GT #59: WIZ @Hornets 6pm 3/1/2025

[nate33]

You got to find reasons not to play Middleton outside it's a back-to-back. This guy is the anti-tank commander (in a Cooper Flagg yr). Every NBA season he's had a positive on/off +/-. It's the bizarro Kuzma inefficiency vortex.

Wow! I hadn't noticed, but it checks out:



He is +23.9 for Washington in 99 minutes so far.

[Bernman]

You got to find reasons not to play Middleton outside it's a back-to-back. This guy is the anti-tank commander (in a Cooper Flagg yr). Every NBA season he's had a positive on/off +/-. It's the bizarro Kuzma inefficiency vortex.

Wow! I hadn't noticed, but it checks out:



He is +23.9 for Washington in 99 minutes so far.

That has 1 marginal negative, but Cleaning the Glass has all positives. Don't know the reason for the discrepancy.

https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2495/onoff#tab-team_efficiency

I get there's a per possession adjustment, but if you're in the positives or negatives, that # should just increase.

[nate33]

Cleaning the glass omits garbage time, so it's arguably more meaningful even if it may be less "accurate".

I've also seen modest discrepancies between bball reference and NBA.com.

[payitforward]

Keep this in mind! -- we won last night's game on the backs of a pair of R2 picks plus a guy who went undrafted.
How about that?

[doclinkin]

You got to find reasons not to play Middleton outside it's a back-to-back. This guy is the anti-tank commander (in a Cooper Flagg yr). Every NBA season he's had a positive on/off +/-. It's the bizarro Kuzma inefficiency vortex.

True. Doubly true about Kuzma. Sorry and thanks for taking him off our hands.

[Bernman]

You got to find reasons not to play Middleton outside it's a back-to-back. This guy is the anti-tank commander (in a Cooper Flagg yr). Every NBA season he's had a positive on/off +/-. It's the bizarro Kuzma inefficiency vortex.

True. Doubly true about Kuzma. Sorry and thanks for taking him off our hands.

Well, still overall he's been a positive, seemingly, due to the strong d, & rebounding. Just needs to take less shots, a higher % of quality ones, & make enough. Which would entail shedding some of the extra bad habits from playing w/ a losing team & hopefully being somewhat more efficient off Giannis' gravity vs. LeBron's, which was better for Beasley, Lopez, & Prince. We'll see.

[doclinkin]

True. Doubly true about Kuzma. Sorry and thanks for taking him off our hands.

Well, still overall he's been a positive, seemingly, due to the strong d, & rebounding. Just needs to take less shots, a higher % of quality ones, & make enough. Which would entail shedding some of the extra bad habits from playing w/ a losing team

Kuzma has had those same bad habits with every team. He brought them to this team. Modeled them like a big floppy pink sweater. Shed them onto players around him here. Though I agree Giannis and Dame are likely immune. Still, It's those bad habits that contribute to the loss record of every team he's been on. You were correct in identifying him as the Bizarro Middleton. Our young players play better with him gone. We said the same thing about him with Porzingis and Beal as far as gravity is concerned. 'If only he takes better shots he will be a good player'. He won't, he doesn't, he is constitutionally unable to determine what is and is not a good shot. All shots are good shots if Kuz is taking them. SOme jsut don't go in. But he will shoot more the more he is missing. Like rubbing sticks to start a fire, if it doesn't work do it more and harder. He was traded off LeBJ's team even after they won a ring with him. I fully expect he will give better effort for a while. Ultimately I expect you will find out why he's a net negative on every team: He is simply streaky. That means you will even get streaks of him playing defense and rebounding for a while. Then: not. So far no team, coach, or superstar has been able to convince him to play a different way. Track record suggests Doc's not the guy who's going to get him to do it either.