Game Thread: WAS @ POR Tue Feb 8 10PM

[Tricky_Kid]

Man its just sad, Fire EG, and call Kevin McHale and see if we can talk him in mid season. Getting him in now give wall some games to get use to him before next season.

McHale ? No way man

When have you ever seen Gortat demonstrate that he's capable of "finishing strong" from a dead standstill 10 feet from the basket? He's simply not explosive like that. You can wish that he were, but that won't make it so.

The only time we see Gortat finish strong is on the rare pick and roll when he has a running start, an open lane, and a head of steam.

You don't have to be explosive to make a valiant effort to finish strong. Dude is 7' and went for an underhanded fingerroll in traffic. I would've at least respected him if he went up for a strong two-handed finish.

He's 6'11". And, despite being in great shape, he's still a slightly-undersized C with an average wingspan and average lift. Folks act like he's lazy and/or passive. I disagree. He's worked hard to squeeze every drop of talent and athleticism out of his body, but at this level, facing this type of talent, he can only score consistently on dinks, feints, and finger rolls. He is who he is at this point -- a 30-year old finesse big who compensated for his lack of burst by running the floor hard and developing his touch around the basket. If he could "finish strong" in traffic over shotblockers, he'd be an All-Star. But he can't, so he ain't.

The coaches (and, to a lesser extent, Dudley, who passed up an open J) need to know their personnel. And EG needs to know that it's not smart to enter a season a single big capable of playing above the rim. It cost us (likely) our 2016 1st round pick for him learn that "new" lesson; and so far, his latest band-aid hasn't paid huge dividends.

Wysłane z mojego LG-P880 przy użyciu Tapatalka

[gambitx777]

I meant to say Fire Witt and hire McHale and yes Kevin McHale i would be a great fit for this team.

[TheSecretWeapon]

When have you ever seen Gortat demonstrate that he's capable of "finishing strong" from a dead standstill 10 feet from the basket? He's simply not explosive like that. You can wish that he were, but that won't make it so.

The only time we see Gortat finish strong is on the rare pick and roll when he has a running start, an open lane, and a head of steam.

You don't have to be explosive to make a valiant effort to finish strong. Dude is 7' and went for an underhanded fingerroll in traffic. I would've at least respected him if he went up for a strong two-handed finish.

He's 6'11". And, despite being in great shape, he's still a slightly-undersized C with an average wingspan and average lift. Folks act like he's lazy and/or passive. I disagree. He's worked hard to squeeze every drop of talent and athleticism out of his body, but at this level, facing this type of talent, he can only score consistently on dinks, feints, and finger rolls. He is who he is at this point -- a 30-year old finesse big who compensated for his lack of burst by running the floor hard and developing his touch around the basket. If he could "finish strong" in traffic over shotblockers, he'd be an All-Star. But he can't, so he ain't.

The coaches (and, to a lesser extent, Dudley, who passed up an open J) need to know their personnel. And EG needs to know that it's not smart to enter a season a single big capable of playing above the rim. It cost us (likely) our 2016 1st round pick for him learn that "new" lesson; and so far, his latest band-aid hasn't paid huge dividends.

I have to admit to being somewhat puzzled by criticism of Gortat as a "finisher." This season, he's had something of a down year in terms of his at-rim FG% -- he's shooting "only" 70%, down slightly from his career average of 72%. Converting around the basket is one of Gortat's strengths.

[pcbothwel]

He's 6'11". And, despite being in great shape, he's still a slightly-undersized C with an average wingspan and average lift.

Undersized? He is 6'11 with no shoes (so 7ft with shoes) with a 7'3.5 wingspan and a 9'2 standing reach. That is equal to or bigger than:

Steven Adams
Mason Plumlee
Miles Plumlee
Myers Leonard
Andre Drummond
Festus Ezeli
Enes Kanter
Derrick Favors
Andrew Bogut

[fishercob]

F*ck Alan Anderson.

How DARE he get himself tossed after the "season" he's had, when the Wizards were already shorthanded on the wing. Nice veteran savvy and leadership.

Someone -- a coach, executive, owner -- should have absolutely lit into him last night.

[payitforward]

Wow... Gortat goes 8-12 and grabs 5 offensive rebounds, and *he* is the guy people want to complain about? Wall went 8-25 and 1-4 from the FT line. Nene was 4-12 and 2-4 from the line. Morris went 4-12, turned it over 3 times and committed 5 fouls.

The team shoots 11-23 from the line, and people call for the coach's head?

Too bad to lose a game that was so very much in our grasp. It would have been a satisfying win.

[Hidden Eye]

Those refs didn't call 6 seconds on the 5 sec inbound good job!

