The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[Going Commando]

Man I really thought this could be a special run.

[Warhead36]

I think we have it in us to win one more game but we'll lose in 6.

 

Sucks though. Atlanta just got a free pass to the conf. finals. I hope they get destroyed. That team is a fraud.

[GoSkins0721]

Well, everyone can toss in the towel if they want. I'm hoping to see the team make this the rallying cry for the rest of the season. 

 

Unrealistic? Yeah, maybe. But I won't toss in the towel.

 

From the late, great John Belushi:

 

"And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough...the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go! What the **** happened to the Wizards fans I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? "Ooh, we're afraid to go with you without Wall, we might get in trouble." Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Atlanta, they're a dead team! Cleveleand, dead! Golden State -"

[TheItalianStallion]

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2015/05/07/wizards-wall-may-be-done-for-playoffs/?ls=iref:nbahpt6c

 

 

HANG TIME NEW JERSEY — The Washington Wizards announced Thursday afternoon that point guard John Wall has “five non-displaced fractures in his left wrist and hand.” The team didn’t give an update on Wall’s status for the rest of the conference semifinals, but it’s hard to imagine that he’ll be able to play.

 

Wall injured his wrist late in the second quarter of the Wizards’ Game 1 victory in Atlanta on Sunday, trying to break his fall after missing a fast-break layup. He stayed in the game and finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and 13 assists, but his hand swelled up after that, and he didn’t play in Atlanta’s Game 2 win on Tuesday.

Wall has been one of the best player’s of the postseason thus far, averaging 17.4 points and 12.6 assists. With the Wizards playing small more than they did in the regular season, Wall has taken advantage of the extra space and sliced up the Toronto and Atlanta defenses. Though they scored less than a point per possession on Tuesday, the Wizards have been the most improved offensive team from the regular season to the playoffs by a wide margin.

 

 

Hmmm...they still haven't ruled out Wall playing.

 

It was interesting to see that we have the #2 offense in the playoffs, behind only Cleveland, even with our lackluster offensive showing in Tuesday's game without Wall.

 

One thing's for sure, we need to find a long-term stretch 4. Gooden and Pierce won't be around much longer.

[TheItalianStallion]

Something else which sucks about this is that, if Wall were healthy and we do make the NBA finals, it means we'll have beaten either a Chicago team who Cleveland couldn't beat without Love, or Love-less Cleveland themselves. And it would've been a chance to convince Love to come here. Love-less Wizards > Love-less Cavs, if that were to have occurred.

[Going Commando]

A healthy Kevin Love would be a tremendous fit for us.  Has the right game and mentality for our team, and in truth, is a more natural fit in our construction than Kevin Durant.

 

1.) He's a true PF, which with Otto's emergence and Nene's decline, is a much bigger need going forward.  Wall/Beal/Pierce/Love/Gortat/Porter = the best and most balanced starting five plus sixth man in the NBA.  Plus Sessions and Humphries are pretty good as your 7th and 8th players.

 

2.) His scoring tools are ideal for an offense built around a distributing PG and scoring SG with .  Has a great three pointer for Wall drive and kicks.  Elite pick and fade weapon for Wall and Beal.  And has a two man dribble handoff game to run with Beal.  Also has a good post game that can serve as an "in case of emergency, break glass" option for when we have injuries or shot clocks start to run down.  And he gets a lot of hustle points, which are always a bonus.  Plus he's a great outlet passer that could jump start fast breaks for Wall, Beal, and Porter in a way that would blow the roof off of the Verizon Center.  Hell. you can even run Kevin Love off screens for catch and shoot plays because he has the rare ability to shoot on the move.

 

3.) He's an in the flow scorer who doesn't need the ball to get his, good because Wall and Beal are going to be high usage players.

 

4.) He can rebound, something where Nene has always been kind of shaky.  He plays with an energy and activity level on the glass that Nene just doesn't have.

 

The only major on-court downsides:

 

1.) Much, much worse defensive player than Nene.

 

2.) He's small and slow for a big.  Lacks the physical intimidation factor that Nene brings.  It limits the good line ups you can build with him because he's not a good option at center and there is no way he can play small forward.  Having him guard other stretch fours is already a sketchy play.

