Going Commando

He'd probably be smart to come out this year. Next year is a really strong forward class and he's going to need a great season to continue being ranked as the top SF in the class.

Thanks for the update. I looked for him on the roster the other day and didn't see him and wondered what in the hell happened to him. I assumed he was thrown into one of the deadline trades. Where is Rashard Lewis? I don't even remember hearing anything about him? I would assume he's still here though because of his contract but it seems like a long time since I've seen him in a game. Crawford came on remarkably fast once he was given an opportunity. I confess I knew almost nothing about Crawford other than what you all mentioned on here about the LeBron camp tape and what I'd seen with my own eyes over the last three games. So I just now went and looked him up on Wikipedia and had an oooooh **** moment. I didn't put it together that this kid is #55 from Xavier last year! I'd actually watched him play in college and had no idea LOL! He played pretty well against us (Richmond) and it was pretty obvious he and #52 were there best players and a really dangerous backcourt. Man that's something else, I wondered what happened to him--turns out he's on my NBA team.Aside from the black mark of having gone to Xavier, I'm twice as excited about Crawford as I was before I found that out. I want him to be the long term starter now. I see what you mean about Curry/Ellis and I think that's a good comparison to start from in terms of size and speed. Our duo will be better in the end though because they fit into their roles better. Wall is a big pure point guard whereas Curry is an undersized two playing a bit out of position at the point. Crawford is a long but undersized two playing in his proper position for us. Man I don't know if that makes any sense. What I am trying to say is that our guards fit more naturally into the traditional 1 & 2 roles than Curry & Ellis do, as I think both Curry and Ellis are natural 2s. Plus Crawford and Wall might be about the same height as Curry/Ellis, but to my eye they look a lot longer and stronger. I know for a fact that Wall has a ridiculous wingspan and Crawford looks really long armed and rangy too. Wall will eventually iron out his shot to become an all around stud. If Derrick Rose could do it, so can Wall, as I think Rose's jumper was a lot rougher than Wall's when he came into the league. Crawford needs to settle down with his shot. He looks like he gets impatient and he'll start chucking and get overly aggressive. But I'm not going to let that discourage me as he's a rookie and I just assume that he'll improve. Blatche is still tradeable, so I don't think the move to give him an extension was crippling on a long term. If Young got a similar deal, he'd be fine--just as long as it didn't make him the starter by default. I agree with what you're saying about the contract year thing though. It's why I think Crawford has made him expendable. I'd like to keep him because he's a great shooter and you can never have too many of those. Plus outside of him, we don't have a consistent 3 pointer on the roster. But it's not worth breaking the bank for him and I definitely want Crawford in my plans as the long term starting 2. If Young can accept a Ben Gordon style role as a swingman coming off the bench, then that'd be ideal. If he can't then, I would let him find another team that will let him start. Yes, the numbers don't tell the whole story, but I'm going off of what I saw from him the last three games in particular. The triple double was a bit empty and his showboating was childish, but at least he played hard in an otherwise meaningless contest. Other than that, I thought McGee has been excellent the past two games. He's an unselfish player who can give you 30 good minutes a game at the 5 and bring a couple of special talents to the table (finishing & shot-blocking). I don't agree that he played bad defense yesterday. He'll let things get away from him and react slowly on occasion, but that's the norm for the position (plus he's only 23). When he's motivated and playing outside