GT #19: Bullets @ Magic 7 PM (MSN/980 AM)

[nate33]

WUJ gonna do WUJ. IMO, he just doesn't have it to become an elite level coach.

He doesn't have it to become a meh coach. This was an organization trying to make a PR move with a last name, instead of hiring a serious basketball person. I don't care about what Nuggets players said, and I love Jokic. They were simply looking out for a guy they knew and liked, and I get that, no shame in that.

WUJ is so out of his depth as a head coach, it's undeniable at this point.

1000%. We have already over 2 seasons of undeniable evidence to prove it.

I believe Dawkins and Winger are no fools, but I think they are playing with fire keeping Wes at the helm. Sure, he ensures a top tanking record but his lack of accountability is a problem and a truly bad example for the development of younger players.

Playing Devil's advocate, wouldn't you say that Avdija and Coulibaly are developing beyond expectations?

[Frichuela]

He doesn't have it to become a meh coach. This was an organization trying to make a PR move with a last name, instead of hiring a serious basketball person. I don't care about what Nuggets players said, and I love Jokic. They were simply looking out for a guy they knew and liked, and I get that, no shame in that.

WUJ is so out of his depth as a head coach, it's undeniable at this point.

1000%. We have already over 2 seasons of undeniable evidence to prove it.

I believe Dawkins and Winger are no fools, but I think they are playing with fire keeping Wes at the helm. Sure, he ensures a top tanking record but his lack of accountability is a problem and a truly bad example for the development of younger players.

Playing Devil's advocate, wouldn't you say that Avdija and Coulibaly are developing beyond expectations?

They are indeed developing but I seriously doubt it has anything to do with Wes and his awful X & Os. Maybe the hire of developmental assistant coaches over the summer (e.g Vanderpool) is more of a factor here, in addition to the players own initiative to harness their craft (e.g. Deni’s new shooting coach over the summer). Prior to this season, we could say Deni’s development was stuck…after 2 years of Wes as head coach.

[DCZards]

Playing Devil's advocate, wouldn't you say that Avdija and Coulibaly are developing beyond expectations?

Wes, like any head coach, should get the blame for what’s wrong (Xs and Os, rotations, etc.) and the credit for what’s going right, including player development.

[dckingsfan]

[/b]1000%. We have already over 2 seasons of undeniable evidence to prove it.

I believe Dawkins and Winger are no fools, but I think they are playing with fire keeping Wes at the helm. Sure, he ensures a top tanking record but his lack of accountability is a problem and a truly bad example for the development of younger players.

Playing Devil's advocate, wouldn't you say that Avdija and Coulibaly are developing beyond expectations?

They are indeed developing but I seriously doubt it has anything to do with Wes and his awful X & Os. Maybe the hire of developmental assistant coaches over the summer (e.g Vanderpool) is more of a factor here, in addition to the players own initiative to harness their craft (e.g. Deni’s new shooting coach over the summer). Prior to this season, we could say Deni’s development was stuck…after 2 years of Wes as head coach.

This. IMO, Deni is now to the point of ignoring WUJ and developing by himself.

[2Fluffy4U]

I think WUJ is an analytics breed coach, and therfore can and is promoting development of young players - based on analytics (minutes per game, general roles, specific player game stats that needs changing i.e more rebs, more down the lane, less post up etc.. )

His ability to coach based on 'feel' - game momentum, real time adjustments, motivating, tempo changes and time-outs - is his main shortcoming and where he is lacking..

Perhaps he can develop too.. right now he seems more into macro analytics than micro in-game management..

[Runner300]

I think Wizards are trying their best to lose.
They built a deliberately broken team with no players for rim protection (other than Gafford)
and no system for rim protection (bad pnr defense, no boxing out whatsoever, miserable zone defense etc).
The roster consists of mediocre PGs, unmanageable SG (Poole), young talent that are stepping on each other's feet
(Deni, Davis, Coulibaly etc - all on same position), no rim protection (as stated),
and one Kyle Kuzma that is finally playing well but can't bring wins alone.
Until they sort the roster out, WUJ is imho just a placeholder that will be replaced or
demoted to assistant coach when wins are needed.

[BobbyD10]

I don't get the Deni benching either.

Good game by Gafford. Nice to see him get double figure shots for a change

It seems that it is easier for WUJ to bench Deni than say poo poo. I don't know what the psychology is there - happy to hear opinions on the matter...

Not sure what the psychology is but I can envision a few explanations:

1. Trades can begin Dec. 15. Winger and Dawkins could have told Wes to play Poole and others as auditions for other coaches. Sure, they are playing like crap, but other coaches/organizations may see them play and think they can utilize them on their teams if given a different role/mindset or think they may play better on a better team with something to play for. Sitting them on the bench is not going to give another organization a reason to trade for them.
2. Losing is the objective this year. They help to lose games. Deni and Coulibaly are still getting significant minutes overall to develop. Will probably get a lot more minutes if they can trade Poole and some other players for something.
3. Something may be going on that we can't/don't see. I coach HS Varsity girls and I have parents always complaining about their girls playing time. They point to stats or how they play in certain games, but they also don't see what I always see...how they are practicing, whether they are listening and executing game plan, how the particular player fits in the style of play I want to attack an opponent (if a team struggles against full court pressure, I might play more athletic girls over some of my non-athletic girls even though my non-athletic players are more skilled) etc. Not saying that this has anything to do with Deni and not playing a lot of minutes last game, but observers outside of the team bubble don't always know everything that is going on.

