doclinkin wrote:Watching the scrappy back-ups out there reminds me how I do like this squad.
Yeah we are undertalented and lack mismatches in our favor, but the attitude and character of the team are likable.
Goodwin, Jackson, Johnny D, they give good energy at both ends every minute they are out there.
Kispert coming on late, working on his on-ball offense, has maintained impossible efficiency despite the uptick in usage.
Johnny D with a slow rolling start but not crashing out or quitting is both predictable given his history and a really good sign.
The peripheral role players like Gill and Huff seem like genuinely good guys, both willing defenders from a program known for it. Huff won the G-League defensive player of the league this year. We haven't seen him much but he seems like a potentially decent back-up at the stretch 5 spot.
Of the sometime starters KP is easy to cheer for.
Morris is smoothly efficient. Wright is a plus minus hero.
Gafford has one significant fixable flaw in his game. (Jumpy feet on screens).
Kuzma's biggest flaw is his volatile variability. That is he is consistently inconsistent. Sometimes he plays like the player he thinks he is, on those nights he's impressive. But he's always talking with teammates and gives good effort on the boards every night, seems like a solid team player, or at least he wants to be. His TO's result from trying to lead the squad.
The biggest critique Deni gets is that he can be too much of a team player, and despite star potential he hasn't found his inner alpha dog.
I dunno. Hope is always the curse and achilles heel the devout Wiz fan, but I feel like with better/more efficient play from the Kuzma minutes we could be a tough team for the top teams to meet on any given night. The guys are scrappy good character with good heart and easy to root for.
Curse you Ted Leonsis and your mediocre and diabolical plan.
Mediocabal? Diabolocre?
My days of supporting the loveable losers are long over. Surely I want guys here to develop and be the best players they can be but I'm under no false hope that this group is capable of doing anything but losing the vast majority of its games. Mediocrity would be an achievement for this bunch. I'm sure Shepp thought to himself how much he likes his undertalented and underskilled group of 'try hards' but there's no overachieving going on here. This team fought like tooth & nail to win every game for 70 games and found themselves at the dead bottom of the non-tanking teams. They stink and being bad is not lovable... at least not to me.
