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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wizards-insider/wp/2017/04/12/wizards-center-ian-mahinmi-to-miss-the-start-of-the-playoffs/

Sounds like he'll miss most of Atlanta series and who knows after that if we advance....

Sounds about right. I think so long as Gortat doesn't completely suck it could work ok. There has to be a big emphasis on gang rebounding now by the wings instead of leaking out (looking at you Beal and Morris).

If Smith can hold his own for a few possessions offensively we could bring Howard out of the paint with his long range ability. Even sans 3 games I think we should be favored but it definitely is going to require a more team effort on the boards. So really Morris and Beal are the only guys IMO who could really do better on the defensive glass.

Think it should also mean Bojan guarding Ersan as a S4 off the bench instead of Prince or Hardaway JR...

nuposse04 wrote:Sounds about right. I think so long as Gortat doesn't completely suck it could work ok. There has to be a big emphasis on gang rebounding now by the wings instead of leaking out (looking at you Beal and Morris).

If Smith can hold his own for a few possessions offensively we could bring Howard out of the paint with his long range ability. Even sans 3 games I think we should be favored but it definitely is going to require a more team effort on the boards. So really Morris and Beal are the only guys IMO who could really do better on the defensive glass.

Think it should also mean Bojan guarding Ersan as a S4 off the bench instead of Prince or Hardaway JR...

Unless Gortat gets completely dominated by Dwight, I don't think you see Smith on him at all because that would be just as ugly on the boards. Gortat just has to hold his own on both ends and Smith or Morris on Muscala or when Millsap plays the 5.

One thing I'm happy from Gortat signing he is always healthy.
But when he will have foul trouble Smith or Morris vs Howard is disaster

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Cleveland seems to be signing free agents up to the last minute. Just released Larry Sanders to sign Edy Tavares. So, guess we could sign someone too. Any d-league starting center would be way better than Ochefu. Grunfeld/Brooks don't seem to operate this way, but I would have replaced Ochefu awhile back with a serviceable alternative. Still not too late. We're an injury, or foul trouble away from not having enough frontcourt depth.

bsilver wrote:Cleveland seems to be signing free agents up to the last minute. Just released Larry Sanders to sign Edy Tavares. So, guess we could sign someone too. Any d-league starting center would be way better than Ochefu. Grunfeld/Brooks don't seem to operate this way, but I would have replaced Ochefu awhile back with a serviceable alternative. Still not too late. We're an injury, or foul trouble away from not having enough frontcourt depth.

What are the rules governing such last minute signings playing in the playoffs? I thought that a player had to be on the roster by a certain date to be eligible for the playoffs. Is Cleveland just signing in an attempt to win the final game?

Ugh I swear this dude is made of glass. And we thought Nene was injury prone???

We should be okay against Atlanta although their front court is their strength. Smith needs to be able to knock down the 3 and spread the floor on offense to offset his defensive shortcomings.

I don't see it as that big of a deal. Nobody knows Howard better than Gortat. We were playing just fine while Mahinmi was out.

The bigger issue vs. Atlanta is our lack of PF depth. Atlanta will likely attack Morris and try to get him in foul trouble. If Porter is still gimpy (I think that hip has made him a step slow since the AS break), we'll have a tough time in any game where Morris' minutes are cut short.

We did win 3 out of 4 against Atlanta but the last game on March 22 was not a good performance by Gortat, who was a -19 in the 104-100 home win. He had 4 pts and 6 rebs in 28 minutes, while Howard had 14 and 16 in 36 minutes. Mahinmi was a +22 off the bench with 10 boards in 20 minutes. Can't have that version of Gortat in this series. Or the one in the only loss (114-99).
http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400899420

tontoz wrote:I don't see it as that big of a deal. Nobody knows Howard better than Gortat. We were playing just fine while Mahinmi was out.

Right.

Would be good that if we beat Atlanta, we could get him back for Game 1 against Boston since IT4 gets Harden-tier calls.

Tricky_Kid wrote:One thing I'm happy from Gortat signing he is always healthy.
But when he will have foul trouble Smith or Morris vs Howard is disaster

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I am happy that this will FORCE Brooks to play Gortat.

Marcin can relax knowing his minutes will be high this series. I have faith that he and Jason Smith can get the job done.

