Woj: Deni to Portland for 14th pick and Brogdon

[doclinkin]

Ew. Unsanitary.

[Kanyewest]

https://streamable.com/x6ig82

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Who is to say that Bub’s improvement by year 3 or 4 won’t mirror that of Deni and that those 2 SRPs the Zards got from Portland weren’t used to acquire Cam Whitmore, who has the potential to be a star.

Obviously, nobody can predict the future with certainty. You can also say the same thing about the two second round picks or the future Portland pick.

But Deni wasn't traded for Bub or Cam. He was traded for the #14 pick, the 2029 Portland pick and two SRP's. We have a general idea of what those picks are worth on average, and Deni's production last season was worth more than that collection of picks on average.

As PIF put it earlier: if you could trade Bub, Brogdon, the 2029 Portland FRP and two SRP's for Deni right now, would you?

Of course you would. So therefore, the value that we got for Deni was not good.

That's what PIF's whole argument has essentially become, that no one knew for sure, didn't say enough about it beforehand, and that it is only because of essentially luck that some were right (those saying it was a mistake).

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

First off:

...no racial undertones were meant by "your boy" ...

I see how you might have thought I was invoking that, but I didn't mean to.

You had pixxed me off, but I had/have no reason whatever to imagine you are a racist. My apologies if I gave that impression.

On the other hand, I do have a high opinion of Dawkins' work so far. Hence, I also have no hesitation in repeating that...

...you're not qualified to tie his shoes... (blah blah blah)

Nor am I for that matter, which -- obviously! -- I should have mentioned in the same sentence!

Secondly:

... I got to young kids below two....

Good for you! Nothing greater than having young kids. I bet my kids are older than your parents. I envy you!
(Happily, I should mention, I do have 7 grandchildren!)

Thirdly:

You keep trotting out this argument that no one predicted Deni breaking out...

Yeah... Doc & others have pointed out nate's clear expectations, just one example, of major improvements from Deni. Hence...

Finally:

... Maybe you're just a bit too sensitive....

Not something I have often been called! OTOH, I have been called "wrong" plenty of times! &, in many of those cases --but not always, ok?!-- I'm sure I was.

IOW, in all the above, as & where noted, you were right & I was wrong.

Alright time to put this to rest, got the kiddos to bed, going to watch this Naomi Osaka US Open match:

January 7th, 2024

Dear Deni Avdija,

If by some chance you happen to read this, I am so terribly sorry you have to play with such clueless dumb teammates. With teammates who don’t fight and scrap. Who don’t make the right play. I’m so terribly sorry your budding game is being stunted by these players.

You played wonderfully tonight. Running point at times. Running secondary point. Hitting some threes. Driving. Using your body. I think you’re just beginning to learn how good you are. It’s exciting to see.

You are the only reason to watch this team this season. You and Bilal. Let us both hope that brighter days are ahead, with teammates who know ball and have talent.

With gratitude, but also with concern for your emotional and spiritual state,

badinage

You had me at hello...

Dude is going to be great if we just get out of the mentality that he can't do more or that he has limitations. Sure it pisses me off that his free throw shooting falls off whenever he starts playing really good, other than that, I'm happy.

This dude keeps popping up on advanced defensive metric after advanced metric as an outlier (in a good way), has point forward abilities, has shown that he'll hustle his ass off and has a fire to him, rebounds on both end, and is actually a decent shot blocker and steal obtainer considering his average wingspan, yet people keep doubting what is painfully obvious... that the kid is a building block piece if you just give him some confidence, latitude, and most importantly let him touch the damn basketball.

February 4th, 2024

This is why I always pump the brakes on all the "Deni needs higher usage" talk. Deni isn't yet able to impose his will offensively. He is at his best when he aggressively takes what the defense gives, but doesn't force things. On some nights, that'll mean 20 points on 15 shots. On other nights, that will mean 9 points on 7 shots.

That said, after the Trade Deadline when nothing matters anymore, I'd be fine with Deni getting more opportunities to try to create offense. I'm not expecting the results to be all that great, but it should help his individual development.

I think he should definitely get more usage, way too many possessions he's not touching the ball. I do agree that there is probably some limit to how much additional usage where it makes him a negative. So I think the folks that say that they want to see his usage increase are right, they may be wrong on how much he can take. Also, it's not just about how many points he's producing either, it's about not relegating him to the guy other teammates can lookoff and involving him more in the wrinkles of the offense.

