The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

Fire Ernie. I've said it for years, his love of players with long fingers was going to come back and haunt us. What do you know, lose in the playoffs because Pierce can't the ball off of his long ass ****ing fingers in time. **** YOU ERNIE!!!

[Destino]

Fire Ernie. I've said it for years, his love of players with long fingers was going to come back and haunt us. What do you know, lose in the playoffs because Pierce can't the ball off of his long ass ****ing fingers in time. **** YOU ERNIE!!!

 

wait... what? 

[No Excuses]

Nene's contract is going to look amazing next year when his soft, pudgy ass will slow our team speed significantly. His only remaining skill left is dunking when wide open and boxing out. He's worse than someone like Reggie Evans. But he's being paid like a top starting PF.

 

Everyone but our dumbass GM saw this day coming.

Edited May 16, 2015 by No Excuses

[pjfootballer]

Going with the dubs to win it all, but ultimately once we are eliminated, I won't watch anymore NBA playoffs and really won't give a **** who wins it.

[StillUnknown]

Fire Ernie. I've said it for years, his love of players with long fingers was going to come back and haunt us. What do you know, lose in the playoffs because Pierce can't the ball off of his long ass ****ing fingers in time. **** YOU ERNIE!!!

 

just when you think you knew of all reasons to hate Grunfeld.......

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Jorge Castillo ‏@jorgeccastillo 

Players coming off the books for the #Wizards this summer: Kevin Seraphin, Rasual Butler, Drew Gooden, Will Bynum, and Andray Blatche.

 

 

Jorge Castillo ‏@jorgeccastillo 

And, of course, maybe Paul Pierce.

Edited May 16, 2015 by BRAVEONAWARPATH

[daveakl]

Fire Ernie. I've said it for years, his love of players with long fingers was going to come back and haunt us. What do you know, lose in the playoffs because Pierce can't the ball off of his long ass ****ing fingers in time. **** YOU ERNIE!!!

That's so racist! !!

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

This statement gives me some hope that Randy "gets it" now.

 

Sounds like he's realizes shooting a ton of threes and playing a wide open style of basketball is the way to go forward.

 

 

http://www.nba.com/2015/news/features/john_schuhmann/05/16/wizards-fall-but-show-promise-of-a-two-way-team/index.html

 

"We know what we have to do, the pieces that I'd like to add moving forward," Wizards coach Randy Wittman said after Game 6. "Brad and John are going to be here a long time. So we got to utilize what their strengths and capabilities are, and find the right people to put around them, which allows us to play the way that I think we were kind of playing in the [playoffs]."

Edited May 16, 2015 by BRAVEONAWARPATH

[Destino]

I can't assume Wittman gets it because of this last year. He coached up in the playoffs and as soon as this years regular season started he was back to doing stupid things. Not just stupid like bench mob at the worst times, inability to draw up plays, or never calling a timeout.... but really inexplicable things like going with anyone but Otto Porter for essentially the entire regular season and sticking with Nene despite him giving us nothing for long stretches at a time.

[Warhead36]

We can't trade Nene. Just bite the bullet for one more year. Then let his contract expire and wish him farewell.

 

Hopefully Porter starts next year and Pierce gets relegated to super sub status. His minutes will need to be monitored very carefully throughout the season so he's fresh come playoff time.

[StillUnknown]

We can't trade Nene. Just bite the bullet for one more year. Then let his contract expire and wish him farewell.

 

Hopefully Porter starts next year and Pierce gets relegated to super sub status. His minutes will need to be monitored very carefully throughout the season so he's fresh come playoff time.

 

Expiring contracts become attractive around the deadline, if he gets moved, its probably then.

 

I think Otto will start because I think Pierce might call it a career. He could always choose to go a different team if he wants one last crack at the title. We should be improved next year, but I don't think anyone will consider us serious title threats.

