Summary 2021 in Sports

Commendation marks: Danny Abdia is beginning to justify his national obsession with him

2021 was a close follow-up to the new Israeli feats in the NBA: we analyzed every shot, celebrated every move, but recently senior U.S. commentators also see the potential and join the tribal bonfire. Ravitz sums up the year of our man (who is no longer just) in Washington, And marks the optimistic route for the future

Assaf Ravitz

30/12/2021

Thursday, December 30, 2021, 2:00 p.m.

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

• Share on general

• Comments

  Comments

Danny Abdia after his season-high record against Utah (Wizards official website)

Due to corona constraints, the previous NBA season only began in late December 2020, Adam Silver was able to cram almost a season and a half into one calendar year.

That means Danny Abdia's entire NBA career, except for the first four games, has drained to 2021.

So this year's summary is a good opportunity to examine Danny's first year in the best league in the world.

He is not the first Israeli in the NBA, but he is the first and Israeli lottery pick to arrive with the highest level of expectations, by a significant margin.

What can be deduced from Abdia's first 87 games?

What does the threshold of expectations look like after them?

More on Walla!

Why does Danny Abdia continue to receive the rival stars in defense?

In Washington, surgeons and critics

To the full article

Good place in the middle.

Abdia (Photo: GettyImages)

The big picture

When you intensely follow every game, every shot, every reaction, every tweet related to a particular player, everything seems dramatic and decisive. Abdia was unlucky enough to represent a country that had never had potential at his level and is known for its propensities for manic depression, so his first year was experienced as a tumultuous roller coaster: incessant ups and downs, poignant reactions alongside venomous criticism, a not-so-simple injury that caused him to miss the playoffs. In the name of Omri Caspi), replacement of half-staff and coach in the summer, a constant danger to his status in rotation. But when you look up for a moment at the incessant shower, a much less frenetic and dramatic picture emerges.

In the big picture, Danny Abdia looks more or less like a player selected ninth in the draft with his ability set supposed to look in the situation he is in. He did not break out in a big way, but also did not get stuck in place and also showed impressive progress in some aspects. There are areas where he is surprisingly good and areas where he is surprisingly bad, but overall he is a young player who is in the early stages of development and it is quite clear that he has a place in the league for many years to come. The extent to which it continues to evolve will determine what place it will have.

To understand this point, one can look at two of the three players selected after him in the draft, who represent extreme cases. Jaylen Smith was selected tenth by Phoenix, one of the best teams in the league, failed to earn minutes and in the summer Phoenix decided not to exercise the team option for his third year, a very rare move when it comes to choosing a lottery. Smith still has a chance to earn his place in the league. But this is what an early flop looks like. Tyrese Haliberton, selected 12th by Sacramento, proved from the first moment he was ready for the big leagues, he was one of the Kings' best players already as a rookie and looked even better and more efficient this year. Haliborton is one of three players in the 2020 cycle who can already be said with some certainty that they will have a significant NBA career.

Abdia is between these two extremes, along with most of the high picks in his cycle.

He is not in a very different place from Patrick Williams, Isaac Okuro, Onyka Okongw, Obi Topin and Devin Wassel - all of whom have managed to fit into the rotation of legitimate teams thanks to good defense and occasional offensive potential.

Some of these names will make significant progress and become important players in good teams, others will tread on the spot and become less relevant over time, it mainly depends on the willingness to work hard on parts in need of improvement.

Abdia, according to many reports, emerges as an actor who loves to learn and is willing to work hard, which increases optimism about him.

Status similar to his lottery friends.

Abdia vs. Obi Topin (Photo: GettyImages, Jim McIsaac)

The situation

Young players who come to the NBA are very dependent on the situation they have reached. Abdia has arrived in Washington - a team with a star at the height of his career that could leave in the summer (Bradley Bill), so she's doing everything to be successful now even though it's not clear if she has the tools to do so. This is the reason for the frenzy around him in his first year - Russell Westbrook came and went, replaced by five reasonable players who completely changed the face of rotation, the coach changed, the style changed. This is not a team that has the patience to develop youngsters and let them make mistakes, but neither is it a team like Golden State, whose standards for integration in its rotation are so high that its interesting youngsters have little chance of getting regular minutes anyway.