Blatche's shadow, he's been extremely efficient and looks like one of the better centers in the conference. He plays hard, he's just immature. If he were lazy like Blatche I would worry, but I don't think that is the case.The trouble is in just getting McGee to this level each night. I think it can be done. I think when you surround him in winners like Wall, Crawford, and Booker, it bleeds off on him. Give me Jared Sullinger at the 4 and then that's the perfect mix to let McGee percolate in. He's still a man-child right now but he will grow up eventually. Regarding his numbers, they can be off, but I don't think they tell an outright lie with McGee. His PER is that of a quality starting center and it reinforces what I've seen on my own--a good but not dominant big who can play within himself offensively and show flashes of brilliance in the paint on the defensive end. McGee is probably miles ahead of where he was two years ago, and I think he'll continue to make strides the more he gets to mature with this core. I wish he had made the US national team over the summer. I think that would have done amazing things for his development. Judging by all of the players who made megaleaps after playing on that team (Westbrook, Rose, Gay, Love, Gordon), McGee could have made the leap sooner rather than later. If the stars hold out of the Olympics, I really hope McGee and Wall make the 2012 team for this very reason. Yeah, but even still, wouldn't you rather see him start than Blatche? Yi is a stiff, but at least he doesn't hinder our offense by taking up a ton of shots. Plus I get the sense that Blatche and McGee dislike each other, or at least playing with each other. Blatche is too egocentric and it's not good that he's the mature one in that pair...I guess Yi is your 10th or 11th man and that's fine. I'm surprised that Seraphin is even less ready to go than Yi. I was really hoping for something from him. We really need a power forward. ---------- Post added March-21st-2011 at 11:13 AM ---------- Yeah it took seeing him juxtaposed against a million other players in a format like the tournament for me to see him shine. He's a power forward in a small forward's body like Booker is, only he's got the speed of a guard. He looks like he's about as good an athlete as Barnes is and I would guess that he's got a longer wingspan and stronger frame than Barnes. Barnes has him on offensive tools and basketball IQ though. Barnes is a very controlled player who doesn't seem to make a lot of mistakes. He keeps his temper and competitive fire on a leash and has the poise of a winner IMO. He's also got a very rounded offensive game for a first time wing. I know Barnes was a post player for most of his life so he's made a pretty rapid adjustment to a new role in terms of developing finesse (and still has upside). Both are winners, so I don't really give either an edge in that category. I also like both a lot more than I like Derrick Williams and Perry Jones. Jones' teams have never been very successful and I don't have any interest in adding another raw, immature player onto our roster no matter what kind of an athlete he is. Williams just doesn't do it for me for some reason. I've seen him play a few games where he's come up big but I just don't see him being a good fit for us. I want a strong power forward or a highly versatile small forward from this lottery. Williams will be a good scorer in the NBA but I think he's soft and finesse looking. I want to see Kanter with my own eyes aside from what you can pick up on youtube. What I've read about him is extremely impressive. There is a strong consensus on him as a player and two things jump out at you: 1) Well developed offensively 2) Rebounding machine That's exactly what we need from our power forward and the nice thing about Kanter is he can play some center too. The problem is that I've also read from a bunch of different places that he has concerns over the health of his knees. That really worries me given the fact that our medical staff is poorly thought of and guys like Greg Oden have been so disappointing because of knee issues. That's why I'm praying we get Sullinger.

