The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[Skin'emAlive]

So far kris Humphries is twice the player Jason smith is. He's looked bad. Also Mahinmi and sato have been great tonight.

[Going Commando]

Golden State might only lose six games this season.  All of them to the Wizards.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

 

 

[Destino]

The reason they do that to Brad is because they've seen bigs in previous seasons stop him cold when he's tried to dribble by them.  He's had an awful first step (when attacking from a standstill) so he's never been consistent throwing up a shot fake and blowing by a defender, even bigs that switch onto him.  When he catches the ball in motion, however, he's fast and effective.  If he's sorted out his handles enough to attack defenders and fixed that awkward first step, he'll have an easier time scoring.  That's good. 

Now he just needs to learn how not to fall horribly when he's fouled at the rim and end up injured.

 

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

 

 

[Going Commando]

18 hours ago, Destino said:

If he's sorted out his handles enough to attack defenders and fixed that awkward first step, he'll have an easier time scoring.  That's good. 

Now he just needs to learn how not to fall horribly when he's fouled at the rim and end up injured.

Yeah it's all about stopping the jump shot and not worrying about the dribble penetration.  Can't shoot over length.  He's going to have to prove he can make teams pay for defending him that way by getting to the rim and creating a shot.

[Going Commando]

It's interesting how Wall and Beal have had opposite paths to develop as players.  When Wall came in defenses used to (and still do sometimes) sag way the hell off on him on the perimeter and just clog the lane, making him prove he could shoot it.  Now Beal is get defended the opposite way, with defenders crowding him on the perimeter and making him prove he can either dribble by them or find the open man.

We can only hope that Beal has grown into a multi-dimensional player the way that Wall did.  That was the key for Wall to unlock his potential and become a star.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

 

[Going Commando]

Beal is on the money tonight.

[Destino]

I hope Embiid can stay healthy.  

[Going Commando]

Nicholson has had himself a nice game.

[Skin'emAlive]

Solid outing, but that free throw percentage tho. 

Also: why is Thornton back? He is awful. I would rather have Eddie chained to a spot on the perimeter than watch that man go be Kobe every possession. Burke had another subpar performance as well. Sato should be the primary backup, I've seen enough. 

[Rocky21]

I tried to watch last night but I just can't get into preseason basketball. 

The real **** starts in two weeks!

 

Edited October 14, 2016 by Rocky21

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

 

 

 

[TradeTheBeal!]

Our backcourt looked pretty frisky last night!

[Going Commando]

I thought Burke had a nice game overall.  He is a much better slasher than I expected.  Quicker than he looks.  He's similar to Sessions.  But I think he's got more potential because he can catch and shoot from three.

[StillUnknown]

2 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

I thought Burke had a nice game overall.  He is a much better slasher than I expected.  Quicker than he looks.  He's similar to Sessions.  But I think he's got more potential because he can catch and shoot from three.

 

i haven't seen this Trey Burke, i look forward to seeing him play

[Going Commando]

5 minutes ago, StillUnknown said:

i haven't seen this Trey Burke, i look forward to seeing him play

Last night was his best game of the preseason.  Was in a nice rhythm, slashing and finishing through contact.  I hope it's a sign that he's settling in.

[abdcskins]

Will the Wizards make the playoffs this year? Trying to decide if I'm gonna buy the NBA package.

A few interesting additions but looks like the same bum squad.

[Going Commando]

Nicholson also showed well for himself last night,  It's clear he's going to be a regular in the rotation.  He's an absolutely useless defender but he rebounds.  And he's got a lot of skill on offense.  Terrific below the rim finisher and has nice touch on his three ball.  He's a smooth operator with the ball.

Even though he's totally one dimensional, I think you can hide him between Mahinmi at C and either Otto or Oubre at SF.

[TradeTheBeal!]

Barring catastrophic injuries, Wiz are absolutely making the playoffs.

[Skin'emAlive]

25 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

I thought Burke had a nice game overall.  He is a much better slasher than I expected.  Quicker than he looks.  He's similar to Sessions.  But I think he's got more potential because he can catch and shoot from three.

 

Disagree. His game is not what we have needed out of our backup pg for years, and I hope that we dont continue to make this mistake. Burke is a poor man's Sessions. He spends his entire time trying to iso and take his man off the dribble for a layup without Sessions innate ability to draw fouls. I much rather have Sato on the court at the 1, surrounded with people who can either be the roll man or a spot up shooter.

6 minutes ago, TryTheBeal! said:

Barring catastrophic injuries, Wiz are absolutely making the playoffs.

 

That is our m.o. every year.

[Going Commando]

PG: Wall, Burke, Sato

SG: Beal, Thornton

SF: Otto, Oubre

PF: Morris, Nicholson

C: Gortat, Mahinmi, Smith

Are all locks to make the team.  That leaves three open spots.  I think those are going to go to McClellan, Eddie, and either Ochefu or O'Bryant.  I think House and Ware are definitely out.

It's a tough call to make between O'Bryant and Ochefu.  Ochefu has more potential but O'Bryant looks better right now to me.  I'd consider keeping both and cutting Eddie, but that would leave us perilously thin on the wing.  Eddie just gets lost in the traffic way too much, I'm not sure he has any impact when he isn't shooting a three.  But we need a third SF who can also play SG, so I think he makes it.

What I would really want to do is keep Eddie, Ochefu, and O'Bryant and cut Jason Smith.  I don't see the upside with Smith he's been outplayed by Ochefu and O'Bryant this preseason.  But his contract means he's safe.  I think he's going to end up being a waste of money.

[Going Commando]

I've got no feel for Tomas Satoransky's ceiling yet.  He said he patterns his game off of Manu Ginobli and the kid has some Manu in hism.  He's obviously not as good.  Manu was doing pretty revolutionary things at this age, I don't see Sato being good and original enough to influence playing styles like Manu did.

Nevertheless, he's got some stylistic similarities and I could see him performing a similar role for a team as a star second line creator.  He's got Manu's swagger.  Not as a creative and high IQ as Manu.  I'm not sure anyone ever has been, Manu was like a crazy genius in the things he'd see on the court.  But Tomas is a creative and high IQ player.  And like Manu, he wins on defense by using length, anticipation, and strong fundamentals to make up for the fact he's not the most explosive athlete.

I think there is a chance that Tomas ends up being better than both Otto and Kelly.

One of the biggest questions about the long term future of the team, aside from the doomsday scenario of Wall leaving in 2018, is roster balance.  We're quickly approaching the day when our five best players are perimeter players and four of them are wings.  Just in time for a potential big man renaissance...

How do you field a decent rotation of bigs if you're spending all of your money on guards and wings?  

How do you play your five best guys when four of them are wings?

Can we afford to keep Otto Porter this summer?

[Destino]

1 hour ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

How do you field a decent rotation of bigs if you're spending all of your money on guards and wings?  

Mahinmi, Gortat, Morris, and Smith are costing the Wizards 41 million a year for the next three year at least.