Also, I certainly am expecting him to struggle some if he does take on higher usage. That's fine, now is the time to let him work some of the kinks out. It's not like Kuzma doesn't have horrible high turnover games as well and he's supposedly some masterclass at absorbing usage.

Another thing that is important, is I don't want Deni to become obsessive about scoring. I would be fine with him being an 15-18 scorer while also doing all the little things that make him a unique and in many ways outstanding player. Deni has maybe -I don't want to jinx it- figured out had meat and potatoes on offense, next it's working on doing that while reducing some of the avoidable TOs while maybe adding a go-to move or two (I love when he's taken his size advantage over smaller defenders in the post this season).

I'd like to see Deni doing something along the lines of 17-18 points 8 rebound 6.5 assists 1 steal 0.5 blocks 2 turnovers on 50/38/80 splits with him d-ing it up on multiple positions. That to me, even if another two years away, is a player that can be valuable piece for 8+ years as he hits the age of 25.

February 8th, 2024

I think this gets Deni in trouble not just with the coaching staff but with the refs. Like he starts getting a reputation with them and then can't get any calls. I get the sense he is not his own best advocate. Has a tendency to run his mouth. Little things like when interviewers asked players 'what teammate do you not want to sit next to on the plane?' on the Japan trip, and Deni was the near-universal answer because essentially he talks all the time, lol.

I think Deni needs a vet with a ring to teach him how to get that respect from the refs. Teach how to shut up and win. Sadly his vet coming in was Beal who often would sulk and bxtch at the refs.

So it's been reduced to blatant innuendo for explaining what the hell is going on with the coaching staff and Deni? I have to say the plane ride interviews as proof made me laugh out loud for the size of that reach. A comedy segment used as a cudgel a young player's rep is special.

February 15th, 2024

Deni has arrived.

Time to build around Deni.

He with out a doubt should be a critical piece to the the rebuild. He has a unique skillset for a guy with his size, stupid for us if we look a gift horse in the mouth. He's not a number one, I don't think, but he could be an elite three with what he can do on the court. He could play himself into a player that has not significant weakness with his obviously improved three ball which he's now shooting 40+% from there this season through 54 games.

I'm not done...

PIF you conveniently ignored this last week when you said produce post of my bullishness on Deni, I even say bullish in on of the posts , so I want to just give it a nice bump.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

February 15th, 2024

The swiss army knife, third option on a good/playoff team are solid assessments IMO.

He's an excellent defender though unfortunately he's consistently been on rosters that have by-and-large been horrible on defense so he doesn't get the shine he deserves there. He can guard 1-4 on any night, and the 5 in a pinch (he did some solid work on Wemby a couple weeks ago when matched up on him), and teams make a concerted effort to get him away from their best offensive players with screens and switches on a constant basis; it often works because he plays with a bunch of sieves. He's shown that he can be elite on that end too, various BBall Index Metrics bear this out.

There's some debate if he's a 3 or 4, but he's consistently played more minutes at the 3; nonetheless he's versatile. If you consider him to be a 3, he's tops among the position in rebounding and assists per game or if you are looking at it per 36 minutes. He get's you about 1.2/1.3 stocks a game to go along 1.4 deflections a game.

His shooting splits this season are 52/40/74 with this free throw shooting being a bit streaky over the past month. The big thing here is he worked with a coach this offseason on his three ball and the work is obvious. Smoother mechanics, less hesitation, better form overall, and it has paid dividends. He sits at 8th in the league among SFs after shooting sub 30 last year. His TS% for the season is 61%, and he's become a great finisher at the rim. He also is quietly becoming very good at drawing fouls, if he can up his FT% along the way he becomes that much more efficient.

Then you have the intangibles. He's guy that plays hard, hustles, makes the right pass, moves the ball, doesn't take plays off, plays scrappy. This is often an overlooked thing with him, but he just plays the right way (granted that's subjective) on both ends of the court.

As of today, his biggest weaknesses are turning the ball over and streaky free throw shooting as mentioned above; in the past you could argue it has been assertiveness. The TOs have increased with more minutes and a larger role in the offense, but I'll say his turnovers are typically of the variety of trying to make a great/difficult pass as opposed to say a travels/charges/stepping out of bounds, etc. He also has a tendency to sometimes let refs get to him, whether he's in the right or wrong, but has improved somewhat in that aspect.

