GT #9:Washington Wizards @ Boston Celtics 1/8/2021 7:30PM

[NatP4]

Beal doesn’t pass because we are 2-7 and play like it’s a pickup game. I wouldn’t pass to Robin Lopez either

He has some bad habits, but from watching Beal for some 7ish years, he knows when to get serious and play the right way.

[Eli Babak]

Man, Beal has improved so **** much after signing that max deal in 2016. He's like Harden right now. Too bad this organization is awful.

There's an enormous difference between Beal and Harden. Sure they can score but Harden can make any player look really good. Beal doesn't make his teammates better despite scoring in bunches.

That's true - Harden has more PG skills than Beal but they also have a system in Houston that allows Harden to be "the man". I'm not saying Beal will ever be MVP-candidate but a better coach would definitely get more out of this team and make players look better.

[DCZards]

Now, we need to get Troy some run. He's in a tough situation given that he's best suited as a primary or secondary playmaker on a team with 3-4 other guys who also have that capability. You could plug Brown into the second team but I don't know how well he'd play next to Ish. Ish has been balling lately and is one of the main reasons that the Zards were able to get back into the last two games after being down big time. Ish has earned the PT he's been getting lately.

A good coach would figure out a way to take advantage of Troy's skillset. Brooks doesn't seem to be that guy.

A good coach would also tell Westbrook that he needs to shoot less and move the ball more.

Honest question:

Could Troy Brown fill the Westbrook role better than Russell Westbrook? Would we be better off with Brown at starting PG alongside Beal?

Good question. It's certainly worth a try. Might not want to bench Russ for those "ego" concerns you mentioned earlier, but you could make Troy the first guard off the bench and pair him with Beal to see how it works out.

What we do know is that Troy is a high IQ player who will not be a ball stopper. He's also a very good and willing passer.

I've been a little surprised by all the low IQ, bonehead plays that Westbrook has made. Too many quick shots of the variety he rarely makes and a ton of sloppy, careless turnovers.

However, I'm not convinced that we won't see improved play by Westbrook...especially if the team can find a coach or someone will insist that he play the right way.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Now, we need to get Troy some run. He's in a tough situation given that he's best suited as a primary or secondary playmaker on a team with 3-4 other guys who also have that capability. You could plug Brown into the second team but I don't know how well he'd play next to Ish. Ish has been balling lately and is one of the main reasons that the Zards were able to get back into the last two games after being down big time. Ish has earned the PT he's been getting lately.

A good coach would figure out a way to take advantage of Troy's skillset. Brooks doesn't seem to be that guy.

A good coach would also tell Westbrook that he needs to shoot less and move the ball more.

Honest question:

Could Troy Brown fill the Westbrook role better than Russell Westbrook? Would we be better off with Brown at starting PG alongside Beal?

Good question. It's certainly worth a try. Might not want to bench Russ for those "ego" concerns you mentioned earlier, but you could make Troy the first guard off the bench and pair him with Beal to see how it works out.

What we do know is that Troy is a high IQ player who will not be a ball stopper. He's also a very good and willing passer.

I've been a little surprised by all the low IQ, bonehead plays that Westbrook has made. Too many quick shots of the variety he rarely makes and a ton of sloppy, careless turnovers.

However, I'm not convinced that we won't see improved play by Westbrook...especially if the team can find a coach or someone will insist that he play the right way.

I agree that Troys ideal role would seem to be combo guard, where he comes off the bench and can play with Beal (as pg) or with Westbrook (as 2 guard). I'd like to see us try Troy in that role instead of Ish which is what is currently happening.

[dckingsfan]

Wall tonight so far

28 mins: 14-3-4, 3/4 from 3, 0 turnovers, + 26 and rockets rolling..

And again, wouldn't have care but... a frick'n first round pick too.

If it's any consolation, that 1st round pick is looking more and more like two 2nd round picks.

It really should. But it doesn't... don't know why.

