The Official Washington Wizards Thread

[StillUnknown]

The hole was too big for the Wizards to climb out of tonight.

Gotta shoot better obviously, but even more important is taking care of the ball. Way too many turnovers the last couple of games.

---------- Post added January-30th-2013 at 09:18 PM ----------

Haven't really been paying much attention to college prospects, but Isaiah Austin put up 21 pts & 22 rebs tonight.

[stevemcqueen1]

And hey, am I the only one who had no idea that Wilt lead the league in assists one year? That's amazing. That should be a bigger deal, talked about more.

I knew about it. I find the little statistical oddities of the league fascinating.

I believe Wilt did that entirely out of spite. Passing over the Lilliputians trying to guard him to prove he could basically do whatever he wanted on a basketball court.

People don't realize the level of scrutiny he faced every single day for pretty much his entire career. It messed with him. I don't see how it couldn't. People screaming dirty **** at him from the stands everywhere, especially in his own home city. He hated San Francisco for that reason. The hometown fans reveled in the team's losses. Everyone hard fouling him for the entire game, trying to hurt him because they couldn't deal with him any other way. Constant media scrutiny declaring him a loser.

People hate Goliath and Wilt is the most gifted basketball player in the history of planet Earth. That's what it boiled down to basically. He broke the scoring record in 50 games his rookie year, won an MVP, completely changed the game immediately. People hated that. They didn't like to see everyone they thought of as the best players in the world and the best basketball in the world look like complete chumps to this guy who was on such a different level.

[Skins199021]

When Healthy the rotation needs to be

Wall-Beal-Webster-Nene-Okafor

Than Price-Crawford-Ariza-Booker-Seraphin

With Seraphin splitting time between both rotations

Seraphin should be getting 26 min a night

[stevemcqueen1]

Haven't really been paying much attention to college prospects, but Isaiah Austin put up 21 pts & 22 rebs tonight.

Didn't see the game. One thing that jumps out at me is he scored 21 points on 20 shots. Not very good for a 7 footer.

12 offensive boards though. ****ing ridiculous.

Austin is interesting, When he gets locked in defensively he can really close down the paint. Also, gotta love the rec specs. He's weak as hell though.

[SiCkSoULjA]

Watching Miami vs Brooklyn and wow the players these two teams have the sets they run, the way they move the ball around its just not fair compared too us. Then besides the talent the effort theses guys fight for every ball, dive for loose balls and battle all around. Big Evans, Lebron, Wallace and Haslem man these guys go too work. You don't see that watching the Wizards game I saw Vesley battle for a rebound relentlessly one time thats pretty much it for the whole team for a entire game.

[StillUnknown]

Watching Miami vs Brooklyn and wow the players these two teams have the sets they run, the way they move the ball around its just not fair compared too us. Then besides the talent the effort theses guys fight for every ball, dive for loose balls and battle all around. Big Evans, Lebron, Wallace and Haslem man these guys go too work. You don't see that watching the Wizards game I saw Vesley battle for a rebound relentlessly one time thats pretty much it for the whole team for a entire game.

Watching other teams is a stark reminder of just how basic our half court offense operates. We are talent deficient, but Wittman having no concept of X's & O's is a huge problem.

[Destino]

Watching other teams is a stark reminder of just how basic our half court offense operates. We are talent deficient, but Wittman having no concept of X's & O's is a huge problem.

Wittman is playing checkers, it's embarrassingly obvious at times, and Wall is not good in a half court (playoff) offense. When the offense slows down the turnovers and fg% get ugly and you see how vanilla the plays are. This team is better, in terms of talent, than their record and with a good head coach that fits the personnel they would be much better but they still lack a primary perimeter player.

---------- Post added January-30th-2013 at 10:45 PM ----------

And Wall loses the PG battle once again.

Sadly that isn't exactly rare is it? He's not a max player. I know that isn't popular but its plain as day. Outside of Washington fans he's not in a the conversation of best PG's in the NBA.

[Skin'emAlive]

When Healthy the rotation needs to be

Wall-Beal-Webster-Nene-Okafor

Than Price-Crawford-Ariza-Booker-Seraphin

With Seraphin splitting time between both rotations

Seraphin should be getting 26 min a night

That is the current rotation. And it sucks. Here is how that offense works in a nutshell.

A: Price gets it... shoots a 3.
B: Seraphin gets it... shoots
C: Ariza runs to the corner 3, and never moves again
D: Book crashes the boards by himself (no seraphin)
E: Crawford tries to make plays, but nobody moves at all. They are all in their spots waiting. Until Crawford gets double teamed and loses the ball. Even then, when he is doubled, those 4 do not move to provide a passing lane.

I feel bad for Crawford on that unit. He cant work with them.

