GT #44: 76ers @ Bullets 2 PM (NBCSW/980 AM) - Happy MLK Day!

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Didn't see the game, any noticeable differences between coach Blair and coach Wes, anything stand out?

Blair has serious swag. He was giving players chest bumps before the game, doing his Globetrotters ball spinning after the game. The boys were loose.

[Ruzious]

https://www.bulletsforever.com/2022/1/18/22888535/healthy-wizards-shorten-rotation-and-stomp-76ers

Kevin's PPA stats show Kuzma was the best player in the game despite his ordinary shooting stats - followed by Trez and Bryant. Embiid, despite having the big scoring game - was way behind them - as well as behind Rui. Harris was an absolute disaster for Philly.

[tontoz]

At what point do we worry about Gafford? He can't stay on the court.

I wouldn't take his difficulties against Embiid, possibly the most challenging matchup at the 5
in the NBA, too generally. I have faith that Go-Go Gaff will usually give us good minutes.

Not to mention the fact that he proved he can stay on the court when both Harrell and Bryant were out.

[payitforward]

We won by 19 points last night. Kuzma had a tremendous game, maybe the best 29 minute stretch of his career. Not scoring, but 16 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal & 3 blocks -- as against only 1 TO & 1 foul...? Wow!

Deni played 3 minutes.

So let's conclude that Deni needs to change the way he plays. Let's conclude that we should cut back Deni's minutes until he... whatever....

Here's what I propose instead: let's be happy that Deni has shown incredible growth as an NBA player & do everything we can to keep him growing. By playing him. &, let's be happy that Kuzma is playing well above his career average. I.e. showing that he can be a pretty valuable NBA player.

Based on which, let's maximize both their minutes. As best we can.

[Ruzious]

We won by 19 points last night. Kuzma had a tremendous game, maybe the best 29 minute stretch of his career. Not scoring, but 16 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal & 3 blocks -- as against only 1 TO & 1 foul...? Wow!

Deni played 3 minutes.

So let's conclude that Deni needs to change the way he plays. Let's conclude that we should cut back Deni's minutes until he... whatever....

Here's what I propose instead: let's be happy that Deni has shown incredible growth as an NBA player & do everything we can to keep him growing. By playing him. &, let's be happy that Kuzma is playing well above his career average. I.e. showing that he can be a pretty valuable NBA player.

Based on which, let's maximize both their minutes. As best we can.

How so? By increasing the minutes in each game to 56 (14 minutes a quarter)? I don't think the players union will go for that. Perhpas they'll trade Rui or Kuzma, but I doubt it.

Btw, Deni's offensive game has stunk for the last several games, and his defense lately hasn't been at the high level it was earlier in the season - teams have scouted him, and he needs to adjust. He needs to do better in order to earn more PT. Luckily, it appears he's ahead of Bertans in the rotation. The way this season's gone, someone will probably soon be out for a while - clearing room for Deni to play more. We do need to avoid having a repeat of the Troy Brown Jr situation - where he completely fell out of favor.

[dlts20]

I may be on an island but I still say that we have a good team when fully together which we haven't been all season. We will win more games over this stretch than people think. A lot more than some think

Or we could no-show again as we did against Portland. Who knows with this team coming off a big win? I think it helps that the Sixers missed about 100 shots outside of Embiid and Maxey. Korkmaz was horrific for them.

Need to show consistency before I start believing again and something smells with Deni not playing.

That's why I made it clear when I say fully together. We are deep but not necessarily with elite talent. That's why we have to have all hands on deck, especially our best player, even as a decoy. Plus I like the coach last night, way more than the other assistant from last game. This was really our first game all year at full strength basically

[prime1time]

We won by 19 points last night. Kuzma had a tremendous game, maybe the best 29 minute stretch of his career. Not scoring, but 16 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal & 3 blocks -- as against only 1 TO & 1 foul...? Wow!

Deni played 3 minutes.

So let's conclude that Deni needs to change the way he plays. Let's conclude that we should cut back Deni's minutes until he... whatever....

Here's what I propose instead: let's be happy that Deni has shown incredible growth as an NBA player & do everything we can to keep him growing. By playing him. &, let's be happy that Kuzma is playing well above his career average. I.e. showing that he can be a pretty valuable NBA player.

Based on which, let's maximize both their minutes. As best we can.

What happens with Deni's minutes has nothing to do with yesterday and everything to do with his body of work and the fact that Hachimura and Bryant are now healthy. Avdija's path to more PT is simple. Make 3's.

[nate33]

Avdija's path to more PT is simple. Make 3's.

Can't argue with this.

If Deni shot 37% from 3-point range, he'd be an above-average starter. Instead, he's a nice, but limited role player off the bench.

[dobrojim]

We won by 19 points last night. Kuzma had a tremendous game, maybe the best 29 minute stretch of his career. Not scoring, but 16 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal & 3 blocks -- as against only 1 TO & 1 foul...? Wow!

Deni played 3 minutes.

So let's conclude that Deni needs to change the way he plays. Let's conclude that we should cut back Deni's minutes until he... whatever....

Here's what I propose instead: let's be happy that Deni has shown incredible growth as an NBA player & do everything we can to keep him growing. By playing him. &, let's be happy that Kuzma is playing well above his career average. I.e. showing that he can be a pretty valuable NBA player.

Based on which, let's maximize both their minutes. As best we can.

What happens with Deni's minutes has nothing to do with yesterday and everything to do with his body of work and the fact that Hachimura and Bryant are now healthy. Avdija's path to more PT is simple. Make 3's.

This!

I did not mean to give the impression Deni needs to be 'punished' for not playing better.
On the whole, I'm pretty happy with where he is as a 21 yo player. I absolutely want him to
continue to get minutes but with Kuz playing out of his mind, Rui back and Kispert starting to
shoot more like the so called 'best shooter in the draft', we don't have to rely on a kid, albeit one
with good potential, to play heavy rotation minutes. Deni may not get 25-30 minutes most nights.
I'm hoping he plays and practices hard and makes a compelling case for himself to play
more.