The Official Washington Wizards Thread

[StillUnknown]

Good showing tonight.

Circumstances were setup for us to have a nice night and we did.

[Fight4RGIII]

Now let's see if we've changed at all since the trade and not poop the bed the next game, which is at home vs the Pacers.

[MonkFan8]

Impressive debut by Nene. This trade is still going to look like ass in two years.

Why? It's not like we were planning on resigning either Javale or Nick. Maybe Javale will go on to become an allstar, I highly doubt it, but it could happen. Regardless I'm glad EG came to the conclusion that McGee isn't worth the contract he wants. It's just icing on the cake that he was able to land a top-10 center (when healthy) for them.

I've been clamoring for a center like Nene for years now. Someone that can handle the ball face up on a defender and hit a 15 footer or back them down for a hook/kick the ball out to a shooter. Maybe he'll get injured, but it's a calculated risk that could pay off big time. He'll rub off on Wall and our young bigs that are capable of learning.

[Fight4RGIII]

McGee just doesn't..."get it."

[stevemcqueen1]

Nene could be playing 30 games a year in the fourth and fifth seasons of his contract and this trade will still be a rousing success if he keeps playing close to the level he played last night in years one, two, and three of his contract.

Nene is the polar opposite of JaVale, such a better player, and you simply can't overstate how much of a difference having a guy like him in the locker room makes over having a clown like JaVale.

Nene is a cancer survivor, spiritual man, high IQ player with skills and a work ethic--he's the epitome of the mature, grounded professional. JaVale was the exact opposite--a man child and a clown who just didn't take the situation seriously enough. Ditto for Nick Young. Dropping both of them in one fell swoop to get a markedly better Center in return? That's a coup IMO and was the deal of the trade deadline IMO. Addition by subtraction plus massive addition. Plus having Nene produces a ripple effect throughout the entire organization. Look how excited Booker and Seraphin are to be playing with him. Look how confident and spectacular Crawford has been without Young taking minutes from him and bogging down the offense. He's taking ownership of the starting SG spot. Look how good Roger Mason has been with NY out of his way. Look how much better the player and ball movement is on offense. You can see the ripple effect already taking place.

Having players like Nene and not having players like JaVale and NY will eventually get John Wall to an All Star level. That alone makes the deal a good one.

[Fight4RGIII]

If we aren't getting a top 2-3 pick, I think Beal is the perfect player to add to this team. He's unselfish and has a well rounded game. Potential to be a lights out shooter also.

[stevemcqueen1]

Why? It's not like we were planning on resigning either Javale or Nick. Maybe Javale will go on to become an allstar, I highly doubt it, but it could happen. Regardless I'm glad EG came to the conclusion that McGee isn't worth the contract he wants. It's just icing on the cake that he was able to land a top-10 center (when healthy) for them.

I'd say it's a lot more than icing on the cake.

The main reason I was so apprehensive about getting rid of JaVale was because I didn't know how in the world we were going to replace him with a center of equal or only slightly lesser caliber. We went out and actually got a better player? That's a coup.

A trade for a player the caliber of Nene never even began to cross my mind. I didn't think JaVale could bring anything close to that in trade. I know that financial reasons were the primary motivation for Denver doing what they did, and I can understand that. But it feels like we picked their pocket just like we did to Atlanta last season.

Everyone hates on Ernie but he completely transformed this team in two years into something much more promising than it was before. That's worth something.

---------- Post added March-21st-2012 at 10:21 PM ----------

If we aren't getting a top 2-3 pick, I think Beal is the perfect player to add to this team. He's unselfish and has a well rounded game. Potential to be a lights out shooter also.

I really, really like Beal, but I'm also feeling Jordan Crawford as the starting SG right now.

Seems like SF is the easiest position for us to upgrade, with PF not too far behind.

I'd be disappointed if we weren't able to come away with one of the top forwards of the class, either Davis, Robinson, Barnes, or Sullinger.

[MonkFan8]

I'd say it's a lot more than icing on the cake.

Yeah, might not have been the best way to phrase it. Can't agree with you more about what Nene brings.

[stevemcqueen1]

If we don't get Davis (which we won't, he's going to New Orleans), then I think our best bet moving forward is to get Harrison Barnes or Thomas Robinson. If we're outside the top three, then we have to hope that Drummond declares and goes second overall so that either Barnes or Robinson will still be there at four. My guess is that Robinson would go third since he can play both forward spots and is currently a better player.

That suits our purposes though since Barnes probably fills a bigger need for us as a do it all SF considering we already have a solid group of young and now veteran guys playing at PF and C.

If we draft Barnes,

- Singleton comes off the bench at SF and remains useful as our LeBron defender.
- Vesely should bulk up and grow into more of a primary PF to rotate with Booker and provide length. We've been playing him mostly at PF thus far. It seems like we already think that's his NBA position.
- Mason should be brought back because of his ability as a spot up shooter and because he's a quality scorer off the bench.

