Once more, an Unseld leads the Bullets: Washington Wizards 2021-22 Season Thread

[Miggs]

I was in favor of a Siakam + for Beal move now im not sure....Beal is playing so disinterested...Its so easy to take him out of his rhythym by going big on him and he just gives up.

 

[Mr swag]

Shooting three less free throws this year too. Was he also a scammer?


Beal is getting the Supermax or he is getting traded.

Who do you bench Dinwiddie for?

Put me in. I can go 2 for 11 and play no D

 

[mastermind]

I was in favor of a Siakam + for Beal move now im not sure....Beal is playing so disinterested...Its so easy to take him out of his rhythym by going big on him and he just gives up.

Why would the Wizards be interested in Siakim?

 

[Miggs]

Why would the Wizards be interested in Siakim?

Ur gonna have to take back salary somehow....

 

[mastermind]

Ur gonna have to take back salary somehow....

No one wants to struggle to score Siakim, especially for Beal

Don't put that nonsense in the air

 

[FAH1223]

Thomas Bryant talks about the prospect of playing PF with either Daniel Gafford or Montrezl Harrell and says the Wizards have had considerations on it.

 

[FAH1223]

 

[ZEupTWN]

Garrison Mathews ballin otl good for him

 

[Rob's al Ghul]

Tough stretch coming up here after tonight - 7 of the next 8 on the road. But then it's a nice stretch of home games vs. (what should be) some beatable teams. Just got to hold their own for these next couple weeks.

 

[ZEupTWN]

they way imploded last night in the 4th holy shyt

dinwiddie had just been flat out bad

 

[mastermind]

I can’t see them re-signing Beal if they fall out the playoffs, like it appears they about to do.

 

[FAH1223]

they way imploded last night in the 4th holy shyt

dinwiddie had just been flat out bad

I can’t see them re-signing Beal if they fall out the playoffs, like it appears they about to do.

The Kuz picture

 

[FAH1223]

So apparently several players are unhappy with the offense and their roles in it. Of course, that's not an excuse to play crappy defense.

Sources: Wizards players’ concerns about the offense are worsening Washington’s free-fall

At the same time, however, the simple eye test reveals the Wizards have lacked the effort and attention to detail that typified their approach early in the season.

It requires hard work to play upper-level NBA defense. In that sense, what Unseld and his assistant coaches are asking of their players aligns exactly with what other coaching staffs ask of their teams. But as Unseld has noted, the Wizards’ effort on defense has waned.

One of the reasons for the decline in effort and attention to detail on defense has been players’ opinions about how they’re being utilized on offense. The Athletic asked Unseld about that issue Saturday after the Wizards’ shootaround in Salt Lake City.

“I think that might be a valid point,” Unseld said. “The challenge, I think, would be for them. If they don’t like where they are or what they’re doing, we could put more time into shooting and doing the individual work, (but also) let’s look at what we’re running, and let’s look at how guys are being used. It’s one thing to just say, ‘Hey, I don’t like it right now.’ Then come talk to me. I think I’ve been more than open to suggestions, more than open with whether it’s criticism or just suggestions. I’m trying to put guys in spots I think can help us collectively. Sometimes it doesn’t involve that guy. Other times, it does. But don’t just complain about it. Let’s talk about it, and let’s fix it.”

Unseld said some players have reached out to him directly in recent days, adding: “I love the feedback. I think that open dialogue helps. It’s one thing for me to say it, because I’m seeing it from a certain lens. And I think it’s also important to take their opinions into consideration because they’re the ones going through it and living it. All I want is what’s best for this group. So if it helps the group, then I’m all ears.”

Unseld nonetheless held firm about his expectations for the defense, saying players’ frustrations with their offensive roles or aggravation at missing shots cannot detract from their effort on defense.

“You’re fighting human nature,” he said, referring to any player who is struggling on offense. “I get that. Whether you feel like you’re involved or you’re not getting a touch or whatever it is — maybe you’re getting a touch and it’s just not going in for you — there’s frustration. That’s a normal, probably human reaction to that. But it shouldn’t affect your energy and focus on the other end.

“Now, do the numbers say, hey, we have to get different guys different looks? Is it we’ve got to get more guys to be aggressive? I think there’s some of that, too. But I don’t think it affects defensive focus or energy — or it shouldn’t.”

The Wizards enter their game Saturday night against the Utah Jazz with their first record of .500 or worse since the season started. Nearly two-thirds of the season remains. Yet there is a sense the team is either confronting a crossroads or already has reached it. Given how steeply the Wizards are trending downward, the much more preferable scenario, of course, is that the crossroads is still at hand.

The other night, veteran swingman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was asked why Washington, without any new injuries, is struggling this much, this quickly, after such a strong start. He was speaking in general terms, but his answer was telling.

It also offers a preliminary road map for the players and coaches to rejuvenate their season.

“It just all boils down to that communication, trusting each other, being able to rely on each other, being able to take criticisms from each other,” Caldwell-Pope said. “There’s a lot that goes into it. We know we’re losing right now, but we can’t let that dictate our play and our trust with each other. We’ve got to find a way to just get it done.”

When asked whether the team is having the honest, face-to-face communication it needs, Caldwell-Pope answered: “We have them talks individually (and) as a group. I just feel like there’s not enough of them.”

But I guess this is the trials and tribulations of having a rookie head coach and a newer team. Perhaps they aren't comfortable going to Wes with their frustrations. And now they're starting to. Or we gotta trade a couple of these nikkas i.e. HARRELL.

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[Blackrogue]

But who can actually step up offensively? Dinwiddie is not hundred percent despite what he says. And no one else is a high volume guy. TB and Rui can be those guys. Deni is taking more shots thankfully

 

[FAH1223]