Offseason Plan

[dckingsfan]

TL:DR: Kuzma takes bad shots, also makes clutch shots

It's impossible to disagree with this -- at least with some of it. But I have a less speculative, less subtle idea which I'd say is significantly better.

Trade him.

Or, you know, coach him.

Since Tommy is not going to trade him for a round 2 pick. Or wait, a round 2 pick plus a bad contract.

Considering 80% of round 2 picks don't play 3 years.

Much less post 17/8.5/3.5 with a triple double this year.

Or a 27 pts 22! rb game.

Or 12 games this year of 25 or more points.

Or 24 double doubles.

I'd love to see stats on how many round 2 picks, even in the 30's, post anything close to those numbers in their career.

If we are talking trade, sure, trade for chemistry and fit and future picks, but the narrative that Kyle Kuzma is totally a trash player with easily replaced numbers that any 2nd rounder can earn is simply not grounded in reality. He has better value in front offices around the league than some of these trade suggestions imply. Get equivalent value on a trade for a player you like, but no point deriding a guy who actually does show flashes of star ability. Efficient high number games. That other players simply don't have the talent level to reach, ever. Even if he is admittedly sometimey in his output.

If you trade him - trade him to the Spurs and then you will see the breakout.

[NatP4]

This thread is hilarious. I originally said we should trade Kuzma for a late 1st and said Roddy could go as early as 20. We would be stupid not to make that trade. I don’t care how many times Kuzma has scored more than 20 points in a game.

I’m pretty sure that Roddy could score 17 points a game if we let him come in and chuck 15 shots a game. Also, there are a number of rookies that could put up 8 rebounds a night for you let them play 33 minutes a night.

I really don’t think it would be difficult for a rookie to come in and be dead last on the wizards in on/off differential by a mile either. Even Isaiah Todd could do that.

Kuzma puts up a bunch of empty numbers because he has the green light to do whatever the **** he wants out there because the league massively overrates him as a player. He’s an awful defender, doesn’t provide any paint defense or rebounding, doesn’t understand weakside help defense. On offense, he just chucks up bad shots and runs around. No idea how he’s helping you with his 54% TS and 3 turnovers a game.

Plenty of guys can put up big box score games and be an absolute detriment to their team. Just look at Julius Randle. Guy is one of the worst players in the NBA while averaging 20-10-5 on 50% TS and absolutely no defensive ability. Congrats to him. Imagine giving up a 2nd round pick for that.

[doclinkin]

Kuzma puts up a bunch of empty numbers because he has the green light to do whatever the **** he wants out there because the league massively overrates him as a player. He’s an awful defender, doesn’t provide any paint defense or rebounding, doesn’t understand weakside help defense. On offense, he just chucks up bad shots and runs around. No idea how he’s helping you with his 54% TS and 3 turnovers a game.

No rebounding. His defensive rebounding % is top 20 league-wide. Clearly you have an axe to grind. Did Kuz steal your pink sweater?

Ultimately hyperbole makes it harder to credit the rest of the argument. I'm not Kuz' biggest fan, I'm saying the critique is over the top. He is not 'awful' etc. His perimeter defense and man-on defense is decent. Yes he is not a strong interior defender, but he is not lost out there. Understands the game. Is no Nick Young etc standing around blinking until he gets the ball on offense. He plays both ends and in the bubble championship it was his notable perimeter defense that helped that team win. He does understand the game. He just coasts at times. But he is not JaVale McGee running the wrong way.

My point on him, yeah okay trade him, but I think he will be a better trade piece if we rehab one aspect of his game. Given that he does not look lost out there and he is not regularly being blown by or torched by his counterpart. If you look at his on/off numbers when he is on court his opponents eFG% is a slight negative. Anyway, given that he LOOKS decent, I got curious WHY his +/- is a negative. Looks to me like that one thing. That he is unreliable overall because his stats have significant variance in one area: scoring. Which has an easy fix: shot selection. Stop shooting 6 3's a game when you are below average in that skill. That comes down to coaching.

