Deni Avdija

[gesa2]

Now all the fun questions begins. What is the development plan of the coaching staff for him. What type of skills they want to help him develop, what type of muscles they want to strengthen, how they gonna keep tighten up the handles, how they gonna tighten his handles when he's at full speed, how they gonna keep strengthen his body control, keep developing a reliable mid range game, crossovers, body hesitations, keep strengthen hips and knees so he could use high level step backs and side steps in crowded areas, He seems a guy that you just need to throw info and guidance for him and he'll do what ever it takes to implement. I wish we could talk to the development staff and ask them all these questions and hear from them their development plan. That could be super interesting and also could give us a better idea of what to expect of him in the short and the long term.

He sounds like the perfect project for Brad Beal's personal trainer: Drew Hanlen. If Avidja can develop his offensive arsenal like Beal did, the sky is the limit. Remember, when Beal first joined the league he was merely a catch-and-shoot player and straight-line driver.

Beals development should make Hanlen a lot of money. He’s so much better and has so much better of a body than when he came to the NBA.

[NatP4]

Deni through 6 games: 10.8 points 7.1 rebounds 3.7 assists 0.9 turnovers 1.8 steals per36, with a 14.2 net rating and a 66.8 TS%.

[Frichuela]

Deni through 6 games: 10.8 points 7.1 rebounds 3.7 assists 0.9 turnovers 1.8 steals per36, with a 14.2 net rating and a 66.8 TS%.

He is playing great, so poised for a 19-year old. When the advanced metrics are out, I wonder how he ranks amongst rookies, he must be top-5 for sure.

[Frichuela]

In this ranking, Deni is 3rd so far amongst rookies after Halliburton and Ball:

https://hashtagbasketball.com/nba-rookie-rankings

[nate33]

I'd still like to see him get more minutes on the 2nd unit where he could become a secondary playmaker. His talents are being wasted with the starters since all he does is catch-and-shoot kick-out passes. Let Bonga start, but give Avdija 28 minutes a night with the 2nd unit and in crunch time.

[SwipeDaFox]

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Great quote right there. Sums him up completely - always eager to learn, always eager to understand - and does things the right way naturally.

Extremely impressive how composed he is as a rookie - he's playing like a 10 year glue guy vet 6 games in.

I will repeat myself again though - that until he doesn't tighten up his dribble, it will limit his potential - he dribbles way too high and out of control at times, thus not being able to actually do what his mind wants him to do and get to the places on the court where he can use his frame while holding his dribble to make the defense pay.

When he gets a free summer to just work on his dribbling, and adding moves and body fakes while doing so becoming a more sophisticated dribbler - he's really gonna break out and tap into his potential.

[Frichuela]

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Great quote right there. Sums him up completely - always eager to learn, always eager to understand - and does things the right way naturally.

Extremely impressive how composed he is as a rookie - he's playing like a 10 year glue guy vet 6 games in.

I will repeat myself again though - that until he doesn't tighten up his dribble, it will limit his potential - he dribbles way too high and out of control at times, thus not being able to actually do what his mind wants him to do and get to the places on the court where he can use his frame while holding his dribble to make the defense pay.

When he gets a free summer to just work on his dribbling, and adding moves and body fakes while doing so becoming a more sophisticated dribbler - he's really gonna break out and tap into his potential.

Indeed! Agreed. Improving his dribbling is a must

[Pistol King]

He sounds like the perfect project for Brad Beal's personal trainer: Drew Hanlen. If Avidja can develop his offensive arsenal like Beal did, the sky is the limit. Remember, when Beal first joined the league he was merely a catch-and-shoot player and straight-line driver.

Forgive me on the delay. This is a really really good take and exactly the type of personal trainer I'd like him to have the next few years. The last few years he's had and still has a European personal trainer named Velico Perovic, but I don't trust this coach to really upgrade his offensive arsenal to a required level. I'd much more trust someone who has a history of developing players into an NBA star level and who knows the skills required to be a star level creators in this league. It's a different game than in Europe. I can only hope the team will make sure he has a Drew Hanlen level of personal trainer as soon as possible because I suspect Deni emotionally connected to his current European personal trainer (asked him to accompany him in Washington and has been with him since he was a kid). I believe a good personal trainer can make the difference for him between being very good to special.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

In this ranking, Deni is 3rd so far amongst rookies after Halliburton and Ball:

https://hashtagbasketball.com/nba-rookie-rankings

Wow, I was thinking only one player picked later looks even better than Deni and that is Halliburton.

Lavar Ball was right about his sons, and once again Dat2U knows talent when he sees it. Dat said LaMelo was the most talented in this draft. I think Melo has silence the criticism since his opening game Ofer.

[Pistol King]

on a side note:

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This is also 25'th among the rookies. Means, 24 rookies have a higher usage rate.

