Deni Avdija

[DCZards]

Pretty hilarious, the following possession, we get another stop and have the ball with a minute left down 5. Deni had just hit back to back to back 3s and we decide to throw the ball in the post to Rui who forces an awful attempt against a double team and misses.

Props to Deni for hitting those back-to-back 3s...and at crunch time. Very impressive!

I didn't have a problem with them throwing the ball to Rui down low. He was open when the pass was made and taking advantage of what looked like an easy 2 pointer was a smart play at that point. But Rui should have kicked it back out instead of forcing a tough shot.

Hopefully, Rui learns from that experience. Mathews, who had a great game, took an ill-advised running shot in the last minute or so as well, Hopefully, he learns as well.

[nate33]

Yeah, the pass to Rui down low was fine. Rui just didn't have enough time to gather it and get it up before the defense collapsed. Rui should have passed back out.

Rui has actually been a lot better this year with avoiding that kind of trouble around the rim. He had a ton of his shots stuffed by shot blockers last season, I don't remember it happening much so far this year until that play.

[NatP4]

Pretty hilarious, the following possession, we get another stop and have the ball with a minute left down 5. Deni had just hit back to back to back 3s and we decide to throw the ball in the post to Rui who forces an awful attempt against a double team and misses.

Props to Deni for hitting those back-to-back 3s...and at crunch time. Very impressive!

I didn't have a problem with them throwing the ball to Rui down low. He was open when the pass was made and taking advantage of what looked like an easy 2 pointer was a smart play at that point. But Rui should have kicked it back out instead of forcing a tough shot.

Hopefully, Rui learns from that experience. Mathews, who had a great game, took an ill-advised running shot in the last minute or so as well, Hopefully, he learns as well.

When the pass was made, Miami was already helping over to double team Rui, it was a dumb pass. The team should be working the ball to Deni again and looking for a 3.

Also, the last shot Mathews took was a wide open 3 with 2:33 to go. The runner you are talking about (in which he got fouled, no call) occurred with 5 minutes left in the game.

[NatP4]

I’m just saying, give that man his heat check. We had no business being in that game late.

[doclinkin]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

I really really hate announcers going "Shabbat Shalom" whenever Deni does anything good on court. It needs to stop. Ditto 'konichiwa' or whatever for Rui.


I miss 'dagger' and 'backbreaker'... sigh.

[prime1time]

Read on Twitter

Well, at what point do we start thinking that Deni is a good shooter. The kid might end up being special. When you’re a knock down shooter at 20 the sky is the limit.

[queridiculo]

Well, at what point do we start thinking that Deni is a good shooter. The kid might end up being special. When you’re a knock down shooter at 20 the sky is the limit.

Decent, but sample size is still a bit small at 45 attempts.

I'd like to see how this holds up when his FGAs increases and he's being trusted to do more.

I wonder if playing him alongside Westbrook and Beal isn't doing him a disservice.

I'd like to see him play a bigger role on offense.

He can handle the ball and does a great job picking his spots attacking the basket.

[Ruzious]

Well, at what point do we start thinking that Deni is a good shooter. The kid might end up being special. When you’re a knock down shooter at 20 the sky is the limit.

Decent, but sample size is still a bit small at 45 attempts.

I'd like to see how this holds up when his FGAs increases and he's being trusted to do more.

I wonder if playing him alongside Westbrook and Beal isn't doing him a disservice.

I'd like to see him play a bigger role on offense.

He can handle the ball and does a great job picking his spots attacking the basket.

He's gradually improving on his off the ball work and catch and shoot game. That's the only way he gets to touch the ball when both Westbrook and Beal are in the game. I think he's most effective when Westbrook isn't in the game - especially when he can instigate the offense. He particularly seems to work well setting up Rui - looking forward to seeing more of that offensive chemistry and improvements on defense. It's a process, as they say.

[NatP4]

I think he’s already pretty good off the ball, his shot looks great, he cuts well, and crashes the offensive glass well.

I think he needs to work on his ball handling and specially, driving left. All of his drives are to the right in an attempt to bully his way to the rim, plus he has no mid range game or off the dribble shooting ability to speak of.

[queridiculo]

I think he’s already pretty good off the ball, his shot looks great, he cuts well, and crashes the offensive glass well.

