He was definitely struggling, but he's playing with more aggressiveness/confidence and the team is committed to playing through him as a playmaker. He really excels in the top of the key PnR play that's the bread and butter of the entire league - he's been particularly great at the mid-range pull up/fadeaway from 12-15, which IMO has opened up the rest of his game and boosted his confidence offensively. Definitely good signs. But we need to see more effort on the boards and much better defense, but I think that'll come as he continues to round out his offensive game.
I think his defense has been the biggest improvement between last year and this year and I think his rebounding work is excellent generally. My only complaints with his game has been his struggles with shooting, and now that the shot is starting to fall we can see the makings of an NBA point guard.
I think his ISO defense in the halfcourt has been very impressive and the biggest leap he's made from last year, but he looks just as bad if not worse in transition D half the time, and as a team defender most any time he's defending off ball
That to me is still a great sign of progress that I find very encouraging, to be clear.
Give him a season to really hone the one physical element of his defense, and then next season, at 20 years old, he can put the same amount of effort into those other, more thoughtful areas of defense.
I'm not saying that Keefe is the Xs and Os guy we want in 5 years, but people were starting to act like we hadn't seen an ounce of player development this season when all of the young guys were clearly improved and just not finding their rhythm and energy as a unit (see: even guys like CJ who are as proven a nightly bucket as they come was struggling until the youngins locked in) and that was getting on my nerves
The way this fanbase talked about and gave up on Bub was pathetic and ironic. So quick to trash the (2nd) youngest player in the 2024 class playing one of the toughest positions to adjust to, not even half way through his sophomore year and just over 100 career games. Constantly complaining about giving up DENI as if you didn’t just see it take until Year 4 for him to take the leap and show glimpses of that borderline all-star that he is today.
Wizards are finally in a spot where we can be patient with development and fans are rushing it for whatever reason. We’re in a great position with Sarr, Key, Bub, Bilal, Tre, Will and Jamir. How can you not be excited tossing a Peterson/Dybantsa/Boozer/Wilson/Brown Jr./Flemings in there too?
Finally someone said it! Deni took forever to pop. Why the fanbase is unwilling to give Bub the same grace is beyond me. I was neutral on Bub coming into the year but the negativity he gets makes me a firm pro-Bub guy now
Definitely tough to see his first month/2. However, we forget how young he is, plus, I believe he had some really unfortunate personal matters around the start of the season. Getting your head off stuff like that is really tough to be focused.
Love to see him grow and look confident. Prove the doubters wrong that we shouldn't have traded away Deni.
People didn't realize just how good Bub was as a rookie. He struggled with his shot, but he led the team in passes, assists, assist points created, and had a good AST:TO ratio
Bub's production this year hasn't been too far off what he did last year
The difference is that Kyshawn and Alex improved so much that Bub's lack of improvement makes him look worse than he actually is
Well, the main reason for that is because he played 82 games and our team was god-awful last year and Sarr and Kyshawn missed a lot of games last year.
Yes he slumped huge. I’ll admit that I’m pretty amazed at the turnaround. Still not totally sure if he’s a 3rd/Combo guard or not. Time will tell, but he’s been playing really well the last handful of games.
He's probably going to get relegated to that if we get the first pick and get the opportunity to grab a dude in Darryn Peterson that profiles out to be somewhere in the Kyrie Irving type of stratosphere but it's of no disrespect to him. Tre is going to be a great volume scorer/shooter with more experience and having a guy like Bub who, if he can continue with this kind of intensity, is a major asset coming off the bench.
Agree and depending on what they feel long term…. They may try to acquire a vet lead guard to get these young players better looks. At some point you have to start getting good vets on the roster to win with.
Not gonna argue that one bit, I just don't think CJ or Khris are those guys. I never thought I would say this but I trust the front office to make the right moves there.
They are not…. CJ is really much more a 2 than a combo guard. Khris…. Was a decent 3 when he had wheels…. He just doesn’t now. Both are really locker room depth/mentor guys at this point.
