GT #3: Magic @ Bullets 7 PM (NBCSW/1500 AM)

[WallToWall]

Brooks likes Ish because Ish pushes pace. However, for the life of me, I don't understand why Brooks is so wedded to this maximum pace strategy. We don't really have the personnel for it. Westbrook and Ish, and possibly Brown, are the only players really comfortable in the helter skelter open court dynamic of a high pace game. Everyone else seems better off in a structure with set plays and less freelancing. (Avdija is probably fine as a freelancer, but he seems to have the bball IQ to be equally adept in any system.)

Neto, Beal, Hachimura, Bonga, Bertans, Lopez, Bryant - these guys are all better with a specific role and a specific responsibility.

I've been struggling with this as well. I cant find an identity for this team. Some of our players need structure, some thrive with little of it. Some need the ball pushed, some need more deliberateness. We dont have enough of any of these types of players to make up a good team.

[WallToWall]

After a day to cool down, some observations:

• Game was lost when Jerome Robinson played minutes. Every PLAY he was involved in was a negative, I've never seen that level of ineptitude at the NBA level. His fouls and turnovers just killed us. Please bring up Garrison Mathews and get rid of Jerome, so Brooks can no longer play him.
• Loved Neto's competitiveness. Yes he is undersized and got destroyed by Fultz down the stretch, but I don't know why he's guarding him in the first place.
• Brooks should have staggered his minutes to have Bonga and Deni out there at the end. I know Deni played a lot, but why wasn't he given a breather? Why we don't have our two best defenders out there when we keep getting killed in the 4th is mind boggling.
• Why is Bonga playing sub 20 minutes? Unacceptable.
• I loved Ish last year, but I really dislike him this year. Overdribbles, doesn't distribute, takes ridiculously contested shots. I think he should be relegated to 3rd PG. Neto doesn't really distribute either, but at least he can shoot the 3.
• Davis has been super disappointing. Hopefully it's a conditioning thing but we cannot win if he has clunker shooting performances.

Unless Rui made a monumental leap, this team probably won't make the playoffs.

Very much agree that Robinson should not be playing many minutes and should not see the light of day in the 4th Q. He is not quite ready yet.
We need effective use of timeouts. It can be used to give players a breather.
Avidja and Bonga can play and as long as they have fouls to give, play them. I'd rather that they figure out how to not foul and still play good D, than not play them at all.

[closg00]

This team could use a few nasty players like Terrence Ross, and we have zero

[bsilver]

Brook's "challenges" have been wasted. It's not an exact science, but other coaches do better. Don't use it the first time your player complains about a call.

Why does a player like Ross have to make at least 2 3s before we start to guard them. That's been going on for years.

Deni was good in the first half, but not as effective in the 2nd. Why would Brooks think he was in good enough shape to play 36 minutes?

How many times in a game do you foul the 3 point shooter before realizing it's not a good idea.

It seems that other teams usually shoot free throws well against us. We're actually not far from the middle. It's surprising there's actually about a 5% variance in opponents free throw % among all teams.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/opponent-free-throw-pct

The reason they seem to shoot them well is because they shoot so many. We were next to last last year. Same, this year.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/opponent-free-throws-attempted-per-game

[payitforward]

Beal is a HOF. ...If Melo is a HOF so should Beal.

...Beal is as good as Melo was....

Carmelo was a volume scorer, & he was colossally over-rated -- as are all volume scorers.

On his career, his scoring efficiency was about average. Nor was he especially terrific at anything else.

Beal is a far better player than Melo. & in the 10K minutes he's played from 2016-17 until now, he has been really outstanding.

Is he HOF? What is "a HOF player," exactly? I don't think there's an answer.

[payitforward]

It seems that other teams usually shoot free throws well against us. ...The reason they seem to shoot them well is because they shoot so many. We were next to last last year. Same, this year.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/opponent-free-throws-attempted-per-game

This is big. Last year, we took 23.1 FTAs per game. Opponents took 26.2 against us.

Based on league average FT%, that's giving the opponent 2.4 points per game. Since we were down 4.7 points per game to our opponents overall, you can see that half of that differential came from putting them on the line too often.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Beal is a HOF. ...If Melo is a HOF so should Beal.

...Beal is as good as Melo was....

Carmelo was a volume scorer, & he was colossally over-rated -- as are all volume scorers.

On his career, his scoring efficiency was about average. Nor was he especially terrific at anything else.

Beal is a far better player than Melo. & in the 10K minutes he's played from 2016-17 until now, he has been really outstanding.

Is he HOF? What is "a HOF player," exactly? I don't think there's an answer.

Two things: Beal tremendously improved his handle and he’s also getting to the free throw line a ton. Both IMO happened directly because Wall being injured allowed Beal to be the Alpha.

Bradley is better than Rip Hamilton. I was wrong again. But Melo and Rip both have NCAA titles. Melo the year he dominated at the Olympic Games and at Syracuse was a great player. As for Rip Hamilton, he moved without the ball just like Reggie Miller. Hamilton on the Pistons played with a motor at both ends. Very smart player who I prefer over Beal .