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The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc


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4 minutes ago, TryTheBeal! said:

Bench points 36-16.

 

And that's all she wrote...

Our bench can't score.  Thornton is the "best" scoring option on the bench and all he manages is an inefficient, and unimpressive, 7.2ppg.  Our 6th man wouldn't make Miami's team and they're not even good.  

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There's some good stuff in this article from DA.  Towards the end, he brings up who the Wizards should dangle in a trade...it might not be who you think.

 



Wassup, Wizards?

We continue our occasional look at some of the NBA’s teams that aren’t performing up to snuff with the Wizards. Everywhere I go, I hear variations on the same question: What’s wrong with them? People expected them to be so much better than their current 9-13 record. No, they didn’t get Kevin Durant to come home. But with Scott Brooks coming in after a year off, at $7 million a year, to help straighten out John Wall and Bradley Beal, and with an intact starting five returning, the expectation was that Washington would improve on its 41-41 mark last season and make the playoffs.

Instead, the Wizards have bumbled and stumbled, with a weak bench that starting center Marcin Gortat said was “one of the worst in the league” after a loss to Chicago in November, and by failing to execute down the stretch of games, when Wall has had the ball in his hands in the waning seconds and not been able to deliver.

 

Season hasn't turned out as expected, but Wizards showing signs

 

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11 hours ago, TryTheBeal! said:

Bench points 36-16.

 

And that's all she wrote...

When I saw House of Guards had close to 60 and we still lose...

 

Image result for frustration

 

Still feel allowing 110+ point each time we played them is what really did us in, but bench scoring (if we can even call it that now) isn't helping.

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42 minutes ago, Rocky21 said:

Love reading stuff on the team from a national perspective.  Thanks for posting that link RonArtest.

 

History has shown us that the Wiz just don't waltz into Miami and steal games in their house.  Last night was not a huge surprise. 

 

Me too, man.  I don't like reading anything Wizards related from our local media.  Washington Post coverage is awful.  I'll tell you what...Grunfeld etc. are LUCKY they don't work in a market where every horrible decision is scrutinized.  He gets it from our fanbase and that's about it. 

 

For my Wizards info, I rely strictly on Bullets Forever, Truth About it, and Wiz of Awes.  Not to mention lurking on RealGM and what you guys post here.  All these sources keep it real and it's appreciated.  

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11 hours ago, Taylor703 said:

Spend a fortune on big men. Have one decent big man. Ernie is herpes. 

 

Signing crappy bench players is a hallmark for Ernie. Was the case when we rolled with Arenas, Butler and Jamison.

 

Same now. 

 

Oh. And he can't draft. 

 

This franchise is a mess and Ted has completely killed my motivation to even watch a quarter of a game. There was once a time where I would tune into at least 90% of the games every season.

Edited by No Excuses
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Just read that Marcin Gortat is the worst big man in the league at protecting the rim.  Opponent scoring about 60% of the time on him.  For all the good he does on the offensive end of the floor, setting screens, etc...he's a turnstile on defense.  Someone on RealGM floated the idea of trading him for Derrick Favors.

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I loved the DA article, but "national writer"?!  Dear God people, be grew up in DC, went to Dematha High and American University.  I woke up every morning and read his Bullets beat articles on a regular basis in the Post. One of my early, "I saw a celebrity!!" experiences was bumping into him while I was getting off a plane at Dulles... I just read his twitter feed and he was live tweeting Redskins-Eagles.  

 

Local Washington DC writer who now has a national platform.  

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There are a few very minor factual errors in his article that are annoying.  Seeing as how Beal is averaging 35 MPG despite missing three and isn't being pulled from back to backs, I don't think he's actually on a minutes restriction.  He's playing way the hell over 180 minutes per nine game stretch.  And Porter didn't play PF in that Toronto series, Pierce did.   I think someone told him wrong on those two points.  But other than that Aldridge is spot on and he's a damn fine reporter.  And I want to thank him for his take on trading Wall.  He's right.  He's right about everything.

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30 minutes ago, Fergasun said:

I loved the DA article, but "national writer"?!  Dear God people, be grew up in DC, went to Dematha High and American University.  I woke up every morning and read his Bullets beat articles on a regular basis in the Post. One of my early, "I saw a celebrity!!" experiences was bumping into him while I was getting off a plane at Dulles... I just read his twitter feed and he was live tweeting Redskins-Eagles.  

 

Local Washington DC writer who now has a national platform.  

Heck, my mom ran into him at the grocery store a few weeks ago.

 

Can't get much more local than David. :)

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2 hours ago, RonArtest15 said:

Just read that Marcin Gortat is the worst big man in the league at protecting the rim.  Opponent scoring about 60% of the time on him.  For all the good he does on the offensive end of the floor, setting screens, etc...he's a turnstile on defense.  Someone on RealGM floated the idea of trading him for Derrick Favors.

If the Jazz would take that deal, I'd be all over it.

 

Gortat has become a weak rim protector.  He's not fast and he can't jump off two feet any more.  He has to be running and go up off of one to get lift.  Gortat's only positive on defense is his ability to single guard bigs, which he does extremely well.  Gortat is strong.  And for all the talk about him being soft, he's not.  He's a physical player.  He is constantly moving bigs out of position and clearing out space for ball handlers.  The reason he can't block shots and outrebound the likes of Hassan Whiteside is because he can't jump.

 

Moving Gortat won't fix all of our problems on defense because the issues are broader than him.  The problem is that none of our starters really cover for each other's weaknesses on that side of the ball, so it's an issue of fit.  Gortat needs better perimeter defense in front of him and neither John, Beal, nor Otto are stoppers.  John and Otto are help defenders who struggle when playing on the ball.  Beal is just an average defender on his good days, bad on the others.  And Morris is a lousy team defender who can basically only single guard opposing PFs.  He's not a good rebounder either.  There is no length in the front court and nobody on the team but Mahinmi can defend a ****ing pick and roll.

 

I'd be hesitant to move Gortat in favor of Mahinmi though.  Gortat is a tank and it's looking an awful lot like Mahinmi has bad knees.

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So IMO the bottom line for the wizards is that they need a better 6th man and a defensive center.  How do we get that? 

 

I agree with DA on the idea of trading Gortat, and for the same reasons he listed.  It has never made any sense to sign a back up center to huge contract unless the plan was to deal Gortat.  The problem is that Ernie signed a guy that is badly injured and has only handled big minutes once in his career.  Can we rely on Mahinmi to replace Gortat?  If he can't handle Gortat's work load, than we're screwed.  

 

Any idea when Lance Stephenson might be back from his awful groin injury?  I was totally against this before but these have proven to be desperate times.... 

 

As for the defense, I don't think this group is going to be great defensively.  The bench is too bad on that side of the floor for the team collectively to ever be great even if the starting defense improves.  As long as two or more of Smith, Nicholson, Burke, and Thornton are on the floor at the same time I think it's a safe bet to assume the defense isn't going to be great.  Getting Mahnimi back would be a big help, one that shouldn't be underestimated, but he doesn't wipe away all those bad defenders.  He's good, but he's not that good. 

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53 minutes ago, Fergasun said:

I loved the DA article, but "national writer"?!  Dear God people, be grew up in DC, went to Dematha High and American University.  I woke up every morning and read his Bullets beat articles on a regular basis in the Post. One of my early, "I saw a celebrity!!" experiences was bumping into him while I was getting off a plane at Dulles... I just read his twitter feed and he was live tweeting Redskins-Eagles.  

 

Local Washington DC writer who now has a national platform.  

 

A local "national" guy, who isn't a blowhard like someone I won't mention. 

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