Late Season Wizards' Player Rotations

[AWIZZINGBULLET]

If you could experiment with player rotations, what lineups would you go with in hopes of re-establishing balance between the offense and defense?


I ask because as much as I have my doubts about Kelly Oubre developing into someone that can be relied on for offense, along with beginning to feel more and more like the team could be just as good without him, after all the points surrendered by the Wizards during its Western road trip, I'm starting to think the Wizards are missing his defensive intensity. Bojan Bogdanovic's value is obvious, but I'm really hoping that Scott Brooks begins to experiment with the rotation and comes up with a lineup that includes both Bogdanovic and Oubre in it. There has probably been no greater point during this season where the Wizards have needed guys who play with passion on defense than now.


Marcin Gortat is pretty much nonexistent in the 4th qtr. now. Do you agree?


Who would you go with, whose minutes get cut, and at what points during games?

[AWIZZINGBULLET]

Re-insert Kelly Oubre for added defensive intensity.

Just sayin'...

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Re-insert Kelly Oubre for added defensive intensity.

Just sayin'...

This.

I would sit Bogs an entire game just to get Oubre back in the flow.

[gambitx777]

I don't think that needs to happen, you can cut beals minutes to give him rest and play Kelley at the 2 and I hate to do it Bench Tomas, cuz right now you would only get use out of him playing with Kelley for better D him playing 2 guard with jennings is not cutting it. Play kelly 15 a game at shooting guard and cut brad down to 30 and play him a little at point if need be, in between rotations, we know he can do it.

[gambitx777]

I would save wall and beal a bit.
Wall 30-32/Jennings 10-18/ tomas or beal 0-5
Beal 30-35/Kelley 10-18/Tomas McCellan 0-5
OttO 30-32/ Bogdanavic 10-18/ Kelley/Tomas 0-5
Morris 30-35 / Bogdanavic 5-10/ Smith 5-10
Gortat 25-30/ Mahinmi 15-20/Smith 0-5

Kelley and Bogdan can be swapped in and out of the SG Sf spots but you really need to make sure Bogdan is covered by a good defender beside him. But I could be out of touch too.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

I feel like Brook's has to try Oubre again, perhaps as sixth man, to try to re-spark some defensive intensity.

I'd like to see KO and Smith as the first two off the bench right now.

Right now, Brooks is in the unenviable position of building the aircraft while in flight. He'll eventually settle on the right rotation... but I hope we won't have slipped to the 4 seed by then.

Of course, all this is predicated on x-rays not revealing that John broke his 5th metaphysicalcarpaltunnelwing bone in his foot last night.

[queridiculo]

As long as the starters don't play any defense it won't matter what happens when we bring guys off the bench.

Oubre is no savior, he can't hit the broad side of a barn and the same is true for Satoransky.

The onus is on the starters to dig down and figure out what they need to do to keep teams from scoring at will or the Wizards season is going to come to an end in the first round of the playoffs.

[benb331]

This is a great thread, and Scotty B's success with this end-of-season experiment, fueled by acquisitions, will determine the team's playoff success. He needs to get this lineup conundrum figured out and solidified well before the first round tipoff.

Definitely agree that the starters need to step it up on D, but not just for the first six minutes of the game, and that's important because staggering the starters with bench players seems to be the way to go. They need to play D not just with the core group of 5 but also with backups on the court. To make that happen, I think there needs to be a hard and fast rule:

Unless John Wall is on the bench, Brandon Jennings should not be in the game. He has no business playing the 2, and it's wasteful of Wall's minutes to shift him off-ball. The only positives that I've seen from Jennings are ball handling and setting up plays / gathering assists. As long as John is on the floor, we have no need for Brandon's skills.

Starters
John
Brad
Otto
Kieff
Gortat

Sub #1
John
Bogey
Otto
Kieff
Mahinmi

Bring in a positive on offense and a positive on defense, hopefully the net change is about as good as the starting lineup.

