Sorry not a fan of Wanamaker

[fairweatherfan]

After today's game Wanamaker's shooting splits are 51/42/91, or 54/42/91 if you use 2pt% only for the first category instead of overall FG%. AST/TO ratio of 2.4. And always seems able to stabilize the bench lineups.

He's doing as good a job as we could've asked in his role.

[Moranis]

My problem isn't with Wanamaker, it is that Wanamaker is literally the only option.  that is the problem.  Not Wanamaker.

[PAOBoston]

My problem isn't with Wanamaker, it is that Wanamaker is literally the only option.  that is the problem.  Not Wanamaker.

We all knew this going into the season. Bench production was going to be a big problem. Too many rookies and defensive minded players. Edwards and G Williams have been a big negative when on the floor. Semi is Semi. Williams can’t create his own offense and his defense has been mediocre. They desperately need a veteran guard or wing to stabilize that unit.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

This is a different team with Gordon Hayward. Everyone gets into their natural roles.

We have Hayward or Walker on the court at all times, with Smart running some offense and Tatum and Brown playing off of them.

You mean to tell me that the most inexperienced team in the NBA is *gasp* inconsistent! Surprising.

[footey]

This is worth a re-visit. 

Has your opinion of Wanamaker changed over the last couple of months? Mine has. He is pretty darn good back up for us.  Nothing flashy, but plays both ends of court quite well, and stays within the schemes.

[Neurotic Guy]

This is worth a re-visit. 

Has your opinion of Wanamaker changed over the last couple of months? Mine has. He is pretty darn good back up for us.  Nothing flashy, but plays both ends of court quite well, and stays within the schemes.

I don’t hate Wanamaker at all.  The issue is that the C’s could use a sharpshooting scorer off the bench and Brad isn’t that.  He makes some valuable plays now and again, plays with energy and is a decent back-up guard, it’s just that C’s need something a little more than he can provide. 

[Donoghus]

For what he is & the role he plays, I'm totally fine with him. 

[Atzar]

Wanamaker is an average backup guard... which is a compliment, given that he was barely an NBA player at all a year ago.  He’s not a guy who will change a game like Schroder, Lou Williams, Rose.  But he’s a steady player who does his job at both ends and is fairly consistent.

[Surferdad]

This is worth a re-visit. 

Has your opinion of Wanamaker changed over the last couple of months? Mine has. He is pretty darn good back up for us.  Nothing flashy, but plays both ends of court quite well, and stays within the schemes.

I don’t hate Wanamaker at all.  The issue is that the C’s could use a sharpshooting scorer off the bench and Brad isn’t that.  He makes some valuable plays now and again, plays with energy and is a decent back-up guard, it’s just that C’s need something a little more than he can provide.

Maybe, but as others have said today on this thread, he is a reliable backup PG.  Doesn't turn the ball over much, decent passer, hits threes and can drive to the cup.

More shooting should come from the off guard position.  Maybe that's Romeo, or perhaps somebody appears in the buyout market.

[fairweatherfan]

It would be great to have a Lou Will type backup PG but there are only so many of those and we have a lot of scorers and thrive on ball movement so oh well.

If you can't have a quasi-star there you want someone who plays like Brad - low mistakes, good efficiency, good teammate, durable. You can't count on him to flip a playoff game by dropping 25 and 8 but you don't worry about him playing horrendously and ruining one. The anti-Rozier, basically. I'll take it.

[PhoSita]

For a team with two excellent options to play the point in Smart and Kemba, plus capable secondary ballhandlers like Hayward and (to some extent) Tatum / Brown, Wanamaker is a perfectly adequate backup point.

Especially since he competes on defense and is a good shooter with a quick release off the ball.

[bdm860]

A big plus (that I never really thought about until recently) is his size:  6'3" and 210lbs.  While nothing remarkable for the NBA, still is good size for a point guard.  According to NBA.com (which seems more up-to-date than bball-ref), has him taller or heavier (often both) than a lot of top guards in the league (Westbrook, Lillard, Paul, Lowry, Irving, Nunn, Dragic, Hero, Curry, Rose, SGA, Beal, DLo, Booker, Jrue, Levert, Lavine) and equal to or only 5lbs away from some bigger guards (Klay, Murray, Oladipo, Mitchell, Wall, Dinwiddie, etc.).