Shoot, if the league "massively overrates" him as a player then he will have awesome trade value. Better than a late first. Maybe a prospect and a late first. I'm just saying, I suspect that trade value, and his overall value to a team, whichever team he is on, would improve with a bit of shot discipline. Better shots, lower usage rate. Defined role.

I suppose over time we will see if your guy David Roddy regularly puts up double doubles. I like that 6'5" wrecking ball of a player. I think on defense you will see he is a worse defender than the guy you are killing, not from lack of smarts or effort, simply because at his height and weight he's not tall enough to affect Bigs and on the perimeter he can't change direction all that quickly to stop dribble drive attackers at the college level even.

Fans tend to develop strong prejudices for or against a particular player. And everything after that is boatanchorboatanchorboatanchor. But it is nice to imagine that the mystery guy who hasn't played yet will surely be better than the guy we dislike. But yeah, whatever helps us get better. I can hear the argument of: hey if the team we have is no good, then let's throw everything against the wall to see what sticks. Trade out everyone and build with draft picks and tanking. I'm curious what will be the end result of Oklahoma's experiment. If Philly wins the whole thing that will be the best example of the end result of a 10 year plan of sustained suck. Ted won't do it. Here, I trust Tommy to make a smart play. I would be surprised if Ted lets him trade Kuz at all, but Tommy has surprised me a few times every year. We will see.

[doclinkin]

If you trade him - trade him to the Spurs and then you will see the breakout.

Or Miami, or Boston. Any team that is disciplined and demands consistent focus before earning the spotlight as a purported 'star'.

[payitforward]

When Kuz is the first or second offensive option (as he was asked to be a good deal of last season) he takes too many bad shots and tries to do stuff with the ball in his hands that he’s simply not capable of…which often leads to turnovers.

On the other hand, Kuz averaged career highs in rebounds and assists last season and is surprisingly good at using his size and quickness to get to the rim for easy baskets. He’s also clutch as hell…and a team leader.

If Kuz can accept being a third or fourth option—and play like one—he’s an on and off court asset to the Zards.

This is not an argument not to trade Kuz if the right deal comes along. But it is to suggest that his shortcomings are typically highlighted on this board while his strengths and contributions to winning are often ignored or played down.

What you write makes sense. I don't "dislike" Kuz -- the opposite, in fact: I'm conscious of & appreciate the good things you note.

Suggesting that we trade Kuz, or anyone for that matter, is not expressing a rejection of the guy!

In his last season w/ the Lakers, Kuz posted his best numbers -- it was his best year & a great sign for continued improvement. Somewhere in the middle of this season, his first with us, he was basically dead even w/ last year. I thought that was a success for him, & I hoped he'd stay at that level -- maybe even improve -- through the rest of the year.

It didn't work out that way; his play fell off, & then towards the end of the season he was actually benched -- though maybe this was a physical issue rather than a demotion. I draw no conclusions from the fact.

At the same time, if overall improvement this year might have signaled that Kuz had it in him to be a starter in this league, then the actual results told me he isn't likely to be one, at least not a productive one.

That makes him a candidate to be traded, especially if he can bring back someone who is likely to be a productive NBA starter -- & if he's significantly younger too, that's a plus, because we are NOT going to be a good team any time soon.

That's why I mentioned Tre Jones. In fact, it's more that I want to acquire Jones than that I want to trade Kuzma.

[payitforward]

One more thing: I'd be just as happy if we traded Rui for jones instead of Kuz. But we aren't going to do that, & anyway if you suggest trading Rui the conversation immediately becomes irrational & you get your head bit off.

[DCZards]

In his last season w/ the Lakers, Kuz posted his best numbers -- it was his best year & a great sign for continued improvement. Somewhere in the middle of this season, his first with us, he was basically dead even w/ last year. I thought that was a success for him, & I hoped he'd stay at that level -- maybe even improve -- through the rest of the year.

It didn't work out that way; his play fell off, & then towards the end of the season he was actually benched -- though maybe this was a physical issue rather than a demotion. I draw no conclusions from the fact.

