GT #2: Grizzlies @ Bullets 7 PM (MSN/980 AM)

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

^^^Deni was excellent this game. My only gripe was that he (and Kispert) didn't shoot enough while Poole and Kuzma shot way too much. Again, the whole someone has to shoot the ball argument absolutely stinks.

This. It's a corrosive mentality for the team to embrace.

[DCZards]

The shot-jacking by Kuz and Poole was kinda predictable. It was the first home game and you could see, especially in the first few minutes, that they were trying to impress the home crowd.

In the second half, Kuz cutdown on the long shots and attacked the basket for easy hoops. Poole’s careless TOs were more concerning for me than his shooting.

Corey came out on fire. He’s a great weapon off the bench. But in the second half it was clear that the Griz’s were paying a lot more attention to him defensively.

Tyus was absolutely solid and under-control as advertised.

Deni, Deni, Deni. I said in the record prediction thread that he would be the Zards “breakout” player this season…and it’s gonna happen. He has the tools: ballhandler, passer, rebounder, defender, penetrator. Just needs to get that 3 ball to fall more consistently.

Bilal will need time to adjust to the speed of the NBA game and the smarts of most players. He’ll also need to get a LOT stronger.

[nate33]

Watched the game this morning.

Deni was POTG. He was EVERYWHERE on defense. He locked up Bane whenever he was on him, Bane only scored when Deni was off the floor or was forced to rotate elsewhere. And Deni was more efficient and aggressive on offense as well. This is the Deni I hoped we would see this year.

I see a lot of hate on this thread about Kuzma, but I'm not really feeling it. He shot poorly, but process is more important than results. Kuzma was not forcing bad shots. He started off 1 for 8, but nearly all of them were wide open looks from 3 with him square to the basket. In the modern NBA, those are shots teams are very happy with. And he was solid in the 4th quarter, scoring 11 points when nobody else could get it going.

I was way more disappointed in Jordan Poole. He was terrible in isolation all night. His buckets were generally in the flow of the offense, which should tell him something. Stop hot dogging so much and move the damn ball!

Kispert has really boosted his 3-point range and it's making a big difference. There is so much space when he is out there. His shot was flat in the 2nd half though. Gotta maintain that arc.

I thought Wes should have gone with Kuzma at the 5 down the stretch when we were having trouble scoring. Replacing Muscala with Kispert should have opened things up. Kuzma or Deni could have defended JJJ.

[dobrojim]

Wake me up when JP and Kuz are gone. Not interested in watching these two clowns jack up 40 shots a game all season. Wes needs to go too.

We need a new HC but Jordan Poole and Kuz are not the problem here. They are solid NBA caliber players. It's good to have them. You don't wanna be absolutely trash you want to go for high picks but you need to be competent.

To be completely cold blooded about it, you either win a given game, or lose that game.
No other outcome is possible. So the league on the whole has a .500 winning percentage.
Players are either above or below (or I supposed they could be exactly) average.
Below average players contribute more to their team's losing.
Above average players contribute more to their team's winning.
This comment is looking at players over many games or a season/career. There is
obviously great variability as we know from game to game. That's how casinos
make money!

Rating players by PPA, numbers from 1st half of last year https://kevinbroom.com/ppa/-
I'll agree that PPA is less than perfect but just for argument's sake....

Kuz is a below average player (actually just barely above avg with a PPA of 103).
He has below average offensive efficiency.

Poole's PPA from last year's first half was only 84 (maybe reflects that he was a part time starter?).

My take home point is simply that our two team 'leaders' are arguably below average players,
mostly because they do too many 'bad' things and not enough 'good' things.

[badinage]

Interesting point. ^ That hadn’t occurred to me. Thanks for throwing it out there.

And to be fair to Kuz, whom I did bash — and whom others have bashed. He was great in the 4th. He has the clutch gene.

Also? He’s just so likeable. I love the guy.

[DCZards]

From today’s Athletic:

Tyus Jones played for the Grizzlies for four years and helped keep the team afloat during Ja Morant’s absences last season. In the process, Jones earned the dubious honor of being called the league’s best backup point guard.

In June, the Grizzlies sent him to Washington in the three-team deal that routed Kristaps Porziņģis to Boston and Smart to Memphis. Washington also received Danilo Gallinari, Mike Muscala and a second-round pick from Boston.

So, on Saturday, Jones had extra motivation.

In 28 minutes, in an efficient outing, he scored 14 points, corralled a pair of rebounds and dished out seven assists without a turnover.

But to hear Kuzma tell it, Jones had a larger, intangible impact of steadying the Wizards late in the fourth quarter as the Grizzlies threatened to pull even.

“There was one point in time in the fourth quarter that I screamed over across the court to the bench, like, ‘Yo, bring him back in the game!’” Kuzma said. “(I did that) just because he just is very calm, and I’d much rather have him have the ball than me have the ball. Just put me in scoring positions rather than handling the ball.”

[payitforward]

I was visiting a friend in Princeton NJ the last couple of days & couldn't watch. It'll be on my dvr, however -- look forward to it!

[payitforward]

...Jordan Poole and Kuz are not the problem here. They are solid NBA caliber players. It's good to have them. You don't wanna be absolutely trash you want to go for high picks but you need to be competent.

