The Official Washington Wizards Thread

[Destino]

Nike likes Beal

Wizards rookie Bradley Beal has agreed in principle to a shoe deal with Nike, according to his agent, Mark Bartelstein. Terms were not disclosed, but Bartelstein said Beal plans to sign “a multi-year” deal with the brand.

“We’re excited about it,” Bartelstein said.

The third overall pick last June, Beal has worn Nike throughout his high school, AAU and college career, but Under Armour made a push for his services as well. Beal wore a pair of the shoes during a practice a few weeks ago, but has been in Nike for games and practices ever since.
“It will be a great opportunity for Brad,” Bartelstein said. “Obviously, Nike does terrific things and I think he’s going to be a big part of their plans going forward.”

Beal ranks second in scoring through the preseason at 12.9 points per game.

Tom Ziller (SB Nation) does not like Wittman

Put it all together -- three veteran defenders, two of which (Okafor and Nene) can score, and two young stars-in-the-making -- and it looks like the Wizards are on the right path, right?

Welp.

The blueprint for this team is to be elite on defense and okay on offense. That's what the Bulls did in Derrick Rose's third season. Here's the major, unavoidable difference: the Bulls had Tom Thibodeau while the Wizards have Randy Wittman. Wittman had the team for most of the 2011-12 season. The Wizards were No. 27 in defense. In Wittman's last full season at the helm of a team (the 2007-08 Timberwolves), his team finished No. 27 in defense. In two seasons in Cleveland, Wittman's teams ranked No. 14 and No. 22. The season before Wittman had taken over, under Mike Fratello, the Cavaliers were No. 12 in defense.

Most damning is perhaps the 2006-07 Timberwolves, when Wittman took over for Dwane Casey (who had the team 20-20) and finished 12-30. Under Casey, it was a strong defensive team led by Kevin Garnett. Under Wittman, it was an aimless team with no principal strength.

This is not the coach you want running your defense-first team, especially one depending on the development of two young guards.

[StillUnknown]

That mirage of a win streak to end the season really set us back a couple of years.

It saved both Grunfeld & Wittman.

[stevemcqueen1]

Beal signing with Nike is going to be a lot better for his career than Wall's signing with Reebok.

Consider the differences in the way John Wall and Kyrie Irving are each perceived. What about Kyrie's career says "real deal, about to make the leap to superstardom" versus John's "teetering on bust" narrative?

And yet that's exactly what the basketball world is thinking about both of them. You better believe John's anonymity and lack of marketing has effected him, the basketball world thinks his organization is for losers--when they think about it at all. Yet Kyrie Irving has a few memorable commercials that generated a ton of buzz and he's in the collective consciousness and they start noticing the good parts of his game.

Nevermind the fact that the dude's team wasn't much better despite the fact it actually had real NBA players on it. Nor the fact that he's a more limited player who could only get 30 minutes a game because of how bad he was defensively. He's a great shooter, has flashy handles, and has cool shoe commercials. He's a good player no doubt. But is he better than Wall? Only as a scorer really. Wall's actually much better at getting to the line, passing, rebounding, and defending plus he's doing it playing more minutes and for a worse team that has not been able to actually space the floor Wall's entire tenure. Is Kyrie's individual future any brighter than Wall's? I doubt it.

Though the masses could very well turn on Kyrie after this year if he hits a wall or doesn't improve like people expect. They turned on Wall and Griffin and Rose after their second seasons.

---------- Post added October-27th-2012 at 10:49 PM ----------

That mirage of a win streak to end the season really set us back a couple of years.

It saved both Grunfeld & Wittman.

I think it was less the win streak and more Ted's ridiculous conservatism and remarkable stubbornness about totally ignoring the criticism of outsiders. If it didn't sound so crazy, I'd say it's almost like he tries to thwart the criticism out of spite.

---------- Post added October-27th-2012 at 11:02 PM ----------

It feels like Ted is the exact opposite of Dan Snyder. People loved him for this at first. But when his conservative approach has yielded some hard times it's tanked his popularity IMO.

It's like Ted is saying, "I'm going to be loyal dammit! I am a man of my word and I'll stick with a bunch of turds to prove a point about staying the course!"

Nevermind that no one on Earth thinks Ernie or Wittman actually deserve yet another chance. Probably not even Ernie and Wittman.

Is this even a make or break year for Ernie? If we have a horrible season and pick in the top 3 yet again, would there even be any chance he gets fired? Actually, we should be so lucky. No I think we're probably just good enough for that to never even come up. We'll finish like 9th or 10th in the conference and plant ourselves firmly in no man's land with a team with no flexibility for an entire season after this one.

We need a culture change in the FO.

[Destino]

Steve after reading that I went looking for Walls latest shoe. It just came out... and I haven't seen any advertising at all. They are still ugly.

Btw - Harden to Houston trade just happened.

