Washington Wizards 2016-2017 Season Thread - Thanks for a great season!

[frshstunna]

Ernie ain't going nowhere...he got that lifetime contract

The roster consists of about 5 good to decent players (the starters ) , all the rest of the squad should be replaced n upgraded

 

[jesusshuttlesworth34]

Ernie must have some serious dirty laundry on Ted or must give the most amazing DC Chinatown Manshakes in the Bathroom....

 

[jking0821]

I know im not a coach or a prolific basketball mind....but what am i missing here...why doesn't Satoranský get actual minutes? Every time i have seen him out there he is hussling hard and at least giving max effort. It looks like he might actually be of benefit to this team in the future.

 

[jjs07]

I know im not a coach or a prolific basketball mind....but what am i missing here...why doesn't Satoranský get actual minutes? Every time i have seen him out there he is hussling hard and at least giving max effort. It looks like he might actually be of benefit to this team in the future.

I think Sato's minutes are fine. He's the first guy off the bench...even w/ the little slump he's going through.

The biggest issue, to me, is why Thornton/Smith get PT.

I like Scott Brooks and he's been an upgrade over Witt...but I think he's been severely handcuffed by the bench EG put together. I can't find the article I read, but the Wizards 5 starters have been good enough to have this team over .500 (going by advanced stats)...it's just the bench is nothing short of horrific and might be historically bad. This is where the team is faltering.

 

[AgentZero]

 

I know im not a coach or a prolific basketball mind....but what am i missing here...why doesn't Satoranský get actual minutes? Every time i have seen him out there he is hussling hard and at least giving max effort. It looks like he might actually be of benefit to this team in the future.

I think Sato's minutes are fine. He's the first guy off the bench...even w/ the little slump he's going through.

The biggest issue, to me, is why Thornton/Smith get PT.

I like Scott Brooks and he's been an upgrade over Witt...but I think he's been severely handcuffed by the bench EG put together. I can't find the article I read, but the Wizards 5 starters have been good enough to have this team over .500 (going by advanced stats)...it's just the bench is nothing short of horrific and might be historically bad. This is where the team is faltering.

This.

As for as Sato, from what I've seen he's too slow to guard PGs due to his size and he's struggled with interior passing, specifically on the pick-and-rolls with Gortat. He does hustle though and to his credit his assist numbers are lower due to playing with the streaky-shooting/flat-out bad second unit that he runs.

 

[Methodical Management]

Scott Brooks may be an upgrade over Wittman, but you can see why OKC couldn't close the deal with him on the bench.  Late game management has been atrocious. 

Up 3 with 30 seconds left, we need one score to effectively close the game.  What do you do? 

If you said, "lazily throw the ball into Markieff Morris, then stand around as he fails to post up a smaller defender and misses a bad fall away shot," you're the ONLY person Washington interviewed for head coach.

Just awful. 

The final play in regulation wasn't much better.  Run a damned play.  This is pick up basketball.

 

 

I know im not a coach or a prolific basketball mind....but what am i missing here...why doesn't Satoranský get actual minutes? Every time i have seen him out there he is hussling hard and at least giving max effort. It looks like he might actually be of benefit to this team in the future.

I think Sato's minutes are fine. He's the first guy off the bench...even w/ the little slump he's going through.

The biggest issue, to me, is why Thornton/Smith get PT.

I like Scott Brooks and he's been an upgrade over Witt...but I think he's been severely handcuffed by the bench EG put together. I can't find the article I read, but the Wizards 5 starters have been good enough to have this team over .500 (going by advanced stats)...it's just the bench is nothing short of horrific and might be historically bad. This is where the team is faltering.

This.

As for as Sato, from what I've seen he's too slow to guard PGs due to his size and he's struggled with interior passing, specifically on the pick-and-rolls with Gortat. He does hustle though and to his credit his assist numbers are lower due to playing with the streaky-shooting/flat-out bad second unit that he runs.

I suspect part of the issue with Satoransky is his shooting.  With respect to the comment on his passing in pick and rolls, your passing window is MUCH smaller if the defense just drops or plays under every time, because they don't fear a deep two from a non-shooter. 

That's the real rub with the entire second unit:  there's no shooting.  The best shooter on the bench was supposed to be Marcus Thornton, who's actually shooting the lowest percentage on the entire team at 35%.  (Ochefu is like 1/3 total and doesn't count.)

If you think giving the guy who shoots 35% the green light is a good idea, you must be Byron Scott.  Thornton is no longer an NBA player.  He's not alone.  You've got three undrafted rookies with non-guarnateed deals on the bench because Grunfeld amassed all the cap space in the world and yet couldn't afford to field a complete team because he doesn't understand how math works. 