[earl]

I don't get all the hate people still have for EG and RW. RW out coached Thibs last year. And arguably out coached both coaches this post season. In crunch time when every possession counts look at the plays the wiz execute out of TO's. We always got a great shot. Meanwhile coach of the year was having a hard time inbounding the ball. Even the back breaking play by Horford was more a great play by him then something that was drawn up. Furthermore this notion that RW didn't realize a stretch 4 would open things up until the playoffs is laughable. Ask yourself then why did we have gooden on the team all season. He played S4 last post season and we extended him. Bottom line RW had this team peaking when it counted.

As for the hate for EG I think people lack perspective. The rebuild has been masterful. The knock that nene and Truth are old is accurate, but ask yourself where would wall and beal be without playing with those guys? There was no point in pursuing young talent and signing long term deals when frankly wall and beal weren't ready to be competitive. Nene, Andre miller, Ariza and PP were training wheels. Fact is now that both wall and beal have matured into stars they've benefitted from playing meaningful ball, because of the veteran training wheels. Who by the way will be off the books just in time for the biggest FA class in years. And oh by the way the culture in DC has been rehabilitated to the point that we are a desire able destination for FA's. KD or not we are going to be major players in FA moving forward. Ask yourself when was the last time you could say that about the bullets? I've been a fan since the mid 80's and I've never seen it. Those Hating cuz RW isn't pat Riley or EG isn't Red Auerbach are going to be unhappy no matter what.

Edited May 17, 2015 by earl

[Duckus]

We can't trade Nene. Just bite the bullet for one more year. Then let his contract expire and wish him farewell.

.

Why? To be honest I don't know Nene's contract #s off top of my head but expiring contacts are one of the best trading chips in the NBA.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Duckus

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Why? To be honest I don't know Nene's contract #s off top of my head but expiring contacts are one of the best trading chips in the NBA.

We could trade Nene but I don't want to take on any long term contracts.

 

KD,Horford,Love etc will all be FA's in the summer of 2016.

Edited May 17, 2015 by BRAVEONAWARPATH

[Going Commando]

Joe Johnson is an expiring too. Build a trade around Nene's expiring for him. Then find aa rotation worthy PF. A draft pick, or maybe trade for Patrick Patterson if Toronto is trying to firesale. Nene + Seraphin for Johnson and Webster + the 2015 first for Patterson? That rotation could be excellent

1 - Wall, Sessions

2 - Beal, Johnson

3 - Pierce, Porter

4 - Patterson, Humphries

5 - Gortat

Improves the shooting a good deal.

[Fergasun]

I'm going to take a longer look at Ernie Grunfeld's performance, breaking it up by players who have been on the team longest-shortest, and sprinkling in a what-if or two.  Let's go battleship style.   I also broke it down by minutes played - anyone under 500 minutes a season was ignored. 

 

PG/SG

John Wall - 3 seasons, hopefully never leaves Wizards  Hit on the player acquisition, "you've sunk the PG position!"

Bradley Beal - 3 seasons, hopefully never leaves the Wizards.  Hit on the player acquisition, "you've sunk the SG position!" 

Garrett Temple - 3 seasons, there's no need for any more.  He's a miss.

 

Andre Miller - 2 seasons, great the first but flipped for Ramon Sessions.

Ramon Sessions - 1/2 a season, great production in the playoffs.  He's a hit -- but could probably use an offseason push.  He can play both SG and PG with Beal and  

 

AJ Price/Eric Maynor/Jordan Crawford - All 3 are gone.  Have no idea why Garrett Temple is not on this list. 

 

Jordan Clarkson - A what if.... he would be a perfect fit behind Beal and Wall -- question if he would have gotten as much playing time as he did with the Lakers this season. 

 

Offseason Needs: Would be nice to have another young PG/SG who could push Ramon Sessions for his backup minutes, or young SG who can develop.  Well we had one but apparently we didn't really need him.