[StillUnknown]

Is this even a make or break year for Ernie? If we have a horrible season and pick in the top 3 yet again, would there even be any chance he gets fired? Actually, we should be so lucky. No I think we're probably just good enough for that to never even come up. We'll finish like 9th or 10th in the conference and plant ourselves firmly in no man's land with a team with no flexibility for an entire season after this one.

We need a culture change in the FO.

If the season doesn't go like they want, they'll blame injuries and the front office will return next year.

[AsiaticSkinsFan]

man, Kyrie is a better point guard than Wall right now. He is a lot smarter and can run an offense better.

I think Wall could be better in the future, but Kyrie is better right now.



and Ernie is staying. This organization is fine with mediocrity.

[stevemcqueen1]

Steve after reading that I went looking for Walls latest shoe. It just came out... and I haven't seen any advertising at all. They are still ugly.

Reebok is second rate. Third rate.

Btw - Harden to Houston trade just happened.

Inexplicable trade for me, from all angles.

For the Thunder, I'll never understand why they decided to keep Serge Ibaka over Harden. Is this a huge indictment of Harden? Or is this an obviously stupid mistake? I don't know. Even still, the deal breaker for them was 4.5 million dollars? WTF?

For Harden, he seriously left the Thunder for Houston for 4.5 million more dollars? WTF????? Give them the discount you utter fool!! You were going to win rings there and play a major part in doing so. Now your only hope for one is to try and tag along as some bench warming role player one cheapo one or two year deals at the end of your career.

For Houston... well it's an understandable deal on their part I guess. Not a great deal, but you can see the reasoning behind it. They're going to be disappointed by him from a basketball standpoint of course. He's not the alpha high end player they're looking for. After striking out on Dwight, ending up with Harden is a bummer. That team has officially capped itself at mediocre for good. They'll compete with the Jazz and other deep but middle-heavy West squads for the lower seeds and the right to lose to the upper echelon teams in the playoffs. But they're far more marketable with Harden and Lin than they were before this summer. It makes sense from a dollars perspective. Except too bad they wasted a ton of money on Omer Asik.

---------- Post added October-28th-2012 at 12:31 AM ----------

man, Kyrie is a better point guard than Wall right now. He is a lot smarter and can run an offense better.

I think Wall could be better in the future, but Kyrie is better right now.



and Ernie is staying. This organization is fine with mediocrity.

Kyrie is a better shooter and scorer, a more efficient offensive player. Not a better PG than Wall. Not as good a playmaker, not asked to shoulder the same burden of leadership, and he can't defend whatsoever. At least Wall stays on the court like a full starter and team leader.

[RonArtest15]

Steve after reading that I went looking for Walls latest shoe. It just came out... and I haven't seen any advertising at all. They are still ugly.

Btw - Harden to Houston trade just happened.

Have a feeling that after Wall's deal w/ Reebok is up, he'll go over to adidas or Nike. Only ads I see for Reebok are for crossfit. That's where they're putting their ad money *shrugs*

*edit*

and we've talked about this before - the NBA is a business

@JonesOnTheNBA Harden can get up to 5yrs/$78M in Houston instead of 4 year $52 mil OKC offered. Significant difference.

I get it. Harden would be absolutely foolish to leave that much money on the table JUST to say in OKC. His value is FAR greater than Ibaka's and I'm sure he was a tad bit insulted at their offer. I also believe he was stewing privately.

[AsiaticSkinsFan]

Have a feeling that after Wall's deal w/ Reebok is up, he'll go over to adidas or Nike. Only ads I see for Reebok are for crossfit. That's where they're putting their ad money *shrugs*

*edit*

and we've talked about this before - the NBA is a business

he had a promotional event last week in DC for his newest shoe. It was in the WaPo.

---------- Post added October-28th-2012 at 10:11 AM ----------

Kyrie is a better shooter and scorer, a more efficient offensive player. Not a better PG than Wall. Not as good a playmaker, not asked to shoulder the same burden of leadership, and he can't defend whatsoever. At least Wall stays on the court like a full starter and team leader.

you dont remember this in the summer?

Scrimmages have been closed to reporters, but some observers of the practices said that Wall has encountered some initial problems getting the team into sets and still needs to improve his jumper.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ReZW_blog.html

meanwhile, Kyrie was great at the camp, and was the star of the development team.


I believe Wall has the potential to be better, but Kyrie is a better point guard right now. Kyrie is basically Rod Strickland with a jumper (makes sense, since thats his godfather and worked with Kyrie on his game). He better than Wall in finishing around the basket too.

[stevemcqueen1]

you dont remember this in the summer?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ReZW_blog.html

meanwhile, Kyrie was great at the camp, and was the star of the development team.

I believe Wall has the potential to be better, but Kyrie is a better point guard right now. Kyrie is basically Rod Strickland with a jumper (makes sense, since thats his godfather and worked with Kyrie on his game). He better than Wall in finishing around the basket too.

