Line-ups, rotation, analysis thread.

[gambitx777]

Since the beginning of the season we thought they would run the offense through Porzingis at the top but its been disappointing to see that Morris ,Beal and Wright were not good at working high post offense with KP. Remember Sato was 6'7" and was very good at working with KP. KP avg more pts with less minutes w/Sato.He's getting 3 more mpg now while getting less with Morris.
Also it was blasted ad nauseum about Beal playing better with a non scoring PG than a scoring guard .Well now Beal's average as "dropped" 3 more points. A Morris led offense is now ranked 25th in the NBA .

Yes, Beal is averaging fewer points but he’s taking 4 less shots per game and shooting a higher percentage. He’s also averaging 6 assists a game. Those are all good things.

This is not a Morris led offense, IMO.

Yeah Beal's ts percentage is now at 62 % which would be the highest in his career.

So would would just flat out transition Beal into a dame roll as PG no SG and move Morris to the bench and look to add more punch in the starting line up? I would suggest start wright at 2 and Beal at 1 but he's hurt lol.

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[9 and 20]

Beal going to PG is the opposite direction he should be going. He coughs up the ball pretty much any time he's pressured, often resulting in sad hilarity - which, btw, is the Wizards' natural state. Just take a look at any picture of G Wiz - he knows he's a sad clown.

[DCZards]

Beal going to PG is the opposite direction he should be going. He coughs up the ball pretty much any time he's pressured, often resulting in sad hilarity - which, btw, is the Wizards' natural state. Just take a look at any picture of G Wiz - he knows he's a sad clown.

Agree. Beal should not be this team’s PG. It’s a bad idea for him and a bad idea for the Zards in the long run.

There are certainly times when Beal should be the lead ball handler but I’m for giving Morris the role of primary ball handler and playmaker….especially at crunch time when ball security, which is Morris’s strength, is a priority.

[dckingsfan]

Beal going to PG is the opposite direction he should be going. He coughs up the ball pretty much any time he's pressured, often resulting in sad hilarity - which, btw, is the Wizards' natural state. Just take a look at any picture of G Wiz - he knows he's a sad clown.

Yep. High post offense through Porzingis (our very best offensive player by a wide margin) with Beal getting lots of picks to get him open and create mismatches works the best for this particular offense. Kuzma & Morris can take turns working the high post with Porzingis.

Either way, Wes is still trying to figure out the offense schema (I hope this isn't the final product). And especially the offense on the second unit which no identity that I can see.

[tleikheen]

Disagree .... if the Wiz start grooming the Beal,KP,Deni ,Kuz,Rui lineup then they are long lean and athletic. The key is the ball sticking in Beals hands . He does cough up the ball. But Deni and Kuz both can help bring the ball up and with that lineup the ball moving KP and Beal usually end up with good shot selection and as has been put out by others ,Deni and Rui do look like lottery picks ,now add in Kispert if he's draining 3's.

[Dark Faze]

Can anyone explain why Gil is getting minutes at all on this team? It's a sincere question for someone who hasn't watched nearly enough Wiz this year. He doesn't seem to be better than Deni on the glass or defensively. Gil seems like he might be performing better offensively, but 15 mpg is a lot...

[DCZards]

Can anyone explain why Gil is getting minutes at all on this team? It's a sincere question for someone who hasn't watched nearly enough Wiz this year. He doesn't seem to be better than Deni on the glass or defensively. Gil seems like he might be performing better offensively, but 15 mpg is a lot...

Gill makes smart plays on both ends of the court. He's consistently in the right place at the right time. He's not better than Deni but. then again, Deni has to show he's worthy of the 15 or so minutes that Gill currently gets.

[gambitx777]

Is Beal gonna lead the league in H&SP outs lol


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[tleikheen]

Its not even funny anymore .....it shows where your priorities are and where does a guy go to always pick up Covid ?

[DCZards]

Its not even funny anymore .....it shows where your priorities are and where does a guy go to always pick up Covid ?

Doesn't have to be Covid...it could be the flu. They use the same protocol. There have been several NBA players out in recent weeks with non-covid related illnesses

[9 and 20]

Beal is being held out for Terd's health and safety. Seeing how little a quarter billion dollars buys you was giving Skinny Ted heartburn. Fat Terd would have dulled the pain with big macs but Skinny Ted just swallows it down, allowing it to fester. You can see it in his face with his pained smile.

[bsilver]

Wonder if Goodwin loses his minutes when Beal comes back. He’s been playing a lot better than Morris and deserves to be out there.
Would like to see Vernon Carey Jr get a chance. KP and Gafford are nothing special. Tired of KPs long 3s, mediocre defense and rebounding.

[GoneShammGone]

Wonder if Goodwin loses his minutes when Beal comes back. He’s been playing a lot better than Morris and deserves to be out there.
Would like to see Vernon Carey Jr get a chance. KP and Gafford are nothing special. Tired of KPs long 3s, mediocre defense and rebounding.

When Brad comes back, I think Goodwin has to take Barton's minutes. Will has been basically awful. It will be an interesting test for WUJ. Will he be willing to bench one of his veterans that he has a track record with, in favor of a hard-working young player?

[bsilver]

Wonder if Goodwin loses his minutes when Beal comes back. He’s been playing a lot better than Morris and deserves to be out there.
Would like to see Vernon Carey Jr get a chance. KP and Gafford are nothing special. Tired of KPs long 3s, mediocre defense and rebounding.