[tripy_ran]

Beal doesn’t pass because we are 2-7 and play like it’s a pickup game. I wouldn’t pass to Robin Lopez either

He has some bad habits, but from watching Beal for some 7ish years, he knows when to get serious and play the right way.

I just joined due to Deni, I am from Israel and wasn't too familiar with the WIZ so I am happy to learn. Can a coach be able to 'suppress those habits" ?

[NatP4]

Beal doesn’t pass because we are 2-7 and play like it’s a pickup game. I wouldn’t pass to Robin Lopez either

He has some bad habits, but from watching Beal for some 7ish years, he knows when to get serious and play the right way.

I just joined due to Deni, I am from Israel and wasn't too familiar with the WIZ so I am happy to learn. Can a coach be able to 'suppress those habits" ?

Welcome! Glad to have you!

Yes, absolutely. Brooks is an awful coach that lets his players do whatever they want. We have no structure whatsoever. Beal has shown in the past that he is super competitive and smart and can be a good defender. Assuming the wizards make a good coaching hire after Brooks, Beal will be just fine.

[queridiculo]

So Tatum out 10-14 days after testing positive, the Wizards are seriously surfing on the COVID wave, how much longer are they going to be able to dodge a positive test?

Crazy how teams the Wizards played keep turning up positive players the day after.

[TGW]

https://www.bulletsforever.com/2021/1/9/22222097/nba-washington-wizards-boston-celtics-statistical-analysis-ppa-four-factors

WizardsKev wrote:

I’m not usually one to pin full responsibility for a team winning or losing on one guy. Last night, in the Wizards loss to the Boston Celtics, Russell Westbrook came about as close as possible in a team sport.

Westbrook, who suffered a dislocated finger on his dominant hand earlier in the week, shot an astonishing 4-16 from the floor and committed 7 turnovers. His cataclysmic inefficiency wrecked the Wizards offense — just 12 points on 16 field goal attempts and 8 assists to counter the giveaways.

Westbrook led the team with 17 zero-point possessions. Teammate Bradley Beal was second with 16. Except, Beal scored 41 points and put points on the board on 56% of the possessions he used. Westbrook’s “score percentage” was 28%.

For the game, the Wizards had a pedestrian .528 effective field goal percentage. On non-Westbrook shots, their efg was .576. The team got points on 45.2% of its possessions last night. When Westbrook didn’t use the possession, it was 50.2%. To sum up: Westbrook wrecked the Wizards offense.

That offensive wreckage was the key to the game. While the Wizards defense wasn’t good against Boston, it wasn’t terrible either. The team’s scheme, game plan, and execution still doesn’t make a lot of sense but there were some bright spots.

It felt like Beal was getting torched by Jayson Tatum. The NBA’s tracking data shows Beal actually held his own — with him defending, Tatum shot 5-12 from the floor (including 0-4 from three-point range) and committed 2 turnovers. Overall, Boston shot 6-18 from the floor, 1-7 from three, and committed 5 turnovers when Beal was defending.

Westbrook was also reasonably effective — the Celtics shot 3-11 (2-5 from three) and committed 3 turnovers in possessions where he was assigned responsibility.

Thomas Bryant was also decent, albeit less busy than he had been in previous games. Boston shot 5-9 (1-2 on threes) and committed 3 turnovers when he was defending.

Mortiz Wagner made a rare appearance. In 13 minutes of playing time, Boston shot 1-6 and committed 3 turnovers with Wagner defending. He also was whistled for 3 fouls and committed a turnover. This tiny sample should not be used as an argument for Wagner getting more playing time. That case has already been made — even with Lopez playing better the past few games, it’s unlikely Wagner could be any worse.

Four Factors
Below are the four factors that decide who wins and loses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounding percentage), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made divided by field goal attempts).

