The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[Going Commando]

Well lost in the middle of such a bad game were Yi's six blocks. For those of you scoring at home, that's 10 blocks in his last two games. That has been the most surprising stat for me over the past two days. Maybe this big Chinese dude can play?

I can honestly say that these sorts of losses don't bother me that much as long as our young guys handle themselves well. Last night was probably Wall's worst game so far, but he's still improving because his assist/turn over ratio has gotten better by leaps and bounds. Perhaps things are starting to slow down for him a little bit.

Our rebounding is pathetic though. Kevin Love pulls down 31 boards and I find myself thinking we need a powerful, impactful presence like that in the paint to fight for possessions and stop these athletic forwards like Wallace and Thomas from picking up so many rebounds on the offensive end. Too often, I find myself asking why isn't McGee a better rebounder. With his reach and athletic gifts, he should be an automatic double double. Maybe we could have more success by going out and getting our own dominant rebounding cornerman.

As the college season progresses, I'm going to make it a point to watch UNC and Baylor. If we keep losing and end up with a top two pick, I'd be pretty excited about selecting Barnes or Jones. Also if Arenas does get traded, we could look for a good two guard if there is one.

[No Excuses]

I really don't have any hopes of acquiring a solid rebounder as long as Grunfeld is in charge. When was the last time Ernie picked a rugged and well developed player right out of college? His free agent signings have been guys like Songaila, who are yet again offensively oriented soft players. He's had multiple opportunities to do so and he continued to pick big time projects with low IQ like Nick Young and McGee or sign guys who really don't fit the tough guy in the paint role.

I think Seraphin could potentially be that guy but right now he can't sniff minutes over Armstrong so who knows how far he is away from being even a moderate contributor. I don't ever see Booker being a guy for this role. I think he will eventually develop into a decent rotation player but he's not a guy who will fight and do the dirty work in the paint.

The last guy who we had that did this was Haywood and he was never appreciated by this franchise. Ernie has done some decent things but besides picking Blatche, his drafting has left a lot to be desired for.

I'm not giving Ernie credit for Wall. Blatche is the only player in our current rotation that we drafted and who has turned into a pretty good player. That is pathetic.

Edited November 13, 2010 by No Excuses

[StillUnknown]

is there a particular reason as to why Seraphin isn't with the D-League?

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

is there a particular reason as to why Seraphin isn't with the D-League?

Seraphin (and his agent) have an agreement with the Wiz that he will not be placed in the D-League.

Edited November 13, 2010 by BRAVEONAWARPATH

[No Excuses]

Seraphin (and his agent) have an agreement with the Wiz that he will not be placed in the D-League.

He better be getting some serious development time with the coaches then. Do we have a one on one coach to work with him specifically?

All things considered, he can't be worse than Hilton Armstrong. I'm hoping that at least 5-10 more games into the season he starts eating some minutes at the back up PF/C spot.

Kind of dumb for him and his agent to do that though. The D-league would help him get used to NBA style of play. The Rockets are doing this with Patrick Patterson and the Raptors are as well with Ed Davis. Seraphin is much more under developed than both.

Edited November 13, 2010 by No Excuses

[Warhead36]

I liked what I saw from Booker tonight. He brings toughness and a physical presence which we sorely lack.

Gil looks to be returning to form too.

I didn't really expect to win in Chicago in a 2nd night of a back to back. Glad we fought back after falling behind double digits early.

[ACW]

Gil 7/10 beyond the arc :applause:

[Hubbs]

i don't think I've ever seen defense this bad in my entire life, other than McGee's blocks and Wall's steals. Is it the system?

[Burgold]

i don't think I've ever seen defense this bad in my entire life, other than McGee's blocks and Wall's steals. Is it the system?

Hey, how was your experience? Chipwich's offer was amazingly generous.

[StillUnknown]

As the college season progresses, I'm going to make it a point to watch UNC and Baylor. If we keep losing and end up with a top two pick, I'd be pretty excited about selecting Barnes or Jones. Also if Arenas does get traded, we could look for a good two guard if there is one.

you mentioned in the Football draft/scouting thread that alot of underclassmen could choose to remain in school since a lockout looks likely

do you think the NBA could be facing a similar issue? getting another high draft wouldn't be quite as valuable if only seniors show up

[No Excuses]

i don't think I've ever seen defense this bad in my entire life, other than McGee's blocks and Wall's steals. Is it the system?

