trast66 wrote:I think he’s only the 3rd player who was an MVP at some point to be a player for franchise. Wes and Moses as well.
MJ says hi
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trast66 wrote:I think he’s only the 3rd player who was an MVP at some point to be a player for franchise. Wes and Moses as well.
montestewart wrote:trast66 wrote:I think he’s only the 3rd player who was an MVP at some point to be a player for franchise. Wes and Moses as well.
MJ says hi
NatP4 wrote:I’ll throw out a bold prediction. I think the wizards are going to the conference finals or NBA finals.
Hachimura is much improved, an efficient scorer and 3pt shooter. Brown turns into a highly effective combo guard 6th man. Avdija also surprises a lot of people and proves to be an impact player from day 1. Mathews turns into a key rotational piece. Bonga continues to develop into a quality 3&D wing.
It’s going to be a good season. they will play hard every night
ClutchDJ wrote:NatP4 wrote:I’ll throw out a bold prediction. I think the wizards are going to the conference finals or NBA finals.
Hachimura is much improved, an efficient scorer and 3pt shooter. Brown turns into a highly effective combo guard 6th man. Avdija also surprises a lot of people and proves to be an impact player from day 1. Mathews turns into a key rotational piece. Bonga continues to develop into a quality 3&D wing.
It’s going to be a good season. they will play hard every night
Gonna be hilarious when that 1st round exit smacks you back into reality.
WallToWall wrote:With Westbrook, we are a playoff team. Once in the playoffs, playoff Westbrook is not going to get us far. We need to reinvent the way we play for the playoffs. Don't know what that would be, but I do hope that Brooks and Westbrook realize it.
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NatP4 wrote:I’ll throw out a bold prediction. I think the wizards are going to the conference finals or NBA finals.
Hachimura is much improved, an efficient scorer and 3pt shooter. Brown turns into a highly effective combo guard 6th man. Avdija also surprises a lot of people and proves to be an impact player from day 1. Mathews turns into a key rotational piece. Bonga continues to develop into a quality 3&D wing.
It’s going to be a good season. they will play hard every night
WallToWall wrote:With Westbrook, we are a playoff team. Once in the playoffs, playoff Westbrook is not going to get us far. We need to reinvent the way we play for the playoffs. Don't know what that would be, but I do hope that Brooks and Westbrook realize it.
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doclinkin wrote:WallToWall wrote:With Westbrook, we are a playoff team. Once in the playoffs, playoff Westbrook is not going to get us far. We need to reinvent the way we play for the playoffs. Don't know what that would be, but I do hope that Brooks and Westbrook realize it.
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It's an interesting problem. Any high usage single player is likely to be game-planned out of effectiveness when they hit the playoffs. The solution would be to surround them with ball-handlers and passers at all other positions and keep the floor spread with quick-hit catch and shoot players. Then put that killer player in motion, either to free them or as a decoy to free up the shooters at other places on the floor while the defense marks and chases them around. Actually that is the Steph model, which worked particularly well in the GSW era since he has such a deadly catch and shoot game. And, what is underrated, he thinks like a point guard even off the ball, setting up others with screens and using his gravity to draw the defenses away from where the high percentage play really is.
We do have Beal and Bertans spreading the floor. Davis in particular has a deadly catch and shoot release the is unlikely to drop off much in the playoffs due to his height and quick trigger. Bryant has a developing 3 pt shot. Even players like Brook and Deni have a shot chart that shows proficiency from the Left and Right corner respectively. So the real question would be the smarts and skill set of the players off the ball, can they set picks and screens and move the ball or hit open shots while Beal and Russ are in motion.
Again to me it would be super useful to find a coach with experience in overseas ball. With the exception of Russ we don't have an athletic mismatch in our favor at any position on the ball. Leastways not every night and at the playoff level. So the way this team wins is not with the 'raise your game' mantra, but with smarts and synergy. This team is kinda built like the Spain teams that played well with Rudy Fernandez (Westbrook) and Juan Carlos Navarro (Beal) -- and Jose Calderon if you count Ish Smith in the mix. The difference is we don't have the savvy bigs like the Gasol brothers to set screens, pass, hit jumpers and spring loose the mobile guards. But still, many Euro squads play well with multiple attacking guards who can play both on the ball and off, surrounded by screeners passers and long range bigs.
prime1time wrote:Defense isn't that hard to do when everyone's really playing hard, and genuinely believes they are on a contending team. The Miami Heat have been playing good defense for years. Way before they got Bam. Regardless of who's on the court.
nate33 wrote:prime1time wrote:Defense isn't that hard to do when everyone's really playing hard, and genuinely believes they are on a contending team. The Miami Heat have been playing good defense for years. Way before they got Bam. Regardless of who's on the court.
