The Landlord, Go-Go Gadget Gafford. Official Daniel Gafford Thread

[miller31time]

I really feel for this kid. He came to this team, played his A$$ off, and sees his minutes and role diminish each game.

For a “player’s coach”, Brooks is really messing with Gafford’s confidence.

This organization simply can’t handle success. It’s so foreign to us that whenever the fortuitous ball bounces our way, we find a way to punt it out of the arena.

[FAH1223]

Gafford can play 22-25 minutes

This is coaching malpractice

[JAR69]

Len has been getting killed on the pick and roll all game, not sure why Brooks continues to stick with him.

May I introduce you to Scott Brooks?

[NatP4]

20.7 points 11.5 rebounds 3.6 blocks 1.5 steals 1.5 turnovers

69.6% TS

135 Offensive rating
106 Defensive rating

7.3 net rating

[Ruzious]

20.7 points 11.5 rebounds 3.6 blocks 1.5 steals 1.5 turnovers

69.6% TS

135 Offensive rating
106 Defensive rating

7.3 net rating

Seems like the kind of player you'd make sure to play the last 5 minutes of a close game over someone like... say... Alex Len.

[Dark Faze]

Coaching god Brad Stevens did the same thing with Robert Williams.

[Ruzious]

Read on Twitter

[BearlyBallin]

Watch on YouTube

5 blocks, 13 rebounds and only 22.

Last time I felt this way about a young player was when we had a young unknown, undrafted Ben Wallace... just before we traded him to Orlando.

[nate33]

Gafford ranks 25th in PER. If you only count his games as a Wizard he ranks 9th in PER (among guys playing 500 or more minutes).

Gafford ranks 12th in the league in WS/48 (among guys playing 500 or more minutes). If you count only his Washington games, he ranks 8th.

Gafford's BPM as a Wizard ranks him 18th overall.

Caveat: one of the reasons he is doing well is because he plays a lot of minutes against backups. His production would presumably drop a bit as a starter logging heavy minutes against other starters. But still...

[Doug_Blew]

5 blocks, 13 rebounds and only 22.

Last time I felt this way about a young player was when we had a young unknown, undrafted Ben Wallace... just before we traded him to Detroit.

I'm right there with you on Gafford. Trading Ben Wallace to Orlando for what seems like 1 bad year of Ike Austin was a kick in the crotch.

[Dat2U]

Gafford ranks 25th in PER. If you only count his games as a Wizard he ranks 9th in PER (among guys playing 500 or more minutes).

Gafford ranks 12th in the league in WS/48 (among guys playing 500 or more minutes). If you count only his Washington games, he ranks 8th.

Gafford's BPM as a Wizard ranks him 18th overall.

Caveat: one of the reasons he is doing well is because he plays a lot of minutes against backups. His production would presumably drop a bit as a starter logging heavy minutes against other starters. But still...

At the moment he's become the best backup C in the league. Game changer on certain nights, defense improves by leaps and bounds when he's focused which has been more often than not. You couldn't ask anything more from his archetype.

We became the 4th or 5th best team in the East since he's gotten here.

[keynote]

On Zach Lowe's podcast, David Thorpe theorized that Brooks starts Len as a test balloon, to see how the refs are calling the game. That way, if a ref crew is calling it tight, Len picks up the cheapies instead of Gafford.

Of course, this theory is somewhat undermined by the fact that Brooks tends to ride the hot hand in the second half, regardless of how the refs are calling it. It's not like Gafford gets the lion's share of 2H minutes no matter what, once the refs have set a tone and the team has had a chance to adjust. Still, given Gafford's propensity for fouling, it's as good a reason as any.

I think the real reason is simpler: we're winning at a good clip, and Gafford is foul prone. Brooks sees no reason to examine it further.

[payitforward]

Gafford ranks 25th in PER. If you only count his games as a Wizard he ranks 9th in PER (among guys playing 500 or more minutes).

Gafford ranks 12th in the league in WS/48 (among guys playing 500 or more minutes). If you count only his Washington games, he ranks 8th.

Gafford's BPM as a Wizard ranks him 18th overall.

Caveat: one of the reasons he is doing well is because he plays a lot of minutes against backups. His production would presumably drop a bit as a starter logging heavy minutes against other starters. But still...

In AJP48 (which is WP48 before adjustment for position), in Gafford's 420+ minutes as a Wizard, he's been the 3d highest ranked player in the league. Now... that metric will always favor bigs -- the other four in the top five are Gobert, Jokic, Capela & Robert Williams.

Using WP48 instead, he drops all the way down to 7th in the league. Butler, Giannis & Harden climb past him.

Put it another way: it's hard to imagine anyone playing any better for us than Gafford has.

[smoothSeph]

I’m curious for those that thought Troy Brown was the best piece in that trade if they still think that’s the case.

I love Brown and wish he was in a system where he could reach his potential, but I’m thinking we got the clear better player in Gafford.

[gambitx777]

How good would that trade have been if it was for Robinson, mo and cash. For hutch and Gafford. Traded brown someone one else . Idk I love Gafford it's a shame brown didn't pan out I see brown going the way of RHJ, every one thought wow this kids got potential but as the years go by they arnt so young anymore and that potential never shows and other younger kids with potential show up .

I’m curious for those that thought Troy Brown was the best piece in that trade if they still think that’s the case.

I love Brown and wish he was in a system where he could reach his potential, but I’m thinking we got the clear better player in Gafford.

