GT #1: Sixers @ Wizards 7 PM (ESPN/1500 AM)

[zero2hero]

Eh, Wall's not a volume shooter. We have 7 years of evidence backing up this observation. He did what needed to be done last night, which was attack Philly's bigs in the paint and push the tempo in transition. He eventually found his touch after a cold first half, and it's one of the biggest reasons we won.

Wall and Beal can never, ever play passive and start looking to defer. Our team does not work if they do. They have to grind through bad shooting nights like last night and keep attacking and searching for shots.

I'm not all that bothered by the # of shots that JWall and Beal put up last night. Sure I would like for them to make more of them and I wouldn't expect Wall to put up 28 shots most nights. But I want them to look to take over games on the offensive end...when necessary. This team is built around the two of them being alpha dogs.

Sure. & when they do it well, that's called having a good game. & when they do it badly, that's called having a bad game. Last night they did it badly -- Wall in particular.

The idea that what Wall doing did last night was "what needed to be done" is plain ridiculous. Man. Is it not ok for this guy to have a bad game but that it needs to be redefined that his shooting 10-28 was somehow what got us the win?

Wall played 37 minutes last night -- just about his average per game last season. Per game last season, John took @18.6 shots.

Wall had a lousy game last night. Had he had an average game for him (not a great one), it wouldn't have been anywhere near as close as it was.

The guy's allowed to have a bad game. Only lets not give him an award when he has one!

Is it not ok to concede that Wall can have a bad game, and yet still be responsible for a lot of pivotal buckets that got us the win? I was more disappointed with Wall's effort on the defensive side, than his inefficiency on the offensive side. If he plays D like he did in the 3rd qtr all game, and even with his struggles on offense, then I don't think the game would've been anywhere as close

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I really don't understand the complaining about this win. Philly is a dam* good team and this was a good win. Simmons is as good as I thought he was, he's basically a LeBron-ish type talent. Embiid & Simmons are an absolutely scary frontline at that was their first game together! If Philly stays healthy, they can win 45 games this year easily. If Embiid played more minutes and stays healthy, 50 would not be out the question.

Embiid & Simmons IMO are two of the five best players in the Eastern Conference RIGHT NOW! Covington is one of the better role players in the league. Redick & Johnson are solid vets. That's not a team I want to see playoff time.

I'd clearly put Philly ahead of Boston. They may even be ahead of teams like Miami & Charlotte right now. They are probably two years away from winning the East outright.

Wall took too many shots but it's one game. Calm down. I'd rather Wall be overaggressive than not aggressive enough. I liked he constantly attacked the rim, I didn't like that he couldn't make one single jump shot but kept taking them. He'll be alright. He's the last guy on the team I worry about. Even when he goes through tough stretches, he generally fights his way out of it. He's also been a notoriously slow starter to begin the year.

I was happy with the win.

Philly is a playoff team.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using RealGM mobile app

[stevemcqueen1]

Wall had a lousy game last night. Had he had an average game for him (not a great one), it wouldn't have been anywhere near as close as it was.

Having a bad shooting game =/= having a bad game. His scoring, second half defense, and playmaking for guys like Gortat and Porter led directly to the win.

[Dat2U]

And Jennings averaged 4.7 assists per game and 1 turnover per game in the regular season with the Wizards. The problem I had with Jennings was his defense and inability to score.

...I'm not going to take on the role of Frazier defender! I didn't like the decision to acquire him. But... lets give him more than 13 minutes to prove us both wrong (or right!). That much he deserves!

thats the whole thing, why does Frazier even get the opportunity over Sato who showed he was ready to play in the preseason? what the hell has Frazier done in the NBA? He has looked terrible in his two games, Sato looked much improved all preseason and was better than both Burke and Jennings last year. Why does brooks hate the guy?

Frazier has proven more as an NBA player than Sato has. He's certainly proven to be a more advanced PG in terms of running an offense just to the naked eye. Sato in limited minutes looked incredibly out of sorts at PG and the numbers bear that out. Defensively he has potential but because of his size, it's as wing defender against 2s/3s considering his foot speed. Additionally, due to his inability to shoot, he's almost forced to play the SF position and even there he negatively impacts spacing.

Let me please note that I'm no fan of Frazier and maybe Sato will turn out to be the better player. It's not a high barrier for Sato to climb. However, in the simplest terms I can state: Tomas Satoransky was a very bad offensive player in his 719 minutes last season. Even worse than Trey Burke. I'm sure at some point this season he will be called on to step up whether injuries or whatever. We'll have plenty of time this season to evaluate him.

[DCZards]

Sure. & when they do it well, that's called having a good game. & when they do it badly, that's called having a bad game. Last night they did it badly -- Wall in particular.

The idea that what Wall doing did last night was "what needed to be done" is plain ridiculous. Man. Is it not ok for this guy to have a bad game but that it needs to be redefined that his shooting 10-28 was somehow what got us the win?

Wall played 37 minutes last night -- just about his average per game last season. Per game last season, John took @18.6 shots.

Wall had a lousy game last night. Had he had an average game for him (not a great one), it wouldn't have been anywhere near as close as it was.