That’s the point some of us have been trying to make. When you put Kuz in a secondary or supporting role — as he was playing next to Lebron and Davis two seasons ago and earlier this season when he often shared the court with Beal, Dinwiddie and Harrell — he’s solid most games.

But when you ask him to be a lead dog — as he became when we traded Dinwiddie and Harrell and Beal went out injured -- his play is likely to fall off.

Put Kuz in a supporting role next to Beal, KP and a quality PG — with lower usage, less ball handling responsibilities and fewer, smarter shots — and you could very well see the Kuz you talked about during his last season with the Lakers and the first half of last season.

Kuz sat at the end of the season for health reasons. He had a knee problem.

[gesa2]

Kuzma could be a good 5th-6th man on a good team. He is young enough that he might get better, but old enough that it’d be a big upset if he was actually good enough to be a top 3. He used to play for the Lakers, and he takes a lot of shots, both of which cause him to be over rated, and therefore more likely than not to be overpaid on his next contract Getting him as part of the Russ package was great, but I’d not shed a tear if we traded him for a decent guard with some upside or a late first.

[FAH1223]

The Pelicans rookies are some dogs man. Love how they’re frustrating CP3 and the Suns tonight.

Wish the Wizards weren’t doing dumb shid like drafting Isaiah Todd at pick 31. Herb Jones was right there.

Jose Alvarado.. what a find amongst the undrafted free agents. The Wizards NEVER FIND PGs amongst the undrafteds. Just dumb guys who want to jack up shots not set guys up. I hate it. Every Summer League.

Trajan Langdon has put in work for the Pelicans front office.

[payitforward]

So your point is they should move Kuzma to SF?...

His last year in LA -- definitely his best so far -- he did play about half his minutes at the 3.

I'd be surprised if Kuzma is dealt. Management seems to think he is a promotable player, featuring him prominently in their advertisings....

No surprise. Better promotable players than a contending team.

As a player, I don't really get the hate....

Got nothing to do with "hate." Great kid.

I was pleasantly surprised by him this year. Early on when we got off to the hot start and it looked liked we had a deep team, he seemed to buy in to the team 1st role player mindset really focusing on rebounding, and I thought he defended well with effort, and was scoring in the flow of the offense. As the season wore on and guys disappeared he stepped up to the lead role and asserted himself on the offensive end when somebody had to.

Also I never got the impression with all the upheaval, dissent and losing during the course of the season that he complained or was a malcontent, & seemed willing to help younger players especially Deni. And in a limited sample appeared to mesh well with Porzingis.

We won 35 games this season.
The previous year we went 34-38 in a shortened season.
The year before that, 2019-20, was also a shortened season: we went 25-47.
&, in 2018-19, our record was 32-50.

Let's see, that's... 126-182 in 4 years. Obviously, we are on the right path.

Not to mention that, now, everything has changed. Now, we have Kristaps Porzingis -- the guy who has led every team he's been on to absolutely tremendous results. We must thank the Dallas Mavericks for their extraordinary generosity in giving us KP -- & a R2 pick -- for... nothing!

So let's definitely roll it back. All we need is a point guard & we're launched.

Gets to a point where it's really hard to know what to say.

[dobrojim]

One more thing: I'd be just as happy if we traded Rui for jones instead of Kuz. But we aren't going to do that, & anyway if you suggest trading Rui the conversation immediately becomes irrational & you get your head bit off.

Tyus or Herb?

<JK>

Obviously Herb isn't getting traded.

[doclinkin]

I guess my thought on offseason conversation is to try to figure realistically what the team will do, then see if there is a way to build around that. There may not be, but many of the wilder takes by fans are outside of the bounds of reality. Though if someone had proposed Tommy's 5-team trade last year I would have snorted in derision so you never know.

Still, like it or not, to start the year I think we will trot out a similar team this year as last. I am operating with these assumptions:

Brad will re-sign. I personally have been saying I think he does not get the supermax. After his injury and wrist surgery Tommy said he made clear the 'offer is on the table'. The offer being the extension presented at the beginning of the season. Brad has stated that once you sign a contract you are locked in with no say-so. I think he likes being courted. I expect he will ask for and get player option years. Though he will talk about family and loyalty as key reasons for re-signing, he enjoys having one foot out the door so other players can talk about how they would like him on their team.