 

SF

Paul Pierce - One season and a boss post-season.  Please come back Paul.  He's a hit.

Otto Porter - Only one season with lots of minutes and a good post-season.  His offense dropped off in games 4, 5, and 6 of the ATL series though.  If he's just going to rebound and play defense he better be a Rodman level -- but his shot selection, cuts, and passing "AKA basketball IQ" all seem to be there.  He has a pretty jumper -- hope he can get it to fall better than Nick Young.  He's a hit. 

 

Martell Webster - 2 seasons, was really a non-factor this year.  For 28 years old would like to see him putting up productive number... but doesn't look to be happening.

Rasual Butler - 1 season, 35 years old -- a nice old spark but comon we gotta do better for this roster spot.

 

Trevor Ariza - 2 seasons, contributing this year for Houston... but probably better not to use the long term money on him.  His dealing provided the door for Paul Pierce. 

 

Offseason needs:  Time to start thinking about another SF to add to the rotation as Webster/Butler/Pierce are not going to be the answer. 

 

PF

Nene - 3 seasons, declined a lot in the post-season (or exploited by a smaller, quicker, team).  His mileage is starting to show.  In totality not a bad acquisition but time to start thinking about moving on.

Kris Humphries - No idea why he didn't see more time in the post-season... he did get significant minutes in the regular season.  I would guess injury...?

Drew Gooden - 1 season and 1 post season.  Can still contribute in the league... wonder if someone else will pay him to do what he's done.  Defensively limited. 

 

Trevor Booker / Chris Singleton / Al Harrington - Booker was here for two significant seasons... I don't know why we never let Garrett Temple go the way we did to Booker -- oh wait there's no one wanting to sign Mr. Temple!

 

Offseason Needs: Youth, youth, youth! 

 

C

Marcin Gortat - 2 seasons, solid starter.  Like any non All-Star player he has his inconsistencies, but is beautiful to watch when everything goes right. 

Kevin Seraphin - 3 seasons.  Has he developed at all as a defensive player?  Hard to tell... but if he did there'd would've been some trade deadline demand for him, right?  I expect him to be similar to Booker and not really "make the leap" when he leaves.

 

Emeka Okafor - 1 season, where did you go?

 

Offseason Needs:  A backup C.  Seemed like the team took Seraphin's production for granted.. and if Porter/Beal continue to develop, we won't miss his points.  Need some more defensive toughness here.

 

Team in total:

Team needs to get younger in the front court all around.  Which brings me to another issue if we are grading the GM.  It's clear the team is missing some youth in the frontcourt.  On an average team the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 drafts should yield 8 drafted players plus 4 undrafted players who show various talent levels and you hope at least 1 player (drafted or undrafted) sticks each year. 

 

2011: Vesely, Singleton, Mack - Bust (x3)

2012: Beal, Satoransky - A hit... if Satoransky could be the young PG/SG that pushes Sessions for minutes, we'd all be a lot happier.

2013:  Porter, traded draft pick (Glen Rice Jr.) - Porter is promising, Rice Jr. flamed out

2014:  traded draft pick (Gortat), Jordan Clarkson - No complaints about Gortat, but upset over Clarkson.

 

Anyone else notice the lack of attempts to acquire a C/PF via the draft?  Guess this means the Wizards will most likely sign Amare' Stoudamire or Kevin Garnett to fill in next year -- although Garnett is back in Minny.  David West, Carlos Boozer and Big Baby fit the bill if Gooden isn't coming back.  Yeesh, looking thorugh draft history, has Grunfeld ever drafted a frontcourt player?  Looks like Javale was the last one -- Trevor Booker who was acquired via trade. 

 

Potential targets for Nene's salary (PF only):  Taj Gibson, Zac Randolph, Carl Landry, Pattrick Patterson, Nick Collison, Josh McRoberts, Pau Gasol, Tiago Splitter.  I'm just thinking potentially what could we get in return as far as PF-wise... we'd be taking on a longer contract. 

