Game 34: Washington Wizards (10-23) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (14-21) - 7:00 PM ET

[gambitx777]

We have a lot of good young bigs give them time. They all got hurt and they are all on the way back.

Honestly for a team that is missing Beal, Bertans, Rui, Wagner, Bryant, and Wall, this team’s willingness to play hard impresses me.

What our ability to keep McRea, AP, Payton, and Matthews next year? No idea what type of contracts we have them on. Someone mind filling me in

I’d be cool to role with next year:

Wall-Ish-Payton
Beal-McRea
TBJ-Matthews-Admiral
Rui-Wagner
Bryant-AP

Add a high pick to that and a couple scrappy veterans that and that’s interesting team. Would love to keep
Bertans but you gotta believe he’s going to command cap killing money.

That does not look like a winning team . Need frontcourt defense

Give me Isaac Okoro at SF, Derrick Favors at starting C with Nerlens Noel off the bench and it looks much better

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using RealGM mobile app

[Illmatic12]

Honestly for a team that is missing Beal, Bertans, Rui, Wagner, Bryant, and Wall, this team’s willingness to play hard impresses me.

What our ability to keep McRea, AP, Payton, and Matthews next year? No idea what type of contracts we have them on. Someone mind filling me in

I’d be cool to role with next year:

Wall-Ish-Payton
Beal-McRea
TBJ-Matthews-Admiral
Rui-Wagner
Bryant-AP

Add a high pick to that and a couple scrappy veterans that and that’s interesting team. Would love to keep
Bertans but you gotta believe he’s going to command cap killing money.

That does not look like a winning team . Need frontcourt defense

Give me Isaac Okoro at SF, Derrick Favors at starting C with Nerlens Noel off the bench and it looks much better

I think Favor's knees are shot. I wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole.

Utah could afford to load manage him, but now that he is the starting center in New Orleans, his fragility is evident.

Noel I like.

Nah nate Favors missed those games due to bereavement of his mother , it was personal not anything related to his knees.

When he was out the Pelicans defense was as bad as ours.. as soon as he came back in they shot up to #1 defense over the last 5 games. So the impact he’s providing for NOP is exactly what we need a starting center to do for us

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28394256/pelicans-change-d-helps-turn-back-rockets-extend-streak

In the past six games, New Orleans has the league's third-best defensive rating. Some of that can be attributed to having center Derrick Favors back to full strength. The Pelicans also started dropping their bigs in pick-and-roll situations and have started forcing teams into tougher shots.

[Illmatic12]

We have a lot of good young bigs give them time. They all got hurt and they are all on the way back.

Honestly for a team that is missing Beal, Bertans, Rui, Wagner, Bryant, and Wall, this team’s willingness to play hard impresses me.

What our ability to keep McRea, AP, Payton, and Matthews next year? No idea what type of contracts we have them on. Someone mind filling me in

I’d be cool to role with next year:

Wall-Ish-Payton
Beal-McRea
TBJ-Matthews-Admiral
Rui-Wagner
Bryant-AP

Add a high pick to that and a couple scrappy veterans that and that’s interesting team. Would love to keep
Bertans but you gotta believe he’s going to command cap killing money.

That does not look like a winning team . Need frontcourt defense

Give me Isaac Okoro at SF, Derrick Favors at starting C with Nerlens Noel off the bench and it looks much better

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using RealGM mobile app

But young bigs generally cant play help defense , that’s the problem .

We need a veteran defensive anchor to start at C and the young guys can work in off the bench.

Wall/Ish/Payton Jr
Beal/McRae/Mathews
Okoro/Bertans/Admiral
Rui/Wagner/Bonga
Favors/Noel

That looks more like a playoff roster in the East. We can put out multiple lineups with creators, shooters and active team defenders. (And if you didn’t notice , I removed TBJ and TB from the roster because I don’t believe either of them are long for DC)

[DCZards]

But young bigs generally cant play help defense , that’s the problem .

We need a veteran defensive anchor to start at C and the young guys can work in off the bench.

Wall/Ish/Payton Jr
Beal/McRae/Mathews
Okoro/Bertans/Admiral
Rui/Wagner/Bonga
Favors/Noel

That looks more like a playoff roster in the East. We can put out multiple lineups with creators, shooters and active team defenders. (And if you didn’t notice , I removed TBJ and TB from the roster because I don’t believe either of them are long for DC)

Why would you not include TBJ and TB on the roster? What makes you think they are not long for DC? Both TB's are young guys with upside on good contracts. Those are the kind of pieces you need in a rebuild...even if they turn out to be bench players.

I'm not all that interested in Favors. But I like the idea of adding Noel. I'd have Noel around for his D and rebounding and Bryant for his offense. I'm all in for improving the rebounding and interior defense.

I'm not sold on Payton Jr. He does some good things, especially on D, but he's a self-check on offense...teams lay off of him and dare him to shoot, which he doesn't do very well. And he also doesn't look to attack the basket when the ball is in his hands. Maybe Payton will work as a third PG but I'm not convinced that Justin Robinson might not turn out to be a better option with his superior skills as a playmaker and distributor. Robinson also already appears to be a better 3 pt shooter than Payton.

