The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[abdcskins]

Wiz did work tonight.  Wall and Gortat beasting.

[ixcuincle]

@Ourand_SBJ 9:14 PM

BREAKING NEWS: The Wizards won a game. DC 116 Philly 102.

[Going Commando]

Proud of Wall tonight.  He was a man on a mission and made sure we didn't get off to an even worse start.  Good win on the road against a feisty team.

[StillUnknown]

Kinda disappointed Buck didn't drop a "dagger" on that last 3 from Wall

[Going Commando]

I guess the really big difference is that Smith wins while Wall is unable to lead his team forward in a game where a super talent can have far greater impact.

Based on w-l he's a bum.

 

Smith wins because he plays on teams that have overwhelming talent and great coaching staffs.  When this wasn't the case, he didn't win.

Smith is an ordinary QB with ordinary physical talent, he doesn't carry a team with his individual performances.  Wall is a freakish talent that's been surrounded by crap most of his career and despite this, he's performed well at an individual level.

Kinda disappointed Buck didn't drop a "dagger" on that last 3 from Wall

 

Too big a lead I suppose.  Wall was a stud and I hope he keeps shooting like this because I've got him in fantasy.  I did not expect him to shoot this well from 3 at all.  He's streaky as hell but he's averaging like two threes a night now.  Not bad at all.

[Ozymandias]

Great win. Wall with 5 threes, and webster with another 4. Beal had 3 him self.

 

Our starting Guards: 41 points, 17 Assists, 8 threes, 4 steals

[Going Commando]

This has been Wall's best game of the season. He's been great on both ends of the floor.

 

 

 

Gortat has played better with each game. We would be lost without his rebounding.

 

Yeah he's becoming a key member of the team really fast.  I thought it would take longer for him to adjust and get comfortable but its been pretty rapid considering he got here less than two weeks ago.

 

Regarding your other comment about Nene, yeah it is really frustrating.  He's such a good player when he's out there and it doesn't even begin to show up in the stat sheet.  Reminds me of Gasol and Hibbert in that way.  It's just the presence itself.  And the ability to make the best play.  It raises the collective IQ of the line up around him.

 

His injury situation is really damn frustrating.  His seeming lack of love for the game... We really need him out there.

Great win. Wall with 5 threes, and webster with another 4. Beal had 3 him self.

 

Our starting Guards: 41 points, 17 Assists, 8 threes, 4 steals

 

That's tremendous.  That's the back court we were hoping to see after picking up Beal.  I thought Beal played so much better tonight than he had been playing and I was surprised at how many assists he racked up.  Sure sign the ball was moving well.

[StillUnknown]

Still a little perplexed by Beal, he's in a funk right now. Catch & shoot has really been the only area he's shined. Poor shot selection and hesitations are killing him on all other plays.

 

His struggles at the line tell me he's probably thinking about the rest of his game too much.

I really have to stop looking at Nikola Vucevic's stat lines.

 

 

2011 draft had talent and we whiffed bad.

[Sticksboi05]

The gap between our starting 5 and the bench is immense.

[Skin'emAlive]

Wall and Gortat looked great tonight. But our offense is blatantly one-dimensional. Why is there never any cutters when wall drives to the basket? The game plan seems to be Wall drives to the basket, and then if the hole is not there, he jump kicks it out to the perimeter where all 4 of our team members are residing. Thankfully they *usually* decline to take contested shots but rather kick it around Princeton-style until someone is open. Regardless, the offense is built around jumpshots. The second we face anyone that can play sound defense ( San Antonio), we are gonna get smoked. There needs to be more screens, cutters, and pick and rolls. The shot wont always be this wet.

 

Webster still has his 3-point shot. But it is blatantly obvious that he needs to play with Wall. Maynor cant seem to get him shots like wall can.

 

Oh how i wish either Nene could be healthy for a season, or we could pick up a guy that didnt immediately become our worst player on the floor and didnt cost us an arm and a leg.

[Destino]

The offensive system is still garbage. The difference tonight was simple: 18-33 from the three point line. Last time we played the sixers it was 9-26. The team still hasn't held an opponent under 100 points.

The good news is John Wall. Despite not shooting terribly well in every game he's had 20 or more in 3 of 4. His assist numbers are good and his turnovers haven't been bad. Plus, he has a three ball. He hit 15 three point shots total in the last two seasons, in over 100 games. He's hit 8 after four games this season. The change is dramatic.