To be completely cold blooded about it, you either win a given game, or lose that game.
No other outcome is possible. So the league on the whole has a .500 winning percentage.
Players are either above or below (or I supposed they could be exactly) average.
Below average players contribute more to their team's losing.
Above average players contribute more to their team's winning.
This comment is looking at players over many games or a season/career. There is
obviously great variability as we know from game to game. That's how casinos
make money!

Rating players by PPA, numbers from 1st half of last year https://kevinbroom.com/ppa/-
I'll agree that PPA is less than perfect but just for argument's sake....

Kuz is a below average player (actually just barely above avg with a PPA of 103).
He has below average offensive efficiency.

Poole's PPA from last year's first half was only 84 (maybe reflects that he was a part time starter?).

My take home point is simply that our two team 'leaders' are arguably below average players,
mostly because they do too many 'bad' things and not enough 'good' things.

First off, numbers win games, & numbers lose games. Period. We won last night, which tells you that as a team we put up better numbers than Memphis.

As to our two "team leaders" --

Kuz has never had a season in which he was an average NBA forward. & he's in his 7th year. Overall in those first 6 seasons, he hasn't been close. Some people will say the opposite, naturally, but it just isn't the case.

OTOH, I've predicted a good year for him, & I'm sticking with it (mostly b/c it's no fun predicting failure!).
& he wasn't terrible last night. He was just a terrible shooter. For the rest, he rebounded extremely well, & he had a steal to offset a couple of fouls. Leave out the shooting, & he had a terrific outing.

Like Kuz, Jordan Poole was just awful last year. But, Poole's 2021-22 season was above average. & he's a fair bit younger than Kuz.

Without any doubt, he's a lot more likely than Kuz to turn into a "solid" player -- maybe even better. OTOH, "more likely than Kuz" on it's own isn't saying much!

We won last night for a simple reason.
I haven't even watched the game, but I know what that reason is: we got to the FT line 22 times to their 9 times.
Those extra FTAs got us 8 extra points. We won by 7.

How'd that happen?
Simple. We had way more offensive possessions than they did.

We turned the ball over 5 fewer times than Memphis.
We stole the ball 2 more times than Memphis.
We got 6 more offensive boards than Memphis.

Nate commented on Deni's defense.
I look forward to seeing that on the DVR tonight, when I actually get to watch the game!

That defense, 13 more FTAs, & 1 hot shooter (Kispert) got us a win in our home opener.

[Kanyewest]

I rewatched some of the game- some thoughts

- The Grizzlies were paying more attention to Kispert - it resulted in a couple of open looks/cuts for teammates including a Kuzma basket at the rim, a Jordan Poole 3, an assist to Kuzma. It lead to something like 11 points. The problem is that the Wizards were turning it over in the stretch including Jordan Poole. Delon Wright also turned it over but he may have been fouled by Bane. Kispert may have only took 2 shots but he was getting gravity. I think Kispert was becoming a bit stagnant in the 4th quarter because he wasn't moving without the ball and then the Wizards ultimately closed with a Deni instead. The transition defense was much better without Kispert in the game.

- It was reasonable to expect a regression offensively in the 2nd half against a Grizzlies team that boasts the last 2 defensive players of the year including Jaren Jackson and Marcus Smart.

- Kuzma overall was very inefficient offensively but in the 4th quarter- he was actually doing his thing. He was 5-7 from the field and 1-2 from the free throw line which lead him to have 11 points. Although the positive of Kuzma taking poorer shots is that h has 0 turnovers through 2 games.

- Jordan Poole is getting a lot of slack for attempting that 3 and turning around missing. But that play where Deni completed a bounce pass to Poole which lead to the Kuzma alley oop was pretty nice.

- Bilal looked a bit lost out there. I am glad though that he is still in the rotation and hopefully he can learn from his mistakes.

[dobrojim]

...Jordan Poole and Kuz are not the problem here. They are solid NBA caliber players. It's good to have them. You don't wanna be absolutely trash you want to go for high picks but you need to be competent.

To be completely cold blooded about it, you either win a given game, or lose that game.
No other outcome is possible. So the league on the whole has a .500 winning percentage.
Players are either above or below (or I supposed they could be exactly) average.
Below average players contribute more to their team's losing.
Above average players contribute more to their team's winning.
This comment is looking at players over many games or a season/career. There is
obviously great variability as we know from game to game. That's how casinos
make money!

Rating players by PPA, numbers from 1st half of last year https://kevinbroom.com/ppa/-
I'll agree that PPA is less than perfect but just for argument's sake....

Kuz is a below average player (actually just barely above avg with a PPA of 103).
He has below average offensive efficiency.

Poole's PPA from last year's first half was only 84 (maybe reflects that he was a part time starter?).

My take home point is simply that our two team 'leaders' are arguably below average players,
mostly because they do too many 'bad' things and not enough 'good' things.

First off, numbers win games, & numbers lose games. Period. We won last night, which tells you that as a team we put up better numbers than Memphis.

Snip
.

At the end of the day, I often go back to the profound ‘cowboy wisdom’ of
MNF legend Dandy Don Meredith who pointed out this essential truth many years
ago.

To wit - it’s unlucky to be behind at the end of the game

PS we’re probably going to be unlucky a lot this year.