Agreed. NY is the closest thing we have and he's not even a full time starter. This is a young group that needs someone to steady it. Crawford's ability to run point in stretches is nice, but I'd like us to get another PG and keep Crawford at the 2. Problem is, we're not a FA draw in any way, shape, or form. Plus we've got a lot of draft resources. We would probably get a more talented guard from the draft than in FA Josh Selby is a name that's thrown around in the later part of round one. He's an undersized two, but he could be worth a look in that range because he's a good shooter and ridiculous at attacking the rim. He'd be nice if we let Young walk. I still like Brandon Knight too if he's there at the Atlanta pick. He'd be a terrific backup point and he could come in as a two when Wall is on the court. He's extremely fast and I like what I've seen from him during the tourney. BTW, speaking of Kentucky and the tourney, was it you GACOLB that liked Terrence Jones? He's really impressed me so far and I love his toughness and versatility. He's inconsistent right now and lets himself get carried away but I see the seeds of a really smart, efficient basketball player in him. I like him a lot more than Perry Jones at this point. Not sure if I like him over Barnes, but he's probably my third or fourth choice in the lottery (depending on how Kanter's knees check out).

This lineup is forming real chemistry and it's only been what, four games? I like this bunch of starters and the way they gel better than the old one. Yi is the weak link, but honestly, he and McGee are a better combination than Blatche and McGee. Blatche is a millstone on our chemistry because he's selfish and demands so many shots without being able to play within the flow of an offense. I liked what I saw from Maurice Evans too, and if we're looking for a veteran backup to steady an awfully young roster, I'd rather keep him around than Howard or Thornton. Crawford is a bit wild but he can score and he's a nice partner for Wall. He's a little undersized so his ceiling is limited. I'm not too worried about it though. I know some others disagree, but I really think Booker is a starting SF. He may not be the fastest guy but he compensates with strength. He's an excellent all around player and I think there is a place for him on the floor as a starter on a good team. Great game from McGee. He's been terrific the last five games with this group. Over that span he's shooting .580 with 12.8 PPG, 9.6 RPG, and 4.8 blocks. In the last four games he's piled up an astonishing 23 blocks. He's finishing the year strong. I think this lineup constitutes our best bet for the long term with Young being kept in a swing man role off the bench (and as our shooting specialist). The area that needs the biggest upgrade is at the 4. Yi needs to come off the bench because he doesn't generate enough offense on his own and he's too soft as a rebounder. I really think this is where Sullinger or Kanter come into our plans to give us low post scoring and defensive rebounding. I also like the idea of taking a look at my boy Justin Harper or Kenneth Faried with our late first or early second rounder. I also wouldn't mind seeing more of Seraphin and Ndiaye to see how they fit in the front court rotation.

Derrick Williams is a little slender and finesse to be a fulltime 4. He's about as much a power forward as Serge Ibaka is a center. West is a soft tweener too. If we're looking for a combo forward, I like Terrence Jones the best. He plays hard and is a good athlete and rebounder. He's quick and strong and even has some post moves. He's looked the best of the freshman forwards on a consistent basis. Barnes is a better pure 3, but Jones gives us value at multiple positions. I want Sullinger though. Also D&S, that mock is insane if it thinks we'll take Kyrie Irving after taking Wall. My guess is they were just doing a mock draft based on rankings rather than a serious analysis of team needs.

I really liked what I saw from Booker and Crawford. Booker is special and he's going to be an exciting player to watch as he develops with Wall. Wall complimented him after the game so you can tell he likes playing with him. As far as I'm concerned, Booker should be our starter at SF from now on because he's been excellent (and we've got absolutely nothing else). We play well when we're actually getting production from the 3. Crawford is quick and talented and I think he looks like a keeper too. I don't know his college background, but he's been tremendous for a rookie. It'll be interesting to see how he and Young share time when they take Young out of mothballs. I don't trust his 3 pointer yet and it seemed like he missed several last night. But he might prove a better long term starter than Young. Given that, Young might be better in his original role as a sixth man shooting specialist who you put in at the 2 (or 3 when you want to go small) when you need to make your shots. We need a backup point, but aside from that, I really like the way our backcourt looks in another year or two. Javale had an efficient performance and I like him when he gets to play the shot. He's already a top tier finisher and above the rim force. 7 O rebounds and 4 blocks is what he could be doing on a nightly basis if we have good, smart, unselfish play from our forwards. Booker gives us that IMO and his rebounding skill is a terrific fit at that spot for our defense. Our biggest long term need, by far, has got to be PF. We don't play well with Blatche because he's soft and selfish. We need a tough, high IQ player who has a gifted offensive skillset and can be a rebounding machine on the defensive end at PF to truly unlock McGee's potential. Basically, we need a taller Trevor Booker. More than ever, we have got to get Jared Sullinger. He'd be absolutely perfect for us because he hits all those marks--smart, tough, strong, gifted rebounder, extremely well developed post game, constant winner, great work ethic. Barring that, we've got to get Enes Kanter. I've read he's like a slightly taller version of all that, but he's risky because of the healthy of his knees. I'll be extremely excited if we trade Blatche and come away with one of those two players on draft day. After that, I think you can look to fill our backup SF and PG positions with our other draft picks. Josh Selby or Brandon Knight would be nice with our late first.

