Line-ups, rotation, analysis thread - Part II

[leswizards]

Not sure where to post this:

The Wizards are on pace to have the 10th worst point differential ever.

[9 and 20]

Not sure where to post this:

The Wizards are on pace to have the 10th worst point differential ever.

We can do better. Trade Gaff for 5 2nd rounders and really go for it!

[TGW]

Jordan Poole should not be in the rotation at all. He should be playing in Shanghai. Actually, he's not even good enough for the Chinese league...he should be coming off the bench for a random BIG3 team.

I'd rather have Beal on 1 leg than Poo. Phyuck this guy. I can't believe they had a chance to completely clear their books of crap contracts, only to make one of the worst trades in NBA history.

[payitforward]

Jordan Poole.... I can't believe they had a chance to completely clear their books of crap contracts, only to make one of the worst trades in NBA history.

Is that how you felt when you first heard about the trade? I thought we'd made a heck of a deal!

Yet I certainly didn't think of Poole as likely to be a Wizard long-term.

To me, it was more or less equivalent to re-signing Kuzma at a declining deal. I.e., the new FO was busy creating trade assets for a few years from now.

It may still turn out that way with Poole. Really, it's on him.

There's certainly no reason whatever to criticize the new FO for the trade.

[TGW]

Is that how you felt when you first heard about the trade?

YES. You can check the thread. I've always disliked Poo. Now it's even more now that he's in a Wizards uniform.

I thought we'd made a heck of a deal!

I'm sure you did. And I can absolutely criticize the FO for that trade. They made a terrible decision and they need to own it.

[pcbothwel]

Is that how you felt when you first heard about the trade?

YES. You can check the thread. I've always disliked Poo. Now it's even more now that he's in a Wizards uniform.

I thought we'd made a heck of a deal!

I'm sure you did. And I can absolutely criticize the FO for that trade. They made a terrible decision and they need to own it.

Same... When I heard about the trade I was baffled. You can trade for a buy low guy like Poole, or a guy with his contract... but not both.
AT WORST, you let CP3 play 25 MPG and show he is still productive and then move him by the deadline.
But I can't imagine that a CP3 for Lowry plus protected 1st type deal wasnt available.

[Kanyewest]

Is that how you felt when you first heard about the trade?

YES. You can check the thread. I've always disliked Poo. Now it's even more now that he's in a Wizards uniform.

I thought we'd made a heck of a deal!

I'm sure you did. And I can absolutely criticize the FO for that trade. They made a terrible decision and they need to own it.

Same... When I heard about the trade I was baffled. You can trade for a buy low guy like Poole, or a guy with his contract... but not both.
AT WORST, you let CP3 play 25 MPG and show he is still productive and then move him by the deadline.
But I can't imagine that a CP3 for Lowry plus protected 1st type deal wasnt available.

That Heat trade definitely wasn't available at the time because they were holding out for Lillard. Not sure if they would trade a first with Lowry either given how well they pick like Jamie Jaques Jr.

[popper]

I'm all for tanking but for me it's a complete mental somersault. I can just imagine the following conversations.

WUJ - We need to bring in a rim protecting big ASAP.
WD - Obviously, but if we do that we'll win more games which is contrary to our objective.

or,

WUJ - I want to bench Poole because he sucks.
WD - I agree he sucks but if we do that we'll win more games.

In a way, I have sympathy for WUJ. I don't know if I could do it. It almost seems dishonest and unfair to the guys that are trying their best.

[nate33]

WUJ - We need to bring in a rim protecting big ASAP.
WD - Obviously, but if we do that we'll win more games which is contrary to our objective.

I don't have a problem with this stance. "Wes, you do the best you can with what you have. You may want other players, but that's not your department. Your job is to win as many games as possible while developing talent. My job is to build a contender in the long term."

WUJ - I want to bench Poole because he sucks.
WD - I agree he sucks but if we do that we'll win more games.

I seriously doubt this conversation has taken place. It's real bad policy to have a coach be complicit in a tanking policy. Front offices tank. Coaches and players do not. Players cannot be put in a position where they think their own coach doesn't want to win games or else they won't play hard.

