The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[Mooka]

11 minutes ago, CRobi21 said:

Honeymoons over ****es. They have no shot vs GS.

 

Can't sleep on Charlotte.

 

0-2 against the Hornets this year and we're playing on back to back nights. 

[TradeTheBeal!]

Mahinmi looked pretty solid tonight.

 

Tomas is a Spurs all-star waiting to happen.  We need to lock him up through 2023 ASAP.  How soon can we make that happen @stevemcqueen1?

[Bozo the kKklown]

Great performance tonight and a greatwin.

 

Sato is a really good NBA starter.

[Warhead36]

A healthy Wall and this team makes the Finals.

[Renegade7]

56 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

A healthy Wall and this team makes the Finals.

[Going Commando]

2 hours ago, TryTheBeal! said:

Mahinmi looked pretty solid tonight.

 

Tomas is a Spurs all-star waiting to happen.  We need to lock him up through 2023 ASAP.  How soon can we make that happen @stevemcqueen1?

 

Sato was a second round pick, so I don't know if we can extend him early this summer.  I've never heard of a second round pick signing an early extension.  Not sure, but I think the earliest we can extend him through 2023 is the summer of 2019.

 

Sato is an unusual case because he's a bench player and he came into the league a near fully developed 25 year old.  His peak years will come at the beginning of his second contract.

 

A lot of the rules for extensions and exceptions are based around a player having three years with a team or on a previous deal.  Sato doesn't hit that threshold until July 2019.

Sato is due for a severe correction.  He's shooting a ridiculous 52% from the floor and 47% from three.  He is not this good a shooter.

 

That three ball number should be around 38-39 by the end of the year.  Let's not lose faith in him when he hits the wall and can't buy a three.

[Going Commando]

I too thought Mahinmi had a solid game.  He corralled some bad passes and turned them into positive possessions.  He played pretty good defense.  He made his FTs.  And he pulled down a bunch of offensive rebounds.  He was a good paint presence.  And I thought he got tagged for some bad foul calls in the fourth, making his night look worse than it really was.

 

Right now this team is winning like the regular season try-hards we've envied for years.  Good defense and good bench play have been crucial.  Sato and Oubre have grown into the reserves I hoped we were getting last year.  Mahinmi is making a positive difference.  And Mike Scott has proven to be a gem.  Those four plus growth from Beal and Porter have offset the loss of Wall and the decline of Gortat.  At the end of the year we're going to be kicking ourselves over how this team didn't win 50 games simply because Wall banged his knee in game 10.  We should be pacing the East, not Toronto.

[abdcskins]

Can't wait for the playoffs.

[Burgold]

I've been following the Wiz mostly from the distance and so it's possible that the possible commentary is way, way off base, but that wont stop me from wondering.

 

When John Wall was drafted by the Wiz, he was a great distributor who couldn't shoot. I remember him routinely getting ten plus assist games and sometimes was more likely to get a ten assist ten rebound game then a ten point game. He made everyone better. As he should have, he worked hard on his shooting and his playmaking ability. He developed a credible three point shot and a set of go to moves. More and more often, he attacked the basket. In short, he became a better player, but I'm wondering if in doing this he became a worse team mate. Did he lose a bit of the magic he had as a distributor and floor general? Does he not share the ball as well or look to make sure everyone gets their shot?

 

Having not seen many games, I still read you guys complaining about Portis going invisible for long, long stretches of games as well as Morris, Gortat. The Wiz sound like they became a "star driven" team under Wall whereas under Satoransky "everyone eats." In other words, if player is counted on to contribute. Is that the reason that the absence of the better/best player on the team has resulted in by far the best results of the season? If so, can Wall internalize that and return to the player who was much more pass first as a point guard?

 

Again, I ask this having watched only a few games and not even being an avid reader of this thread. In other words, I may be talking out of my arse and be typing worthless junk that has no basis in reality. Still, there must be a reason why the Wizards are so much better without Wall.

[CrypticVillain]

9 hours ago, CRobi21 said:

Touch fouls make it impossible to defend LeBron. Stupid

Were you referring to the foul by Tomas when he had his hands down, body stiff, and LeBron literally ran into him and got the foul call? 

[Popeman38]

10 minutes ago, CrypticVillain said:

Were you referring to the foul by Tomas when he had his hands down, body stiff, and LeBron literally ran into him and got the foul call? 