Gortat is a much better offensive center than Okafor and he's at least as good a rebounder. No matter what the trade means in the future its nice to watch this team play with Gortat on the floor.

[Going Commando]

Gortat isn't much worse of a defender than Okafor either.  He was a beast of a defender in Orlando.  He rotates well and can protect the rim.  He just needs to settle in here and his defense will improve.  And the guys around him need to play consistent defense.  Once it gels, they should be alright.

 

I think Gortat is a better basketball player than Mek in most ways and I don't think we lose too much in the locker room because Gortat seems like a great teammate.

 

I wish we could have them both.  Say Mek loses the whole year from his injury.  He should be cheap in FA this summer.  Maybe we could extend Gortat and bring Mek back?

[TradeTheBeal!]

Sweet victory.

[Thinking Skins]

The gap between our starting 5 and the bench is immense.

 

Well Webster and Harrington showed something last night. The real problem is we're only 7 deep. I don't have much faith in any of our other bench players. Will we get play from Rice or Porter is a question, but I'm not counting on Seraphin Booker Vesely or Singleton for much of anything...maybe fouls. Real question is why are they even still on the roster. I was kinda hoping we'd release one or more of them if not for the fact of showing that you can't just get a free paycheck to do nothing.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Proud of Wall tonight.  He was a man on a mission and made sure we didn't get off to an even worse start.  Good win on the road against a feisty team.

 

The Sixers are still going to be lucky to win 20 games. This win prevents a catastrophic start - at least for now.

[Going Commando]

The Sixers are still going to be lucky to win 20 games. This win prevents a catastrophic start - at least for now.

 

They're a better team than we thought.  They beat Miami and Chicago and beat us on the road.  Those are quality wins.  MCW and Evan Turner are both far better than people anticipated and Spencer Hawes and Thad Young are nice players.  They play well together.  They were fortunate to get a lot of home games early on, and they aren't going to be good.  But they've been playing quality basketball and it was a good win for the Wizards.

[Going Commando]

Well Webster and Harrington showed something last night. The real problem is we're only 7 deep. I don't have much faith in any of our other bench players. Will we get play from Rice or Porter is a question, but I'm not counting on Seraphin Booker Vesely or Singleton for much of anything...maybe fouls. Real question is why are they even still on the roster. I was kinda hoping we'd release one or more of them if not for the fact of showing that you can't just get a free paycheck to do nothing.

 

You only really need an 8 or 9 guys to emerge for a quality rotation.  We do need a third guard and we need a true back up big man to be two of those guys though.  Harrington, Webster, and Ariza are all perimeter oriented shooting forwards with limited offensive creativity and no real ability to defend the paint.  Having Porter come in later and emerge doesn't offer something different from that.

 

We need Maynor to settle in and become a reliable back up PG and we're going to need Seraphin or Vesely to step up and be a reliable backup that rebounds and protects the paint.  So far, Seraphin is the more interesting option because he's an interior scoring presence.  But he's a really flawed and incomplete player.

 

I still think a good risk to take is to deal Ariza for a back up big man once Porter gets healthy.  Promote Webster to the starting line up and GRJr and Porter to the back up 2 and 3.  Gives us an interesting mix.

[Thinking Skins]

You only really need an 8 or 9 guys to emerge for a quality rotation.  We do need a third guard and we need a true back up big man to be two of those guys though.  Harrington, Webster, and Ariza are all perimeter oriented shooting forwards with limited offensive creativity and no real ability to defend the paint.  Having Porter come in later and emerge doesn't offer something different from that.

 

We need Maynor to settle in and become a reliable back up PG and we're going to need Seraphin or Vesely to step up and be a reliable backup that rebounds and protects the paint.  So far, Seraphin is the more interesting option because he's an interior scoring presence.  But he's a really flawed and incomplete player.

 

I still think a good risk to take is to deal Ariza for a back up big man once Porter gets healthy.  Promote Webster to the starting line up and GRJr and Porter to the back up 2 and 3.  Gives us an interesting mix.

What you say is true, but you know how we are. The minute Nene has a pinky problem he's out 4-6 weeks and then what? I was hoping we'd be able to rely more on Beal's scoring and Wall's dishing it out to create space and offense for us, but until he actually does it I can't believe it'll happen.