[krii]

He's 6'11". And, despite being in great shape, he's still a slightly-undersized C with an average wingspan and average lift.

Undersized? He is 6'11 with no shoes (so 7ft with shoes) with a 7'3.5 wingspan and a 9'2 standing reach. That is equal to or bigger than:

Steven Adams
Mason Plumlee
Miles Plumlee
Myers Leonard
Andre Drummond
Festus Ezeli
Enes Kanter
Derrick Favors
Andrew Bogut

Riiight. Amongst all those dudes he is:
2nd in scoring, 2nd in rebounding, 3rd in assists, 3rd in blocks, 4th in steals and 2nd in offensive rebounds. More numbers below (bolded leaders / italic vice-leaders).

Not to mention that some of those guys plays PF more than any C spot.

As some other posters pointed out - he is undersized center who probably overachieved his position/presence due to his extremely good work ethic. This lad was one of the latest picks in the 2nd round of draft and become one of the best players in this draft (!). Seriosuly - I know it's nice to blame him for many Wizards problems but it's just not fair. He will never be Shaq-like but you should appreciate that you have reliable, good center who actually likes to be in Wizards. And who is better than most of the players in the league you could have.
Some believe that Wizards need some Whiteside-like tower. Seriously? He would kill the entire team flow. If you seriously want to improve this squad there are more important positions to do so - > reserve SG, PF, C; starting level SF that actually provides numbers on the daily basis (rather than once a time), SG that can score and not injure himself every few games and PF that can face other PFs.
Some of those might be solved with Morris and Otto development, healthy Beal or available and reliable Nene BUT it doesn't mean that Gortat is a need-to-be-replaced-dude. C'mon.

Pts/Rbs/As/Bl/St on FG%/FT% in X minutes / ORtg/DRtg. / no of off. rbs

Steven Adams ->
7.4 / 6.4 / 0.8 / 1.1 / 0.4 / on .598 /.595 in 25 minutes / 122/106 / 2.6 off rbs

Mason Plumlee ->
8.8 / 7.4 / 2.7 / 1.0 / 0.8 on .509 / .619 in 25 minutes / 109/104 / 2.4. off. rbs

Miles Plumlee ->
4.0 / 3.3 / 0.2 / 0.8 / 0.3 on .639 / 552 in 12 minutes / 119/106 / 1.4 off. rbs

Meyers Leonard ->
8.4 / 5.0 / 1.5 / 0.3 / 0.1 on .451 / .750 in 22 minutes / 106/108 / 0.8 off. rbs

Andre Drummond ->
16.7 / 15.1 / 0.9 / 1.5 / 1.6 on .521 / .354 in 33 minutes / 102 / 96 / 5.0 off. rbs

Festus Ezeli ->
7.5 / 5.9 / 0.8 / 1.2 / 0.4 on .557 / 532 in 18 minutes 115/100 / 2.1 off. rbs

Enes Kanter ->
11.9 / 7.5 / 0.5 / 0.4 / 0.2 on .567/.780 in 20 minutes 121/105 / 2.8 off. rbs

Derrick Favors ->
16.9 / 8.5 / 1.6 / 1.5 / 1.2 on .515/.706 in 33 minutes 111/102 / 2.9 off. rbs

Andrew Bogut ->
5.6 / 7.3 / 2.3 / 1.7 / 0.5 on .625/.468 in 21 minutes / 120/98 /1.8 off. rbs

Marcin Gortat -->
13.7/10.1/1.5/1.4/0.7/ on .554/.723 in 31 minutes. 112/104 ORtg/DRtg. 3.1 off. rbs

[nuposse04]

Wow... Gortat goes 8-12 and grabs 5 offensive rebounds, and *he* is the guy people want to complain about? Wall went 8-25 and 1-4 from the FT line. Nene was 4-12 and 2-4 from the line. Morris went 4-12, turned it over 3 times and committed 5 fouls.

The team shoots 11-23 from the line, and people call for the coach's head?

Too bad to lose a game that was so very much in our grasp. It would have been a satisfying win.

Nene and Morris were horrible, Gave us the Grunfeld special in this game >.>

I'm convinced they don't practice FTs, which would be insane considering how bad they are at them.

[keynote]

He's 6'11". And, despite being in great shape, he's still a slightly-undersized C with an average wingspan and average lift.

