The Official Washington Wizards Thread

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Such a shame Wall can't shoot. Can you imagine how unstoppable he'd be if he could?

[Hersh]

He had a brilliant game. Only a fool would think missing those FTs negates that.

Haven't you ever played a sport before? No such thing as a brilliant game if you choke at the end during the most critical time of the game. John Wall would tell you the same thing.

[Skin'emAlive]

Wall is guaranteed a max contract. No point in debating that.

In my opinion, we should try and package Ariza, Seraphin, and Ves/Singleton/Booker for a good quality SF. I think we can pick up a center in this draft alot easier than a SF.

[stevemcqueen1]

In the land of NBA contracts, "deserves" has little to do with it.

He'll get a max deal whether he deserves it or not because he is the centerpiece of everything Teddy has been selling to the fans for the last couple of years.

He'll deserve it. The Rondo deal is a massive bargain the Celtics got for extenuating circumstances, Rondo would absolutely get a max contract from any team that needed a PG if he negotiated today.

Wall is a transcendent talent with elite PG skills already who is capable of transforming a team into a winner with his leadership and ability to manage a game plus make a huge impact defensively. If he hits the open market he'll command a max deal from every suitor. When he hits his prime he's going to be amazing. A top ten player. Perhaps even top five. He's special. Feels like we had forgotten just how special while he was out. He looks smarter and more effective than ever and he still hasn't shaken off the rust.

---------- Post added January-17th-2013 at 12:56 AM ----------

Haven't you ever played a sport before? No such thing as a brilliant game if you choke at the end during the most critical time of the game. John Wall would tell you the same thing.

Meh, I knew there would be at least one fool who would try and argue that.

[Hersh]

He'll deserve it. The Rondo deal is a massive bargain the Celtics got for extenuating circumstances, Rondo would absolutely get a max contract from any team that needed a PG if he negotiated today.

Wall is a transcendent talent with elite PG skills already who is capable of transforming a team into a winner with his leadership and ability to manage a game plus make a huge impact defensively. If he hits the open market he'll command a max deal from every suitor. When he hits his prime he's going to be amazing. A top ten player. Perhaps even top five. He's special. Feels like we had forgotten just how special while he was out. He looks smarter and more effective than ever and he still hasn't shaken off the rust.

---------- Post added January-17th-2013 at 12:56 AM ----------



Meh, I knew there would be at least one fool who would try and argue that.

Take a poll of competitive athletes. If they choked at the end, would they ever call their game brilliant? Take a poll in this thread.

[stevemcqueen1]

Trevor Ariza killed us tonight, gave us absolutely nothing on offense. Don't know why Wittman played him so much.


Vesely finally has a good game, Wittman only plays him 10 minutes today. Wittman I do not understand your ways.

Ves didn't play because he was a terrible matchup on Cousins and they left Cousins in the whole game despite the fact he was playing in foul trouble most the night, Sacramento's front court is enormous. Thompson is big too, as big if not bigger then Nene, who is our biggest player by far. TRob is powerful. Chuck Hayes is short but very powerful. And Cousins is a complete monster who can physically overpower almost anyone in the league.

There is no one in that group you can put Ves on. They are in a different class of strength from him (and most of the league). Ves couldn't box Cousins out on a FT attempt without help, and even then the two of them could barely keep Cousins from the rebound.

Ariza was stone cold tonight. I too wonder why they kept him in so much, but I'm guessing it was a matchup thing. Probably figured he was the only one who could really bother Tyreke in all of those ISO situations. Tyreke did go cold for long stretches until the end of the game. I'm wondering if it was Ariza's doing.

---------- Post added January-17th-2013 at 01:09 AM ----------

Take a poll of competitive athletes. If they choked at the end, would they ever call their game brilliant? Take a poll in this thread.

Take a poll of NBA players and all of them would say it's a 48 minute team game and that game wasn't lost by Wall at the line on those two FT attempts. He was absolutely terrific tonight. 14 & 10 off the bench with expert management of the offense and some huge defensive plays that helped spark good leads that we couldn't maintain through other failures.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Thompson isn't big. Nene was abusing him all night

[nuposse87]

Wall did choke at the end, but the game was lost once we stopped executing plays for beal IMO. Seraphin should not be allowed to shoot as much as he did, but he was also given the ball a lot with the shot clock running down, but even then, Nene should have been running PnR with John every play in the last 2 minutes. Great effort wasted away, oh well. Oh and Ariza completely stagnated the offense tonight.

