The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[Skins199021]

Rubio is a great defender

[Skin'emAlive]

You can absolutely pick on the team's supposed best player he fails to show up in the 4th. I think I saw Wall go 0-3 and turn the ball over twice in the 4th. Was he exhausted or something was up near the end? He stopped driving almost entirely. He was the hero last game but he wasn't good in the 4th today despite having a pretty good first half.

Nene also turned the ball over entirely too much. Seven turnovers is entirely too many.

Id say he was exhausted. He played the entire 3rd bringing the team back within 2. No one else on the team did much of anything.

[Destino]

Id say he was exhausted. He played the entire 3rd bringing the team back within 2. No one else on the team did much of anything.

Early in the third he looked good and I agree with you. Looking at the play by play I think his last field goal of the game came with 10:32 remaining in the 3rd. I think he went 0-6 after that. He was having a great shooting night right up until that point and then he just either ran out of gas or went ice cold.

[Going Commando]

Early in the third he looked good and I agree with you. Looking at the play by play I think his last field goal of the game came with 10:32 remaining in the 3rd. I think he went 0-6 after that. He was having a great shooting night right up until that point and then he just either ran out of gas or went ice cold.

One led to the other. The starters played too many minutes tonight. Not having Beal really nukes our depth. There in the fourth the whole team went cold and couldn't make a FG then they started pressing and lost their composure. Bad shooting is so contagious with our guys. As is good shooting. We're a team of streak shooters really outside of Nene and Beal. Those guys seem to fill the rest of the team with confidence. And Nene is clearly hobbled with about 15 injuries. It's probably time to rest him for a little while and just eat it. He must have some sort of incentive somewhere based on games played.

[pjfootballer]

You know, Wall did not have the benefit of training camp that the other players had. That could be contributing to him turning the ball over alot and not shooting well. If your legs are tired, you cannot shoot.

[StillUnknown]

You know, Wall did not have the benefit of training camp that the other players had. That could be contributing to him turning the ball over alot and not shooting well. If your legs are tired, you cannot shoot.

That would be a legit excuse if those issues only popped up this year, its been an issue with him since he entered the league.

Finally got around to watching the rest of the game late last night, nice to see Wall finding at least one spot from the court he seems comfortable shooting from. I think Wittman's idiotic decision to play him the entire 3rd quarter played a factor in his 4th quarter performance. Seems like it would make more sense to rest your key player towards the end of a quarter and take advantage of the built in end of the quarter break to gain more rest time, then bring them back in a short time into the next quarter. Wittman seems stuck on playing guys for long stretches, then sitting them for long stretches. This is how we end up with our bench giving up leads because they're in against a teams front line.

That being said, would still like to see better decision making from Wall in the 4th. He had a pretty good game until that quarter, but ultimately lost another PG matchup to his counterpart.

edit: One other point, its pretty damn inexcusable to get killed in the paint by a Minnesota that doesn't have Love in the lineup.

Edited March 7, 2013 by StillUnknown

[Going Commando]

I thought Wall thoroughly outplayed Rubio and Ridnour up until the end of the game when he got gassed and went cold. Wall's offensive game takes a nosedive when he's no longer a threat to drive. You could see he was no longer even pretending to attack the rim in the late 3rd and 4th quarters.

I think the reason Wall played so many minutes in such a short period was because of Beal's injury. Price and a few flashes from Seraphin were the only contributions we got off the bench at all last night. The depth of these team has plummeted.

Same thing happened with Martell and Ariza. They played too many concentrated minutes because of the lack of depth behind them and they couldn't hit their shots late in the game.

And we also tend to go as Nene goes and he is not the same player he was early in the year.

---------- Post added March-7th-2013 at 10:41 AM ----------

What we are is a group of about six players who are pretty good and they make a solid team collectively. But no one is consistently excellent. Beal and Wall have the kind of potential and ability where they flash dominance for a game or so. But they're not good enough to do it four out of every five games or so like the AS players do.

So what we end up with is a situation where almost all of our six good players have to be good that night to get us the win. We don't have one or two dominant guys to lift all ships. We have very little margin for error and we don't win consistently as a result.

[StillUnknown]

I thought Wall thoroughly outplayed Rubio and Ridnour up until the end of the game when he got gassed and went cold. Wall's offensive game takes a nosedive when he's no longer a threat to drive. You could see he was no longer even pretending to attack the rim in the late 3rd and 4th quarters.

