GT #2: Magic @ Bullets 7 PM

[tontoz]

Westbrook isn't going to shoot 32% from the field for the season.

In the two months before the lockdown last season he was shooting over 50% from the field averaging 30 ppg.

[NatP4]

The Wizards defense will get worse when Rui comes back to take Bonga's starting spot. Will be funny when that happens.

Bonga only played 20 minutes. When Rui comes back, I don't think he'll take many of Bonga's minutes. They'll come from Ish or Brown. Beal played SF most of tonight. That won't happen with Rui back.

Wrong. How many times can one person defend scott Brooks? When Rui is back, Brooks will take minutes from Bonga and possibly Avdija and Brown. It’s clear, he thinks Ish is the teams 6th man. He thinks nothing of Garrison Mathews, he thinks 3 PG lineups are a strength. Last night, Lopez, Ish, and Robinson combined for 60 minutes. Those are 3 objectivity horrible net negative players that don’t belong in the NBA. You can’t win doing that.

I would like for you to revisit some of your posts about the rotation and minute distribution after game 1, it was all completely wrong. Brooks really IS that awful. Cost them the first 2 games now.

There is no explanation for Bonga only playing 20 minutes, or Avdija, despite being in foul trouble, only playing 15 minutes, or Troy Brown playing only 13, yeah he missed some shots, but what the hell does that matter? How does Robinson deserve to take anyone’s minutes let alone on if your core young pieces? And no one can explain not playing Neto when he gives you 11 points on 4 shots in 9 minutes and never appears again.

This isn’t mediocre coaching, this is awful bottom 2-3 coaching. The posts blaming the defense are just silly when you played Ish, Lopez, and Robinson 60 of the 240 minutes. Put 3 G league scrubs on any team and play them 25% of the minutes and see how good the defense is

[dlts20]

Russ will be fine. Right now he is just struggling with trying to be a star but trying to fit it, but trying to be the leader, while trying to play somewhat different. Someone said that he doesn't look as explosive and I think that it's because he's been trying to do his best with being more cerebral. Eventually he will just say that he needs to be Russ and everyone else will play off of that. People say that he's playing too fast but I think that he's about to play even faster and attack more. Let's not overreact. We still could have won both games even with Brooks trying to sabotage us for

[NatP4]

If you played Neto instead of Ish Smith, and Mathews instead of Robinson last night, and just avoided the god awful 3 PG lineups and the bizarre pairing of Ish and Westbook together, this team would be 2-0 and there would be no posts talking about the defense and Westbrook and Bryant. Coaching matters.

The guy knows Neto is better than Smith, but is so afraid to step on toes, he’s throwing out a 3 PG lineup to get them both on the floor, it’s so obnoxiously stupid.

[nate33]

The Wizards defense will get worse when Rui comes back to take Bonga's starting spot. Will be funny when that happens.

Bonga only played 20 minutes. When Rui comes back, I don't think he'll take many of Bonga's minutes. They'll come from Ish or Brown. Beal played SF most of tonight. That won't happen with Rui back.

Wrong. How many times can one person defend scott Brooks? When Rui is back, Brooks will take minutes from Bonga and possibly Avdija and Brown. It’s clear, he thinks Ish is the teams 6th man. He thinks nothing of Garrison Mathews, he thinks 3 PG lineups are a strength. Last night, Lopez, Ish, and Robinson combined for 60 minutes. Those are 3 objectivity horrible net negative players that don’t belong in the NBA. You can’t win doing that.

I would like for you to revisit some of your posts about the rotation and minute distribution after game 1, it was all completely wrong. Brooks really IS that awful. Cost them the first 2 games now.

There is no explanation for Bonga only playing 20 minutes, or Avdija, despite being in foul trouble, only playing 15 minutes, or Troy Brown playing only 13, yeah he missed some shots, but what the hell does that matter? How does Robinson deserve to take anyone’s minutes let alone on if your core young pieces? And no one can explain not playing Neto when he gives you 11 points on 4 shots in 9 minutes and never appears again.

This isn’t mediocre coaching, this is awful bottom 2-3 coaching. The posts blaming the defense are just silly when you played Ish, Lopez, and Robinson 60 of the 240 minutes. Put 3 G league scrubs on any team and play them 25% of the minutes and see how good the defense is

You are right. Brooks was awful last night.

I thought Brooks' rotations were defensible in the Philly game. I was pleased with the amount of minutes he gave Avdija; I liked that he started Bonga; and I was happy with the way he staggered Westbrook and Beal. Even the 3-guard lineup didn't bother me much. The team had just played their final preseason game and had had success with the 3 guard lineup, so Brooks gave it a shot in the 2nd quarter to try and generate some offense. It didn't work, and Brooks didn't go back to it in the 4th.

But Brooks' rotations against Orlando were bad.

Going to the 3 guard lineup this game was a complete head scratcher - particularly since Bonga was playing quite well. I also didn't agree with Brooks benching Avdija when he picked up the 4th foul. Just let him play and foul out if necessary. He's not a star player, you don't need to preserve him for crunch time. There was also no excuse for Bonga playing just 20 minutes.

I didn't mind Brooks playing Robinson over Brown in the 2nd half. Brown was horrific all game long and his defense sucked too. At least Robinson has had a track record of being able to stay in front of his man.

On Ish versus Neto, I'm not too upset about it. Brooks has always been very sensitive about players' confidence, that's just his M.O. Guys don't lose their spot in the rotation just because of one bad game. It's going to take multiple games of Neto outplaying Ish before Neto moves ahead of him in the rotation. And as it turns out, Ish was fine in the 2nd half against Orlando, except for the missed free throws.