When Brad comes back, I think Goodwin has to take Barton's minutes. Will has been basically awful. It will be an interesting test for WUJ. Will he be willing to bench one of his veterans that he has a track record with, in favor of a hard-working young player?

Interesting that Barton and Morris had better stats with Denver. Jokic makes the game easier for his teammates.
Barton will probably lose some minutes to Kispert also. OTOH, Avdija has been terrible lately, so Barton could get some of those minutes.

It's hard to tell if WUJ has favorites. We have so many mediocre players, can't tell who is best. All have major flaws.

[payitforward]

Wonder if Goodwin loses his minutes when Beal comes back. He’s been playing a lot better than Morris and deserves to be out there. ...

Its true that he has been playing better than Morris. OTOH, he's also been playing better than Bradley Beal.

In fact, in his 76 minutes Jordan Goodwin "has been playing a lot better than" every single guy on the Washington Wizards -- & most every player in the league too!

When Brad comes back, I think Goodwin has to take Barton's minutes. Will has been basically awful. It will be an interesting test for WUJ. Will he be willing to bench one of his veterans that he has a track record with, in favor of a hard-working young player?

Barton has been pretty bad, that's for sure.

[dckingsfan]

I re-watched the last three games. We start off the games pretty darn well and then the wheels fall off when the second unit takes over (other than the Goodwin effect).

The second unit still needs an identity. I "think" it needs to be defense with Wright, Goodwin, Deni. But that is a pretty passive offensive trio.

[payitforward]

One of the unbreakable beliefs of fans is that there's a way to shuffle the deck that gives you 5 o 6 aces instead of 4.

We don't have a line-up problem. We have a talent problem. Or, if you prefer, a performance problem.

Delon Wright, Bradley Beal, Monte Morris & Anthony Gill have played really well so far this year. Ditto Goodwin, obviously. But, they can't play all our minutes. So far they've logged @1050 of our 2660 minutes.

OTOH, Gafford & KP have posted numbers well below last year's levels in their combined @490 minutes.

But, they're not our biggest problem. Barton, Kuzma, Rui & Avdija have been very very bad overall. In 1150+ of our minutes.

Will Barton has fallen through the floor compared to last year in Denver & to his career averages. Yikes!

Kuzma's scoring hasn't gotten worse -- actually it's improved a bit this year. The problem is that his efficiency is still below average, while his usage is slightly up. More offensive possessions used by a below average scorer is bad not a good thing. Plus, his rebounds, assists & steals are all way down, while his fouls are way up. Overall, Kuz is having his one of his worst years so far -- a big drop from last year & from his final season in LA.

Both Deni & Rui are having horrible seasons so far -- the worst of their careers in both cases.

Rui's rebounds are up, but his turnovers are also up, & his steals are down. The biggest problem, however, is his TS%. It's .515 -- the worst of his career & a big drop from last year's encouraging .579.

& Deni is even worse than Rui! His scoring numbers are ludicrously bad. His TS% on the season so far is .429. Meanwhile, the rest of his numbers are also down overall.

That's how it is so far. Of course, it's still early in the season. Things could improve for those last 4 guys. Ditto in the case of Gafford & KP (I'm more confident about them!).

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Interested in seeing more of Goodwin.

He should be 1st off the bench with Rui. Maybe when Wright comes back move him to the starting 5, keep Goodwin as his backup, faze out Morris to 3rd PG only seeing action of there's an injury.

This way we always have either Wright or Goodwin on the floor, constant energy and instigating perimeter defense.

Starting 5 Wright, Beal, Deni, Kuz, KP.

2nd String Goodwin, Kispert, Barton, Rui, Gaff.

[payitforward]

Can anyone explain why Gil is getting minutes at all on this team? It's a sincere question for someone who hasn't watched nearly enough Wiz this year. He doesn't seem to be better than Deni on the glass or defensively. Gil seems like he might be performing better offensively, but 15 mpg is a lot...

Gill makes smart plays on both ends of the court. He's consistently in the right place at the right time. He's not better than Deni but. then again, Deni has to show he's worthy of the 15 or so minutes that Gill currently gets.

Just noticed this.
I agree 100% with what Zards says. Gill is a very solid player. He's scoring at a very high level of efficiency, & he does it just exactly as Zards describes, by being "consistently in the right place at the right time."

If either Deni & Rui could get as much out of their talents as Gill gets out of his, they would both be tremendous players. As it is, Gill is significantly more productive than either of them.

[payitforward]

...faze out Morris to 3rd PG only seeing action of there's an injury.....

I'm amazed at how consistently people here underestimate what Monte Morris is contributing.

For sure his shooting is below his extremely good career averages, & you'd want it to return to its norm. But otherwise... he's having an outstanding season. Just for starters, his assist to turnover ratio is 5.5 to 1.

If you just look at players who've logged say 100 minutes so far this season, Morris & Beal are the two best performing players on the team.

For sure Jordan Goodwin has been over the top in his 76 minutes. In fact, in those minutes he's been the best guard in the league! He's been better than Luka Doncic & way better than Brad! After all, Jordan is shooting 76% & 4th on the team in rebounding per 40 minutes. & is our leading offensive rebounder.