 

All that said, if he opts out of his contract this summer, there is no realistic way we can sign him.  We'd have to get rid of Nene before we can come close to getting in the ballpark and that wouldn't be easy.  Then you have to dump the salaries of Webster and Humphries somehow, or get rid of one and hope Paul Pierce doesn't pick up his option.  Dumping Webster will be extremely difficult.  Dumping Humphries would be unfortunate.  And losing Pierce would be a major blow.  Also, I think you'd probably have to get rid of our draft pick.

 

The best way to get Love cap-wise, would be a trade.  But doing so means giving up assets.  And we really only have four appealing assets:

 

1.) Wall - untouchable

2.) Beal - untouchable

3.) Gortat - a good two-way center who is a perfect fit going into the second year of a bargain contract?  Very hard to deal him for anything other than another center.

4.) Otto - really, really don't want to give him up

 

Our draft pick and Nene's big expiring contract are also assets, but of much less attractive value.  The Wall, Beal, Porter, Gortat core of our team is pretty much everything that's great about us moving forward.  We have excellent options at four out of five positions that all fit together perfectly.  And three of them are ages 24, 21, and 21.  We should be unwilling to break that up, because if we do nothing, that group will be Eastern Conference contenders for the next five or six years at least.

 

And anyway, I think Love would be crazy to opt out of his contract this summer.  Why try and sign a new deal the year before the cap explodes?  Why go into free agency with a serious injury?  Why leave now when you've got another year of conference contention playing with LeBron and Irving next season?  Especially since they were just starting to find their groove over the second half of the season and they'll probably be way better next year.

 

As for the claim that Love would be a more natural fit than Durant, my reasons are:

 

1.) Durant is a true SF, the same position as Otto.  He doesn't really have a post game and guarding true bigs would be an issue for him.

 

2.) He's a ball dominant player that needs the ball to put up his enormous volume numbers--his most valuable attribute.  He'd have

to take a hit to his usage rate to play here, and he'd hit the usage rates of Wall and Beal.

 

3.) This is Wall's team.  Kevin Love coming here wouldn't change that.  But Kevin Durant coming here would, maybe some equilibrium issues like Miami had early in their Big Three era before LeBron seized control of the team.

 

BUT, there are big reasons why Durant would be a better get.  And they are:

 

1.) He's a much, much better player than Love.  Best player in the league when healthy.

 

2.)  He'll be a free agent in the summer of 2016, when Nene's deal is expiring and the cap explodes so we'll naturally have almost all of the cap room we need to sign him.  In other words, it's actually realistic and possible under the cap to get him, unlike Love if he were to opt out of his contract this summer.  So being possible is a major point in Durant's favor.  Also, there would be no need to compromise our foundation by trading Gortat or Porter to get him.

 

Wall + Beal + Porter + Durant + Gortat would be an unspeakably good line up and they would be title favorites in any season they were healthy.

 

Regardless of anything to do with Durant, I actually hope Kevin Love opts into his final year this summer just to put off his free agency until the summer of 2016, when we'll actually have money.  If that happens, then if we strike out with Durant (which I think is what will happen), we could pursue Kevin Love anyway.

[StillUnknown]

Hmmm...they still haven't ruled out Wall playing.

 

 

Part of me thinks the team wants ATL to still have that thought in the back of their mind so they have to account for him. Realistically, how effective can he be even if he plays? Not to mention every single player on ATL would be taking extra shots on that wrist all game long.

[Going Commando]

Been doing a lot of thinking and I'm at peace with Randy coming back, IF AND ONLY IF, he finally commits to Porter.  That and uses Gortat better like he did down the final stretch of the season.  Those were my two biggest complaints about Randy.  If he fixes those, then I can live with the antiquated offense, the crappy in game management such as poor use of time outs and bench mob rotations, and the inevitable regular season underachievement.

 

As long as Porter and Gortat progress and get solidified as members of out core like Wall and Beal have been, then I'd be willing to sacrifice all of those other things to preserve continuity and keep the players happy.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

David Aldridge ‏@daldridgetnt 

 

Just heard, briefly, from John Wall. Asked if he thought he could play Saturday, & how he'll decide. His DM: "Really have no idea".

Edited May 8, 2015 by BRAVEONAWARPATH

[GOSKINS_08]

David Aldridge ‏@daldridgetnt

Just heard, briefly, from John Wall. Asked if he thought he could play Saturday, & how he'll decide. His DM: "Really have no idea".

