2021 Offseason & Offseason Grades

[prime1time]

How good would the Wizards be if instead of having Westbrook we had CP3?

[gambitx777]

How good would the Wizards be if instead of having Westbrook we had CP3?

Not much better. Cu brook would still lose us games.

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[payitforward]

How good would the Wizards be if instead of having Westbrook we had CP3?

Pretty much any team in the history of basketball would be improved if Chris Paul were their starting PG, replacing whoever.

No surprise since he is pretty much the best PG in the history of the game & one of the best handful of players at any position ever.

[FAH1223]

How good would the Wizards be if instead of having Westbrook we had CP3?

Not much better. Cu brook would still lose us games.

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CP3 is good enough to overcome bad coaching

Bullets would have won 40 games this year with CP3.

[payitforward]

We'd have won a few more games. Of course.

But, let's not use this as a way to critique Russell Westbrook. He has his flaws, but he is a tremendous player, & he had a really good season.

Above all, he came back from an off year, & he showed that he was still an extremely good NBA player -- one of the top dozen PGs in the league, say.

[bsilver]

Super-radical, bsilver! About time someone took that approach, I'd say. I do see some problems all the same!

RJ Barrett -- on what basis do you project him to be a particularly good player in the NBA? He wasn't good at Duke, he wasn't good as a rookie, & although he certainly improved this year, he wasn't to the point where he was actually good -- not by any reasonable definition.

He may get there, of course! I'm not writing off a young kid like that! But, it's speculative, & Beal for him & a few picks doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Unfortunately, the Knicks don't have a lot to trade. They only have 4 guys w/ guaranteed contracts for the coming season.

Spencer Dinwiddie -- he's coming off an ACL injury, & he has an option he can pick up for $12.3m next season. Dinwiddie is an exceptionally smart, financially sophisticated individual. I don't think he'll decline that option. Which means we can't just "sign him." Hmmm, I wonder if Brooklyn would move him for Bertans? Especially if they don't make it to the NBA Finals?

Bryant -- I agree. Hold on to him.

Neto -- I agree. if he can be had cheap, he's too much of a bargain to pass up.

Mathews -- he was terrific the first half of the season. Then Brooks started doing the full Troy Brown on him, & he slid. Mathews can shoot. & he gives solid effort on defense. It'd be hard to find a better player for the $$ he'll be paid -- & if you do find one... sign him too!!

Not sure why you say Barrett wasn't good at Duke. 22.6 pts, 7.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, per game. Better than Beal's stats. His pro numbers are similar to Beal's at similar ages. That doesn't mean he'll be good. Hard to project for 20 year olds. My impression from watching games is that he's a better defender and rebounder, and Beal is a better offensive player. Given the Wizards failures over the last few years, defense and rebounding should not be undervalued, and offensive stats overvalued.

There's a lot of Dinwiddie rumours out there. Most think he will opt out of his contract. In a May 13th interview:
“I’m gonna be more than healthy by the time free agency starts, so just from a dollars perspective you kind of have to,” Dinwiddie said. “$12 million isn’t market value for a starting point guard. It’s probably about half, 20-25. So obviously it’s pretty concrete that I’m gonna opt out.”
I've been a fan of his since he was a G-leaguer, available to any team. Instead we hitched our wagon to Trey Burke.

In any case, personally, I don't like the Wizards style of play, and trading Beal is a way to change, especially if we're stuck with Brooks.

[FAH1223]

We'd have won a few more games. Of course.

But, let's not use this as a way to critique Russell Westbrook. He has his flaws, but he is a tremendous player, & he had a really good season.

Above all, he came back from an off year, & he showed that he was still an extremely good NBA player -- one of the top dozen PGs in the league, say.

Westbrook is awful in the postseason.

So he'll get you to the playoffs. But his lack of skill and shot is terrible.

His 9 year postseason shooting numbers are and the turnovers

[Ruzious]

How good would the Wizards be if instead of having Westbrook we had CP3?

Not much better. Cu brook would still lose us games.

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Wiz finished the regular season 17-6, so obviously they will win at that rate next season with Westbrook, so they'll win between 60 and 61 games next regular season. Probably 60.6.

[payitforward]

Not sure why you say Barrett wasn't good at Duke. 22.6 pts, 7.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, per game. Better than Beal's stats.

Barrett's numbers as a Freshman were by no means as good as Beal's. You can't simply quote ppg without mentioning how many shots he took! Or, for that matter, how many times he turned the ball over.