[Going Commando]

Anyone gonna touch earl's pollyanna post?

I'm not an EG hater, nor do I expect him to hit a home run every decision. But calling his work on this rebuild masterful is laughable. Five straight awful seasons of picking top six in the draft and a 45 and 46 win season to show for all of that failure and futility. The rebuilding job the Golden State Warriors did was masterful. Ours involved lucking into three top three picks in four seasons and sticking a couple of decent trades. Let's run down the decisions since 2009,

2009-2010:

Traded the fifth overall pick for Mike Miller and Randy Foye - a fireable offense. Could have picked Steph Curry. Or anyone really, that would have been better than what he did. Sold Jermaine Taylor to Houston for cash a running theme for Ernie Grunfeld second round picks and something that provides no long term strategic value.

Signed Blatche to a five year extension - a disastrous contract that ended in amnesty. We're still paying his ass. Ernie got suckered into paying a sketchy player for a small sample size of work in a meaningless stretch of a bad season.

2010-2011:

Got lucky in the lottery in the right year. Jumped up four spots to get Wall, but this is a pick that almost anyone would have made. There was some Evan Turner talk on ESPN and on the radio but it's doubtful anyone would have picked him over Wall. Ernie doesn't deserve much credit for getting lucky in the lottery and making the obvious pick. After this there was a whooooole lot of trading for draft positioning with the net result we drafted Booker and Seraphin. Neither were failed draft acquisitions but neither were good picks either. Booker always had a limited ceiling and he was gone at the end of his rookie deal without the options being picked up. Seraphin never reached his potential and will be gone after his final option year expires this summer. The second round pick was traded to Minnesota as part of the deal for Booker.

During the season made two big trades: 1.) Arenas for 'Shard. 2.) Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong for Mo Evans, Mike Bibby, and Atlanta's 2011 first. Ernie swindled Otis Smith on the Arenas trade--one of the few GMs worse than Ernie, he was fired by Orlando soon after this. 'Shard didn't do **** for us except expire a year before Arenas. At the time, it was dealing the worst contract in the NBA for the second worst. His eventual expiring contract did set the table for the Okafor/Ariza deal though.

The second trade looked great at the time but we got nothing of lasting value from it and we've ended up struggling to find a back up PG for years since. Mo Evans was just a guy, in and out of the rotation for an awful team. Bibby was an immediate buyout that provided a little cap relief we never ended up needing or really using. Jordan Crawford was basically a bust and we're about to get to that draft pick...

2011-2012:

An embarrassing set of failures that nearly derailed the John Wall era. Flip Saunders got fired and was replaced with Randy Wittman, the interim coach that became permanent. The guy who drove the segment of the fan base that actually pays attention during the regular season to drink.

In the draft, spent the 6th overall pick on Jan Vesely, a very damaging mistake. Could have had Kawhi Leonard or Klay Thompson. I personally was a Bismack Biyombo fan, and that would have been a terrible pick too. Leonard was the favorite of a couple of the regulars around here and they ended up being right. That 18th overall pick we got from Atlanta in the Hinrich trade was spent on Chris Singleton, who was just as big a disappointment as Vesely. Could have had Kenneth Faried, who was the favorite among a lot of fans. But actually almost all of the guys picked after Singleton in the first round would have been better picks. And in fact, Singleton, Jordan Hamilton, Nolan Smith, and JuJuan Johnson are the only first rounders from that Klay Thompson pick at 11 that ended up being nobodies. Remarkable. So not only did Ernie fail with his pick, he was also one of the only GMs in the league to get nothing whatsoever of value from that draft. The second round pick was another draft pick and PG failure. We got Shelvin Mack, who barely played here, but eventually ended up becoming a solid rotation player in Atlanta after we cut him.