We played well on the whole. I thought we might take it there at the end of the game, but the way the night was going, I didn't really expect it to happen. I don't really have any major gripes about anyone's performance. Jianlian maybe. He wasn't great but he's a stiff so it's not surprising. The reason we lost that game is because those ****ers couldn't miss. Sometimes you can play well and whup a team in the paint and still lose because it's their night. At least we didn't embarrass ourselves in front of Samuel L. Jackson.

As a general rule, centers take forever to develop. McGee is only in his third year and his first as a starter (albeit with limited minutes). But he's still leading our team in PER with a number that Hollinger considers in the range of a solid starting quality player. McGee also brings one thing to the table already where he is freakishly good--he's got to be top 5 in the NBA in his ability to play above the rim. He's at least a top 5 shot blocker and if he ever gets more consistently aggressive, he could be a top 10 rebounder. He's offensively unrefined and he's a streaky defender that plays careless. But he's a young center and that is the norm. I think he could definitely be upgraded from an offensive standpoint. But I think we should only try and do that if the right opportunity falls into our lap (like say, we're in position to draft Andre Drummond one of these years). As an illustration of how long it takes for centers to come around, look how long it took for Kendrick Perkins to become a good starter and he's on the opposite end of the spectrum from McGee. He's a super tough, gritty, blue-collar, high IQ player. But he wasn't any good until year 5 or 6 in the league. I think McGee will come around.

We are definitely tanking right now. When Yi gets 41 minutes, it's safe to say that is what's happening. We sat five of our players tonight for various minor injuries, two of which happened to be our best scorers. The season has been over for months. There is no reason not to tank, so the fact that we are doing it doesn't bother me.

Yeah wow. I agree. You all are managing to criticize him for getting an absurdly special triple double in a game that was over in a season that has long since been lost. Give McGee his due.

This is my first year following them day to day. I'd lurked around the Wizards for the past two or three years but followed the NBA more generally since I was a kid (I followed players and not teams because I was a basketball player). I understand the years of bitterness. I am a Redskins fan. But you have to keep in mind this is a different team than you've ever seen before. It's got a new owner and almost entirely new roster. You can't damn them for the failures of the past. You also can't expect them to figure it out and start winning right away because that's virtually impossible given our current roster construction. As fans, the only sensible thing we can do is watch and wait. I agree with those who have said it: I wouldn't pay to go see a ton of games for a team that is actively tanking. But I also won't give myself a conniption fit over them or let this year make me bitter. I'm just trying to make the best of a bad situation by enjoying the spectacular flashes from the youngsters and trying to figure out how the team can improve on my own. Watching last night's pasting was frustrating but it's easier to take when you keep the big picture in mind. Three years ago that same team that crushed us was in our position and now look at them. I personally think there is genuine reason to be excited about this group's ability over a long term because of the quality of it's young players. To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't have chosen to start following this team if this weren't the case. Also, nothing that has happened this year has really dampened my optimism over the long term. The rebuild isn't done yet and this team still has important needs to fill. But I think they've got the resources to fill them over time and this year's lottery pick will be an interesting step.