At worst, WD may have said: "Keep playing Poole because he is on a long term contract and we have no choice but to develop him into a useful NBA player". But I doubt WD even said that. I think WD would trust Wes to push the right buttons to motivate Poole. He wouldn't micromanage the process.

[popper]

WUJ - We need to bring in a rim protecting big ASAP.
WD - Obviously, but if we do that we'll win more games which is contrary to our objective.

I don't have a problem with this stance. "Wes, you do the best you can with what you have. You may want other players, but that's not your department. Your job is to win as many games as possible while developing talent. My job is to build a contender in the long term."

WUJ - I want to bench Poole because he sucks.
WD - I agree he sucks but if we do that we'll win more games.

I seriously doubt this conversation has taken place. It's real bad policy to have a coach be complicit in a tanking policy. Front offices tank. Coaches and players do not. Players cannot be put in a position where they think their own coach doesn't want to win games or else they won't play hard.

At worst, WD may have said: "Keep playing Poole because he is on a long term contract and we have no choice but to develop him into a useful NBA player". But I doubt WD even said that. I think WD would trust Wes to push the right buttons to motivate Poole. He wouldn't micromanage the process.

You're probably right. My post was mostly a tongue in cheek way of exploring the mental gymnastics necessary to tank. Here's another one. I think WUJ is scheduled to make $7 million per year this season and next (approximately $12 million left on his contract). The Wizards want to lose this season and next. It would be best for the Wizards bottom line if they could buy out WUJ for say $10 million. He could take the rest of this season and all of next season off and pocket serious coin while relieved of the wear and tear of losing. The Wizards could then pay whoever $500,000 total for the remainder of this season and next to stomach the losses. My son's AAU coach was a terrific teacher of basketball fundamentals so our young players wouldn't miss a beat.

Result - Wizards add $1.5 million to their bottom line and WUJ avoids the mental anguish of prolonged losing.

Will this happen? Of course not. It's just one hypothetical way to look at the mental adjustments necessary to tank.

[payitforward]

Is that how you felt when you first heard about the trade?

YES. You can check the thread. I've always disliked Poo. Now it's even more now that he's in a Wizards uniform....
I can absolutely criticize the FO for that trade. They made a terrible decision and they need to own it.

For sure! If that was your immediate reaction then you are being totally consistent.

Were you thinking that we should hold onto Chris Paul until the deadline? Then see who wanted him in order to win a title...? Or...?

I thought we'd made a heck of a deal!

I'm sure you did.

Hey! I've never claimed that I'm always right!

But, I would have taken TJ-D rather than add PBJ via that #57 pick.
(At least I hope I would have!! )

[nate33]

Ladies and gentlemen: our amazing defensive backcourt:

Read on Twitter

Jones and Pool are in the quadrant representing horrible defense. They don't challenge many shots at the rim, and when they do, they're totally ineffective. Sadly, Kuzma is in this quadrant as well.

Gafford ranks among the better centers at rim protection, with a high number of shots defended and a low FG% yielded. Bilal shows up pretty well too. His DFG% yielded is excellent.

Deni's performance is unique. No other wing contests anywhere near as many shots as Deni, though Deni's dFG% yielded is merely average. Is this a sign that Deni is an unusually active help defender? Or are teams trying to go at Deni a lot? I think it's mostly that Deni is extremely good at negotiating screens. He is designated to guard the opposition's best player, and since he doesn't get negated by screens, he ends up actually defending a lot of shot attempts coming from top offensive players. Holding top offensive players to average FG% is actually a good thing.

[penbeast0]

After checking Deni and Bilal, I always look for Jared Butler sightings. I miss him when he doesn't play.

[dobrojim]

It arguably should have dawned on me sooner but Poole has been so gawdawful
that I wonder why they don't sit him down for a few weeks and re-group.
Johnny Davis has also been a huge underperformer for where he was picked (duh)
but given the current situation, I would swap their respective roles for a while
and see what happens. Poole's issues seem mental to me. I don't see effort.
I just see lackadaisical. Davis won't be lackadaisical even if he performs poorly.
Poole needs to some low pressure reflection and thought about himself.