Next was the Nene trade at the deadline. This deal is close to a loss but I won't call it that. JaVale and Nick Young were stupid losers, getting rid of them was addition by subtraction. But we were caught in a bad position with JaVale. We couldn't dare keep him, but couldn't let him walk for nothing, and couldn't afford to trade him without getting a real big man in return. Being able to toss in Swaggy P as trade ballast was a nice little bonus. His game is such that he is destined to spend his career as gunner for awful teams.

Denver had buyer's remorse a couple months after signing Nene to a big five year extension. They saw he was never getting back to the level he played at in that contract year and they were right. But they were stupid to take JaVale for him, and even more stupid to sign JaVale long term that summer. For the first two years of the contract, Nene was pretty good and he helped stabilize an awful team filled with Ernie's mistakes. Nene was the first teammate Wall played with that was a legit, starting caliber NBA player. The downside was the back end of Nene's contract and we all knew this day was coming. Nene was done after last year's playoffs with two more seasons and 26 million left on his contract. His deal was an anchor that is preventing us from being more active in the FA market this summer and last summer. And he was a major liability during this year's playoff run where we had a great chance at the ECF. This move definitely helped us in the immediate term and we came out of it better than Denver, but it came with major opportunity cost built into the back end.

2012-2013:

Finally able to deal Shard's corpse, we sent him and our second round pick to New Orleans for Okafor and Ariza. New Orleans didn't want either Okafor or Ariza and was trying to get rid of them. The fanbase hated this deal at the time, we felt we should have gotten the 10th pick for the trouble of taking two years at 20 plus million dollars of deadweight off New Orleans' hands. But Okafor and Ariza ended up way outperforming expectations. We got a year of solid starting center play from Okafor before back problems ruined his second season before it began. Ariza was terrible his first season here but had a mini career renaissance in his contract season. John Wall got him paid by Houston, where he's carved out a solid niche for himself. We got our money's worth from this trade.

As for the draft, we got slightly lucky in the lottery again. We were leap-frogged by New Orleans, but fortunately that was the only team or else we wouldn't have gotten Beal. Then we were lucky Charlotte foolishly picked MKG second instead of Beal. It was between those two and TRob at that pick and they chose poorly. We practically ran to the podium for Beal. Beal wasn't a no-brainer like Wall and Ernie does deserve some credit for picking him. But he was also the pick the majority of the fan base would have made. Full disclosure, I was a TRob fan and was torn between him and Beal. Picking TRob would have been a disaster, fortunately we didn't. But in hindsight, Beal might not have been the best pick at three. Damian Lillard is obviously better than him and should have been the second overall pick. And if Andre Drummond becomes an AS caliber center, then it's going to be tough to justify picking Beal ahead of him. I'm not too worried about those two personally and am glad we picked Beal. We never needed a second PG like Lillard, and Drummond still hasn't definitely proven to me that he's better than Beal. No way Drummond has the kind of series Bradley Beal just had against Atlanta.

As for the second round pick, drafted and stashed Sato. This move is still a wait and see. Hasn't given us anything of value whatsoever so far, but people are still optimistic that he's either going to come over and be pretty good or be a useful trade chip somewhere along the line.

During the season we traded Jordan Crawford for Leandro Barbossa and Jason Collins. Not really a hit or a miss. Nothing came of this deal, it was an addition by subtraction move. Crawford was apparently pissing off Beal and Wittman and being a problem in the locker room and he just wasn't very good here.

That season istelf was a ****ing disaster. We were supposed to take a big step forward but then Wall got injured during the summer and we went 5-28 before he came back. We came embarrassingly close to setting the record for longest losing streak to start a season. That 5-28 stretch was probably the closest Randy an Ernie came to getting fired. John Wall broke out in March and April of 2013 and saved their jobs. People around the league were stunned when Ernie got a modest contract extension that summer.