The situation shaped Abdia’s first year as a player who is busy making minimal mistakes and barely trying to initiate. Similar to the Hippocratic oath, he first of all tries to avoid doing harm. This is his way of earning minutes right now - to perform simple and correct actions, bring out relative advantages and let the more experienced players build attacks. Many young players in his position would have insisted on taking on more, but not at all sure their coach was happy with that. Danny knows that no one promises him minutes in this situation, every minute of him on the floor is evidence that his coach, Wes Ansald, believes he is contributing to team success here and now. It's really not obvious that Abdia is ranked sixth in the amount of minutes in Washington, that he gets the minutes at the expense of players like Davis Bartans and rookie Corey Kispert who is two years older than him.

Even at this point a comparison can help. Franz Wagner, the eighth pick in the last draft, came into the league with a set of abilities that is quite reminiscent of Abdia. But Wagner came to Orlando, a construction team that is not really interested in victories but only in promoting its youth. So the German forward gets a chance to initiate and provide very impressive numbers for Rocky, when his team is not excited about 2-11 and 0-9 games from the field or losses by 30 points, it encourages Wagner to continue to initiate. If Abdia had gotten into a situation like this, he would have led a ball, managed pick n 'roll moves, gone up for shooting from a dribble, brought down small players to the post. He would present much more impressive statistical lines than today, and more importantly - he would get a chance to develop those abilities in front of NBA defenses.

The other side of the equation is that Abdia learns in Washington how to contribute to a (relatively) winning team.

He is learning the nuances of the role of a minor player in a serious team, something he will need to know how to do if he wants to take part in really big teams in the future.

Many times players who develop in teams in construction have a hard time at a stage where they are expected to join a team that wants to win, sometimes it takes them years to make the switch.

What would happen if Wagner and Abdia were to switch teams is an interesting thought exercise, in practice each of them was paved for a different role and their careers would develop accordingly.

Abdia has been paved for the role of role player in a team with dominant creative players, and he earns his minutes through the little things that help his team win.

What are the little things that Abdia does?

Oh, well you asked.

Danny could have displayed high numbers like his, but which is really better?

Franz Wagner (Photo: GettyImages, Douglas P. DeFelice)

Personal protection

Danny Abdia is one of the most promising personal guards in the NBA right now, in recent years very few players have come to the league who have shown such high potential in this field. This is not a provincial exaggeration, not a selective focus on Washington commentators and bloggers whose part of their job definition is to get out of proportion from any successful move by one of the team’s youngsters. He makes a name for himself as a personal guard all over the league. In recent weeks, Zack Lowe from ESPN has commented on a podcast that Abdia is developing into an excellent defensive player, and Kevin O'Connor from The Ringer devoted a section to Danny's defense in one of his articles. These are two very senior and highly regarded commentators (Luo is in my eyes the best NBA commentator), ones whose opinion interests managers in the league and is usually similar to theirs.

What started last season, in the weeks leading up to the injury, has become the main story in Abdia's development process. He has a combination of size and agility that allows him to keep almost any player in the league, Enseld has made him the top guard for almost all rival stars. Danny's special ability is to detect when the player in front of him stops and prepares to shoot and cling to him with his hands up before he goes up for a shot, it is very difficult to score in front of him when he performs this action and many players just give up the shot. His defensive instincts are wonderful in general, it is very difficult to get past him and he has learned not to overdo it in an attempt to make shots difficult to avoid fouls. Players score 3.8 percent less than expected, and he consistently drops percent from every range. The minutes he plays are the Wizards' best defensive minutes.

The range of abilities and diversity of Abdia's personal defense could be seen last week, in which Washington played against Phoenix and Utah, two of the best produced n 'roll teams in the league. Anseld sent Danny to guard the senior ball leaders - Chris Paul and Donovan Mitchell, and when the chin came to block them a substitution was made and Danny was left with the opposing chin. Abdia achieved stops in those games both against a very senior guard like Mitchell and also against a senior center like Diandra Eyton. These are the things that do not go into the basics, but coaches and general managers sneer when they see them. If he continues like this, it will be possible to give Abdia one of the most wanted titles in the league - a player who is able to maintain five positions. The ability to make a substitution between the point guard and the chin guard is the best defensive weapon against Pick n 'Roll today, Abdia has shown ability to do that against the crème de la crème of the league.

