GT #38: Bullets @ Bucks 8 PM (NBCSW/980 AM) [1/1/23]

[nate33]

I watched a replay of the game this morning.

- I thought Kuzma was way better than his disappointingly inefficient stat line. Most of those 11 assists were legit spoon-fed dishes - about 5 were to Gafford for dunks or layups. And he got two of his turnovers very late in garbage time when it didn't matter anymore. He went 5 for 16, but I only saw 2 real bad shot attempts. The rest were good attempts that simply didn't fall because his floater wasn't falling tonight. He fell asleep on a few help side rotations defensively though.

- Avdija didn't play very well. He had 3 awful turnovers that led directly to easy buckets for the other team. Still, I love his defense. He didn't have to do much on-ball stuff tonight, but he is really great in rotations, always finding the right guy and he knows when to help out a teammate who is stuck on a bad switch.

- Gafford just took it right at Lopez in the first quarter. He had 13 1st quarter points and at least 2 or 3 buckets were post ups against Lopez. Lopez is a DPOY candidate this year and Gafford was thoroughly unimpressed.

- The ability of Porzingis and Rui to just get off a good shot whenever they want is a nice luxury. Porzingis could get to his turnaround with ease, and Rui was nailing his stepback against whomever was guarding him. Maybe CCJ is right in that we ought to just trade Beal and move on with the rest of the roster. The thing Beal brings is the ability to create a shot when the offense breaks down. But if Rui and Porzingis can do that too, then why pay $50M to bring a redundant skill? To be fair, Rui isn't doing his thing against a defense oriented toward stopping him like Beal has to.

- I really like this 8-man rotation. Everyone gets into a rhythm but nobody is getting over-exhausted. Our highest minute guy (Kuzma) played 33 minutes. Our 7th highest minute player (Morris) still got 25. Also, the versatility of Kuzma and Avdija as ball handlers allows the team to just play anybody anywhere. It's basically Morris and Wright at PG, Porzingis or Gafford at center, and everybody else just plays positionless basketball.

[dobrojim]

Read on Twitter

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We'd have such a great record if we could play all our remaining games against
teams missing their 3 best players, and look good doing it too.

So did Kuz have a trip dub or a quad dub? Of course our homer announcers
ignored the fact that Kuz was a TO machine.

Nice game by pretty much everyone.

[dobrojim]

I like the new Rui Hachimura!!

Rui is on fire!

What a difference since switching to the KP/Gafford starting lineup, and having Delon & Rui off the bench!

And Deni. Starting Gaff has improved the play of basically the entire rest of the team.

[nate33]

Hiding him until Taj is gone?? Carey should be the bencher

What did Taj Gibson do to you people? I think Taj Gibson has been fine as our 3rd string center.

If you think the goal of developing Carey should outweigh the on-the-court impact of Gibson, I think you are mistaken. Carey is in his 3rd season and still hasn't earned any NBA minutes. It's looking pretty clear to me that he is destined to be either out of the league, or a journeyman, or, at the very best, a viable backup center. None of those roles are worth developing. You can find a journeyman center and sometimes even a viable backup center in free agency every summer for the vet minimum. Why develop one?

You only develop players who can pan out to be better than what you could otherwise purchase at a low cost in free agency. It's futile to sacrifice on-court production to develop marginal NBA players.

Not hating, there are + & - for both players, Big Men are usually slower to develop and Taj is on his way out for age so I am for seeing him as-much as-is feasible.

I'm operating under the premise that Carey is still pretty far away from being a viable rotation player. I think that's a reasonable assumption given that he has earned a grand total of 170 NBA minutes in 2.5 seasons. Coaches see these guys in practice.

Big men take time to develop, but it's pretty unheard of for a big man who got practically zero minutes over his first 2.5 seasons to end up as a starter or a high-level backup. And if Carey isn't destined to be a starter or a high level backup, then it's not worth sacrificing any on-court productivity to develop him. All we would be doing is sacrificing wins to develop him so that he can be in the rotation on some other roster when he hits free agency.

[DCZards]

No reason why Taj should be getting any minutes over Carey at this point..

Hiding him until Taj is gone?? Carey should be the bencher

What did Taj Gibson do to you people? I think Taj Gibson has been fine as our 3rd string center.

