nate33 wrote:queridiculo wrote:The Deni stans are too much is one of two takeaways from this game.
I'm a big time supporter of Deni and even I get annoyed with the Deni-centric perspective on all of these game threads. He is a 3rd/4th option on offense. He is not a shot creator. He is a guy who should be attacking when it's opportunistic because the defense is rotating. On some nights, he'll look great because of the way defenses are ignoring him. On other nights, he should defer because defenses are playing him straight up (which means they aren't loading up on better offensive players).
You don't build an offense designed to get Deni X number of shots a game. His usage is going to be highly dependent on the way defenses are playing him. And that's fine.
I'll stand up for the Deni "stans" and posit some points:
1. Who ever has said Deni should be treated like a #2 option, let alone a #1 option on this board? Maybe there are some that believe that, I certainly don't, at least at this given time. I think more of the general consensus is that 1) they shouldn't park him in the corner to jack up threes, 2) let him be a secondary (sometimes primary) ball handler, 3) don't have long stretches where he is frozen out on offense barely touching the ball when he's on the court, and 4) don't have a short leash with him in games where he has a tough night from the field
Maybe Kuzma wouldn't have the repertoire he does today if he wasn't allowed to throw up shots on crappy Laker teams for his first couple of season, to test things out, to learn some things out there and playing through mistakes. That's at least what I would like to see with the Denis and Bilals of the world. We suck, we aren't going anywhere, let the young guys that have a future learn out there.
2. Deni's minutes shouldn't be predicated on just offense, he does a lot of little things out there. Obviously this game isn't the best example, Deni had by far the worst +/- on the team for the night (though it felt fluky to me based on how he was defending it panned out that way), but it happens a lot where WUJ has a short leash with the guy.
Brunson was going nuts in the fourth and you would think you go back to the dude who was doing better than anybody on him. But Shamet makes a couple of threes, so he can do no wrong.
To me it's plainly unacceptable that every Wizard starter played at least 8 more minutes than Deni, including Poole who was 7-19 out there, 2-9 from three, and a grand total of 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Deni also actually had a better TS% in last night's game compared to Mr. High Usage Kuzma while playing 13 less minutes and scoring the same amount of points, and still grabbing 2 more rebounds.
So yeah, to some, that looks pretty odd and unfair when you see those disparities from a coach like WUJ who we all know doesn't know how to manage vets. That's why it's a constant theme in the game threads because it happens all the time.
3. It's a great time to try to figure out the unknown, to see if Deni can handle more usage over an extended stretch of games while we are a garbage team. Nobody really knows how much usage Deni can handle because he's always had to take a backseat to veterans even though we are always still a crappy team. Now is that to say Deni won't struggle if he takes on more of an offensive role? Of course not, that's part of growing, but to act as if it is somehow codified into stone that Deni just can't handle more usage is simply untrue because he's never really been given that opportunity.
4. There are two players on this team that have a legitimate future on this team in Bilal and Deni. So yeah, Deni is going to get a lot of attention and he's not in his rookie season like Bilal is.