Per 40 minutes, Barrett produced 25.7 points. To get there, he took 20.9 shots & 6.7 FTAs -- that's a TS% of .532.

Beal scored less, but his 12.4 FGAs & 5.5 FTAs produced 17.2 points -- a TS% of .575.

Barrett had 8.6 rebounds & 1 steal per 40 minutes. But he turned the ball over 3.7 times.
Beal had 7.9 rebounds & 1.6 steals -- & he only turned the ball over 2.5 times.

Still, Barrett's numbers at Duke were ok for a Freshman. &, although he was a far worse NBA rookie than Brad was, he has shown improvement -- which is the most important thing.

[prime1time]

Westbrook is good but the truth is that his presence has stopped the ball movement offense that we use to have. With CP3 we would have the same ball movement.

[Shoe]

Westbrook is good but the truth is that his presence has stopped the ball movement offense that we use to have. With CP3 we would have the same ball movement.

Wizards three point shooting went from
18th in attempts, 8th in %
to
29th in attempts, 23rd in %

Im blaming Westbrook for our anemic three point shooting until evidence is presented to the contrary. Bertans regression coincides with Westbrooks arrival. Mathews dropped below 40 percent. Sweeping personnel changes is not the antidote. Just add talent regardless of fit and march onwards.

[DCZards]

The iso game by Russ is a problem. But I’m not going to blame him for Bertans inconsistent 3ball shooting.

In fact, I’d argue that Russ’ ability to get to the rim and the fact that defenses were set up to stop him created more 3pt oppts for teammates.

We simply were not a very good 3pt shooting team...and that’s not on Westbrook...other than the fact that he’s not a good 3pt shooter.

[dckingsfan]

Westbrook is a poor three point shooter. Westbrook's ISOs lead to less three point shots. Westbrook is awesome at getting the ball to cutters not so much getting it to three point shooters.

[Ruzious]

Westbrook is a poor three point shooter. Westbrook's ISOs lead to less three point shots. Westbrook is awesome at getting the ball to cutters not so much getting it to three point shooters.

I don't agree with that last part. He tried getting it to Rui, but Rui passed on so many looks. I think Deni took it as an insult that they expected him to take 3's - he wanted to set up others for 3's rather than take them himself. Bertans was the only legit 3 point shooter on the team other than Mathews - who rarely played - and he went into crazy cold streaks.

[FAH1223]

Read on Twitter

[dckingsfan]

Read on Twitter

Its's about those young players making a jump.

Hmmm, seems like we said that last year too...

[DCZards]

Read on Twitter

Its's about those young players making a jump.

Hmmm, seems like we said that last year too...

Difference is that it turns out that last season there was only one young player (Rui) available to make a jump from the previous season. This year there are at least 4 young players with the potential to make a jump (Rui, Deni, Bryant & Gafford)...and a possible fifth one in Mathews and/or Winston.

[dckingsfan]

Westbrook is a poor three point shooter. Westbrook's ISOs lead to less three point shots. Westbrook is awesome at getting the ball to cutters not so much getting it to three point shooters.

I don't agree with that last part. He tried getting it to Rui, but Rui passed on so many looks. I think Deni took it as an insult that they expected him to take 3's - he wanted to set up others for 3's rather than take them himself. Bertans was the only legit 3 point shooter on the team other than Mathews - who rarely played - and he went into crazy cold streaks.

Good points - I will add that we traded Bryant for Gafford/Len - not exactly 3 point threats. And Beal took less threes as a percentage of his shots this year.

But I will stand by my comment - I think that Westbrook is better getting to the basket and feeding cutters along the way than he is setting up and hitting 3 point shooters - especially in transition.

But damn, I don't have the data to prove it - and my eyesight isn't what it used to be (so much for the eye test).

What he is really good a doing is setting up teammates inside (IMO).

[dckingsfan]

Read on Twitter

Its's about those young players making a jump.

Hmmm, seems like we said that last year too...

Difference is that it turns out that last season there was only one young player (Rui) available to make a jump from the previous season. This year there are at least 4 young players with the potential to make a jump (Rui, Deni, Bryant & Gafford)...and a possible fifth one in Mathews and/or Winston.

I think that 20-21 brought us hope that one or more of Bryant, Mathews, TBJ, Wagner, Bonga, Robinson and Rui might take a jump.

Now we are "down to" Avidja, Gafford and Rui?

I think that Bryant and Mathews aren't "youngsters" any longer. Although we can hope that Bryant gets back to where he was pre-injury.

[DCZards]

Josh Hart says he wants a fresh start. We should try to bring him home to DC.