Wizards Preseason Games 2020

[NatP4]

In my mind, if everyone’s is healthy and not resting, we have 9 clear rotation caliber players:

Westbrook (32)/Ish or Neto (16)
Beal (34)/Troy (14)
Avdija (28)/Bertans (6)/Troy (14)
Rui (26)/Bertans (22)
Bryant (28)/Lopez (16)/Rui (4)

In this hypothetical 9-men rotation both Bertans and Troy play 28 minutes a night as 6th and 7th men. Bryant and Avdija also play 28 while our two all stars play 32 and 34 minutes. Rui plays 30, with a few minutes (4) as a small ball 5 at the end of games if needed.

That looks about right to me. I'd be pretty happy with it.

The one question to me is whether or not Bonga makes it into the regular rotation, or if he is just a situational sub if we need a wing stopper. I could see Bonga getting squeezed into that lineup, taking a few minutes from Avdija, Bertans and Brown.

Bonga has to play in my opinion. Talking about a guy that ranked 2nd in DRPM behind Lebron. His positive impact is to great to keep him off the court regardless of how awkward his game is.

Westbrook 32 Neto 16
Beal 32 Brown Jr 16
Avdija 24 Bonga 20 Brown 4
Rui 24 Bertans 24
Bryant 32 Lopez 12 Rui 4

First man in after injuries:
PG: Ish
SG: Mathews
SF: increase minutes for other SFs
PF: Gill
C: Wagner

[nate33]

Agreed! Bonga should be our 10th man/defensive stopper. My fear is Brooks doing Brooks things such as playing:
1) Robinson ahead of Troy
2) Ish and Neto together for extended minutes
3) Wagner as PF

Playing Robinson ahead of Brown would be awful. I sincerely hope Brooks has gotten over his love of Robinson during this preseason, seeing how bad Robinson has played.

Playing Ish and Neto together is fine if it works. Sometimes, 3-guard lineups can really take an opposing team out of their rhythm. I don't want it part of the regular rotation pattern, but I'm totally fine with it if, in a particular game, Brooks sees a matchup where he thinks the 3-guard lineup could exploit it.

Wagner at PF needs to stop. I don't think it will happen unless their are injuries.

[nate33]

Bonga has to play in my opinion. Talking about a guy that ranked 2nd in DRPM behind Lebron. His positive impact is to great to keep him off the court regardless of how awkward his game is.

If Bonga has to play (and I don't disagree), then I still think it's best for him to start. He just plays better with the starters, and I think Avdija will develop better with the 2nd unit because he'll get more touches and the defense won't be quite as good.

I'd be happy with a simple 10-man rotation:

PG Westbrook(32)/Neto(8)/Brown(6)
SG Beal(34)/Brown(14)
SF Bonga(16)/Avdija(24)/Bertans(8)
PF Hachimura(28)/Bertans(20)
C Bryant(28)/Lopez(20)

Basically, 2 players for every one position, except Bertans and Brown steal a few extra minutes from SF and PG respectively.

[BearlyBallin]

Bonga has to play in my opinion. Talking about a guy that ranked 2nd in DRPM behind Lebron. His positive impact is to great to keep him off the court regardless of how awkward his game is.

If Bonga has to play (and I don't disagree), then I still think it's best for him to start. He just plays better with the starters, and I think Avdija will develop better with the 2nd unit because he'll get more touches and the defense won't be quite as good.

I'd be happy with a simple 10-man rotation:

PG Westbrook(32)/Neto(8)/Brown(6)
SG Beal(34)/Brown(14)
SF Bonga(16)/Avdija(24)/Bertans(8)
PF Hachimura(28)/Bertans(20)
C Bryant(28)/Lopez(20)

Basically, 2 players for every one position, except Bertans and Brown steal a few extra minutes from SF and PG respectively.

Love it but wondering how you would set up your rotation for the second night of a back to back. Does Beal, Neto & Brown get more time? Does Ish play ?

[NatP4]

Less Lopez more Neto.

[J-Ves]

I’d probably start Bonga and Deni and bring Rui off the bench. Rui needs to prove he has become a more efficient scorer before he is given the starting job. Bonga and Deni are question marks from three, which isn’t ideal for floor spacing, but they make up for it by being the two best defenders on the team.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Bonga has to play in my opinion. Talking about a guy that ranked 2nd in DRPM behind Lebron. His positive impact is to great to keep him off the court regardless of how awkward his game is.

If Bonga has to play (and I don't disagree), then I still think it's best for him to start. He just plays better with the starters, and I think Avdija will develop better with the 2nd unit because he'll get more touches and the defense won't be quite as good.

I'd be happy with a simple 10-man rotation:

PG Westbrook(32)/Neto(8)/Brown(6)
SG Beal(34)/Brown(14)
SF Bonga(16)/Avdija(24)/Bertans(8)
PF Hachimura(28)/Bertans(20)
C Bryant(28)/Lopez(20)

Basically, 2 players for every one position, except Bertans and Brown steal a few extra minutes from SF and PG respectively.

