GT #7:Washington Wizards @ Brooklyn Nets 1/3/2021 6:00PM

[Ruzious]

Lopez will contest some shots, but he is too-slow and lumbering to contest as-many as a more athletic does, I've seen him be too-slow to contest many shots

I agree. He's definitely not the answer, Wagner is just worse.

Wagner is not worse.

https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=lopezro01&p1yrfrom=2020&player_id2=wagnemo01&p2yrfrom=2020

What exactly does Lopez do better? Get a few more blocks? Foul less, sure. Lopez was 62 out of 72 Cs in RPM in 2019-2020.

This year, Lopez has a -10.0 net rating. Wagner in a ridiculously small sample size that means little to nothing is something like +30.0

I’ll take Wagner’s shooting/rebounding/athletic ability over Lopez any day of the week. I don’t care if he fouls too much in his 10 minutes a night.

Lopez does nothing for a team, you play 4v5 on offense, and give up layups and offensive rebounds left and right on defense.

And I know your goal isn’t to be a Lopez apologist, but little stuff like this is the difference between losing 5 games by a combined 30 or so points.

Just simple things like cutting to the basket - Wagner does easily, and Lopez... no, hell no actually, I think you have to oil his joints first. It's painful to watch him do things that require any amount of athleticism.

[bsilver]

Couldn't believe Westbrook was admiring his 3 point shooting form (22%) while ignoring his man running the floor behind him in a play that could have cost the game.

And, to beat a dead horse, below is Kevin Broom's player analysis for the game. (from bulletsforever.com) Jerome Robinson's PPA was abysmal (-49). Ish Smith is playing better this year after a tough start. Smith and Neto should both be getting time, although not in the 3 guard lineup. Beal needs more rest to go at full steam, and Westbrook just isn't that special anymore - at least so far.

Player Production Average
Below are Player Production Average (PPA) results from last night’s game. PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, play-making, defending) and dings them for things that hurt (missed shots, turnovers, bad defense, fouls). PPA is a per possession stat that includes accounting for defense. In PPA, 100 is average and higher is better.

PPA is a per possession stat. The table below is sorted by each player’s total contributions for the game.

Wizards PPA
WIZARDS MIN PPA +/-
Thomas Bryant 28 270 -1
Bradley Beal 36 128 -2
Ish Smith 11 284 4
Robin Lopez 20 145 2
Davis Bertans 31 90 16
Rui Hachimura 33 68 -11
Russell Westbrook 38 43 0
Raul Neto 14 41 -3
Deni Avdija 16 -5 -9
Jerome Robinson 12 -49 9

[bsilver]

Brooklyn is in trouble with the loss of Dinwiddie for the season. Levert has to take up the slack, and he was terrible last night.

A few other teams in the East, like Toronto are no longer sure things to make the playoffs. Mediocre starts by Boston, Miami, and Milw. This year may be the most topsy-turvy in a while.

[dobrojim]

I wish Gooden would stop talking.

I can't stand either of them.

I know I was just annoyed the other night when/because we lost our 5th but when JK
said RW could care less about the 3xDub, I wanted to scream. You're a professional
announcer. The expression should have been he could _not_ have cared less.
They way he said it means the opposite of what he intended.
There, I feel better.

We gotta be impressed with TB though. Over a three game stretch he only missed
4 shots and one of them should have been called a foul. I've been hot/cold on him
after his fast_ish start when he first got minutes. But now he is just ballin'.

Rui looked decent too.

[doclinkin]

I wish Gooden would stop talking.

I can't stand either of them.

Most annoying is the "Konichiwa" or "Shalom" or whatever when foreign born players do something well. Just stop.

[prime1time]

Maybe I’m the odd man out but I want Rui at the 5 closing out games. Unless the opposing team has a scoring center like Vucevic, Embiid or Jokic I simply don’t see the benefit of having Bryant on the floor. I’d prefer Westbrook, Beal, Advija, Bertans and Rui. For defense we switch Bertans with Bonga.

Here’s a question, what’s the argument for keeping Bryant on the floor late in the game when you know defenses are going to attack him?

For one thing, I’d want Bryant in there for his rebounding. He’s by far the best frontcourt rebounder on the Zards. He had a number of critical late-game rebounds last night.

Bryant has also improved his shot blocking.

There may be late game instances where the Zards switch out TB for a better defender at the 5. But who would that better defender be?

(BTW, did you mean that when "offenses are going to attack" TB? Because I'm not sure what you mean by "defenses" attacking him.)

Yeah offenses. My MacBook is in the shop so I’m limited to my phone. Rebounding is why you keep him in but you have to weigh it against his defensive liability. Multiple teams have attacked him down the stretch.