[doclinkin]

Yeah honestly instead of small ball sets, I don't see why we aren't running big sets with Deni running parttime point. He runs the break well, makes smart decisions, has a decent handle. Put other passers and shooters next to him and let them simply play smart ball. Whoever gets the rebound looks to pass or run the break if no one else is near.

Sets with Troy, Deni, Bonga, would defend and rebound and pass. Stay in motion, screen and cut, work for open shots. Add Beal or Neto if you want range, and a competent Euro skilled Big and you can win with superior play as opposed to hoping for an athletic mismatch in your favor.

[Frichuela]

Yeah honestly instead of small ball sets, I don't see why we aren't running big sets with Deni running parttime point. He runs the break well, makes smart decisions, has a decent handle. Put other passers and shooters next to him and let them simply play smart ball. Whoever gets the rebound looks to pass or run the break if no one else is near.

Sets with Troy, Deni, Bonga, would defend and rebound and pass. Stay in motion, screen and cut, work for open shots. Add Beal or Neto if you want range, and a competent Euro skilled Big and you can win with superior play as opposed to hoping for an athletic mismatch in your favor.

This! Strongly agree. The problem is the moron of the coach, who unfortunately is unlikely to even contemplate the possibility of playing this way. Instead, he rather field two non-shooting PGs (Westbrook, Ish), and play 6’ Neto as SF and Troy as PF for good measure

[NatP4]

Troy-Deni-Bonga would be really good on both ends.

[nate33]

The solution is so obvious. It's frustrating as hell that Brooks won't implement it.

We are wasting Avdija as the 5th option on our starting unit. Bonga can handle that role but with even better defense. Avdija can do lots of other things a lot better than Bonga, but he doesn't get the opportunity when alongside Beal, Westbrook, Hachimura and Bryant.

Put him on the 2nd unit as a secondary playmaker. He would play alongside Brown and one of Beal/Westbrook. That's enough ball handling and playmaking that we don't need a diminutive "pure PG" like Ish or Neto and their liabilities on defense. Add Bertans as the other forward and one of Lopez/Wagner at center depending on the matchup.

[nate33]

Troy-Deni-Bonga would be really good on both ends.

Maybe if they're alongside Beal and a center. Not so much if they're alongside Westbrook and a center. When Westbrook is out there without Beal, I really want Bertans with him to give him some space.

[NatP4]

The solution is so obvious. It's frustrating as hell that Brooks won't implement it.

We are wasting Avdija as the 5th option on our starting unit. Bonga can handle that role but with even better defense. Avdija can do lots of other things a lot better than Bonga, but he doesn't get the opportunity when alongside Beal, Westbrook, Hachimura and Bryant.

Put him on the 2nd unit as a secondary playmaker. He would play alongside Brown and one of Beal/Westbrook. That's enough ball handling and playmaking that we don't need a diminutive "pure PG" like Ish or Neto and their liabilities on defense. Add Bertans as the other forward and one of Lopez/Wagner at center depending on the matchup.

Gotta disagree. Just play your best players. Bonga-Avdija-Bryant have the best on/off numbers on the team. If I was the coach, I would start Westbrook-Beal-Avdija-Bonga-Bryant and bring-Neto-Mathews-Brown-Bertans-Hachimura off the bench. Live with getting beat on the boards, shoot the lights out from 3. Play Wagner whenever you need that extra guy. They could drop Neto sometimes and let Brown play true PG and like I said, use Wagner as backup C. Forget about Ish and Lopez completely. Mathews HAS to get on the court.

You can’t lump ish and Neto together. Neto is a quality defender that has been tasked with guarding and boxing out wings. Impossible. There just simply is no comparison between the two PGs, one is a g league scrub, the other is a quality rotation piece. Neto is averaging over 20 points per 36 and is top 5 in the NBA in FG% ontop of his good defense.

[NatP4]

List of players that you need to get on the court regardless of position:

Westbrook, Beal, Mathews, Bryant, Bonga, Avdija, Bertans, Hachimura, Brown Jr, Neto.

How Brooks would rank them:
Westbrook
Beal
Bryant
Bertans
Avdija
Ish
Neto
Lopez
Brown Jr
Robinson
Bonga

[tontoz]

I think most of us assumed he would be a weak defender this year like most rookies. Instead he has shown better defensive awareness than most vets.

He is 10-21 from 3 so far, small sample obviously but very encouraging. He has a pretty quick release too.

[queridiculo]

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Brooks in a nutshell.

[payitforward]

I'd still like to see him get more minutes on the 2nd unit where he could become a secondary playmaker. His talents are being wasted with the starters since all he does is catch-and-shoot kick-out passes. Let Bonga start, but give Avdija 28 minutes a night with the 2nd unit and in crunch time.

That seems exactly right to me.