GT #25: Rockets @ Bullets 7 PM (NBCSW/1500 AM) - Welcome home, John Wall!

[TheNG]

Avdija... what were you doing? I know it doesn't matter, but we're trying to run the clock out, and he falls asleep letting the ball go out of bounds and with 2 seconds left and a big lead, he tries to steal the ball and fouls the guy. He really pissed Beal off - who's yelling at him.

Yeah, that was really weird.

It was weird that Hachimura decided to pass to Avdija at all.

[nir2610]

Avdija... what were you doing? I know it doesn't matter, but we're trying to run the clock out, and he falls asleep letting the ball go out of bounds and with 2 seconds left and a big lead, he tries to steal the ball and fouls the guy. He really pissed Beal off - who's yelling at him.

1- Deni clapped his hands .
2- who's passing the ball 3 seconds befroe the time runs out when you are leading by 14 pts??
3-known fact . a player that holds the ball when the game is over is like he lost the ball. it's registered as a negative data and for the long term this kind of things can hurt the player when teams give him a contract by the data ... more lose balls means less money .
most young players knows it and Hachi tried to pass the ball to Deni ... the rest is history

[queridiculo]

Great hassle by Mo Swag!!

Can’t understand why Tommy did not pick up his 4th year option.

His option year was for $3.9M.

It's possible that they think he'll cost less. They may be right. There is still a glut of centers in this league.

He's a RFA right?

[queridiculo]

Is there any doubt this team would be at least a .500 ballclub with John?

This is what happens when the owner's son makes roster decisions.

That was all Ted and maybe they would have been close to .500, but remember, John has missed a ton of games thus far. He's not playing in the second of back-to-backs and wouldn't have done here.

Westbrook played his first back to back today, so...

[queridiculo]

Does anyone really think the only problem with Westbrook is his shot selection? Lol. He doesn't finish at the rim anywhere near as well as he use to.

I don't think he's mentally checked in this year. We saw what he's capable of vs the Nets so clearly he's not completely washed. But who knows.

Blind squirrel, meet nut.

We're just going to ignore his full body of work this season and act like the one statistical outlier is the norm?

Westbrook is just terrible out there on offensive.

5 turnovers and missed 14 shots, those empty possessions are what losses are made out of.

[queridiculo]

Kind of a typical game from Wall and Beal - well, a little better than average for both.

Wall had 29, 3 and 11, but with a TS% just below .500 and 4 turnovers. Lots of good stuff, but a little too much bad stuff.

Beal had 37, 7 and 3, but with a TS% of .672. and 3 turnovers. A high scoring, stat stuffing, efficient night.

Wall is miscast in the role of the top gun, nothing new here, but if you've watched him during their run earlier in the season you can tell that he's perfectly fine with setting his ego aside to run an offense and set his teammates up.

Not something you can say for Westbrook.

Swap those two tonight and this would have been an embarrassing loss for the Rockets.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Without fans in the arena, Wall's return didn't have all that much drama, although he showed quite a bit of the Wall of old. What a sloppy game overall, but Wagner and Bertans made it pretty satisfying.

Lopez had a pretty good game too. I was disappointed with his signing (really, the size fo the contract) but I have to admit that the rotation of Lopez, Wagner and Len is a pretty good recovery from losing Bryant.

Just got into the thread and read through, and +1ed all those Westbrook comments. I remember when Arenas would just bomb with like 20 seconds left on shot clock as if he was the only one on the team. It would drive me crazy, but at least he could shoot.

Westbrook kind of reminds me of Iverson later in his career, having lost a lot of his electricity and unable to make adjustments to his game to compensate, just keeps trying to do the same things as if it will magically change. Maybe that makes him the perfect Wizard. Can't fault his effort, he goes all out and seems like a nice guy too, but man is he hard to watch.

Our three centers will have to deal with Jokic for two games. They’ll also have to deal with both LA teams. I expect Brooks won’t be flexible enough to try all three centers.

Westbrook is a lot like Iverson, the Denver Nuggets Allen Iverson who was way past his prime.

[Ruzious]

Avdija... what were you doing? I know it doesn't matter, but we're trying to run the clock out, and he falls asleep letting the ball go out of bounds and with 2 seconds left and a big lead, he tries to steal the ball and fouls the guy. He really pissed Beal off - who's yelling at him.