They need to start acquiring guys that are NBA experienced and have more than a little gas in the tank.
💯 agree and I could see them potentially kicking the tires on a guy like FVV or Norm Powell if they actually do end up hitting free agency. Not sure if or whom they would target via trade but I think free agency is the route and there should be some solid veteran guards to choose from
Coby White is a perfect "bridge" PG imo to look out for in UFA this off-season. Plus there's so many rumored guards on the market between Garland, Lamelo, Morant, FVV(?), Schroder, Westbrook, Trae, Dejounte Murray.
If I'm the front office there's no way I'm walking away from this trade deadline without one of the names on that list. And I don't particularly care which one. I think they all serve the same purpose well enough to varying degrees that I would take whichever one is cheapest.
In a dream scenario we scoop up someone from the Kings for helping to facilitate a larger deal and don't even have to throw in any seconds, but we'll see ¯_(ツ)_/¯
My personal (full speculation, no facts) belief is that he was told lay off the mid range jumpers and him doing so totally blew up his entire game. It meant if he started to drive he had to go all the way, which he was not confident/capable of, and so he either did it anyway to awful results or just got off the ball immediately on the perimeter so he didn't have to risk potentially driving. Seems like the mid range game is back on the table to some degree and it all feels more comfortable now.
I remember Scott Brooks doing this to Wall one season. After dropping 40 and 14 on the Lakers he said in the interview that he just decided to go back to his mid range game.
He's just a high variance player because he relies so much on 3s and 2 point jumpers and never gets to the line. This is always going to be a problem for him if he doesn't have some kind of scoring versatility outside of that.
I think he came in with a different mindset based on what he was asked to focus on. Id bet even he would say he looked like shit on film in the beginning.
He was definitely struggling, but he's playing with more aggressiveness/confidence and the team is committed to playing through him as a playmaker. He really excels in the top of the key PnR play that's the bread and butter of the entire league - he's been particularly great at the mid-range pull up/fadeaway from 12-15, which IMO has opened up the rest of his game and boosted his confidence offensively. Definitely good signs. But we need to see more effort on the boards and much better defense, but I think that'll come as he continues to round out his offensive game.
I think his defense has been the biggest improvement between last year and this year and I think his rebounding work is excellent generally. My only complaints with his game has been his struggles with shooting, and now that the shot is starting to fall we can see the makings of an NBA point guard.
I think his ISO defense in the halfcourt has been very impressive and the biggest leap he's made from last year, but he looks just as bad if not worse in transition D half the time, and as a team defender most any time he's defending off ball
That to me is still a great sign of progress that I find very encouraging, to be clear.
Give him a season to really hone the one physical element of his defense, and then next season, at 20 years old, he can put the same amount of effort into those other, more thoughtful areas of defense.
I'm not saying that Keefe is the Xs and Os guy we want in 5 years, but people were starting to act like we hadn't seen an ounce of player development this season when all of the young guys were clearly improved and just not finding their rhythm and energy as a unit (see: even guys like CJ who are as proven a nightly bucket as they come was struggling until the youngins locked in) and that was getting on my nerves
The way this fanbase talked about and gave up on Bub was pathetic and ironic. So quick to trash the (2nd) youngest player in the 2024 class playing one of the toughest positions to adjust to, not even half way through his sophomore year and just over 100 career games. Constantly complaining about giving up DENI as if you didn’t just see it take until Year 4 for him to take the leap and show glimpses of that borderline all-star that he is today.
Wizards are finally in a spot where we can be patient with development and fans are rushing it for whatever reason. We’re in a great position with Sarr, Key, Bub, Bilal, Tre, Will and Jamir. How can you not be excited tossing a Peterson/Dybantsa/Boozer/Wilson/Brown Jr./Flemings in there too?
Very exciting time to be a Wizards fan imo
Finally someone said it! Deni took forever to pop. Why the fanbase is unwilling to give Bub the same grace is beyond me. I was neutral on Bub coming into the year but the negativity he gets makes me a firm pro-Bub guy now
Definitely tough to see his first month/2. However, we forget how young he is, plus, I believe he had some really unfortunate personal matters around the start of the season. Getting your head off stuff like that is really tough to be focused.
