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The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc


BRAVEONAWARPATH

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Tell that to Houston.

I'm against bringing Melo here because I don't think he's a good fit. His age, his cost, his personality, and his style of play turn me off.

#1 - I don't think he'd be willing to accept that this is Wall's team.

#2 - He stops the ball too much and our offense thrives only when the ball is moving and guys are playing unselfish.

#3 - He'd force us to let Gortat walk just to get in the ball park, so signing him would create big holes. We were successful as we were because of our inside-out roster balance.

If we're looking for a high dollar FA, it needs to be a true big man or Kevin Durant.

And Durant would be able to accept that this is Wall's team? That dude can't even tell Westbrook that he is the leader.

Edited by ZardTard
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Tell that to Houston.

I'm against bringing Melo here because I don't think he's a good fit. His age, his cost, his personality, and his style of play turn me off.

#1 - I don't think he'd be willing to accept that this is Wall's team.

#2 - He stops the ball too much and our offense thrives only when the ball is moving and guys are playing unselfish.

#3 - He'd force us to let Gortat walk just to get in the ball park, so signing him would create big holes. We were successful as we were because of our inside-out roster balance.

If we're looking for a high dollar FA, it needs to be a true big man or Kevin Durant.

Come on. Melo is not James Harden on defense. Melo is an ok defender and he's a solid rebounder at the 3 spot.

He can also post up if asked. I'm not saying he's a great fit but he would upgrade this squad ten folds.

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So what I am seeing in this thread this morning...

Some want Carmelo or Bosh. Others want to risk waiting for Durant. It's a pretty peculiar situation we're in right now. 

 

Do we try to make a run right now, or do we wait. This is going to be the most interesting Wizards off-season in my lifetime by far.

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The wizards could easily look like a very different team next season.

PG - Wall - Miller (partially guaranteed)

SG - Beal - ????

SF - Webster - Porter

PF - Nene - ????

C - ????

Point is the team has 6 players under contract. Six. Most of the money saved by Ariza expiring is going into Wall's first year of his max deal. Lots of holes and no draft pick or much cap space left to fill it. Keep in mind whoever is signed to backup Nene is going to play a lot of minutes, and likely start 30 games.

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I'm just sick of D.C. teams getting smacked around on home court/ice/field.  Seriously sack up for once.

 

2008 Wizards...season ends at home...2014 Wizards...season ends at home

 

2012 Redskins...season ends at home

 

2008, 2009, 2010, 2013 Capitals...Game 7 losses at home

 

2012 Nationals...massive choke job loss at home

 

 

It's exhausting just thinking about it. 

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As MLSKINS wrote, this is going to be a really interesting offseason.  The future is bright, no doubt.  But there is also no question that the current roster falls short of a championship caliber.  I think we all agree that we need that third superstar and hope that Wall and Beal develop into a superstar (I think they are on the cusp and hope that this run fuels their hunger).  How we go about acquiring that third piece is the big question.  

 

Ideal scenario would be Grunfeld drafting well and acquiring that third piece, but (1) Wizards aren't likely to draft high enough to do that, (2) even if we were, Grunfeld is more likely to blow the pick unless it's a consensus number 1.  

 

We could hope Porter develops into that third piece, but given his rookie season, his college game, and the scouting report coming out, the more likely scenario would be a very good role player and I think the fanbase would be happy to get even that considering his rookie season.

 

Last is acquisition by signing or trading.  The problem here is that Washington is not (at least as of yet) a premier destination.  The chances of a top 5 player picking DC is not high right now.  I pray for KD, but he's probably too loyal (Damn it KD!  Why did you have to be such a good human being  :().  We could go after that second tier (6-15), hope that Wall and Beal develops into that tier (fair chance of that I think) and make our run.  If the second tier player is the right fit (a dominant big guy a la Marc Gasol or a rich man's Ariza a la Paul George type), that would probably work.  We could also try to pull a Z-Bo and take on someone else's headache and hope he straightens out here (Boogie Cousins?).  

 

Simply put.  Staying pat would likely result in perennial mid-round playoff exit (obviously preferable to the past, but not good enough).  Lot of different ways to attempt at constructing a championship team, but none of them are easy or obvious.  Decision time is here because locking chunks of cap on good but not great vets like Ariza and Gortat will likely prevent us from chasing the construction of a contender.  Interesting times indeed.

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also this summer should be Bosh or Bust.

I would do everything in our power to sign Bosh.

Ariza can go.

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.

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

Yeah, I think he can be had.

But a couple considerations with Monroe,

1.) Defense

2.) How much is he going to cost?

and how about 3.) Is he better than Gortat?

I read Monroe is looking for a max deal and he's not worth it. I wonder what his market is going to be? I'd go 11 million per, maybe 12, but no more. But they're talking like he's going to get Hibbert's deal. That'd be crippling IMO.

I think his defense is a big issue. We could use his offense, but our interior defense is already sketchy. If he's a sieve, it's really hard to build a good defense with a big like that.

And I don't know that I want to let Gortat and Ariza walk just to sign him. In an ideal world, we'd be able to move Nene in conjunction with signing Monroe and pair Monroe with Gortat. But I don't see how you do it.

I'd kick the tires, he'd be one of the most interesting young bigs to pair with Wall, Beal, and Porter IMO. But there are a lot of risk factors.

