Deni Avdija - Part II

[nate33]

I'd say, the minutes will be distributed something like this:

Guards: Jones (33), Poole (33), Wright (22), Kispert (8), Davis (0), Rollins (0)
Forwards: Kuzma (35), Avdija (28), Kispert (20), Coulibaly (13), Cooks (0)
Centers: Gafford (27), Muscala (21), Vukcevic (0), Cooks (0)

I'm assuming Gallo and Shamet are moved, either this summer or as soon as possible into the regular season. Or maybe Gallo and Wright are moved and Shamet stays and takes the Wright spot.

The guys getting 0 minutes are suiting up and might play if there's an injury, foul trouble or a special situation, but they typically won't play if everyone is healthy. But in a long season, guys get hurt so they will move up in the rotation.

If and when Wright gets moved, that will open up minutes for Davis and Rollins (or perhaps more minutes for Coulibaly, with Kispert spending more time at guard). Likewise, Vukcevic will probably start to take minutes from Muscala if he shows that he is ready.

[DCZards]

I'd say, the minutes will be distributed something like this:

Guards: Jones (33), Poole (33), Wright (22), Kispert (8), Davis (0), Rollins (0)
Forwards: Kuzma (35), Avdija (28), Kispert (20), Coulibaly (13), Cooks (0)
Centers: Gafford (27), Muscala (21), Vukcevic (0), Cooks (0)

I'm assuming Gallo and Shamet are moved, either this summer or as soon as possible into the regular season. Or maybe Gallo and Wright are moved and Shamet stays and takes the Wright spot.

The guys getting 0 minutes are suiting up and might play if there's an injury, foul trouble or a special situation, but they typically won't play if everyone is healthy. But in a long season, guys get hurt so they will move up in the rotation.

If and when Wright gets moved, that will open up minutes for Davis and Rollins (or perhaps more minutes for Coulibaly, with Kispert spending more time at guard). Likewise, Vukcevic will probably start to take minutes from Muscala if he shows that he is ready.

Davis will definitely get minutes…and he should. The Zards want to develop him…and his defense alone makes that a sound strategy.

You forgot Baldwin. He’ll get minutes…probably more mins than Muscala.

[nate33]

I'd say, the minutes will be distributed something like this:

Guards: Jones (33), Poole (33), Wright (22), Kispert (8), Davis (0), Rollins (0)
Forwards: Kuzma (35), Avdija (28), Kispert (20), Coulibaly (13), Cooks (0)
Centers: Gafford (27), Muscala (21), Vukcevic (0), Cooks (0)

I'm assuming Gallo and Shamet are moved, either this summer or as soon as possible into the regular season. Or maybe Gallo and Wright are moved and Shamet stays and takes the Wright spot.

The guys getting 0 minutes are suiting up and might play if there's an injury, foul trouble or a special situation, but they typically won't play if everyone is healthy. But in a long season, guys get hurt so they will move up in the rotation.

If and when Wright gets moved, that will open up minutes for Davis and Rollins (or perhaps more minutes for Coulibaly, with Kispert spending more time at guard). Likewise, Vukcevic will probably start to take minutes from Muscala if he shows that he is ready.

Davis will definitely get minutes…and he should. The Zards want to develop him…and his defense alone makes that a sound strategy.

You forgot Baldwin. He’ll get minutes…probably more mins than Muscala.

You're right. I forgot about PBJ. He should fit in that forward rotation between Coulibaly and Cooks... for 0 minutes. He might take some minutes from Muscala at stretch 5, though the defense will be frighteningly bad.

I don't see a lot of minutes for Davis unless both Wright and Shamet are moved. If one of them is still around, there just aren't may minutes for Davis. If Wright is moved, it'll be nice to see if Davis can essentially replace him as the backup defensive guard. In a way, he is kind of similar to Wright, albeit not quite as good in all facets of the game.

