GT #36: Wizards @ Bulls 8 PM

[payitforward]

...Wall ...didn't look that good at all tonight? I counted 2 points off driving and the rest long jumpers? (I don't mind the jumpers but it's like he's scared to drive now that he can shoot a js? Plus all the TO's.. ...

Coming from a Bulls fan, I thought Wall played well. ...

Unless the Bulls play particularly badly, you won't get any penetration from your ball handler against us....

He didn't play great, but he didn't play badly either. As to 5 TOs, keep in mind he also had 4 steals.

[payitforward]

Nene needs to start. With Booker starting, we are a 35 win team. He's terrible.

All three sentences are demonstrably wrong -- good job!

[Dat2U]

I'm not loving the switch back to having Nene start. He's going to get dinged up. Hopefully, Wittman did it just to match up with Boozer, but I doubt it. Coaches rarely change their starting lineups around based on matchups.

If Nene is going to start, I'd like to see him play 3-shifts per half: the first 5 minutes, then a 4-minute rest, then 6 minutes, then a 4 minute rest, then 5 minutes. That puts him on pace for 32 minutes a game and keeps him on the floor for the 6 minutes per half when Wall sits.

Either live with Booker, and see diminishing returns from the starting lineup, or start Nene and potentially run him into the ground.

Booker/Ves starting isn't a legit option for most teams. We've done it, gotten away with it for stretches but in the long run, were a worst team for it because while Booker can provide the production in many cases, he's not providing the defense, spacing or IQ that Nene gives us and it makes Gortat's job that much harder on the court.

[Ruzious]

Nene needs to start. With Booker starting, we are a 35 win team. He's terrible.

But with Booker starting, we get much better production from him and end up using Nene less - increasing the odds he stays relatively healthy down the stretch. And the second unit is more productive with Nene - we've even got production from Seraphin and Vesely. It's a dilemma, but I think the better choice is to start Book and keep Nene's minutes below 30 each game.

[GhostsOfGil]

I think it's more important that Nene starts in the second half based off our recent 3rd quarter performances.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

I was a proponent of having Nene off the bench, but there's just something about him starting that gives us more swag. I'm not in the Trevor Booker sucks camp, but he's not a starter in this league. Given minutes I think he can produce fine off the bench. Hey our bench played pretty well last night considering we only went 8 deep. If Temple can show a pulse on offense, combined with his above average defense, he can be a very serviceable bench player. I still think we need a backup point badly and would like for Ves to get some burn. Overall good game, Bulls had come in winning 5 straight so I think we should be fairly happy with our performance.

[Mickstix]

...Wall ...didn't look that good at all tonight? I counted 2 points off driving and the rest long jumpers? (I don't mind the jumpers but it's like he's scared to drive now that he can shoot a js? Plus all the TO's.. ...

Coming from a Bulls fan, I thought Wall played well. ...

Unless the Bulls play particularly badly, you won't get any penetration from your ball handler against us....

He didn't play great, but he didn't play badly either. As to 5 TOs, keep in mind he also had 4 steals.

Yea, his stat line looks a lot better than I thought.. Guess as long as the j is falling it's not that big of a deal..

[Dat2U]

Nene needs to start. With Booker starting, we are a 35 win team. He's terrible.

But with Booker starting, we get much better production from him and end up using Nene less - increasing the odds he stays relatively healthy down the stretch. And the second unit is more productive with Nene - we've even got production from Seraphin and Vesely. It's a dilemma, but I think the better choice is to start Book and keep Nene's minutes below 30 each game.

I think were clearly a worse team with Booker starting. Gortat especially is a lesser player with Booker next to him. Bringing Nene off the bench dilutes what is a strength, the starting lineup.

During desperate times, Witt did what any coach would do. Put his ego aside and put the best lineup on the floor. That meant Nene starting and shortening the rotation to 8 guys (like a lot teams would do during the playoffs). Outside of Temple's 13 minutes, we had NBA quality talent and production across the board. Strengthening the bench doesn't do a lot of good when weakens the starting lineup. And playing guys like Seraphin & Vesely don't do a lot of good when you can't rely on them to play well on a night to night basis. If Witt wants to keep his job, he'll keep the rotation short, beg Ernie for a backup PG and continue starting Nene while hoping he can survive the season.

[dobrojim]

what's MIA's starting lineup these days?

Chalmers/Wade/LBJ/Bosh/?

Bosh would almost certainly have his way with Booker.

I liked Nene off the bench but you can't argue with results. Maybe the best
strategy is more/less what Nate suggested, start Nene but give him plenty
of /strategically timed/ rest.