If you think the goal of developing Carey should outweigh the on-the-court impact of Gibson, I think you are mistaken. Carey is in his 3rd season and still hasn't earned any NBA minutes. It's looking pretty clear to me that he is destined to be either out of the league, or a journeyman, or, at the very best, a viable backup center. None of those roles are worth developing. You can find a journeyman center and sometimes even a viable backup center in free agency every summer for the vet minimum. Why develop one?

You only develop players who can pan out to be better than what you could otherwise purchase at a low cost in free agency. It's futile to sacrifice on-court production to develop marginal NBA players.

I don’t agree with this. I think any talented young player is worth developing, regardless of the position they play.

From what I’ve seen, Carey has the offensive tools to be a good NBA player. The question is whether he has the defense and mobility/athleticism (i.e. quickness & footspeed) to play center in the modern NBA.

But you’re absolutely right about Taj. He’s been solid. A good pickup by Shep…someone who can teach our young bigs a few things about low post play and defending bigger players.

[nate33]

Hiding him until Taj is gone?? Carey should be the bencher

What did Taj Gibson do to you people? I think Taj Gibson has been fine as our 3rd string center.

If you think the goal of developing Carey should outweigh the on-the-court impact of Gibson, I think you are mistaken. Carey is in his 3rd season and still hasn't earned any NBA minutes. It's looking pretty clear to me that he is destined to be either out of the league, or a journeyman, or, at the very best, a viable backup center. None of those roles are worth developing. You can find a journeyman center and sometimes even a viable backup center in free agency every summer for the vet minimum. Why develop one?

You only develop players who can pan out to be better than what you could otherwise purchase at a low cost in free agency. It's futile to sacrifice on-court production to develop marginal NBA players.

I don’t agree with this. I think any talented young player is worth developing, regardless of the position they play.

From what I’ve seen, Carey has the offensive tools to be a good NBA player. The question is whether he has the defense and mobility/athleticism (i.e. quickness & footspeed) to play center in the modern NBA.

But you’re absolutely right about Taj. He’s been solid. A good pickup by Shep…someone who can teach our young bigs a few things about low post play and defending bigger players.

Are you willing to sacrifice wins to develop Carey? Would you be willing if your job was on the line?

[Kanyewest]

I thought Gibson was playing well the last few games. He is getting buckets because he knows how to cut and the defense forgets about him. His defensive rotations are excellent plus he gets the respect of the officials.

I've also noticed the two games I've been to is that Gibson warms up an hour before the game by himself. It seems like he's putting in the extra work. Not sure if he can remain in the rotation long term with everyone coming back healthy but I thought he was playing ok in limited minutes.

[Ruzious]

I know Carey only played in mop up time, but he looks much more dynamic than last year. He must have put in some work. And I noticed he's been getting some steals and blocks lately. Maybe there's some hope for him.

[dobrojim]

Carey seemingly looks better each time I see him.

That said, Taj has been modestly effective so I'm not chomping at the bit
yet to bench him.

[doclinkin]

From my vantage? That was really, really fun — they played with passion and purpose, the ball moved, the D was excellent, the kids all played really well.

8-1 with Delon Wright, and you can see why.

With Deni and Delon, you have two elite defenders. Plus Gaff and the Zinger inside. That’s a lot of thwarting.

And this version of Rui is giving this team a major punch.

I’m enjoying this team — these guys; these likable guys.

OK, sorry about that — now back to out regularly scheduled b1tching

This. I like the wins. Enjoy the wins. Like how they have been playing. Even while understanding that all coaches see the Wizards on the schedule and pencil in a rest day for their stars. Still, I'm always surprised that the team loses considering they seem to be playing the right way. The shots don't fall, or an untimely lapse in defense occurs, or turnovers from players trying to be too generous, I dunno. They are easy to cheer for even while I know we would be better in the long run if we had a true franchise player added to the mix.

[leswizards]

You all might have already talked about this. I am not sure who it is, but an nba player has devised a new way to contest the 3 point shot. It doesn’t matter how close he is to the player, just as long as he is in between him and the basket, he will jump straight up with his arms extended high and bow his body backwards. I saw a tiktok video on it, and they compiled footage of every instance that he did it. It was a very small sample size but seemed effective (something like 3 for 17). I mention it because I am pretty certain that one of the Wizards tried to copy it last night. I think it was Rui, but he didn’t bow his back as much, if even at all. The attempt missed.