To put a stamp on the promise, Abdia will have to demonstrate the ability to keep senior players well even in the playoffs, when it really matters.

To do this one must, first of all, get there.

But the very promise makes him a young player who is noticed, who goes into the right notebooks, who will get a chance.

Players who show such defensive potential tend to get attractive offers from good teams regardless of the ability to accumulate offensive numbers.

In that sense, the defense also gives Danny time to develop the attacking game.

On the way to getting one of the most sought after titles in the league.

Lost in defense (Photo: Reuters)

The ability to create

Some players remain defensive experts without developing significant offensive abilities. Matisse Thaybull from Philadelphia, for example, may be the best personal guard in the league today on outside players, so he remains an important player even when on offense he contributes nothing. But there's no reason this should be Danny Abdia's situation. He was selected in the top 10 mainly due to his offensive potential, thanks to the ability he showed to create high-level shot situations at very young ages. Numbers of 7.1 points per game, 1.4 assists and 1.4 walks to the penalty line indicate a player who does not express this potential.

There are areas where you can bet with confidence that the numbers will improve. Already now Abdia is a high-level morale, one that sees one move forward and recognizes free friends before the defense has time to respond. There is no reason he will not become a player of at least three to four assists per game when the offense goes through him more. His shot from the outside also looks too good to get stuck in the 30 percent three-point range, the more he gets used to the load and feels more comfortable in games it makes sense that more shots will come in and he will reach the average percentage area in the league.

The area in which Abdia is having a hard time breaking through, the one marked as key at the start of the season, is the ability to create shot situations for himself. It is clear that Abdia does not trust enough in his ability to free himself for shooting, to get a shot from a dribble, to penetrate and finish in color. Even when he starts a move, he often gives up in the middle and gives up. Rivals feel comfortable hiding in front of him their least good defensive players, including low guards. Abdia will have to learn to take such players down to the post and score over them, today he rarely does post moves and when he already performs he usually looks for the delivery. Without the creative ability Abdia could not be more than a quality role player, if he can express what he has shown he knows how to do at lower levels he will have the opportunity to be a very significant player in the league.

Offensive improvement over the past two weeks is still far from indicating a real trend, but perhaps it is the beginning of something. Abdia took advantage of some big losses, weakness of key players that caused them to take a step back and absences related to Corona to take on more of the attacking game. Mostly good to see him coming with the ball to the paint decisively, starting moves fast, not afraid to snatch roofs and make mistakes. It is likely that when the rest of the Wizards players get back to themselves Danny will take a step back again, but the way he reacts to the opportunity created is encouraging. In any case, as mentioned, it has time, the significant change can also come in the third, fourth or fifth year.

Would have helped if he had played in a better attacking team.

The hope that Washington's offensive game would be ongoing and team-based after the departure of Russell Westbrook was dashed.

This continues to be a team with players who like to stop the ball, who do not have good synchronization and whose many standing attacks get stuck.

Abdia could very well have resorted to a method that creates initial advantages and good spacing that would have made it easier for him to get to the ring, also his delivery ability would have been much better expressed in such a method.

One can only hope that he will reach such a group later or that Washington will develop into one.

In one area he is still having a hard time breaking through.

Abdia (Photo: GettyImages)

Summary

Danny Abdia's first year in the NBA made him a player to pay attention to.

It still does not guarantee anything, but it is not a bad starting point at all for the sequel.

It is easy to see his numbers and think that he is a marginal player who only arouses interest in Israel.

This is not the case.

His most important ability right now is personal defense, an ability that is less reflected in the statistics, probably the simplest, but very important for coaches and managers in the league.

And who knows, maybe he will also make the Israeli audience enjoy defensive stops and mark X after the sins of Washington's rivals.

• sport

• NBA

Tags

• Danny Abdia

• Washington Wizards