I think this grows into a playoff caliber roster in the East.

1 - Wall with Mack the primary backup
2 - Crawford with Mason the primary second line scorer
3 - Barnes with Singleton coming in as our primary perimeter defender
4 - Booker with Vesely as the length and energy guy off the bench until he develops offensively
5 - Nene with Seraphin backing him up and seeing some time at PF when Nene is in the game

That's a ten man rotation that makes sense to me and I think it looks great. Everyone has a clear role and there aren't many weak links. I think that rotation has a couple of All Star caliber players in it--Wall and Nene early on, Wall and Barnes later on. Nene is probably better than Hibbert, he can make it in the East. And if Crawford develops into a true 20 PPG scorer and we start winning 45-50 games, maybe he sees an All Star appearance at some point too? The state of SG in the East is very poor right now.

I'm actually excited again.

[Skin'emAlive]

JaVale was the exact opposite--a man child and a clown who just didn't take the situation seriously enough. Ditto for Nick Young. Dropping both of them in one fell swoop to get a markedly better Center in return? That's a coup IMO and was the deal of the trade deadline IMO. Addition by subtraction plus massive addition. Plus having Nene produces a ripple effect throughout the entire organization. Look how excited Booker and Seraphin are to be playing with him. Look how confident and spectacular Crawford has been without Young taking minutes from him and bogging down the offense. He's taking ownership of the starting SG spot. Look how good Roger Mason has been with NY out of his way. Look how much better the player and ball movement is on offense. You can see the ripple effect already taking place.

Ok, i think you are thinking with too much bias here. There has been little to no difference in the play of Booker nor in his demeanor. In fact, one could argue he put up better stats with McGee on the roster.

Booker w/out McGee past 5 games:

5 rb 14 pts
9 rb 18 pts
3 rb 6 pts
9 rb 6 pts

Booker with McGee last 5 games:

12 rb 20 pts
10 rb 9 pts
17 rb 18 pts
4 rb 14 pts
6 rb 9 pts

I wont say anything about Seraphin. He has played well for a month now.

Secondly... everyone thought nick young should be traded a long time ago. It was not a revelation that crawford, mason, and wall would play better without the one man black hole on this team. Hell, it was already apparent we played better with him on the bench when he was still on this team.

Im willing to give Nene a shot. But i see the trade for what it was: Getting rid of a double double averaging center who has physical ability greater than any other center in the league, is young, works on his game, is relatively always healthy, and has no attitude problems for a guy who is about 6 years older, has trouble with his health, and has a contract that is much much much higher from a team that felt buyers remorse in the first year after the new contract. There are so many red flags here, one can only hope for a miracle in washington not to be burned again 2 years into this contract. I am not holding my breath. Next season we (should) have a new coach, (should have ) a new gm, and a new game plan. I believe that coach would have played to our athletic strengths in the coming years.

[stevemcqueen1]

Yeah, might not have been the best way to phrase it. Can't agree with you more about what Nene brings.

I knew what you meant, I was just being pedantic.

We desperately needed some way to get the John Wall era off the ground. I'm hoping Nene can give us that lift and make us a serious team.

[Skin'emAlive]

Also... until we can string together 3 wins in a row, i dont believe much has changed. Of our last 4 games that we have won, 3 of them were Cleveland, New Orleans, and now New Jersey. All three of those teams are terrible.

[MonkFan8]

Javale just won the game for Denver.

Hope this trade works out well for all involved. McGee should make a good 3rd or 4th option if he learns the game.

[abdcskins]

I think this grows into a playoff caliber roster in the East.

1 - Wall with Mack the primary backup
2 - Crawford with Mason the primary second line scorer
3 - Barnes with Singleton coming in as our primary perimeter defender
4 - Booker with Vesely as the length and energy guy off the bench until he develops offensively
5 - Nene with Seraphin backing him up and seeing some time at PF when Nene is in the game

I think you are being overly optimistic. That team doesn't wow me. It has potential though I will give you that.

Anthony Davis is JaVale McGee 2.0 to me. I hope we don't get him. I don't like Sullinger very much either. He'll contribute and be a solid NBA player like a la Big Baby, but he won't be the dominant forward we need.

[Hersh]

I think you are being overly optimistic. That team doesn't wow me. It has potential though I will give you that.

Anthony Davis is JaVale McGee 2.0 to me. I hope we don't get him. I don't like Sullinger very much either. He'll contribute and be a solid NBA player like a la Big Baby, but he won't be the dominant forward we need.

How is Anthony Davis a JaVale McGee 2.0?? Dude was a point guard in high school so he has good ball skills and a decent outside shot.