nate33 wrote:Just watched the first 3 quarters. (I only caught the 4th quarter last night). A few observations:
- Utah was being outplayed most of the night. They stayed in it early with some insane 3-point shooting which I thought was pretty well contested, for the most part. The made 10 of their first 17 3's, including 6 of 8 to start the 2nd quarter. That's 30 points on 17 shots for an eFG% of 88%. Shooting like that can keep you in any game. They finally hit a dry spell late in the 2nd quarter, missing 5 in a row, that allowed the Wizards to pull ahead.
- I don't care what anybody says, I'm really starting to like Kyle Kuzma. He probably tries to do a little more than he should, but man, he is a really skilled player who can do everything pretty well. His game has no weakness, other than perhaps an irrational confidence. He'll post up small guys; he'll slash against slow guys. He has very good touch on that floater and pretty good vision, which makes him a threat as the ball-handler on the pick-and-roll. And he has a pretty good turnaround fadeaway. It's not good enough to be a primary option, but it's useful as a bailout shot when an offensive set breaks down. I like how Wes is taking him out of the starting lineup early (bringing in Rui) so that Kuz can be a fulcrum for the 2nd unit.
- Having Deni and Kuzma at forward really gives Wes a lot of flexibility. The both handle the ball as well as a typical shooting guard, so Wes can go with a big lineup and not really face any consequences.
- I think the Wizards are playing better without Beal because of Kispert. Kispert is no where near as good as Beal in the abstract, but he provides exactly what the team needs better than Beal. Kispert's off ball activity and quick release provides just enough off-ball gravity, that it opens up things for everyone else. Meanwhile, Kispert has the size on defense to fit in with the Wizards' switching scheme seamlessly. He was guarding Olynyk for much of the night with no issues. That's our SG guarding their center. With Beal in the lineup, Kispert has to play SF, and we lose the defensive benefits of our huge front line, which is usually 2 out of Deni, Kuz and Rui, plus a center. When Beal comes back, we might be better off with him replacing a lot of Morris' minutes. But rather than have him be the primary ball handler, let Kuzma and Avdija initiate the offense.
Aye aye sir. And certainly Morris-Beal should NOT play together at any time as we are too weak defensively with both on court. Beal should be accompanied with Wright, Goodwin or Deni playing the PG role.
