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Deni can easily be the third best player on a championship contender. That is no small thing at all. There is even a small chance he could be the second best player but you would need a Wemby type talent to be #1.

A perfect beacon of escapism, especially for his Israeli fans.
Thank you Deni...

I think it's safe to say Deni is the best player in the roster.
It's especially exciting considering he is only 23 years old.
They say the peak for players in age 29. That's very far from now haha...

MOSH wrote:I think it's safe to say Deni is the best player in the roster.
It's especially exciting considering he is only 23 years old.
They say the peak for players in age 29. That's very far from now haha...

Prime tends to be 26-29 before a decline. Yeah Deni has a good start and they timed the extension on his contract exactly right.

Chase Hughes: Deni Avdija had 32 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals against the Raptors. The only other player in franchise history to have at least those numbers in a game is Elvin Hayes. Joel Embiid is the only other player to do so this NBA season.

BUT THE 4 TOs!!! And he missed both of his 3s.

It’s official. The deni now is better than the haliburton now.

MOSH wrote:I think it's safe to say Deni is the best player in the roster.
It's especially exciting considering he is only 23 years old.
They say the peak for players in age 29. That's very far from now haha...

Poole is the most talented. Kuzma 2nd most talented.
Deni shows more effort on defense, and uses more Basketball brain cells.
More team oriented, efficient, and thus most valuable for the team.

Runner300 wrote:

MOSH wrote:I think it's safe to say Deni is the best player in the roster.
It's especially exciting considering he is only 23 years old.
They say the peak for players in age 29. That's very far from now haha...

Poole is the most talented. Kuzma 2nd most talented.
Deni shows more effort on defense, and uses more Basketball brain cells.
More team oriented, efficient, and thus most valuable for the team.

I don't even understand what is this "most talented" "in the vacuum" definition means. Is it like NBA 'most athletic' definition: "can jump really high twice in a row" (as someone explained about Bagley being selected over Luka)?

Kuz has very nice finishing abilities, 6'10" and quick. He is good player as... 3rd option on playoff team (not sure about actual contender). He is 28 years old, 7th year in league, and he never significantly improved. Same 52% eFG%, 55% ts%... Same rebounds rate. A bit more assists, but ~1.5 ast/tov at best.

Poole can get open for a shot very good, but not good in making those shots. With his abysmal defending he didn't even look like NBA player 1st half of season. As SG he's just garbage. It could be that he turns the corner as PG now. But even if he can be good enough starting PG (an he is relatively young still at 25) , there are too many things which are probably unfixable (like his defense)

Deni on other hand is 23 years old, 6'9" and both very quick and very strong for his size, good defender, very good rebounder, good passer and relatively good ball handler (for 6'9" player for sure) and his offensive abilities are improving since he left from "arrested development" limbo. I don't know how to quantify his "talent", but his ceiling probably much higher than of Kuz or Poole

Runner300 wrote:

MOSH wrote:I think it's safe to say Deni is the best player in the roster.
It's especially exciting considering he is only 23 years old.
They say the peak for players in age 29. That's very far from now haha...

Poole is the most talented. Kuzma 2nd most talented.
Deni shows more effort on defense, and uses more Basketball brain cells.
More team oriented, efficient, and thus most valuable for the team.

Isn't most valuable for the team is the practical definition of the best player on the roster?

Usually the "best" player will be the one who has the biggest positive affect on the team winning games, but since right now this is not the #1 priority then probably the question of "best" is who the team considers the guy that the team's playing style is built around and the guy that other players needs to adjust to and not the other way around, at least at the last 1-2 months, I think the answer is Deni more than others, but that's debatable.

Kuzma and Deni are way more “talented” than Poole. Poole is shorter and slower, and lacks a quick first step. He has a deep bag of tricks that allow him to create shots in isolation, but it takes him a while because he is usually at a physical disadvantage to his defender.

Nice article by Ava Wallace on behind the scenes of Deni's growth this season:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/12/deni-avdija-washington-wizards/

Some interesting quotes :

The fact that it was a new front office making the offer, not the one that drafted him, was like a double shot of confidence.

"Some people think you go right too much? Doesn’t matter. Be great at going right. Dominate the simple thing of going right, then if they stop it, or take it away, we’ll build in counters as we go". Guthrie said.

He was sick of taking himself out of games by obsessing over small mistakes or a referee’s call. A poorly executed play would snowball into a blah game, which would become five bad days.

He pointed to the wall across the Wizards’ practice facility that has on it the names of the franchise’s all-stars, NBA Community Assist Award leaders and league MVP winners.

Right now? This is my home. I want to be on that wall.

I was thinking about the Halliburton comp. My assumption is that the advanced stats would
suggest he's not there yet. For better or worse, in the minds of Wiz fans, Deni will be comp'd
to Tyrese. Obviously it's an open question if the trend line of Deni's improvement will continue
on the same trajectory.

edit to add - went looking now for PPA stats for this yeqr with no luck. Has TSW done them?

Runner300 wrote:

MOSH wrote:I think it's safe to say Deni is the best player in the roster.
It's especially exciting considering he is only 23 years old.
They say the peak for players in age 29. That's very far from now haha...

Poole is the most talented. Kuzma 2nd most talented.
Deni shows more effort on defense, and uses more Basketball brain cells.
More team oriented, efficient, and thus most valuable for the team.

By most talented, I assume you mean "shoots the most" because if you watch both sides of the ball, Poole has poor skills at that end and Kuzma's are only average and that when he's trying which he doesn't seem to think he has to when he feels he's being counted on to be the man offensively.

If you were to rank players in the league based not on where they are now, but where they’re likely to be in a year or two, and including salary (which is part of value), I’m not certain that Deni isn’t Top 35-40.

Also? This guy’s face should be all over the city. All over Penn Quarter. He should be on buses. On billboards. There should be t shirts and hats with his likeness. He should be in commercials (except not Eastern Motors).

Yeah, the record’s not good and casuals don’t watch. But all this was to be expected. He deserves some attention. Some real love for what he is and what he’s going to be. For the growth he’s shown.

He is THE face of this franchise.

And he’s so likeable and easy to root for.

What other athlete in the city comes close? Other than Ovechkin. What young player?

badinage wrote:He is THE face of this franchise.

And he’s so likeable and easy to root for.

What other athlete in the city comes close? Other than Ovechkin. What young player?

Terry McLaurin of the Commanders and maybe potentially CJ Abrams of the Nats.

But I’m with you. Deni deserves all the love the DMV and the Zards franchise should give him. He’s proven that he’s the Zards best player…and that he’s only getting better.

Yes.

And Terry is great and so is CJ! And I hope James Wood and Crews are up there too — both seem like good kids and dynamic players.

We really need to take a moment and appreciate what Deni has done in the final third of the season. He isn't just a rock solid player, he has produced like an All-Star.

Since February 8th, Deni has averaged 19.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists on a .604 TS%. The team was just -1.2 per 100 possessions in those minutes, so Deni had this talentless roster playing like a 37-win team while he was on the floor.

Compare that production to three other All-Stars this season:
Player A: 19.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists, .566 TS%
Player B: 22.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists, .545 TS%
Player C: 23.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists, .580 TS%
Avdija: 19.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, .604 TS%

Of those 3 All-Stars and Deni, who would you take?


I'm no longer sure what Deni's ceiling is. It's not like there's any reason to think he has plateaued. Can he keep getting better as a ball handler and decision maker and reduce those turnovers? What if he develops a more reliable step-back 3? Right now, teams can only deal with him by giving him space and shading his right hand, but if he starts hitting step-back 3's, there won't be much of an answer for him.