2021 Depth Chart

[payitforward]

dckf and Pif, to be clear, I was talking about the parts I bolded regarding the draft.

Also, I left out beating Atlanta to the punch to sign the undrafted Nathan Knight....

My idea here, Ruz, is to mention several other late R2 prospects we "missed" on -- then if even one of them turns out, I'm going to lord it over you, man!! You just wait.

Hold on, let me see what other names I can come up with....

Oh yeah... how about Jahmi'us Ramsey --- drafted #43, yet he looked so good that he got a 3-year contract w/ the first 2 years fully guaranteed! Even more important, he got the Wizards Dynasty approval!

If we'd managed R2 correctly, we could have gotten him plus Cassius Winston, plus... hold on... gotta look again... oh yeah, Grant Riller. You had him with a R1 grade if I remember rightly. & Nathan Knight... have I already mentioned him somewhere...?

[Ruzious]

dckf and Pif, to be clear, I was talking about the parts I bolded regarding the draft.

Also, I left out beating Atlanta to the punch to sign the undrafted Nathan Knight....

My idea here, Ruz, is to mention several other late R2 prospects we "missed" on -- then if even one of them turns out, I'm going to lord it over you, man!! You just wait.

Hold on, let me see what other names I can come up with....

Oh yeah... how about Jahmi'us Ramsey --- drafted #43, yet he looked so good that he got a 3-year contract w/ the first 2 years fully guaranteed! Even more important, he got the Wizards Dynasty approval!

If we'd managed R2 correctly, we could have gotten him plus Cassius Winston, plus... hold on... gotta look again... oh yeah, Grant Riller. You had him with a R1 grade if I remember rightly. & Nathan Knight... have I already mentioned him somewhere...?

Right, I did have Riller under my thumb. I'm just surprised you can't get no satisfaction from the 2 picks you liked.

[montestewart]

dckf and Pif, to be clear, I was talking about the parts I bolded regarding the draft.

Also, I left out beating Atlanta to the punch to sign the undrafted Nathan Knight....

My idea here, Ruz, is to mention several other late R2 prospects we "missed" on -- then if even one of them turns out, I'm going to lord it over you, man!! You just wait.

Hold on, let me see what other names I can come up with....

Oh yeah... how about Jahmi'us Ramsey --- drafted #43, yet he looked so good that he got a 3-year contract w/ the first 2 years fully guaranteed! Even more important, he got the Wizards Dynasty approval!

If we'd managed R2 correctly, we could have gotten him plus Cassius Winston, plus... hold on... gotta look again... oh yeah, Grant Riller. You had him with a R1 grade if I remember rightly. & Nathan Knight... have I already mentioned him somewhere...?

OK, you're in the movie -- The Dark Lord Over

[prime1time]

At the end of the day the young guys are going to have to compete for minutes. It is what it is. With so many back to backs, a condensed season and the subsequent higher risk for injuries we need the depth.

[DCZards]

I'm rambling, I know... Sorry!
Forget Pasecniks. Sign Mathews & Winston to the roster. Do what you need to do to come away with Hinton & Reed

When your analysis always comes down to the draft sucking because we didn't get Hinton & Reed - who no team prioritized - maybe it's time to change your shtick.

They got Childs instead...who could turn out to better than Hinton or Reed.

[doclinkin]

I'm interested in lineups. Starters matter, but what is the end-of-game closing line up? Who is the 6th man? What is our defensive stopper line-up? How do we envision chemistry, what players look like they will work well together? How do we give rookies and young players life-fire minutes in situations where they are poised for success instead of learning bad habits? What line-ups let us work the young players in, so the Coaches don't overwork veterans? What different roles are played by the players we have at each position? What the heck is going to happen with our Forwards? Who starts and why, what is their role and likely synergy with both the backcourt All-stars, and with our talented but less mobile Center?

Some thoughts by position:

PG:
Westbrook: He plays like a hotrod version of the prior Wallstar. Everything John does he did, magnified. End to end pushing the pace. No long ranged shot. Ball watching on defense. High usage. Offensively if he's not in the play he is waiting his turn to rebound and that's about it, but with the ball he is constantly on the attack mode, whether with a drive or a pass.

Ish: Essentially the offbrand version of Westbrook. Probe, drive, kick, set. up the pass with ballhandling penetration, but an improving outside shot if players sag off him.

Neto: a change of pace PG. Brought in as insurance when we would rest Wall for minutes and back to back restrictions. Where Shabazz and Ish were essentially the same player, Neto has better range and better perimeter defense, if less skill passing. He would work well with a big guard who can handle and pass, so fits when the team can afford to take both Beal and Westbrook out of the game.


