The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[TheItalianStallion]

One team I'm worried about is Indiana. Look at their home record: it's only half a game worse than ours. We need to be sure to finish ahead of them in the standings: I don't like our chances of stealing a game in Indy, and we may have to win all 4 of our home games to win a 7-game series against them.

 

Btw Toronto is no longer the 3 seed. We may catch them before we catch Atlanta.

[RonArtest15]

My MVP order (right now)

 

1.  James Harden

2.  Kevin Durant

3.  Lebron James

4.  Russell Westbrook

5.  John Wall/Kawhi Leonard (toss up)

 

*Going to be hard for Wall to crack that top 3 in voting...barring a sustained run like what we're seeing now. 

Edited January 30, 2017 by RonArtest15

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

 

[TradeTheBeal!]

Look at Swaggy P in there!

 

 

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

 

[Going Commando]

It's incredible how well David Aldridge reads this team.  Every single take was right.

[Taylor703]

The Wizards are top 5 on NBA.com, CBSSports and ESPN power rankings. What Scott Brooks has brought to this franchise cannot be understated. He's a tremendous coach. 

[Weganator]

27 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

It's incredible how well David Aldridge reads this team.  Every single take was right.

It's almost like nobody else cares

[Going Commando]

2 minutes ago, Weganator said:

It's almost like nobody else cares

I don't think they do.  But David Aldridge is a pro and he's got some love for DC.

 

But people start caring when you start winning.  If we keep this run going, then the basketball world will warm up to us and start watching some of our games.

[CBass1724]

Hard to believe that a few months ago most of us were hoping we'd be good enough for a 7th or 8th seed at best.  Now we're talking about the Wiz being a top 5 team in the league and possibly a #2 seed in the east.  #CRAZY 

[TradeTheBeal!]

Re: Scott Brooks.

 

Hail-Mary hire by EG to get Durant that failed miserably yet somehow still pans out?

 

or

 

Really savvy choice by EG to lead his talented team in the Spread/3pt era?

[Going Commando]

Just now, CBass1724 said:

Hard to believe that a few months ago most of us were hoping we'd be good enough for a 7th or 8th seed at best.  Now we're talking about the Wiz being a top 5 team in the league and possibly a #2 seed in the east.  #CRAZY 

I had us as the three seed going into the year.  I believed in the team's potential.  But then we had that terrible November and I was just hoping we'd make the playoffs.  My biggest fear was that we were going to end up in the lottery and Wall would be so unhappy we'd have to trade him.

 

It's been incredible to see them go on this run of excellent play the past two months.  The team is achieving to their potential and, incredibly, the three seed is still within reach.  1.5 games back from 3, 2 games back from 2.  And a looooot of basketball left.

 

Two years ago we had that great 19-6 start and then fell apart in January and February.  This year has been the reverse of that, and man it feels a lot better and more sustainable when you struggle early but then find chemistry and identity as a team midway through and just settle in to playing good basketball.

[RonArtest15]

3 minutes ago, TryTheBeal! said:

Re: Scott Brooks.

 

Hail-Mary hire by EG to get Durant that failed miserably yet somehow still pans out?

 

or

 

Really savvy choice by EG to lead his talented team in the Spread/3pt era?

The former LOL.  For sure. 

[Going Commando]

3 minutes ago, TryTheBeal! said:

Re: Scott Brooks.

 

I think we fans read too much about Durant into the hiring of Scott Brooks.  Understandable since we had been fixated on KD for two years.  But it never totally made sense to me that hiring Brooks was actually a plus for signing Durant, because he hadn't worked out for OKC.  If anything, I was afraid of a 
"been there, done that" effect Brooks might have on KD's decision making.  

 

And truth be told, I think it did have that effect.

 

I think the team was actually candid about the reason we hired Brooks: his talent for developing young players.  Our young players had stalled out under Wittman and this attribute had to be our primary criteria for the next coach.  Ernie is not the kind of GM that's going to get big time FAs to trust our vision and sign here, or pull off some trade heists to bring in stars.  We had to stick to a vanilla and patient plan to build through the draft, and we couldn't let our coach keep ruining our draft picks.

 

Brooks was the best fit on the market.  We had to beat out Houston to get him and we got lucky he chose us.

[Destino]

Brooks should get a ton of credit but lets not sleep on talent.  We've been a 1 star team for a while with Wall and now we're a two star team.  Beal is scoring a fairly efficient 21ppg and he's handling the ball more, all of which takes pressure off of Wall.  The team isn't just seeing a boon from superior coaching, the Beal we've all been waiting for has finally arrived and it's glorious. Wall is scoring as well as he ever has both in terms of points (23) and fg% (46.2%) without a drop in assists (10.3apg).   But wait there's more!  Otto Porter went from a mediocre three point shooter (36.8%) to a hyper efficient fantastic three point shooter (46.8%).  Porter shoots a higher percentage from three than Beal or Wall shoot from the field. 

