GT #3: Raptors @ Wizards 7 PM (CSN/1500 AM) [11/2/16]

[payitforward]

Sato played much better than Burke tonight. 50 % shooting. a steal and a block, 2 boards and 2 assists in 10 minutes.

...I feel like he should be getting 20 minutes a night. I've said that for years now that this kid can play. give him the chance and watch him ball ! I think this might trend well for him.

Mother Teresa would have played better than Burke last night!

Satoransky's 10 minutes last night were ok but nothing special. "50% shooting" is quite a flattering way to describe going 1-2 ! (though, don't get me wrong, it beats 0-2 or 1-3). And, naturally, you mention the steal but neglect to mention the turnover.

All the same, yes, he should get 20 minutes a game. At least.

Burke should get no minutes, Thornton will break down if he gets more than 15 a game, and the fewer minutes Bradley Beal gets the better off we are. Maybe benching him will get the message through.

[dobrojim]

I think Leonis is going to have nightmares tonight belatedly realizing that Grunfeld has buried this franchise for the foreseeable future. He's a very stubborn and naive owner.

Ted owns all of this.

In all the years of losing under the Pollins, the Bullets/Wizards were disappointments and laughingstocks. But through the Michael Jordan debacle, the Juwan Howard debacle, Hot Plate Williams, the carousel of coaches, and so forth, I don't think they ever alienated their most loyal, long-term fans to the extent that they have under Leonsis.

Prior to last season the W-L results have actually been better recently, with two consecutive trips to the second round, the first time that had happened in forever.

The last few days I've familiarized myself with current ticket prices and plans, about 6 years after I gave up my plan. Most of my time as a plan holder was in the benighted Susan O'Malley days. FWIW, I had occasion to interact with her a couple times and she struck me as being a pretty nice person, albeit without the benefit of the double-bottom line management strategies that make tech billionaires.

It used to be that season tickets and partial plans, while certainly luxury items, were within the means of ordinary middle class people. There were incentives for fans to make an upfront investment in coming out to root for the team in person. Those who made this commitment clearly came out ahead of those who just bought single games. Today's structure of plans and prices is completely flipped. It's designed to squeeze every last dollar out of the fan. There's no incentive or reward for loyalty and commitment on the part of fans. The best value proposition for fans is for those who show up on F Street to buy a ticket five minutes before the tip.

The combination of continued mismanagement on the basketball side which we've seen and documented on this board, the aggressive fleecing of the ticket-buying fans that has been instituted over the past few years, and the smug, arrogant, "we know better" vibe that emanates from the top of the organization is unbelievably off-putting. I don't think Ted Leonsis is by any means unique in this. This phenomenon is now pretty common in professional sports, and even much of college sports, in America.

My one hope is that we end up in a place where the Wizards clearly become enough of a liability that Ted comes to realize that loyal, long-term fans are an important asset for a professional sports franchise. I'm not holding my breath, though.

Sorry for the rant.

This.

It's on Ted. If I had had more time to get there earlier, I would have visited the poster making
table and made one that said -

Hey Ted, this is 'the plan'?
Come on Man.

(I wonder if they would have let me make that)

[krii]

Sato played much better than Burke tonight. 50 % shooting. a steal and a block, 2 boards and 2 assists in 10 minutes.

...I feel like he should be getting 20 minutes a night. I've said that for years now that this kid can play. give him the chance and watch him ball ! I think this might trend well for him.

Mother Teresa would have played better than Burke last night!

Satoransky's 10 minutes last night were ok but nothing special. "50% shooting" is quite a flattering way to describe going 1-2 ! (though, don't get me wrong, it beats 0-2 or 1-3). And, naturally, you mention the steal but neglect to mention the turnover.

All the same, yes, he should get 20 minutes a game. At least.

Burke should get no minutes, Thornton will break down if he gets more than 15 a game, and the fewer minutes Bradley Beal gets the better off we are. Maybe benching him will get the message through.