[WallToWall]

Honestly for a team that is missing Beal, Bertans, Rui, Wagner, Bryant, and Wall, this team’s willingness to play hard impresses me.

Absolutely. Its hard to not like a team this young that plays hard, unselfishly moves the ball, and shoots 3's with accuracy.
Get some good defensive play from the bigs, and we got ourselves a retooled team!

[TheBabyMaker]

4 positives from this game

Beal did not play

IT Ejected

Rui in the building.

Another loss ?

I don't think we score 90 points vs Denver Tomorrow. Its McRae and Mathews show with a little Ish.

[Eli Babak]

Disgusting to see the crowd cheering for Melo. Wtf?

IT should be waived. He sucks, he has no future here and is simply a waste of a roster spot. No team is trading a 2nd for him - maybe a top-55 protected if you're lucky. (I know that's not happening but it hurts to see a guy getting big minutes just because of his reputation. At least he's a very good tank commander with Brooks...)

[Ruzious]

IT something wrong with this guy, a veteran knows you can’t do that. Disturbing. This and going into crowd, we need to part ways.

On the bright side we may have a chance tonight.

I have absolutely no problem with what IT did in both situations. Having said that, he's not a good player and probably should be released. But the ejection last night was ridiculous. He was tied up and got off-balance and made some harmless contact with the official. I know it's important to protect refs, but come on. That was sad.

[nate33]

Nah nate Favors missed those games due to bereavement of his mother , it was personal not anything related to his knees.

When he was out the Pelicans defense was as bad as ours.. as soon as he came back in they shot up to #1 defense over the last 5 games. So the impact he’s providing for NOP is exactly what we need a starting center to do for us

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28394256/pelicans-change-d-helps-turn-back-rockets-extend-streak

In the past six games, New Orleans has the league's third-best defensive rating. Some of that can be attributed to having center Derrick Favors back to full strength. The Pelicans also started dropping their bigs in pick-and-roll situations and have started forcing teams into tougher shots.

I'm not saying Favors isn't good. I'm just skeptical of his durability. The guy has only played 2000 minutes once in the last 4 years and he won't do it this year either.

[nate33]

IT something wrong with this guy, a veteran knows you can’t do that. Disturbing. This and going into crowd, we need to part ways.

On the bright side we may have a chance tonight.

I have absolutely no problem with what IT did in both situations. Having said that, he's not a good player and probably should be released. But the ejection last night was ridiculous. He was tied up and got off-balance and made some harmless contact with the official. I know it's important to protect refs, but come on. That was sad.

I don't think IT was pushed into the ref. He reached his hand out deliberately. He certainly didn't mean to shove the ref or anything, but he put his hand on him to get his attention. I understand why he had to be thrown out - you don't touch the ref.

I agree that IT's intentions were good in both situations. But I can see why the league had to follow the letter of the law in both cases and eject him.

[PDXKnight]

Washington will get a nice draft pick this year, kinda hope Portland does the same!

[nate33]

Honestly for a team that is missing Beal, Bertans, Rui, Wagner, Bryant, and Wall, this team’s willingness to play hard impresses me.

Absolutely. Its hard to not like a team this young that plays hard, unselfishly moves the ball, and shoots 3's with accuracy.
Get some good defensive play from the bigs, and we got ourselves a retooled team!

Seeing Mathews and McRae fill in for Beal so nicely is making more willing to trade Beal.

Imagine if the PF in our lineup last night was Ben Simmons instead of Jonathan Williams. Then add a healthy Davis Bertans at SF. Even with our young centers out and with Wall out, that team would be respectable:

PG Payton/Ish
SG McRae/Mathews
SF Bertans/Brown
PF Simmons
C Mahinmi

Simmons would be the PG on offense with the starting unit. Ish runs the offense when Simmons sits. Mathews and Bertans space the floor. McRae and Brown are the secondary ball-handlers and do-everything utility players. Mahinmi and Simmons combine to anchor what should be a very good defense (if they get the time and coaching to develop some chemistry). Payton gives you some defensive energy to start the halves before Ish replaces him and provides more offense.

Ultimately, Bryant would come back and either play on the second unit or start. Hachimura is the backup PF. Wall eventually replaces Payton.

[closg00]

Admiral has been terrible, bricking shots often, I think he shot decently exactly one game....dunno if it's a coaching issue

Matthews needs to be playing starter minutes or more minutes

[dobrojim]

IT just pushed the ref 90 seconds into the game, lol. Bye

It wasn't clear to me that IT deliberately attacked the ref.
It seemed possible that he simply lost his balance. No matter really.
I still expect he'll be fined.

PS - TBJ...IDK, he's still really young I guess but in a game like this
where he's got a wide open opportunity to make a positive impact
given all the missing players he comes up meh. I don't think he's
horrible or anything but it's not clear where he'll end up from a
value aspect.

[Kanyewest]

I think the push was intentional but it may have also been caused by the refs lack of spatial awareness since he is supposed to be out of bounds and he wasn't.

