The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[Mocountyskins]

Idk about rushing to sign Gortat and Ariza. It will eat up all of our cap and we won't be able to add any new players. I would love to keep Gortat and Ariza if there was a way to get rid of Nene. Nene makes way too much money. You can bank on him to miss 20 games a season and he only averages what 14 and 6? For 13.5 mil a year you can get more bang for your buck than that. Problem is no one wants to take nene off our hands because of that contract. If we can't move Nene only keep Gortat. If we can move Nene then keep Gortat and Ariza.

We need someone who is clutch and a scorer. Wall is a floor general. He is not the one you want taking shots when you're down with only minutes left. Beal will become that player but he is still 2-3 years away from being that player. Hopefully by the end of next year Beal averages 23 ppg. In the meantime we need someone else who can average 20 ppg and is a shooter.

[JoeWolf990]

I'm interested in signing Bosh but I doubt he'd leave the Heat. Not unless it was about money, and if it's about money, I'm not sure we can afford him. I don't think we have max room without making some moves.

I also don't think it'll be about money for him. He'll want to stay in Miami with his friends.

dont sign Ariza and Gortat and rescind our Bird rights on Seraphin, and Booker and the money should be there.

And I think Bosh wants money.

[RonArtest15]

Sign Monroe. He is a passing big man that can play in this offense. SVG is building around Drummond, so Monroe can be had.

 

Monroe is gonna take the max.  I don't know if that would be smart to pretty much put all of our eggs in one basket for him. 

[JoeWolf990]

Ray Allen didn't do **** when he had to carry teams.

good thing we have an All Star point guard

and Ray Allen had some terrible teams in Seattle that were not his fault. Still one year they won the Pacific Division with like 55 wins.

[Skins199021]

Trade Nene and our 2016 1st for some young backup (nothing great just something, actually don't really care just get rid of Nene's contract)

 

Let Ariza walk, I mean he isn't anything special

 

I go hard after Monroe, he is young, proven, and still getting better. He is better than Nene in about every aspect, younger and more durable.

 

Sign a guy like Jodie Meeks for the bench (not Temple he is trash). This would help Webster too as there would actually be another threat outside on the 2nd unit with him.

 

Resign Miller and Gooden

 

Wall/Miller

Beal/Meeks/Rice

Porter/Webster

Monroe/Gooden/Booker

Gortat/Seraphin

 

If we get rid of Nene, go hard after Monroe. Players his size with his talent at his age are rarely available for just money. 

[No Excuses]

Monroe/Gortat front line is a disaster waiting to happen once the playoffs roll around. 

 

This is one reason I'm reluctant about going all in on Gortat. He's a good player but his weaknesses are too awful to ignore. Watching him get eaten alive by Hibbert, Gibson and Noah was painful to watch. At this point, he's not changing as a player either. You get what you see. He is not the type of big man you invest heavily in because he cannot bang with the physical big men in the Eastern Conference. He's not soft but he's not a physical grinder either. Ideally the finesse big man in your lineup should have respectable range on his jumpshot. Gortat does not.

[RonArtest15]

Trade Nene and our 2016 1st for some young backup (nothing great just something, actually don't really care just get rid of Nene's contract)

 

Let Ariza walk, I mean he isn't anything special

 

I go hard after Monroe, he is young, proven, and still getting better. He is better than Nene in about every aspect, younger and more durable.

 

Sign a guy like Jodie Meeks for the bench (not Temple he is trash). This would help Webster too as there would actually be another threat outside on the 2nd unit with him.

 

Resign Miller and Gooden

 

Wall/Miller

Beal/Meeks/Rice

Porter/Webster

Monroe/Gooden/Booker

Gortat/Seraphin

 

If we get rid of Nene, go hard after Monroe. Players his size with his talent at his age are rarely available for just money. 

 

Ariza is one of the best 3 & D players in the league.  Saying he "isn't anything special" is a complete slap in the face.  While I do think he'll be overpaid this offseason, he was arguably our most important player for many stretches during the year and in the playoffs. 

 

Also, if we trade Nene, we are 100% taking back another bad contract. 

 

I'd actually be for a Nene trade centered around bringing over Ilyasova. 

 

Re-sign Gortat

 

Look to trade Webster

 

Go from there.

 

Don't overpay for Ariza and be prepared to make a hard decision to let him walk - which I think he'll do anyways to go back to the West Coast. 

 

I actually want NOTHING to do w/ Greg Monroe. 

[Warhead36]

Ariza is a fine player if he's your 4th or 5th best player on a title team, like he was on the Lakers, but as a top 3 guy which is how he wants to get paid he isn't worth it. We have to see what we have in Porter. Resigning Ariza and Gortat would cripple us financially and we have to keep Gortat as we have no legit C options.

