Rui for pennies on the dollar exchange. The Wiz are winning on defense and good offense. This while playing Rui,Deni ,Corey ,Gaff,Kuz and KP 30 mpg ,plus or minus a minute or 2. Size ,length and youth are paying dividends for the Wiz . But trading our young breakout players to accomodate Beals contract makes the Wiz a minor league team ,taking on a revolving door of untested kids til they get better to be traded to another team.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

This last post by tkeikheen.

PREACH!

Keep the DEFENSE and EMERGING PLAYERS including Kuzma, RUI, and DENI.

Beal’s deal is the (only) problem. Deal with THAT

[payitforward]

...Dismissing Kuzma's talent because everyone in the NBA is talented is a patronizing argument....

If I gave you the impression of being patronizing, you have my apology. Not my intention.

When I say Kuzma is talented, I mean he can do things that most NBA players cannot do. It's true that talent alone doesn't make one an extremely effective player, but it gives one more potential to be an extremely effective player....

Of course!
But, that last point has to be weighed against a) 6 years of data on Kuz, & b) the innumerable examples of unrealized/unreached potential the NBA offers.

This is especially an issue, because, as you write:

Kuz...is looking at this opportunity to see how far he can go as a high usage player....

Which doesn't really seem...

... a lot like ...Jerami Grant....

...who is not pushing his usage anymore.

Now, if all of a sudden Kuz becomes productive at high usage, good for him! But, I can't think of an example of that kind of change in a 27-year old player. So, to me, he's pretty much shown how far he can go as a high-usage guy.

In fact, Grant demonstrates a second aspect of the problem with kuz: Jerami Grant is paid like a guy who can do more than he is actually able to do.

On top of which, in Kuzma's case, it'll be no surprise for someone to offer him 20% more than Grant is paid!

Actually, this is more or less my main point. &, TBH , you've made more or less the same point yourself in other posts!

[popper]

Its always been a false narrative ,building around Bradley beal when by signing him to such a burdensome contract you actually have to subtract any player breaking out as a star player.
Its BS to say we have to trade Kuz or Rui for pennies on the dollar exchange. The Wiz are winning on defense and good offense. This while playing Rui,Deni ,Corey ,Gaff,Kuz and KP 30 mpg ,plus or minus a minute or 2. Size ,length and youth are paying dividends for the Wiz . But trading our young breakout players to accomodate Beals contract makes the Wiz a minor league team ,taking on a revolving door of untested kids til they get better to be traded to another team.

Yep. This is the price to be paid when an owner chooses to pay a player well above his market value for non-basketball reasons.

[tleikheen]

The last 5 wins for the Wiz they've been holding the other teams to 104 ppg. This while having Kuz,KP,Gaff,Kispert,Deni,& Rui all being in the core 8 and getting starting quality minutes.
Their defense is top 14 right now with 6 other teams only 1.4 ppg above them.This team is picking off teams as their defense has hit another gear..Attribute it to length and young legs. Because who would have thought a team anchored by KP and giving big minutes to Rui would be putting the clamps to other teams

[AFM]

I can't believe I'm saying this but we could easily go to the ECF at this rate. LETS GO!!!!!!!!!!!

[tleikheen]

I can't believe I'm saying this but we could easily go to the ECF at this rate. LETS GO!!!!!!!!!!!

I keep hearing on Locked on Wizards that the Wiz are one big move away from being truly competitive. Iv'e always thought two big moves away and one has already happened.
Gaff is now starting with KP and Kuz to become a big defensive front 3. We are seeing a dramatic change from top to bottom of the rotation. The next big change is Beal needs to play the majority of minutes at the PG position with Delon Wright as the primary backup'. The thing Beal has to commit too is sharing the responsibilities of bringing the ball up and getting the ball moving along with Kuz and Deni. He cant be the primary guy bringing the ball up ,that turns him into a ballstopper.
A big part of the success of the Wiz now is Rui and Kuz can end to end drive to the hoop while not having to wait for anyone else and its setting up a much faster pace.
Then keep the Wiz into a 9 man rotation:
PG) Beal
SG) Kispert
SF) Kuzma
PF) KP
C) Gafford
6th) Rui
7th) Deni
8th) Delon
9th) Morris

[DCZards]

Dub post

[DCZards]

I can't believe I'm saying this but we could easily go to the ECF at this rate. LETS GO!!!!!!!!!!!

I keep hearing on Locked on Wizards that the Wiz are one big move away from being truly competitive. Iv'e always thought two big moves away and one has already happened.
Gaff is now starting with KP and Kuz to become a big defensive front 3. We are seeing a dramatic change from top to bottom of the rotation. The next big change is Beal needs to play the majority of minutes at the PG position with Delon Wright as the primary backup'. The thing Beal has to commit too is sharing the responsibilities of bringing the ball up and getting the ball moving along with Kuz and Deni. He cant be the primary guy bringing the ball up ,that turns him into a ballstopper.
A big part of the success of the Wiz now is Rui and Kuz can end to end drive to the hoop while not having to wait for anyone else and its setting up a much faster pace.
Then keep the Wiz into a 9 man rotation:
PG) Beal
SG) Kispert
SF) Kuzma
PF) KP
C) Gafford
6th) Rui
7th) Deni
8th) Delon
9th) Morris

Beal is not a PG. I repeat Beal is not a PG.

Morris is just fine as the starting PG. He’s not ideal but with each passing game I appreciate more and more that Monte doesn’t turn the ball over, doesn’t take bad shots, and displays the kind of poise and leadership I love to see in a PG.

On top of that, playing Beal at PG takes him away from his more natural position of SG and forces him to handle the ball even more than he does now….both of which are bad for both BB and the Zards.

[dckingsfan]

I can't believe I'm saying this but we could easily go to the ECF at this rate. LETS GO!!!!!!!!!!!

I keep hearing on Locked on Wizards that the Wiz are one big move away from being truly competitive. Iv'e always thought two big moves away and one has already happened.
Gaff is now starting with KP and Kuz to become a big defensive front 3. We are seeing a dramatic change from top to bottom of the rotation. The next big change is Beal needs to play the majority of minutes at the PG position with Delon Wright as the primary backup'. The thing Beal has to commit too is sharing the responsibilities of bringing the ball up and getting the ball moving along with Kuz and Deni. He cant be the primary guy bringing the ball up ,that turns him into a ballstopper.
A big part of the success of the Wiz now is Rui and Kuz can end to end drive to the hoop while not having to wait for anyone else and its setting up a much faster pace.
Then keep the Wiz into a 9 man rotation:
PG) Beal
SG) Kispert
SF) Kuzma
PF) KP
C) Gafford
6th) Rui
7th) Deni
8th) Delon
9th) Morris

I like this a bit more for the starting unit.

PG) Kuzma (point forward)
SG) Beal
SF) Kispert
PF) KP
C) Gafford

I am still stuck with what the second unit looks like though. Earlier in the season Wes would sub out 5 players, I don't think he can do that effectively with this starting 5. I think that Beal is going to be in and out of the lineup all year with that hamstring injury. So then it would be:

PG) Kuzma (point forward)
SG) Kispert
SF) Hachimura
PF) KP
C) Gafford