The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[Going Commando]

He had a broken leg and couldn't crack the line up and we desperately needed a PG because Trey Burke didn't pan out.  I wish we had been able to keep him though.  You can never have too many strong, athletic wings who can shoot threes.

[Destino]

Miami chokes against the nets and now the Bucks blow a huge lead in the 4th to the nuggets.  I'm starting to get suspicious.

[CRobi21]

MIL lost. Getting closer and closer to being locked in vs CLE in round 1......

[Rocky21]

^^^  The first round death sentence. 

 

There's no way the league will allow Lebroni to leave after one series. 

[Llevron]

7 minutes ago, Rocky21 said:

^^^  The first round death sentence. 

 

There's no way the league will allow Lebroni to leave after one series. 

 

As much as I still think we arnt good enough to beat him in a 7 game series anyway, you are right. The NBA will never let him lose in round 1. They are not done with him yet. 

[Going Commando]

It will be the most infuriating series ever.

 

This ****ing year.

[Spaceman Spiff]

11 minutes ago, Llevron said:

 

As much as I still think we arnt good enough to beat him in a 7 game series anyway, you are right. The NBA will never let him lose in round 1. They are not done with him yet. 

 

Said it before, I'll say it again.  They absolutely can let him lose in round 1.

 

Last year, the playoffs were a joke.  Outside of Wiz/Celtics, each round was boring.  Golden State is going to cruise again, people are going to lose interest.  IIRC, the ratings weren't that good.  No reason why that doesn't happen again this year.

 

If LeBron gets bounced in round 1, it opens up way more speculation about where he goes next year.  That carries into the summer where the NBA can remain in front of people.  NBA's offseason is probably the best offseason of any sport.  LeBron going to the Lakers shifts a lot of the power dynamic in the league.

 

 

[Llevron]

1 minute ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

It will be the most infuriating series ever.

 

This ****ing year.

 

There is going to be a game where Wall get no chances at the stripe and a game where lebron will be 18+. 

 

It may be the same game if we are lucky. 

[Renegade7]

You combine a healthy Wall with "everybody eats" and they can take LeBron in the first round, I'm standing by that.  We absolutely need to get Beal some rest before then.  We may be getting a preview in a couple days, so either one of two things is going to happen:

 

1. My plan to beat them will be tested

2. Wizards will get amnesia of the time Wall was out and we'll never go back

 

We had 30 assists against the Hornets the other day (which is good), but Wall counted for almost half of them (mixed reaction on that one)

[Llevron]

12 minutes ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

 

Said it before, I'll say it again.  They absolutely can let him lose in round 1.

 

Last year, the playoffs were a joke.  Outside of Wiz/Celtics, each round was boring.  Golden State is going to cruise again, people are going to lose interest.  IIRC, the ratings weren't that good.  No reason why that doesn't happen again this year.

 

If LeBron gets bounced in round 1, it opens up way more speculation about where he goes next year.  That carries into the summer where the NBA can remain in front of people.  NBA's offseason is probably the best offseason of any sport.  LeBron going to the Lakers shifts a lot of the power dynamic in the league.

 

 

 

Man I feel you but I strongly believe they will want to cash in on the finals one last time if they can. I just don't see them being forward thinking enough to lose the lebron James viewership in round 1. 

 

And I also don't think that our star players are focused enough to be lebron in particular. I'm not a big fan of the guy, but he eats their lunch on the floor when he wants to. I hope they can beat him but I have no reason to believe it yet. 

[Going Commando]

1 hour ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

If LeBron gets bounced in round 1, it opens up way more speculation about where he goes next year.  That carries into the summer where the NBA can remain in front of people.  NBA's offseason is probably the best offseason of any sport.  LeBron going to the Lakers shifts a lot of the power dynamic in the league.

 

 

You're overthinking it.  LeBron is the biggest draw in the sport.  If he got bounced early, fan interest and TV ratings would take a massive hit.  ESPECIALLY if a team with a tiny fanbase like ours were the ones to do it and made a deep run.  A Wizards run to the Finals from the 6th seed would probably mean the worst rated playoffs and Finals in decades.

 

We could walk out onto the court and clearly be the better team and push them to the brink and the NBA will absolutely direct the officials to help him in a critical game six or seven.

 

The NBA is in the entertainment business first and foremost.  Nobody cares about us and we are not a draw.

[Skin'emAlive]

Have some of you learned nothing from the past? Crab dribble! 

 

We we absolutely have to shamelessly lose out until we are locked in to a lower seed. A matchup with Cleveland in the first is curtains. Lebrons bs heroics, the officials lack of foul calls on him/ for him, and the fact that it's Lebron vs some wizzzzards team in the first? We literaly would have to rain 3's unconsciously from deep while getting fouled every possession to take that series. And Lebron would still complain about the officiating. 