[stevemcqueen1]

Watching Miami vs Brooklyn and wow the players these two teams have the sets they run, the way they move the ball around its just not fair compared too us. Then besides the talent the effort theses guys fight for every ball, dive for loose balls and battle all around. Big Evans, Lebron, Wallace and Haslem man these guys go too work. You don't see that watching the Wizards game I saw Vesley battle for a rebound relentlessly one time thats pretty much it for the whole team for a entire game.

Ves typically plays hard but he sees the floor so infrequently it's hard to say anything about him. Wall plays hard, he hit the deck a couple times tonight and when he drives he goes hard to the rim. Oak and Martell usually hustle but tonight they didn't. Oak got his numbers but was pretty stagnant on offense and Martell just doesn't move in the half court. At all. The team was sleep walking. I don't know what's wrong with them compared to last week but there is something.

And yeah, Wittman's offense sucks. He's a second tier coach. His Xs and Os will always be second tier and the one thing he was good for was motivating the team to play hard even when we suck. Well two games in a row, that's not happened. If he can't do that any more, then he's not bringing anything to the table.

---------- Post added January-31st-2013 at 12:04 AM ----------

Wittman is playing checkers, it's embarrassingly obvious at times, and Wall is not good in a half court (playoff) offense. When the offense slows down the turnovers and fg% get ugly and you see how vanilla the plays are. This team is better, in terms of talent, than their record and with a good head coach that fits the personnel they would be much better but they still lack a primary perimeter player.

We're close to reverting back to our former quality without Beal. It makes such a difference having a single wing player that is a reliable shooter, that moves the ball, and that can move off the ball. You don't notice it while it's working at all because things just seem to go according to plan and the floor is spaced. But when the guy isn't there, the offense goes totally stagnant.

This team needs an upgrade at the 3. If you look at most of the contenders, they've got a star forward. Having a playmaker there is such an advantage. I'd say as big an advantage as having one at PG because the really good forwards all guard multiple positions. Swiss army knife players somewhat.

Martell plays hard and has been nice to have this year but let's be real about his ceiling. He's a spot up shooter that runs the floor and is not a source of mismatches or offense on his own. He's a cheap journeyman three that is probably going to be worse than the other team's guy most nights.

And no, I never thought Rudy Gay was what we needed at the three. I think he takes away more than he brings to the table.

I'm also not sure Shabazz is that guy TBH. I'm uncomfortable with the way he stops the ball. And the way he doesn't really make anyone else better or can struggle to make an impact when he's not shooting a lot of shots. I basically want someone who is a taller Beal. Only takes good shots and doesn't really make bad plays, moves without the ball yet never demands a ton of shots, passes, stays reliable and active even if he doesn't start getting opportunities until late, makes a big impact on the glass and on defense, etc.

That would be nice.

It'd be great if you could take Shabazz's skills and his hustle and instincts and give them to McLemore. Or take McLemore's athleticism and unselfishness and passing gene and give it to Shabazz.

Lacking that, I guess I would be fine just taking a lower ranked true SF like Otto Porter. He's a future starter IMO. Solidify the other wing spot and then you can probably get more consistent quality from the offense.

But of course, you take Noel if he's there. If we did that, I'd start moving stuff around, trading off all these tweener players we've got to get a true SF like Porter too. Consolidate.

And hire a better coach. One that can actually develop young players who aren't as talented and polished as Bradley Beal.

Anyone else get the feeling Ted is going cheapo with Wittman in part because he figured we weren't going to be actually contending for a while?

Sadly that isn't exactly rare is it? He's not a max player. I know that isn't popular but its plain as day. Outside of Washington fans he's not in a the conversation of best PG's in the NBA.

Jrue Holliday is better than Wall right now. But that doesn't mean Wall won't deserve a big contract when it comes time to negotiate. I'm not too worried about his deal. We'll keep him and probably pay him what he's worth. Team wins aren't going to be inflating his contract and Ted isn't the type to spend any more than he has to.

[stevemcqueen1]

Yeah I think you put a high quality shooter and off ball specialist at the 3 with John Wall at PG. If having one (Beal) makes such a big difference in the level of play of the unit, two would be better.

Here's a sincere question: Are Nene and Okafor good fits with Wall?

I think the two of them have demonstrated they are a really good fit with each other. But what are the pros and cons they bring to the table with Wall?

[SiCkSoULjA]

Yeah I think you put a high quality shooter and off ball specialist at the 3 with John Wall at PG. If having one (Beal) makes such a big difference in the level of play of the unit, two would be better.

Here's a sincere question: Are Nene and Okafor good fits with Wall?

I think the two of them have demonstrated they are a really good fit with each other. But what are the pros and cons they bring to the table with Wall?

The guy that was a good fit for John Wall was no other than JaVale McGee but you guys ran him out of town. Nene is good but he is way overpaid, when he gets the ball he stops and do 10 pump fakes before he decides if he's going too make a move or not.