I think the reason Wall played so many minutes in such a short period was because of Beal's injury. Price and a few flashes from Seraphin were the only contributions we got off the bench at all last night. The depth of these team has plummeted.

I understand why they had to play big minutes, but Wittman still needs to be smarter with how he allocates those minutes.

I realize Singleton is back in the doghouse after that one disaster of game against the Knicks, but last night was prime opportunity to get him some minutes again. Most of Minnesota's length was in suits last night, we could have ran Singleton out in small lineups and been fine. At the least it buys us a couple of minutes of rest for our primary guys so they are not sucking wind in the 4th with the game on the line. Short-handed as we are, why not play Cartier a couple of minutes to see if he has his shooting touch, if he's hot, he's buys us a few minutes, if not you bench him. No harm in that.

It just goes back to a consistent lack of creativity on Wittman's part. Instead of challenging himself to find niche roles for players, he just banishes them to a doghouse and moves on.

Edited March 7, 2013 by StillUnknown

[Going Commando]

I understand why they had to play big minutes, but Wittman still needs to be smarter with how he allocates those minutes.

I realize Singleton is back in the doghouse after that one disaster of game against the Knicks, but last night was prime opportunity to get him some minutes again. Most of Minnesota's length was in suits last night, we could have ran Singleton out in small lineups and been fine. At least it buys us a couple of minutes of rest for our primary guys so they are not sucking wind in the 4th with the game on the line. Short-handed as we are, why not play Cartier a couple of minutes to see if he has his shooting touch, if he's hot, he's buys us a few minutes, if not you bench him. No harm in that.

It just goes back to a consistent lack of creativity on Wittman's part. Instead of challenging himself to find niche roles for players, he just banishes them to a doghouse and moves on.

Yeah Singleton should have played IMO. I think Cartier is hurt. I'm also not sure Jason Collins is even on the team and we knew we were taking a hit to the guard depth when we dealt Crawford for Barbosa's contract.

It's too bad Barbosa is hurt because he actually would be nice guard depth to have with his ability to play some point, defend, and hit the three ball. This offseason I would like to flesh out our wing depth.

I would like it if we did something like cut Singleton and Booker, signed Webster to a multi-year deal to start at SF, signed some bottom tier vet like Raja Bell to a min deal to be the fourth guard. Doesn't have to be Bell, just someone cheap that can shoot and maybe play some D. Sign Demarre Carroll as the backup SF/PF Singleton was supposed to be if he's cheap enough. Find a decent vet PG to come off the bench. Then spend the draft pick on the BPA. Which would hopefully be a big man but I wouldn't force it.

I would pay close attention to how the Jazz, Pistons, and Kings spend their money this offseason. If Utah locks up Jefferson or Millsap long term, I would be looking to deal for Derrick Favors or Enes Kanter next year. If they wouldn't deal then I would give a max offer to Derrick Favors next offseason knowing they probably couldn't match. Ditto for Detroit and Greg Monroe and Sacramento and DeMarcus Cousins.

If Utah spends their money to keep Millsap/Jefferson, it could be a situation where they have to accept something like an offer built around Alex Len/Cody Zeller in exchange for Favors or Kanter, knowing they can't match a max offer for Favors that summer.

I would be aggressively pursuing a high quality big man to form a core with Beal and Wall long term.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

You want to give a max deal to Derrick Favors?

No team gets good by giving max deals to non-max players.

[SuperBash]

Favors is really good and lacks consistent playing time, imo. A core of Wall/Beal/Favors would have us in the playoffs every year easily. I just don't know if we could afford all three while having competent players at other positions.

[Going Commando]

You want to give a max deal to Derrick Favors?

No team gets good by giving max deals to non-max players.

I think that dude is going to be good once he hits his prime. Something like 19 & 11 averages' date=' good inside--outside scoring, good defense, interchangeable at the 4 & 5. I think he's going to be one of the four or five best big men in the league when he is 25.

It's a risk no doubt. But we're going to have to take a big risk to get a really good big man. Favors is probably less of a risk than Cousins all told. Though I would definitely go for Cousins too if he were available.

---------- Post added March-7th-2013 at 12:36 PM ----------

Favors is really good and lacks consistent playing time, imo. A core of Wall/Beal/Favors would have us in the playoffs every year easily. I just don't know if we could afford all three while having competent players at other positions.