[nate33]

It arguably should have dawned on me sooner but Poole has been so gawdawful
that I wonder why they don't sit him down for a few weeks and re-group.
Johnny Davis has also been a huge underperformer for where he was picked (duh)
but given the current situation, I would swap their respective roles for a while
and see what happens. Poole's issues seem mental to me. I don't see effort.
I just see lackadaisical. Davis won't be lackadaisical even if he performs poorly.
Poole needs to some low pressure reflection and thought about himself.

I think the common-sense move here is to start Kispert in place of Poole. Kispert doesn't really handle the ball well for a SG, but with Avdija and Kuzma on the floor, there's enough ball handling to compensate. Deni usually defends the opposition's best guard anyway. So having Kispert defending the non-scoring forward instead of the smaller Poole would still constitute an improvement in defense, even though Kispert isn't a good defender. Kispert is obviously a much better offensive player than Poole.

Poole makes more sense on the second unit. Although, I think Shamet is better than Poole too. So if Poole was relegated to 3rd string, it wouldn't bother me.

EDIT: But I'd be fine with your suggestion of starting Davis too. Anything to improve this awful defense is good with me. I suspect it might work briefly, but eventually the scouting report would come out on Davis, teams would ignore him and use his defender to help on other guys, and the offense would bog down.

[dobrojim]

It arguably should have dawned on me sooner but Poole has been so gawdawful
that I wonder why they don't sit him down for a few weeks and re-group.
Johnny Davis has also been a huge underperformer for where he was picked (duh)
but given the current situation, I would swap their respective roles for a while
and see what happens. Poole's issues seem mental to me. I don't see effort.
I just see lackadaisical. Davis won't be lackadaisical even if he performs poorly.
Poole needs to some low pressure reflection and thought about himself.

I think the common-sense move here is to start Kispert in place of Poole. Kispert doesn't really handle the ball well for a SG, but with Avdija and Kuzma on the floor, there's enough ball handling to compensate. Deni usually defends the opposition's best guard anyway. So having Kispert defending the non-scoring forward instead of the smaller Poole would still constitute an improvement in defense, even though Kispert isn't a good defender. Kispert is obviously a much better offensive player than Poole.

Poole makes more sense on the second unit. Although, I think Shamet is better than Poole too. So if Poole was relegated to 3rd string, it wouldn't bother me.

EDIT: But I'd be fine with your suggestion of starting Davis too. Anything to improve this awful defense is good with me. I suspect it might work briefly, but eventually the scouting report would come out on Davis, teams would ignore him and use his defender to help on other guys, and the offense would bog down.

My reasoning is maybe twofold -

1. If you're worried about the tank, this may not affect it much.

2. Normally, you would expect a pick as high as JD to have gotten more minutes by now
ie opportunities to learn. Davis' history is a guy who improved a lot at WIsc year over year.
I'm really looking to disprove (with more evidence) the notion, that Davis will never be
that useful. Don't get me wrong, it's what I pretty much expect but throw him out there
and let him prove it. Put another way, it's an experiment with little downside risk at this point.

[TGW]

I think Kispert starting would be much better for the team chemistry-wise and morale-wise. Poole should be coming off the bench. WesJr is playing favorites right now, and Poole under any other competent coach would be in the doghouse. 12th man.

There is also no reason why Davis is not playing, while Poole gets close to 30 mpg.

[tontoz]

Wasn't sure where to put this but i am listening to the latest Zach Lowe podcast and he was dogging the Lakers offense. In order to emphasize how disorganized it was he said "you can't run a Wizards style offense"

[dckingsfan]

I would like to see Kispert start as well.

My reasoning is that Poole is a long-way from being tradeable and Kispert showcased might bring some assets.

Trade Kispert at the deadline and then start Davis.

I wouldn't not play Poole, but I would try to limit his minutes until he gets his mojo back.

[payitforward]

This all makes sense. Poole had the job handed to him -- which, in fairness, was to be expected. But, he has made an absolute mess of the opportunity.

Nor is there any ambiguity about it! Meaning that you could bench him & make up a minor injury as the cause, or you could just say:

"Jordan Poole is not playing the way he wants & we want. No one questions Jordan's talent, but he's having a hard time producing on the court.. After talking about it, we decided that he needs a break in his minutes to figure out what he needs to do to turn this around. Which is what we all expect, btw!"