The Wizards are 29th in 3 pointers made.  The second unit has no legitimate threats from deep.  Not one.  They're going to get outscored practically every night.  That's a huge liability. 

For all this talk about how the team's defense was supposed to ignite their offense, the inverse is also true.  A good offense creates a defensive advantage.  If you're missing shots, that leads to long rebounds that can lead to fast break opportunities.  If you make a shot, the other team has to take the ball out and you have time to set your defense. 

 

[extraordinary swag]

That's what 3 times this year they've had the last possession to win a game and they fail yet again? This predates Brooks, John Wall CANNOT SHOOT, he wants this walkoff hero jumper SOOOOO much that he doesn't even attempt to get a shot at the rim. He had Grant on his heels and a great angle at the rim tonight but instead he tries to pass to that clueless Markieff Morris who bobbles the ball. We could have kept Wittman if they were gonna keep doing this crap game in game out.

They fought so hard to go up 7 in the fourth quarter just to squander the lead and let Russ dominate in the overtime. The lone good thing I've seen from this team of late is Beal is scoring at will and Oubre has been very effective off the bench replacing Markieff.

 

[madj55]

Scott Jackson ‏@JacksonSports 21h21 hours ago
Scott Jackson Retweeted J. Michael
Yikes>>>According to Elias Sports Bureau, John Wall is 0-for-16 when shooting in the final five seconds of a game to tie or win.

 

[extraordinary swag]

no surprise here, he's terrible in last possessions

 

[Methodical Management]

That's what 3 times this year they've had the last possession to win a game and they fail yet again? This predates Brooks, John Wall CANNOT SHOOT, he wants this walkoff hero jumper SOOOOO much that he doesn't even attempt to get a shot at the rim. He had Grant on his heels and a great angle at the rim tonight but instead he tries to pass to that clueless Markieff Morris who bobbles the ball. We could have kept Wittman if they were gonna keep doing this crap game in game out.

They fought so hard to go up 7 in the fourth quarter just to squander the lead and let Russ dominate in the overtime. The lone good thing I've seen from this team of late is Beal is scoring at will and Oubre has been very effective off the bench replacing Markieff.

As I watched that play, I couldn't figure out why Wall didn't just take the shot.  Every Wizards fan cringed in unison at that dump off pass to Morris.

That said, you have to put this on coaching as well.  It's the coach's responsibility to draw something up that will create a good, high percentage scoring opportunity.  The Wizards under Scott Brooks are playing pickup ball out there in the closing seconds.  "Just stand around for awhile and call for a pick" is a bad option for reasons we've already discussed.  They got the switch in this case and still didn't know what to do with it.  Wall and Beal can't get a call under the best of circumstances, and they're certainly not going to get one by forcing the action with time expiring on the road. 

This was hero ball.  I'm so over this lazy "you're the star, you figure it out" play calling.  Michael Jordan is not walking through that door.  John Wall is 0/16 in that situation.  If you're coaching this train wreck, stop banging your head against the wall and use it to do your job.

It pains me to think of all the coaches the Wizards COULD have signed over the last few years, during which time they interviewed a grand total of ONE head coach.  This team's problems all start at the top.

 

[jjs07]

Otto Porter is going to get a lot of money this summer

He's certainly earning it. However, what happens with the roster from now until that point gives me a lot of angst.

From the article:

On top of all of this, the Wizards are going to have to reckon with what giving Porter a max or near-max deal will do to their payroll. Maxing him won’t put the team over the luxury tax, but it will push the team a lot closer to that threshold, which isn’t the thing you really want to hear for a team that’s currently 12th in the Eastern Conference. It will be interesting to see if Washington tries to shed some salary at the deadline to give them some more flexibility, and if so, how they’ll try to incentivize other teams to try to take on some of players with long-term salary.

Shedding salary. EG will be the architect in doing this. It's going to take a hail mary for any team at this point to be on board with taking on the contracts of guys like Smith/Nicholson.

It's easy to cut ties with guys like Thornton...but there are some real anchors on this bench unit and that's due to the reckless spending this past summer from EG. All that time saving for Durant, and this is what it got us

 

[extraordinary swag]

Otto Porter is going to get a lot of money this summer

He's certainly earning it. However, what happens with the roster from now until that point gives me a lot of angst.

From the article:
Shedding salary. EG will be the architect in doing this. It's going to take a hail mary for any team at this point to be on board with taking on the contracts of guys like Smith/Nicholson.

