Gameday: Wizards at Raptors

Conor Dirks of Truth About It drops by to answer some questions.

It’s about that time. The Washington Wizards swoop into town in a battle between two under-performing 4-1 teams. First up, here’s Conor Dirks of Truth About It to answer five pressing questions about the Wizards (neé) Bullets. You can (and should) follow Conor on Twitter, especially if you want to see RTs famous Wizards commenter Wzzzznutzzz. Also, on a personal note, congratulations to TAI editor Kyle Weidie!

1. How is Paul Pierce’s transitioning back to playing small forward? He spent most of last season masquerading as a smallball four. Is he holding up defensively?

Randy Wittman has been surly (even by his standards) when asked if Paul Pierce will ever get a chance to move over to that smallball four position he occupied during Brooklyn’s climb back up the standings last year. According to Wittman, the Wizards have too many big bodies in the frontcourt to loan minutes to Pierce. Then again, this is the man who told Kevin Love (and maybe Trevor Booker) to stop shooting 3-pointers. On Tuesday night in Manhattan, Pierce had his best game of the season, trailing Wall for above-the-break 3-point attempts, pushing the ball on offense, and pestering Carmelo into seven turnovers and 8-for-23 shooting. Pierce is no Trevor Ariza on the perimeter, but he makes up for it by adjusting over the course of the game. I was impressed to see him plant his feet on the spot behind the 3-point line that Anthony was headed towards, do his patented “no hands” showing, and force an awful shot that had to be launched off-balance.

2. Explain Garrett Temple’s new found success. How did he transition from D-League fodder to long-range sniper? He’s shooting 51.9 percent from deep on the season.

Garrett Temple walked into his local bookstore (if those still exist) and purchased a paperback copy of That’s Me in the Corner: How to Get Paid Playing with John Wall by Martell Webster, with a special foreword by Trevor Ariza. There’s been a certain amount of glee among long-time Temple defenders in his new-found shooting touch, but like your question implies: this evolution has been drastic and unexpected. The Wizards, without Beal and Webster, have relied almost exclusively on Garrett Temple to provide the corner 3-pointers that Wall creates with incredible frequency. It will be interesting to see if Temple, who spent his offseason working on his shooting touch, can keep this up until Beal returns.

3. What’s up with Kris Humphries? From the boxscore averages, he looks to be struggling. One would think that the marriage of Humphries with Randy Wittman’s mid-range heavy offense would result in the perfect union.

I’d been wondering the same thing. It was almost an universal assumption that Humphries and Blair would play ahead of Kevin Seraphin. It seemed that Seraphin, who struggled mightily until Washington’s game against New York, may have gotten the nod without much merit. But on Wednesday night, Marcin Gortat said something interesting in the locker room:
“You know, we have a few players on the bench that we want … them to get better. We need Kris Humphries to get in shape, get in the basketball rhythm. He’s a player we need, and we’ve got to help him out.””
So, maybe he’s still working himself into shape. Aside from that, I’m still looking forward to seeing what he can do in less limited minutes.

4. On a scale of 1-to-10, how much do you miss having JaVale, Swaggy, Blatche and Gilbert on your team.

This is such a complicated question. I don’t miss JaVale and 7-Day Dray at all. Nick Young the person, I miss. But Nick Young the basketball player? He never took the game, or this team, seriously enough to stick long-term He and our next subject, Arenas, once contrived a fake Gilbert injury story so that Young could play a few extra minutes. And as for sweet Gilly, one of the most unique NBA players of the last few decades…I wish it didn’t end like it did. That said, Gilbert is “living the life” after the NBA, still posting on Instagram frequently, with posts running the gamut from Wizards nostalgia to promoting his new infidelity app, Invisible Text. He’s becoming harder to like by the day, but I’ll always appreciate his candor,
If you couldn’t tell, you kind of tapped into a vein of coursing ex-Wizard neuroses. Sorry about that. Final score: 3.

BONUS: What is Jan Vesely up to these days?

I actually know the answer to this. Jan is playing for Fenerbache Ulker in Istanbul this season, after receiving (according to him) only one NBA offer in the offseason, which was contingent on him “proving himself” before being handed any significant role. From Jan’s perspective, he shouldn’t have to prove himself anymore in the NBA. Jan’s perspective is flawed, however. After three NBA seasons (two teams), 162 games (25 starts), and 2,455 total minutes, because he still hasn’t proven he can hang with the world’s best, he’ll always have to prove himself in the future.

Point guard – Even

John Wall, Andre Miller vs. Kyle Lowry, Greivis Vasquez

Watching two of the best point guards in the Eastern Conference pitted against one another is going to be a treat. After turning in four somewhat passive performances to start the season, Lowry finally commandeered the offense Wednesday against the Celtics. The result was a 35-point performance on 12-of-17 shooting. Wall is scratching the surface of his potential — a scary thought because he’s already one of the league’s best playmakers. The two will likely play to a standstill, just as they did in four meetings last season.