I agree with this in theory. It's just been so long since we've seen a Washington Wizards team actually pull this off.
The only time in the last 30 years that the team played good defense was a brief stint under Randy Whitman when Nene was reasonably healthy and playing 1500+ minutes a season. They ranked 5th, 8th and 5th in DRtg in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively. (They were horrible on offense at the time, ranking 30th, 17th and 22nd respectively.) Other than those 3 years, the Wizards haven't been a top 10 ranked defense since the Manute Bol era.
Under Brooks, they've ranked 20th, 15th, 28th and 30th defensively. Not a good trend.
NatP4 wrote:nate33 wrote:prime1time wrote:Defense isn't that hard to do when everyone's really playing hard, and genuinely believes they are on a contending team. The Miami Heat have been playing good defense for years. Way before they got Bam. Regardless of who's on the court.
I agree with this in theory. It's just been so long since we've seen a Washington Wizards team actually pull this off.
The only time in the last 30 years that the team played good defense was a brief stint under Randy Whitman when Nene was reasonably healthy and playing 1500+ minutes a season. They ranked 5th, 8th and 5th in DRtg in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively. (They were horrible on offense at the time, ranking 30th, 17th and 22nd respectively.) Other than those 3 years, the Wizards haven't been a top 10 ranked defense since the Manute Bol era.
Under Brooks, they've ranked 20th, 15th, 28th and 30th defensively. Not a good trend.
20th and 15th aren’t that bad. When you lock up guys like Bradley Beal, Thomas Bryant, and Davis Bertans, the strength of your team is not going to be defense. Those last two seasons are a result of having fill in journeymen PGs with Wall out, so we can assume that Westbrook atleast gets you back into the respectable range 15-20(I know Westbrook is not a good defender)
They have rotated in so many end of the bench guys over the last two seasons, I don’t put much weight into any of the numbers.
Bryant, Bonga, Brown, Hachimura will all be better defenders this year, just from gaining experience
nate33 wrote:NatP4 wrote:nate33 wrote:I agree with this in theory. It's just been so long since we've seen a Washington Wizards team actually pull this off.
The only time in the last 30 years that the team played good defense was a brief stint under Randy Whitman when Nene was reasonably healthy and playing 1500+ minutes a season. They ranked 5th, 8th and 5th in DRtg in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively. (They were horrible on offense at the time, ranking 30th, 17th and 22nd respectively.) Other than those 3 years, the Wizards haven't been a top 10 ranked defense since the Manute Bol era.
Under Brooks, they've ranked 20th, 15th, 28th and 30th defensively. Not a good trend.
20th and 15th aren’t that bad. When you lock up guys like Bradley Beal, Thomas Bryant, and Davis Bertans, the strength of your team is not going to be defense. Those last two seasons are a result of having fill in journeymen PGs with Wall out, so we can assume that Westbrook atleast gets you back into the respectable range 15-20(I know Westbrook is not a good defender)
They have rotated in so many end of the bench guys over the last two seasons, I don’t put much weight into any of the numbers.
Bryant, Bonga, Brown, Hachimura will all be better defenders this year, just from gaining experience
Ranking 20th in defense isn't going to put this team in the Conference Finals.
I'd be happy with a 20th ranked defense if we maintained our offensive production and finished 6th or so on offense. That would be a 46-ish win team. But I have doubts whether this team can even play 20th caliber defense.
NatP4 wrote:I’ll throw out a bold prediction. I think the wizards are going to the conference finals or NBA finals.
Hachimura is much improved, an efficient scorer and 3pt shooter. Brown turns into a highly effective combo guard 6th man. Avdija also surprises a lot of people and proves to be an impact player from day 1. Mathews turns into a key rotational piece. Bonga continues to develop into a quality 3&D wing.
It’s going to be a good season. they will play hard every night
nate33 wrote:I agree with this in theory. It's just been so long since we've seen a Washington Wizards team actually pull this off.
The only time in the last 30 years that the team played good defense was a brief stint under Randy Whitman when Nene was reasonably healthy and playing 1500+ minutes a season. They ranked 5th, 8th and 5th in DRtg in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively. (They were horrible on offense at the time, ranking 30th, 17th and 22nd respectively.) Other than those 3 years, the Wizards haven't been a top 10 ranked defense since the Manute Bol era.
Under Brooks, they've ranked 20th, 15th, 28th and 30th defensively. Not a good trend.