Yes. It’s ridiculous how certain players can create fouls just by throwing themselves into defenders. Lebron, Harden, Wade, Shaq. Other guys get tossed into the 3rd row and don’t get whistles. And Lebron has NEVER committed a defensive foul in his life, and he’ll tell you whenever one is called. How he doesn’t have as many techs as Green is crazy. He screams at the refs constantly, follows them around the court yelling going to TOs, and acts like a petulant 12 year old half the night. Can’t stand the dude, but he’s a fantastic player. 

[Skin'emAlive]

There was a moment in the 4th where the ball moved about 5 times and ended up in Ottos hands with 3 seconds left. He then fake outlet passed it to Brad and kicked it out to Oubre for a 3. It was beautiful. The basketball they are playing right now is beautiful. 

 

When everyone on the team is moving, and Mahinmi plays like the enforcer we sought, they are a legit contender. Far too often the team would sit and wait for John to create. When he comes back, I hope they don't forget the quick passes and off ball movement. 

[Going Commando]

48 minutes ago, CrypticVillain said:

Were you referring to the foul by Tomas when he had his hands down, body stiff, and LeBron literally ran into him and got the foul call? 

 

That was a terrible call.  Especially coming around the same time as the no-call when JR Smith fouled Kelly.  Also he fouled Mahinmi on that first drive after he checked in for crunch time.  That little shoulder and forearm shiver he gave Ian was much harder contact than anything we got called for down the stretch.

 

The refs are super deferential to LeBron.  And he abuses the respect they give him by constantly whining for more calls.

[Going Commando]

2 hours ago, Burgold said:

Again, I ask this having watched only a few games and not even being an avid reader of this thread. In other words, I may be talking out of my arse and be typing worthless junk that has no basis in reality. Still, there must be a reason why the Wizards are so much better without Wall.

 

Sorry, but most of what you wrote is wrong.  Wall's not a selfish player either.  Not now, not at any point in his career.  He averaged 10 assists a game the previous three years and was averaging nine this year.  He's also always been a scorer.  He was never rebounding more than he scored.  He's actually not much of a rebounder because he puts minimal effort into it.  Wall is a blue-chipper who has always controlled the ball on offense and done the lion's share of shot creation for our offense, both for himself and his teammates.

 

The Wizards are also not better without Wall.  They are playing well in his absence because guys have stepped up.  Otto and Keef were playing like **** before Wall got surgery. Now they're playing well.  Mahinmi was giving us absolutely nothing, now he's playing pretty well.  And Satoransky was up and down, now he's going through the best stretch of basketball of his NBA career.  They're getting just enough offensive contribution from a multitude of sources to replicate Wall's production and they're playing better defense.  That's why they've been better.

 

The reason Porter goes invisible for long stretches is because he's a young and immature player and he doesn't have the best legs.  It's hard to play wing in the NBA and handle the grind of being a star for a whole season.  Beal used to regularly disappear too.  And the difference between them is that we haven't had another decent shooting guard in the past seven years aside from Beal.  He's been playing big minutes since he was a rookie.  Otto only broke the 2000 minute mark two years ago.  Last year was his first playing true starter's minutes for a whole season and that was still only 32 a game.  And he's a low usage offensive player.  He's not consistently productive yet.

 

The reason Morris and Gortat struggle is because they're slightly below average starters and role players.  Gortat is in athletic decline.  He can't jump off two feet and has zero second bounce.  He struggles to finish above the rim and he never had a ton of length to spare.  His productivity depends on his match up.  He's always made a lot of mitakes too.  Morris is inconsistent because he doesn't have the talent to be a big contributor night in and night out.  His production is entirely dependent on how well he's feeling his jumper that night, and he also just doesn't play with consistent effort.  Never has.  These things won't change with or without Wall in the line up.

 

The only real challenge we're going to have with Wall coming back is figuring out how to keep Sato's minutes up, and that can be accomplished by giving him all of the Meeks and Frazier minutes.  Everything else will be positive.

[Warhead36]

We can win games in the regular season without Wall. There is enough talent to win ~45 games without Wall. But in the playoffs you need stars. People forget how incredible Wall was last year. He was basically, what, the 2nd best player in the Eastern playoffs last year? Maybe 3rd behind Greek Freak? (Lebron being 1 obviously) A star like that can single handily win you games and in turn win series.

 

You put a healthy and in form Wall on THIS current team with a developed Oubre and Sato and healthy Mahimi along with improved Beal? I mean, we can win the East. Or at the very least, give the Cavs a push in the conference finals. Nobody is afraid of the Raptors, those guys are choking dogs and choking dogs will be choking dogs. I think we match up better with the Celtics this year than last year. We beat them once in Boston and were a stupid Morris foul away from beating them again WITHOUT Wall.

