Seismic Shift in the East: Thomas Bryant a Wizard

[payitforward]

Since he's 5-6 on threes in the last three games, yeah....

Bryant is 8 of 16 on the season, so I guess he shoots the three at 50%. Now, admittedly, that's not as good as Rui's 40% on way fewer attempts, because... well... you know... Rui is special. But, it's still pretty good.

[DCZards]

For those unable to access The Athletic article posted yesterday. (I believe it's behind a firewall.) These are excerpts from that article. Gotta love that TB just continues to get better.

‘The sky’s the limit for him’: Thomas Bryant is feasting so far for the Wizards

By Fred Katz Jan 4, 2021

Russell Westbrook had just clanked a 3-pointer that could have iced the game, but Bradley Beal was fixating on Thomas Bryant.
With only half a minute remaining in Sunday’s match in Brooklyn, Beal approached Bryant, who he felt needed an edit. The two had run a pick-and-roll while up one with about 40 seconds remaining, but Bryant didn’t impede Nets point guard Kyrie Irving on the screen. As two defenders followed Beal to the hoop, Bryant hesitantly trailed behind. The All-Star guard remained double-teamed. Amid the disarray, he gave up the ball, which eventually found Westbrook 30 feet from the hoop. He clanked the front of the rim.
A moment later, Beal approached Bryant, who is normally more aggressive than not. Next time, he said, he needed his center to roll to the paint harder. Get all the way to the hoop. If he did, Beal would find him.

Next time came quickly.

Not 30 seconds later — with the Wizards down one — Bryant and Beal ran a pick-and-roll in an almost-identical spot. Beal went the other direction. Bryant fought his way into the paint, and Beal found him for a game-winning dunk, the most important wraparound pass of the Wizards’ early season.

“He’s willing to sacrifice everything for the betterment of the team,” Beal said. “And whatever you tell him to do, he listens. … I just said, ‘Man, growth. You continue to listen. You continue to get better.’ The sky’s the limit for him. I’m happy for him. We are happy for him.”

Though the numbers are extreme now, it feels like the concept behind them can continue. Bryant won’t finish the year shooting 72 percent on 2-pointers or 50 percent on 3s, but he has been a hyper-efficient scorer in the past. And today, at 23 years old, some combination of circumstances and personal evolution have made him better.

Nearly half of Bryant’s buckets have come on assists from either Westbrook or Beal.

This sort of dynamic felt inevitable from the time the Wizards acquired Westbrook. He’s not getting to the rim and is ejecting tons of mid-range jumpers early in the shot clock (though he used post-ups to get to the free-throw line more against Brooklyn), but the chemistry with Bryant is there. The offense is purring when he, Bryant and Beal share the floor. Insert Davis Bertans, and Washington has something scary if it can find a way to force a stop every once in a while — which, of course, comes back to Bryant again. The center is better at using his 7-foot-6 wingspan than he was two years ago, but the Wizards are still figuring out ways to get him more comfortable inside their pick-and-roll coverages.

Offensively, though, there is something collaborative going on here, whether in these pick-and-rolls or in the dribble-handoffs he started to master with Beal last season.

Bryant is freeing his guards, and his guards are rewarding him. Even the game-winning shot in Brooklyn came after a hustle play from the big man, an offensive rebound from Bryant off a Beal miss. He re-set to Beal before the clinching pick-and-roll.

[J-Ves]

Since he's 5-6 on threes in the last three games, yeah....

Bryant is 8 of 16 on the season, so I guess he shoots the three at 50%. Now, admittedly, that's not as good as Rui's 40% on way fewer attempts, because... well... you know... Rui is special. But, it's still pretty good.

Holy ish! I just realized our starting backcourt is shooting .267 on 3s(16/60) and our starting frontcourt is shooting .478(22/46) on them. Maybe there needs to be a re-calibration on who is launching from deep...

[Ruzious]

Since he's 5-6 on threes in the last three games, yeah....

Bryant is 8 of 16 on the season, so I guess he shoots the three at 50%. Now, admittedly, that's not as good as Rui's 40% on way fewer attempts, because... well... you know... Rui is special. But, it's still pretty good.

Holy ish! I just realized our starting backcourt is shooting .267 on 3s(16/60) and our starting frontcourt is shooting .478(22/46) on them. Maybe there needs to be a re-calibration on who is launching from deep...

Some say that Westbrook plays more like a 4 than a 1.

