The Wizards tenure of Scott Brooks

[SUPERBALLMAN]

I think Jay Wright from Villanova would be a home run hire if we go the college route. Just look at this list of quality NBA players that he has recruited and coached in recent years:

Jalen Brunson (5 star, 22 national)
Donte DiVencenzo (4 star, 124 national)
Josh Hart (4 star, 79 national)
Mikal Bridges (4 star, 81 national)

So you know he can evaluate talent. That’s 3 quality NBA players not even ranked in the top 75 nationally.

Arcidiacono, Bey, and Spellman are honorable mentions.

In his last 7 seasons, Villanova has lost a grand total of 38 games out of 253. 2 NCAA championships 4 conference championships and made the tournament all 7 seasons. They only signed five total 5 star recruits over that period. Hard to believe.

Wright is definitely intriguing, here's a good article about the Knicks interest in him...


https://forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2020/02/17/the-knicks-have-strong-interest-in-villanova-coach-jay-wright-sources/?sh=2935450a6437r

[NatP4]

Here is one of my favorite interviews of Wright:

Watch on YouTube

[NatP4]

Couple more videos about Jay Wright’s style of play:

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[NatP4]

Grain of salt, no clue on the source.

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[Frichuela]

And there is also this...not sure how legit

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?s=20

[NatP4]

Here’s the actual article in which Kevin O’Connor states that league sources indicate that Brooks is on the hot seat.

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[NatP4]

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[queridiculo]

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faith based on what exactly?

[Frichuela]

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faith based on what exactly?

Proof that the front office is loaded with idiots...

[JonFromVA]

The easiest way to improve the Wizards defense is to fire Mike Longabardi, which is not to say that the coach who added him to his staff, and the GM that permitted it don't hold responsibility (except when the goal is to tank).

[NatP4]

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[nate33]

The easiest way to improve the Wizards defense is to fire Mike Longabardi, which is not to say that the coach who added him to his staff, and the GM that permitted it don't hold responsibility (except when the goal is to tank).

It really is remarkable. In their final two seasons with Longabardi as defensive coach, the Cavs finished 29th and 30th in the league defensively. Why would anyone possibly think he is the man for the job? What organization hires the coach of the last ranked defense to be the defensive coordinator? After he left, the Cavs rose to 29th and then up to 1st this year.

The Wizards had the 15th and then 28th ranked defense in their final 2 seasons prior to Longabardi's arrival. After hiring him, they finished 30th last year and are currently 27th this year (and plummeting).

[JonFromVA]

The easiest way to improve the Wizards defense is to fire Mike Longabardi, which is not to say that the coach who added him to his staff, and the GM that permitted it don't hold responsibility (except when the goal is to tank).

It really is remarkable. In their final two seasons with Longabardi as defensive coach, the Cavs finished 29th and 30th in the league defensively. Why would anyone possibly think he is the man for the job? What organization hires the coach of the last ranked defense to be the defensive coordinator. After he left, they rose to 29th and then up to 1st this year.

The Wizards has the 15th and then 28th ranked defense in their final 2 seasons prior to Longabardi's arrival. After hiring him, they finished 30th last year and are currently 27th this year (and plummeting).

The Suns had a bottom ranked defense when they had him as well - they fired him, and Ty Lue added to the Cavs staff when he was promoted from lead defensive assistant to head coach.

All I can figure is he must talk a good game, and on paper everyone must love his D; but the players can't execute it and he seems unable to adapt it.

[queridiculo]

The easiest way to improve the Wizards defense is to fire Mike Longabardi, which is not to say that the coach who added him to his staff, and the GM that permitted it don't hold responsibility (except when the goal is to tank).

It really is remarkable. In their final two seasons with Longabardi as defensive coach, the Cavs finished 29th and 30th in the league defensively. Why would anyone possibly think he is the man for the job? What organization hires the coach of the last ranked defense to be the defensive coordinator. After he left, they rose to 29th and then up to 1st this year.

The Wizards has the 15th and then 28th ranked defense in their final 2 seasons prior to Longabardi's arrival. After hiring him, they finished 30th last year and are currently 27th this year (and plummeting).

The Suns had a bottom ranked defense when they had him as well - they fired him, and Ty Lue added to the Cavs staff when he was promoted from lead defensive assistant to head coach.

All I can figure is he must talk a good game, and on paper everyone must love his D; but the players can't execute it and he seems unable to adapt it.

Quite fascinating how Longabardi build a career on the reputation of being a defensive mastermind learning the Van Gundy's strong side defense in Houston and inheriting a bunch of hall of famers playing the same stuff under Thibodeau in Boston.

The three point revolution and in particular the weakside corner three has killed this defensive approach years ago, and unsurprisingly Longabardi has been a disappointment wherever he's turned up.

[JonFromVA]

It really is remarkable. In their final two seasons with Longabardi as defensive coach, the Cavs finished 29th and 30th in the league defensively. Why would anyone possibly think he is the man for the job? What organization hires the coach of the last ranked defense to be the defensive coordinator. After he left, they rose to 29th and then up to 1st this year.

The Wizards has the 15th and then 28th ranked defense in their final 2 seasons prior to Longabardi's arrival. After hiring him, they finished 30th last year and are currently 27th this year (and plummeting).

The Suns had a bottom ranked defense when they had him as well - they fired him, and Ty Lue added to the Cavs staff when he was promoted from lead defensive assistant to head coach.

