The Official Washington Wizards Thread

[MonkFan8]

I'll be the first to admit I liked the Mack pick, thought he'd be the ideal backup guard. So far it looks like I was wrong. Just has no quickness whatsoever.

[Destino]

Already a serious lack of movement in the 4th. To ball handlers left stranded. Nene and Mason are running everyone else is standing on a spot and waving there arms like idiots.

[DallasBlowsBig]

Is it just me or is Serphin really going to be a greatl player for us? I think he can make up for Blatche right? And Vesleey seems like he is learning too

[MonkFan8]

ROFL?????

What a terrible call!

[Thinking Skins]

Is it too early to say Martin > Young?

[MonkFan8]

This is the best defense I think I've ever seen the Wizards play. The rotation is phenomenal. Virtually every shot is challenged.

[Destino]

Blowout! Against Philly no less! Loving it... Woohoooooooo

If buck compliments Grunfeld again though he's going to get a brick thrown through his window.

[Thinking Skins]

If buck compliments Grunfeld again though he's going to get a brick thrown through his window.

I noticed that too, figured people wouldn't be too happy about it.

...and was it me or did he say "dagger" kinda early?

[MonkFan8]

I noticed that too, figured people wouldn't be too happy about it.

...and was it me or did he say "dagger" kinda early?

Nah that was pretty good timing! Great win. I'm all for the tank but you need to win a few here and there, especially since how hard we've been playing lately.

Most impressive is we're doing this with Wall struggling on offense (but dominating on D). Love it.

Hope Nene and Book are okay.

[StillUnknown]

That was enjoyable.

[Destino]

Booker won't be ok his injury has been downplayed but I've heard that its not something easily fixed. Plantar Fasciitus is what i heard and that can last a long time. Hopefully the wizards training staff has already started trying out orthotics and he isnt playing in the same shoes in which he got the injury. Smart move for the wiz is to shelf him for the rest of the season or cut his minutes back significantly at least. Symptoms can last a year.

Don't know what happened to nene but they said foot. That's the word you never want to hear when talking about a center. Damnit we deserve some luck I hope it's minor.

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

knew I shoulda went tonight lol

[Destino]

Nene also has Plantar Fasciitus. They say it's all about pain threshold but that's BS. This injury flares up and when it does you can barely walk on it. No decisive means of correcting it, like surgery for instance, exists to treat it. Ice/heat and rest are the most effective treatments. The training staff needs to take a look at their shoes before this gets worse. Symptoms can worsen and even with treatment can last a year.

Not going to put him out for weeks but between it a back spasms his availability will most likely be unpredictable. Either can flare up at literally any moment.

[No Excuses]

No one better to treat Booker and Nene than our medical staff.

[stevemcqueen1]

Booker won't be ok his injury has been downplayed but I've heard that its not something easily fixed. Plantar Fasciitus is what i heard and that can last a long time. Hopefully the wizards training staff has already started trying out orthotics and he isnt playing in the same shoes in which he got the injury. Smart move for the wiz is to shelf him for the rest of the season or cut his minutes back significantly at least. Symptoms can last a year.

Don't know what happened to nene but they said foot. That's the word you never want to hear when talking about a center. Damnit we deserve some luck I hope it's minor.

Yeah we could use some luck here. Losing both Nene and Book gives us no depth in the front court. I didn't see Nene's foot injury, was that the one where they stopped the clock and he had to run to the training room? He was getting beat up all night. I think I understand why he gets so banged up. He throws his body around wildly on offense in the paint and takes a lot of blows to his face in particular. It gets him to the FT line but I'd rather him stay healthy.

The silver lining with a Book injury is that Vesely and Seraphin are thriving with increased minutes and we'll get to see more of them now.

It's been a surprisingly pleasant feeling recently to see a Mack, Mason/Martin, Singleton, Vesely, and Seraphin lineup take the floor and actually feel pretty good about that lineup. Three rookies and four sophomore players are seeing the majority of our minutes and we're playing playoff teams close.

Seraphin's offensive range has been a very pleasant surprise.

Vesely's defensive ability is downright amazing for a rookie. His on ball defense was pretty good coming in and he was good playing the passing lanes from the get go. His team defense is fantastic as demonstrated in the last two games, he does a really good job switching and rotating to protect the rim. He's a cognizant player that anticipates offensive movement well. But what impressed me the most was that I thought he's shown real strides defending the post. He's playing stronger positional defense for one, and he's figuring out how to use his length to bother ball handlers when they post him up.

I'd argue that Vesely is the superior all around defender to Singleton at this stage and projects as a legit impact defender down the road as he gets stronger and more experienced (assuming the effort stays constant).

If Vesely can improve his rebounding rate, improve his FT shooting some, get stronger, continue improving his screens, and develop a few go to post moves that he can finish with either hand, he's going to be an extremely valuable PF. I think he can definitely do all of that in time. The FT shooting might never be good, but all of the other stuff should naturally progress. He'll never be a star because of his offensive limitations--lack of scoring instincts + poor shooting + lack of any sort of repertoire of skills outside of dunks. But he'll be a very good player that you can win with. I think I can start to see why management marked him as untouchable.

With Vesely showing well like this and Seraphin demonstrating his value as a rotational big that deserves lots of minutes, it makes me think PF isn't a priority for us in this draft. As a minimum, we'll need to trade Book to give an early PF pick a chance to see the floor.