The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[Going Commando]

Morris is a below average starter.  On a good team, he should be coming off the bench.  It's his natural role, and he's thriving in it.  Morris's scoring tools work against second stringers.

He comes in with the right approach when he's subbing in from the bench too.  He makes the most of his minutes and rebounds and defends way harder.

Otto been coughing it up tonight.  If that's the price of him being aggressive though, I think I'll take it.

 

But I think Otto is one of the guys who suffers the most from not playing with Wall.

[Going Commando]

Coming out game for Thomas Bryant?

[Renegade7]

23 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

Morris is a below average starter.  On a good team, he should be coming off the bench.  It's his natural role, and he's thriving in it.  Morris's scoring tools work against second stringers.

He comes in with the right approach when he's subbing in from the bench too.  He makes the most of his minutes and rebounds and defends way harder.

 

I can see your point.  We aren't acting like a good team right now and he's arguably our best PF (which isn't saying much).  But see, that's my point, we need him starting, we need him giving a damn more consistently, and we can't get that from him.  We need him to be more then a bench player right now, even if on a better team that's where he'd be.  He certainly wasn't brought here to be a backup.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Renegade7

[Going Commando]

That third quarter was a mess.

[Renegade7]

1 minute ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

That third quarter was a mess.

Sense a long fourth coming, gotta keep it together.

[Going Commando]

Just now, Renegade7 said:

I can see your point.  We aren't acting like a good team right now and he's arguably our best PF (which isn't saying much).  But see, that's my point, we need him starting, we need him giving a damn more consistently, and we can't get that from him.  We need him to be more then a bench player right now, even if on a better team that's where he'd be.   

 

If I were the coach, Morris would not start over a healthy Sato or Porter ever again.  I'd rather get my best five on the floor and Morris isn't one of them.  He's a bench gunner and a goon. I'd rather play without a PF than start him.

If we choke this one away...

[Renegade7]

1 minute ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

 

If I were the coach, Morris would not start over a healthy Sato or Porter ever again.  I'd rather get my best five on the floor and Morris isn't one of them.  He's a bench gunner and a goon. I'd rather play without a PF than start him.

Interesting.  Not worried about size matchup issues?  I already don't trust our center situation, I agree Bryant is having a good same today.  Only second time he's scored in double digits, so its like we're back to Otto being our best "big man" again. *Shudders

[Going Commando]

Beal with the old man game right there.

2 minutes ago, Renegade7 said:

Interesting.  Not worried about size matchup issues?  I already don't trust our center situation, I agree Bryant is having a good same today.  Only second time he's scored in double digits, so its like we're back to Otto being our best "big man" again. *Shudders 

 

Otto is as tall as Keef and, truth be told, he's a better rebounder.  If he's healthy, I'd rather play Otto up at PF than start Keef.  I think everyone plays better as a result of doing that.

Bryant is still young, but that's what Dwight was supposed to be for.  Hopefully he can hold the fort down long enough for Dwight to come back.  Then you can play Keef at the back up 5 when Bryant has those nights where he fouls himself out of the game.

[Going Commando]

Trae Young big times the refs.  Annoying to see that in a rookie.

[The Gibber]

Well it's still better to beat bad teams than to lose to them. But this team is just a total mind****. 

[Renegade7]

7 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

Beal with the old man game right there.

 

Otto is as tall as Keef and, truth be told, he's a better rebounder.  If he's healthy, I'd rather play Otto up at PF than start Keef.  I think everyone plays better as a result of doing that.

Bryant is still young, but that's what Dwight was supposed to be for.  Hopefully he can hold the fort down long enough for Dwight to come back.  Then you can play Keef at the back up 5 when Bryant has those nights where he fouls himself out of the game.

 

True, but not as big.  Think I specifically remember a couple of us talking about not wanting to run Otto at PF too much as it might get him hurt, I still do feel that way.  I mean, so far, so good on that one, right?

 

I'm frustrated we're still talking about trade rumors, I wish I knew if we were trying to save this thing or not.  Letting it hover over everyone is something I would expect a dysfunctional franchise to do.  

[Going Commando]

Sato has been awesome tonight.  This guy is the real deal.  No bull****, he's the fourth best and most valuable player on the team.  His ability to play three spots and take over the PG duties whenever we need it is so incredibly useful.

2 minutes ago, Renegade7 said:

I'm frustrated we're still talking about trade rumors, I wish I knew if we were trying to save this thing or not.  Letting it hover over everyone is something I would expect a dysfunctional franchise to do.   

 

I'm pretty confident John is not going anywhere.  He'd have to waive his trade kicker for a trade to work, most likely.  So he can pretty much shut down any trades unless he actually wanted out of here and wanted to go to that team.  He's safe for at least this year.  Next year his trade kicker won't protect him any more.  But his raise will kick in and he will get significantly harder to salary match.

 

Beal is the one who might get traded.  But we certainly don't have to accommodate him if he asks out.  He's ours for three years.

[Going Commando]

Beal's a gentleman.  He gave those fans a chicken sandwich.

[Renegade7]

6 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

I'm pretty confident John is not going anywhere. 

Agreed, and for similar reasons.  I saw him get pretty emotional when they first were talking about it, say something, we've changed our mind, don't let this keep coming out and not addressing them, especially when he has a kid around the corner.  Just feels wrong, he deserves better then that.