1- Deni clapped his hands .
2- who's passing the ball 3 seconds befroe the time runs out when you are leading by 14 pts??
3-known fact . a player that holds the ball when the game is over is like he lost the ball. it's registered as a negative data and for the long term this kind of things can hurt the player when teams give him a contract by the data ... more lose balls means less money .
most young players knows it and Hachi tried to pass the ball to Deni ... the rest is history

Even if you really buy that, it was a complete dufus move to try for the steal and end up fouling the guy with 1.2 seconds left with a big lead. There's no getting around the fact that Deni made himself look a fool.

[Ruzious]

Great hassle by Mo Swag!!

Can’t understand why Tommy did not pick up his 4th year option.

His option year was for $3.9M.

It's possible that they think he'll cost less. They may be right. There is still a glut of centers in this league.

He's a RFA right?

No, he'll be a UFA because they didn't guarantee his 4th year.

[queridiculo]

His option year was for $3.9M.

It's possible that they think he'll cost less. They may be right. There is still a glut of centers in this league.

He's a RFA right?

No, he'll be a UFA because they didn't guarantee his 4th year.

That's bad business.

[nate33]

Great hassle by Mo Swag!!

Can’t understand why Tommy did not pick up his 4th year option.

His option year was for $3.9M.

It's possible that they think he'll cost less. They may be right. There is still a glut of centers in this league.

He's a RFA right?

No. By denying the option, they lost RFA rights.

The do have Bird Rights, though I seriously doubt that will come into play.

[nate33]

Westbrook is a lot like Iverson, the Denver Nuggets Allen Iverson who was way past his prime.

I wish Westbrook was as good as Nuggets Iverson. Iverson had some of his most efficient seasons there. He cut back his FGA's and turnovers big time. He didn't really fall off until his last two seasons in Detroit and Philly

[dobrojim]

I've been ragging on Westbrook a lot lately. I'll cool it a little in future games. I just want some of his J's to turn into passes. If he shot 10 shots less, and instead passed the ball, the teams efficiency could go up, and he may get more assists and/or rebounds. For all the smarts he has, and the veteran leadership he may bring, I am at a loss as to why he cant make this adjustment to his game.

When Russ was in his prime you could kinda live with those ill-advised jumpers because you knew that on the next possession he’d be flying down court and jamming the ball in someone’s face.

Now that he’s lost a lot of that speed and explosion, he’s settling for far too many of those jumpers and attacking the rim a lot less than he once did. That’s a bad formula.

Westbrook could still very well eventually make some adjustments to his game...once it sets in that father time is undefeated and those adjustments are a must if he’s going to help his team win---and prolong his career. Russ was ballin’ his arse off last year at this time so he’s probably still having visions of what he was capable of doing just a short time ago.

On the other hand, let’s not overlook or discount the value of what Westbrook does do to help this team win. He did have 13 rebs & 15 assists.

It does seem gratuitous to complain about selfishness in a guy who
get a lot of assists. OTOH, there’s no excuse for a lot of those possessions
where he just dribbles around (point guard college calls this p-dribbling),
never passes the ball and just jacks a bad shot. That’s got to be disheartening
to his teammates. Even before he came to us I can remember one game
in particular where he was having a horrible shooting game but kept jacking
and cost his team a winnable game.

Edit to add - it’s also weird how often RW makes a really bad pass
that has no chance of getting to its intended target, the kind of
pass mediocre inexperienced HS players make.

[smoothSeph]

Does anyone really think the only problem with Westbrook is his shot selection? Lol. He doesn't finish at the rim anywhere near as well as he use to.

I don't think he's mentally checked in this year. We saw what he's capable of vs the Nets so clearly he's not completely washed. But who knows.

Blind squirrel, meet nut.

We're just going to ignore his full body of work this season and act like the one statistical outlier is the norm?

Westbrook is just terrible out there on offensive.

5 turnovers and missed 14 shots, those empty possessions are what losses are made out of.

Who said anything about norm? I thought I made it clear it was one game.

We all know how bad Russ has been, but it is interesting his most complete game of the season came playing against KD.

[nate33]

We all know how bad Russ has been, but it is interesting his most complete game of the season came playing against KD.

Having Kyrie guard him may have had something to do with it.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

He's a RFA right?

No, he'll be a UFA because they didn't guarantee his 4th year.

That's bad business.

I think Moritz Wagner will earn a good deal somewhere. The Celtics have Theis (currently) as their C. The Heat have Bam but no depth unless Olynyk counts as a C.

Wagner will be rewarded.