Wizards in the Media Thread

[Kanyewest]

In the Wizards' defense, that truly was the "peak knucklehead" era.

At that time, we had Arenas, Nick Young, Javale McGee, Andray Blatche and Jordan Crawford. Good God!

Watch on YouTube

You have to admit, Arenas and Blatche had a reverse inside-outside symbiosis, culminating In Gil picking Dray's shoe and passing a roll into it.

And speaking of "Good God!" glad you didn't forget Jordan "Good as God" Crawford.

Those were entertaining times, but it is not only hindsight that says for the purposes of winning basketball, the free rein approach was not the best way to develop and maximize the (to me) undeniable talent of these players.

Nick Young and Dominic McGuire had a vlog that is sadly no longer on the internet but it was great while it lasted.

[payitforward]

Watch on YouTube

[BearlyBallin]

Read on Twitter

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Read on Twitter

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Admit it, you’d be dancing too.

[BearlyBallin]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

Lol She has a nice sense of humor. Cute smile too, “Never fear Ish is here!” Silly line, but somehow she pulls it off.

[closg00]

Good effort and analysis by this guy

Watch on YouTube

[doclinkin]

bump for PIF

[pancakes3]

bump to remind that Ji now has 59k followers on FB and is saying conditions are as good as they'll ever be for a white christmas.

[doclinkin]

We added an Israeli player and we are really going with "Deutschland Uber Alles" as our slogan?

https://www.bulletsforever.com/2020/12/10/22167536/washington-wizards-dc-above-all-blue-color-emphasis-slogan-wes-unseld-bands

Also I dislike the Navy as our primary jersey. Rock the Red!

[Donkey McDonkerton]

bump to remind that Ji now has 59k followers on FB and is saying conditions are as good as they'll ever be for a white christmas.

Guess we can forget about that!

[Kanyewest]

bump to remind that Ji now has 59k followers on FB and is saying conditions are as good as they'll ever be for a white christmas.

I'm looking forward to a warm Christmas.

[dorianwrite]

Forgive me if this article has already been posted, but what do folks think? The premise of the article (ball-dominant point guards need shooters to kick out to in the modern NBA) seems unassailable, but I'm not as pessimistic as the writer about the Wizards' chances.

https://www.theringer.com/2020/12/15/22175373/washington-wizards-bradley-beal-russell-westbrook

It feels like all the players' 3-point shooting woes are correctable. If Troy Brown would invariably jump straight up-and-down rather than fading/kicking/twisting when shooting jumpers (this is going to become my version of hip bend and back arch); if Hachimura has permanently added the additional arc displayed against the Nets; and if Avdija, who's only 19, continues to develop (and perhaps is a better shooter than the overseas numbers indicate), then adding them to Beal, Bertans, and Bryant feels like a recipe for 4 shooters around Westbrook in most lineup combinations. If Matthews is playable and Wagner shoots more like the first half of last year than the second half, then virtually every rotation player outside of Westbrook's back-up point guards at least has to be guarded from 3.

[doclinkin]

Forgive me if this article has already been posted, but what do folks think? The premise of the article (ball-dominant point guards need shooters to kick out to in the modern NBA) seems unassailable, but I'm not as pessimistic as the writer about the Wizards' chances.

https://www.theringer.com/2020/12/15/22175373/washington-wizards-bradley-beal-russell-westbrook

It feels like all the players' 3-point shooting woes are correctable. If Troy Brown would invariably jump straight up-and-down rather than fading/kicking/twisting when shooting jumpers (this is going to become my version of hip bend and back arch); if Hachimura has permanently added the additional arc displayed against the Nets; and if Avdija, who's only 19, continues to develop (and perhaps is a better shooter than the overseas numbers indicate), then adding them to Beal, Bertans, and Bryant feels like a recipe for 4 shooters around Westbrook in most lineup combinations. If Matthews is playable and Wagner shoots more like the first half of last year than the second half, then virtually every rotation player outside of Westbrook's back-up point guards at least has to be guarded from 3.

Yeah the premise is flawed all around. The problem is not that we lack 3-and-D players. The problem is that we lack Defense at all.

Any ball dominant PG is a flawed weapon in the NBA. Teams can gameplan for any single high usage player. So on offense, the real question is not whether Westbrook has enough shooters around him, but whether in this late stage of his career he is able to adjust his game to help other young talent maximize what they do well. And if they can take some pressure off and siphon some possessions.

From what it sounds like he has actually seized this a personal mission. Lighting a fire under Rui, etc. Saying he needs to adjust what he does to uplift Brad to the next level. Seizing a role as coach on the floor. Yes we saw him play better when a non shooter was traded and he was the small ball center basically. But here they are overlooking the fact that this squad has ranged Bigs in Bryant and Wagner. The option to spread the floor and not go small.