[Destino]

Take a poll of NBA players and all of them would say it's a 48 minute team game and that game wasn't lost by Wall at the line on those two FT attempts. He was absolutely terrific tonight. 14 & 10 off the bench with expert management of the offense and some huge defensive plays that helped spark good leads that we couldn't maintain through other failures.

You're wrong. If you blow it at clutch time there is no getting around it. We aren't talking about a miracle three either we're talking free throws of which he missed both at a crucial moment. His game was a cake and those missed FTs pissed all over it. It doesn't make the cake disappear but it sure as hell ruins it.

Long term however Wall looked brilliant at times today and had a good game overall. It's important to remember that he's still working his way back into game shape! There were a few times where you could see late that he didn't really have his legs.

[Skin'emAlive]

Wall did choke at the end, but the game was lost once we stopped executing plays for beal IMO. Seraphin should not be allowed to shoot as much as he did, but he was also given the ball a lot with the shot clock running down, but even then, Nene should have been running PnR with John every play in the last 2 minutes. Great effort wasted away, oh well. Oh and Ariza completely stagnated the offense tonight.

I disagree. This game was lost the minute we stopped playing up-tempo offense, and switched to a halfcourt set. That, and all of our half-court offense was somehow resulting in either Seraphin getting the ball ( almost nick young jr. )and Beal attempting some iso stuff before kicking it out.

[nuposse87]

I disagree. This game was lost the minute we stopped playing up-tempo offense, and switched to a halfcourt set. That, and all of our half-court offense was somehow resulting in either Seraphin getting the ball ( almost nick young jr. )and Beal attempting some iso stuff before kicking it out.

I think you're right, we were up, but we were playing "not to lose" there was no aggression in our attack at that point, things were tentative. I understand wanting to run the clock down but use your bread and butter. The defense was fine. It took a John Salmons 3 to tie it. Salmons is ****ing awful, sometimes other teams just catch a break. I still think the fact Ariza is so freaking streaky offensively will bite us in the ass if we don't address the SF position.

[stevemcqueen1]

You're wrong. If you blow it at clutch time there is no getting around it. We aren't talking about a miracle three either we're talking free throws of which he missed both at a crucial moment. His game was a cake and those missed FTs pissed all over it. It doesn't make the cake disappear but it sure as hell ruins it.

Long term however Wall looked brilliant at times today and had a good game overall. It's important to remember that he's still working his way back into game shape! There were a few times where you could see late that he didn't really have his legs.

No, you're wrong. You're looking at it from a fan's perspective. I guarantee you there is not a coach or player in the league which would disagree with what I said.

John's missed FTs were just one mistake in a myriad of mistakes that added up to the loss. We still had a great chance to win the game even after he missed them.

[Dave25]

Last night was the first full Wizards game I've seen all season so a few personal opinions on the team and future.

1. Grunfield finally made a good draft choice. Beal looks like a stud and we finally have a good to potentially great backcourt with Wall and Beal, he is making me feel better and better about the non Harden deal. I see multiple all-star appearances in his future if he can figure out how to create his own and shot and be more aggressive towards the basket. It will be interesting to see this team when Crawford comes back it should be fun to see these three in the same game.

2. I like the frontcourt a lot with NeNe and Okafor as the veteran leaders and Seraphin as the young up and coming guy. If Booker and Vesley can figure it out and be somewhat capable backup/energy guys that would be great but I don't have much hope for them.

3. SF is this teams biggest need. Ariza is complete garbage and seems completely uninterested in the game all together and needs to be a bench warmer at this point. We should absolutely target Shabazz Muhammed or Anthony Bennett in the 2013 NBA Draft. Scoring combo guards is exactly what this team needs imo.

4. John Wall still can't shoot.

All in all I feel a ton better about this team going forward with the way Wall looks coming back from his injury and Beal emerging but there is a lot of holes namely at SF backup PG and the front court depth.

[Destino]

No, you're wrong. You're looking at it from a fan's perspective. I guarantee you there is not a coach or player in the league which would disagree with what I said.

John's missed FTs were just one mistake in a myriad of mistakes that added up to the loss. We still had a great chance to win the game even after he missed them.

Steve wins matter more than stats and every player will tell you the same. If they blow free throws and lose the game that's what counts. Coaches will say the game was lost a million different times throughout the game, they would likely agree with your take. I don't think players care much for "good game" if it ends in a loss though. Not the good players anyway.

[stevemcqueen1]

Thompson isn't big. Nene was abusing him all night

Thompson is as big as Nene.