The plan is to build around Porzingis as a centerpiece. Wes has played him as a high post Big, feeding him the ball early and revolving the action around him. We still lost, but Porzingis looked better in that role. Brad + Zinger has been cited as the new Jokic + Murray. Maybe it works. Maybe there is synergy there. Depends which Brad Beal we get back.

The team will still want to try the Cobb salad of forwards we get in Deni/Rui/Kuz to see how they look next to Porzingis and Brad. Unless something wild happens on draft night we will enter the season with them on the roster. How they play determines which to keep and which to dangle in trade. But the Wiz FO likes the guys they have, and here is the reasoning:

Deni: the Wiz statisticians love +/- data. Deni looks great in +/- stats. (Kispert too looks good here).

Rui: Market. Potential. Double bottom nice guy. Playing pre-season games in Japan. Double-bottom line, they stood by him when he was rehabbing from emotional exhaustion, doesn't look great to dump him. "He only got a partial season to develop, lets see how he looks with a full offseason" without heavy FIBA obligations. He has become a reliable shot-maker of wide open 3's, count that as development. The team will listen to offers, but only after the season starts, and if he does not mesh well with KP.

Kuz: Rumor coming from various reporters in other markets was that at the trade deadline all Wiz players were available except Brad and Kuzma. Ted attends games, Kuzma makes big shots, that looks good to the average fan, to Ted the fan. They like him, with the caveat below.*

Draft: we will draft best player available. We will not trade down. Tommy trusts his own gut and scouting. He will be excited for whichever player slips to us. He will of course say we had him higher rated and had discussed trading up to get him. Ok Tommy might agree to a pick swap as part of a draft day trade.

I do think it possible Tommy would package the pick plus someone for a current player (and future assets) if teams are offering something that makes the team look better. Look better to co-GM Brad that is. The timing of the offseason means Brad still has say in what the team does. The draft is June 23rd. Free agency begins August 1st. This may be the last offseason of Brad's influence on the team, but they still want to show him they can build around him.

* I get the sense Kuzma and Beal don't get along great, so the team may listen to offers of Kuzma plus a pick to land that Big Guard that Brad wants. When Beal was selling teammates out and throwing them under the bus, Kuz was tweeting "self awareness is a virtue". Addressed to no one in particular, but I bet Brad's wife had a lot to say about it. Co-GM Brad may have influence here.

Likewise the team will retain KCP to start the season. That's Beal's guy.

I think they will re-sign Satoransky since he and KP have chemistry.

Daniel Gafford is locked in long term. I doubt they dangle him for trade. Especially in his last year on a cheap contract. They liked the look of the super-big line.

Which means to start the year we'd be looking at something like:

..../ Sato.
Brad/...
KCP/Kispert
Kuz/Deni/Rui
Porzingis/Gafford

Draft picks 1: I expect some projected high pick will slip. Shaedon Sharpe, AJ Griffin. 50/50 chance the board collapses and explodes like a neutron star when Tommy skips the raw hypertalent for the most 'game-ready' player available (probably Johnny Davis). Possibly we see a pick swap on a draft day trade, falling back to pick up Nikola Jovic, who they had "rated far higher" on their boards.

2nd round: Ziga Samar. Book it.

Watch on YouTube

6'6" PG out of Slovenia. Playing in Spain.

FA: I think Tommy will make a play for local kid Victor Oladipo. Figuring we get a rehabbed and rested version of the former MIP/All-star.

and the inevitable inimitable Ish Smith as a 3rd back-up PG.

[nate33]

I guess my thought on offseason conversation is to try to figure realistically what the team will do, then see if there is a way to build around that. There may not be, but many of the wilder takes by fans are outside of the bounds of reality. Though if someone had proposed Tommy's 5-team trade last year I would have snorted in derision so you never know.