Big picture - this team doesn't need two stars. The Bulls are great without two stars and their PG is their best player. The Spurs are great without any top 20 players, the Mavericks are great with only one real star and franchise caliber player. It's nice to have a team with multiple stars like the Heat or the Lakers but they have their structural weaknesses too. Addressing the more general negativity in this thread: I'll tell everyone what the biggest problem with our team is right now: inexperience and lack of cohesion. Other than that, the source of all of the negativity from fans around here is pretty obvious--you all have unrealistic expectations for the moment. You all are posting with the bitterness of fans expecting their team to win right now and disappointed that we're losing. It sucks, but clearly we're going to lose a ton of games, in embarrassing fashion right now. We're rebuilding remember? We're also tanking and just trying to get our young guys time at this point. I agree that it's hard to stomach, but we're the fools if we actually get discouraged by momentary setbacks or small picture failures. Almost half our roster is composed of rookies. We've got three players on the roster who were here this time last year (four if you count Josh Howard). Blatche is our most experienced holdover and he doesn't even have a full season as a starter yet. Young and McGee are both first year starters. Completely giving up on the three of them this early into their careers is just stupid and utterly short-sighted. There has been a cataclysmic amount of turnover and rebuilding in a tiny amount of time. Of course, this team has absolutely no cohesion. Of course it has no experience when 3/4ths of the roster is under 25 and has less than three years of veterancy. It's going to take a lot of time to get good, but that's kind of assumed when you've got a rebuild on your hands.

The team is being rebuilt. We have five rookies on the roster and three of them get a good amount of minutes. Young is a first year starter. Blatche is only 24 or 25 and McGee is only 22 or 23 (memory is failing me right now). It's no wonder we're awful at the moment. We've got to be the least experienced team in the entire league. It'll get better but a year or two like this is to be expected. We need a few more pieces but the foundation for our offense is in place since we've got good guards, nice role playing forwards, and a superstar point. We badly need a three and we could stand to upgrade Blatche and probably McGee if the opportunity comes up. But the biggest thing we need right now is experience and that's going to take a lot of time to get. I would also be patient with McGee. He's still a very young big. Hyper athletic bigs almost always take forever to develop. We can expect streaky play from him until he finally makes a leap and becomes the sum of his parts. Joakim Noah may make McGee look like a chump right now but you have to keep in mind that even he is three years older than McGee. McGee is still a baby and won't enter the initial years of his prime for another 4 or 5 seasons. This core doesn't need to be dismantled, they need to grow up together.

I'd like to take this opportunity to crow so hard for being right about Harrison Barnes. I am stevemcqueen1 and none shall doubt my word. Carry on.

If you draft Enes Kanter, then McGee makes sense at PF... if he became a better shooter. He's like Josh Smith. Defensively, I think he'd handle a switch to PF much better. Does he have the offensive versatility for it though? He's got to be able to threaten with a decent shot. His coach in college said he was basically a 7' small forward.

I think it will end up being the forward that has the most dominant tournament. Irving works if the team needs a PG. If you held 2005 over again, Chris Paul would be the first or second choice. That's Irving's best case scenario. Perry Jones has the profile of a first overall choice. I see a lot of T-Mac in him and that's first overall value, especially since the kid is 6-10. He'll be one of the most interesting wing prospects available in some time. When he's done growing he could be the size and body type of LaMarcus Aldridge. With his speed, he'll be in the same class of physical freakishness as LeBron.

I'd come up with a package of players and our later first round pick. The only guys on the roster I'd attempt to hang on to are Wall, Young, Booker, and McGee. But if I was confident in Kanter and knew I could get him (top 3 choice), I'd put McGee on the block too. Between the enormous amount of cap room we have, plus the desirable contract of Blatche and a few promising younger players like Crawford/Seraphin/McGee, we should have some pretty decent trade chips. The pick in question is likely to be cheap too. GMs don't seem to value this top 8 very highly because of a lack of franchise caliber players. But we've already got our franchise caliber player and the class has a couple of really nice forwards which is what we need. I bet you could move up by taking that Atlanta pick and packaging it with Blatche. Or we could agree to take on a bad contract since we've got a ridiculous amount of room to play with. As far as I can tell, Howard, Jianlian, Evans, Martin, Young, Shakur, Ndiaye are all set to come off the books this offseason and Young is the only one we've really got to spend to extend. Lewis is the only bad contract we've got.

