GT:18 Wizards @ Heat - 2/03/21 - 8PM

[nate33]

Its definitely become a narrative at this point. He may mess up rotations at times but who doesn't in Brook's system. On ball nothing we've seen shows "below average defender."

This is him holding his own against the best offensive wing in the game, Kevin Durant.

What more proof do you need that he CAN defend? No one is saying he's Kawhi defensively, but he is also not below average.

Rui is getting to the point where he will make the defensive play he should make. That's good. It makes it so that he is not a liability that can be exploited by the other team. But great defenders also make a few extra plays that they shouldn't be able to make. Rui does none of that and I don't think he ever will. He just doesn't have the instinctive awareness and aggressiveness. I don't think he will ever be a disruptive defender, he'll merely be a competent one.

I'm not hating. Competence is enough. He'll just need to be paired with a disruptive defensive center if the team is going to have a legitimately good defense. And when he is paired with a bad defensive center, it's bad.

[Ruzious]

WTF is Gooden talking about?

If you figure it out, let us know.

Kutcher was trying to figure it out too.

He wanted us to foul with no fouls to give.

I hope he's a one and done. I watch the game on mute.

As bad as Gooden often is, Kutcher's surprised me in how good he is. He's not afraid to be critical of the team, and he's generally spot-on when he does. I expected him to be a complete homer. I like the way he corrects Gooden without making him look bad - which is a real art. Hey, he's gotta work with Gooden, so it's to his benefit for Gooden to look good.

[smoothSeph]

Its definitely become a narrative at this point. He may mess up rotations at times but who doesn't in Brook's system. On ball nothing we've seen shows "below average defender."

This is him holding his own against the best offensive wing in the game, Kevin Durant.

What more proof do you need that he CAN defend? No one is saying he's Kawhi defensively, but he is also not below average.

But great defenders also make a few extra plays that they shouldn't be able to make. Rui does none of that and I don't think he ever will. He just doesn't have the instinctive awareness and aggressiveness. I don't think he will ever be a disruptive defender, he'll merely be a competent one.

He's also only played 59 games, there is still a lot of time to improve defensively. But even if he doesn't I think the majority of us should be ok with that. For what he offers us offensively he can be a solid starter for us.

[payitforward]

How about 9 rebounds and 5 assists for Rui, even when he wasn't scoring well he helped the team in other ways. Love that our young guys are growing.

Not sure why many wizards fans gave up on him

I’m gonna blame PIF. <jk> It’s all good (since we won).

Happy to take the blame.

But, it's not about "giving up" on Rui, & it never was. It's just a question of whether spending the #9 pick on him was the best use of that asset. It wasn't -- but that doesn't mean Rui has to be a bad player!

I was unable to watch the Heat game, but looking at the boxscore it's great to see that Rui grabbed 9 boards. Especially the 3 offensive rebounds which cancelled the 3 turnovers.

In a way, the assists are an even nicer thing to see from Rui, as they indicate an increased ability to see the floor -- higher bbiq, iow.

So far, Rui is a little better this year than he was as a rookie, & he is also improving as the year goes along. These are good things.

[payitforward]

Its definitely become a narrative at this point. He may mess up rotations at times but who doesn't in Brook's system. On ball nothing we've seen shows "below average defender."

This is him holding his own against the best offensive wing in the game, Kevin Durant.

What more proof do you need that he CAN defend? No one is saying he's Kawhi defensively, but he is also not below average.

But great defenders also make a few extra plays that they shouldn't be able to make. Rui does none of that and I don't think he ever will. He just doesn't have the instinctive awareness and aggressiveness. I don't think he will ever be a disruptive defender, he'll merely be a competent one.

He's also only played 59 games, there is still a lot of time to improve defensively. But even if he doesn't I think the majority of us should be ok with that. For what he offers us offensively he can be a solid starter for us.

This, however, is a substantial overstatement. Or, one might say, it's something to hope for -- but not something indicated by his play so far, not even his improved play.

To this point, Rui has not set a level of performance that is even at an average level for an NBA PF. (&, of course, you want a starter to be above average!)

That's not to say he won't get there. But, at this point -- 3 days shy of turning 23 -- he still has a long way to go.