Well to be clear he made most of those numbers in like 4 minutes before Wall entered the game and Sato played supporting role for another 5-6 minutes. Whilst playing primary guard role he was both efficient and impressive - in first three minutes he had like 2 pts, 2 rbs and an assist. Okay count this TO AND 2 fouls but hey, I quite liked those fouls as well (one was unnecessary, however he was aggressive which is fine!).

[Kanyewest]

I underestimated how bad the Wizards bench was going into the season. At this point, the Wizards may have been better off spending money re-signing Temple, and I'm not a big Temple fan. Thornton is making me long for the days of Rasual Butler.


Sent from my LG-D851 using RealGM mobile app

[montestewart]

Derozen is the best 2 guard in this game

Agreed. So we should learn to spell his name properly.

Derozan.

I thought it was DeRozan



Whichever way, it was DeStruction for the Wizards

[jivelikenice]

Satoransky wasn't great, but was solid considering it was his first meaningful NBA action. I had the fortune of sitting courtside for this game and I was completely surprised by how much taller/longer he is than Beal and I think that helped him and thus the team defensively when he was in. The stark contrast in intensity between him and Burke is surprising too. Burke is timid, seemingly lacking confidence out there. Tomas was the exact opposite and was definitely not overwhelmed being out there. I'm excited to see him develop.

[nate33]

For his career, Beal has shot 36% from 15-22 feet. Any half-decent power forward shoots better than that. Markieff Morris shoots 38%. Patrick Patterson shoots 44%. Kris freaking Humphries shoots 41%.

For his career, Beal has averaged 78% from the FT line. The NBA average FT percentage is 76%. Eliminate centers, and the league average is 78%. So Beal, our "elite shooter", is a completely average shooter from the FT line. Any random PG or SG is likely to shoot better.

Even Beal’s 3P% is disappointing. Over the past two seasons combined, he averaged .398 on 5.0 attempts per 36 minutes. He ranked 14th in 3P% which is nice, but not elite. And some of the guys above him shot better while shooting MUCH more often. Redick shot .455 on 7.0 attempts. Thompson shot .431 on 8.4 attempts. Anthony Morrow shot .416 on 7.0 attempts. Now THOSE guys are "shooters". Beal is merely a guy who can hit when wide open.

The weird thing is that Beal really looks like he has improved his game. He has shown some sophisticated hesitation moves to get himself into the lane, which is a HUGE improvement over his rookie year when he could hardly dribble. He is finishing around the rim much better as well. But the improvement at penetrating seems to have come with a decline in shooting. He was an incredible shooter during the second half of his rookie season, shooting almost 50% from 3, and has gotten worse every year. If he could ever regain the shooting ability he showed in his rookie year, he would be an extremely good player. But it's looking more and more like that was a fluke. He's not any better than an average shooter.

[Induveca]

Something I had harped on after he was drafted, he was illogically hyped as a great 3P shooter out of college. His percentage at Florida was not impressive! Only 33% from the NCAA 3 point line.

Ray Allen 2.0 is what got me most. Allen shot 46% from 3 his final season at UConn.

[montestewart]

For his career, Beal has shot 36% from 15-22 feet. Any half-decent power forward shoots better than that. Markieff Morris shoots 38%. Patrick Patterson shoots 44%. Kris freaking Humphries shoots 41%.

For his career, Beal has averaged 78% from the FT line. The NBA average FT percentage is 76%. Eliminate centers, and the league average is 78%. So Beal, our "elite shooter", is a completely average shooter from the FT line. Any random PG or SG is likely to shoot better.

Even Beal’s 3P% is disappointing. Over the past two seasons combined, he averaged .398 on 5.0 attempts per 36 minutes. He ranked 14th in 3P% which is nice, but not elite. And some of the guys above him shot better while shooting MUCH more often. Redick shot .455 on 7.0 attempts. Thompson shot .431 on 8.4 attempts. Anthony Morrow shot .416 on 7.0 attempts. Now THOSE guys are "shooters". Beal is merely a guy who can hit when wide open.