I don't think he will. I can't remember a player like him ever being taken that high before. The guys he gets compared to the most often were taken lower: Kevin Love: 5th overall Carlos Boozer: 35th overall Luis Scola: 56th overall Paul Millsap: 47th overall Love was seen as a reach at the time he was taken 5th and Sullinger doesn't quite have his array of tools (superb passing skills, deadly 3 point shot). The only reason Sullinger could be taken in the top 3 where Love went 5th is because this is a much weaker class than 2008's. Sullinger just doesn't have the footspeed or general athleticism to be taken first overall.

Forgot about Terrence Jones. He could be a great pick too and would definitely bring another excellent rebounder into the fold. This is probably the top 8 if the draft were held today: - Perry Jones - Terrence Jones - Jared Sullinger - Harrison Barnes - Enes Kanter - Kyrie Irving - Derrick Williams - Foreign big (Valanciunas/Montiejunas) The only ones from that group that I don't really like for us are Irving and Valanciunas/Montiejunas. Therefore, I think we should try very hard to get two picks in this year's top 8 and try and come away with the best combo of those six players we can. It'd be awesome to get Sullinger/Kanter with our first choice and then take the best SF left of that four man group (Jones/Jones/Barnes/Williams) that drops with the second choice.

I like his game. I think he's your second or third best player on a championship caliber team. He's not a franchise guy that can carry a bad team by himself. But he's a key cog. I really hope we get a top three/four pick. I want Sullinger, Barnes, or Perry Jones (probably in that order). I think Kanter could also be a hugely successful pick but I'd be scared to take him. I'd want those knees completely scrutinized. If they checked out alright, then put him at #2 on my wishlist. Sullinger and Kanter could do more to help McGee than anyone else. They're tenacious rebounders and tough, scrappy players who'd allow McGee to just go and play the ball without having to worry about rebounding. They've also got the kind of offensive skills where they can create for themselves in the paint. They'd each be substantial upgrades over Andre Blatche. Barnes will be good no matter where he ends up and he'd be nice as a secondary perimeter scoring option to Young and our top perimeter stopper. He and Booker could be a nice rotation at the SF spot as he's got the athleticism and finesse and Booker as the toughness and strength. Perry Jones has the potential to be an absolute beast of a perimeter defender with his athleticism but something isn't quite there with him. He's the athletic cream of the crop but I want to know why his teams haven't won as much as they should. Then again, I could see him being the type of player that would benefit tremendously from playing with a top playmaking PG who could crush a pick and roll. I really hope we can trade Andre Blatche for a decent draft pick in the first. We already have two picks, and one will hopefully be a top four selection. I hope we'd be able to take Kanter or Sullinger with that one and then move up to around 8-10 for someone like Harrison Barnes.

Westbrook was a homerun like Durant, and Ibaka has been good, but I actually think Harden was a massive missed opportunity. I think the Thunder would be so much better if they'd drafted Stephen Curry, Tyreke Evans, or DeMar DeRozan instead. I don't think Harden was an example of good drafting. Presti was also fortunate to end up with four top 5 picks in three years. That makes team building a lot easier.

That's sad news. There's also been a lot of losing recently. This is kind of the nadir of the season for us. Time for a distracting hypothetical: If you all could go back to 2009 and un-trade the 5th overall pick, what would you all do with it? Use the benefit of hindsight as well as the knowledge that we get John Wall in 2010. I'd spend it on either DeMar DeRozan or Stephen Curry. I can't decide which right now. I can see a compelling case made for either.

It'll be hard to find someone better though. It would also suck to have a minimal return on McGee after having spent all that time developing him. I'd rather stay the course with him than start over at the position and go from it being a position of minor strength to one of huge need. That could damage our ability to keep Wall. Plus I still think there is a lot of upside left to McGee's game. ---------- Post added February-26th-2011 at 02:20 PM ---------- When are we going to change the team name? Wizards just leaves me feeling unattached. It'd be like if the Redskins changed their name to the Accountants or something. I want us to go back to the Bullets now so we can hear an endless stream of puns every time Wall runs coast to coast.