The guy's allowed to have a bad game. Only lets not give him an award when he has one!

I don't think anyone here is giving Wall any awards. But I do find it fascinating that you're focusing on Wall's shooting when you're the one constantly admonishing the rest of us for focusing too much on "scoring" at the expense of other aspects of the game.

[Donkey McDonkerton]

Looks like Porter's new deal boosted his confidence too. He looked hyped!

[nate33]

Let me please note that I'm no fan of Frazier and maybe Sato will turn out to be the better player. It's not a high barrier for Sato to climb. However, in the simplest terms I can state: Tomas Satoransky was a very bad offensive player in his 719 minutes last season. Even worse than Trey Burke. I'm sure at some point this season he will be called on to step up whether injuries or whatever. We'll have plenty of time this season to evaluate him.

I agree that Sato's individual offensive numbers were lousy last year. But for whatever reason, his on/off numbers were pretty decent. Compared to the other backup guards on the roster, he seemed to hurt the team much less. Here are the numbers:

Code: Select all

                                                                                                   
  Player  Season   MP  PER  TS% TRB% AST% STL% BLK% TOV% USG% WS/48 OBPM DBPM  BPM VORP
   Burke 2016-17  703 10.8 .532  3.8 20.7  0.8  0.6 15.2 19.6  .036 -2.3 -3.4 -5.7 -0.7
Jennings 2016-17 1802 12.1 .479  5.9 30.4  1.9  0.2 17.5 17.6  .046 -0.8 -2.2 -3.0 -0.5
    Sato 2016-17  719  8.5 .477  6.5 16.7  1.8  0.7 19.0 12.1  .040 -2.9 -0.2 -3.1 -0.2
Thornton 2016-17  575 10.4 .494  7.5 10.1  1.6  0.4 10.1 18.7  .042 -1.6 -1.5 -3.2 -0.2


His OBPM was only barely worse than Burke (and much worse than Jennings) but he made up for it with better D, giving him a BPM comparable to Jennings and Thornton, and way better than Burke.

The player pairs numbers are interesting too.

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Lineup                     MP   PTS
Oubre/ Satoransky      422:46  +1.2
Satoransky/Smith       340:34  +6.1
Burke/ Satoransky      272:20  +4.7
Porter/ Satoransky     247:35  -1.8
Gortat/ Satoransky     245:17  -1.5
Morris/ Satoransky     234:08 +16.6
Satoransky/Thornton    169:27  -2.9
Beal/ Satoransky       162:02  +7.9
Mahinmi/ Satoransky    160:46  -3.4
Satoransky/Wall        157:20  -9.1


The point differential column suggests that Satoransky played pretty well alongside everyone on the team except Wall. Clearly, Sato's lack of perimeter shooting doesn't mesh well with Wall's game. But as long as Sato has some shooters around him and gets a chance to handle the ball a bit, the on/off numbers suggest that the team does pretty well. Putting him on the 2nd unit with Meeks, Oubre and Scott to spread the floor might work out okay. (Caveat, small sample size.)

[gtn130]

Grunching this thread, but the all bench unit of T.Frazier, I.Mahinmi, J.Meeks, K.Oubre Jr., M.Scott was an absolute disaster. Every lead the starters put together was quickly erased once Brooks brought in the bench. They ended up with a -62.6 Net Rating with 10 minutes of play. It's what made the game close. It's why the Wizards didn't win by 15-20 points.

Brooks needs to stop using full bench units, period. One of Wall and Beal should be on the court nearly 100% of time. This is the same story as last year, and Brooks is still making the same mistake.

[gtn130]

The bench was actually good last night, it’s just unfortunate they were matched up vs Philly’s starters so much. I’m not a fan of the all 5 bench unit though. Staggering Otto’s minutes is something I would like to see.

They weren't. They were horrendous.

[gtn130]

This isn't hard.

B.Beal, M.Gortat, K.Oubre Jr., O.Porter Jr., J.Wall had a Net Rating of 26.2 (17 minutes)

T.Frazier, I.Mahinmi, J.Meeks, K.Oubre Jr., M.Scott had a Net Rating of -62.6 (10 minutes)

The other starter-heavy lineups were in the positive, but they're not worth listing out.

Take the [bulk of the] starters out, watch the lead evaporate. Every time.

[benb331]

[b]YOUR Washington Bullets ARE STARTING A NEW SEASON!

OUR Washington Bullets play tonight, and FAH1223 owes us Game Thread #2 as he leads us on an epic win streak. Let's gooo!!!!

[BearlyBallin]

Replay on NBA TV now

[NatP4]

This isn't hard.

B.Beal, M.Gortat, K.Oubre Jr., O.Porter Jr., J.Wall had a Net Rating of 26.2 (17 minutes)

T.Frazier, I.Mahinmi, J.Meeks, K.Oubre Jr., M.Scott had a Net Rating of -62.6 (10 minutes)

The other starter-heavy lineups were in the positive, but they're not worth listing out.