In years past he has definitely struggled with confidence issues, which I think was twofold in that some of it was mental but a fair amount of it was playing on treadmill teams where there was a lot of favoritism towards vets as well as having his minutes jerked around with no rhyme or reason whether he played good or bad.

He's only 23, and I'm betting that there's going to be a lot of talk about him once he finally starts to get some exposure with how he's starting to play. There might be some ups and downs with his plays, but I'm really bullish on him and think he can be a core piece to the Wizards' rebuild or as a piece on a serious contender.

February 16th, 2024

Nah.He's a fantastic role player and would start on most teams

I think his offense is a little over-rated, As you have teams just smothering Poole/Kuzma so he kinda doesnt get scouted, But he's a very under-rated defender, Smart (Wouldnt say good) passer, Can hit open 3's at a great clip as we

The contract he signed was huge unders back then, If Washington want to get assets, Deni is worth 2 firsts. He's in this weird spot where he's being asked to guard 2/3's because Gafford was a hugely over-rated defender, Kuzma just stopped trying, while Jones was ok and Poole also sucked, He took on the best opponents, Sure at Washington thats fine, If he found himself on another team he would probably be pushed to guard the 4,

He struggles with quick opponents, He's a smart defender, A fantastic rebounder, he can hit open 3's now, but hes also on a fantastic contract, But he needs to learn how to use his **** left hand

Not sure I agree with you here on several points.

First and foremost, teams don't really smoother Poole, he just sucks.

In terms of defending 2/3, most teams would have him do that on the regular. He has the size, speed, and instincts, and regularly shows it. Not really sure where you pulling that he "struggles" with quick opponents from. The only areas you can legitimately say that he "struggles" on defense is with huge centers in the post that negate his size. He also used to be a bit foul prone too, but by-and-large he's mostly cleaned that up. He can guard the 1-4 on basically most matchups and do a good job at it.

Again, he doesn't get props like other players do because he's been on horrendous defensive teams, and that's no reflection of him. I'd be willing to say that 95% of Wizards fans would attest to this not being at the feet of Avdjia who is working every night on that end and doing a good job (you can only do so much when your teammates who play heavy minutes by-and-large could care less).

I do agree that Gafford was pretty overrated on defense. Great shot blocker, but just too weak in his base and was prone to getting pushed around. Also struggled with pick-and-rolls and being pulled out to the perimeter. Bagley, his replacement with minutes, is worse. Agreed on Kuzma, too. He hasn't even attempted to look like he's trying on defense this season even though he has the tools to not be a liability there.

Poole, as bad as he's been on offense, might be worse on defense. Dumb fouls, not trying, floating in no mans land, lack of hustle, not knowing where to rotate, being outmuscled, etc., etc. We'd probably have 5-6 more wins had it not been the debacle that he has been this season on defense alone. Jones tries on defense, but he just doesn't have the size to be effective night-in, night-out.

Our two next guys who play the most minutes are Kispert and Coulibaly. Kispert tries, but is still a sieve at this point in his career. Just doesn't have good instincts and has terrible lateral quickness on that end. Bilal, our second best defender after Deni, can get some blocks and steal is still very much a work in progress. He was defending better at the beginning of the season, but since the scouting reports have started to catch up, he has struggled quite a bit. Has the tools, but is a rookie, and has a lot of physical growing and learning still to do.

Which is to say, Avdija is playing with scraps on the defensive side of the ball. A perfect example of this was last night versus New Orleans. When he was off the court the team was something in the minus 15-20 range, with him on the court they were +15. In the nine minutes he didn't play the team got destroyed.