So basically nothing new.

[skinswillwin06]

Just heard, briefly, from John Wall. Asked if he thought he could play Saturday, & how he'll decide. His DM: "Really have no idea".

That was a tweet from David Aldridge. Maybe the wizards are just playing coy but the fact that they haven't officially ruled him out for any length of time gives me a little hope.

Edit: I should have refreshed prior to posting.

Edited May 8, 2015 by skinswillwin06

[Destino]

I get the impression that the only person in the Wizards organization that hasn't ruled Wall out, is John Wall.

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

10:30 Dr's appt. Got here at 1000. Thought I'd listen to some sports talk to see if there was anything on Wall. Instead I get ****ing Kornheiser blasting him for calling himself a soldier.

[TradeTheBeal!]

10:30 Dr's appt. Got here at 1000. Thought I'd listen to some sports talk to see if there was anything on Wall. Instead I get ****ing Kornheiser blasting him for calling himself a soldier.

When you get paid to talk ****, you just gotta keep serving up the word salad and faux outrage. Same with political punditry.

[StillUnknown]

10:30 Dr's appt. Got here at 1000. Thought I'd listen to some sports talk to see if there was anything on Wall. Instead I get ****ing Kornheiser blasting him for calling himself a soldier.

 

Old guys gonna old.

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

Old guys gonna old.

It's funny. Apparently he's got some segment or something that he calls "Old Man Radio", swear to god i can't tell the difference.

But yeah, I think you get some quality Wiz talk on the Sports Fix after Kornheiser. At least when Loverro's fat ass is in the hospital

[TheItalianStallion]

Regardless of anything to do with Durant, I actually hope Kevin Love opts into his final year this summer just to put off his free agency until the summer of 2016, when we'll actually have money.  If that happens, then if we strike out with Durant (which I think is what will happen), we could pursue Kevin Love anyway.

 

I wasn't necessarily hoping to get him here this offseason. But assuming Wall doesn't play, this will have been a major missed opportunity for an apples-to-apples comparison of why Love might be better off here in 2 years rather than Cleveland.

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

Heard someone on the radio comparing this and particularly Wall's path to those of the Pistons not being able to beat the Celtics (and from Wall's draft day I've compared him to Zeke and said we need to build our team off their blueprint) or the Bulls not being able to beat the Pistons. That **** like this, in the long run, is actually good for your team. They grow from it, they mature, the hunger, the drive, get the **** out of their way. That if we weren't going to win the title anyway, maybe it's best we going out like this. That's what I'm telling myself anyway

[Sticksboi05]

Randy sure was pissed off today.

[CrypticVillain]

Randy sure was pissed off today.

Bruh, he went HAM... I'm REALLY starting to like playoff Randy lol

[Sticksboi05]

Old guys gonna old.

 

Kornheiser is an idiot. Proof that writing about sports for a long time doesn't mean you actually understand the game. Besides the fact that he dominated the second half of Game 1 with a broken hand/wrist...

 

And I'm sure right after, that asshat was going off about how Ovechkin isn't an all-time great because he doesn't have 4 Cups like Gretzky despite not having the luxury of playing with no less than 4-5 other Hall of Famers.

 

His radio show sucks too, everyone on it is dull as hell.

[StillUnknown]

Randy sure was pissed off today.

 

I'm torn on this one. On one hand, I love that Randy is standing up for Wall in this instance. On the other hand, Michael Lee isn't a stooge, he was always pretty fair with his coverage when he was on the Wizards beat. He doesn't report things for ****s & giggles.

[Destino]

Wall said that it wasn't broken a hundred times. Then news broke that he was seeking a third opinion. Suddenly, 5 fractures.

Randy can get as mad as he wants, but that fishy series of events as well as a sad history with player injuries, is why a story about a player having a disagreement with team medical staff rings true. Those guys are hired by the GM right? So is that another Ernie thing?

[TradeTheBeal!]

Team Wittman. Wiz in 6.

[Bacon]

Bulls fan here. Was really hoping to have another crack at you guys in the ECF, and maybe it'll still happen if our respective teams can take care of business. Worst case scenario for me in that instance would be a DC team going to the championship for the first time in ages, which would still be very cool. Best of luck to all the Wizards fans here; keep the faith. Please take out Atlanta.