[payitforward]

But young bigs generally cant play help defense , that’s the problem .

We need a veteran defensive anchor to start at C and the young guys can work in off the bench.

Wall/Ish/Payton Jr
Beal/McRae/Mathews
Okoro/Bertans/Admiral
Rui/Wagner/Bonga
Favors/Noel

That looks more like a playoff roster in the East. We can put out multiple lineups with creators, shooters and active team defenders. (And if you didn’t notice , I removed TBJ and TB from the roster because I don’t believe either of them are long for DC)

Why would you not include TBJ and TB on the roster? What makes you think they are not long for DC? Both TB's are young guys with upside on good contracts. Those are the kind of pieces you need in a rebuild...even if they turn out to be bench players.

I'm not all that interested in Favors. But I like the idea of adding Noel. I'd have Noel around for his D and rebounding and Bryant for his offense. I'm all in for improving the rebounding and interior defense.

I'm not sold on Payton Jr. He does some good things, especially on D, but he's a self-check on offense...teams lay off of him and dare him to shoot, which he doesn't do very well. And he also doesn't look to attack the basket when the ball is in his hands. Maybe Payton will work as a third PG but I'm not convinced that Justin Robinson might not turn out to be a better option with his superior skills as a playmaker and distributor. Robinson also already appears to be a better 3 pt shooter than Payton.

I'm with Zards on all this. You just cut from the fold the 2 best young players we have. Moreover, your roster doesn't look like a playoff team to me.

GPII (*not* "Jr" btw) is a gadget player. Last year & again this year he came in & excelled in his first couple of games. Leave it at that.

Noel is a useful guy to have around, for sure. Okoro is an unknown in every way -- above all that he'd become a Wizard. Beyond that your roster is all guys we have now plus Favors. He's had a very good NBA career, & he's still good. But, no one in his right mind would either give a lot for him at this point in his career or imagine that they are building the future of a team around him.

Right now our two most important future-facing assets are Thomas Bryant & Troy Brown, both of whom you give away (presumably in the acquisition of Favors & Noel? -- but how doesn't matter).

OTOH, you've got Rui Hachimura as your starting 4. Only... Rui has shown next to nothing so far. On top of that, you've got guys in key places based on wishful thinking (Ish, McRae, Bertans, Wagner). Ish is a late-career journeyman. McRae is a guy who's scrapped to hold on & is having a career season (good for him! But... lets not count on him as central). Wagner has had a few good games.

I've loved Bertans' run at a high level as much as anyone. But, he's returning to the mean in a big hurry, & how surprising is that? Remember Rasual Butler?

It's great fun to watch Mathews, & I'll remind you that I've been trumpeting him since we signed him undrafted. But, he's played a total of under 200 minutes.

We are rebuilding; there are no clever moves that will -- boom! -- transform us into a good team. Both Brown & Bryant have been excellent surprises so far. Let's let them develop rather than assume that long-shots/miracles will make them unneeded.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Honestly for a team that is missing Beal, Bertans, Rui, Wagner, Bryant, and Wall, this team’s willingness to play hard impresses me.

Absolutely. Its hard to not like a team this young that plays hard, unselfishly moves the ball, and shoots 3's with accuracy.
Get some good defensive play from the bigs, and we got ourselves a retooled team!

Seeing Mathews and McRae fill in for Beal so nicely is making more willing to trade Beal.

Imagine if the PF in our lineup last night was Ben Simmons instead of Jonathan Williams. Then add a healthy Davis Bertans at SF. Even with our young centers out and with Wall out, that team would be respectable:

PG Payton/Ish
SG McRae/Mathews
SF Bertans/Brown
PF Simmons
C Mahinmi

Simmons would be the PG on offense with the starting unit. Ish runs the offense when Simmons sits. Mathews and Bertans space the floor. McRae and Brown are the secondary ball-handlers and do-everything utility players. Mahinmi and Simmons combine to anchor what should be a very good defense (if they get the time and coaching to develop some chemistry). Payton gives you some defensive energy to start the halves before Ish replaces him and provides more offense.

Ultimately, Bryant would come back and either play on the second unit or start. Hachimura is the backup PF. Wall eventually replaces Payton.

Nate, don’t dive off the deep end with Beal because he’s had a chucker month. Can this team get over the Simmons love?

[nate33]

Nate, don’t dive off the deep end with Beal because he’s had a chucker month. Can this team get over the Simmons love?

It's not like I'm giving Beal away. I'm trading him for a 23-year-old #1 overall pick who made the All-Star Game in his second season. I think the Simmons haters are too focused on offense and don't realize how disruptive he is defensively.

It's also important to note that Simmons is playing on a team totally unsuited for his talents, and with a terrible coach. I think he's the kind of player that, if given the right change of scenery, people will wonder how in the heck Philly gave him away for just Beal.

[Ruzious]

I think the push was intentional but it may have also been caused by the refs lack of spatial awareness since he is supposed to be out of bounds and he wasn't.

Right - it's the same concept - to an extent - that players are allowed a path to move on the court. Part of the problem is NBA arenas don't have enough out of bounds space, because owners are jamming fans so close to the action.