I am not defending Wes. I'd like to see Deni and Coulibaly play big minutes every game. But, I also realize as a coach that there may be other factors that might be in play that are not observable by a fan (or parents) eye and indeed, might not be controllable by Wes (if Winger and Dawkins are telling him what to do).

[penbeast0]

I think Wizards are trying their best to lose.
They built a deliberately broken team with no players for rim protection (other than Gafford)
and no system for rim protection (bad pnr defense, no boxing out whatsoever, miserable zone defense etc).
The roster consists of mediocre PGs, unmanageable SG (Poole), young talent that are stepping on each other's feet
(Deni, Davis, Coulibaly etc - all on same position), no rim protection (as stated),
and one Kyle Kuzma that is finally playing well but can't bring wins alone.
Until they sort the roster out, WUJ is imho just a placeholder that will be replaced or
demoted to assistant coach when wins are needed.

Davis is a 2 and not one with particularly good size, he's not a 3, same goes for Poole and Shamet, (and probably Delon Wright when he returns).

Kispert, Avdija, Coulibaly, and Kuzma are all probably best as a 3 so the point is correct, just not the players.

[nate33]

I don't get the Deni benching either.

Good game by Gafford. Nice to see him get double figure shots for a change

It seems that it is easier for WUJ to bench Deni than say poo poo. I don't know what the psychology is there - happy to hear opinions on the matter...

Not sure what the psychology is but I can envision a few explanations:

1. Trades can begin Dec. 15. Winger and Dawkins could have told Wes to play Poole and others as auditions for other coaches. Sure, they are playing like crap, but other coaches/organizations may see them play and think they can utilize them on their teams if given a different role/mindset or think they may play better on a better team with something to play for. Sitting them on the bench is not going to give another organization a reason to trade for them.
2. Losing is the objective this year. They help to lose games. Deni and Coulibaly are still getting significant minutes overall to develop. Will probably get a lot more minutes if they can trade Poole and some other players for something.
3. Something may be going on that we can't/don't see. I coach HS Varsity girls and I have parents always complaining about their girls playing time. They point to stats or how they play in certain games, but they also don't see what I always see...how they are practicing, whether they are listening and executing game plan, how the particular player fits in the style of play I want to attack an opponent (if a team struggles against full court pressure, I might play more athletic girls over some of my non-athletic girls even though my non-athletic players are more skilled) etc. Not saying that this has anything to do with Deni and not playing a lot of minutes last game, but observers outside of the team bubble don't always know everything that is going on.

I am not defending Wes. I'd like to see Deni and Coulibaly play big minutes every game. But, I also realize as a coach that there may be other factors that might be in play that are not observable by a fan (or parents) eye and indeed, might not be controllable by Wes (if Winger and Dawkins are telling him what to do).

I think you guys are overstating the notion that the Wizards are trying to lose. I agree that it was intentional to leave the backup center position vacated to ensure tanking, but I think that's the only intentional pro-tanking decision. The rest of our problems are a combination of poor talent, poor schemes, and poor rotations.

Neither the coach nor the players are trying to lose. They are not showcasing Poole. They are honestly trying to give him time to figure things out. They are not benching Deni to tank, they honestly think that it makes sense to have Deni out of the game in crunch time.

I do think they are showcasing Gallo a bit. It may well be that he is our best option at backup center, but the fact that they haven't really even tried Muscala suggests that they'd rather not have the potential that Gallo would suffer by comparison. I think they'll move Gallo in December if he brings back anything at all. And when Muscala replaces him, it'll probably be a wash or maybe even a mild upgrade. Muscala's better D and rebounding will probably help more than his worse offense hurts.

[DCZards]

I think you guys are overstating the notion that the Wizards are trying to lose. I agree that it was intentional to leave the backup center position vacated to ensure tanking, but I think that's the only intentional pro-tanking decision. The rest of our problems are a combination of poor talent, poor schemes, and poor rotations.

Neither the coach nor the players are trying to lose. They are not showcasing Poole. They are honestly trying to give him time to figure things out. They are not benching Deni to tank, they honestly think that it makes sense to have Deni out of the game in crunch time.

I do think they are showcasing Gallo a bit. It may well be that he is our best option at backup center, but the fact that they haven't really even tried Muscala suggests that they'd rather not have the potential that Gallo would suffer by comparison. I think they'll move Gallo in December if he brings back anything at all. And when Muscala replaces him, it'll probably be a wash or maybe even a mild upgrade. Muscala's better D and rebounding will probably help more than his worse offense hurts.

I don’t get why anyone would think that the Zards are better at crunch time with Deni on the bench. He’s clearly been our second-best overall player after Kuz, imo.

I have some hope that Poole will figure things out. How long that will take remains to be seen. He’s clearly a better player than what we’ve seen thus far.

Makes sense what you’re saying about showcasing Gallo. In that one game about 10 days ago where Gallo was out and Muscala played, it was apparent that Muscala is the better defender and rebounder. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense not to play Mike more given the Zards glaring weakness in those areas.

[dckingsfan]

Davis is a 2 and not one with particularly good size, he's not a 3, same goes for Poole and Shamet, (and probably Delon Wright when he returns).

Kispert, Avdija, Coulibaly, and Kuzma are all probably best as a 3 so the point is correct, just not the players.

I agree with your post overall. Although, I think Kispert will end up being a better 2 than 3, IMO. I think we have a logjam at shooting guard.