On the season, the Wizards roster's On-Off numbers among players who have played have played 60% of the teams games (they've played 54) since being on the roster or overall who and have averaged at least 10+ MPG:

-Delon Wright (13.8 MPG in 33 games): +5.6
-Deni Avdija (28.2 MPG in 54 games): +3.6
-Daniel Gafford (26.5 MPG in 45 games with Washington): +2.8
-Marvin Bagley (24.1 MPG in 11 games with Washington): +2.6
-Landry Shamet (15.1 MPG in 37 games): +2.0
-Richaun Holmes (12.0 MPG in 2 games with Washington): -0.5
-Bilal Coulibaly (26.9 MPG in 53 games): -5.4
-Jordan Poole (29.2 MPG in 52 games): -5.4
-Kyle Kuzma (31.7 MPG in 52 games): -5.6
-Corey Kispert (22.5 MPG in 53 games): -5.6
-Tyus Jones (29.0 MPG in 54 games): -7.0

The other two players that that have averaged 10+ minutes but have been traded away that don't meet that games played threshold are:

-Danilo Gallinari (14.8 MPG in 26 games with Washington): -2.5
-Mike Muscala (14.1 MPG in 24 games with Washington): -10.8

So on a roster that has been relatively injury free for the season, Avdija's on-off numbers speak volumes given that he's one of two players on the roster to have played every game this season (Jones being the other). Among players who have played 20+ MPG he's one of the three to have a positive on-off, which he leads among the three. One of those other players Gafford has been traded and the other Bagley has played 20% of the teams games this season after being traded for.

The only other guys to have a positive on-offs are two journey man guards who have both missed approximately 40% of the season and both average less than 15 MPG.

The top five players other than him still on the roster in terms of MPG (minus Bagley who has only played 11 games with the team) are:

-Bilal Coulibaly (26.9 MPG in 53 games): -5.4
-Jordan Poole (29.2 MPG in 52 games): -5.4
-Kyle Kuzma (31.7 MPG in 52 games): -5.6
-Corey Kispert (22.5 MPG in 53 games): -5.6
-Tyus Jones (29.0 MPG in 54 games): -7.0

Of those five guys, they've missed a grand total of 6 games. Deni is +9 to the next nearest guy in Bilal Coulibaly.

If this isn't proof of his impact on the court is, especially defense, I don't know what is...

February 16th, 2024

I'm not gonna lie, i dont follow Deni and the Wizzies, and most of my information comes from others talking about him. So others being wrong about his D and me parroting uninformed opinions is an unfortunate casualty of a run of the mill NBA fan. His stats til this year and his willingness to extend so early honestly didnt make me think much of him. If he was hot stuff, he'd have wanted to hit RFA and get paid the most he could, woulda been my line of thinking.

That's fair.

His offense was always the question mark with him. Didn't have a go to move, wasn't great at converting at rim, was a career 31% shooter from trey.

What kept him on the court was his defense, rebounding, and his ability to move the ball and facilitate (even despite the above holes in his offense). The second half of last year, you could tell he's was getting better at finishing at the rim, but would still miss a lot of attempts he did 95% of the work getting to a place he wanted to be but couldn't convert. His three ball at the beginning of last season was a disaster, then had some better shooting months from there, but was never able to put together any consistency from range.

This year he's basically been both excellent at finishing at the rim and shooting the three ball other than a bumpy two-thirds of December where his all around game kind of went into a slump out of nowhere. Despite the more consistent offense, for most of the season his minutes have been a choppy, herky-jerky mess and until recently, it was a thing that many Wizards fans were constantly complaining about. Since WUJ was removed as HC, he's gotten much more consistent minutes (especially after the deadline when they were showcasing a lot of players) and it's not a surprise he's starting to put it together more with not having to look over his back.

March 24th, 2024

^ Never.

Best player on the team, and the face of it as well. The only two-way player, and a guy who plays the game the right way.

(How many players on this team make the extra pass? Most don’t even make the pass.)

I heard some dude on sports radio — 980 — saying that Deni wouldn’t start for any other team in the league. So stupid. So clueless. The guy would start for at least 28 teams and probably EVERY team.

Ah, to be so confidently out of the loop.

Imagine Deni on the Nuggets, Knicks (Thibs would play him 45 minutes a game and grind his knees to dust), OKC, Clippers, Suns, etc., etc. This guy would be getting All-Defensive recognition and would be a borderline All-Star. He'd seamlessly fit into so many squads because he's not a prima donna, plays excellent defense, hustle, isn't selfish, wants to win, etc., etc.

April 3rd, 2024

Good team win.

Deni, aside from being cold from deep, had a solid, solid game. Butler made some huge shots when the Bucks looked like they may rally that kind of took the air out of their sail; he was like 3-3 from three in the late stages. Gill had a lunch game, looked like he belonged. Poole, despite still just taking some mind-numbingly bad shots and proceeding to just brick them, was a good floor general and I don't think I noticed him getting totally abused on defense.