That said, I expect Muscala will have some big numbers vs those two.

keynote wrote:The bigger issue vs. Atlanta is our lack of PF depth. Atlanta will likely attack Morris and try to get him in foul trouble. If Porter is still gimpy (I think that hip has made him a step slow since the AS break), we'll have a tough time in any game where Morris' minutes are cut short.

I think you forgot the green font....

There is no better excuse maker in the world than EG. Here is his perfect built in excuse if the unthinkable happens in round 1.

Upper Decker wrote:There is no better excuse maker in the world than EG. Here is his perfect built in excuse if the unthinkable happens in round 1.

I'm no EG apologist and without Ian they should still win the series but a 4/5 matchup is not exactly unthinkable for the 5 to win.

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tontoz wrote:I don't see it as that big of a deal. Nobody knows Howard better than Gortat. We were playing just fine while Mahinmi was out.

The head to head numbers aren't very kind to Gortat in this matchup.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&player_id1_hint=Marcin+Gortat&player_id1_select=Marcin+Gortat&player_id1=gortama01&player_id2_hint=Dwight+Howard&player_id2_select=Dwight+Howard&player_id2=howardw01

queridiculo wrote:

tontoz wrote:I don't see it as that big of a deal. Nobody knows Howard better than Gortat. We were playing just fine while Mahinmi was out.

The head to head numbers aren't very kind to Gortat in this matchup.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&player_id1_hint=Marcin+Gortat&player_id1_select=Marcin+Gortat&player_id1=gortama01&player_id2_hint=Dwight+Howard&player_id2_select=Dwight+Howard&player_id2=howardw01

That isn't the issue. I don't think anyone believes Gortat is as good as Howard.

The issue is how does Howard do against Gortat relative to how he does against the rest of the league. On a per minute basis Howard's scoring is about the same, rebounding is up slightly and shooting percentage is 9% worse. Mahinmi only played in one of those games.

In the game thread already, but posting here too:

Mahinmi update - not good news, but at least it's not outright bad news:

WASHINGTON -- Wizards backup center Ian Mahinmi will miss at least Games 3 and 4 of Washington's first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks.

Washington coach Scott Brooks said before traveling to Atlanta on Friday that Mahinmi's strained left calf was re-evaluated and has improved, but he "definitely won't play the next few games."

Brooks is not sure how long Mahinmi could be sidelined, saying, "There's really no timetable, other than: Whenever he's ready, he's ready. There's no pressure from me or our staff."

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19211157/wizards-ian-mahinmi-miss-least-games-3-4-hawks

Mojo Amok wrote:In the game thread already, but posting here too:

Mahinmi update - not good news, but at least it's not outright bad news:

WASHINGTON -- Wizards backup center Ian Mahinmi will miss at least Games 3 and 4 of Washington's first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks.

Washington coach Scott Brooks said before traveling to Atlanta on Friday that Mahinmi's strained left calf was re-evaluated and has improved, but he "definitely won't play the next few games."

Brooks is not sure how long Mahinmi could be sidelined, saying, "There's really no timetable, other than: Whenever he's ready, he's ready. There's no pressure from me or our staff."

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19211157/wizards-ian-mahinmi-miss-least-games-3-4-hawks

There's no way a playoff team with legitimate aspirations could entrust this guy to stay healthy an entire season and be a starting C.

I was open to moving Gortat in the off-season, but now not so much.

Dat2U wrote:

Mojo Amok wrote:In the game thread already, but posting here too:

Mahinmi update - not good news, but at least it's not outright bad news:

WASHINGTON -- Wizards backup center Ian Mahinmi will miss at least Games 3 and 4 of Washington's first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks.

Washington coach Scott Brooks said before traveling to Atlanta on Friday that Mahinmi's strained left calf was re-evaluated and has improved, but he "definitely won't play the next few games."

Brooks is not sure how long Mahinmi could be sidelined, saying, "There's really no timetable, other than: Whenever he's ready, he's ready. There's no pressure from me or our staff."

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19211157/wizards-ian-mahinmi-miss-least-games-3-4-hawks

There's no way a playoff team with legitimate aspirations could entrust this guy to stay healthy an entire season and be a starting C.

I was open to moving Gortat in the off-season, but now not so much.

I'm all for trading Gortat especially if he plays like he did in the last two months of the season. He seems to be turning it on for the playoffs, but still...he's def declining.