[Spaceman Spiff]

4 hours ago, Llevron said:

 

Man I feel you but I strongly believe they will want to cash in on the finals one last time if they can. I just don't see them being forward thinking enough to lose the lebron James viewership in round 1. 

 

And I also don't think that our star players are focused enough to be lebron in particular. I'm not a big fan of the guy, but he eats their lunch on the floor when he wants to. I hope they can beat him but I have no reason to believe it yet. 

 

3 hours ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

 

You're overthinking it.  LeBron is the biggest draw in the sport.  If he got bounced early, fan interest and TV ratings would take a massive hit.  ESPECIALLY if a team with a tiny fanbase like ours were the ones to do it and made a deep run.  A Wizards run to the Finals from the 6th seed would probably mean the worst rated playoffs and Finals in decades.

 

We could walk out onto the court and clearly be the better team and push them to the brink and the NBA will absolutely direct the officials to help him in a critical game six or seven.

 

The NBA is in the entertainment business first and foremost.  Nobody cares about us and we are not a draw.

 

I hear you too, but LeBron getting to the Finals (and losing) is an old story.  He's been to the Finals every year this decade! Every year!  LeBron getting to the Finals isn't a new story.  It's an old story.  Golden State will be there to whip them again.  Is anyone interested in another Golden State/Cleveland Finals?

 

What's a new story, LeBron getting to the Finals agaaaaain or LeBron getting bounced out of the playoffs early and a media feeding frenzy on his relationship with the Cavaliers and where he could end up this summer?  I agree that the Wiz getting to the Finals would be terrible for ratings but the NBA and media would be non-stop talking about LeBron and where he's going to go.  That conversation drags into the summer and keeps the NBA in front of everyone.  

 

McQueen is right, the NBA is an entertainment business first and foremost.  Much like wrestling with all the personalities and drama, even the scripting.  I'm not even focused on the Wiz coming out of the East if LeBron gets bounced early.  Giannis will be the story that they can focus on and hype, he's in line to be next and they'll spin it as Giannis getting closer to take the throne. 

[Skin'emAlive]

Nah. Lebron losing to an other media darling ( Boston or Philly) would be a remote possibility. But to the Wizards? A team with a fair weather fan base that cares more about free chicken sandwiches and ginobli 3's, than almost anything the players currently on the roster have done this year? Nah. No chance in hell. That kind of matchup would cause ulcers for us. 

 

I can see it now: Lebron gets 15 ft attempts in the first half alone while causing Otto/oubre/Morris to all be in foul trouble early. Game is over at the point, midway through the third. Then we get garbage time free throws to make it look less of a charade on paper at the end of the day. 

 

We don't even have the remote possibility of a clutch shot winning it all. Brad is possibly the most unclutch in the league, while Lebron is hitting laettner fadeaway backboard 3's. 

[Warhead36]

All this negativity will make it all the sweeter when we knock Lebron out in 6 games in the 1st round.

 

Just call us the Washington Jamie Lannisters cuz we be Kingslayin...

[Renegade7]

The level of defeatism in here is borderline nauseating, ya'll are killing me right now

 

 

Edited April 3, 2018 by Renegade7

[Going Commando]

Defeatism?  We're going to be a six seed who bumbled our way through the season 5-7 games above .500 against the dominant team of the conference who his led by the greatest player of his era who also happens to be playing some of the best basketball of his career.  In a league that rigs the competition in favor of stars and draws in order to produce a more marketable product.  The NBA is predictable.  This is about understanding the situation.

 

It's the medicine that we will be forced to take for our ridiculous underachievement during this piece of **** season.  The only way we can avoid it is by falling to seven.

[Going Commando]

There is every chance in the world that a healthy Wizards teams is the second best team in the East.  But we're not going to get to show it if we match up with the Cavs in the first round.

[Renegade7]

19 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

There is every chance in the world that a healthy Wizards teams is the second best team in the East.  But we're not going to get to show it if we match up with the Cavs in the first round.

Not going to deny the odds are totally stacked against it (some of our own doing, a lot of it not). 

 

I'm to the same point with the Wizards that I am with the Redskins that it's damn near impossible for me to admit out loud when I think we're going to lose no matter what we do, and that's because I've seen both win too many games they aren't supposed to win.  If I always "knew" what was going to happen, I wouldn't watch anymore.

 

We increase our odds of advancing by avoiding Cavs in first round to get everyone better on the same page, I just don't think we're going to get that chance, so we need to be ready to deal with this all the same.  If our team goes into this series with the expectation of losing, I promise you, they will.

[Going Commando]

Of course.  The team needs to compete.