Love to see him grow and look confident. Prove the doubters wrong that we shouldn't have traded away Deni.
I officially apologize for comparing him to Killian Hayes.
Bub actually showed something his rookie year. Hayes has never shown anything remotely NBA level.
Yes and no
People didn't realize just how good Bub was as a rookie. He struggled with his shot, but he led the team in passes, assists, assist points created, and had a good AST:TO ratio
Bub's production this year hasn't been too far off what he did last year
The difference is that Kyshawn and Alex improved so much that Bub's lack of improvement makes him look worse than he actually is
Bub has had the league's worst plus minus for the majority of this year. I disagree. He did have a slump and he's playing much better now.
Well that’s cause the wizards suck as a whole lmao
Well, the main reason for that is because he played 82 games and our team was god-awful last year and Sarr and Kyshawn missed a lot of games last year.
Yes he slumped huge. I’ll admit that I’m pretty amazed at the turnaround. Still not totally sure if he’s a 3rd/Combo guard or not. Time will tell, but he’s been playing really well the last handful of games.
He's probably going to get relegated to that if we get the first pick and get the opportunity to grab a dude in Darryn Peterson that profiles out to be somewhere in the Kyrie Irving type of stratosphere but it's of no disrespect to him. Tre is going to be a great volume scorer/shooter with more experience and having a guy like Bub who, if he can continue with this kind of intensity, is a major asset coming off the bench.
Agree and depending on what they feel long term…. They may try to acquire a vet lead guard to get these young players better looks. At some point you have to start getting good vets on the roster to win with.
Not gonna argue that one bit, I just don't think CJ or Khris are those guys. I never thought I would say this but I trust the front office to make the right moves there.
They are not…. CJ is really much more a 2 than a combo guard. Khris…. Was a decent 3 when he had wheels…. He just doesn’t now. Both are really locker room depth/mentor guys at this point.
They need to start acquiring guys that are NBA experienced and have more than a little gas in the tank.
💯 agree and I could see them potentially kicking the tires on a guy like FVV or Norm Powell if they actually do end up hitting free agency. Not sure if or whom they would target via trade but I think free agency is the route and there should be some solid veteran guards to choose from
Coby White is a perfect "bridge" PG imo to look out for in UFA this off-season. Plus there's so many rumored guards on the market between Garland, Lamelo, Morant, FVV(?), Schroder, Westbrook, Trae, Dejounte Murray.
If I'm the front office there's no way I'm walking away from this trade deadline without one of the names on that list. And I don't particularly care which one. I think they all serve the same purpose well enough to varying degrees that I would take whichever one is cheapest.
In a dream scenario we scoop up someone from the Kings for helping to facilitate a larger deal and don't even have to throw in any seconds, but we'll see ¯_(ツ)_/¯
My personal (full speculation, no facts) belief is that he was told lay off the mid range jumpers and him doing so totally blew up his entire game. It meant if he started to drive he had to go all the way, which he was not confident/capable of, and so he either did it anyway to awful results or just got off the ball immediately on the perimeter so he didn't have to risk potentially driving. Seems like the mid range game is back on the table to some degree and it all feels more comfortable now.
I remember Scott Brooks doing this to Wall one season. After dropping 40 and 14 on the Lakers he said in the interview that he just decided to go back to his mid range game.
Coaches can over coach.
Especially when Brooks was a “rah rah” guy who basically just ran pick n roll and small ball lineups.
Everyone knew Wall had that nice pull up midrange jumper. No reason to take him away from his bag.
He's just a high variance player because he relies so much on 3s and 2 point jumpers and never gets to the line. This is always going to be a problem for him if he doesn't have some kind of scoring versatility outside of that.
I think he came in with a different mindset based on what he was asked to focus on. Id bet even he would say he looked like shit on film in the beginning.
It was only 20 games.
Not to hate but this doesn’t excuse the fact he is still a terrible defender