More to follow. But add your own thoughts.

[nate33]

I'm interested in lineups. Starters matter, but what is the end-of-game closing line up? Who is the 6th man? What is our defensive stopper line-up? How do we envision chemistry, what players look like they will work well together? How do we give rookies and young players life-fire minutes in situations where they are poised for success instead of learning bad habits? What line-ups let us work the young players in, so the Coaches don't overwork veterans? What different roles are played by the players we have at each position? What the heck is going to happen with our Forwards? Who starts and why, what is their role and likely synergy with both the backcourt All-stars, and with our talented but less mobile Center?

One way to approach this might be to figure out who DOESN'T play. It's a bad idea to have an 11-man or 12-man rotation. Too many guys end up playing too few minutes so that they don't get into a rhythm. Brooks will probably go with a 10-man rotation. It's a pretty safe bet that 6 of them will definitely be:

Westbrook
Beal
Bertans
Hachimura
Bryant
Lopez

The other 4 guys will be come from the following pool of players:

Ish
Neto
Robinson
Brown
Bonga
Avdija

Presumably, one of Ish/Neto will be benched (probably Neto). But that still leaves one more guy out of the rotation. For development purposes, it would be nice if both natural PG's were benched, since both are expiring contract vets who won't be with us in the future. Just play Brown at PG. But I doubt Brooks does that. I think he'll play Ish and he is going to end up benching one of Bonga, Avdija or Robinson (hopefully not Brown).

If it was me, I'd go with this:

PG Westbrook/Ish
SG Beal/Brown
SF Bonga/Avdija
PF Hachimura/Bertans
C Bryant/Lopez

I would sometimes experiment with replacing Ish with Robinson and having Brown play PG.

But I could see Brooks benching Avdija, playing Brown at SF, and Robinson at SG.

[Frichuela]

I'm interested in lineups. Starters matter, but what is the end-of-game closing line up? Who is the 6th man? What is our defensive stopper line-up? How do we envision chemistry, what players look like they will work well together? How do we give rookies and young players life-fire minutes in situations where they are poised for success instead of learning bad habits? What line-ups let us work the young players in, so the Coaches don't overwork veterans? What different roles are played by the players we have at each position? What the heck is going to happen with our Forwards? Who starts and why, what is their role and likely synergy with both the backcourt All-stars, and with our talented but less mobile Center?

One way to approach this might be to figure out who DOESN'T play. It's a bad idea to have an 11-man or 12-man rotation. Too many guys end up playing too few minutes so that they don't get into a rhythm. Brooks will probably go with a 10-man rotation. It's a pretty safe bet that 6 of them will definitely be:

Westbrook
Beal
Bertans
Hachimura
Bryant
Lopez

The other 4 guys will be come from the following pool of players:

Ish
Neto
Robinson
Brown
Bonga
Avdija

Presumably, one of Ish/Neto will be benched (probably Neto). But that still leaves one more guy out of the rotation. For development purposes, it would be nice if both natural PG's were bench, since both are expiring contract vets who won't be with us in the future. Just play Brown at PG. But I doubt Brooks does that. I think he'll play Ish and he is going to end up benching one of Bonga, Avdija or Robinson (hopefully not Brown).

If it was me, I'd go with this:

PG Westbrook/Ish
SG Beal/Brown
SF Bonga/Avdija
PF Hachimura/Bertans
C Bryant/Lopez

I would sometimes experiment with replacing Ish with Robinson and having Brown play PG.

But I could see Brooks benching Avdija, playing Brown at SF, and Robinson at SG.

Agreed. This would be a logical line-up to kick off
the season.

[NatP4]

It surprises me how many people on this board have no issue with Brooks playing Lopez over Wagner. It seems like people have no optimism about Wagner at all, A guy who averaged 17&9 per36 on .638 TS% at 22 years old

It makes no sense to play Lopez at all. Wagner is a much better option

[NatP4]

I will also probably complain all year about Neto not playing over Smith.

[nate33]

It surprises me how many people on this board have no issue with Brooks playing Lopez over Wagner. It seems like people have no optimism about Wagner at all, A guy who averaged 17&9 per36 on .638 TS% at 22 years old

It makes no sense to play Lopez at all. Wagner is a much better option

Lopez will get minutes when the season starts because he is paid too much not too. But if he proves that he is washed up, then Wagner will get a shot. I just don't see Wagner getting minutes from the get go. He'll have to significantly outplay Lopez whenever he gets an opportunity.

It's a long season. I think this issue will take care of itself.

