Coach Wes Unseld Jr, Appreciation Thread.

[doclinkin]

We are 7 and 3. Whatever Coach Wes is doing with his forwards, it is working pretty well. I don't think we need to get too fussy about any particular players or pit them against each other. Wes seems to have a pretty good eye for substitutions, playing the right guy at the right time. Seems to me we should sit back and watch chemistry develop. Neither Deni not Kuzma appears to be a problem that is handing us preventable losses. We're doing alright, let's enjoy that and let them keep winning a while before we decide which kitten to drown.

[NatP4]

The wizards have a -0.3 net rating with Kuzma on the court and a +11.9 with him OFF THE COURT. He’s posting a brutal 50.7% TS.

My point is fairly simple: Kuzma shouldn’t lead the team in minutes. It’s a fact: the wizards have been better with him off the court......by a lot.

At best, Kuzma is a backup PF and 9th or 10th man. Not trying to dog on Unseld Jr. I think he’s been great. That would be my only critique.

Consider a hypothetical 5-man starting unit, each with a clone who plays on the 2nd unit. The starting unit and the second unit would be identical in ability. However, the 2nd unit clones would have a much better on/off rating because they play the opposition's 2nd units, while the starting clones had to face the opposition's starters.

The greatest strength of the team is our depth. Our 2nd best player isn't much better than our 9th best player. Effectively, outside of Beal, our 2nd unit is barely worse than our starters, if they're worse at all. With that the case, ANYONE who plays on the 2nd unit is likely to have a good on/off differential because they are nearly as good as our starters but they play against the opposition's weak 2nd unit players. Aaron Holiday has a better on/off differential than Bradley Beal and Spencer Dinwiddie, but he is not a better player. Likewise, Kispert is not better than KCP.

If Avdija started all season and Kuzma came off the bench, I guarantee you that Avdija's on/off wouldn't be so good and Kuzma's would be much better.

All of this is true of course, but Kuzma is still a much worse player than Avdija or even Bertans for that matter. There’s no way he should ever play more than either of them. I can also guarantee you that the entire starting unit (which has been one of the more mediocre starting 5s in the league) would have significantly better metrics with Avdija starting at the 4. There is a reason why Kuzma has a much lower on/off than Beal, Dinwiddie, KCP, and Gafford. It’s because he sucks no matter if he’s going against starters or bench units.

And again, you are ignoring an entire side of the this. We should be investing more into our last couple 1st round picks than a 27 year old fringe journeyman. Especially since they are better players.

[tontoz]

If Nat was the coach we lose the Cavs game.

Sorry Nat but you earned that.

[leswizards]

I guess I owe Kyle an apology, that is unless he did a Juan Dixon, in which case you mfers owe me some gratitude.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

If Nat was the coach we lose the Cavs game.

Sorry Nat but you earned that.

:)



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[Jimmy Recard]

Watch on YouTube

Always enjoyed watching this guys videos. Nice breakdown. (Spoiler alert, the secret weapon is Wes)

[wco81]

Does Scott Brooks coaching a team nowadays?

He's assistant for the Trail Blazers.

He’s probably fine as an assistant. Let him go pick up sandwiches for meetings, drive players’ in-laws to the airport. Stuff like that

Yeah the Wizards' great start, the improvement in young players like Avidja doesn't make Brooks look great does he?

May not get another HC gig for a long time, if ever.

Hmm, Brooks technically wasn't fired, Sheppard just declined to renew his contract? So is there a number at which the team would have renewed his contract?

Obviously the offseason moves, including the big haul they got for Westbrook, has remade the team.

How much to credit the coaching vs. the player personnel changes?

[FAH1223]

First game I can say Wes got outcoached in Charlotte.

All good though, he's still exceeding expectations

[FAH1223]

First game I can say Wes got outcoached in Charlotte.

All good though, he's still exceeding expectations

Coach Wes has had a terrible month.

[Dolevi]

Bad rotations, bad game management. As usual.