[DCZards]

I think PBJ will earn mins with his shooting. Now that he’s hopefully healthy (he had a real bad ankle sprain) I believe we’ll see decent all around play from PBJ. Displayed some nice ballhandling and passing, especially for a big, during SL games.

[badinage]

15-20 million is his range. I mean Thybulle just got $11 million per and he can't shoot. But it appears this is what most of the people in the 2019 draft class are getting, essentially slightly above the MLE. If Deni develops a shot, then I could see the higher end of that range.

Avdija is not a lock down individual & elite team defender like Thybulle. Matisse is a game changer defensively, Deni at this stage is still barely has a positive impact at this stage.

The data shows: at lowering shot quality and suppressing attempts, he’s THE SECOND BEST WING DEFENDER IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE.

[daSwami]

The fact that this franchise is only now hiring "player development" coach is maddening. Hopefully, Keefe will put Deni on an off-season shooting regimen that actually sticks.

[nate33]

I think PBJ will earn mins with his shooting. Now that he’s hopefully healthy (he had a real bad ankle sprain) I believe we’ll see decent all around play from PBJ. Displayed some nice ballhandling and passing, especially for a big, during SL games.

Who do you think he should take minutes from? Kuzma? Avdija? Coulibaly? Kispert?

[DCZards]

I think PBJ will earn mins with his shooting. Now that he’s hopefully healthy (he had a real bad ankle sprain) I believe we’ll see decent all around play from PBJ. Displayed some nice ballhandling and passing, especially for a big, during SL games.

Who do you think he should take minutes from? Kuzma? Avdija? Coulibaly? Kispert?

Mostly Muscala or Gafford. I can see an occasional frontline of PBJ, along with Kuz, Deni, Kispert or Bilal.

I just don’t see the Zards prioritizing Muscala over PBJ.

[doclinkin]

I'd say, the minutes will be distributed something like this:

Guards: Jones (33), Poole (33), Wright (22), Kispert (8), Davis (0), Rollins (0)
Forwards: Kuzma (35), Avdija (28), Kispert (20), Coulibaly (13), Cooks (0)
Centers: Gafford (27), Muscala (21), Vukcevic (0), Cooks (0)

I'm assuming Gallo and Shamet are moved, either this summer or as soon as possible into the regular season. Or maybe Gallo and Wright are moved and Shamet stays and takes the Wright spot.

The guys getting 0 minutes are suiting up and might play if there's an injury, foul trouble or a special situation, but they typically won't play if everyone is healthy. But in a long season, guys get hurt so they will move up in the rotation.

If and when Wright gets moved, that will open up minutes for Davis and Rollins (or perhaps more minutes for Coulibaly, with Kispert spending more time at guard). Likewise, Vukcevic will probably start to take minutes from Muscala if he shows that he is ready.

Davis will definitely get minutes…and he should. The Zards want to develop him…and his defense alone makes that a sound strategy.

You forgot Baldwin. He’ll get minutes…probably more mins than Muscala.

Unless we trade for another C, I think Muscala gets more minutes than expected. In 78 games this past year Gafford played 27 minutes or more only 18 times. And that in part because he was able to play next to a stretch Big in our giant line up. Teams had to mark Porzingis which reduced the fouls and pressure on Gafford. He had 20 games or so with 4 or more fouls. That will tend to eat into minutes as well.

Wes likes to play centers in that Jokic role. At the top of the key with space underneath. If Tyus and Muscala show one or two successful pick and pop looks a game, teams will have to guard out to the 3pt line, which opens up the floor for interior attacks by all other players on the floor. PBJ/Vuk have that range, and it'd be good to see them earn minutes, but it says something about their deficiencies that Mike Muscala is a better defender. And he's not very good either.