Still, like it or not, to start the year I think we will trot out a similar team this year as last. I am operating with these assumptions:

Brad will re-sign. I personally have been saying I think he does not get the supermax. After his injury and wrist surgery Tommy said he made clear the 'offer is on the table'. The offer being the extension presented at the beginning of the season. Brad has stated that once you sign a contract you are locked in with no say-so. I think he likes being courted. I expect he will ask for and get player option years. Though he will talk about family and loyalty as key reasons for re-signing, he enjoys having one foot out the door so other players can talk about how they would like him on their team.

The plan is to build around Porzingis as a centerpiece. Wes has played him as a high post Big, feeding him the ball early and revolving the action around him. We still lost, but Porzingis looked better in that role. Brad + Zinger has been cited as the new Jokic + Murray. Maybe it works. Maybe there is synergy there. Depends which Brad Beal we get back.

The team will still want to try the Cobb salad of forwards we get in Deni/Rui/Kuz to see how they look next to Porzingis and Brad. Unless something wild happens on draft night we will enter the season with them on the roster. How they play determines which to keep and which to dangle in trade. But the Wiz FO likes the guys they have, and here is the reasoning:

Deni: the Wiz statisticians love +/- data. Deni looks great in +/- stats. (Kispert too looks good here).

Rui: Market. Potential. Double bottom nice guy. Playing pre-season games in Japan. Double-bottom line, they stood by him when he was rehabbing from emotional exhaustion, doesn't look great to dump him. "He only got a partial season to develop, lets see how he looks with a full offseason" without heavy FIBA obligations. He has become a reliable shot-maker of wide open 3's, count that as development. The team will listen to offers, but only after the season starts, and if he does not mesh well with KP.

Kuz: Rumor coming from various reporters in other markets was that at the trade deadline all Wiz players were available except Brad and Kuzma. Ted attends games, Kuzma makes big shots, that looks good to the average fan, to Ted the fan. They like him, with the caveat below.*

Draft: we will draft best player available. We will not trade down. Tommy trusts his own gut and scouting. He will be excited for whichever player slips to us. He will of course say we had him higher rated and had discussed trading up to get him. Ok Tommy might agree to a pick swap as part of a draft day trade.

I do think it possible Tommy would package the pick plus someone for a current player (and future assets) if teams are offering something that makes the team look better. Look better to co-GM Brad that is. The timing of the offseason means Brad still has say in what the team does. The draft is June 23rd. Free agency begins August 1st. This may be the last offseason of Brad's influence on the team, but they still want to show him they can build around him.

* I get the sense Kuzma and Beal don't get along great, so the team may listen to offers of Kuzma plus a pick to land that Big Guard that Brad wants. When Beal was selling teammates out and throwing them under the bus, Kuz was tweeting "self awareness is a virtue". Addressed to no one in particular, but I bet Brad's wife had a lot to say about it. Co-GM Brad may have influence here.

Likewise the team will retain KCP to start the season. That's Beal's guy.

I think they will re-sign Satoransky since he and KP have chemistry.

Daniel Gafford is locked in long term. I doubt they dangle him for trade. Especially in his last year on a cheap contract. They liked the look of the super-big line.

Which means to start the year we'd be looking at something like:

..../ Sato.
Brad/...
KCP/Kispert
Kuz/Deni/Rui
Porzingis/Gafford

Draft picks 1: I expect some projected high pick will slip. Shaedon Sharpe, AJ Griffin. 50/50 chance the board collapses and explodes like a neutron star when Tommy skips the raw hypertalent for the most 'game-ready' player available (probably Johnny Davis). Possibly we see a pick swap on a draft day trade, falling back to pick up Nikola Jovic, who they had "rated far higher" on their boards.

2nd round: Ziga Samar. Book it.

Watch on YouTube

6'6" PG out of Slovenia. Playing in Spain.

FA: I think Tommy will make a play for local kid Victor Oladipo. Figuring we get a rehabbed and rested version of the former MIP/All-star.

and the inevitable inimitable Ish Smith as a 3rd back-up PG.