Vuk looked pretty damn good, a lot more polished than I was expecting. That one hesitation, spin move on the perimeter for a soft floater looked like Jokic at his height. Also someone mentioned it in the thread, he actually looks like might have some tools to be a decent defender.

For all the praise Omoruyi gets from Gooden and Miller, you'd think he's the second coming of Paul Milsap, but I just don't see it. If there was a stat for him tipping the ball around without actually getting the rebound he'd probably lead the league though. Not to hate, but Gooden is blaming the team every time Omoruyi can't grab an offensive board.

I'll go with Deni for the all-around game. Needs the ball more, will keep saying it. Good things happen when he's involved and gets touches.

April 3rd, 2024

How can you not love the way Deni plays? He's now the perfect combination of aggressive, always looking to get his teammates open shots, rebounds, and plays defense. The ball needs to be in is hands more, good things happy when he gets touches.

March 16th, 2024

I just call 'em like a I see 'em.

Deni is without a doubt my favorite Wizard. Since his breakout at the end of December, he has been the best player on the team. But I still think Deni is an opportunistic scorer, not a guy who imposes his will against a set defense. He just doesn't get the same defensive attention from opponents that Kuzma does. I don't think he could replace what Kuzma does on offense, at least not yet.

I don't even think we are in disagreement there that Kuzma gets more defensive attention. I just feel like this default reaction to whenever Kuzma does stupid stuff on the court, especially on offense, that it's because he has to. Because he's the only guy that can handle more usage, when the results just don't bear that out.

Deni can handle more usage, and Kuzma and Poole look him off far too often is what's the issue here. I've said plenty of times Kuz has a nice bag, his problem is he doesn't realize when it's time to showcase it and when to pass the ball. Also, his love for fancy jumpshots and early clock contest junk shots are likely why he is a career sub-efficient player despite his bag of tricks. So we as observers can only go with what he does on a night to night basis.

There's a reason why Kuzma has an on-off of -6.6 this season, and Deni is a +4.9. That's an 11.5 point swing there. This whole Kuzma is a victim of circumstance has become such a stale argument.

These too PIF.

[dckingsfan]

Spoiler:

February 15th, 2024

The swiss army knife, third option on a good/playoff team are solid assessments IMO.

He's an excellent defender though unfortunately he's consistently been on rosters that have by-and-large been horrible on defense so he doesn't get the shine he deserves there. He can guard 1-4 on any night, and the 5 in a pinch (he did some solid work on Wemby a couple weeks ago when matched up on him), and teams make a concerted effort to get him away from their best offensive players with screens and switches on a constant basis; it often works because he plays with a bunch of sieves. He's shown that he can be elite on that end too, various BBall Index Metrics bear this out.

There's some debate if he's a 3 or 4, but he's consistently played more minutes at the 3; nonetheless he's versatile. If you consider him to be a 3, he's tops among the position in rebounding and assists per game or if you are looking at it per 36 minutes. He get's you about 1.2/1.3 stocks a game to go along 1.4 deflections a game.

His shooting splits this season are 52/40/74 with this free throw shooting being a bit streaky over the past month. The big thing here is he worked with a coach this offseason on his three ball and the work is obvious. Smoother mechanics, less hesitation, better form overall, and it has paid dividends. He sits at 8th in the league among SFs after shooting sub 30 last year. His TS% for the season is 61%, and he's become a great finisher at the rim. He also is quietly becoming very good at drawing fouls, if he can up his FT% along the way he becomes that much more efficient.

Then you have the intangibles. He's guy that plays hard, hustles, makes the right pass, moves the ball, doesn't take plays off, plays scrappy. This is often an overlooked thing with him, but he just plays the right way (granted that's subjective) on both ends of the court.

As of today, his biggest weaknesses are turning the ball over and streaky free throw shooting as mentioned above; in the past you could argue it has been assertiveness. The TOs have increased with more minutes and a larger role in the offense, but I'll say his turnovers are typically of the variety of trying to make a great/difficult pass as opposed to say a travels/charges/stepping out of bounds, etc. He also has a tendency to sometimes let refs get to him, whether he's in the right or wrong, but has improved somewhat in that aspect.

In years past he has definitely struggled with confidence issues, which I think was twofold in that some of it was mental but a fair amount of it was playing on treadmill teams where there was a lot of favoritism towards vets as well as having his minutes jerked around with no rhyme or reason whether he played good or bad.