Adding talented ballhandlers is a positive. It's not that there are not enough minutes to go around, its that the ball will need to jump around so the team can attack from anywhere. Offensively we should be fine. Teams will have to game plan to stop either Brad or Russ, and the ball will find its way into the hands of players who are overlooked, as this writer is doing. Brown, Deni, have the handles and mindset to act as secondary playmakers when teams load up to stop Russ. He can act as a super decoy, then go hero mode a few critical moments or key points in the game instead of having to go hero mode for an entire season as he did under Billy Donovan.

We will score. Under Brooks Westbrook scored with worse personnel around him at times (aside from KD/Harden of course). Scoring has not been our problem. We have talented scorers developing. Defense however, we have added nothing to improve except Neto and RoLo. We are banking on defensive improvement from young players. That's it, that's all we've got on defense.

[nate33]

Forgive me if this article has already been posted, but what do folks think? The premise of the article (ball-dominant point guards need shooters to kick out to in the modern NBA) seems unassailable, but I'm not as pessimistic as the writer about the Wizards' chances.

https://www.theringer.com/2020/12/15/22175373/washington-wizards-bradley-beal-russell-westbrook

It feels like all the players' 3-point shooting woes are correctable. If Troy Brown would invariably jump straight up-and-down rather than fading/kicking/twisting when shooting jumpers (this is going to become my version of hip bend and back arch); if Hachimura has permanently added the additional arc displayed against the Nets; and if Avdija, who's only 19, continues to develop (and perhaps is a better shooter than the overseas numbers indicate), then adding them to Beal, Bertans, and Bryant feels like a recipe for 4 shooters around Westbrook in most lineup combinations. If Matthews is playable and Wagner shoots more like the first half of last year than the second half, then virtually every rotation player outside of Westbrook's back-up point guards at least has to be guarded from 3.

It seems like a pretty ignorant article to me.

First, and most importantly, they totally ignore Thomas Bryant (and to a lesser extent, Mo Wagner). Bryant might well be the best shooting big man in the league other than Karl Anthony-Towns. Having a floor stretching 5 seems to me to be the single most important player to unlock a guy like Westbrook. He'll take the biggest defensive presence from the other team out of the picture. What's more, Bryant can hit those 3's from above the break, freeing up the easy corner 3 spot for our less adept forwards.

So we perhaps the second best shooting center in the league.
We have perhaps the best or second best catch-and-shoot forward in the league (it's either Bertans or Robinson)
We have one of the best SG's in the league in Beal.

And this guy is complaining?

Yeah, Hachimura, Avdija and Brown aren't perfect catch-and-shoot players, but it's not like they're bad shooters like, I dunno, Terrence Ferguson, Andre Robinson, or a young Jerami Grant. And if you squint real hard, you can see Bonga doing a pretty fair offensive impersonation of P.J. Tucker. Tucker only got up 4.4 3PA's per 36 minutes at 3P% of just .358 - exclusively from the corner. Over the last 30 games of last season, Bonga was launching 2.6 3PA's/36 at a .396 clip.

[tontoz]

I think this is just a case of not doing much due diligence because they are writing about the Wizards.

[wall_glizzy]

First, and most importantly, they totally ignore Thomas Bryant (and to a lesser extent, Mo Wagner). Bryant might well be the best shooting big man in the league other than Karl Anthony-Towns.

Agree in general, but let's pump the brakes on this lol

[nate33]

First, and most importantly, they totally ignore Thomas Bryant (and to a lesser extent, Mo Wagner). Bryant might well be the best shooting big man in the league other than Karl Anthony-Towns.

Agree in general, but let's pump the brakes on this lol

Well, I forgot about Porzingis (who is going to miss a bunch of the season, and often plays PF) but I'm struggling to think of any other center who shoots better. Last year, Bryant shot better than guys like Lopez, Turner, Vucevic and Ibaka.

I suppose you can talk about guys like Jaren Jackson Jr., but he played more PF than center last year. And there are low minute role players like Olynyk, but even he is effectively playing PF alongside Bam.

[Kanyewest]

First, and most importantly, they totally ignore Thomas Bryant (and to a lesser extent, Mo Wagner). Bryant might well be the best shooting big man in the league other than Karl Anthony-Towns.

Agree in general, but let's pump the brakes on this lol

Well, I forgot about Porzingis (who is going to miss a bunch of the season, and often plays PF) but I'm struggling to think of any other center who shoots better. Last year, Bryant shot better than guys like Lopez, Turner, Vucevic and Ibaka.

I suppose you can talk about guys like Jaren Jackson Jr., but he played more PF than center last year. And there are low minute role players like Olynyk, but even he is effectively playing PF alongside Bam.

If we are going by center bigs - then yeah there is a case for Bryant. I guess I was considering bigs including power forwards as well.