This all seems very likely. The only issue is that I don't really see the "big PG" that's available in any type of trade involving Kuzma and our pick. A guy like Malcolm Brogdon is too old and injury prone to be worth a lotto pick. And guys younger and/or better than him aren't being shopped right now - except perhaps Donovan Mitchell. We could settle for a mediocre stopgap free agency solution like Ricky Rubio or Corey Joseph, but that doesn't seem like Tommy's style. Tyus Jones is probably the best option, but it's far from certain that he will be available for the MLE.

I really do think we would like to make a play for Brunson, but the configuration of such a deal is difficult. Dallas can't S&T him until after the draft, so we can't use any 2022 picks (either ours or others obtained in a 3-way) to make the transaction work. With that the case, I really do think my cap room plus Rui idea is the best way to get him. The issue there is that, in order to generate the cap room, we'd have to convince Beal to a less-than-supermax deal, and we'd have to jettison KCP. Neither prospect seems likely.

Maybe they'll just go with the "point guard by committee" route where we continue to run the same decentralized offense we saw in the last 20 games - with Beal, Kuzma, Sato, Avdija and our draft pick (Daniels?) all acting as ball handlers in pick-and-roll actions off the high Porzingis screen. KCP, Kispert and Hachimura provide the off-ball spacing.

[dckingsfan]

When we get the #1 pick in the draft and take Holmgren our FC will be

C: Gafford; Porzingis
PF: Porzingis; Holmgren
SF: Kuzma; Avdija
SG: Beal; Kispert
PG: Mystery...

We waive Smith.

Leaving us to trade KCP + Rui as our trade assets.

Beal decides not to take the max so we can land Brunson.

Mystery solved.

C: Gafford; Porzingis
PF: Porzingis; Holmgren
SF: Kuzma; Avdija
SG: Beal; Kispert
PG: Brunson; Sato

[nate33]

When we get the #1 pick in the draft and take Holmgren our FC will be

C: Gafford; Porzingis
PF: Porzingis; Holmgren
SF: Kuzma; Avdija
SG: Beal; Kispert
PG: Mystery...

We waive Smith.

Leaving us to trade KCP + Rui as our trade assets.

Beal decides not to take the max so we can land Brunson.

Mystery solved.

C: Gafford; Porzingis
PF: Porzingis; Holmgren
SF: Kuzma; Avdija
SG: Beal; Kispert
PG: Brunson; Sato

I don't see us starting Gafford; Porzingis has demonstrated that he is a center, not a forward. But the rest of this looks awesome.

[payitforward]

We are all familiar with the old saw: doing the same thing over & over each time expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. But, wait... that's the one thing Tommy has NOT done since he took the reins. He has not done the same thing over & over.

He was conservative in his first off season. But he made a series of high-value pick ups: esp. getting Bertans for nothing. All low key stuff. But good w/o a doubt. He had a bad draft, however. IMO, I felt the thumb of Ted Leonsis in that draft (but I could be all wrong of course -- who knows?). OTOH, he got a valuable player undrafted -- Garrison Mathews.

The following off season he did the opposite -- wasn't conservative at all. Instead of taking his profit on Bertans (the R1 pick Boston offered), he re-signed him to an expensive deal. Big mistake -- but not boring or repetitive. Plus he did the seemingly impossible & traded John Wall for Russell Westbrook. Cost us a heavily protected R1 pick which will likely wind up being a R2 pick. He had an unimaginative draft, alas. Not the pick of Deni -- that was perfectly sensible, whether it turns out optimal or not -- but not managing to acquire a low R1 pick (several of them changed hands), wasting the #37 pick, & not finding a way to get another R2 pick when there were so many high value guys available down there.

Then at the next deadline, he made a seemingly minor trade deadline move which actually added a valuable young player to our core (Gaff). Totally unexpected & absolutely, imaginatively brilliant!

His 3d off season started out disappointingly, when for no good reason he failed to hold on to Mathews -- a solid rotation player, already in hand, & cheap. A few months later, however, he set our heads spinning again by moving Russ in a complex deal that, w/ all its aspects considered, wound up bringing in 6 new players! The 3 ex-Lakers, Dinwiddie, Holiday & Todd. Holy Moly!