He's only 23, and I'm betting that there's going to be a lot of talk about him once he finally starts to get some exposure with how he's starting to play. There might be some ups and downs with his plays, but I'm really bullish on him and think he can be a core piece to the Wizards' rebuild or as a piece on a serious contender.

February 16th, 2024

Not sure I agree with you here on several points.

First and foremost, teams don't really smoother Poole, he just sucks.

In terms of defending 2/3, most teams would have him do that on the regular. He has the size, speed, and instincts, and regularly shows it. Not really sure where you pulling that he "struggles" with quick opponents from. The only areas you can legitimately say that he "struggles" on defense is with huge centers in the post that negate his size. He also used to be a bit foul prone too, but by-and-large he's mostly cleaned that up. He can guard the 1-4 on basically most matchups and do a good job at it.

Again, he doesn't get props like other players do because he's been on horrendous defensive teams, and that's no reflection of him. I'd be willing to say that 95% of Wizards fans would attest to this not being at the feet of Avdjia who is working every night on that end and doing a good job (you can only do so much when your teammates who play heavy minutes by-and-large could care less).

I do agree that Gafford was pretty overrated on defense. Great shot blocker, but just too weak in his base and was prone to getting pushed around. Also struggled with pick-and-rolls and being pulled out to the perimeter. Bagley, his replacement with minutes, is worse. Agreed on Kuzma, too. He hasn't even attempted to look like he's trying on defense this season even though he has the tools to not be a liability there.

Poole, as bad as he's been on offense, might be worse on defense. Dumb fouls, not trying, floating in no mans land, lack of hustle, not knowing where to rotate, being outmuscled, etc., etc. We'd probably have 5-6 more wins had it not been the debacle that he has been this season on defense alone. Jones tries on defense, but he just doesn't have the size to be effective night-in, night-out.

Our two next guys who play the most minutes are Kispert and Coulibaly. Kispert tries, but is still a sieve at this point in his career. Just doesn't have good instincts and has terrible lateral quickness on that end. Bilal, our second best defender after Deni, can get some blocks and steal is still very much a work in progress. He was defending better at the beginning of the season, but since the scouting reports have started to catch up, he has struggled quite a bit. Has the tools, but is a rookie, and has a lot of physical growing and learning still to do.

Which is to say, Avdija is playing with scraps on the defensive side of the ball. A perfect example of this was last night versus New Orleans. When he was off the court the team was something in the minus 15-20 range, with him on the court they were +15. In the nine minutes he didn't play the team got destroyed.

On the season, the Wizards roster's On-Off numbers among players who have played have played 60% of the teams games (they've played 54) since being on the roster or overall who and have averaged at least 10+ MPG:

-Delon Wright (13.8 MPG in 33 games): +5.6
-Deni Avdija (28.2 MPG in 54 games): +3.6
-Daniel Gafford (26.5 MPG in 45 games with Washington): +2.8
-Marvin Bagley (24.1 MPG in 11 games with Washington): +2.6
-Landry Shamet (15.1 MPG in 37 games): +2.0
-Richaun Holmes (12.0 MPG in 2 games with Washington): -0.5
-Bilal Coulibaly (26.9 MPG in 53 games): -5.4
-Jordan Poole (29.2 MPG in 52 games): -5.4
-Kyle Kuzma (31.7 MPG in 52 games): -5.6
-Corey Kispert (22.5 MPG in 53 games): -5.6
-Tyus Jones (29.0 MPG in 54 games): -7.0

The other two players that that have averaged 10+ minutes but have been traded away that don't meet that games played threshold are:

-Danilo Gallinari (14.8 MPG in 26 games with Washington): -2.5
-Mike Muscala (14.1 MPG in 24 games with Washington): -10.8

So on a roster that has been relatively injury free for the season, Avdija's on-off numbers speak volumes given that he's one of two players on the roster to have played every game this season (Jones being the other). Among players who have played 20+ MPG he's one of the three to have a positive on-off, which he leads among the three. One of those other players Gafford has been traded and the other Bagley has played 20% of the teams games this season after being traded for.

The only other guys to have a positive on-offs are two journey man guards who have both missed approximately 40% of the season and both average less than 15 MPG.