 

None of this should take away from the job Brooks has done, he's been fantastic, but this team had really lacked star power and depended almost exclusively on Wall now suddenly has a great deal of firepower.  I think the early season struggles were largely an adjustment period and Wall playing his way back into shape.  Players had to adjust to a new coach, new players, and everyone had to adjust to this sudden wealth of scoring talent. 

 

The defense seemed to take the longest to gel, early on as we noted here, players were out of position all over the floor and cheating off their perimeter assignments too much.  Now opponents are getting hounded all over the floor.  The difference has not been small. 

[CBass1724]

50 minutes ago, TryTheBeal! said:

Re: Scott Brooks.

 

Hail-Mary hire by EG to get Durant that failed miserably yet somehow still pans out?

 

or

 

Really savvy choice by EG to lead his talented team in the Spread/3pt era?

 

Whichever one is the negative spin towards EG is the one I'll always choose LOL.

 

But in all seriousness, Brooks' track record in OKC as a head coach was very good.  He was a great choice for a coach regardless of the Durant connection and ensuing debacle.  He's the most underrated signing of the NBA offseason, imo.

[Renegade7]

26 minutes ago, Destino said:

Brooks should get a ton of credit but lets not sleep on talent.  We've been a 1 star team for a while with Wall and now we're a two star team.  Beal is scoring a fairly efficient 21ppg and he's handling the ball more, all of which takes pressure off of Wall.  The team isn't just seeing a boon from superior coaching, the Beal we've all been waiting for has finally arrived and it's glorious. Wall is scoring as well as he ever has both in terms of points (23) and fg% (46.2%) without a drop in assists (10.3apg).   But wait there's more!  Otto Porter went from a mediocre three point shooter (36.8%) to a hyper efficient fantastic three point shooter (46.8%).  Porter shoots a higher percentage from three than Beal or Wall shoot from the field. 

 

None of this should take away from the job Brooks has done, he's been fantastic, but this team had really lacked star power and depended almost exclusively on Wall now suddenly has a great deal of firepower.  I think the early season struggles were largely an adjustment period and Wall playing his way back into shape.  Players had to adjust to a new coach, new players, and everyone had to adjust to this sudden wealth of scoring talent. 

 

The defense seemed to take the longest to gel, early on as we noted here, players were out of position all over the floor and cheating off their perimeter assignments too much.  Now opponents are getting hounded all over the floor.  The difference has not been small. 

 

I think Brooks deserves at least some credit for helping our best players play to their potential.  I know we're talking chicken or the egg, but compared to Whittman's inability to develop the right way to hold his playboard upside down, the difference is night and day.  I mean, Gortat is dunking, someone had to have gotten in his ear.

[TheItalianStallion]

It's interesting to go back and look at what people were saying about Brooks 2-3 years ago. It was much more negative then. Heck I wasn't positive about him myself. Given that he had 3 players on his roster who are not only AS caliber but MVP candidates now, it did seem legit to not only fault him not only for never winning a title, but only winning the West once.

 

So did Beal get snubbed from the AS lineup? What do you folks think?

Edited January 30, 2017 by TheItalianStallion

[Taylor703]

6 minutes ago, TheItalianStallion said:

It's interesting to go back and look at what people were saying about Brooks 2-3 years ago. It was much more negative then. Heck I wasn't positive about him myself. Given that he had 3 players on his roster who are not only AS caliber but MVP candidates now, it did seem legit to not only fault him not only for never winning a title, but only winning the West once.

 

So did Beal get snubbed from the AS lineup? What do you folks think?

 

He had three very talented players with three very large egos. All three wanted the ball in crunch time. Sometimes it's a bad thing. 

Edited January 30, 2017 by Taylor703

[Destino]

4 minutes ago, Renegade7 said:

I think Brooks deserves at least some credit for helping our best players play to their potential.  I know we're talking chicken or the egg, but compared to Whittman's inability to develop the right way to hold his playboard upside down, the difference is night and day.  I mean, Gortat is dunking, someone had to have gotten in his ear.

Absolutely.  I'm not taking a thing away from Brooks and have commented on here previously that the offense looks much better than it did.  We're not limited to pick n roll and drive and kick offense, while three players stand perfectly still.  Wizards fans are no longer driven screaming from sleep by the recurring nightmare of Beal-Gortat multiple handoff plays at the three point line.  Brooks has played an obvious hand in the improved offense.