[Llevron]

Wall is going to come back and share the ball. Any worry that he will not is not based in reality. He is the purest point guard in the game right now. That shouldnt even been a question given his history. 

 

What needs to change is what he does without the ball in his hands. He has to find something to do. It will make the team better. This is what Sato brings that he does not. And its not a question of ability. Im hoping it was health. 

[Warhead36]

Some moron on 980 just compared Wall to RG3.

 

God I hate this town sometimes. Lowest sports IQ in the country.

[TradeTheBeal!]

3 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

Some moron on 980 just compared Wall to RG3.

 

God I hate this town sometimes. Lowest sports IQ in the country.

 

 

HOT TAKES!

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

8 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

Some moron on 980 just compared Wall to RG3.

 

God I hate this town sometimes. Lowest sports IQ in the country.

I don't listen to enough out of town radio to know any better, but if social media is any indicator - sports IQ across the country isn't so hot.

 

 

[Llevron]

10 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

Some moron on 980 just compared Wall to RG3.

 

God I hate this town sometimes. Lowest sports IQ in the country.

 

Depends on how he compared them cause there are similarities if you are being honest with yourself. 

 

Best Athlete in class. Changed the way you guard the position. Assumed to be the leader. Talented enough to change the game. 

 

Big difference, though, is Wall always came back from injury and Griff didnt. Thats what ruined him here. Not his attitude or anything else (which is what I assume the call was about). You win ball games you stay on the team. Period. 

[Warhead36]

4 minutes ago, Llevron said:

 

Depends on how he compared them cause there are similarities if you are being honest with yourself. 

 

Best Athlete in class. Changed the way you guard the position. Assumed to be the leader. Talented enough to change the game. 

 

Big difference, though, is Wall always came back from injury and Griff didnt. Thats what ruined him here. Not his attitude or anything else (which is what I assume the call was about). You win ball games you stay on the team. Period. 

His points were that his head gets in the way of him being a star or some non sense.

 

I'm sitting here thinking: dude, Wall has made FIVE All Stars already. He's a proven, at least what, top 15 player in the league? RG3 had one great year. Stop it.

 

People like that caller or why nobody takes this town seriously as a sports town.

[Destino]

Quote

CLEVELAND — The closeness among the Washington Wizards can be seen in moments such as Thursday night inside the Quicken Loans Arena visitors’ locker room.

 

Following the team’s 110-103 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, players supported one another through fashion statements — Tomas Satoransky buttoned up his tailored black and white dress shirt designed by teammate Ian Mahinmi’s fashion label, and Otto Porter Jr. tugged a hat over his head emblazoned with F.O.E., the catchphrase that belongs to Markieff Morris and means “Family Over Everything.”

 

Quote

“I watched a few Georgetown clips. He does a great job of hiding behind his defenders,” Beal said of Porter and his college days. “They loaded up to me, so it was just a quick reaction play and a great finish by him. I trust everybody to make the right play and score in crunch time.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wizards/wizards-pick-up-where-they-left-off-at-break-with-a-win-at-cleveland/2018/02/22/a871bdf6-17f3-11e8-8b08-027a6ccb38eb_story.html?utm_term=.44fb2ba77c37

 

I like this a lot more than the drama that plagued the team earlier this season.

[Renegade7]

14 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

People like that caller or why nobody takes this town seriously as a sports town.

 

Every sports town has those.

[gbear]

As to the team wide support mentioned above, winning cures a host of issues, doesn't it?

[Destino]

1 hour ago, Warhead36 said:

Some moron on 980 just compared Wall to RG3.

 

God I hate this town sometimes. Lowest sports IQ in the country.

 

In what way were they compared?  No similarities come immediately to mind.  

 

This has nothing to do with Wall, but in this context the first thing that comes to mind is when RG3 showed up to a Wizards game and joined Lebron on the court.  Probably because he wanted too be seen casually chatting up Lebron to show how big time he himself was.  He must have not been aware that Lebron is not loved in this town, truer then than now.  I remember some fan, either too star struck or entitled to worry about it being inappropriate, walking out there and trying to get a high five from them.  Both of the "superstars" went stone faced and pretended not to see the guy.  The unmistakable body language of pride and disdain.  I wonder if RG3 still imagines himself too cool to see his fans?  

 

 

49 minutes ago, gbear said:

As to the team wide support mentioned above, winning cures a host of issues, doesn't it?

Chicken and egg.  Good chemistry helps win, winning helps chemistry.