I think we are more likely to see minutes with Kuzma at small ball 5 than we are to see much of PBJr or Vuk. Unlike forward or guard where players are fighting for minutes, we lack playable alternatives at center. Coaches coach to win. Unless he is traded or cut or another C is acquired, if Muscala is active, he will be played. He opens up room for Poole, Bilal, Davis, Deni, Kispert to attack the paint without getting body slammed.

[J-Ves]

15-20 million is his range. I mean Thybulle just got $11 million per and he can't shoot. But it appears this is what most of the people in the 2019 draft class are getting, essentially slightly above the MLE. If Deni develops a shot, then I could see the higher end of that range.

Avdija is not a lock down individual & elite team defender like Thybulle. Matisse is a game changer defensively, Deni at this stage is still barely has a positive impact at this stage.

The data shows: at lowering shot quality and suppressing attempts, he’s THE SECOND BEST WING DEFENDER IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE.

Not only an elite and versatile wing defender but an effective help defender as well

[badinage]

The fact that this franchise is only now hiring "player development" coach is maddening. Hopefully, Keefe will put Deni on an off-season shooting regimen that actually sticks.

Deni’s got a shooting coach, if this Twitterer is to be believed. Not just A shooting coach, but THE shooting coach to end all shooting coaches.

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=a4lJEbpuFtPRHuId24j_LA

[nate33]

The fact that this franchise is only now hiring "player development" coach is maddening. Hopefully, Keefe will put Deni on an off-season shooting regimen that actually sticks.

Deni’s got a shooting coach, if this Twitterer is to be believed. Not just A shooting coach, but THE shooting coach to end all shooting coaches.

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=a4lJEbpuFtPRHuId24j_LA

It's the offseason, a time when hope abounds. But if Avdija really does become a reliable shooter, that's a total game changer. He would suddenly become an above-average starter with possible All-Star potential down the road. Avdija with shooting is basically 90% of prime Gordon Hayward on offense, but with much better D and rebounding.

And if Coulibaly pans out to be anything close to what we hope he can be, our forward rotation will be totally stacked. Avdija and Coulibaly as starters who can play shut down D and do everything pretty well on O, plus Kuzma as a do-everything instant offense 6th man, and Kispert as a lights-out floor spacing SG/SF. And with everyone so versatile, it doesn't really matter what position they play. All 4 of them could be on the floor alongside anyone else.

[doclinkin]

Did we talk about this bit of news? (Translated from various sites, info about a week old now).

Disappointing news for the Israeli national team. Following an injury, Danny Avdia is not expected to play with the Israeli national team in the pre-qualifying tournament for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

In recent weeks, after quite a few conversations between the national team and Avdia and his representatives, including representatives of his team, Avdia made it clear that he wanted to represent the team in the upcoming tournament and had already set an arrival date for training, but last week it became clear that Avdia was suffering from an injury that greatly worried his team, who immediately sent a doctor to Israel.

After several consultations and the preference for Avdia to enter the new season in the NBA without sustaining an injury or aggravation if he plays in the upcoming games, the parties in cooperation with the Israeli national team came to an agreement that he will not take part in the upcoming tournament, unless there is an improvement in his recovery rate.

A few days ago, the coach of the national team, Ariel Beit HaLachemi, said about Dani Avdia: "From day one, he committed to being here. He has an injury that worries Washington quite a bit and right now he is not fit to be with us in training. His doctor from the USA came here to conduct tests on him, I hope the injury is not serious and we can receive him. He did everything to be here. "

Injured hip seems to be the diagnosis.

[doclinkin]

Also this:

An interview with Deni. ANyone speak Hebrew and can translate? The lede says:

Like you haven't seen: watch Avdia talk about everything
52 minutes, everything is on the table: our representative in the best league in the world came to "Talk" with Shay Hausman and revealed the difficulties behind the scenes in the NBA ("I feel lonely, I finished the season drained"), the camps in the team ("It was very toxic, they didn't like the relationship between me and Yam Medar"), the "culture of losses" in Washington ("Afraid to stay in an underachieving team") and even talked about "The Lock". An interview you don't see every day

https://www-sport5-co-il.translate.goog/articles.aspx?FolderID=8166&docID=443433&_x_tr_sl=iw&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

[payitforward]

Too bad there's not a transcript to pour into google translate!