Four Factors: Wizards at Celtics
4 FACTORS CELTICS WIZARDS
EFG 0.547 0.528
OREB% 0.279 0.156
TOV% 0.200 0.162
FTM/FGA 0.256 0.159
PACE 105 105
ORTG 111 102
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 +/-
Bradley Beal 38 148 -7
Rui Hachimura 37 138 -16
Ish Smith 17 188 11
Thomas Bryant 30 95 -12
Davis Bertans 27 101 7
Garrison Mathews 11 211 17
Robin Lopez 7 242 -7
Isaac Bonga 6 23 -5
Moritz Wagner 13 -19 12
Raul Neto 6 -58 -7
Deni Avdija 14 -111 -21
Russell Westbrook 33 -120 -17
Celtics PPA

CELTICS MIN PPA +/-
Jaylen Brown 38 176 21
Payton Pritchard 23 193 2
Jayson Tatum 35 123 -6
Daniel Theis 29 102 -4
Javonte Green 18 157 -7
Tacko Fall 19 119 13
Semi Ojeyele 27 52 23
Marcus Smart 36 -4 4
Jeff Teague 15 -20 -1

[doclinkin]

You all will know more about this than me, but my understanding is the Wall trade was fast-tracked because Beal was... uneasy ... about the prospect of playing with Wall again and that caused some friction. I assume Wall's injury history played a part too,

Incorrect. That was the narrative of columnist David Aldrige who wrote it with the caveat "I know both of them say the exact opposite but..." then made up a riff about how he believed they would have to be split up. Because DA is respected, every other lazy media outlet picked it up and ran with it. But it's a BS take to say: the players say one thing but I the omniscient columnist believe they secretly think differently. That's lazy journalism and wouldn't fly if he had an editor still.

Both of them have said the opposite all along. But they have been pitted against each other by media in the strangest way. It makes no sense, their games are complementary. When they played together they were efficient and made the playoffs with a scrap heap team around them. They call each other brothers, they were both discussing how they will work with each other. Beal was the first to visit John when his mom passed.

queridiculo is right to pin this on Ted Leonsis who reportedly had a hissy fit and felt embarrassed that his 2 year rehab project in John was seen giving him bad PR. Ted cares more about perception than on court product. It's his signature. He wants to believe that seeming like a good guy is why he is successful in business. He wrote a book about it. So far in sports ownership he has had mixed results with that.

[queridiculo]

https://www.bulletsforever.com/2021/1/9/22222097/nba-washington-wizards-boston-celtics-statistical-analysis-ppa-four-factors

WizardsKev wrote:


It felt like Beal was getting torched by Jayson Tatum. The NBA’s tracking data shows Beal actually held his own — with him defending, Tatum shot 5-12 from the floor (including 0-4 from three-point range) and committed 2 turnovers. Overall, Boston shot 6-18 from the floor, 1-7 from three, and committed 5 turnovers when Beal was defending.

So I am not crazy, I felt like Beal was putting in work on that end for the most part of the game.

Tatum made some tough jumpers over Beal, but I never got the sense that he was a sieve.

[nate33]

https://www.bulletsforever.com/2021/1/9/22222097/nba-washington-wizards-boston-celtics-statistical-analysis-ppa-four-factors

WizardsKev wrote:


It felt like Beal was getting torched by Jayson Tatum. The NBA’s tracking data shows Beal actually held his own — with him defending, Tatum shot 5-12 from the floor (including 0-4 from three-point range) and committed 2 turnovers. Overall, Boston shot 6-18 from the floor, 1-7 from three, and committed 5 turnovers when Beal was defending.

So I am not crazy, I felt like Beal was putting in work on that end for the most part of the game.

Tatum made some tough jumpers over Beal, but I never got the sense that he was a sieve.

Yeah, Tatum can always get off those long 2's with his stepback. Basically, you just have to live with that shot because it's unguardable. He'll make some, but it's not a high percentage shot. If you can force him into that shot every time, you will typically be happy with the results. That's what Beal was doing.