[@DCGoldPants]

A few things.

 

#1. Melo and Chicago is what makes sense. Nobody knows if Rose will ever be really good again.

 

#2. Ariza is really good playing in Washington because of those players with him and their style. Other GMs will know that. Question will be, is there a Vinny Cerrato type in the NBA who thinks you can plug him in any team and get the same production?

 

#3. I'm more curious what you do about depth guys all over the team. What is Millers situation? Do they want him back? Is there a better option? What about the other backups? I don't even know their contract situations.

[Warhead36]

Monroe/Gortat front line is a disaster waiting to happen once the playoffs roll around. 

 

This is one reason I'm reluctant about going all in on Gortat. He's a good player but his weaknesses are too awful to ignore. Watching him get eaten alive by Hibbert, Gibson and Noah was painful to watch. At this point, he's not changing as a player either. You get what you see. He is not the type of big man you invest heavily in because he cannot bang with the physical big men in the Eastern Conference. He's not soft but he's not a physical grinder either. Ideally the finesse big man in your lineup should have respectable range on his jumpshot. Gortat does not.

My problem with Gortat is that he is not a consistent finisher around the basket. How many times have we seen Wall feed him a great pass only for him to bobble it? Or those times where he makes a move to get a decent shot and brick it?

 

With that said, he is a good player, not great, but even good Cs are difficult to find and if we let him go without an adequate replacement we are screwed(and no Kevin Seraphin is not a viable starter in this league or even backup).

[RonArtest15]

My problem with Gortat is that he is not a consistent finisher around the basket. How many times have we seen Wall feed him a great pass only for him to bobble it? Or those times where he makes a move to get a decent shot and brick it?

 

With that said, he is a good player, not great, but even good Cs are difficult to find and if we let him go without an adequate replacement we are screwed(and no Kevin Seraphin is not a viable starter in this league or even backup).

 

And that's the bottom line.  We let him walk, and then what?  THere are the little things that Gortat is GREAT at, such as screening defenders etc.  He's also developing a nice relationship on court w/ Wall in the PnR.  I'm not sure who'd we get (outside of Bosh), that could fill that role. 

 

Centers get paid.  Remember, Javale inked a 10mil deal last year (LOL). 

[CrypticVillain]

I'm going to get into the fray of what we should/could do in the off-season, but I am still trying to process what happened last night. 

I am also really enjoying the posts in this thread today.

[RonArtest15]

I'm going to get into the fray of what we should/could do in the off-season, but I am still trying to process what happened last night. 

I am also really enjoying the posts in this thread today.

 

So much optimism.  I love it.  Also, the fact that we don't have to pay ANY attention to the lottery is a great feeling. 

[abdcskins]

All I'm going to say is that Carmelo Anthony would be a huge mistake.  He never passes the ball and sucks on defense.

 

Good or even decent centers are hard to find.  That is why Gortat makes sense.  He gives it his all every time.  From the 8-10 games I watched this year he seemed to finish pretty well.  Remember Brendan Haywood?  We should've kept him.  Don't let Gortat get away.

Ariza I am whatever on.  He disappears for gigantic stretches but he's a decent third scoring option. 

[GOSKINS_08]

Re-sign Gortat needs to be a priority. Ariza is tough but it wouldn't kill us to let him walk. I wouldn't be opposed to trading Nene for the right deal but it'd be nice to have him back and HEALTHY! it's an interesting off season so many moves to make. But a core with Wall Beal and Gortat will be great to build on though.

Edited May 16, 2014 by GOSKINS_08

[Destino]

People keep talking about Ariza's offense, it's his defense that makes him special. He's the teams best defender by a country mile.

Gortat may be a finesse big but he's the only big on the team that rebounds well.

Rebounding and defense are important. It must be replaced if those players walk.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Destino

[Popeman38]

Finesse bigs don't throw down over Mahimi and Hibbert (twice).

[JoeWolf990]

Trade Nene and our 2016 1st for some young backup

stopped reading right here.

Finesse bigs don't throw down over Mahimi and Hibbert (twice).

there were 3 other games in this series where he was finger rolling from the restricted zone.

Gortat is a finesse big, and that annoys me greatly.

[Going Commando]

People keep talking about Ariza's offense, it's his defense that makes him special. He's the teams best defender by a country mile.

Gortat may be a finesse big but he's the only big in the team that rebounds well.

Rebounding and defense is important. It must be replaced if those players walk.

Agreed.

I think you can reasonably expect Porter to play Ariza's role. Not this upcoming season, but by the next one perhaps.

But where do we replace Gortat's production? I don't see any clear solutions. I think Gortat is a must.