I'm more worried about the Robinson versus Avdija situation.

[NatP4]

Apparently Avdija “banged his knee” in practice, so there’s the excuse to play anyone and everyone over him already.

[Ruzious]

Apparently Avdija “banged his knee” in practice, so there’s the excuse to play anyone and everyone over him already.

It's minor - he should be fine. https://www.rotoballer.com/player-news/deni-avdija-suffered-minor-injury-on-tuesday/812557

[doclinkin]

One way to approach this might be to figure out who DOESN'T play. It's a bad idea to have an 11-man or 12-man rotation. Too many guys end up playing too few minutes so that they don't get into a rhythm. Brooks will probably go with a 10-man rotation.

I actually think our biomedical staff will have input in this. In this breakneck steeplechase race of a season, where COVID may postpone some games or quarantine certain players, I think it will serve the teams best that are able to platoon players and work reserves in and out of the rotation. One dubious benefit of having a logjam at forward, where players have little separation in skill level or talent, and there is some overlap in skill set, means that the coaching staff can plug and play various guys at various times. In Euro play teams regularly go 12 deep, which is one reason why Euro stats seem suppressed (and hacking defense, and shorter games, and fewer time outs, and shorter time outs). They value the ability to send guys out who can give full effort in shorter stints, with shuffled substitutions. The teams that win most have the deepest benches, where in the NBA they play the stars until their tongues hang out. (Or wheels fall off in the case of the Wizards. Regularly we have always played Wall, Arenas etc far too many minutes).

However we imported a medical wizard from soccer. And have a roster with international play experience. IF we can eke useful high energy minutes from 2-deep, even 3-deep, then we can keep our starters fresh for high intensity moments: late game, overtime, postseason, rivalry games, or in back to backs. AND we don't lose man games to injury and fatigue related downtime.

We have invested a ton of resources in personnel and software and equipment and analysis in tracking player health. I think they do expect to play pretty deep into the bench, whether or not it happens in one game, or if it is in on again off again nights. They were planning to do so when they were expecting to lean heavily on Wall, and I think they have tried to build a roster that ensures they can play 3 deep at least incase someone gets tapped to sit from either fatigue or catching a case of the covid.

[Frichuela]

One way to approach this might be to figure out who DOESN'T play. It's a bad idea to have an 11-man or 12-man rotation. Too many guys end up playing too few minutes so that they don't get into a rhythm. Brooks will probably go with a 10-man rotation.

I actually think our biomedical staff will have input in this. In this breakneck steeplechase race of a season, where COVID may cancel some games or quarantine certain players, I think it will serve the teams best that are able to platoon players and work reserves in and out of the rotation. One dubious benefit of having a logjam at forward, where players have little separation in skill level or talent, and there is some overlap in skill set, means that the coaching staff can plug and play various guys at various times. In Euro play teams regularly go 12 deep, which is one reason why Euro stats seem suppressed (and hacking defense, and shorter games, and fewer time outs, and shorter time outs). They value the ability to send guys out who can give full effort in shorter stints, with shuffled substitutions. The teams that win most have the deepest benches, where in the NBA they play the stars until their tongues hang out. (Or wheels fall off in the case of the Wizards. Regularly we have always played Wall, Arenas etc far too many minutes).

However we imported a medical wizard from soccer. And have a roster with international play experience. IF we can eke useful high energy minutes from 2-deep, even 3-deep, then we can keep our starters fresh for high intensity moments: late game, overtime, postseason, rivalry games, or in back to backs. AND we don't lose man games to injury and fatigue related downtime.

We have invested a ton of resources in personnel and software and equipment and analysis in tracking player health. I think they do expect to play pretty deep into the bench, whether or not it happens in one game, or if it is in on again off again nights. They were planning to do so when they were expecting to lean heavily on Wall, and I think they have tried to build a roster that ensures they can play 3 deep at least incase someone gets tapped to sit from either fatigue or catching a case of the covid.

Very good points. Having a deep roster should be a plus this coming season

[payitforward]

I'm rambling, I know... Sorry!
Forget Pasecniks. Sign Mathews & Winston to the roster. Do what you need to do to come away with Hinton & Reed

When your analysis always comes down to the draft sucking because we didn't get Hinton & Reed - who no team prioritized - maybe it's time to change your shtick.

They got Childs instead...who could turn out to better than Hinton or Reed.

Who's Reed? Oh yeah... I wanted him!

Mostly, this exchange between me & Ruzious is tongue-in-cheek. Everybody knows I always want more rookies, so I deflect realistic criticism by upping the ante: even more rookies!! even more odd rookies!!