Right now we're an injury away from being the same team we were last year (before Wall was back) if we're not already that same team.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

They're a better team than we thought.  They beat Miami and Chicago and beat us on the road.  Those are quality wins.  MCW and Evan Turner are both far better than people anticipated and Spencer Hawes and Thad Young are nice players.  They play well together.  They were fortunate to get a lot of home games early on, and they aren't going to be good.  But they've been playing quality basketball and it was a good win for the Wizards.

 

And he's back on the bandwagon.

 

Seriously, steve....you are one of my favorite posters here. A great combination of knowledge and utterly blind optimism.

[Going Commando]

What you say is true, but you know how we are. The minute Nene has a pinky problem he's out 4-6 weeks and then what? I was hoping we'd be able to rely more on Beal's scoring and Wall's dishing it out to create space and offense for us, but until he actually does it I can't believe it'll happen.

Right now we're an injury away from being the same team we were last year (before Wall was back) if we're not already that same team.

Yeah we're thin. We need Nene to play clearly, which is an untenable situation. And neither Wall nor Gortat can get hurt. Especially not Wall, we are utterly reliant on him.

But the thing is, many teams are completely dependent on their superstars. Miami is a great team and even they would take a major step back if they lost LeBron. OKC would completely fall apart without Durant. I see no realistic way to get around our dependence on Wall. He's always going to have to stay healthy for us to have a good season.

Injuries is the thing that scares me about trading Ariza. It'd be tough to lose a good player, a starter, and then have Porter or Webster get hurt. Then we're worse off than we are now. Webster misses time and Porter will too, he's a skinny rookie.

It's a risk, but if you got a quality big back in return and got most of a healthy season out of Webster and Porter, we could weather Nene's injuries and pull off a really good season.

If Nene misses a lot of time, unless we make a deal, I think we're going to have to end up doing something funky like starting Ariza or Webster at PF.

And he's back on the bandwagon.

 

Seriously, steve....you are one of my favorite posters here. A great combination of knowledge and utterly blind optimism.

It's not blind optimism. I know how ****ty Wittman and Grunfeld are. I know how bad the medical staff is. I'm just hoping the players themselves can overcome those handicaps.

[Destino]

Ariza is here for the duration of the year. Porter isn't ready and the team isn't making a playoff push with rookies or scrubs getting significant minutes at the 3. Wittman is already refusing to play Rice for some unknown reason, even with Beal struggling, so we'd end up with Temple getting big time minutes at wing positions.

[Going Commando]

Ariza is here for the duration of the year. Porter isn't ready and the team isn't making a playoff push with rookies or scrubs getting significant minutes at the 3. Wittman is already refusing to play Rice for some unknown reason, even with Beal struggling, so we'd end up with Temple getting big time minutes at wing positions.

Yeah I think you're right. We're paralyzed in Ariza's situation and it comes down to having subpar management and subpar coaching. A strong organization with a good coach wouldn't be afraid to use Ariza as an asset because they wouldn't be fighting for their jobs this season. They'd trust their scouting on Porter and Rice and their ability to coach those guys into contributors this season. They'd have the foresight to want to try and fix our problem in the front court with an asset that won't be there any longer this summer.

The moment Porter was picked, we should have been searching for Ariza deals. He's a quality player with a nice expiring that we can't keep. Textbook trade asset.

Right now we can't do anything but if Porter returns soon, that's the time to take a risk and deal Ariza. The team should be settled in enough by then and we'd have a good risk-reward profile depending on what kind of contract we got back in return. But like you say, knowing us, we probably won't even try and trade him.

[StillUnknown]

Trevor Ariza is 2nd in the league in 3pt attempts per game.

 

Is there any way this ends well?

 

 

I wouldn't have an issue if Martell was getting those looks, seeing as its what we gave him the contract to do.

[No Excuses]

Ariza is very athletic which makes it all that funnier that he would rather chuck 3s. If only he had spent time on improving his handles, he could have been a really good SF.

[Going Commando]

Yeah his handles are weak. He'll botch layups too. I don't think he's a particularly fluid offensive player. Yeah he could have been really good. It's strange how young both he and Martell are given how long they've been in the league.