& then... astonishingly, he did it again at the last deadline!!! He sent out 4 guys (Harrell, Dinwiddie, Bertans & Holiday), bringing in Porzingis, Ish Smith, Vernon Cary, Jr. & a pair of R2 picks -- plus Sato off the waiver wire.

In all, I think there have been 25 or more player changes in the less than 3 years, Tommy Sheppard has been at the helm. & I'm probably forgetting a few.

Wait... that's not even close. In fact... 12 other new guys were brought in 2019-20 alone! & then 7 more in 2020!

So... he might make us dizzy again! In fact... I bet he will. I bet Tommy & the analytics staff are pouring over all the data they can find to tell them who would mesh well w/ Porzingis & Beal.

We have 9 guarantees, plus Sato seems a good bet to return. I would not be surprised at all if at least 1 forward was moved. Ditto if we were to pick up KCP's option then trade him (buddy of Beal or not: it's a business, & everybody knows it).

I bet he remakes the roster again -- hold on to your hats!

[NatP4]

I do agree with other posters, the one way Beal could be convinced to take a discount, is if we can go get Brunson with the savings. Also, he would be open to trading/renouncing KCP in that scenario.

[80sballboy]

The more I watch Brunson, I become less enthused that he would be our ideal point guard next to Beal (unless we move BB). I don't want a 6-3 shooting guard with a 6-1 point guard. Today's basketball is about length. Look at Toronto. They didn't miss a freakin' beat when 5-11 VanVleet was out because they have Trent Jr., Barnes, Annunoby, Achiuwa, and Siakam. Boston has Marcus Smart who is not tall but is very strong and a great defender and they have great length with Brown and Tatum (Grant Williams and Theis). Brunson has been spectacular at times in the Utah series. He's a hell of a shooter and scorer. Not a great distributor. He's an ok defender, but that 6-1 size limits him in switches just like it does with Beal against bigger and longer wings. Playing short guards is difficult in today's game on D.

Give Jason Kidd and that staff credit for their turnaround on defense though it starts with Luka, who has made huge strides in that category, though it looks like he's taking the weaker offensive player and Dorian Finney-Smith is defending the offensive star.

[Frichuela]

The more I watch Brunson, I become less enthused that he would be our ideal point guard next to Beal (unless we move BB). I don't want a 6-3 shooting guard with a 6-1 point guard. Today's basketball is about length. Look at Toronto. They didn't miss a freakin' beat when 5-11 VanVleet was out because they have Trent Jr., Barnes, Annunoby, Achiuwa, and Siakam. Brunson has been spectacular at times in the Utah series. He's a hell of a shooter and scorer. Not a great distributor. He's an ok defender, but that 6-1 size limits him in switches just like it does with Beal against bigger and longer wings. Playing short guards is difficult in today's game on D.

Give Jason Kidd and that staff credit for their turnaround on defense though it starts with Luka, who has made huge strides in that category, though it looks like he's taking the weaker offensive player and Dorian Finney-Smith is defending the offensive star.

Yes. I share a similar concern if we keep Beal. Reading the tea leaves, it looks like Tommy & co are looking for tall PGs to play alongside Beal. Sato fits the bill and I believe he'll be back. Question is who could be the starting PG...I don't want Brogdon, probably too punitive to get in a trade and too injury prone...Tommy may want seek another combo guard and not necessarily a pure PG in a trade..maybe Divincezo as a reclamation project?

[DCZards]

I like Brunson. A lot. But I also believe that he's probably not the free agent PG that the Zards FO will target, primarily because of his size.

If Ricky Rubio (who went out with a bad knee injury midseason) is healthy, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Zards make a play for him. Rubio was having an outstanding season before the injury.

I also expect Sato to be resigned and could see the Zards drafting Daniels if he's available when they draft.

But keep an eye on TyTy Washington. He's a good shooter from pretty much anywhere on the court, sees the floor well as a passer, and competes hard at both ends of the court. Washington skillset will enable him to play both guard positions.