Yeah that would be really tough. What you would have to do is get Wall back at a good extension (I'm thinking ~11 M a year is good). It helps that Beal is on his rookie deal for four years.

[Skins199021]

Wittman's playing time with Wall infuriates me

This should be Wall's playing time for the games.

First 10 minutes of the 1st quarter, than bench for a breather. Plays the last 9 minutes of the 2nd quarter. First 5 and last 3-4 minutes of the 3rd quarter. Last 8-9 minutes of the 4th quarter. I want him to have 3 or so minutes at the begging of the 4th to get his energy back and use his speed against tired defenders at the end of games.

Price would be getting 12-14 minutes per game like this Wall would be getting 35-37

[Going Commando]

Wittman's playing time with Wall infuriates me

This should be Wall's playing time for the games.

First 10 minutes of the 1st quarter, than bench for a breather. Plays the last 9 minutes of the 2nd quarter. First 5 and last 3-4 minutes of the 3rd quarter. Last 8-9 minutes of the 4th quarter. I want him to have 3 or so minutes at the begging of the 4th to get his energy back and use his speed against tired defenders at the end of games.

Price would be getting 12-14 minutes per game like this Wall would be getting 35-37

Makes sense to me.

[Destino]

I think that dude is going to be good once he hits his prime. Something like 19 & 11 averages, good inside--outside scoring, good defense, interchangeable at the 4 & 5. I think he's going to be one of the four or five best big men in the league when he is 25.

It's a risk no doubt. But we're going to have to take a big risk to get a really good big man. Favors is probably less of a risk than Cousins all told. Though I would definitely go for Cousins too if he were available.

I don't think he's a max player but I would like to see the Wizards get creative because I don't think any player on this team can be the best player on a championship team. Certainly not in the offense they are running now. The wizards are built to get to the playoffs and then get bounced out. Too much money invested in Nene and Okafor (27 million) and too much of the future riding on Wall. They need a leader with vision to do something because I see a team headed for a ugly playoff loss next season and then a lot of question marks after that.

What I actually think will happen is nothing. The biggest splash they make will likely be trying to resign Webster. 2014 is a cliff and EG is going to try to save his job with a first round playoff loss.

[StillUnknown]

I don't think he's a max player but I would like to see the Wizards get creative because I don't think any player on this team can be the best player on a championship team. Certainly not in the offense they are running now. The wizards are built to get to the playoffs and then get bounced out. Too much money invested in Nene and Okafor (27 million) and too much of the future riding on Wall. They need a leader with vision to do something because I see a team headed for a ugly playoff loss next season and then a lot of question marks after that.

What I actually think will happen is nothing. The biggest splash they make will likely be trying to resign Webster. 2014 is a cliff and EG is going to try to save his job with a first round playoff loss.

http://tedstake.monumentalnetwork.com/wizards-vs-nets-tonight/index.jsp

In Brooklyn.

As this article notes, film doesn't lie and the team has a lot to clean up from the last game to be successful this evening. When Beal, Wall and Nene all play together, I believe our record is 12-6. Sadly, we haven't been able to keep a core healthy team together for extended periods of time. We must fight through excuses and focus as a unit to keep up our recent spate of productive play. We are playing 500 ball in the last 10 games.

Lots of pixels from around the web. Check them out here.

We're 12-6 in the owner's eyes, outside of hoping for good health, there's nothing to change.

Love the part of him saying "we must fight through excuses", the owner is the one making the damn excuses.

Edited March 8, 2013 by StillUnknown

[MonkFan8]

.500 ball over the past 10 games....CELEBRATE.

What a joke.

[DCchillin89]

The fact that this team cannot function whenever one key player is out of the lineup is an indictment on Ernie.

[SuperBash]

John is putting the passes there so far tonight. Just can't convert.

[StillUnknown]

Going to be tough night if Deron's shot is falling.

---------- Post added March-8th-2013 at 07:50 PM ----------

Deron Williams is in a Kobe-esque zone right now.

[MonkFan8]

Are you kidding me? Nice defense.

[Skin'emAlive]

Well, that's the fastest I've seen a game end.

[SJValleySkinz]

Anyone remember a more bizzare start to a game than this?

[SuperBash]

Great Oden's Raven! Deron is on FIRE

[StillUnknown]

Deron going for records, might be the only reason to keep watching.