The weird thing is that Beal really looks like he has improved his game. He has shown some sophisticated hesitation moves to get himself into the lane, which is a HUGE improvement over his rookie year when he could hardly dribble. He is finishing around the rim much better as well. But the improvement at penetrating seems to have come with a decline in shooting. He was an incredible shooter during the second half of his rookie season, shooting almost 50% from 3, and has gotten worse every year. If he could ever regain the shooting ability he showed in his rookie year, he would be an extremely good player. But it's looking more and more like that was a fluke. He's not any better than an average shooter.

I remember being concerned by Beal's college 3P% (about .333), and also remember being concerned by Drummond's college FT% (under .300). I guess the lesson here is to focus more on a player's projected primary role when analyzing his potential worth.

[krii]

Wow. Gortat's usage went down from 18.9 last season to just 11.5 those first three games. I thought it's not enough pick and rolls played in those games but that's quite surprising.

[dandridge 10]

I think Leonis is going to have nightmares tonight belatedly realizing that Grunfeld has buried this franchise for the foreseeable future. He's a very stubborn and naive owner.

Ted owns all of this.

In all the years of losing under the Pollins, the Bullets/Wizards were disappointments and laughingstocks. But through the Michael Jordan debacle, the Juwan Howard debacle, Hot Plate Williams, the carousel of coaches, and so forth, I don't think they ever alienated their most loyal, long-term fans to the extent that they have under Leonsis.

Prior to last season the W-L results have actually been better recently, with two consecutive trips to the second round, the first time that had happened in forever.

The last few days I've familiarized myself with current ticket prices and plans, about 6 years after I gave up my plan. Most of my time as a plan holder was in the benighted Susan O'Malley days. FWIW, I had occasion to interact with her a couple times and she struck me as being a pretty nice person, albeit without the benefit of the double-bottom line management strategies that make tech billionaires.

It used to be that season tickets and partial plans, while certainly luxury items, were within the means of ordinary middle class people. There were incentives for fans to make an upfront investment in coming out to root for the team in person. Those who made this commitment clearly came out ahead of those who just bought single games. Today's structure of plans and prices is completely flipped. It's designed to squeeze every last dollar out of the fan. There's no incentive or reward for loyalty and commitment on the part of fans. The best value proposition for fans is for those who show up on F Street to buy a ticket five minutes before the tip.

The combination of continued mismanagement on the basketball side which we've seen and documented on this board, the aggressive fleecing of the ticket-buying fans that has been instituted over the past few years, and the smug, arrogant, "we know better" vibe that emanates from the top of the organization is unbelievably off-putting. I don't think Ted Leonsis is by any means unique in this. This phenomenon is now pretty common in professional sports, and even much of college sports, in America.

My one hope is that we end up in a place where the Wizards clearly become enough of a liability that Ted comes to realize that loyal, long-term fans are an important asset for a professional sports franchise. I'm not holding my breath, though.

Sorry for the rant.

I agree with everything you wrote Big A. You have pretty much explained why I gave up my season tickets after 20 years. I could take the losing years under Abe because I honestly felt he cared about the team and the fans. I don't get the same sense anymore from Ted. The fact that he tried to increase my season tickets by 20 bucks a seat at the end of last year was a slap in the face. I honestly hope more and more fans refuse to go and that place is empty. I want to slap him back.

[Wargreymon]

Well...my thought from my first Verizon Center outing.

Good atmosphere, friendly crowd...but yeah, pretty dead.I used to go to the Garden when the Knicks had Eddie Curry and that place was always rockin.

Yay Burke benched!

Wall is so gone when that contract is up.

F*ck you Beal. DD showed you what 128mil looks like and it aint your can't shoot worth a damn a$$. I feel for John, I'd hate playing with you too. I don't hate that you got paid. It's not my money. I hate that we are stuck with your untradeable behind.

Every contract is tradeable. It's just a matter of what assets you may have part with in a package to move said contract via future picks .etc. Anyway It would be cool if the Wizards could somehow facilitate a multi team trade that would flip Beal for Cousins. A duo of Wall and Cousins would easily be the 2nd best team in the East imo.