2013-2014:

Mixed bag of moves. That incredibly embarrassing start to the '12-'13 season got us the 8th best odds in the lottery and Ernie got lucky again when we jumped five spots to pick third overall. We spent it on Porter. Seemed like a solid pick at the time, I personally was in favor of it. The big majority of the fan base wanted Nerlens Noel though. Porter's first two seasons were basically a disaster that had a lot of the fan base calling him a bust until he had a breakout in this postseason. Porter is going to be alright and, for the record, I still support the decision to draft. I did even before the playoffs happened. But it's already become clear he wasn't the best pick Ernie could have made. That would obviously be Rudy Gobert, who would be the #1/#1 pick if they held the draft over again today. Nobody really saw him coming though, so I don't kill Ernie for not picking him. However, Porter still has a lot of work to do to prove he was a better choice than Noel, Alex Len, and Greek Freak.

Once again, we got nothing from the second round. GRJr barely played before he was exiled to who knows where? A great GM sticks one of these picks every once in a while, like Golden State did with Draymond Green for instance.

In free agency we signed Eric Maynor on the first day using up our biannual exception and giving him a player option for the second year. Then we signed Martell Webster to a four year full MLE contract. Immediately after picking Otto Porter third overall... It goes without saying that both of these moves were disasters. Martell's deal is an anchor and we still need to find a way to dump it before the summer of 2016 to make cap space for a max deal. He immediately got hurt after signing it and has pretty much stayed hurt since. His NBA career is probably over. And worst of all, he blocked Porter from playing as a rookie, and then again during the middle of the season this year. Maynor's contract might have been worse. We signed him first day to the most money we could offer him when other, better back up PGs like Darren Collison and Nate Robinson went for bargains later on in the process. Maynor was completely finished as an NBA player and this move is emblematic of our constant struggle to fix the back up PG position.

In season moves: we dealt Okafor's expiring contract and our first round pick to Phoenix for Gortat. This trade was a big win. We got lucky Gortat was available exactly when we needed him to be--the result of Phoenix losing Steve Nash and drafting Alex Len. He worked out well and got a big five year contract the next summer. This move saved our postseason chances and is probably Ernie's best trade of the John Wall era. The only downside was the loss of the first round pick in what was supposed to be one of the best and deepest drafts in years. The pick ended up being Tyler Ennis. Hell yeah I'd rather have Gortat than him.

Then at the deadline we dealt Vesely and Maynor for Andre Miller. An ostensibly good move if you take the most myopic perspective possible. We were getting nothing from Vesely and we needed to get out of Maynor's deal because he had a second year player option. And Miller gave us a couple months of good basketball. In reality, it was Ernie putting a bandaid over two awful mistakes. Getting a couple months of quality bench play from the oldest player in the league is absolutely unacceptable return from a #6 overall pick. And the reason we had to get out of Maynor's player option in the first place was because Ernie stupidly gave it to him in the race to bid against himself.

2014-2015:

Ernie's best offseason as Wizards GM. Got Gortat locked up long term on a deal that is going to be very favorable by next season. And he didn't blow his wad on Ariza and actually managed to get a nice trade exception from him. That TPE got us Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair. Blair was a bust but worth a shot at the time. Minimal risk, modest upside. Humphries worked out great and is a useful contract moving forward. Getting Paul Pierce at the full MLE was brilliant. Probably the best FA signing Ernie's made. He was a critical locker room guy whose been crucial for the development of Wall, Beal, and Porter. And he was huge in the playoffs. We've already gotten our money's worth from him and we came out ahead in the Ariza situation.

The draft was another missed opportunity though. In typical EG fashion, we sold Jordan Clarkson for cash, a move from which we derive zero long term strategic benefit. And it looks particularly bad in hindsight because Clarkson actually ended up being good. I say again, eventually Ernie is going to have to stick one of these late first or second round picks to give us a bargain contract.