Sub #2
Brandon
Bogey
Oubre
Smith
Mahinmi

Go full-bench. This lineup needs to figure it out and be the go-to Lineup #2. Jennings, Bogey, and Smith should be able to get enough buckets while Oubre and Mahinmi man up the defense. If we're struggling to get stops, then bring in Satoransky for Bogey or Jennings. Preferably Jennings.

Sub #3
Brandon
Brad
Oubre
Smith
Gortat

Go back to Beal and Gortat. That's enough offensive firepower to send Bogey to the bench. Defensively, I like the Beal/Oubre combo on the perimeter and Smith/Gortat should be decent enough rim protection.

Then back to the starters to close the half / game.

I'm not a big fan of sitting March during crunch time, but both Wittman and Brooks have done it consistently. Why???

The #1 thing I've seen post all-star break is that the team needs to stop dribble penetration from the opponent. The initial high pick is killing us a majority of the time. I think that's primarily on John and Gortat. Their communication and effort in defending the PnR seems to have lapsed. When that first pick breaks down and quick guards get into the paint, an easy bucket is just a few seconds away. I'd focus practice on solving this problem. Stop the dribble penetration.

[queridiculo]

Agreed, that Jennigs/Wall pairing is just awful, I can only imagine that perhaps Brooks is trying to give Jennings some shots but at the rate he's converting, I don't see what the point is, might as well put Oubre out there at the two and give those lineups a bit of a defensive edge.

The #1 thing I've seen post all-star break is that the team needs to stop dribble penetration from the opponent. The initial high pick is killing us a majority of the time. I think that's primarily on John and Gortat. Their communication and effort in defending the PnR seems to have lapsed. When that first pick breaks down and quick guards get into the paint, an easy bucket is just a few seconds away. I'd focus practice on solving this problem. Stop the dribble penetration.

I'm always struck by how simple it seems for opponents to break down our defense with the high pick and roll when on the other end the Wizards rarely ever end up with the kind of wide open looks the Wizards routinely surrender.

Washington's pick and roll coverage has been a problem for years but this year they've added a new wrinkle, the unforced switch.

The amount of times the Mavericks forced switches with half assed picks was incredible.

Barnes abused the Wizards all night whether it was Morris, Gortat, Wall or Beal and when it wasn't Barnes abusing his mismatches you saw Morris trying to stay in front of Curry, Wall attempting to guard Nowitzky or Bogdanovic somewhere in no-mans-land not guarding anybody.

The Wizards aren't really good enough defensively as individuals to get away with this and Wall, who should lead the way as the teams best defender is taking off way too many possessions on the defensive end.

It's almost as if teams know exactly that Wall either isn't going to put in the effort to fight through the picks, or the communication between him and whoever is supposed to help him defend the high pick and roll is so poor that he's consistently a step behind.

Wall's staple on the defensive end this year is the reach and watch, and if your most gifted defender isn't getting it done, it's not surprising that the others aren't either.

[NatP4]

This is what the team SHOULD look like:

Wall Jennings
Beal Satoransky
Oubre Bojan
Porter Keef
Gortat Mahinmi

Emphasis on should.

[benb331]

This is what the team SHOULD look like:

Wall Jennings
Beal Satoransky
Oubre Bojan
Porter Keef
Gortat Mahinmi

Emphasis on should.

Oubre needs to re-earn his backup slot. He's not even within spitting distance of Keef's big nutz.

[NatP4]

This is what the team SHOULD look like:

Wall Jennings
Beal Satoransky
Oubre Bojan
Porter Keef
Gortat Mahinmi

Emphasis on should.

Oubre needs to re-earn his backup slot. He's not even within spitting distance of Keef's big nutz.

The lineups he is used in have more to do with that than him.

[benb331]

This is what the team SHOULD look like:

Wall Jennings
Beal Satoransky
Oubre Bojan
Porter Keef
Gortat Mahinmi

Emphasis on should.