Undersized? He is 6'11 with no shoes (so 7ft with shoes) with a 7'3.5 wingspan and a 9'2 standing reach. That is equal to or bigger than:

Steven Adams
Mason Plumlee
Miles Plumlee
Myers Leonard
Andre Drummond
Festus Ezeli
Enes Kanter
Derrick Favors
Andrew Bogut

Gortat is listed at only 240 lbs (he came into the league @ 225 lbs., acc. to DX's measurement database). He's lighter than everyone on your list other than Mason Plumlee. He's also lighter than Vucevic, Mozgov, Lopez, Lopez, Monroe, Gasol, Gasol, Valenciunas, Howard, Okafor, Sullinger, Whiteside, etc. Even "small ball" PF/Cs like Leonard and Horford have a few (admittedly negligible) pounds on him.

So yeah, he's slightly undersized. He's not enough of a leaper to finish over the top of bigger, stronger players, and he lacks the strength/rump to dislodge guys in the post the way an Al Jefferson would. It's one of the reasons why he's more effective on the pick and roll (where he can use his speed and touch) than he is in the post.

[DCZards]

Wow... Gortat goes 8-12 and grabs 5 offensive rebounds, and *he* is the guy people want to complain about? Wall went 8-25 and 1-4 from the FT line. Nene was 4-12 and 2-4 from the line. Morris went 4-12, turned it over 3 times and committed 5 fouls.

The team shoots 11-23 from the line, and people call for the coach's head?

Too bad to lose a game that was so very much in our grasp. It would have been a satisfying win.

Yup, no getting around the fact that free throws were the chief reason for the loss. BUT Wittman's decision (I assume he called the play) to put the ball in Wall's hands for a last second jumpshot was downright dumb. Wittman did the same thing at the end of the Indy game.

Wall is a wonderful player and the only reason that the Zards are even sniffing the playoffs. But he is not a good shooter and he's in the midst of some of his worse shooting the last 2-3 games. Yes, give Wall the ball if the plan is to have him attack the basket (which he should be doing a whole lot more of). But if the play is likely to lead to an outside shot, Wall is not the Zard you want taking it.

That's bad coaching and/or giving too much deference to the team's "star."

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

DCZ, I'm in total agreement. Other players had the hot hand. Wall already hit a three late but Wittman's play calling was bad. John should have hit the open man, Dudley or Sessions this game.

[closg00]

FWIW, Detroit stomped Portland on Sunday.

[jarlmaster47]

Missed shots by Wall, missed free throws, etc. wouldn't have mattered if the refs hadn't blown the game for us. That goes for this game and last game against the Pacers. I'm not saying there weren't other issues but both those games ended up coming down to bad calls. They shouldn't have had to as we could have and should have won both games without it coming down to the wire but... it did. That's been our year. Too many factors going on. Off nights, bad coaching, injuries, etc. Haven't been able to get into a rhythm. Or we play well for several games then suck, then play well, then suck some more. It's been weird.

[nuposse04]

Missed shots by Wall, missed free throws, etc. wouldn't have mattered if the refs hadn't blown the game for us. That goes for this game and last game against the Pacers. I'm not saying there weren't other issues but both those games ended up coming down to bad calls. They shouldn't have had to as we could have and should have won both games without it coming down to the wire but... it did. That's been our year. Too many factors going on. Off nights, bad coaching, injuries, etc. Haven't been able to get into a rhythm. Or we play well for several games then suck, then play well, then suck some more. It's been weird.

We didn't lose cause the refs missed the call, we lost cause we couldn't defend cj when we needed to... Then proceeded to play our usual substandard ways in ot. Blaming the refs here is wrong, we could have still played well and won. But we didn't. Cause we are mediocre.

[jarlmaster47]

We could have played better in OT for sure. But the refs missed a call that blew the game. The NBA admits it lol. Wouldn't have had to go into OT to win if not for that call (most likely). And the defense on CJ was fine. Temple was on him, CJ made a little head fake, Temple fell, and CJ drained the fade away. Then the block by the blazers to send it to OT was crazy. Props to them for that. Could have played better and won for sure though regardless of refs.

[TheSecretWeapon]

We could have played better in OT for sure. But the refs missed a call that blew the game. The NBA admits it lol. Wouldn't have had to go into OT to win if not for that call (most likely). And the defense on CJ was fine. Temple was on him, CJ made a little head fake, Temple fell, and CJ drained the fade away. Then the block by the blazers to send it to OT was crazy. Props to them for that. Could have played better and won for sure though regardless of refs.

This is the nature of close games. There were likely calls earlier that went the Wizards way that if the refs had gotten correct would have meant a Washington loss in regulation. And, one more made free throw renders that missed call irrelevant.

[jarlmaster47]

Fair enough.

[CobraCommander]

Wizards are a simply a team without any firepower on offense and the defense sucks.. Why do I want to go to the playoffs>@?@

[Throwback24]

What is wrong with Otto? Is he injured?