[nate33]

You all might have already talked about this. I am not sure who it is, but an nba player has devised a new way to contest the 3 point shot. It doesn’t matter how close he is to the player, just as long as he is in between him and the basket, he will jump straight up with his arms extended high and bow his body backwards. I saw a tiktok video on it, and they compiled footage of every instance that he did it. It was a very small sample size but seemed effective (something like 3 for 17). I mention it because I am pretty certain that one of the Wizards tried to copy it last night. I think it was Rui, but he didn’t bow his back as much, if even at all. The attempt missed.

Luke Kornet of the Celtics pioneered this technique. And, yes, Porzingis started copying it a couple of games ago, and Rui just did it last night.

[payitforward]

As a fan, it's got to be great to watch your team reel off some wins. How not?
Ok, we've played 3 short-handed teams in a row, but so what?

Above all, for me at least, what's most satisfying is to watch Rui, Gaff, Deni & Corey play so well. If what we're seeing is real development in all 4 cases... dynamite!

That would justify all the more the decision to move Kuz in a deal that brings us the maximum number of picks -- i.e. more chances to add young prospects.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I watched a replay of the game this morning.

- I thought Kuzma was way better than his disappointingly inefficient stat line. Most of those 11 assists were legit spoon-fed dishes - about 5 were to Gafford for dunks or layups. And he got two of his turnovers very late in garbage time when it didn't matter anymore. He went 5 for 16, but I only saw 2 real bad shot attempts. The rest were good attempts that simply didn't fall because his floater wasn't falling tonight. He fell asleep on a few help side rotations defensively though.

- Avdija didn't play very well. He had 3 awful turnovers that led directly to easy buckets for the other team. Still, I love his defense. He didn't have to do much on-ball stuff tonight, but he is really great in rotations, always finding the right guy and he knows when to help out a teammate who is stuck on a bad switch.

- Gafford just took it right at Lopez in the first quarter. He had 13 1st quarter points and at least 2 or 3 buckets were post ups against Lopez. Lopez is a DPOY candidate this year and Gafford was thoroughly unimpressed.

- The ability of Porzingis and Rui to just get off a good shot whenever they want is a nice luxury. Porzingis could get to his turnaround with ease, and Rui was nailing his stepback against whomever was guarding him. Maybe CCJ is right in that we ought to just trade Beal and move on with the rest of the roster. The thing Beal brings is the ability to create a shot when the offense breaks down. But if Rui and Porzingis can do that too, then why pay $50M to bring a redundant skill? To be fair, Rui isn't doing his thing against a defense oriented toward stopping him like Beal has to.

- I really like this 8-man rotation. Everyone gets into a rhythm but nobody is getting over-exhausted. Our highest minute guy (Kuzma) played 33 minutes. Our 7th highest minute player (Morris) still got 25. Also, the versatility of Kuzma and Avdija as ball handlers allows the team to just play anybody anywhere. It's basically Morris and Wright at PG, Porzingis or Gafford at center, and everybody else just plays positionless basketball.

BB is super rich. Ted Leonsis ALREADY payed forward. Washington owes Beal zilch. If you deal him to the Lakers or the Mavericks he’s HOF-bound and destiny says probably wins at least one championship,

I expect Beal gonna come back too soon and mess this respite up similarly to how injured Gilbert messed up the playoffs that DeShawn and AD made right before Eddie Jordan got fired. Wes Jr will pander to Bradley no matter what is clearly working better (running the offense through Kuzma with KP the clear STAR and Rui low key our efficiency scorer and DEFENSIVE SGS not ball stops).

[AFM]

As a fan, it's got to be great to watch your team reel off some wins. How not?
Ok, we've played 3 short-handed teams in a row, but so what?

Above all, for me at least, what's most satisfying is to watch Rui, Gaff, Deni & Corey play so well. If what we're seeing is real development in all 4 cases... dynamite!

That would justify all the more the decision to move Kuz in a deal that brings us the maximum number of picks -- i.e. more chances to add young prospects.

OK old man. I want to hear it. What's your theory on Rui playing out of his damn mind?