GT #9: Wiz @ Celtics 7:30 PM

[queridiculo]

Put it another way:

In our first 4 games, we went 1-3, but overall we were actually up a point on our opponents, & we had a good chance to win in 2 of the 3 losses.

In our last 5 games, we've gone 1-4, overall we're down to our opponents by 41 points, & we had no chance to win in any of the 4 losses.

I agree with you that some of that is personnel (IT playing instead of Bonga). But part of it is the scouting report. Our gimmick zone defense was working for the first three games because it took teams by surprise. Then Minnesota carved it up. From that point on, it has been a joke.

One of my beefs with Brooks, he falls in love with something and is too damn stubborn to change his approach when it stops being effective.

It worked that one time, so it's got to be the holy grail? Jeez, I wish we had never had that ill fated pre-season win against the Knicks that apparently made him a believer.

Mike Longabardi better start working his magic soon, because this is looking an awful lot like the terrible defenses he put together in Cleveland.

The Wizards can't even blame the grind, they should be one of the freshest teams out there.

[payitforward]

He's even drawn more charges than the rest of the team combined - he's not even far from doubling them:

https://stats.nba.com/players/hustle/?Season=2019-20&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&sort=CHARGES_DRAWN&dir=1&PerMode=Totals&TeamID=1610612764

Here's the same chart on a per-36 basis, with low-minute players weeded out.

https://stats.nba.com/players/hustle/?Season=2019-20&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&sort=CONTESTED_SHOTS&dir=1&PerMode=Per36&TeamID=1610612764&CF=MIN*G*40

Wagner is at the top of the list in nearly every hustle category. He is just behind Bryant in screen assists, he's 3rd in deflections, 3rd in loose balls recovered, 1st in charges drawn, and 2nd just barely behind Bryant in contested shots.

All true, & very good stuff. But... if you are called for 5 fouls in 18 minutes, you don't stay in the game long....

OTOH, drawing a charge is the opposite of a turnover, so for sure it dulls the impact of his turnover rate. Of course, he could turn it over less & still draw those charges!

[Ruzious]

He's even drawn more charges than the rest of the team combined - he's not even far from doubling them:

https://stats.nba.com/players/hustle/?Season=2019-20&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&sort=CHARGES_DRAWN&dir=1&PerMode=Totals&TeamID=1610612764

Here's the same chart on a per-36 basis, with low-minute players weeded out.

https://stats.nba.com/players/hustle/?Season=2019-20&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&sort=CONTESTED_SHOTS&dir=1&PerMode=Per36&TeamID=1610612764&CF=MIN*G*40

Wagner is at the top of the list in nearly every hustle category. He is just behind Bryant in screen assists, he's 3rd in deflections, 3rd in loose balls recovered, 1st in charges drawn, and 2nd just barely behind Bryant in contested shots.

All true, & very good stuff. But... if you are called for 5 fouls in 18 minutes, you don't stay in the game long....

OTOH, drawing a charge is the opposite of a turnover, so for sure it dulls the impact of his turnover rate. Of course, he could turn it over less & still draw those charges!

It's almost a requirement that all young centers are injury-prone. Most - not named Mahinmi - grow out of it to some extent. Heck, even the great Mitchell Robinson averages 6.4 fouls per 36 minutes.

[payitforward]

I myself sprained my finger just posting about young centers.

[Illmatic12]

Put it another way:

In our first 4 games, we went 1-3, but overall we were actually up a point on our opponents, & we had a good chance to win in 2 of the 3 losses.

In our last 5 games, we've gone 1-4, overall we're down to our opponents by 41 points, & we had no chance to win in any of the 4 losses.

I agree with you that some of that is personnel (IT playing instead of Bonga). But part of it is the scouting report. Our gimmick zone defense was working for the first three games because it took teams by surprise. Then Minnesota carved it up. From that point on, it has been a joke.

One of my beefs with Brooks, he falls in love with something and is too damn stubborn to change his approach when it stops being effective.

It worked that one time, so it's got to be the holy grail? Jeez, I wish we had never had that ill fated pre-season win against the Knicks that apparently made him a believer.

Mike Longabardi better start working his magic soon, because this is looking an awful lot like the terrible defenses he put together in Cleveland.

The Wizards can't even blame the grind, they should be one of the freshest teams out there.

According to The Athletic (Katz), the idea to play zone defense was raised by the analytics department. Apparently Brooks didn’t like the zone, but the numbers showed that it was helping them so they’ve continued to dabble with it.

For those unaware, a lot of coaching decisions this season are being dictated from the FO . Sheppard even said in preseason that fans should expect to see funky lineups at times as the team experiments and gathers data on different player combinations.