Take the [bulk of the] starters out, watch the lead evaporate. Every time.

play a 5 man bench unit against the other teams starters, watch the lead evaporate every time. but also, Frazier is not good.

[NatP4]

If you want to blame anyone for Otto not getting enough touches blame Brooks. He only played him 33 minutes and after his hot quarter the entire unit got subbed out. Brooks has got to find a way to stagger the lineups. I think John is good enough that he should ideally be pulled early to run the second unit, let Sato or *gulp* Frazier run with Otto and Beal so there's no excuses about touches.

But man--Sixers were extra crispy last night. Probably overinflated shooting--Robert Covington was basically a superstar last night, but if that's the norm....damn.

How about blaming Otto as well? I know that people like to point fingers at Brooks, Wall etc. when Otto doesn't get enough shots, but lets be honest for a second...Otto plays like Mike Miller Jr sometimes. He passes up shots, and if he misses two or three in a row, that's it. He's not taking a shot again. The guy simply disappears at times, and it's his fault more times than not.

Otto plays the right way, he only takes good shots within the flow of the offense. If they entire team played like Otto, we would be the San antonio spurs

[payitforward]

I really don't understand the complaining about this win. Philly is a dam* good team and this was a good win. Simmons is as good as I thought he was, he's basically a LeBron-ish type talent. Embiid & Simmons are an absolutely scary frontline at that was their first game together! If Philly stays healthy, they can win 45 games this year easily. If Embiid played more minutes and stays healthy, 50 would not be out the question.

Embiid & Simmons IMO are two of the five best players in the Eastern Conference RIGHT NOW! Covington is one of the better role players in the league. Redick & Johnson are solid vets. That's not a team I want to see playoff time.

I'd clearly put Philly ahead of Boston. They may even be ahead of teams like Miami & Charlotte right now. They are probably two years away from winning the East outright.

Wall took too many shots but it's one game. Calm down. I'd rather Wall be overaggressive than not aggressive enough. I liked he constantly attacked the rim, I didn't like that he couldn't make one single jump shot but kept taking them. He'll be alright. He's the last guy on the team I worry about. Even when he goes through tough stretches, he generally fights his way out of it. He's also been a notoriously slow starter to begin the year.

What my man Dat said....

[payitforward]

If you want to blame anyone for Otto not getting enough touches blame Brooks. He only played him 33 minutes and after his hot quarter the entire unit got subbed out. Brooks has got to find a way to stagger the lineups. I think John is good enough that he should ideally be pulled early to run the second unit, let Sato or *gulp* Frazier run with Otto and Beal so there's no excuses about touches.

But man--Sixers were extra crispy last night. Probably overinflated shooting--Robert Covington was basically a superstar last night, but if that's the norm....damn.

How about blaming Otto as well? I know that people like to point fingers at Brooks, Wall etc. when Otto doesn't get enough shots, but lets be honest for a second...Otto plays like Mike Miller Jr sometimes. He passes up shots, and if he misses two or three in a row, that's it. He's not taking a shot again. The guy simply disappears at times, and it's his fault more times than not.

Otto plays the right way, he only takes good shots within the flow of the offense. If they entire team played like Otto, we would be the San antonio spurs

That's right. & if that happened, the Alamo would be the White House -- which ain't going to happen, so I fear our guys won't all be as smart players as Otto Porter.

[payitforward]

...Wall had a lousy game last night. Had he had an average game for him (not a great one), it wouldn't have been anywhere near as close as it was.

The guy's allowed to have a bad game. Only lets not give him an award when he has one!

Is it not ok to concede that Wall can have a bad game, and yet still be responsible for a lot of pivotal buckets that got us the win? I was more disappointed with Wall's effort on the defensive side, than his inefficiency on the offensive side. If he plays D like he did in the 3rd qtr all game, and even with his struggles on offense, then I don't think the game would've been anywhere as close

Except it wasn't the "pivotal buckets that got us the win." *All* the buckets got us the win.

Basketball is two things -- it's competition, & it's entertainment. Both. Entertainment has a narrative structure -- a game is a story with decisive moments & pivotal buckets, etc. & narratives need heroes, leaders, etc.

Competition is an altogether different thing. Gortat & Oubre played just over 25% of our minutes. But they got just under 50% of our rebounds, including offensive rebounds. They also got 50% of our blocks. Those guys dominated the game, the competition between the teams. Without them, there would have been no victory story. Not even close.

To put it another way, that might make it more obvious: we were able to take 3 more shots & 19 more FTAs than Philly. That is how we won the game. That's a ton more chances to score. If you get that many more chances to score you almost always win. Where did they come from, those extra chances? Well, most of them came from offensive rebounds, lack of turnovers, extra steals, & blocks (which take a shot attempt away from the opponent -- increasing the gap). Gortat, Oubre & Mahinmi, in 1/3 of our minutes, were responsible for most of that.

Of course you have to make those extra shots; you have to shoot a high %: Gortat, Oubre & Mahinmi turned 25 shots & 6 FTAs into 36 points -- that's a TS% of almost 66%. In a very close game. Basically the game was decided by the play of those 3 guys -- esp. Gortat & Oubre.