Mike Muscala looks like an elf from harry potter. Never seen ears that pointy outside of some ridiculous sci fi movie or a halloween costume. Or maybe it's the angle and they did that man no favors. Kinda hilarious nonetheless.
![Image](https://cdn.nba.com/headshots/nba/latest/1040x760/203488.png?imwidth=1040&imheight=760)
Moderators: LyricalRico, nate33, montestewart
leswizards wrote:3. Danilo Gallinari returns from injury and plays near his career averages, mitigating the loss of Kristaps Porzingis. (Entirely plausible)
nate33 wrote:leswizards wrote:3. Danilo Gallinari returns from injury and plays near his career averages, mitigating the loss of Kristaps Porzingis. (Entirely plausible)
This is the one that isn't merely implausible, it is totally out of the realm of possibility.
In a best case scenario, Gallo plays near his career averages, but it certainly wouldn't come close for compensating for the loss of Porzingis. Porzingis was a top 30 player last year (by EPM, BPM, PER and RAPTOR). Gallo wouldn't crack the top 200. He can't move on defense.
All the other things you mention pale in comparison to the significance of the loss of Porzingis. It is the primary reason why this team is much less likely to perform as well as last year.
The other issue is that the bottom feeder teams in the NBA have improved significantly because of the minimum salary rule and the lack of a generational prospect to encourage tanking. Last season, there were 3 teams with fewer than 23 wins. My guess is that there will be zero teams with less than 23 wins this year - maybe 1 if all already bad team has real injury problems.
leswizards wrote:If you are anti-tanking and want the wizards to win (as I am), I think these are the most optimistic yet plausible keys to wizards having the best season possible and becoming a playoff team:
1. Kyle Kuzma becomes offensively efficient, and is productive enough to justify the contract he received. (As an anti-Kuzma poster I don’t see it happening, but I would love to be proven wrong.)
4. Cory kispert
7.... Landry Shamet
8. Delon Wright
9. Bilal Coulibaly
10. Ryan Rollins and Patrick Baldwin jr)
11. Tyus Jones
doclinkin wrote:I would still fully expect the new FO to look at the record and understand we are unlikely to advance in the playoffs in any significant way, and sell high on productive players who they do not figure to be with the team over the long term. The returns on the trade will come in future draft capital, deep bench talent, etc. Which may be used to move up in the draft as needed.
leswizards wrote:doclinkin wrote:I would still fully expect the new FO to look at the record and understand we are unlikely to advance in the playoffs in any significant way, and sell high on productive players who they do not figure to be with the team over the long term. The returns on the trade will come in future draft capital, deep bench talent, etc. Which may be used to move up in the draft as needed.
To me, that would be pretty much the ideal scenario. The only way to improve upon it would be if the gutted roster was still good enough to make the playoffs and play surprisingly well.
Frichuela wrote:Interesting, so it seems they have waived Cooks and Taj...why did they signed the latter a few weeks ago?
?s=20
gambitx777 wrote:Yeah it's a favor to an agent deal hey we need to burn this money here's a free 2. Mill thanks for your service.
would not be shocked if Taj ended up on the CS.
WallToWall wrote:Given that Poole, Jones, Avdija, Coulibaly, Kuzma, and Gafford are fast-ish court runners and may benefit from being in a a fast paced offence, where the ball is constantly pushed up court, I am wondering if we should simply try to outrun, and outgun the opponent?
Its only one game into the season, but we have the highest pace in the NBA, at 110.61. If we were to take a few more shots, and/or increase our FG% from 45.8 ever so slightly to the league average, things could get more interesting.
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-teams-with-the-fastest-pace-per-game-this-season
nate33 wrote:Looking on the bright side, we have two players who are playing quite well this season: Kuzma and Avdija. And those two guys (as well as Coulibaly) are the only guys locked into a contract for the next 4 or more years. And what's more, those contracts are descending so that they will cost peanuts 3 and 4 years from now when this team is hopefully rising from the ashes.
There may not be much talent on this roster, but at least Winger and Dawkins have locked in the right guys.
Frichuela wrote:nate33 wrote:Looking on the bright side, we have two players who are playing quite well this season: Kuzma and Avdija. And those two guys (as well as Coulibaly) are the only guys locked into a contract for the next 4 or more years. And what's more, those contracts are descending so that they will cost peanuts 3 and 4 years from now when this team is hopefully rising from the ashes.
There may not be much talent on this roster, but at least Winger and Dawkins have locked in the right guys.
Well, those 3 and Poole who is signed until 2027 and having an atrocious season so far: ORtg of 99 and DRtg of 121 per 100 possessions. I believe this is the worst differential amongst our starters…by far.
nate33 wrote:Frichuela wrote:nate33 wrote:Looking on the bright side, we have two players who are playing quite well this season: Kuzma and Avdija. And those two guys (as well as Coulibaly) are the only guys locked into a contract for the next 4 or more years. And what's more, those contracts are descending so that they will cost peanuts 3 and 4 years from now when this team is hopefully rising from the ashes.
There may not be much talent on this roster, but at least Winger and Dawkins have locked in the right guys.
Well, those 3 and Poole who is signed until 2027 and having an atrocious season so far: ORtg of 99 and DRtg of 121 per 100 possessions. I believe this is the worst differential amongst our starters…by far.
Yeah, good point. Poole is an albatross. Though to be fair, Poole wasn't technically signed by Winger/Dawkins.