I don't really know enough about coaching candidates to have an opinion. I don't think Flip is the man for this job though. He needs a veteran team to work with, not a bunch of knuckleheaded 22 and 23 year olds. I just don't think he's got the patience to manage this group with an even hand like they need. But I also don't think Flip is a disaster either. This season was ****ed from the beginning and we knew that going in. So the team losing shouldn't decide whether he stays or goes after this season. What will be my barometer of success is if he continues to effectively develop Wall/McGee/Seraphin/Booker/Young. That's really all that matters at this point. Even if McGee never gets any better than he is right now, he's still a good starting center. He's efficient and has unique above the rim ability and has a PER in the 16s, which is better than what a lot of teams get at the position. But McGee is also 23 and came into the game notoriously raw. He's already made big strides in his first season as a starter and will certainly continue to do so. Josh Smith was another super athletic but super raw big that didn't start to thrive until he had about 150-200 starts under his belt. The Hawks would be short a really good player if they had given up on him too early. Once McGee gets consistent enough to start commanding 30 minutes or more per game, his performances will shine. He'll put up bigger numbers and assert himself as one of the better centers in the East.

This is the second time this season we've played the Heat tough. The first game we didn't have Wall, so that was kind of a forgettable one. We haven't seemed to gain any ground on the Magic, but when you look at the landscape in the East, when Wall has been healthy, we've beaten the Celtics and played the Heat really hard twice. Wall hasn't really been healthy versus the Bulls yet, and clearly we don't have a chance when he's not in top form. But you have to be encouraged by the early returns of this team against the conference's best teams. We seem to match up well against the Heat and Javale can dominate them in the paint. They have to commit LeBron and Wade to defending Young and Wall. If we actually get another big scoring forward, I don't know that they'd have the horses to shut everyone down. We could beat them. Likewise, the we can give the Celtics everything they can handle because they have a hard time matching our speed and athleticism. Rondo isn't enough of an offensive threat to truly tax Wall and it takes everything Rondo has to defend him. If Seraphin and Booker continue to develop, in a couple of years we'll be able to match them in saltiness. Those two power teams are going to have trouble with us in a couple of seasons. The only problem is the damned Hawks, Magic, and Bulls. The Bulls can go stride for stride with us at just about every position since they're built almost identically (but with a lot more talent). Get us Sullinger though and we'll have our own Boozer (only much younger). The Magic are just too big and too athletic in the frontcourt for us to handle right now. Howard scores and rebounds at will and Javale will probably always struggle with him. Maybe one day Seraphin can develop into an effective defensive presence down low, I don't know what we're going to do to stop Howard. The Hawks pose all sorts of matchup problems for us too because we don't really have an answer to Josh Howard nor Al Horford. Our best hope is that they never find a PG and eventually decide to dismantle their core to shake things up. The Knicks would be dangerous if they got Dwight Howard. They wouldn't scare me as much if they got Paul because a Wall-Paul matchup will favor us and Javale can actually out-rebound Stoudemire. But if the cap ends up being much higher than we expected and Howard leaves for New York, that would suck. The Nets wouldn't bother me as much. I think Wall can handle Deron Williams and Javale can defend Brook Lopez. If they added a third piece though, they might become problematic. Detroit, Toronto, Cleveland, and Charlotte all look like they're in worse shape than we are. Eventually, we'll be able to beat Milwaukee regularly. Indiana and Philly are tough draws though. We tend to match up poorly against them for some reason. When you look around the conference, our future seems bright if we get another key piece from this year's lottery. The West will still be a bear and probably kick our butts most of the time, but we'll eventually be able to hold our own in this conference and make it to the playoffs. This year has been long and frustrating, but aside from a few brief and isolated moments of despair, I've felt optimistic the whole time. Things are going to get better and we'll start peaking at a point where the other power teams in the East are on the downslope of their window.