KSera might have been useful last night as our more physical big.
All our bench bigs are flawed when Nene starts but each has some
potential to be useful in the right matchup. All of Book/KSera/Ves
have shown glimmers in the last 5-8 games. None are consistent.

This team seems really mental to me. They're more relaxed and play
better on the road (sux for season ticket holder like me). Who have
thought we'd win 7/8 road games with only loss being at IND.

[nate33]

Nene needs to start. With Booker starting, we are a 35 win team. He's terrible.

But with Booker starting, we get much better production from him and end up using Nene less - increasing the odds he stays relatively healthy down the stretch. And the second unit is more productive with Nene - we've even got production from Seraphin and Vesely. It's a dilemma, but I think the better choice is to start Book and keep Nene's minutes below 30 each game.

I think were clearly a worse team with Booker starting. Gortat especially is a lesser player with Booker next to him. Bringing Nene off the bench dilutes what is a strength, the starting lineup.

During desperate times, Witt did what any coach would do. Put his ego aside and put the best lineup on the floor. That meant Nene starting and shortening the rotation to 8 guys (like a lot teams would do during the playoffs). Outside of Temple's 13 minutes, we had NBA quality talent and production across the board. Strengthening the bench doesn't do a lot of good when weakens the starting lineup. And playing guys like Seraphin & Vesely don't do a lot of good when you can't rely on them to play well on a night to night basis. If Witt wants to keep his job, he'll keep the rotation short, beg Ernie for a backup PG and continue starting Nene while hoping he can survive the season.

I agree that going with an 8-man rotation will help us win more games. I disagree that starting Nene helps much. What matters is getting Nene more minutes, not necessarily starting him.

Nene helps the second unit more than he helps the first unit. Booker hurts the first unit less than he hurts the second unit. Put those two facts together, and the conclusion is that Booker should start and Nene should come off the bench. Wittman can tweak things a bit to get Nene more minutes if he wants. There's no reason Nene can't play 32 minutes a game while coming off the bench.

[Dat2U]

But with Booker starting, we get much better production from him and end up using Nene less - increasing the odds he stays relatively healthy down the stretch. And the second unit is more productive with Nene - we've even got production from Seraphin and Vesely. It's a dilemma, but I think the better choice is to start Book and keep Nene's minutes below 30 each game.

I think were clearly a worse team with Booker starting. Gortat especially is a lesser player with Booker next to him. Bringing Nene off the bench dilutes what is a strength, the starting lineup.

During desperate times, Witt did what any coach would do. Put his ego aside and put the best lineup on the floor. That meant Nene starting and shortening the rotation to 8 guys (like a lot teams would do during the playoffs). Outside of Temple's 13 minutes, we had NBA quality talent and production across the board. Strengthening the bench doesn't do a lot of good when weakens the starting lineup. And playing guys like Seraphin & Vesely don't do a lot of good when you can't rely on them to play well on a night to night basis. If Witt wants to keep his job, he'll keep the rotation short, beg Ernie for a backup PG and continue starting Nene while hoping he can survive the season.

I agree that going with an 8-man rotation will help us win more games. I disagree that starting Nene helps much. What matters is getting Nene more minutes, not necessarily starting him.

Nene helps the second unit more than he helps the first unit. Booker hurts the first unit less than he hurts the second unit. Put those two facts together, and the conclusion is that Booker should start and Nene should come off the bench. Wittman can tweak things a bit to get Nene more minutes if he wants. There's no reason Nene can't play 32 minutes a game while coming off the bench.

I disagree. You take Nene away from Gortat, you end up hurting Gortat significantly with only marginal benefit to the scrubs Nene plays with off the bench (KSera & Ves).

I think it's more important to get off to a good start vs. the opponent then try to maintain with a starting group and hope you can capitalize with a stronger bench. I also think it's more important if Nene is holding his own against starting caliber talent than dominating backups when Booker is capable of performing well against backups too, but struggles against many of the leagues bigger front lines when starting.

I don't have the stats to back it up, but IMO we look like a lottery team (even in the East) when Nene is coming off the bench.

[Zonkerbl]

Every time I see Booker getting in the way on offense instead of making things easier for everyone around him like Nene does I want to punch him in the face.

He's TERRIBLE.

I guess what Nene does on the bench is allows you to get away with playing Temple at PG. But the starting lineup with Nene on it is like butter. With Booker it's more like velveeta.

[nate33]

I don't have the stats to back it up, but IMO we look like a lottery team (even in the East) when Nene is coming off the bench.

We've played 12 games with Booker starting and Nene off the bench, and we've played 17 games with Nene starting. And we've played 7 games with no Nene at all. Here are the numbers.

