Game 40: Wizards (13-26) @ Bulls (14-27) Wed, 1/15 @8 PM

[TheBabyMaker]

I cant stream this game ;-(

You did not miss much. Turnovers and bad defense. Brooks playing 11 guys over 10+ mins, how hell is they going to gain chemistry on the court when no body knows who their out there playing with. Brooks lose the Bryant and Mahinmi starting line up.

[trast66]

I hope Brad will eventually play defense.

[Kanyewest]

Satoransky had a few nice highlights at the rim

[dobrojim]

A loss was inevitable as soon as our new announcers started claiming
we were easily the better team.

[payitforward]

Seems obvious to me that Mahinmi is getting all these minutes on the theory that if he's featured maybe just maybe someone will want him & we'll get a R2 pick out of it. Otherwise, I don't get it -- even though he's been playing reasonably well (tho not last night).

I'm starting to like Pasecniks. He isn't gifted w/ much athleticism, but he is a heady player & a hard worker. Payton also had a strong outing last night.

We let the Bulls go 29-47 -- 61.7% -- on 2-pointers last night. Meaning that we let them get to the rim at will. That's how we gave them the game.

IMO, we should start Bonga, Beal, Brown, Bertans & Bryant -- for the only all "B" starting lineup in the league. Ish & McRae should get all the backup minutes at the 1-3. Pasecniks backs up Bryant. At the 4 it's smoke & mirrors as a back-up!! (Williams? Admiral?)

That rotation could win some games.... So, maybe we should avoid it? As it is, the East could back up over us & we wind up in the playoffs!

[nate33]

IMO, we should start Bonga, Beal, Brown, Bertans & Bryant -- for the only all "B" starting lineup in the league. Ish & McRae should get all the backup minutes at the 1-3. Pasecniks backs up Bryant. At the 4 it's smoke & mirrors as a back-up!! (Williams? Admiral?)

That rotation could win some games.... So, maybe we should avoid it? As it is, the East could back up over us & we wind up in the playoffs!

Brown likes coming off the bench, and Bertans probably isn't ready for starters' minutes yet. I'd be okay with the same rotation we played during our good stretch of play, only with Beal replacing IT and Bryant replacing Mahinmi.

So the starters would be:
PG Payton
SG Beal
SF McRae
PF Bonga
C Bryant

And the bench would be:
PG Ish
SG McRae/Beal
SF Brown
PF Bertans
C Pasecniks.

I like Payton on the starting unit to hound the opposition's best guard and prevent him from getting into a rhythm. Also, an advantage of keeping Bertans on the 2nd unit is to reduce his offseason price. Teams may not bid as high for him if they believe he is such a defensive liability that Brooks is afraid to start him.

[nate33]

Seems obvious to me that Mahinmi is getting all these minutes on the theory that if he's featured maybe just maybe someone will want him & we'll get a R2 pick out of it. Otherwise, I don't get it -- even though he's been playing reasonably well (tho not last night).

Brooks should continue to use Mahinmi as a means of motivating/teaching Bryant to play better defense. That doesn't mean Mahinmi should start, but I've got no problems with him getting some of Bryant's minutes if it allows Bryant to watch Mahinmi do things right defensively.

[DCZards]

I'm starting to like Pasecniks. He isn't gifted w/ much athleticism, but he is a heady player & a hard worker. Payton also had a strong outing last night.

You're underrating AP as an athlete. Not much of a leaper...but has excellent lateral movement and coordination for a man his size. He also uses his length well on D.

[payitforward]

True enough....