 

You can't look at football and basketball the same way.  The NFL is very dynamic.  The NBA is very predictable.  You have to wait your turn to compete for championships, and in order to keep interest and hope alive when you know it's not your turn to compete yet, you have to look to the future and hope it will be your turn down the line.  And in the meantime, you have to watch to see if your team is making progress and hitting benchmarks on the path to contention.

 

This is one of the most disappointing seasons of the Wall era because we didn't make much progress.  Wall had a lost season and Beal and Porter pretty much treaded water.  Oubre and Sato got better, but Gortat got a lot worse, and Mahinmi was still mostly unreliable.  We didn't shed salary to take advantage of the final summer where we could have flexibility (Wall's DPVE kicks in the next one and we will never have significant cap space again).  We didn't have a draft pick to develop because of that ****ing stupid Bojan trade.  We can't even say that we settled for not getting worse because we won't win as many games and likely won't advance to the second round if we remain at six.

 

That said, pushing Cleveland to seven games in an opening series would be a benchmark of progress for me.

[Renegade7]

1 hour ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

Of course.  The team needs to compete.

 

You can't look at football and basketball the same way.  The NFL is very dynamic.  The NBA is very predictable. 

 

You'd think that after seeing LeBron in the finals every year this decade that I'd be more accepting of the new world order. 

 

You're right that the parity level in the NFL and NBA are not the same, and its way harder to catch somebody off guard for an entire 7 game series then a single elimination game.  Ya, pushing LeBron to a 7 game series even if in the first round would be progress considering we've never done that before. 

 

 

 

The talent to pull that off or even win the series is there, I stand by that.  How we choose to use it is up to us (I don't like what I see so far with Wall being back, I'll tell you that much, but there's still time).

[Warhead36]

You have to accept the fact that we're probably never going to win a championship. I'm happy just making deep playoff runs. Its kinda like being a fan of a really talented Actor, you love watching his movies, but you know he'll never win an Oscar. Doesn't mean you can't enjoy his Blockbuster flicks.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

6 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

You have to accept the fact that we're probably never going to win a championship. I'm happy just making deep playoff runs. Its kinda like being a fan of a really talented Actor, you love watching his movies, but you know he'll never win an Oscar. Doesn't mean you can't enjoy his Blockbuster flicks.

Nope. I reject that line of thinking.

 

This franchise has been to 4 finals with one title.

 

I refuse to believe we can't do it again.

 

[Going Commando]

9 minutes ago, Renegade7 said:

The talent to pull that off or even win the series is there, I stand by that.  How we choose to use it is up to us (I don't like what I see so far with Wall being back, I'll tell you that much, but there's still time).

 

We spanked a team that almost always gives us problems and Wall maesro'd the offense with 14 assists (could have been 18 or 19 but the team came out rusty because of the early start and bricked a lot of shots they normally hit).  I have zero issues with the way the team played in that Charlotte game.

 

It was really nice to have Wall back.  He wasn't dribbling the air out of the ball.  He shared it with Sato (they actually played together, I was happy to see this).  He was spoon feeding Otto, Gortat, and Porter, and Beal and Porter really capitalized by shooting the lights out.  And he either attacked or pushed the offense into the set.  The only issue was he couldn't find his range.

 

Having watched Wall so much for seven years, we take certain talents of his for granted.  Seeing how we have to play without him for two months, and then seeing him back in action really brought the special things he does into stark relief.  The ability to blow by a set defender who sets up on the wrong foot and make something out of nothing was sorely missed.  The way he breaks the defense for the roll man and can actually get the ball to him was sorely missed.  The way he leads guys to their shooting spots with his passes was sorely missed.  He doesn't get enough credit for this.  He's a ****ing freak of nature in the way he can see the court and process it like the Flash.  Our players will spot up and the defense will stay in range to close out and we don't get as many clean attempts.  John sees this and moves our shooters to where they need to be.  John doesn't just read his man or the helper like Beal and Sato, he reads everyone.  It's a major part of why catch and shoot guys always shoot so much better when they play with John.

 

John's performance was encouraging.

[Renegade7]

7 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

 

We spanked a team that almost always gives us problems and Wall maesro'd the offense with 14 assists (could have been 18 or 19 but the team came out rusty because of the early start and bricked a lot of shots they normally hit).  I have zero issues with the way the team played in that Charlotte game.

 

I'm happy he's back, too, but it doesn't look like we're doing the "everybody eats" thing anymore, we're back to the same team we were before he left where pretty much everything has to go through him to get there.  I liked that it looked like he was looking forward to getting Otto more looks and played well with Sato on the floor, but I felt we needed both methods (a hybrid) to beat LeBron, I still feel that way.  That's just a general observation on his first game back, plenty of time to see if they practice more of him off ball and some of things Des pointed as missing that we were doing without him as well.

Edited April 3, 2018 by Renegade7