In next season's roster prediction thread a lot of posters (including myself) guessed Wanamaker will be out next year at least partially to make room for Waters (5'10", 175lbs), but maybe I'm reconsidering this now based on some comments Ainge made recently about maybe why he's not looking to bring Isaiah back:

“It’s a challenge with Kemba [Walker] and Isaiah, the size at the guard position,” he said. “That makes it tough, so I don’t think that’s a great fit for our team right now. But again, Isaiah has skills, he has talents that we could use — three-point shooting and scoring. But whenever you try to fill a hole, you’re creating another hole most of the time, unless that player is a two-way, big, solid player.

“We could use some of the things he does on a positive side. His size and defense are not ideal for our team because we already have a small guard we have to work around in some matchups,” Ainge added.

Always hear guys like Mike and Scal talking about how strong and tough Wanamaker is.  Having a solid guy like that makes the switch everything style a lot easier.  Even on switches, he's supposedly only giving up 10lbs to bigger wings like George, Harden, DeRozan.  Being, a solid defender, he's not really a guy the other team can exploit by going at him (well you can still shoot over him, but you what I'm saying).  Maybe he will still have a spot on the team next year.

[Monkhouse]

A big plus (that I never really thought about until recently) is his size:  6'3" and 210lbs.  While nothing remarkable for the NBA, still is good size for a point guard.  According to NBA.com (which seems more up-to-date than bball-ref), has him taller or heavier (often both) than a lot of top guards in the league (Westbrook, Lillard, Paul, Lowry, Irving, Nunn, Dragic, Hero, Curry, Rose, SGA, Beal, DLo, Booker, Jrue, Levert, Lavine) and equal to or only 5lbs away from some bigger guards (Klay, Murray, Oladipo, Mitchell, Wall, Dinwiddie, etc.).

In next season's roster prediction thread a lot of posters (including myself) guessed Wanamaker will be out next year at least partially to make room for Waters (5'10", 175lbs), but maybe I'm reconsidering this now based on some comments Ainge made recently about maybe why he's not looking to bring Isaiah back:

“It’s a challenge with Kemba [Walker] and Isaiah, the size at the guard position,” he said. “That makes it tough, so I don’t think that’s a great fit for our team right now. But again, Isaiah has skills, he has talents that we could use — three-point shooting and scoring. But whenever you try to fill a hole, you’re creating another hole most of the time, unless that player is a two-way, big, solid player.

“We could use some of the things he does on a positive side. His size and defense are not ideal for our team because we already have a small guard we have to work around in some matchups,” Ainge added.

Always hear guys like Mike and Scal talking about how strong and tough Wanamaker is.  Having a solid guy like that makes the switch everything style a lot easier.  Even on switches, he's supposedly only giving up 10lbs to bigger wings like George, Harden, DeRozan.  Being, a solid defender, he's not really a guy the other team can exploit by going at him (well you can still shoot over him, but you what I'm saying).  Maybe he will still have a spot on the team next year.

That is very true, I don't get the hate towards Wanamaker. He's a back up PG, and does an extremely good job of it, despite his main glaring weakness is his strong tunnel vision when driving on fast breaks. Seems like he doesn't like passing out of those, and commits to try to score.

As for the height concerns regarding defense, Ainge seems like he really likes Tremont Waters. If we're comparing Thomas with Wanamaker, it's not much of a contest this year.

[Phantom255x]

I give him credit. He's been great in his role over the past month and at times makes veteran plays which helps the team.

I think the people who are still "disappointed" are expecting him to be scoring and making plays like Bertans/Burks without realizing their scoring averages come from playing a lot of minutes a game on bad teams. Wanamaker only plays between 8-15 minutes a game usually.

Worth noting though that so far in February, he's played about 23 minutes a game and is averaging 10/3 on 48% shooting.

[rondofan1255]

Agree with the above posters about Wanamaker being the Anti-Rozier, plus being better than the Larkin and Shamet types that playoff offenses will target relentlessly

Hope he’ll be back