Hate to say it, but Rick Adelman's coaching this year has been inconsistent.

[WildWolf2813]

I could point out a bunch of examples from other games, but I'll focus on tonight.

Randy freakin Wittman, goes to Jan Vesely to see if he can get anything out of him and actually provides a spark. Who knew? Meanwhile, Rick Adelman, up SIXTEEN, can't even bring himself to use Derrick Williams or Dieng, just someone than can close out a half, something our starters have struggled to do. Nevermind even that, here's a bigger example.

Alexey Shved is out of the rotation, gets challenged to do better. What does he do? 2 BLOCKS, 1 assist, a couple of boards, and get this, a +9. He gets rewarded by never seeing the court again, in a game where Rick in postgame said he rode the hot hands and went with the lineup that he felt could win, a lineup that didn't include playing Rubio or pounding the rock to Pekovic who overpowered his opponent all night.

Tonight we happened to lose the game with a big lead, but does this team have to score 35+ points in the first half every night to get by? Do we need to be up 30 to feel like we can hold onto a lead? The way we've won, while fun and impressive, is not something he can sustain, and while our bench has been erratic at best, when Adelman shows zero faith in the guys he has even in spurts where they look OK, he can't be surprised when they're not the guys we know they can be. I asked this question on opening night. If he can't bring himself to use his bench in a point in the game where they'd have to be virtually dead to hurt you, when will he use them?

I love Rick Adelman. He's probably been the best free agent acquisition this team has ever had, but I can't sit here and think he's done a magnificent job. In fact, his management has been really spotty.

[Monster]

Derrick Williams? Hummel took his minutes and probably will continue to do so because from what I have seen he has deserved them. Also if you look at Jan's stats in his limited action this year he looks like a guy that has provided spark with his rebounding and steals.

I can't totally disagree with your take on Shved, but he also took one of his classic off balanced 3's before he left the game. It was a very solid overall performance though for him hopefully he can get going. his body of work this year wouldn't have made me give him another shot if I thought I had another option.

[m4gor [enjin:6667447]]

well, this comes with jumpshooting teams, you shoot well you win you shoot bad you lose, what is most frustrating that when we have stone cold jumpshooters we dont work hard enough to get ball to PEK down low

Love is career .350 3pt shooter and we give him 6.5 attempts per game, Brewer is .330 career 3pt shooter and we give him 3.5 attempts per game, thats freaking 10 3pt attempts per game, give 3-4 more shots per game to PEK, we signed him for 12 mil per year and giving him 10 FGAs per game (with half of them being his own work on offensive glass)? what a bullshit

also that Vesely/DW, well if you want to get some value of player you have to play him a bit, which Wiz are doing with Vesely, i have to tell you i would not mind to give him some reasonable 3y/4m contract as he enters UFA, i have a feeling that Wizards/Wittman screwed up big time with his developement, however DW is so so bad that playing him would only damage any possible value left

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I also am a big fan of Adelman, but your take is excellent, WW. Shved had a very nice first half handling the ball and defensively, with one wild shot his only black mark. I thought for sure he would play another 10 minutes in the second half, both because he was playing well and to keep our starters fresh. You won't hear me call for Shveddy very often, but he should gave played in the second half. Not a good night for RA.

[WildWolf2813]

Derrick Williams? Hummel took his minutes and probably will continue to do so because from what I have seen he has deserved them. Also if you look at Jan's stats in his limited action this year he looks like a guy that has provided spark with his rebounding and steals.

I can't totally disagree with your take on Shved, but he also took one of his classic off balanced 3's before he left the game. It was a very solid overall performance though for him hopefully he can get going. his body of work this year wouldn't have made me give him another shot if I thought I had another option.

But therein lies the problem? You have a big lead. Why is Shved taking a 3 like that punishable by never seeing the court again? Does Rick expect these guys to be flawless? Sometimes, letting these guys play their way through their mistakes while we can afford to can build this team up better for the long haul.

Derrick Williams was just an example. That coulda been Dieng for all I care. I look at a team like Golden State and how they've used any and everyone when they've had the chance and now what you have is a bunch of young kids who play well together in any rotation who have the confidence to be able to contribute. I can't help but think if Adelman coached the Warriors we'd never see guys like Draymond Green or even Barnes help them out.