I think the safe move is to bring back Gortat, and then either sign Ariza and deal Webster or let Ariza walk.

[The Sisko]

Given how badly we've sucked seemingly forever, this year I really was happy that they were playing meaningful games late in the season. The paloffs was just gravy.

 

Player-wise we have some tough decisions as you all have discussed. However I think the biggest and best move we could make would be to dump Wittman. I'm so sick of the patented Wittman offense (i.e. assorted random movement-->brick a 3) that I could puke. Additionally I think it ought to be a Federal crime that Porter wasn't developed and used as more than an afterthought. Yes, the injury set him back a good bit but he could have been brought along at least a little bit. From my vantage point this looks like a wasted season for him.

 

I know Wise seems to be sporting morning wood for him now, but I remain unconvinced. We got the Bulls who couldn't score to save their lives and a slumping Pacers team against whom we really should have started out with a 2-0 lead, ultimately losing the series. In the process, we had a couple of clunker games which you simply can't have in the playoffs. Sorry but that's just not enough to fill me with confidence. I realize firing a guy after a paloff run is a little hard to justify but I just don't see him ever getting us past the 2nd round absent the second coming of MJ.

[TheItalianStallion]

I think either Webster or Ariza should be gone in one way or another, keep Gortat, ride it out with Nene another year unless we get a chance to get rid of his contract without replacing it with another bad contract, resign Gortat, and hope we can get Love or Durant here next offseason. In the meantime we need Wall & Beal to continue improving, and hope Porter can become a rich man's Ariza.

 

I still want Wittman & Grunfeld gone, but pending some other organization seeing them as hot commodities for "turning around" the Wizards, that won't happen.

Edited May 16, 2014 by TheItalianStallion

[Going Commando]

If we could make

PG: Wall

SG: Beal

SF: Porter

PF: Love

C: Gortat

happen, that would be a true blue contender.

[Chachie]

I still say we'll lose some on-court b-ball IQ if Nene leaves, but I realize we're not keeping everyone.

[Going Commando]

I still say we'll lose some on-court b-ball IQ if Nene leaves, but I realize we're not keeping everyone.

Well, not if you were to replace him with someone like Kevin Love.

But I think Nene is problematic enough to motivate us to move him. The money is just too much for the risk of injury. 13 million dollars of deadweight is crippling for the 20+ games you know he will miss each year. We need to wean ourselves off of relying on him.

[Destino]

Here are my thoughts on the team needs:

 

Guards:  I think the team needs a combo guard that can handle the basketball.  Beal doesn't have a real back up, they've been using Webster there, and while I like Miller as a backup I don't like him as an insurance policy.  Miller looked gassed after about 10 minutes or so this season which makes me doubt his ability to step in should Wall get injured.  If you're thinking "but what about Temple?!" just stop.  No.  He's bad.      

 

SF:  I wouldn't rule out trading Porter because Ariza and Webster have solidified a spot that for years after Caron Butler often gave this team nothing.  I would only trade Porter if it brought an upgrade at the 4 or 5.  Sadly I don't think Porter has any trade value at this point so the likely reality is letting Ariza walk.  If Webster can be traded MAYBE they go that route but for whatever reason I just can't actually see that happening.  Would be nice if any of these guys could hit free throws at 80% or better, you'd think shooters would be able to do that but apparently the old saying "don't foul jump shooters" is no longer a thing.  

 

PF:  Nene is a problem.  13 million a year and he's always injured and his production just isn't there.  His rebounding was bad but this season was worse, his free throw shooting percentage drove off a cliff, and 14ppg alone isn't worth his contract if he's not giving you something else.   People talk about his great defense but I'm not seeing it, the guy has such limited mobility at this point that he is virtually always late on his rotation.  As bad as Gortat was guarding Hibbert, every time Roy found Nene guarding him you could almost see him thinking "BBQ chicken!" (thank Shaq if you understand that).  It's likely we are stuck with Nene though and because of that this team will struggle with cap flexibility and in case you were wondering, we still have no young bigs that have shown any sort of promise.  Thanks Ernie.   

 

C:  Gortat is the best Center this team has had in a long time.  That should make all of us sad because Gortat really isn't all that good.  He can score in the pick n roll, he can rebound, and he's not really terrible at anything.  Despite the crap we give him about his defense it's not like he's Brook Lopez on D.  Wait no, he is bad at something, the dream shake.  He's got the worst dream shake I've ever seen.  On the plus side he fills the role of "sort of interesting foreign guy" which is essential in today's NBA.  Which playoff team didn't have one?  Miami maybe but they have Michael Beasley so they get a pass.  

 

TL:DR version - There is no short version you lazy ****.    

Edited May 16, 2014 by Destino