Wizards Off-season Thread (2018)

[BigA]

Quick clarification question: my understanding is that the Wizards could still theoretically make some move by the end of the league year June 30 to get under the lux tax for 2017-2018, but this is unlikely. Is that correct? Thanks.

[trast66]

Quick clarification question: my understanding is that the Wizards could still theoretically make some move by the end of the league year June 30 to get under the lux tax for 2017-2018, but this is unlikely. Is that correct? Thanks.

Right, we have until June 30. I thought trade deadline was it, but FAH said June 30 and that’s correct.

I think we will try get under tax, just what draft pick and contract outgoing. I believe it will be Smith and the first, but most on here think Smith only needs the 2nd attached to dump. Maybe someone wants Gortat or Morris and the 2nd, but don’t think a big enough sucker out there and they seem to want to keep Morris anyway. Ian is untradeable.

[Wizardspride]

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[nate33]

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Beal was better last year than he was this year.

[DCZards]

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Beal was better last year than he was this year.

Yes, Wall (I meant Beal) was better last year...if you only judge a player by numbers and ignore the changes in their role and the team that surrounds them.

[nate33]

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Beal was better last year than he was this year.

Yes, Wall was better last year. If you only judge a player by numbers and ignore the changes in their role and teammates.

One can argue that Beal was better this year than last due to his changed role. I'd disagree, but it's a plausible argument. But I don't see how Candice Buckner can possible characterize this year as a "career leap" for Beal. He had a marginal improvement in rebounds and assists. He was worse at literally everything else. He took an extra two shots and nearly an extra turnover per 100 possessions to score 2 LESS points. He didn't even score as much last year despite playing more minutes.

And I didn't even bring up the tragically awful clutch time performances.

[thinker07]

Kieff had a better year this year than last. Porter also had an outstanding year. There is no such thing as having "enough talent to do much better." Every fan thinks his team is better than it is. Your record is how good you are, period. Also, every team has injuries. Finally, trading Gortat would be pure subtraction, not addition by subtraction, unless you have in mind someone other than Mahinmi to pick up his minutes.

Thanks for reminding me why it makes no sense to post here. You should just have a blog. You are always a d*ck. Because i know how nasty you get I tried to post very positively and make a nuanced argument. You just reply - essentially - youre wrong, I'm right, stop being stupid.

[DCZards]

One can argue that Beal was better this year than last due to his changed role. I'd disagree, but it's a plausible argument. But I don't see how Candice Buckner can possible characterize this year as a "career leap" for Beal. He had a marginal improvement in rebounds and assists. He was worse at literally everything else. He took an extra two shots and nearly an extra turnover per 100 possessions to score 2 LESS points. He didn't even score as much last year despite playing more minutes.

And I didn't even bring up the tragically awful clutch time performances.

I also wouldn't call this a "career year" for Beal. I'm hoping that's yet to come. I'd argue that those extra shots and extra turnovers you point to were the direct result of the new and different role that Beal was asked to play with Wall missing 41 games. And there's no doubt, at least in my mind, that Wall's absence was a major reason for the downtick in Beal's scoring.

With Wall out and no other Zards backcourt player presenting much of a scoring threat, opponents were able to dial up the defensive pressure on Beal with double and, sometimes, triple teams.

Now about those clutch performances...no doubt Beal has to get a LOT better in that area.

[dckingsfan]

With regards to Beal - I think he proved that he needs to either be the 2nd or preferably the 3rd option on offense.

Also, playing so many minutes definitely hurt his D (which still seems to have improved statistically), so there is that.

[pcbothwel]

Quick clarification question: my understanding is that the Wizards could still theoretically make some move by the end of the league year June 30 to get under the lux tax for 2017-2018, but this is unlikely. Is that correct? Thanks.

Right, we have until June 30. I thought trade deadline was it, but FAH said June 30 and that’s correct.

I think we will try get under tax, just what draft pick and contract outgoing. I believe it will be Smith and the first, but most on here think Smith only needs the 2nd attached to dump. Maybe someone wants Gortat or Morris and the 2nd, but don’t think a big enough sucker out there and they seem to want to keep Morris anyway. Ian is untradeable.

