Pistol King wrote:A good conversation guys. Love it.
My two cents.
I've been watching Deni through his EuroBasket games this summer, and I've seen an aggressive player who wants to put the team on his shoulders, to a point where in one position he almost had an incident with his PG teammate who in the last money time possession has dribbled and dribbled and took the last shot instead of passing it to him. Deni was on fire and wanted to take that game on his shoulders. He was so angry about that teammate who didn't give him the ball for the last shot. This is who I believe the real Deni is. an aggressive player who wants to win probably more than anybody if getting the chance.
What I'm trying to say is, I've never seen this version of him yet in a Wizards uniform, and it's not because he doesn't have it on him. Actually he averaged pretty good numbers in this FIBA tournament where usually NBA stars averaging lower numbers than they averaging in the NBA.
the feeling I get is the coach asks him to only do the basics. When Deni tries to do a little bit more (like creating off the dribble or playmaking) the coach doesn't rewards him in a positive way. We also seeing it through WUJ's interviews, he always compliments Deni with statements like 'I liked that he didn't try to do much and let the game come to him'.
So to summarize, I think the lack of aggressiveness we're seeing from Deni is a combination of very short room to showcase it, when every possession is kinda make or break, combining with a negative rewarding from the coach when he's trying to do more than standing at the corner. In the long run I think the organization makes a mistake by not put emphasis on trying to win while also at the same time developing its 9'th pick. I don't believe in this 'everything or anything' approach. Who says being invested 'all in' in Kuz bricking as much shots as he wants is the right way to win?
So the fault here is on both sides. Deni should do more in the small room of chances he got to show what he's capable of offensively, and the org should do better by letting him be a more regular part of the offensive scheme (ball touching, playmaking, allowing him to create off the dribble at least 2-3 times per game without to kick him out to the bench if it doesn't immediately works out). I'd like to see WUJ rewarding him for the defense job he gives and not using him only so the other players can do whatever they want while Deni is cleaning each one's mistakes. The game against the Pacers was a good example for it. Deni did a good job defensively on Haliburton when forcing him often to pass the ball or missing shots, only so the other guys would fall a sleep on the defensive end and Deni will be the one to be punished for it (aka we don't play good defense as a team? I'll bench Deni and bring up the players I trust offensively, even if Deni himself did play defense). WUJ rewards players for bad plays and then we're asking ourselves why things don't pan out.
Yes bro. Probably it's connected as well.
