The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[Popeman38]

KG gets away with murder

[StillUnknown]

getting tired of these moral victories, especially against Boston

I wanted this damn game.

[Thinking Skins]

Yeah, that was a bad decision by Beal to take the jumper (that was blocked) he should have driven for the layup cause he had beat his man and had a shot.

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

No idea how anyone can watch these first three games, know our best two players are out and not think we're at least an 8 seed in the East. I can't ****ing wait until Wall is back. So easy to see where he makes a difference. Price and Pargo and the PG position in general are clearly the biggest weakness. Just horrible. We're probably 3-0 right now with Wall.

[StillUnknown]

Only got to the line 7 times, but when you shoot 30 3pt shots, that tends to happen.

[Popeman38]

No idea how anyone can watch these first three games, know our best two players are out and not think we're at least an 8 seed in the East. I can't ****ing wait until Wall is back. So easy to see where he makes a difference. Price and Pargo and the PG position in general are clearly the biggest weakness. Just horrible. We're probably 3-0 right now with Wall.

This. This team has here, size, speed, a shooter. It needs a PG. Wall back in a few weeks. Nene back eventually. This em should win 35-45 games.

[Thinking Skins]

The offense was pretty ugly in overtime, there was no movement. But at the same time that's to be expected when playing Boston because of their defense. I'm sad we lost because I wanted this game too, but I'm definitely more inspired about this year than I was about last year.

[nuposse87]

Did not think we'd beat them...but as always its infuriating when we were so close, just bad execution. I agree that once Wall comes back, we got some real reason to be happy...but I'm really content with the way the defense is rotating. Boston does look bad...but our defense is going to keep us in most games barring facing top 5 teams. I will say, we ought to beat the Bucks, but Jennings is balling so far this year. Get well soon Wall.

[Thinking Skins]

No idea how anyone can watch these first three games, know our best two players are out and not think we're at least an 8 seed in the East. I can't ****ing wait until Wall is back. So easy to see where he makes a difference. Price and Pargo and the PG position in general are clearly the biggest weakness. Just horrible. We're probably 3-0 right now with Wall.

Thats pretty much how I feel. I do question how much he'll have to adjust to learning people and such, but the only frustrating part of these first three games is that we've been in all of them. We could easily be 3-0 instead of 0-3 (without Wall). The PG spot is horrible right now, althogh mr throw up a three with 14 on the clock (Price) made a few of them today so it didn't look so bad.

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

This. This team has here, size, speed, a shooter. It needs a PG. Wall back in a few weeks. Nene back eventually. This em should win 35-45 games.

Imagine if Wall does indeed take that next step toward becoming a bonafide superstar? An 8 seed might be more of a disappointment than an accomplishment. God I can't wait.

[nuposse87]

Imagine if Wall does indeed take that next step toward becoming a bonafide superstar? An 8 seed might be more of a disappointment than an accomplishment. God I can't wait.

I'd venture to say even last year Wall would have us at 2-1 right now. I expect some improvements for us offensively when wall comes back but I hope the defense stays where its at when he comes back. Same for Nene. Seraphin will have learned a lot this game...He should have a really good game against the Bucks.

[TradeTheBeal!]

Man, Beal looked every inch a rookie in the OT. Time to grow up, youngster.

[nuposse87]

Man, Beal looked every inch a rookie in the OT. Time to grow up, youngster.

He had a better game overall, but there was just some execution break down from all the players. I'm surprised crawford wasn't in to be honest, could used his playmaking.

[Destino]

Guard play looked inefficient if the box score can be trusted. 31 points on 28 shots is ugly. The backups were worse 5 points on 11 shots! I didn't see the game, why did Crawford get so little burn? 15 minutes is really low... Especially with price getting over 37. Is he still hurt perhaps?

Ariza and Okafor look like they had another awesome night of terrific basketball.

Edited November 8, 2012 by Destino

[No Excuses]

Trevor Ariza deserves to be the 15th man.

Great trade Ernie.

[Going Commando]

Glad to see us compete with the youngsters. They were the ones powering this game for the most part.

Singleton had a very encouraging game. He was assertive on offense and rebounded. Clutch FTs and he didn't even blink plus just smart play down the stretch that kept us in it. That dunk to force OT was nice.

Seraphin did better rebounding and he scored well. But he got victimized by KG. He's loose with the ball and starts to panic when he gets the ball away from his spots. He's also pretty rough defensively. Looked very slow rotating and closing out on shooters. Sometimes he doesn't even rotate at all, just glues onto his guy and leaves everyone else out to dry. He is great around the basket, but you can tell he doesn't like defending in space. He also lost his cool with those bad fouls and I'm surprised Wittman left him in. Must have felt he needed the scoring option.