In our never-ending quest to find a back up PG, Ernie dealt Andre Miller for Ramon Sessions at the deadline. A decent trade. Miller was basically done and, while Sessions struggled during the regular season, he settled in pretty well by the playoffs and was a legit boost during the Atlanta series when Wall got hurt. Don't know if Sessions is the answer moving forward though.

So that brings us to the present. The biggest successes of Ernie's build were the result of getting lucky in the lottery after awful, disheartening seasons. And in between those moves you have a lot of missed opportunities and outright mistakes peppered with a handful of good trades and modest FA signings. Ernie isn't awful. He's a mediocre GM that fumbled his way through this rebuilding process and would have been fired a while ago if not for lucking into John Wall.

A "masterful" rebuild is turning #6, #11, #7, and #35 picks into Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, and Draymond Green. A masterful rebuild is turning your mediocre coach into Steve Kerr. Even the one big **** up of this Golden State build--picking Ekpe Udoh #6 in 2010--they managed to flip with Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut.

Us and the Warriors have been the two worst franchises in the NBA over the past 30 years. We came from the same cellar and we started our current building processes at about the same time. We've got 45 and 46 win seasons and a pair of second round playoff appearances to show for it. They just ripped off a historic 66 win season and are probably going to win a championship. That's what a great rebuild looks like.

[Taylor703]

I just figured there was no point. EG and RW have been anything but masterful. They both should've been upgraded two years ago.

[StillUnknown]

Great posts from Fergason & SM

 

Had no idea Webster is only 28. Seems like he's been in the league 15 years.

Edited May 17, 2015 by StillUnknown

[@DCGoldPants]

Five key questions for the Wizards in the 2015 offseason

 

Bullets Forever has a good breakdown here.

[Spaceman Spiff]

What are you guys expecting from Otto Porter moving forward?

[Pedro]

I just figured there was no point. EG and RW have been anything but masterful. They both should've been upgraded two years ago.

 

 

I assumed the post was a joke when I first read it, and I still do now.

[StillUnknown]

What are you guys expecting from Otto Porter moving forward?

 

I want to see Otto get stronger and improve his 3pt shot. He missed far too many shots around the rim simply because he couldn't finish through, at times, minimal contact.  Improving his 3pt shot will make his ability to move without the ball all the more dangerous.

 

I don't see all-star games in his future, but he can be vital asset on a playoff team.

[TradeTheBeal!]

What are you guys expecting from Otto Porter moving forward?

13, 7, 4, and 2. All-defense 2nd team.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Click to read the rest

http://www.csnwashington.com/basketball-washington-wizards/talk/nba-draft-wittman-desires-pieces-new-look-wizards

 

NBA Draft: Wittman desires pieces for new-look Wizards

 

 

Do you like the modern, 3-point shooting Washington Wizards team that swept Toronto out of the playoffs and nearly took down Atlanta? Good bet the answer is a loud yes. If not, get on board. That look isn't going away.

 

That's the message Wizards coach Randy Wittman delivered following the heart-wrenching and series-ending Game 6 loss on Friday night. The next step is adding the proper players to the current mix headlined by guards John Wall and Bradley Beal. The process begins this offseason, starting with next month's NBA Draft.

 

"We know what we have to do, the pieces that were going to have to add, that I'd like to add moving forward," Wittman stated during his postgame press conference.

 

After lagging behind nearly the entire league with production from beyond the 3-point arc during the regular season, Washington fully embraced the long ball in the postseason. This wasn't simply about a change of schemes, but also personnel. Going with a smaller lineup, one that put more shooters on the court, which in turn helped open space for Wall, led the way. Beal thrived in these looks, playing the best basketball of his career against the Hawks.

 

"Brad (Beal) and John (Wall) are going to be here a long time," Wittman continued. "We have to utilize what their strengths are, and their capabilities and find the right people to put around them. Allows us to play the way that I think we're kind of playing in the series with Toronto and Atlanta.

 

Edited May 17, 2015 by BRAVEONAWARPATH