It's easy to cut ties with guys like Thornton...but there are some real anchors on this bench unit and that's due to the reckless spending this past summer from EG. All that time saving for Durant, and this is what it got us

good luck getting rid of anyone on this bench besides Oubre or Sato, they are all pretty awful and overpaid. Front office goofed so bad with the entire offseason last year, they had no backup plan

 

[tireless drive]

When will they just blow this team up and start over

 

 

[staffsgtdignam]

When will they just blow this team up and start over


 

When Ted sells/moves them to Seattle in a few years

..j/k (sort of)

 

[extraordinary swag]

Don't know how much more of this John Wall can take before he starts calling guys out. 52 points in a loss should never happen, ESPECIALLY to the Orlando Magic

 

[jking0821]

John looked good last night

No way we can max Otto. We will be stuck in mediocrity forever if we try to lock down Wall + Beal + Porter. We have 0 depth. We need more depth.

The loss last night sucked. We had so many stupid plays....Beal's missed dunk off the jump ball comes to mind in the 4th when the game was close.

 

[jjs07]

JKing, I disagree....Porter is absolutely worth the max. I think out of that trio, Beal will be the odd guy out. I wouldn't be shocked if he's dangled when he's available to be traded on I think Jan 15th. Put a package together surrounding him, Gortat, Oubre to Sacramento for Boogie + filler.

 

[jking0821]

JKing, I disagree....Porter is absolutely worth the max. I think out of that trio, Beal will be the odd guy out. I wouldn't be shocked if he's dangled when he's available to be traded on I think Jan 15th. Put a package together surrounding him, Gortat, Oubre to Sacramento for Boogie + filler.

id be fine losing one of the big three if we had great upper management. But i hope we don't try to keep all 3 on long term deals.

I do agree its keep wall at all cost...and either beal or porter can go

 

[mrtarheel]

JKing, I disagree....Porter is absolutely worth the max. I think out of that trio, Beal will be the odd guy out. I wouldn't be shocked if he's dangled when he's available to be traded on I think Jan 15th. Put a package together surrounding him, Gortat, Oubre to Sacramento for Boogie + filler.

Porter in no way, shape, or form is worth a max deal... No way we should give Tayshawn Prince lite a max deal

Beal and Porter with max deals for a .500 team? 

 

[mrtarheel]

Should have extended Otto when we had the chance, but my boy Ernie had a better plan!

 

[jjs07]

JKing, I disagree....Porter is absolutely worth the max. I think out of that trio, Beal will be the odd guy out. I wouldn't be shocked if he's dangled when he's available to be traded on I think Jan 15th. Put a package together surrounding him, Gortat, Oubre to Sacramento for Boogie + filler.

Porter in no way, shape, or form is worth a max deal... No way we should give Tayshawn Prince lite a max deal

Beal and Porter with max deals for a .500 team? 

In today's NBA, how is he not worth the max?

You can't let a guy like him leave. He does so many things well. He's our second best player behind Wall.

 

[mrtarheel]

In today's NBA, how is he not worth the max?

You can't let a guy like him leave. He does so many things well. He's our second best player behind Wall.

Because we are trash with him, so let someone else pay top dollar for average talent. Not saying Otto sucks, but he doesn't have a significant impact on the game.  

max deal for a 6th man?

 

[frshstunna]

The way Otto imporved and been playing you have to give his money ....BUT i can see the Wiz rolling out the wall/Beal/porter trio out there for the next couple of years thinkin its sweet cuz they got their "max players" ...until they figure out the rest of the roster those 3 ain't doing a damn thing

 

[jking0821]

The way Otto imporved and been playing you have to give his money ....BUT i can see the Wiz rolling out the wall/Beal/porter trio out there for the next couple of years thinkin its sweet cuz they got their "max players" ...until they figure out the rest of the roster those 3 ain't doing a damn thing

yeah this is my fear. All i want is hope. And right now we have 0. We all can see we aren't going anywhere with the current roster. An overhaul of some kind is needed.

 

[jjs07]

In today's NBA, how is he not worth the max?


You can't let a guy like him leave. He does so many things well. He's our second best player behind Wall.

Because we are trash with him, so let someone else pay top dollar for average talent. Not saying Otto sucks, but he doesn't have a significant impact on the game.  

max deal for a 6th man?

Actually, the starters (aside from last night) have one of the best +/- overall in the league. It was 5th at the start of the week, if I remember correctly.

You should watch a little closer if you think Otto isn't impacting the game. He's shooting over 50% from the floor over 40% from 3 and averaging 14/8 while playing excellent defense.

6th man? C'mon, bruh.

He's on the verge of becoming an elite wing in the East, if he's not already there now.