All I can figure is he must talk a good game, and on paper everyone must love his D; but the players can't execute it and he seems unable to adapt it.

Quite fascinating how Longabardi build a career on the reputation of being a defensive mastermind learning the Van Gundy's strong side defense in Houston and inheriting a bunch of hall of famers playing the same stuff under Thibodeau in Boston.

The three point revolution and in particular the weakside corner three has killed this defensive approach years ago, and unsurprisingly Longabardi has been a disappointment wherever he's turned up.

I haven't been watching the Wizards, but does any of this sound familiar?

What stuck out to me Longo was coaching in Cleveland, is that his P&R coverage was supposed to be a combination of coverages depending what type of P&R was being run and where it was happening on the court. They might ICE in one case, stay back in another, show hard, force baseline, or trap and the players were supposed to communicate this to each other on the fly. Instead, any team with enough patience just passed the ball until the Cavs got confused and gave up an open layup or shot.

Eventually Ty Lue would step-in, simplify the scheme and then at least the complete breakdowns stopped happening.

[nate33]

WizardsKev posted a very interesting article over at Bullets Forever:

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He analyzed the defense and determined that, shockingly, the Wizards are actually the best in the league at forcing the opposition to shoot bad shots, i.e. 2 pointers not at the rim.:

Here’s an illustration in points per shot:

At-rim — 1.31
3-10 feet — 0.84
10-16 feet — 0.86
16 feet to 3pt line — 0.84
Threes — 1.10
Most shooting fouls happen in that at-rim area. Shots in the 3-10 foot range are often failed drives that result in an attempt contested by a big or a crummy runner. Shooting percentages are generally crappy on mid- to long-range twos. But you know this. Us stat goobers have been pummeling fans with this stuff for years.

The point is that the Wizards are actually doing some things right on defense. So far this season, just 13.1% of their opponent field goal attempts have been at-rim — far and away the best in the NBA. Number two? The Miami Heat at 18.3%. League average is 25.9%. Somehow, some way, the Wizards are the Secretariat of denying at-rim field goal attempts.

Meanwhile, they’ve allowed the highest percentage of attempts from 3-10 feet, the second most attempts from 10-16 feet, and the most attempts on twos from 16-plus feet. The Wizards allow the 10th fewest three-point attempts (as a percentage of field goal attempts).Somehow, some way, the 49.9% of opponent field goal attempts against Washington have been POOP.

So far, they’ve allowed the second fewest dunks per game, and they’re 11th in combined dunks and layups per game.

With all the kvetching and whining and moaning about Brooks and his inability to craft a coherent defensive scheme, his team — which is largely devoid of quality defenders — has somehow managed to take away both at-rim attempts AND threes. They also do an okay job forcing turnovers and grabbing defensive rebounds.

Basically, the Wizards defense stinks because the opposition is shooting incredibly well from areas where their eFG% should not be so high. Some of that, presumably, is that our defenders are still bad even though they are forcing the right shots. We're still giving them too much time to be comfortable and not getting a hand in their face. But some of it may just be bad luck. Generally speaking, if you consistently force teams to shoot 2-pointers outside of 3 feet, the numbers should eventually turn in your favor.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Say what? Tell Kevin Ken says that his findings are heresy!

“Wizards” and “best defense”. Talk about oxymoronic! I’ve been up all night and I know I’m delusional now.

Randy Wittman approves of Kevin’s research! Him and Sam Cassell with the midrange and long two’s welcomed approach.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

So the other teams are just shooting well? Some sort of mojo…

[queridiculo]

Basically, the Wizards defense stinks because the opposition is shooting incredibly well from areas where their eFG% should not be so high. Some of that, presumably, is that our defenders are still bad even though they are forcing the right shots. We're still giving them too much time to be comfortable and not getting a hand in their face. But some of it may just be bad luck. Generally speaking, if you consistently force teams to shoot 2-pointers outside of 3 feet, the numbers should eventually turn in your favor.

I saw a stat somewhere that had the Wizards as the unluckiest team in the league so far this year.

The statistic basically showed that on open shots, opposing teams shot somewhere around 5% higher than league average.

To that I'd say that "open", may not necessarily be "open".

If your defense predictably surrenders open looks on certain actions, a player armed with a scouting report of where they can expect to get their looks could conceivably have an advantage given the high degree of confidence he has preparing for that shot.

I am also curious how much those defensive numbers are flattered by the fact that the Wizards are among the teams with the highest foul rate.

Possessions that result in a trip to the line because Washington is in the penalty aren't going to register as shot.

That doesn't mean that the Wizards played good defense, quite the opposite.

[nate33]

I am also curious how much those defensive numbers are flattered by the fact that the Wizards are among the teams with the highest foul rate.

Possessions that result in a trip to the line because Washington is in the penalty aren't going to register as shot.

That doesn't mean that the Wizards played good defense, quite the opposite.

Good point.

The Wizards allow about 6 more FTA's than an average NBA team. If you assume that all the additional marginal attempts are due to us fouling people at the rim, one could argue that they are effectively giving up 3 more FGA's at the rim, at shooting percentage of .788.

We have been yielding a FG% of .746 at the rim, so those FTA's yielded are only slightly worse than yielding shots at the rim. Even if you considered those extra 6 FTA's to be equivalent to 3 extra FGA's at the rim, that would only boost our total shots at the rim yielded from a league low 13.5% up to about 17.0%, which is still best in the league.