I like Childs a lot. &, sure, he might wind up better than Paul Reed. You can't know much in advance. But, you do have to do your best to get the best prospects, obviously, & if I was choosing between the two of them -- which one do I want to try to develop? -- I would have no trouble picking Reed over Childs. I suppose that since Reed was drafted & Childs wasn't, all I'm doing is echoing what actually happened.

Paul Reed is a year and a half younger than Yoeli Childs (who will turn 23 in 5 weeks).

I think the Draft Combine cost Reed a lot. He didn't do well in the speed, agility & jump measurements. Yoeli Childs, OTOH, was just into the top 25% overall.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

I'm interested in lineups. Starters matter, but what is the end-of-game closing line up? Who is the 6th man? What is our defensive stopper line-up? How do we envision chemistry, what players look like they will work well together? How do we give rookies and young players life-fire minutes in situations where they are poised for success instead of learning bad habits? What line-ups let us work the young players in, so the Coaches don't overwork veterans? What different roles are played by the players we have at each position? What the heck is going to happen with our Forwards? Who starts and why, what is their role and likely synergy with both the backcourt All-stars, and with our talented but less mobile Center?

One way to approach this might be to figure out who DOESN'T play. It's a bad idea to have an 11-man or 12-man rotation. Too many guys end up playing too few minutes so that they don't get into a rhythm. Brooks will probably go with a 10-man rotation. It's a pretty safe bet that 6 of them will definitely be:

Westbrook
Beal
Bertans
Hachimura
Bryant
Lopez

The other 4 guys will be come from the following pool of players:

Ish
Neto
Robinson
Brown
Bonga
Avdija

Presumably, one of Ish/Neto will be benched (probably Neto). But that still leaves one more guy out of the rotation. For development purposes, it would be nice if both natural PG's were bench, since both are expiring contract vets who won't be with us in the future. Just play Brown at PG. But I doubt Brooks does that. I think he'll play Ish and he is going to end up benching one of Bonga, Avdija or Robinson (hopefully not Brown).

If it was me, I'd go with this:

PG Westbrook/Ish
SG Beal/Brown
SF Bonga/Avdija
PF Hachimura/Bertans
C Bryant/Lopez

I would sometimes experiment with replacing Ish with Robinson and having Brown play PG.

But I could see Brooks benching Avdija, playing Brown at SF, and Robinson at SG.

Agreed. This would be a logical line-up to kick off
the season.

Agree this is probably what we roll out to start the season. I do agree though with NatP4 I'd prefer Wagner ahead of Lopez. But I also wouldn't be at all shocked if 2nd unit has Robinson at 2 and Troy Brown Jr at 3 with Avdija sitting.

[doclinkin]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

I agree Mo Wagner may prove a useful player. I think Lopez can teach defense by example, and will be useful in that respect, as a savvy workhorse veteran with good fundamentals. The guys we have can always get stronger and smarter, banging with a true 'footer like RoLo will help in practice, and against the teams who do have a huge front court. But I think we haven't see the best of Wagner yet. The Mo Wagner pre injury was a better player than the 2nd half of the year. Smart of him to focus on his body. I like that he went back to Germany to work with national team coaches where they were not just working on shooting drills but study and theory.

I think the team sees him as a 4/5 if he can groove that 3pt shot again like he did the first half of the year. He is a more mobile player on defense than Bryant. When teams go smaller it is useful to be able to stay big if you can still keep up with the speed change.

[DCZards]

Who's Reed? Oh yeah... I wanted him!

Mostly, this exchange between me & Ruzious is tongue-in-cheek. Everybody knows I always want more rookies, so I deflect realistic criticism by upping the ante: even more rookies!! even more odd rookies!!

I like Childs a lot. &, sure, he might wind up better than Paul Reed. You can't know much in advance. But, you do have to do your best to get the best prospects, obviously, & if I was choosing between the two of them -- which one do I want to try to develop? -- I would have no trouble picking Reed over Childs. I suppose that since Reed was drafted & Childs wasn't, all I'm doing is echoing what actually happened.

Paul Reed is a year and a half younger than Yoeli Childs (who will turn 23 in 5 weeks).

I think the Draft Combine cost Reed a lot. He didn't do well in the speed, agility & jump measurements. Yoeli Childs, OTOH, was just into the top 25% overall.

There's at least one very good reason to prefer Childs to Reed: Yoeli is a good shooter with a rapidly improving 3 pt shot while Reed is a bad shooter, which is probably why he dropped to the 58th pick despite his outstanding defense and rebounding.