No draft pick will need to be attached. We have up to 5.2M in cash to send in a trade. By the trade deadline, Smith will be owed only half his remaining salary for about 2.6M. Meeks will be owed about 1.6M. So we have enough cash to send along with them to any team with cap space. Hell, we can throw in another 400k for each of them so our trade partner not only gets a player for free, but actually gets paid to have them on team.

Keep in mind, this assumes both players are dead weight. Both have shown to be elite shooters from time to time, so if one catches fire going into the deadline, we might not have to give up cash.

[NatP4]

We need to get one of these Draymond Greens, he's dominated this game with his rebounding, passing, and most importantly, his rim protecting. Probably forced 10-15 misses at the rim without fouling. He might be the best leader/competitor in the entire NBA, only guy that keeps GS accountable and playing the right way for the entire 48 minutes.

he's literally been the difference between the two best teams in the NBA so far.

[nate33]

We need to get one of these Draymond Greens, he's dominated this game with his rebounding, passing, and most importantly, his rim protecting. Probably forced 10-15 misses at the rim without fouling. He might be the best leader/competitor in the entire NBA, only guy that keeps GS accountable and playing the right way for the entire 48 minutes.

he's literally been the difference between the two best teams in the NBA so far.

What struck me was that the Warriors went on a nice run in the 4th quarter with Curry out of the game. They had a lineup of Green, Durant, Iggy, Klay and Livingston. No defensive weaknesses. There was no switch that Houston could instigate that gave them any advantage.

[NatP4]

We need to get one of these Draymond Greens, he's dominated this game with his rebounding, passing, and most importantly, his rim protecting. Probably forced 10-15 misses at the rim without fouling. He might be the best leader/competitor in the entire NBA, only guy that keeps GS accountable and playing the right way for the entire 48 minutes.

he's literally been the difference between the two best teams in the NBA so far.

What struck me was that the Warriors went on a nice run in the 4th quarter with Curry out of the game. They had a lineup of Green, Durant, Iggy, Klay and Livingston. No defensive weaknesses. There was no switch that Houston could instigate that gave them any advantage.

Yeah noticed that also, the rockets had no clue what to do on offense. Turned into Eric Gordon trying to YOLO iso against Iggy with zero success.

Watching that game makes you realize just how far away the wizards are from being a championship level contender in terms of just commitment to winning and compete level.

[NatP4]

Steve Kerr was also ridiculously good with his rotation/personnel decisions. Has a great feel for when to leave his top guys in or get them some rest, isn’t afraid to play some whacky lineups when necessary.

His rotations fit PERFECTLY with the gameplan of switching literally everything on defense. Maybe it’s jist having the greatest roster in basketball history, idk.

[80sballboy]

Dreadful performance by Houston on offense, going iso everytime with Harden. I don't care if he gets 40. It was a shallow 40 and he gave up almost as much on the defensive end. He did so much dribbling on offense he had no energy on D. Hmm, sounds familiar. Great coaching from Kerr on the defensive end. They switched everything.

[NatP4]

Dreadful performance by Houston on offense, going iso everytime with Harden. I don't care if he gets 40. It was a shallow 40 and he gave up almost as much on the defensive end. He did so much dribbling on offense he had no energy on D. Hmm, sounds familiar. Great coaching from Kerr on the defensive end. They switched everything.

totally agree, Harden was completely useless on the defensive end. Had to work extremely hard on offense and Houston still didn't get very good looks.

not only did GS force Harden and CP3 to use tons of energy forcing a switch and going one on one, they had the rim protection behind it with Draymond just swallowing up every single layup attempt.

[nate33]

Dreadful performance by Houston on offense, going iso everytime with Harden. I don't care if he gets 40. It was a shallow 40 and he gave up almost as much on the defensive end. He did so much dribbling on offense he had no energy on D. Hmm, sounds familiar. Great coaching from Kerr on the defensive end. They switched everything.

I think Kerr baited him into it.