[wall_glizzy]

First, and most importantly, they totally ignore Thomas Bryant (and to a lesser extent, Mo Wagner). Bryant might well be the best shooting big man in the league other than Karl Anthony-Towns.

Agree in general, but let's pump the brakes on this lol

Well, I forgot about Porzingis (who is going to miss a bunch of the season, and often plays PF) but I'm struggling to think of any other center who shoots better. Last year, Bryant shot better than guys like Lopez, Turner, Vucevic and Ibaka.

I suppose you can talk about guys like Jaren Jackson Jr., but he played more PF than center last year. And there are low minute role players like Olynyk, but even he is effectively playing PF alongside Bam.

I mean if we're excluding people based on positional versatility, then yeah it's going to be a short list - the only people who are going to fit your criteria are centers that can shoot but are so bad at defending in space that they can't be played at the 4 whatsoever. (Which eliminates, almost as a rule, the vast majority of "stretch bigs").

I'm not trying to argue for including, like, Bertans (or KD, though I think that'd be somewhat reasonable), but I'd say that all of John Collins / Olynyk / Meyers Leonard / Jaren Jackson Jr / Robert Covington ( ) / Kevin Love / Ibaka / Gasol are clearly better, of players who logged a decent chunk of time at center. Covington aside, I think all of those guys fit a reasonable conception of "big man" - they're certainly not wings or guards. They all shoot at percentages similar to TB's, or slightly worse but with considerably greater volume. I'd also take Porzingis or Lopez if they were shooting around Bryant's volume, I think.

[nate33]

Agree in general, but let's pump the brakes on this lol

Well, I forgot about Porzingis (who is going to miss a bunch of the season, and often plays PF) but I'm struggling to think of any other center who shoots better. Last year, Bryant shot better than guys like Lopez, Turner, Vucevic and Ibaka.

I suppose you can talk about guys like Jaren Jackson Jr., but he played more PF than center last year. And there are low minute role players like Olynyk, but even he is effectively playing PF alongside Bam.

I mean if we're excluding people based on positional versatility, then yeah it's going to be a short list - the only people who are going to fit your criteria are centers that can shoot but are so bad at defending in space that they can't be played at the 4 whatsoever. (Which eliminates, almost as a rule, the vast majority of "stretch bigs").

I'm not trying to argue for including, like, Bertans (or KD, though I think that'd be somewhat reasonable), but I'd say that all of John Collins / Olynyk / Meyers Leonard / Jaren Jackson Jr / Robert Covington ( ) / Kevin Love / Ibaka / Gasol are clearly better, of players who logged a decent chunk of time at center. Covington aside, I think all of those guys fit a reasonable conception of "big man" - they're certainly not wings or guards. They all shoot at percentages similar to TB's, or slightly worse but with considerably greater volume. I'd also take Porzingis or Lopez if they were shooting around Bryant's volume, I think.

Fair enough. I do expect Bryant's volume to rise considerably this year, though.

[wall_glizzy]

Well, I forgot about Porzingis (who is going to miss a bunch of the season, and often plays PF) but I'm struggling to think of any other center who shoots better. Last year, Bryant shot better than guys like Lopez, Turner, Vucevic and Ibaka.

I suppose you can talk about guys like Jaren Jackson Jr., but he played more PF than center last year. And there are low minute role players like Olynyk, but even he is effectively playing PF alongside Bam.

I mean if we're excluding people based on positional versatility, then yeah it's going to be a short list - the only people who are going to fit your criteria are centers that can shoot but are so bad at defending in space that they can't be played at the 4 whatsoever. (Which eliminates, almost as a rule, the vast majority of "stretch bigs").

I'm not trying to argue for including, like, Bertans (or KD, though I think that'd be somewhat reasonable), but I'd say that all of John Collins / Olynyk / Meyers Leonard / Jaren Jackson Jr / Robert Covington ( ) / Kevin Love / Ibaka / Gasol are clearly better, of players who logged a decent chunk of time at center. Covington aside, I think all of those guys fit a reasonable conception of "big man" - they're certainly not wings or guards. They all shoot at percentages similar to TB's, or slightly worse but with considerably greater volume. I'd also take Porzingis or Lopez if they were shooting around Bryant's volume, I think.

Fair enough. I do expect Bryant's volume to rise considerably this year, though.

For sure - if last year's Rockets are any indication the success of our offense might rest on whether Bryant can credibly space into the corners and pop after setting a screen for Westbrook. I don't see him ever getting to the Towns/Jackson level where he's pulling up from anywhere, but if he could double his attempts while keeping volume in the same ballpark, that'd be huge.

Unfortunately, I just don't know that I buy the jumper - TB was 33/99 two years ago and 37/91 last year, and looking at the tape I'm not completely convinced that the latter is who he really is. (Or that he's going to be able to scale up his quality looks significantly with his very slow catch and shoot motion). Fingers crossed, though, and I do absolutely believe in his work ethic.