GT #52: Wizards @ Orlando Magic 7:00 PM (NBCSWA/1500 AM)

[dckingsfan]

I think Oubre just doesn't play well with Frazier/Mahimni. When it was Sato/Oubre/Scott there was more ball movement.

Sato does everything to set the table and get the ball out of his hands. Last night Frazier got himself in plenty of awkward situations with the rock.

When John comes back the second unit will be much better.

[nate33]

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This is why I have said in other threads that I would be in favor of a Wall for Lillard trade or a Wall+Gortat for Kemba+Zeller trade. In the modern NBA, you don't really need a pass first PG in order to get teammates involved. Most of the top teams in the league like Golden State, the Spurs and Toronto spread the assists throughout the lineup. Instead of having one starter with 9-12 assists, and the other starters with 0-3, they'll have 3 or 4 guys with 4-8 assists. All they really need from the "point guard" is a guy who can get the team into their sets, and preferably, he's a guy who can create shots in isolation if the shot clock winds down.

I'm not saying Wall is a bad player or anything. He's a great player. I'm just saying that between two hypothetical players of equal talent, if one is a pass-first guy and mediocre scorer, and the other is a great scorer but only a mediocre setup man, I'd take the 2nd guy. If you have enough talent at other positions (and we do), you can easily distribute some of the passing responsibilities throughout the roster.

Also, if our starting PG was a combo-guard scorer type like Kemba or Lillard, it would be easier to run a 3-guard rotation with Beal and Sato. Right now, pairing Sato with Wall leaves us a little weak on floor spacing. (Sato can hit threes if he has the time, but it's not like his defender has to jump to the top side of an off-the-ball screen just for fear that Sato is going to pop out and can a three. With a guy like Beal or Lillard, even when he is off the ball and running around screens, he is bending the defense.)

[Shanghai Kid]

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This is why I have said in other threads that I would be in favor of a Wall for Lillard trade or a Wall+Gortat for Kemba+Zeller trade. In the modern NBA, you don't really need a pass first PG in order to get teammates involved. Most of the top teams in the league like Golden State, the Spurs and Toronto spread the assists throughout the lineup. Instead of having one starter with 9-12 assists, and the other starters with 0-3, they'll have 3 or 4 guys with 4-8 assists. All they really need from the "point guard" is a guy who can get the team into their sets, and preferably, he's a guy who can create shots in isolation if the shot clock winds down.

I'm not saying Wall is a bad player or anything. He's a great player. I'm just saying that between two hypothetical players of equal talent, if one is a pass-first guy and mediocre scorer, and the other is a great scorer but only a mediocre setup man, I'd take the 2nd guy. If you have enough talent at other positions (and we do), you can easily distribute some of the passing responsibilities throughout the roster.

Also, if our starting PG was a combo-guard scorer type like Kemba or Lillard, it would be easier to run a 3-guard rotation with Beal and Sato. Right now, pairing Sato with Wall leaves us a little weak on floor spacing. (Sato can hit threes if he has the time, but it's not like his defender has to jump to the top side of an off-the-ball screen just for fear that Sato is going to pop out and can a three. With a guy like Beal or Lillard, even when he is off the ball and running around screens, he is bending the defense.)

Nobody has really talked about it because it doesn't fit any narrative, but Wall is shooting 36% from 3 this year on 4 attempts per game. I'm assuming he's going to continue to work on that in the off-season as it's such a big deal now.

Let's give the benefit of the doubt and say Wall was hurt but that he gets back to last year's form where he shot 45% fg and was 80% ft.

So maybe it's possible that Wall is capable of 45% fg, 36% 3pt, 80% FT. I'm not sure what the TS% is on that, but I'm assuming it's not horrible.

Keep in mind also, here is Damian Lillards TS% in the playoffs the last 3 years.

49%
53%
55%

So his efficiency goes down pretty big in the playoffs.

Wall's 27ppg/10apg on 55% TS is better then any Lillard playoff run.

Kembas last playoff run he shot 49% TS.

Also, does Wall impede on the team being great offensively? What did the offense look like when they went 27-8 over 36 games last year? Are Lillard and Kemba even capable of good defense? Wall is ok when he focuses.

The most important thing is I still don't see any team taking Wall's contract. So I'm focusing more on how good we can be with Wall.

[CobraCommander]

Yesterday was my birthday.

Today I was too busy to watch the Wizards or even think about them.

I see they won by 17 points.

4-0 without John Wall

I wonder how New Orleans is doing without Boogie Cousins? That fat stat padder...

Tomas Satoransky 19 points. I missed by one game. Last game I predicted he was going to have a career high.

For all the damn Gortat hate, 11 and 10 in just 24 minutes. Maybe he could have 15 and 15 in 36 minutes... Or he could have had 20 and 20 if he needed to.

I don't need to say anything else.

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Happy birthday....

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Thanks again to everybody that wish me happy birthday
I appreciate it!

Life is good and every day we have is a good day. Another birthday really is a reason to celebrate.

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[80sballboy]

Thanks again to everybody that wish me happy birthday
I appreciate it!

Life is good and every day we have is a good day. Another birthday really is a reason to celebrate.

Sent from my [device_name] using [url]RealGM mobile app[/url]

Happy belated birthday and Go Terps!

[80sballboy]

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This is why I have said in other threads that I would be in favor of a Wall for Lillard trade or a Wall+Gortat for Kemba+Zeller trade. In the modern NBA, you don't really need a pass first PG in order to get teammates involved. Most of the top teams in the league like Golden State, the Spurs and Toronto spread the assists throughout the lineup. Instead of having one starter with 9-12 assists, and the other starters with 0-3, they'll have 3 or 4 guys with 4-8 assists. All they really need from the "point guard" is a guy who can get the team into their sets, and preferably, he's a guy who can create shots in isolation if the shot clock winds down.

I'm not saying Wall is a bad player or anything. He's a great player. I'm just saying that between two hypothetical players of equal talent, if one is a pass-first guy and mediocre scorer, and the other is a great scorer but only a mediocre setup man, I'd take the 2nd guy. If you have enough talent at other positions (and we do), you can easily distribute some of the passing responsibilities throughout the roster.

Also, if our starting PG was a combo-guard scorer type like Kemba or Lillard, it would be easier to run a 3-guard rotation with Beal and Sato. Right now, pairing Sato with Wall leaves us a little weak on floor spacing. (Sato can hit threes if he has the time, but it's not like his defender has to jump to the top side of an off-the-ball screen just for fear that Sato is going to pop out and can a three. With a guy like Beal or Lillard, even when he is off the ball and running around screens, he is bending the defense.)

I would consider trading Wall in the offseason not for Lillard but because he's going to have knee issues the rest of his career and he's going to crush our cap space but Kemba and Lillard will command max $$ as well The ball is moving well with another pass-first point guard in Sato. I would probably consider him more of a combo guard because he doesn't always have the ball in his hands to generate the offense, esp. with Beal on the floor.

Surprising thougths from two that covered Wall

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[Shanghai Kid]

It sounded like an honest critique from Carter until the last line "he doesn't care if the team loses as long as he's the star", that goes more into personal attack territory.

It's weird that nobody is acknowledging that Wall is shooting 36% from 3 this year. It doesn't appear he's that bad of an outside shooter, and there is good chance he gets better at it as he gets older ala Jason Kidd.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Thanks again to everybody that wish me happy birthday
I appreciate it!

Life is good and every day we have is a good day. Another birthday really is a reason to celebrate.

Sent from my [device_name] using [url]RealGM mobile app[/url]

Happy belated birthday and Go Terps!

Thanks!

Nice win today for Maryland, too.