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Probably Smith. I'm guessing he probably sees 15-20ish minutes at the 4 to start out the season, but after a few games of getting whooped with him there, I'm hoping it goes down to 5-10ish with Porter/Scott taking up the rest

Smith will definitely start with the way he ended the preseason

Not sure I love Smith against starting level PF's who can take him off the dribble along with all the switching he'd need to do, particularly if Simmons gets time at the 4, it's going to get nasty real quick.

Dark Faze wrote:Not sure I love Smith against starting level PF's who can take him off the dribble along with all the switching he'd need to do, particularly if Simmons gets time at the 4, it's going to get nasty real quick.

Simmons can't shoot, right? I expect Smith to give Simmons a ton of space on his jumper to make sure he doesn't drive. If Simmons decides to take 18-footers all night, so be it.

By the way, does anybody want to start an official game thread? If nobody does by 6:00 tomorrow, I'll just make this the game thread.

nate33 wrote:By the way, does anybody want to start an official game thread? If nobody does by 6:00 tomorrow, I'll just make this the game thread.

I started a few preseason game threads last year and the Wizards lost them all. We should, however, be looking ahead, as two of the most prolific game thread starters from last year (Pine and AFM) have been much lower activity of late. By all means posters, step up to the foul line and shoot. Starting a game thread doesn't really obligate you to much beyond that, and it's nice to see a variety of posters involved.

In before AFM posts about Smith's upcoming triple double.

tontoz wrote:In before AFM posts about Smith's upcoming triple double.

10 turnovers, 10 missed shots and 10 fouls?

nate33 wrote:

Dark Faze wrote:Not sure I love Smith against starting level PF's who can take him off the dribble along with all the switching he'd need to do, particularly if Simmons gets time at the 4, it's going to get nasty real quick.

Simmons can't shoot, right? I expect Smith to give Simmons a ton of space on his jumper to make sure he doesn't drive. If Simmons decides to take 18-footers all night, so be it.

Aside from him though there are quite a few 3/4's that can hit the jumpshot and have enough athleticism to blow by him.

Really wish we could test out Wall/Beal/Oubre/Porter/Smith for a game or two.

Dark Faze, I think it would be a good lineup.

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Dark Faze wrote:

nate33 wrote:

Dark Faze wrote:Not sure I love Smith against starting level PF's who can take him off the dribble along with all the switching he'd need to do, particularly if Simmons gets time at the 4, it's going to get nasty real quick.

Simmons can't shoot, right? I expect Smith to give Simmons a ton of space on his jumper to make sure he doesn't drive. If Simmons decides to take 18-footers all night, so be it.

Aside from him though there are quite a few 3/4's that can hit the jumpshot and have enough athleticism to blow by him.

Really wish we could test out Wall/Beal/Oubre/Porter/Smith for a game or two.

I agree that we're better off with Oubre in place of Smith. I'm not going to worry too much about the starting lineup though. As long as Oubre plays 28+ minutes, it doesn't really matter to me if he starts or not.

What I don't want to see is Oubre and Porter splitting all the minutes at SF, without Porter also spending some time at PF. Porter should play 33+ minutes. Oubre should play 30 or so. That leaves a total of 33 minutes at PF for Smith and Scott to split.

I'm really of the opinion that are very few centers that, as the last line of defense can provide much resistance against strong penetrating players.

I really think in todays NBA 90% of the defense is dependent on your 1-4 moving on a string, making good decisions on screens and bringing help fast enough/in the right moments.

Now the big concern is switching assignments with a center, but the solution is to just not switch. When Gortat switched onto good guards it was game over. There are very few guys that can switch onto a guard and be successful. It's an old argument since I made a thread about it and most agreed that we should start Gortat but I really think Smiths spacing would benefit the team more than Gortats defense.

Dark Faze wrote:I'm really of the opinion that are very few centers that, as the last line of defense can provide much resistance against strong penetrating players.

I really think in todays NBA 90% of the defense is dependent on your 1-4 moving on a string, making good decisions on screens and bringing help fast enough/in the right moments.

Now the big concern is switching assignments with a center, but the solution is to just not switch. When Gortat switched onto good guards it was game over. There are very few guys that can switch onto a guard and be successful. It's an old argument since I made a thread about it and most agreed that we should start Gortat but I really think Smiths spacing would benefit the team more than Gortats defense.

Although I do believe we should trot out Smith at C at times to give certain looks, I don't agree with replacing Gortat with Smith in our most effective lineups (Ex: Our "death" lineup last year with Wall/Beal/Porter/Oubre/Gortat). The Wall/Gortat PNR action was very effective because Gortat was a threat finishing in the paint - forcing the defense to collapse and bring help. And it should be even more effective this year with Wall improving his pull up game.

I'm the biggest Oubre fan there is but I am never in favor of starting your best bench guys unless it's a last resort. If you think Morris is going to be our starting 4 going fwd then I don't want Oubre to get used to starting and then him and the team has to adjust to him going back to the bench. Smith is foul happy at times anyways so Oubre will still come in early alot

zero2hero wrote:

Dark Faze wrote:I'm really of the opinion that are very few centers that, as the last line of defense can provide much resistance against strong penetrating players.

I really think in todays NBA 90% of the defense is dependent on your 1-4 moving on a string, making good decisions on screens and bringing help fast enough/in the right moments.

Now the big concern is switching assignments with a center, but the solution is to just not switch. When Gortat switched onto good guards it was game over. There are very few guys that can switch onto a guard and be successful. It's an old argument since I made a thread about it and most agreed that we should start Gortat but I really think Smiths spacing would benefit the team more than Gortats defense.

Although I do believe we should trot out Smith at C at times to give certain looks, I don't agree with replacing Gortat with Smith in our most effective lineups (Ex: Our "death" lineup last year with Wall/Beal/Porter/Oubre/Gortat). The Wall/Gortat PNR action was very effective because Gortat was a threat finishing in the paint - forcing the defense to collapse and bring help. And it should be even more effective this year with Wall improving his pull up game.

Giving up a Wall and Gortat pick and roll is basically a breakdown in the defense though these days. Because why wouldn't you go under the screen against Wall and why wouldn't you just back up to cut off the roll as the big man against Gortat who has limited range on the pick and pop?

dlts20 wrote:I'm the biggest Oubre fan there is but I am never in favor of starting your best bench guys unless it's a last resort. If you think Morris is going to be our starting 4 going fwd then I don't want Oubre to get used to starting and then him and the team has to adjust to him going back to the bench. Smith is foul happy at times anyways so Oubre will still come in early alot

I would not call Oubre our best bench guy. I would probably say that is Smith which is partly why our bench has been as bad as it is. I personally don't think Kieff should start. His defense sucks and he takes shots away from more efficient guys. The bench could use his first option mentality though.

Kill me now

Also: Candace Buckner is horrendous. I miss Jorge

Dark Faze wrote:

nate33 wrote:

Dark Faze wrote:Not sure I love Smith against starting level PF's who can take him off the dribble along with all the switching he'd need to do, particularly if Simmons gets time at the 4, it's going to get nasty real quick.

Simmons can't shoot, right? I expect Smith to give Simmons a ton of space on his jumper to make sure he doesn't drive. If Simmons decides to take 18-footers all night, so be it.

Really wish we could test out Wall/Beal/Oubre/Porter/Smith for a game or two.

Polish mafia have way.