 

Also I don't think Brooks is killing his guys for any bad play.  That was something Wittman did to all players not named Wall and Beal that really annoyed me.  Confidence simply can not exist if you're one bad shot, or one bad play, away from the dog house.  Young guys are going to try to create for themselves but the key is to encourage better habits, without crushing their confidence.

 

I think the change in Oubre's game is a good example.  Brooks had to do something about Oubre's repeated bad shot taking.  We've seen changes, he's not taking that awful hanging floater trying to draw a foul anymore.  But we can also see that Oubre is still driving and creating his own shot on occasion.  Wittman would have had him terrified to shoot anything but a spot up three, which he'd be unable to hit because without confidence there is no scoring in basketball.   

[TradeTheBeal!]

Westbrook has to be much tougher guy to coach than Wall.  Brooks is probably loving this roster right now.

[Destino]

14 minutes ago, TheItalianStallion said:

It's interesting to go back and look at what people were saying about Brooks 2-3 years ago. It was much more negative then. Heck I wasn't positive about him myself. Given that he had 3 players on his roster who are not only AS caliber but MVP candidates now, it did seem legit to not only fault him not only for never winning a title, but only winning the West once.

I think we blamed him for the hero offense of the Thunder late in games, and I have to be honest, I'm seeing a little of that here with the Wizards. One mitigating factor is that Wall is more likely to pass than either star he had in OKC.  When the game gets tight too often it becomes Wall and Beal taking turns at hitting difficult shots, and often there are other guys open on the floor.  Specifically, Otto Porter who seems to get frozen out in the 4th quarter entirely too often. 

[Renegade7]

11 minutes ago, Taylor703 said:

 

He had three very talented players with three very large egos. All three wanted the ball in crunch time. Sometimes it's a bad thing. 

 

 

I think a lot of us (I know I was) was concerned his offense was ISO based.  I reality, he was dealing with 2-3 alphas, and maybe he learned something with his time out, but this offense looks way more inclusive.  

[Going Commando]

7 minutes ago, TheItalianStallion said:

It's interesting to go back and look at what people were saying about Brooks 2-3 years ago. It was much more negative then. Heck I wasn't positive about him myself. Given that he had 3 players on his roster who are not only AS caliber but MVP candidates now, it did seem legit to not only fault him not only for never winning a title, but only winning the West once.

 

So did Beal get snubbed from the AS lineup? What do you folks think?

People have short memories.  The reason Brooks didn't win multiple rings in OKC was bad ownership and bad luck with injuries.  To recap:

 

2012: A very young OKC team goes to the Finals and loses to a Miami team that was in their prime.  Durant wasn't an MVP caliber player yet, and Westbrook and Harden were nowhere near MVP caliber players yet.  Harden was Otto's age at this point and was a 6th man scoring about 17 PPG.  Coming up on the last year of his rookie deal, OKC's unbelievably stupid and cheapskate ownership forces Sam Presti's hand and he makes one of the worst trades in NBA history, breaking up the Durant/Westbrook/Harden core before it ever had a chance to get going.

 

2013: OKC is rolling anyway despite losing Harden.  They win 60 games, but in the first round series against Houston, Patrick Beverly cheap shots Russell Westbrook going for a steal as Westbrook called a time out and ****s up his knee.  They limp out of the Houston series but end up losing to Memphis in the second round.

 

2014:   KD grows into an MVP and tears the league up again and they win 59 games.  But Westbrook rushed back from his injury and suffered complications that made him miss most of the season, and when he finally came back at the end, he wasn't healthy and didn't play well.  Playoffs roll around and Ibaka gets severely injured in the second round.  He toughs it out and returns for the conference finals against San Antonio but it's not enough.  An undermanned OKC teams eventually loses in six to the championship Spurs team that basically rolled over everyone else.

 

2015: Westbrook returns, but Durant misses the whole season with recurring foot injuries.  OKC still manages to win 45 games but they missed the playoffs and Scott Brooks got fired.

 

What went down in OKC was not Brooks's fault, and they never underachieved while he was their coach.  In fact I'd say they overachieved considering they lost Harden, and whole seasons of Westbrook and Durant.

[Renegade7]

1 minute ago, Destino said:

I think we blamed him for the hero offense of the Thunder late in games, and I have to be honest, I'm seeing a little of that here with the Wizards. One mitigating factor is that Wall is more likely to pass than either star he had in OKC.  When the game gets tight too often it becomes Wall and Beal taking turns at hitting difficult shots, and often there are other guys open on the floor.  Specifically, Otto Porter who seems to get frozen out in the 4th quarter entirely too often. 

 

 

I want to ask Brooks if that's by design.  A couple times this season I saw Wall taking end of game shots that said "okay, this is his team", but you're right, there are other guys on the roster.