[nate33]

If you played Neto instead of Ish Smith, and Mathews instead of Robinson last night, and just avoided the god awful 3 PG lineups and the bizarre pairing of Ish and Westbook together, this team would be 2-0 and there would be no posts talking about the defense and Westbrook and Bryant. Coaching matters.

The guy knows Neto is better than Smith, but is so afraid to step on toes, he’s throwing out a 3 PG lineup to get them both on the floor, it’s so obnoxiously stupid.

Neto was 3 for 3 from 3-point range which was fantastic, but the rest of his game was pretty lousy. He was getting overpowered defensively and he is not as comfortable in a scrambling, high-paced game. I don't think it's so certain that things would have been better if Neto replaced Ish in the 2nd half. Ish played fine in the 2nd half.

I agree that Mathews is better than Robinson, but he isn't even in uniform (I don't think). Robinson is under a contract paying him $4M. He is going to be given the benefit of the doubt over a 2-way player. That's just the way it is. Someone needs to get hurt before Mathews dons a uniform.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

If you played Neto instead of Ish Smith, and Mathews instead of Robinson last night, and just avoided the god awful 3 PG lineups and the bizarre pairing of Ish and Westbook together, this team would be 2-0 and there would be no posts talking about the defense and Westbrook and Bryant. Coaching matters.

The guy knows Neto is better than Smith, but is so afraid to step on toes, he’s throwing out a 3 PG lineup to get them both on the floor, it’s so obnoxiously stupid.

I agree that Mathews is better than Robinson, but he isn't even in uniform (I don't think). Robinson is under a contract paying him $4M. He is going to be given the benefit of the doubt over a 2-way player. That's just the way it is. Someone needs to get hurt before Mathews dons a uniform.

What was that guy’s name who injured Gil then went on to injure a couple of other Wiz players in later games? Can we sign him on a ten day and match him up against Robinson in practice.

[Meliorus]

Can someone explain to me why Westbrook’s rebounding is so meaningful? The funniest thing is we’re getting out-rebounded as a team exactly like last year in both games. Out-rebounded 54-43 and 47-40.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

My question is what's up with Gil? Why are we playing Brown and Robinson at PF, when we have this guy who is a PF we signed to a 2 year guaranteed conteact ? With Hachimura out why isn't Gil playing, at least off the bench? Isn't that exactly the scenario why we signed him??

[payitforward]

Whew! You scared me there, superballman! But, fortunately, Gil is not guaranteed next year. Team option....

Your question stands, however.

[nate33]

My question is what's up with Gil? Why are we playing Brown and Robinson at PF, when we have this guy who is a PF we signed to a 2 year guaranteed conteact ? With Hachimura out why isn't Gil playing, at least off the bench? Isn't that exactly the scenario why we signed him??

He was spectacularly bad in the preseason.

[payitforward]

Bonga, Avdija, Bryant & Neto combined to put up 45 points on 22 shots. Beal's 14 shots netted another 30

75 points on 36 shots.... I don't care how poorly you defend, it's astonishing to lose a game where you get that. Even when other guys on the team shoot poorly.

But you can do it, as the Wiz demonstrated last night. All you have to do is miss free throws & let the other team get a few more offensive boards than you get. Done.

Orlando shot 1 more FT than we did, but they made 8 more than we did. Suppose we'd more or less matched their FT % by making 7 more of ours. Now it's a 3 point game, right?

We let Orlando grab 4 more offensive boards than we got. What's the most efficient scoring situation? Having an offensive rebound in your hands near the basket. That'll get you a bucket 3 out of 4 times. So... there's the rest of Orlando's margin of victory & then some.

Make FTs & get defensive boards, & no one is talking about rotations or coaching.

Instead, we're talking about a satisfying win.

[TGW]

Russ will be fine. Right now he is just struggling with trying to be a star but trying to fit it, but trying to be the leader, while trying to play somewhat different. Someone said that he doesn't look as explosive and I think that it's because he's been trying to do his best with being more cerebral. Eventually he will just say that he needs to be Russ and everyone else will play off of that. People say that he's playing too fast but I think that he's about to play even faster and attack more. Let's not overreact. We still could have won both games even with Brooks trying to sabotage us for

If you're right, and this is the "cerebral" version of Westbrook's game, holy **** I don't want to see the non-cerebral Westbrook.

RW is the oldest player on the team, and arguably the dumbest (it''s between him and Bryant).

[J-Ves]

Bonga, Avdija, Bryant & Neto combined to put up 45 points on 22 shots. Beal's 14 shots netted another 30

75 points on 36 shots.... I don't care how poorly you defend, it's astonishing to lose a game where you get that. Even when other guys on the team shoot poorly.

But you can do it, as the Wiz demonstrated last night. All you have to do is miss free throws & let the other team get a few more offensive boards than you get. Done.

Orlando shot 1 more FT than we did, but they made 8 more than we did. Suppose we'd more or less matched their FT % by making 7 more of ours. Now it's a 3 point game, right?

We let Orlando grab 4 more offensive boards than we got. What's the most efficient scoring situation? Having an offensive rebound in your hands near the basket. That'll get you a bucket 3 out of 4 times. So... there's the rest of Orlando's margin of victory & then some.

Make FTs & get defensive boards, & no one is talking about rotations or coaching.

Instead, we're talking about a satisfying win.

you mean to tell me that if the Wizards played better and/or the Magic played worse the Wizards could have won? Impossible