[Going Commando]

Gotta take road wins any way we can get them.  We have been absolutely atrocious on the road this year.

Edited December 6, 2018 by stevemcqueen1

[purbeast]

1 hour ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

 

Speculation is that his child is on the way.

Before they started saying "out for personal reasons" I heard them flat out say on 106.7 that Wall is a new father and his child was born.  I think someone let it slip because after that, everyone just kept saying personal reasons.

[Destino]

Wizards are a half game out of 8th place.

 

if they’re going to trade and tank they need to hurry up and get on with it.

[Going Commando]

2 hours ago, Destino said:

Wizards are a half game out of 8th place.

 

if they’re going to trade and tank they need to hurry up and get on with it. 

 

Tanking was never going to happen and now it's too late anyway.

 

The soonest we might see Brooks fired is a year or two from now.  God knows about Ernie.

 

I think there was a brief moment there when they might have traded Beal, but now I think we are at least a year or two away from that happening.

 

Despite how depressing this year has been, I think there has been a legit positive takeaway: Thomas Bryant.  Dumping Gortat a year early because of his beef with Wall, Burying Mahinmi, and Dwight being a total flop and the desperation of the horrific start gave Bryant a chance to play that he never would have gotten otherwise.  He's already giving us the best big man play we've had in years.  This kid is almost everything I've been wanting in a 5 for so long.  Seeing him run the floor so hard, defend with energy out to the three point line, protect the rim, battle for offensive boards and go back up for dunks on the second bounce, rim run for thunderous dunks, give good effort on his picks, and spot up from three with a decent looking stroke that he can build on, it brings a tear to my eye.  He plays so hard.  But without playing clumsy or a step slow, like Jason Smith.

 

I wish he was a little bit better rim protector and defensive rebounder, and I wish he was a little bit better at catching the ball on his rolls.  But I think he'll get better at those things.  He has such a good foundation to build on.  He's going to have ups and downs and growing pains, but going back to the drawing board and deciding to start him breathed life into the season.

 

The other big positive has come from the decision to start Sato.  Again, this wouldn't have happened without the shake ups coming from the horrific start.  Sato is special, and the sooner we realize this, the better we'll be.  He is legitimately almost as good as Otto Porter.  And he does something unique in that he's a real PG in the body of a king sized wing.  His ability to fill in any hole on the perimeter is extremely valuable.  And I think he's a key to making so many different line ups work.  He needs to be getting 35 minutes a night.

[ixcuincle]

This is just a mediocre team and not good enough for 50 wins but not bad enough to get Zion either. 

Edited December 6, 2018 by ixcuincle

[StillUnknown]

7 hours ago, Destino said:

Wizards are a half game out of 8th place.

 

if they’re going to trade and tank they need to hurry up and get on with it.

 

You could "tank" and still be within spitting distance of the 8th seed in the east

[No Excuses]

1 hour ago, ixcuincle said:

This is just a mediocre team and not good enough for 50 wins but not bad enough to get Zion either. 

 

Also called the NBA purgatory. Worst place to be for a veteran team. 

[Going Commando]

I woke up this morning feeling good.  But the more I think about it, the more I am realizing that the Lakers trade is going to happen.  I'm starting to feel the exact same way I did when I realized LeBron was definitely going to sign with the Lakers a month or so before it happened.

 

Rich Paul and John Wall have been laying the groundwork for this for a while IMO.  Like maybe even going back to 2016.  But I definitely think it might have been starting in earnest when he was out with injury last year.  And I think the team knows he wants to do this and it's been art of why our chemistry is so ****ed up.

 

And it feels to me like the team has quietly been building a narrative to scapegoat John because they are planning to trade him.

 

100% honest, I don't blame John if he wants out to go play for Magic Johnson and play with LeBron in LA.  He's made for that life.  It will get him the stardom and the competitiveness he deserves.  It just feels ****ing ****ty.  Reinforces the truth that this Mom and Pop franchise is still a feeder team for the first rate franchises of the NBA.

 

So this is where we are:

- Gonna win 43 games

- Draft will not save us.  We'll be getting a role playing wing

- John is getting scape-goated and traded for some draft bust role players from the Lakers

- I'm going to get to listen to Buck pissing on my leg about how Brandon Ingram has so much length and how Lonzo Ball is such a smooth operator and how KCP is a tough pro

- The next scapegoats (Beal, Porter, and Brooks) are all lined up and ready to go

- Ernie Grunfeld will survive all of this

[StillUnknown]

1 hour ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

- Ernie Grunfeld will survive all of this

 

[Chachie]

5 hours ago, No Excuses said:

 

Also called the NBA purgatory. Worst place to be for a veteran team. 

 

 

You may have just nailed the entire existence of this website's members... Totally aware that our teams are going nowhere special, too dedicated to Washington sports to stop giving a sh*t.

I know, I know. The Capitals, right? Okay, I get that. I wish I were more into hockey. 😐

[StillUnknown]

3 hours ago, Chachie said:

 

 

You may have just nailed the entire existence of this website's members... Totally aware that our teams are going nowhere special, too dedicated to Washington sports to stop giving a sh*t.

I know, I know. The Capitals, right? Okay, I get that. I wish I were more into hockey. 😐

 

i tried to jump on that hockey championship, didn't feel right at all