How This Team Is Winning Games

[method man]

We are winning games very unorthodoxly like back three seasons ago. We are winning despite consistently shooting at a lower FG% than our opponent because we are converting at the line and forcing turnovers. Big ups to Wood for consistently converting at the line

[ACW]

We are also winning because Haywood's actually playing up to his potential, which is nice.

[PCRoughrider]

We are winning games very unorthodoxly like back three seasons ago. We are winning despite consistently shooting at a lower FG% than our opponent...

The Heat shoot a higher percentage than their opponents and they stink to high heaven so I wouldn't exactly put much behind that.

And, for the record, the Wizards and their opponents shoot at identical percentages.

[Buford]

We are also winning because Haywood's actually playing up to his potential, which is nice.

It really starts and ends with this statement.

Haywood as gone from below average, to average, to right now....slightly above average.

He's not giving his matchup the easy layup/dunk. He's making them take jumpers.

Then you have the Butler/Jamison duo....and Stevenson playing out of his mind.

But Haywood is where is starts.

[Chachie]

We are playing defense, guys. That's where the wins are coming from. :)

[Sticksboi05]

We need to ship Etan out next season because once he's gone Haywood starts playing foreal with all these double doubles and last night he only missed 2 from the line.

[Skins11]

We need to ship Etan out next season because once he's gone Haywood starts playing foreal with all these double doubles and last night he only missed 2 from the line.

Not to mention the team does worse when he is in. He is a black hole out there.

[jbooma]

We are winning because Jordan is a dam good coach and keeping this team together.

Where are all the get rid of jordan threads now :)

[redskins_football90]

i hope we can keep on winning games while Arenas, Daniels, and Pecherov recovers from their injuries.

[Buford]

We'll see what happens with Etan. Nobody is going to take on that contract. But, he seems like a good guy with a really caring thing about the community.

Honestly, I hope he retires, but stays with the Organization to work with charities. He's already rich. Why risk your health to be a backup center?

[WorldBFree76]

Etan also seems to be an intelligent guy, he should retire and work in TV or something.

[luckydevil]

We are also winning because Haywood's actually playing up to his potential, which is nice.

Or that Haywood is actually getting the neccesary minutes to play up to his potential. I hate to say this, but Etan being out is the best thing to happen to this team the last few years. It forces EJ to play Haywood.

[PCRoughrider]

Let's not forget the heresy:

As Gilbert Arenas has played, this is a better team without him.

They play better as a team without Arenas. Yes, Gilbert is a wonderful talent but they move the ball better, the scoring is more balanced and they play better defense without him. We'd never have five consecutive games with five or more players scoring in double figures if Gilbert was still playing.

If we could incorporate Gilbert's tremendous talents with the way the team is currently playing, we'd be a championship caliber team.

[desioreo87]

Let's not forget the heresy:

As Gilbert Arenas has played, this is a better team without him.

They play better as a team without Arenas. Yes, Gilbert is a wonderful talent but they move the ball better, the scoring is more balanced and they play better defense without him. We'd never have five consecutive games with five or more players scoring in double figures if Gilbert was still playing.

If we could incorporate Gilbert's tremendous talents with the way the team is currently playing, we'd be a championship caliber team.

At the moment they play better team basketball without him, but they aren't necessarily a better team which I know you weren't really saying. I think its pretty easy to integrate Gil into this offense. Move Gil to the 2 spot. This will only work if AD is healthy and running the offense. But Gil at the 2 would make this team a force in the East.

About your last statement about championship caliber, Im not so sure. I still would like to see Haywood develop into a better low post scorer/defender before I declare us that caliber. He is performing well but he needs work, he is a little slow on the block and doesn't establish position close enough to the basket at time. I think Blatche will emerge either at the end of this season or the beginning of next season as the Big man that will take us far. He plays with tenacity on defense and crashes the boards while displaying raw offensive talent that can easily be improved upon.

This team has a very promising future with a Gil/Butler/Stevenson/Blatche core. We can do things this season, but most importantedly next season and the seasons after.