In the 1st quarter, Harden looked great. His step-back 3 was going in every time and Houston was up 9 points early. On nearly every play, Houston ran a half-hearted high screen to switch Durant off of Harden and get either Curry or Looney onto him. Golden State didn't even seem to care to fight through the pick and try and keep the better defender on Harden. They just let Houston force the switch and allowed Curry/Looney to defend Harden on island. At first, I couldn't understand why Golden State didn't change things up, but then I realized that Kerr figured that this isolation strategy couldn't possibly work for 48 minutes. Harden couldn't make them all, and meanwhile, he was freezing out his teammates, preventing them from getting into any rhythm.

Kerr was right. Harden got tired, Houston's offense stagnated, and Golden State just kept on coming on the other end of the floor. And then, in the 4th quarter when Kerr put in the switch-everything lineup, Houston had no answer.

[DCZards]

Harden does need to play differently. Can’t dominate the ball for 20 plus seconds…makes it too easy for an excellent Warrior defense to defend them. He needs to go back to being the kind of ball distributor he was the year before Paul got there.

But let’s face it. It’s not about what Harden did or didn’t do…or even what Kerr and the Warriors did or didn’t do. At the end of the day it comes down to talent. And the Warriors have more of it, especially on the offensive end.

They have the best scorer in the game (Durant); the best shooter in the game (Curry); maybe the best all-around player in the game (Green); and their fourth all-star (Thompson) shot the lights out last night, which he is capable of doing on any given night.

On top of that, what makes the Ws particularly scary is that they move the ball and play unselfishly.

Before the playoffs began, I thought the Rockets would win this series. But after watching the playoffs to this point and last night’s game I don’t see how they (or anyone) are going to beat this Warriors team.

[BigA]

Quick clarification question: my understanding is that the Wizards could still theoretically make some move by the end of the league year June 30 to get under the lux tax for 2017-2018, but this is unlikely. Is that correct? Thanks.

Right, we have until June 30. I thought trade deadline was it, but FAH said June 30 and that’s correct.

I think we will try get under tax, just what draft pick and contract outgoing. I believe it will be Smith and the first, but most on here think Smith only needs the 2nd attached to dump. Maybe someone wants Gortat or Morris and the 2nd, but don’t think a big enough sucker out there and they seem to want to keep Morris anyway. Ian is untradeable.

No draft pick will need to be attached. We have up to 5.2M in cash to send in a trade. By the trade deadline, Smith will be owed only half his remaining salary for about 2.6M. Meeks will be owed about 1.6M. So we have enough cash to send along with them to any team with cap space. Hell, we can throw in another 400k for each of them so our trade partner not only gets a player for free, but actually gets paid to have them on team.

Keep in mind, this assumes both players are dead weight. Both have shown to be elite shooters from time to time, so if one catches fire going into the deadline, we might not have to give up cash.

pcbothwel--Think you are talking about 2018-2019 here? I was more interested in 2017-2018, but this is also useful to consider. If it looks like the Wizards are going to have to pay the tax at some point in the next few years, are they better off giving up more assets to avoid it in 2017-2018?

[payitforward]

Kieff had a better year this year than last. Porter also had an outstanding year. There is no such thing as having "enough talent to do much better." Every fan thinks his team is better than it is. Your record is how good you are, period. Also, every team has injuries. Finally, trading Gortat would be pure subtraction, not addition by subtraction, unless you have in mind someone other than Mahinmi to pick up his minutes.

Thanks for reminding me why it makes no sense to post here. You should just have a blog. You are always a d*ck. Because i know how nasty you get I tried to post very positively and make a nuanced argument. You just reply - essentially - youre wrong, I'm right, stop being stupid.

You don't want to post here, don't post here. But don't blame it on me. After all, I didn't call you any names, did I? But you called me one. I didn't say you were "stupid" either, as you claim -- did I? But you just called me "nasty."

You didn't include your "nuanced argument," so I can't respond to it again. But I don't see anything even slightly "nasty" in what you quote back from me. I said kieff was better this year than last: is that nasty? I said Porter was outstanding: is that nasty?

As to "talent," come on man. You're telling me it's not true that "every fan thinks his team is better than it is"?

Gortat's numbers are declining, no doubt about it. But they are still not bad. & if you trade him, how can that be "addition by subtraction," as you put it? You have to replace him. If Mahinmi is the replacement, then yeah trading Gortat is subtraction w/ no addition involved.

IOW, what are you complaining about? Or, better, stop complaining & post more often.