Oubre needs to re-earn his backup slot. He's not even within spitting distance of Keef's big nutz.

The lineups he is used in have more to do with that than him.

Not sure I agree there. You've got to pin a majority of the blame on Oubre for his horrid play the last 10-15 games that he got significant minutes. He was bad, bad.

However - I do agree that Wall/Beal/Oubre/Otto/Gortat has been our #1 best lineup of the season. We haven't seen it in a while, and I certainly wouldn't be opposed to Scott giving it another run. I definitely wouldn't use it as "Starters" lineup, though; guys take losing a starting spot seriously, especially Keef, and Oubre has not earned a starting role.

[sfam]

There's a reason Oubre is usually sitting on the bench. He needs his confidence back. Until then he's not the best play for us. He's great in specific situations, but if Oubre is our great hope for improving team D, we're in trouble.

[nate33]

The late additions to the ball club do make for some interesting dilemmas for Brooks. We now have, in theory, 11 playable players (the starters plus Jennings, Sato, Bogie, Oubre, Smith and Mahinmi). You can't really run an effective rotation with more than 10 so somebody is going to get squeezed. And in all honesty, 9 is probably a better number.

The problem is that only 7 of the players are consistent: Wall, Beal, Porter, Gortat, Bogie, Smith and Mahinmi. You pretty much know what you're going to get from those guys. The other guys: Morris, Oubre, Sato and Jennings are wildcards. Any lineup you make is going to depend on two or three of those guys to show up, and that's not always gonna happen.

To some degree, I think we need to let things work themselves out over the next 5 games. In particular, Jennings needs some more time. But if he doesn't get it together in the next few games, I'd rather just go back to Sato while making a bigger effort to have Beal in the game alongside him to share the ball handling duties.

And I hope Brooks can give Oubre another 5-game stretch in the regular rotation to see if he can regain his January form. Maybe he can take some of those minutes from Porter, who can probably use a rest for his gimpy hip.

[dangermouse]

Kieff needs benching. Whats with the Kieff love? You seen the last few games? He's become a foul machine and turning into a ball swallowing chucker.

When he's playing well he really helps the team with his man defense.

Maybe its time to try starting a small ball lineup? Whats the worst that could happen?

[AWIZZINGBULLET]

Kieff needs benching. Whats with the Kieff love? You seen the last few games? He's become a foul machine and turning into a ball swallowing chucker.

When he's playing well he really helps the team with his man defense.

Maybe its time to try starting a small ball lineup? Whats the worst that could happen?

I think an eventual benching should in the works if Morris can't find ways to positively contribute consistently.

As of now I just think Markieff Morris should be a prime candidate to lose minutes until he shows that he won't take thoughtless shots, commit needless fouls, and half-ass when going up for rebounds.


He should be called out for his play, but one of my worries is that certain guys get passes from being called out and I think that Morris is one of those players that Wall, the leader of the team, would be hesitant to put on blast during a game.

These games with Morris and Gortat finishing with less than 20 points combined are becoming inexcusable. Gortat's got his 4th qtr. minutes cut, I think Morris should begin to share more minutes with Jason Smith to start.

Wittman used Porter at the 4 with some success. Why not go back to that from time to time?

[benb331]

No love for Morris here, but I don't think anyone has earned the rights to steal his starting job. GOAT Smith would be interesting though, no lack of effort from him! Kieff needs something to get him going, but he doesn't seem to be the type who'd respond well to riding the pine to start games. I do agree that he's seemingly getting a pass for lackluster effort and that some lowered minutes mid-game might get his attention without launching a sulking spree.

[AWIZZINGBULLET]

Just tuned in to Wiz vs. Chi with one minute left in the 1st qtr. and there's an Oubre sighting. Better yet, he's playing alongside Bogdanovic.

Wish granted.

[benb331]

Oubre couldn't have done any better than he did against the Bulls tonight. Fantastic defense and played within himself on offense. Minutes++ for him now!