The top five players other than him still on the roster in terms of MPG (minus Bagley who has only played 11 games with the team) are:

-Bilal Coulibaly (26.9 MPG in 53 games): -5.4
-Jordan Poole (29.2 MPG in 52 games): -5.4
-Kyle Kuzma (31.7 MPG in 52 games): -5.6
-Corey Kispert (22.5 MPG in 53 games): -5.6
-Tyus Jones (29.0 MPG in 54 games): -7.0

Of those five guys, they've missed a grand total of 6 games. Deni is +9 to the next nearest guy in Bilal Coulibaly.

If this isn't proof of his impact on the court is, especially defense, I don't know what is...

February 16th, 2024

That's fair.

His offense was always the question mark with him. Didn't have a go to move, wasn't great at converting at rim, was a career 31% shooter from trey.

What kept him on the court was his defense, rebounding, and his ability to move the ball and facilitate (even despite the above holes in his offense). The second half of last year, you could tell he's was getting better at finishing at the rim, but would still miss a lot of attempts he did 95% of the work getting to a place he wanted to be but couldn't convert. His three ball at the beginning of last season was a disaster, then had some better shooting months from there, but was never able to put together any consistency from range.

This year he's basically been both excellent at finishing at the rim and shooting the three ball other than a bumpy two-thirds of December where his all around game kind of went into a slump out of nowhere. Despite the more consistent offense, for most of the season his minutes have been a choppy, herky-jerky mess and until recently, it was a thing that many Wizards fans were constantly complaining about. Since WUJ was removed as HC, he's gotten much more consistent minutes (especially after the deadline when they were showcasing a lot of players) and it's not a surprise he's starting to put it together more with not having to look over his back.

March 24th, 2024

Ah, to be so confidently out of the loop.

Imagine Deni on the Nuggets, Knicks (Thibs would play him 45 minutes a game and grind his knees to dust), OKC, Clippers, Suns, etc., etc. This guy would be getting All-Defensive recognition and would be a borderline All-Star. He'd seamlessly fit into so many squads because he's not a prima donna, plays excellent defense, hustle, isn't selfish, wants to win, etc., etc.

April 3rd, 2024

Good team win.

Deni, aside from being cold from deep, had a solid, solid game. Butler made some huge shots when the Bucks looked like they may rally that kind of took the air out of their sail; he was like 3-3 from three in the late stages. Gill had a lunch game, looked like he belonged. Poole, despite still just taking some mind-numbingly bad shots and proceeding to just brick them, was a good floor general and I don't think I noticed him getting totally abused on defense.

Vuk looked pretty damn good, a lot more polished than I was expecting. That one hesitation, spin move on the perimeter for a soft floater looked like Jokic at his height. Also someone mentioned it in the thread, he actually looks like might have some tools to be a decent defender.

For all the praise Omoruyi gets from Gooden and Miller, you'd think he's the second coming of Paul Milsap, but I just don't see it. If there was a stat for him tipping the ball around without actually getting the rebound he'd probably lead the league though. Not to hate, but Gooden is blaming the team every time Omoruyi can't grab an offensive board.

I'll go with Deni for the all-around game. Needs the ball more, will keep saying it. Good things happen when he's involved and gets touches.

April 3rd, 2024

How can you not love the way Deni plays? He's now the perfect combination of aggressive, always looking to get his teammates open shots, rebounds, and plays defense. The ball needs to be in is hands more, good things happy when he gets touches.

March 16th, 2024

I don't even think we are in disagreement there that Kuzma gets more defensive attention. I just feel like this default reaction to whenever Kuzma does stupid stuff on the court, especially on offense, that it's because he has to. Because he's the only guy that can handle more usage, when the results just don't bear that out.

Deni can handle more usage, and Kuzma and Poole look him off far too often is what's the issue here. I've said plenty of times Kuz has a nice bag, his problem is he doesn't realize when it's time to showcase it and when to pass the ball. Also, his love for fancy jumpshots and early clock contest junk shots are likely why he is a career sub-efficient player despite his bag of tricks. So we as observers can only go with what he does on a night to night basis.

There's a reason why Kuzma has an on-off of -6.6 this season, and Deni is a +4.9. That's an 11.5 point swing there. This whole Kuzma is a victim of circumstance has become such a stale argument.

These too PIF.

Damn, that took a lot of work - kudos to you.