Miller versus Vasquez should be hilarious, mostly because they both manage to be productive despite being slow as molasses. Vasquez tends to get up for games against his hometown Wizards. In the Raptors’ double-overtime thriller against the Wizards, Vasquez dropped a cool 26-point, 8-assist performance, carrying the load for Lowry who had fouled out.

Shooting guard – Raptors

Garrett Temple, Otto Porter vs. DeMar DeRozan, Lou Williams

DeRozan and Williams haven’t exactly gotten off to tremendous starts. Both players are shooting under 40 percent from the field and below 30 percent from deep. Williams hasn’t yet meshed with the second unit, struggling to generate offense on anything other than isolation drives, while DeRozan has been sunk by two weak shooting performances against Boston and Atlanta.

Luckily, both Williams and DeRozan have been unstoppable in getting to the charity stripe. Williams has done a great job of attacking off the pick-and-roll and drawing fouls on account of his herky-jerky jumpshot. DeRozan, on the other hand, has made an effort to leak out in transition, which has helped to inflate his already bourgeoning free throw totals. Both players are averaging over seven attempts per 36 minutes.

Temple and Porter are the Wizards’ interim fill-ins while Bradley Beal is out. They’re both limited to spot-ups on offense. As long as rotations and closeouts are on-point, Porter and Temple should be relatively easy to hold in check.

Small forward – Wizards

Paul Pierce vs. James Johnson, Terrence Ross

It’s no great secret that Ross has gotten off to a terrible start. Although his numbers (eight points, a couple of rebounds) look fine, Ross has mostly drifted in and out of games, rarely making his presence felt. For the most part, Ross has looked like the same player who took a giant stinking dump during the playoffs last season.

However, I also don’t entirely hold Ross’s struggles against him. The Raptors are almost never running plays for him to get open looks anymore. Ross is highly dependent on others to set him up, and the Raptors looked to have scrapped the double pin-down play that was once a staple of Ross’s offense.

As for the Wizards, despite how much I personally detest him, 37-year-old Paul Pierce still has it. He isn’t too keen on chasing guards around screens, so again, more pin-downs for Ross would be nice.

Power forward – Even

Nene, Kris Humphries vs. Amir Johnson (likely; ankle), Patrick Patterson

Nene is the Wizards’ version Amir Johnson. He’s the injury-prone big who holds the key to Washington’s success. Nene was a beast in the playoffs last year, badly outplaying Joakim Noah to help power Washington into the second round. He’s strong, he’s mobile, he can shoot and he has great defensive instincts. He just can’t stay healthy.

The battle at backup will be one to watch. Humphries posted a strong season in Boston last year, extending his range out to beyond 20 feet, while retaining his tenacity on the glass. His addition was supposed to add much-needed depth to Washington’s frontcourt, but he’s struggled thus far, losing play time to a suddenly rejuvenated Drew Gooden of late. Patrick Patterson has also struggled, though his 15-point performance against the Celtics was extremely encouraging. Patterson holds the key to the Raptors’ second unit, and without his presence, the bench is reduced to isolation play from its guards.

Center – Even

Marcin Gortat vs. Jonas Valanciunas (likely; hand)

Gortat is a mobile pick-and-roll threat who provides decent rim-protection. Having spent the majority of his career around two elite passers in Wall and Steve Nash, *pour one out* Gortat has learned to play with excellent timing and awareness on offense. He provides an interesting comparison for Valanciunas’s development. My thinking is that Valanciunas will eventually top out as a slightly better version of Gortat that is better at defending the rim.

A fully healthy Valanciunas should be able to keep Gortat in check. The key is to protect the rim and encourage Gortat to shoot the midrange shot, but he’s fairly decent at that too. Gortat connected on over 40 percent of his attempts from between 10-16 feet last season, mostly as a result of playing pick-and-pop with Wall.

3 Keys to victory

Keep the Wizards out of the transition game
- Randy Wittman’s teams love to play in the midrange. As long as the Raptors get back in transition — no easy task with Wall pushing the pace — the Wizards will settle into a halfcourt offense, of which is largely designed around creating midrange looks.
- The easy solution is to trade offensive-rebounding opportunities for the ability to recover in transition.
Screen Wall, repeatedly
- Wall is a diligent defender, but he loves grovelling for steals and cheating around screens to guard the drive. Running him around screens is an easy way to get open looks.
Guard the corners
- Wall loves to create looks for shooters in the corners after starting the initial action out of a pick-and-roll. Leaving someone like Miller or Porter open is fine. Failing to check Temple is not. The challenge is on Lowry and Amir to effectively contain pick-and-rolls without needing help from a third defender.

Prediction: Raptors 102, Wizards 96

Vegas says: Raptors by 4.5, O/U 197.5

Destiny’s Child says: My name

Al Pacino says: *belligerent yelling*

Will says: Home court advantage and Beal’s absence hurts the Wizards. Temple and Porter have off nights shooting while Lowry does a decent job of keeping Wall in check. Amir makes his triumphant return with three put-backs and two twisted ankles.