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Indeed - that is a solid outline over the Monroe situation, stevemcqueen.  Also, in SVG's intro presser in Detroit, he spoke highly of Monroe and said he was one of the first players he spoke with.  But, that could be just gm/coach-speak there.  Will be interesting to see how SVG structures things and what the roster shakeout is...

 

And while we are all on driving into Speculation Station talking about Durant, Melo, etc.  Kevin Love is  FA (I believe) after next season.  ;) He could get wide-open looks w/ Wall's drive-and-kickout game!

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

This is a post from another board and it deals with the consequences of signing Monroe.

 

Greg Monroe is going to cost the max, or close to it. So we're talking a starting salary of at least $12 million, likely $14 million. Assuming we keep Andre Miller, and also Glen Rice (it's only about 400k unguaranteed, so very little cost to keep him on for another year), we'll have $46 million in salaries between Wall, Miller, Beal, Rice, Webster, Porter, and Nene (7 players). Salary cap is projected at about $62 million from my understanding. That leaves $16 million in cap space, which yes, technically is enough to sign Monroe, but that would eat up basically all of our cap space, and we wouldn't have the MLE because we were under the cap (or a first round pick). So then we'd have a line up of:

PG: Wall/Miller

SG: Beal/Rice

SF: Webster/Porter

PF: Nene

C: Monroe

 

That starting lineup is probably worse than our current starting 5, and more importantly, the bench DOES NOT EXIST. We'd have to fill out the roster with the room exception ($2.7 million) and minimum contracts.

Edited by BRAVEONAWARPATH
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Come on. Melo is not James Harden on defense. Melo is an ok defender and he's a solid rebounder at the 3 spot.

He can also post up if asked. I'm not saying he's a great fit but he would upgrade this squad ten folds.

He's not James Harden, but perimeter D matters. Houston's got two elite defensive bigs but their defense is awful because their wing defenders are awful defenders.

Melo is an up and down defender. Has moments where he gets locked in and defends well, and he's strong, good at holding ground against posting SFs. But you're not getting much defensively from him overall.

But that's not my issue with him. My issues are the personality and offensive style of play and the money. Offensively, he's of course an upgrade over Ariza. But in the bigger scheme of the offense, he's taking a lot off the table for an emerging Wall & Beal. He's too much of a ball stopper when what we're looking for at SF is someone who can score primarily as an off ball guy & then facilitate offense for his teammates from the SF spot in the half court. Melo is a pure finisher. If you got Team USA Melo that was basically just a spot up three point shooter, he could certainly do it. Probably make 250 threes in a season the way our offense works. But that alone is not worth what he'd cost. And that's only a small part of his offensive game. He's a shot creator, but only for himself. He needs the ball in his hands to get his numbers, and I don't like the idea of taking it out of Wall and Beal's hands so much. It's nice to have a guy you can throw the ball to and say, "go get us a basket." But it's not worth the cost and the trouble of trying to keep him happy with enough touches.

Then from a personality standpoint, I don't think we want him. I don't think he could ever accept this being Wall's team. That'd be a problem. And Melo gets all kind of perks from the Knicks that would be unacceptable for us to try and give him here. I don't want any player getting treatment from the team like Melo gets in NY because it's dysfunctional. I think he'll be expecting that kind of off court crap anywhere he goes because he knows he'll have it if he stays in NY. Do you really trust Melo to be a total team first guy? I don't think I do.

And the money is a problem. Nene can't be our only legit true big. We can't rely on him. That's why I think we need to spend our FA money on Gortat or another big.

Did you watch the Bad Boys Pistons 30 for 30? Signing Melo reeks of the Adrian Dantley move. I understand the appeal of signing Melo. He's a superstar, an incredible scorer, and one of the five best players in the East. We'd have arguably two of the top five players in the East with him. But my gut says we don't want any part of him.

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Any player that demands a max contract this off-season is not worth it imo, as it would just ruin the bench. One of the weakest aspects of this team is the bench as a whole. We have a few decent contributors in the front-court but nothing in the backcourt. Andre Miller is a nice presence but there is a noticeable difference in pace and movement compared to John Wall. 

I would let Ariza walk if I had to choose between Gortat and him. There aren't many decent centers in the league and Gortat has evolved the pick and roll game with Wall. At which point, it begs the question, is Porter ready to start? Or do we need a solid 3 with Porter getting increased minutes in his second year?

If we keep both of those players, we need a 4 more then anything else, Nene is glass, and his hyperextension earlier in the series diminished his play, he became a liability defensively against David West with those mid-range jumpers, I can't count the amount of times he was left open because of him dragging his feet. Drew Gooden is a nice asset off the bench with hustle and energy but not starting material and I would not be comfortable with him starting for an extended period of time if Nene were out. 

Taj Gibson comes to mind but I am very ignorant in the possibilities of that happening. 

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Bring Melo.  We have no one to take the ball and finish teams off.  No alpha scorer.

 

Closest we have is Beal, who's upside is Ray Allen.  Ray Allen didn't do **** when he had to carry teams.  Between John Wall passing up open shots, Beal air balling multiple three's, and Nene being always injured and inconsistent, it's painfully obvious what Melo can add.

 

If Melo is a ballstopper, unload Nene and let Melo have his offensive touches.  Melo at PF actually improved the Knicks when Amare went down.  If PF is not ideal, then find someone who will fill that role.

 

Wall

Beal

Melo

????

Gortat

 

 

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