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using RealGM mobile app

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Read on Twitter

Here’s a thought: Draft Isaiah Jackson to be the third C behind Bryant and Gafford. Keep Len only at the veteran minimum; OR, Lopez only at his minimum if he’s willing to become our Udonis.

Jackson plays like Gafford.

(Bassey works even better as a rd 2 but we’d need to purchase the pick)

I think Gafford is so good but I think it’s only fair to keep Thomas Bryant and let them battle it out or split time. Alex Ken just fits And he is a big dude who will be physical. He can try to learn the hook in the off-season.

[nate33]

Read on Twitter

Here’s a thought: Draft Isaiah Jackson to be the third C behind Bryant and Gafford. Keep Len only at the veteran minimum; OR, Lopez only at his minimum if he’s willing to become our Udonis.

Jackson plays like Gafford.

I'm not disputing whether or not Jackson will be a good pro. I just question the decision to draft a center when we already have two pretty good young guys at that position already under contract. We have much bigger needs at small forward and backup guard.

Isn't there anybody who will be available at #15 who will actually address a more immediate need?

[nate33]

I’m curious for those that thought Troy Brown was the best piece in that trade if they still think that’s the case.

I love Brown and wish he was in a system where he could reach his potential, but I’m thinking we got the clear better player in Gafford.

I was fine with the trade when it was made, but now that the dust has settled, it's pretty clear that we won the trade big time.

Troy Brown looks better in Chicago, more like he looked with us a year ago, but he still has the same fundamental flaw that he has always had. He's got Evan Turner Syndrome in that he is much better with the ball in his hands than he is off ball, but he still isn't efficient enough to be the guy with the ball in his hands. It really limits him to being a backup wing, unless he makes a big improvement in 3-point shooting while also improving his D some more.

Gafford clearly has starting potential. He might even become a top 10ish starting center in the Clint Capela mold.

I think Troy Brown will have a long NBA career, but merely as a rotation player getting 15 minutes a night, maybe peaking as a fringe starter in his best years. He just doesn't do any one thing well enough to be a quality starter.

[payitforward]

I’m curious for those that thought Troy Brown was the best piece in that trade if they still think that’s the case.

I love Brown and wish he was in a system where he could reach his potential, but I’m thinking we got the clear better player in Gafford.

Without a doubt! Gafford is an impact player. We got the best player in the deal.

But, that doesn't mean that we made the trade in order to acquire him. In fact, there was nothing to indicate that Tommy was trading for Gafford.

On this board, the trade was mostly seen as getting rid of Troy Brown & Moe Wagner for... whatever we could get. There wasn't a single person here whose immediate reaction to the trade was, 'wow, that's great -- we traded Brown for Gafford. He is going to be a tremendous player for us.' Not one.

It was only when he came in & had a tremendous impact immediately that anyone here started thinking of it as a trade for Gafford. No surprise -- Daniel Gafford had been more or less completely marginalized in Chicago.

For that matter, there's no reason to think that we'd have had to give Brown to get Gafford. & I wouldn't have traded Troy Brown, who I thought was being coached into incompetence by Scott Brooks. I'd have fired Brooks.

Nonetheless, we scored! & there's no doubt that Gafford has shown himself to be the best player in the deal.

[nate33]

On this board, the trade was mostly seen as getting rid of Troy Brown & Moe Wagner for... whatever we could get. There wasn't a single person here whose immediate reaction to the trade was, 'wow, that's great -- we traded Brown for Gafford. He is going to be a tremendous player for us.' Not one.

From the Troy Brown trade thread:

I actually really like Daniel Gafford and have posted about him quite a bit.

I think Gafford will be the best rim protector we have. He is getting a block per game playing just 12 minutes.

I’m gonna miss Troy. He has untapped potential.

Thrilled to get Gafford...a rim protecting, athletic big. That’s something the Zards desperately need.

Wagner was going to be gone in the offseason, as is Hutchinson. So this deal is basically Troy Brown at $5.2M for one more year for Gafford at $1.8M a year for the next 2 years. That seems like a pretty good deal to me.

I'm still annoyed that we wasted a year of TBJ's life by not developing him, but ultimately, I question whether he has the defensive chops to ever be anything more than a bench player. I feel like Gafford has more upside. With a bit more improvement, maybe he could be a Rashaun Holmes tier starting center. At the very least, he is the rim-runner/shot blocker archetype that should complement Bryant's stretch 5 archetype nicely.

Gafford advanced defensive metrics (and blocks) are good. +1 DBPM and very good DRtg (109, 107) for 2 years in a row. First time we get an athletic big in years. He's very raw offensively. I worry about his ability to catch Westbrook's missiles

Given how we've been using TBJ (which is a big given), it's a good trade, because we now have our backup center on a very cheap contract for the next 2 seasons. Gafford has no skills, but he's the most athletic center we've had in a long time.

I don’t think it’s a certainty Brown is the best player in this trade. Gafford was being mocked in the lottery before he went back to Arkansas his sophomore year. He’s definitely still raw.

At the very least the energy at the center position will be off the charts when Bryant gets healthy. Something we haven’t been able to say recently.

So basically, just about everyone viewed this as a Brown for Gafford trade, with Mo and Hutchison being incidental filler. And most were pretty happy about the trade. Some were really excited about Gafford, and others felt that it was a good move if only because Brooks wasn't using Brown anyhow.