Wall's already better all around. A couple of camp rumors doesn't change what happened on the court last season. Kyrie is a better and more efficient scorer. But he's not as good a passer or playmaker, not as good a defender, rebounder, nor as good getting to the line and getting points. He's not asked to do as much for his team, and he has better teammates that can properly space the floor.

Maybe he'll be better than Wall at some of those things this year. But you can't say he already is based on last season.

[AsiaticSkinsFan]

Wall's already better all around. A couple of camp rumors doesn't change what happened on the court last season. Kyrie is a better and more efficient scorer. But he's not as good a passer or playmaker, not as good a defender, rebounder, nor as good getting to the line and getting points. He's not asked to do as much for his team, and he has better teammates that can properly space the floor.

Maybe he'll be better than Wall at some of those things this year. But you can't say he already is based on last season.

thats not true

and Kyrie is a better a point guard. I dont know how you can watch the two play and not see that. Wall still struggles with pacing himself and the team, while Kyrie had that down last season.

I think Wall should end up a better player, but I look at the two and see Kyrie outshining him last year even with the one v one match ups.

[stevemcqueen1]

thats not true

and Kyrie is a better a point guard. I dont know how you can watch the two play and not see that. Wall still struggles with pacing himself and the team, while Kyrie had that down last season.

I think Wall should end up a better player, but I look at the two and see Kyrie outshining him last year even with the one v one match ups.

It's true. Kyrie played 30 minutes per game for his team and came out of games in favor of Ramon Sessions as a defensive sub.

Wall has been playing 37 MPG and is the linchpin for the entire team, plus a day one captain.

Summary of John Hollinger's take on Irving: http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/20...will-be-at-25/

Irving is a far more efficient scorer, better ball handler, better shooter than Wall. He's got a great inside-outside game already. But Wall's been better at pretty much all other aspects of the game. Though that's probably not saying a ton. Kyrie Irving was rated as the worst defensive player in the league with at least 300 plays defended by Synergy Sports. He also had just a 0.81 Pure Point Rating, good for 59th in the NBA among PGs. His assist rate was 58th among PGs. He wasn't a good distributor last year, he was much more of a scorer.

Better scorer and shooter? Without question. Better PG? Only if defense, leadership, and passing don't count much for you.

[Destino]

I haven't seen a great deal of "leadership" from Wall. He also struggles in the half court offense. I don't think Kyrie is great but Wall has more flaws than a missing jumper. We discussed his handing the ball off to Crawford and then sulking in the half court last year.

I wonder if Wittman has the balls to make Wall the 4th option on offense? Kind of like a "learn to shoot, or take 7 shots a game" learning experience.

[AsiaticSkinsFan]

I haven't seen a great deal of "leadership" from Wall. He also struggles in the half court offense. I don't think Kyrie is great but Wall has more flaws than a missing jumper. We discussed his handing the ball off to Crawford and then sulking in the half court last year.

I wonder if Wittman has the balls to make Wall the 4th option on offense? Kind of like a "learn to shoot, or take 7 shots a game" learning experience.

Wall even said he didnt want to be the leader, and that it was all too much for him. And he has a lot of problems in a half court offense.

I dont see how anyone can watch Wall and Irving play and think Wall is the better point guard right now.

[stevemcqueen1]

I haven't seen a great deal of "leadership" from Wall. He also struggles in the half court offense. I don't think Kyrie is great but Wall has more flaws than a missing jumper. We discussed his handing the ball off to Crawford and then sulking in the half court last year.

Wall is a vocal leader and has received nothing but praise about his leadership qualities from everyone who has interacted with him. That includes both his time at Kentucky and his time in Washington.

You're overstating how often Crawford ran point and Wall played off the ball. I remember those plays too, and the purpose of them wasn't to try and remove Wall from the equation, but to get him easier shots.

I think you've swung too far against Wall. You're letting your frustration cloud your sense of the team.

I wonder if Wittman has the balls to make Wall the 4th option on offense? Kind of like a "learn to shoot, or take 7 shots a game" learning experience.

No offense, but that would be ridiculous and counterproductive. Wall is a playmaker and our best offensive creator and a Wall drive is one of the most effective shots in the NBA. He gets to the line at a tremendous rate, he creates room for teammates, and he puts pressure on a defense. We'd make ourselves immediately worse by doing what you suggest and probably wreck his confidence in the process.

The model for developing Wall is very clearly in Chicago.

---------- Post added October-28th-2012 at 04:15 PM ----------

Wall even said he didnt want to be the leader, and that it was all too much for him. And he has a lot of problems in a half court offense.

I dont see how anyone can watch Wall and Irving play and think Wall is the better point guard right now.

So do you not consider playing defense and passing part of playing PG?