[wco81]

Or team played above its head and is now coming down to earth?

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Too early to Urban Meyer him?

[nate33]

It's important to note that, like players, coaches improve with experience too. Particularly younger ones. Wes Jr. has had a bad month, and it's looking more and more like that hot start was never as strong as it appeared. But it doesn't mean he is a terrible coach who should be fired. He just needs to learn from his mistakes and get better.

I kinda think that the early start was partially due to Wes Jr. being organized and disciplined in training camp. He put together a good program and executed it well. But now that teams have seen our schemes and adapted, the schemes are no longer working. Wes needs to make adjustments, and so far, he hasn't come up with the right ones. Hopefully, with experience, he'll get better at making these adjustments. I still think that the fact that the team started out strong is a hopeful sign that Wes has the fundamental abilities to be a good coach. It's just going to take some time to get there.

[wco81]

I just recall at the start of the 2020-21 season, Lakers got off to a red hot start and their role players, which including KCP and Kuzma, were shooting red hot from 3, like around 45%. That was a continuation of them getting hot in the Bubble.

But they cooled down and that is partly why their team and fans soured on these role players, who contributed a lot to the Bubble title.

So it seemed like Kuzma was hot the first 15 games or so. Has he cooled down?

[nate33]

I just recall at the start of the 2020-21 season, Lakers got off to a red hot start and their role players, which including KCP and Kuzma, were shooting red hot from 3, like around 45%. That was a continuation of them getting hot in the Bubble.

But they cooled down and that is partly why their team and fans soured on these role players, who contributed a lot to the Bubble title.

So it seemed like Kuzma was hot the first 15 games or so. Has he cooled down?

Kuzma wasn't really that hot though. Kuzma has been pretty consistently mediocre all season, with no discernable trend.

KCP was actually worse over his first 15 games (.510 TS%) than his last 15 (.579 TS%).

[Ruzious]

The rest of the team isn't good enough to overcome the fact that we have 1 legit NBA rotation guard. The forwards overall are a bit below average. At this point, Coach Unseld is left mostly with smoke and mirrors. He's a coach; not a magician.

[tontoz]

The rest of the team isn't good enough to overcome the fact that we have 1 legit NBA rotation guard. The forwards overall are a bit below average. At this point, Coach Unseld is left mostly with smoke and mirrors. He's a coach; not a magician.

Our guard play has to be worst in the league. I can't imagine another team is getting less from their guards.

[wco81]

Zach Lowe podcast talked about the Beal situation. He's shooting really low percentage from 3 so far.

Speculation that maybe the Wizards decide they don't want to max out Beal, which would be a change from their previous stance. But if Beal and Wizard performance continue to disappoint, they may decide to sell high on Beal, rather than buy high by giving him the super max.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Too early to Urban Meyer him?

Are there photos of him getting a lap dance?. Has he kicked any players? He's not getting Meyer treatment but I do think he's lost his team and there's probably a good bit of internal instability.

They not playing cohesively and confidence is quite low. The team probably doesn't believe and I bet behind the scenes things are descending into chaos.

In a month he could be on the hot seat.



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[FAH1223]

Too early to Urban Meyer him?

Are there photos of him getting a lap dance?. Has he kicked any players? He's not getting Meyer treatment but I do think he's lost his team and there's probably a good bit of internal instability.

They not playing cohesively and confidence is quite low. The team probably doesn't believe and I bet behind the scenes things are descending into chaos.

In a month he could be on the hot seat.

Hot seat? Nah. Wes signed a 4 year contract. Leonsis isn’t going to pay a coach not to coach. Plus they just re-signed Tommy. Wes is Tommy’s guy and they’re on the same page.

I don’t know if he’s lost the team. That’s kind of dramatic. But there’s no doubt the confidence level is low. But look at other squads right now. Has Thibs lost the Knicks who are losing left and right? Or Nate McMillan lost the Hawks who’ve had a lot of Ls pile up? Doc Rivers with the struggling 76ers?