I think he needs to work on his ball handling and specially, driving left. All of his drives are to the right in an attempt to bully his way to the rim, plus he has no mid range game or off the dribble shooting ability to speak of.

Guess we need to get Sam Cassell on the case to teach him that mid-range game

Interesting thing about his left hand, there have been quite a few times where defenders have jumped his left hand and Avdija typically counters it by spinning away from the pressure and driving hard with his right hand.

[DCsOwn]

I think he’s already pretty good off the ball, his shot looks great, he cuts well, and crashes the offensive glass well.

I think he needs to work on his ball handling and specially, driving left. All of his drives are to the right in an attempt to bully his way to the rim, plus he has no mid range game or off the dribble shooting ability to speak of.

This is exactly right. The positive thing for Deni supporters (and I count myself in their ranks) is that there is upside for him to be a REALLY good player in the league. He has outstanding size at a position that he should be able to guard effectively, in his prime he'll likely have the ability to guard up a position and maybe even down a position in a pinch adding to his versatility, his shooting stroke is solid, he has playmaking instincts and quality vision for a forward AND he's a solid athlete. If he burnishes his intermediate game and adds the ability to take people off the dribble with decent consistency (and I think he will given how diligent a worker everyone says he is), there's no reason that he can't be a fringe allstar in the league at some point down the line. I think he ends up the best Wizards draft pick since Beal honestly. Like his upside more than Porter's.

[Frichuela]

Well, at what point do we start thinking that Deni is a good shooter. The kid might end up being special. When you’re a knock down shooter at 20 the sky is the limit.

Decent, but sample size is still a bit small at 45 attempts.

I'd like to see how this holds up when his FGAs increases and he's being trusted to do more.

I wonder if playing him alongside Westbrook and Beal isn't doing him a disservice.

I'd like to see him play a bigger role on offense.

He can handle the ball and does a great job picking his spots attacking the basket.

He's gradually improving on his off the ball work and catch and shoot game. That's the only way he gets to touch the ball when both Westbrook and Beal are in the game. I think he's most effective when Westbrook isn't in the game - especially when he can instigate the offense. He particularly seems to work well setting up Rui - looking forward to seeing more of that offensive chemistry and improvements on defense. It's a process, as they say.

Agreed, it feels like Deni's got a few more gears left. The issue is will Brooks be able to unleash them? I have my doubts...

[Ruzious]

I think he’s already pretty good off the ball, his shot looks great, he cuts well, and crashes the offensive glass well.

I think he needs to work on his ball handling and specially, driving left. All of his drives are to the right in an attempt to bully his way to the rim, plus he has no mid range game or off the dribble shooting ability to speak of.

This is exactly right. The positive thing for Deni supporters (and I count myself in their ranks) is that there is upside for him to be a REALLY good player in the league. He has outstanding size at a position that he should be able to guard effectively, in his prime he'll likely have the ability to guard up a position and maybe even down a position in a pinch adding to his versatility, his shooting stroke is solid, he has playmaking instincts and quality vision for a forward AND he's a solid athlete. If he burnishes his intermediate game and adds the ability to take people off the dribble with decent consistency (and I think he will given how diligent a worker everyone says he is), there's no reason that he can't be a fringe allstar in the league at some point down the line. I think he ends up the best Wizards draft pick since Beal honestly. Like his upside more than Porter's.

That's fair, though I think Porter's chronic hip problems have held him back from being what he could have been.

I still would have preferred Haliburton - but won't complain about Avdija.

[DCsOwn]

I think he’s already pretty good off the ball, his shot looks great, he cuts well, and crashes the offensive glass well.

I think he needs to work on his ball handling and specially, driving left. All of his drives are to the right in an attempt to bully his way to the rim, plus he has no mid range game or off the dribble shooting ability to speak of.

This is exactly right. The positive thing for Deni supporters (and I count myself in their ranks) is that there is upside for him to be a REALLY good player in the league. He has outstanding size at a position that he should be able to guard effectively, in his prime he'll likely have the ability to guard up a position and maybe even down a position in a pinch adding to his versatility, his shooting stroke is solid, he has playmaking instincts and quality vision for a forward AND he's a solid athlete. If he burnishes his intermediate game and adds the ability to take people off the dribble with decent consistency (and I think he will given how diligent a worker everyone says he is), there's no reason that he can't be a fringe allstar in the league at some point down the line. I think he ends up the best Wizards draft pick since Beal honestly. Like his upside more than Porter's.