I get that he wants to win. We all do, but the way he's managed the team can come back to haunt him later.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

So we need a new point guard and head coach. Got it.

[WildWolf2813]

So we need a new point guard and head coach. Got it.

that is NOT what I said. I'm pointing out a major flaw in what Adelman's doing. I'm not trying to push him out the door in favor of Flip. Rick's not above criticism, even early on.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

When you lose a game like this, the coach is at fault as much as anyone else. Love and Martin need to step up and accept responsibility too. They are our two best players and should have led the charge to finish the Wizards off in the 3rd quarter. Instead, they let them right back in.

One positive is the continued solid play from Robbie Hummel. If his 3-point shooting and solid board-work continues, this guy could be a real asset for us going forward as opposed to just a placeholder for Budinger.

[Lipoli390]

I'm fine holding Adelman partially accountable for tonight's loss. But let's keep our eye on the ball. We lost tonight because our key players were outplayed by their main guys. Martin was terrible tonight, shooting 23.5% from the field and going 1-5 from behind the arc while getting to the line only once for two shots. His counterpart, Beal, had 25 points on 43% shooting, including 2-3 night from behind the arc and a 5-5 night at the line. He dominated Martin. Brewer was similarly outplayed by Martell Webster -- yes, Webster. Brewer shot 41% from the field and went 1-5 from behind the arc. He had only one shot at the stripe. Webster shot 46% from the field and went 5-10 from behind the arc to go with 9 rebounds. Finally, Rubio played poorly and ended up logging only 19 minutes.

Those performances weren't Adelman's fault. Those guys are starters and core players on this team. They have to play better on a consistent basis, especially against supposedly inferior teams like the Wizards. And it's not as if these three guys were overworked tonight. Brewer played 35 minutes, Martin 33 minutes and Rubio 19. Even if we had a better bench, it's up to our starters to win games and performances like tonight's from these three guys is unacceptable.

Adelman is stuck with the players Kahn and Flip have given him. Brewer is a career 41.8% FG shooter and a 30% 3-point shooter. That's who he is. When our starting SG stinks it up like he did tonight, Brewer has to shoot more. That's not a good thing. But Adelman has no one else he can count on at that position. And who else is Adelman going to play at the SG spot. Shved has given Adelman absolutely no reason to have any confidence in him at that position with his horrible shooting and terrible decision-making. Adelman has been given a roster that severely limits his options. Tonight's game highlighted those limitations.

I found tonight's game troubling. It was another of several games so far this season that suggest this team will be struggling for the 8th seed rather than competing for the 6th seed or better as I initially projected.

Like Q, I like what we've seen recently from Hummel. That's encouraging. But this roster needs an upgrade and I don't think Budinger's return in January will be enough.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Just watched most of the game. Some thoughts:

Wolves turned the 2nd half into a street ball game. Quick shots, too many 3 point attempts, little penetration and too little touches for Pek. And give the Wizards some credit, they started making shots and ran every chance they could which is a strength of their team. The Wiz are no doubt better than their record--I think they will end up a playoff team in the East, maybe even as high as a five or six seed.

Martin's shot selection tonight was really bad. But part of that was the lack of patience by our offense. Like I said, we got into a street-ball game and were shooting way too fast.

No reason to not come back with Rubio halfway through the 4th. I thought Rubio must have played a really bad 3rd quarter but after watching it I thought he was one of our better players that quarter (not saying much since everybody was so bad). So halfway through the 4th, the Wolves were down five, the offense was stalling and JJ was doing nothing. Yes after that JJ hit a couple of shots, but his defense was horrible on Wall, and he facilitated nothing on offense. I don't understand Adelman's thinking here at the 6 minute mark. It was a good rest for Rubio and he would have been able to go hard on defense for the last 6 minutes. Plus he had actually made 3 out of 5 shots!

So a questionable coaching move by Adelman there, but this loss isn't on him. The 2nd half was the dumbest I've seen the team look this season. Just not smart basketball. Luckily there is chance for quick redemption against the Clips. I think they will bounce back. They just have to go back to playing their game, which is moving the ball and getting/taking good shots. When you get good shots you make more shots, which leads to being able to set up your defense.