[pcbothwel]

Since he's 5-6 on threes in the last three games, yeah....

Bryant is 8 of 16 on the season, so I guess he shoots the three at 50%. Now, admittedly, that's not as good as Rui's 40% on way fewer attempts, because... well... you know... Rui is special. But, it's still pretty good.

Holy ish! I just realized our starting backcourt is shooting .267 on 3s(16/60) and our starting frontcourt is shooting .478(22/46) on them. Maybe there needs to be a re-calibration on who is launching from deep...

Some say that Westbrook plays more like a 4 than a 1.

I mean... him playing the Jimmy Butler role is a great way for him to extend his career.

[dobrojim]

I continue to be impressed that the last 3 games, he has missed 4 shots total while scoring well.
One of those misses there should have been a foul called, so one miss per game. Not bad.

edit to add -TB gets a chance tomorrow to redeem himself against Embiid. Last time vs 6ers
Embiid took over down the stretch. He needs to do a little better.

[LyricalRico]

I continue to be impressed that the last 3 games, he has missed 4 shots total while scoring well.
One of those misses there should have been a foul called, so one miss per game. Not bad.

edit to add -TB gets a chance tomorrow to redeem himself against Embiid. Last time vs 6ers
Embiid took over down the stretch. He needs to do a little better.

Is it a coincidence that his improved production coincides with Rui's return? Really seems to have opened things up for Bryant.

[payitforward]

I guess it would be if that were the case:

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401267184

[payitforward]

Here's what he says; https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/wizards/how-thomas-bryant-transformed-himself-and-his-game-2021

[FAH1223]

Who elses misses TB?

[pcbothwel]

Who elses misses TB?

Same. Watching Rui the past couple weeks get easy hustle points from Russ gets me excited because TB runs the floor hard, finishes with ease, and hits his FTs. He's going get his share from Russ next year to manufacture some easy points...
One of the benefits of Russ being the greatest rebounding PG in NBA history. Our bigs can run and get easy points.

[nate33]

From the Trade thread, but I thought it would be nice to archive here.

So nate, you're telling me you truly believe the absence of Bryant is what has tanked our offensive efficiency? Was he that valuable of a stretch big? I mean it's possible I guess, I just don't think so though. I think the team in general has a flawed offensive philosophy. With any sort of discipline from the coaching, this team has offensive potential,

I really do think he was a big component. Not just because he posted highly efficient numbers. It was his perimeter skills that opened up the paint for Beal to drive the lane. It also boosted our offensive rebounding by dragging the opposition's best rebounder out onto the perimeter.

Check out Beal's shooting numbers last year versus this year.



Last year, he got all the way to the rim on 24% of his shots, this time it's down to 16.6%. And last year he made 69% of his attempts at the rim, this year it's down to 65%. That's because there's always a big man in the way. If Beal hadn't made an absolutely ridiculous improvement in shooting floaters and short fadeaways (the 3-10 feet range), he would be having a worse season than last year. (As an aside, we really should all stop and marvel at Beal's shooting from floater range. I don't think I've ever seen a guard shoot 25% of his shots in the 3-10 foot range and make over 55% of them. That's truly remarkable.)

[FAH1223]

I hope we don't trade TB for some washed up veteran.

[FAH1223]

Read on Twitter

[payitforward]

Look at that pic! Sometimes you forget how BIG these guys are!

[keynote]

Read on Twitter

Those are some expensive sneakers to be wearing during a training session.

[pancakes3]

nba-caliber players haven't had to pay for a pair of sneakers since probably 6th grade. former MIP Bullet Don Maclean (current Clippers color guy) said that to this day he gets as many free shoes as he wants and he's been out of the league for like 20 years.

[keynote]

nba-caliber players haven't had to pay for a pair of sneakers since probably 6th grade. former MIP Bullet Don Maclean (current Clippers color guy) said that to this day he gets as many free shoes as he wants and he's been out of the league for like 20 years.

I'm not talking about Bryant.

[wall_glizzy]

nba-caliber players haven't had to pay for a pair of sneakers since probably 6th grade. former MIP Bullet Don Maclean (current Clippers color guy) said that to this day he gets as many free shoes as he wants and he's been out of the league for like 20 years.

I'm not talking about Bryant.

It's these, right? Maybe he lucked out and got them at retail
https://stockx.com/nike-air-max-1-97-sean-wotherspoon-na

[FAH1223]