Beal had a much better game and looked way cognizant for someone in his third game. Good decisions with the ball, kept his dribble, drew the help and found his open teammates. Moved well off the ball to get himself looks. Did a much better job defensively. He understands team defense, hustles through screens and he does a nice job closing out shooters. He got forced into young guy errors at the end, but that's going to happen with this team.

Price deserves some props. He was aggressive and shot better than usual. Webster was pretty good on offense but defense was a little weak. Ves was alright. Couple of hustle plays and did a solid job passing. Didn't have a huge impact though.

All in all, I'm proud of the young guys for going toe to toe with a much better and more experienced team. You could tell we wore them out. They were blowing at the end and looked exhausted.

I fully expected them to close us out in winning time. That's exactly what they did. That team can flip the switch and they stop making mistakes and start playing amazing defense. There is no substitute for experience.

Booker had an off night. That was disappointing.

---------- Post added November-8th-2012 at 12:00 AM ----------

The most encouraging things from this game for me (aside from the individual play of Seraphin, Beal, and Singleton), was the quality of the ball movement and team defense.

I think all of our young guys are on the right track and have a chance to be the core of a really good team. I think we're going to have a really good defensive unit in about two seasons. Much like the baby Bulls. And there is not a selfish player in that core. It's pretty nice. The guys we have "get it" about team ball and you can see the pieces coming together as the young guys individually improve.

Still a ways off from being a truly good team though, and until we figure out how to excel in winning time, we're going to be losing a lot of close games. We could get a lotto pick out of that lack of experience alone. If we do, who do we target?

Not going to lie, I love James McAdoo.

[StillUnknown]

Guard play looked inefficient if the box score can be trusted. 31 points on 28 shots is ugly. The backups were worse 5 points on 11 shots! I didn't see the game, why did Crawford get so little burn? 15 minutes is really low... Especially with price getting over 37. Is he still hurt perhaps?

Ariza and Okafor look like they had another awesome night of terrific basketball.

Crawford was playing on a bum ankle, he tried to give it a go early in the game, but you could tell it was bothering him.

[fullnelson9999]

I like what I've seen from this team. Love the defense.

Starting the year off without all of that dead weight on the roster is refreshing. Maybe a playoff team this year. Actually, probably not but who knows? But I expect them to turn into something good somewhere down the line.

Edited November 8, 2012 by fullnelson9999

[Thinking Skins]

I really wonder if there will be another trade in the works for either Ariza or Okafur (or both). I can't really see many teams wanting them right now, but I wonder if they get into a productive stretch if we'd try to move them before the trade deadline.

[Rocky21]

Why in the **** is Okafor playing only 11 minutes?

Seraphin played a great game but got himself trapped in the corner toward the end of regulation 2 or 3 times where he got abused by the cagy KG.

Pargo and Crawford were both -12 on the court.

Singleton was amazing. He had me off the couch with that dunk at the end of the game. Overall they played better than I was expecting although us and Detroit are the only winless teams in this league right now.

[SuperBash]

If we're looking ahead to the draft, I really want a wing type player who can handle the ball and create his own shot. It would be very nice to have even with Wall running the team.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

If we're looking ahead to the draft, I really want a wing type player who can handle the ball and create his own shot. It would be very nice to have even with Wall running the team.

We're looking ahead to the draft already???

Didn't you just describe Bradley Beal?

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

We could get a lotto pick out of that lack of experience alone. If we do, who do we target?

Not going to lie, I love James McAdoo.

Shabazz Muhammad. Period.

[RonArtest15]

Why in the **** is Okafor playing only 11 minutes?

Seraphin played a great game but got himself trapped in the corner toward the end of regulation 2 or 3 times where he got abused by the cagy KG.

Pargo and Crawford were both -12 on the court.

Singleton was amazing. He had me off the couch with that dunk at the end of the game. Overall they played better than I was expecting although us and Detroit are the only winless teams in this league right now.

Are you saying Okafor should be playing more or less? If it's the former, there's a good reason why he's glued to the bench. He's been AWFUL in the first 3 games. We're getting better production from other guys on the roster.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I hope Witt is close to ending the Okafor/Ariza starting experiment.

FWIW, Wittman has been doing a hell of a job so far. Guys are playing hard for him.

Beal played OK. Didn't like that it took 15 shots to get 16 points, but he'll get better.

I've been hard on Singleton, but he stepped it up. He should be rewarded with more PT on Friday.

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

I'm cautiously optimistic. Been in very game and been in position to win every game. Just have to minimize mistakes and get healthy.