[StillUnknown]

The guy that was a good fit for John Wall was no other than JaVale McGee but you guys ran him out of town. Nene is good but he is way overpaid, when he gets the ball he stops and do 10 pump fakes before he decides if he's going too make a move or not.

McGee would be a perfect fit if this were a Streetball league where you could run 100% of the time.

You are not giving Nene enough credit. Still not sure if I like the move from a long term perspective, but his impact on the court is undeniable. He is our best half-court player. Once we get bogged down in the half-court, its usually Nene who's creating the scoring opportunities. He has reliable midrange jumpshot, he can get in the lane with a variety of moves that McGee will never have. He's not a blackhole, he's quite a good passer from the post.

Injuries have destroyed his lift, one of the reasons I didn't necessarily like the move, and lately those injuries are leading to more turnovers, but even a less than 100% is more valuable to this team than McGee. You have to consider that under the current front office/management situation, we are incapable of developing anyone, let alone a big man with extremely raw skills. You have to look at what McGee could reasonably ascend to under this regime. We would be looking at the same goofball who tries hard, but just doesn't "get it".

[RonArtest15]

Javale McGee plays 18mpg and doesn't start over Kosta Koufos. On top of it all, he's useless unless Andre Miller is on the floor with him. I've wavered back and forth on the Nene/Javale swap, but my FINAL decision is that's a move you make 10x outta 10. Javale (as cliched as this sounds), is what he is.

[stevemcqueen1]

Yeah I don't think JaVale was a good fit. He pretty much proved it here. Even if we don't make the deal, we had to let him walk for nothing.

Nene used to be able to run the floor well, but his injuries are really limiting his effectiveness in transition. He's becoming almost a pure half court player. He used to really run the floor well in Denver.

I agree with Still, Nene is our best half court player. His ability to facilitate offense from the post is underrated. He's got a good little connection with Okafor building and he creates those nice dumpoffs for Beal and Webster that lead to the dunks. That's a good play. He gets to the line at a high rate (or used to before he lost his ability to jump). He can hit mid range jumpers and get his own points with his back to the basket. He can shoot for high percentages without needing a lot of shots to get going.

Offensively, I think Nene is fine. My question is more about the defense and rebounding. His comfort level facing up could also be questioned I guess. Nene seems to only shoot that mid range shot as a last resort even though he's so good at it. I wouldn't mind seeing him just catch and shoot immediately and becoming a serious pick and fade threat. Kind of like how Seraphin shoots only Nene will actually do the work to set the good pick, get open and get to a good spot.

And I guess Nene is never going to be a top notch pick and roll scorer at his age.

Eventually he's going to be a pure 5 IMO. Once he becomes totally grounded and slow. By that point, it would be very nice to have a 4 that's an athlete and that can rebound and also stretch the floor, kind of like a TRob or Blake Griffin. Got to get a rebounder so you can start the break up and just run with Wall. Don't ask me where you get a player like that.

So yeah, it'd be nice to have Griffin at PF and LeBron or Durant at SF to pair with Wall. Who would have thought?

[earl]

i think Nene and Okafor is a solid front court but the problem is that Wall can't create his own shot in the half court. Wall needs to play w/ a dominant scorer. a big man that is deliberate in his moves to the basket. in close games where we are trading buckets downt the stretch, giving the ball to Nene in the high post and essentially running the offense through him usually results in a turnover. If we had a dominant scorer on the wing to completment wall and nene that can create his own shot then i think our front court can work. But until Wall finds a way to be a threat in the half court we just can't constantly win with this team. Wall doesn't have to be dominant be the need to develop some kind of consitant way to score in the half court to keep the D honest, ( pick and pop, shots off picks or even a dependable catch and shoot to play in and and game w/ a big.)

Interesting thoughts on Shabazz Steve. I respectfully disagree. Not on your assessment of Shabazz but what you think this team needs ( shabazz's skills w/ beals head). I think we can all agree this team needs a scorer. a dominant scorer. The thing w/ dominant scorers is that they all have a shoot first mentatlity. you almost have to have that edge, that amnesia, that swag if you will to be a real prolific scorer. I can't think of a passive prolific scorer. This is part of my problem w/ beal. i think he shows flashes but i don't think he has that edge that mentality. He disappears way too often. He's a bit timid. he proved that w/ his slow start here and in FL. Sure he can fill it up when he's hot and he is gonna have big games. but prolific shooters (which is our expectation of him) aren't timid. if they go down, they go down shooting. Everyone has cold spells and bad days, but all the best shooters keep jacking them up. I don't see that in in Beal at all. Might sound crazy but beal needs some of that arrogance that crawford brings to the table. Don't get me wrong he doesn't need to take out of control bad shots, but crawford is the only guy on the team that has that scorer's mentality. IMO this team absolutely needs Shabazz and his shoot early and often mentality. If he gets the ball he should be looking to score full throttle. Let wall as a fascilitator keep shabazz and his shots under control.