That's fair, though I think Porter's chronic hip problems have held him back from being what he could have been.

I still would have preferred Haliburton - but won't complain about Avdija.

Yeah, the hip situation definitely derailed Porter. The other issue he had was his natural passivity. With good health and more aggression Porter could've been a legitimately terrific player in this league but alas. I really like the fact that Deni appears to have a little more sand paper and self confidence to him than Porter did out the chute.

I also agree with your assessment of the Hali/Deni dynamic. Preferred Haliburton at 9 but was very comfortable with Deni there too. To me, they were the clear cut top two options available at 9 with Vassell being the only other option that would've been remotely palatable at that point.

[prime1time]

Well, at what point do we start thinking that Deni is a good shooter. The kid might end up being special. When you’re a knock down shooter at 20 the sky is the limit.

Decent, but sample size is still a bit small at 45 attempts.

I'd like to see how this holds up when his FGAs increases and he's being trusted to do more.

I wonder if playing him alongside Westbrook and Beal isn't doing him a disservice.

I'd like to see him play a bigger role on offense.

He can handle the ball and does a great job picking his spots attacking the basket.

It's not. Young players need to learn how to be effective without the ball in their hands. Way too many players are limited to needing the ball in their hands to be effective. At the same time we should be involving Deni in the offense more. No reason why he can't come off staggered screens for 3's or simple screens for a mid-range jumper.

[prime1time]

Also, even if it is a small sample size, what's he going to come down to, high 30s? He was billed as a below-average shooter. And to expand on my point above, there's more to playing off the ball than just making open shots and cutting opportunistically. It's about knowing when to move on drives to make yourself open. Attacking closeouts and making the right decisions as you attack. When the ball is kicked to you on the drive, quickly reading the defense and making the right decision - whether to pass, drive, shoot etc. I'd also like to see more of an in-between game. He showed a floater to end the half against the Nets (first time we played them) but I haven't seen it since. I'd love to see him show savy on his closeouts - open mid-range pull-ups from 15 feet in and floaters. These are the little parts of the game that will make him invaluable and ultimately lead to our offense post-Westbrook, where we have no traditional PG and just play a freestyle movement-based offense. Brooks needs to run more sets for Advija, but I'm perfectly fine with not putting the ball in his hands and running the PnR through him for right now. He'll run the PnR eventually but the ability to do the above well is essential for a high powered offense.

There's only one ball, players that need it to be effective limit how good an offense can be. Too many teams fall into the trap of giving their young star player the ball instead of developing their whole offensive game.

[pancakes3]

Deni took 47 threes last season with Maccabi over the course of 26 games and was a 27.7% shooter. he's taken 45 threes over the course of 14 games in the NBA and is a deadeye 46.7% so there's an equally large sample saying he's a good shooter as there is saying he's a bad shooter, and the good-shooting survey is the more recent one.

For comparison, Luka is not a good shooter (despite his volume). The year before the NBA he was a 28% shooter in Spain, and he's proven to be a ~30% shooter in the NBA. Through 14 games, Luka was at 39% shooting his rookie year (inflated by a pair of 4/6 shooting nights).

Deni's numbers are juiced by a 4/7 night, a 7/15 night, and going 5/6 and 5/9 in the last two.

All of this is to say... idk.

[Ruzious]

Wait what? Luka's not a good shooter? Are those 25 foot step-back 3's that he swishes just my imagination?

[Kanyewest]

Wait what? Luka's not a good shooter? Are those 25 foot step-back 3's that he swishes just my imagination?

Luka takes 7 a game but is only shooting 29% from 3 so far this season. Granted, he probably gets to the free throw line quite a bit when he shoots 3s.

[Ruzious]

Wait what? Luka's not a good shooter? Are those 25 foot step-back 3's that he swishes just my imagination?

Luka takes 7 a game but is only shooting 29% from 3 so far this season. Granted, he probably gets to the free throw line quite a bit when he shoots 3s.

Fair enough. i just assumed he shot a higher percentage.