[nate33]

Also this:

An interview with Deni. ANyone speak Hebrew and can translate? The lede says:

Like you haven't seen: watch Avdia talk about everything
52 minutes, everything is on the table: our representative in the best league in the world came to "Talk" with Shay Hausman and revealed the difficulties behind the scenes in the NBA ("I feel lonely, I finished the season drained"), the camps in the team ("It was very toxic, they didn't like the relationship between me and Yam Medar"), the "culture of losses" in Washington ("Afraid to stay in an underachieving team") and even talked about "The Lock". An interview you don't see every day

https://www-sport5-co-il.translate.goog/articles.aspx?FolderID=8166&docID=443433&_x_tr_sl=iw&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

Nice find, Doc.

FWIW, the stuff about camp being toxic was related to the Israeli team, not the Wizards.

Overall, he seems like he has a very grounded assessment of himself and the team. He isn't happy about all the losing, but I didn't really take that as him saying he wants to be traded or anything. He is expressing the very normal, natural desire to win rather than lose. (It's sentiment like this that helps one understand why Winger and Dawkins didn't go full Process and strip the team bare. They want the team to at least be a halfway competitive 30-win club instead of an awful 18-win club because consistent losing is demoralizing.)

I liked one comment he said late in the article: "I tell you and also what my teammates say, I am the fastest forward in the league." I think he might be right about this. End-to-end, Avdija is extremely fast. There have been several highlight plays this year when he blew past the retreating defense in the open floor.

Another quote: "I'm very optimistic, this season I finished with almost double digits for six shots in the game". He's almost right. It was actually only 5 games in a row where he had double digit attempts, not 6. But 3 of the 5 games this season where he shot 14 or more FGA's took place in those last 6 games. And he shot really well in all but one of them (a 2/14 stinker against Orlando).

[payitforward]

The translated sections that are present are very interesting -- there are off-the-cuff verbal responses that I think are way more strongly put than he would voice in an interview over here & in English.

Overall, to me at least, he comes off as extremely intense, very motivated, &... obviously... really young -- no more mature than you'd expect a 22-year old kid to be.

[2Fluffy4U]

It's a long interview.. wouldn't worry much about it.
1. His reported injury is mostly a way for both parties (National team vs Deni) to amicably let him rest without any National fanatics loosing their head over it. (My opinion - was not discussed in interview).
2. He truly believes in himslef and thinks he has the abilities to become an established NBA starter (in a contender) / borderline all-star.
When criticized about left hand/shooting% his answer was that when taking only 6 shots a game - if he sees a right hand option - why not? Knows he is expected to increase volume and up for the task.
3. He acknowledges and believes his main issue is his mental fluctuations and not being able to perform at his best consistently. He is working on it.
4. Being away from his home, friends a family takes a toll on him. He learns how to cope and feels he is getting better..

[doclinkin]

It's a long interview.. wouldn't worry much about it.
1. His reported injury is mostly a way for both parties (National team vs Deni) to amicably let him rest without any National fanatics loosing their head over it. (My opinion - was not discussed in interview).
2. He truly believes in himslef and thinks he has the abilities to become an established NBA starter (in a contender) / borderline all-star.
When criticized about left hand/shooting% his answer was that when taking only 6 shots a game - if he sees a right hand option - why not? Knows he is expected to increase volume and up for the task.
3. He acknowledges and believes his main issue is his mental fluctuations and not being able to perform at his best consistently. He is working on it.
4. Being away from his home, friends a family takes a toll on him. He learns how to cope and feels he is getting better..

Thanks for the summary.

[nate33]

Read on Twitter

Looks like there's little reason to worry that the injury will derail his summer training.