With Booker starting and Nene off the bench:
Total record: 6-6
Against above-.500 teams: 0-5
Against below-.500 teams: 5-1

With Nene starting:
Total Record 10-7
Against above-.500 teams 1-4
Against below-.500 teams: 9-3

With Nene out completely:
Total Record: 1-6
Against above-.500 teams: 0-5
Against below-.500 teams: 1-1

It looks like a wash. When Nene started, we were fortunate enough to have an easy schedule, which explains the better win percentage. It looks like we play about the same either way. We beat bad teams and lose to good teams. The difference is that with Booker starting, we are keeping Nene's minutes down and letting him stay healthy.

[Dat2U]

I don't have the stats to back it up, but IMO we look like a lottery team (even in the East) when Nene is coming off the bench.

We've played 12 games with Booker starting and Nene off the bench, and we've played 17 games with Nene starting. And we've played 7 games with no Nene at all. Here are the numbers.

With Booker starting and Nene off the bench:
Total record: 6-6
Against above-.500 teams: 0-5
Against below-.500 teams: 5-1

With Nene starting:
Total Record 10-7
Against above-.500 teams 1-4
Against below-.500 teams: 9-3

With Nene out completely:
Total Record: 1-6
Against above-.500 teams: 0-5
Against below-.500 teams: 1-1

It looks like a wash. When Nene started, we were fortunate enough to have an easy schedule, which explains the better win percentage. It looks like we play about the same either way. We beat bad teams and lose to good teams. The difference is that with Booker starting, we are keeping Nene's minutes down and letting him stay healthy.

I think point differential would be a better indicator of how good or bad we really are.

[tontoz]

Playing heavy minutes is what led to Beal/Nene going down in the first place. We saw what happens when Nene is out.

[Higga]

Our D on the road is pretty good. Funny how we've gone from being a terrible road team to actually playing better on the road.

[Kanyewest]

what's MIA's starting lineup these days?

Chalmers/Wade/LBJ/Bosh/?

Bosh would almost certainly have his way with Booker.

I liked Nene off the bench but you can't argue with results. Maybe the best
strategy is more/less what Nate suggested, start Nene but give him plenty
of /strategically timed/ rest.

KSera might have been useful last night as our more physical big.
All our bench bigs are flawed when Nene starts but each has some
potential to be useful in the right matchup. All of Book/KSera/Ves
have shown glimmers in the last 5-8 games. None are consistent.

This team seems really mental to me. They're more relaxed and play
better on the road (sux for season ticket holder like me). Who have
thought we'd win 7/8 road games with only loss being at IND.

In the last game, they started Allen and they were starting Battier when he was healthy. That means LeBron is the PF.

[dckingsfan]

what's MIA's starting lineup these days?

Chalmers/Wade/LBJ/Bosh/?

Bosh would almost certainly have his way with Booker.

I liked Nene off the bench but you can't argue with results. Maybe the best
strategy is more/less what Nate suggested, start Nene but give him plenty
of /strategically timed/ rest.

KSera might have been useful last night as our more physical big.
All our bench bigs are flawed when Nene starts but each has some
potential to be useful in the right matchup. All of Book/KSera/Ves
have shown glimmers in the last 5-8 games. None are consistent.

This team seems really mental to me. They're more relaxed and play
better on the road (sux for season ticket holder like me). Who have
thought we'd win 7/8 road games with only loss being at IND.

In the last game, they started Allen and they were starting Battier when he was healthy. That means LeBron is the PF.

I am guessing Lebron would probably have his way with Booker as well

[dlts20]

I disagree that we arent better with Nene starting. If you say you think Nene might get hurt then thats fine but as far as everything else goes, Nene would start again at some point in the playoffs or if we needed him to make the playoffs. 9 times out of 10 you can milk guys but there will come a point where he wouldve had to start again no matter what. When we are down 2-0 or 3-1 in the playoffs then Witt wouldve inserted him because he is the best player and you need to play your top guys to win these series.

Even with our suspect record, I remember seeing us with a top 4 or 5 starting unit in the NBA. I saw it. We had a top 5 starting unit but the worst bench in the league. Our bench got better when Nene went there but our starting unit dropped drasictically. I would now bet on us again having a top starting unit but our bench should be better now that they have played more, Porter is back, and some bench guys have even started games so they have confidence

[Nigel Tufnel]

Reading this thread (and the Knicks and Nets resurgence) have convinced me that the Wiz are definitely headed for a 6-8 spot in the playoffs and a first round exit. We've been so bad for so long that I'm torn on whether this is a good or bad thing - probably bad given the draft pick we gave up for Gortat.