Love it but wondering how you would set up your rotation for the second night of a back to back. Does Beal, Neto & Brown get more time? Does Ish play ?

Right one thing to keep in mind is Westbrook won't be playing back 2 backs. So both Smith and Neto will be relied upon in those situations.

To me the ideal rotation in general is

Westbrook (30) / Neto (18)
Beal (30) / Troy Brown Jr (18)
Avdija (28) / Bonga (20)
Hachimura (24) / Bertans (24)
Bryant (20) / Lopez (14) /Wagner (14)

I like the 2nd unit with Neto leading the team with his aggressive style of play, Troy Brown Jr all around game and his D with Bonga on the wings, Bertans stretching out with his 3 pt bombs, and Lopez providing stability and physical play down low.

I don't know what Brooks will do, but this seems like pretty much no brainer rotation.

[DCZards]

If Bonga has to play (and I don't disagree), then I still think it's best for him to start. He just plays better with the starters, and I think Avdija will develop better with the 2nd unit because he'll get more touches and the defense won't be quite as good.

I'd be happy with a simple 10-man rotation:

PG Westbrook(32)/Neto(8)/Brown(6)
SG Beal(34)/Brown(14)
SF Bonga(16)/Avdija(24)/Bertans(8)
PF Hachimura(28)/Bertans(20)
C Bryant(28)/Lopez(20)

Basically, 2 players for every one position, except Bertans and Brown steal a few extra minutes from SF and PG respectively.

Love it but wondering how you would set up your rotation for the second night of a back to back. Does Beal, Neto & Brown get more time? Does Ish play ?

Right one thing to keep in mind is Westbrook won't be playing back 2 backs. So both Smith and Neto will be relied upon in those situations.

To me the ideal rotation in general is

Westbrook (30) / Neto (18)
Beal (30) / Troy Brown Jr (18)
Avdija (28) / Bonga (20)
Hachimura (24) / Bertans (24)
Bryant (20) / Lopez (14) /Wagner (14)

I like the 2nd unit with Neto leading the team with his aggressive style of play, Troy Brown Jr all around game and his D with Bonga on the wings, Bertans stretching out with his 3 pt bombs, and Lopez providing stability and physical play down low.

I don't know what Brooks will do, but this seems like pretty much no brainer rotation.

When it comes to specific minutes I don’t think there is anything such thing as a “no brainer.” For example, I’d give Deni a few less minutes (24) and Bertans a few more (28). And I’d definitely give Bryant more minutes (28-30) considering he’s a starter and the Zards best big man.

I’d also figure out a way to give Troy 22-24 mins.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Love it but wondering how you would set up your rotation for the second night of a back to back. Does Beal, Neto & Brown get more time? Does Ish play ?

Right one thing to keep in mind is Westbrook won't be playing back 2 backs. So both Smith and Neto will be relied upon in those situations.

To me the ideal rotation in general is

Westbrook (30) / Neto (18)
Beal (30) / Troy Brown Jr (18)
Avdija (28) / Bonga (20)
Hachimura (24) / Bertans (24)
Bryant (20) / Lopez (14) /Wagner (14)

I like the 2nd unit with Neto leading the team with his aggressive style of play, Troy Brown Jr all around game and his D with Bonga on the wings, Bertans stretching out with his 3 pt bombs, and Lopez providing stability and physical play down low.

I don't know what Brooks will do, but this seems like pretty much no brainer rotation.

When it comes to specific minutes I don’t think there is anything such thing as a “no brainer.” For example, I’d give Deni a few less minutes (24) and Bertrand a few more (28). And I’d definitely give Bryant more minutes (28-30) considering that he’s a starter and the Zards best big man.

I’d also figure out a way to give Troy 22-24 mins.

Well I meant the actual general rotation as no brainer not really the minutes.

I mean that's 11 man rotation. Like I said Westbrook is out back to back, so those games you may actually start Ish and keep Neto off the bench in his 2nd unit role. Minutes are fluid, depends whose playing well, who needs rest, load management, injuries, etc. Plus multi positional guys like Troy Brown Jr, Bonga, Hachimra, etc will get minutes at other positions, they'll be 3 guard and small ball lineups, go big lineups etc etc...

[NatP4]

Open against Philly, Orlando x2, Chicago x2, and Minnesota. Could easily be 5-1 by New Years.

10 of the first 16 against sub .500 teams. 9 at home.

Will be nice to hopefully start off against some weaker teams to build chemistry.

Only 16 out of the first 36 games of the season are against teams that were above .500 last year (2 against rockets who will be terrible).

Only 2 back to backs that feature a team on the 2nd night that we didn’t play on the 1st night of the set.

12 home games against sub .500 teams in 2019.

Just from first glance, out of the first 36 games, they should be expected to win 21 or so of them, and then the rest will be tough games against quality teams. If they can take about half of the >.500 games, that’s around a 50 win pace.

Once they hit Jan. 22, things get really tough.

If they have good luck with injuries and covid, it’s not hard to envision a 12-4 start.