Anyways, I look at the NBA season in 10 game chunks. The first ~10 games of a season are usually for experimental purposes and then trends start to settle in after 20-30 games. So I wouldn’t overreact to anything we’ve seen so far. Heck it’s entirely possible that Isaiah Thomas is either out of the rotation or off the team by game 30.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

I myself sprained my finger just posting about young centers.

Get off my lawn!

[payitforward]

I myself sprained my finger just posting about young centers.

Get off my lawn!

Awww man! I was just doing the fertilizer crouch, man!

[gambitx777]

Troy brown is kind of giving me the otto vibes lately he needs to cut loose a bit.

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[Dat2U]

Troy brown is kind of giving me the otto vibes lately he needs to cut loose a bit.

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using RealGM mobile app

Unfortunately for Troy, his jump shot dictates his success right now.

[queridiculo]

The zone defense "it works for us".

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/11/14/why-are-wizards-using-zone-defense-more-than-any-other-team-it-works-us/

Wish they would spend more time finding groups of players that have defensive cohesion together on the court, and put a focus on fundamentals before employing gimmick schemes.

Without a doubt one of the worst defenses I've seen from any Wizards/Bullets team.

[TheBabyMaker]

Don't make no difference what kind of scheme you come up with on Defense. If the (starting) PG won't try or the Center is clueless on D. your going to have big problems. 1 and 5 is terrible at D and it starts with 1.

[nate33]

Don't make no difference what kind of scheme you come up with on Defense. If the (starting) PG won't try or the Center is clueless on D. your going to have big problems. 1 and 5 is terrible at D and it starts with 1.

One of the biggest keys to the long term success of this team will be Bryant's development on defense. He is currently a terrible pick-and-roll defender and a fairly weak post defender as well. He'll never be a springy shot blocker like Mitchell Robinson or Clint Capela or an agile switchable guy like Tristian Thompson or Myles Turner, but he has the size and length to be an effective drop coverage pick and roll defender like Marc Gasol or Brook Lopez. He's going to have to develop better spacial awareness in how to play the angles in order to stop the driving guard while also taking away the lob. Also, drop coverage requires that our guards fight around screens and get back into the play quickly. That's never going to happen with Isaiah Thomas. (Frankly, John Wall sucks at this too.)

Basically, Bryant and Thomas are the worst conceivable combination of defenders. Bryant really can only do drop coverage, and IT is perhaps the worst in NBA history at fighting through screens.

[payitforward]

Troy brown is kind of giving me the otto vibes lately he needs to cut loose a bit.

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Unfortunately for Troy, his jump shot dictates his success right now.

Nah.... & that's even though his TS% is above average for a wing. His 3 pt. % is 38.5%. He's 100% from the free throw line.

Look at everything else:
He's committing about 70% as many fouls as an average wing.
He's getting 10% more defensive rebounds than average.
He's getting almost three & a half times the number of offensive rebounds as an average wing. !!
He's turning the ball over only @ 85% as often as average.
He's getting almost twice as many steals as an average wing.

On his 133 minutes (having missed the first few games)...

Right now, Troy Brown Jr. is playing at the highest level of any player on the team.

[pcbothwel]

Troy brown is kind of giving me the otto vibes lately he needs to cut loose a bit.

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using RealGM mobile app

Unfortunately for Troy, his jump shot dictates his success right now.

Nah.... & that's even though his TS% is above average for a wing. His 3 pt. % is 38.5%. He's 100% from the free throw line.

Look at everything else:
He's committing about 70% as many fouls as an average wing.
He's getting 10% more defensive rebounds than average.
He's getting almost three & a half times the number of offensive rebounds as an average wing. !!
He's turning the ball over only @ 85% as often as average.
He's getting almost twice as many steals as an average wing.

On his 133 minutes (having missed the first few games)...

Right now, Troy Brown Jr. is playing at the highest level of any player on the team.

This...
Im surprised how many of you have been underwhelmed by Brown. Rui and Brown are a great tandem as far as how they compliment each other. Dont be shocked if we have a really solid final 20 games ending the year once Wall is back and Rui settles in.

[gambitx777]

I think brown is playing well.but like with Otto he did the little things well and does alot of those things you need to do to help the team, but he's timid on offence which I hope he gets out of.

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[tontoz]

I think brown is playing well.but like with Otto he did the little things well and does alot of those things you need to do to help the team, but he's timid on offence which I hope he gets out of.

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Being timid on offense wont be as much of a problem now with Wall, Beal and Rui being the top 3 scorers.

Porter would be a good fit on this team..... if he could stay healthy....and had a reasonable contract. Some things just dont go together, like max deal/injury prone/timid.

I liked Porter but frankly i doubt i will miss him. This season he has already missed 3 games and is only playing 25 minutes in the games he does play.