I think it's both. I have a feeling the players are tuning out Flip Saunders. Flip also insists on running the zone heavily with this team. Honestly haven't seen a team run zone (especially 2-3 zone) as much as we have been this season in quite a while. Our roster isn't exactly filled with high IQ players.

Just a bad combination.

A huge criticism of mine towards Flip is that he uses a really right rotation and plays his guys more minutes than they should. Last night on a back to back we had injuries happen to Yi, Wall and Blatche. Flip needs to use the bench a lot more and at this point Seraphin can't be worse than Armstrong. I really want to see him get minutes. He might be a bit clueless and the language barrier will cause problems but he'll go in and bang with the other teams big men and grab rebounds/block shots. Armstrong provides nothing in in the paint.

Edited November 14, 2010 by No Excuses

[Going Commando]

you mentioned in the Football draft/scouting thread that alot of underclassmen could choose to remain in school since a lockout looks likely

do you think the NBA could be facing a similar issue? getting another high draft wouldn't be quite as valuable if only seniors show up

Possibly. I'd have to look into the nuances of the CBA agreement and see if the draft would even be held. The NBA is a different animal. I'm not sure if the owners are built to weather a lockout like the NFL owners are. DeMaurice Smith said the NFL owners will still make 5 billion dollars next year from their TV contracts after their renegotiations in '07 and '08 so they can take the hit from not playing at all. I don't know if the NBA could lockout the entire season. If that's the case, then draft picks will probably still get contracts. Plus their contracts are guaranteed in entirety so there isn't the same climate of uncertainty surrounding the sport as in the NFL. Underclassmen in basketball also declare in much higher percentages for the NBA than they do for football, where at least 4/5ths of players drafted are always seniors. Last year set the record for most underclassman entrants into the draft at 53. 255 players were drafted.

In the 2010 NBA draft, only 17 out of 60 players drafted were college seniors, and only four of them were taken in the first round (none in the lottery).

And another thing that might be an issue for NFL rookies but not NBA rookies is the contract negotiation process. They aren't very contentious in the NBA because there is a pay scale in place and usually contracts straightforwardly adhere to it. The loss of a season won't really change the type of deals that the rookies ask for and receive. That probably won't be the case in the NFL.

I don't think there will be a shortage of underclassmen declaring for the NBA draft this year. Some will probably stay in school because of it. But I expect potential lottery picks planning on coming out will do so anyway.

[Going Commando]

Let's get a petition started and sent to ESPN that using the nickname "J-Woww" for John Wall by an ESPN anchor is now grounds for summary dismissal and loss of pension. This needs to end now.

Also, has anyone else noticed that McGee leads the league in per minute blocks by quite a bit? He's at almost six--about a full block higher than the next guy. At least there is something positive to take away from McGee's play so far.

Also, interesting stat from last night: The Wizards had 8 free throw attempts, the Bulls had 34... Whatever happened to home town officiating? Edit: I'm dumb. I see the game was away. Nevermind.

Edited November 14, 2010 by stevemcqueen1

[MonkFan8]

Also, interesting stat from last night: The Wizards had 8 free throw attempts, the Bulls had 34... Whatever happened to home town officiating?

I'd say it was in full effect? lol

That said, Flip's offense does not create a lot of opportunities for foul calls with all these jump shots. The only 2 players I can count on going hard to the basket throughout the game are Wall and Thornton, neither of whom were 100% the past 2 games.

[No Excuses]

Also, interesting stat from last night: The Wizards had 8 free throw attempts, the Bulls had 34... Whatever happened to home town officiating?

The game was in Chicago but I think the officiating was fine last night. Gilbert should've gotten a few more calls but we played really bad on defense and the Bulls defense was suffocating us.

[Going Commando]

A huge criticism of mine towards Flip is that he uses a really right rotation and plays his guys more minutes than they should. Last night on a back to back we had injuries happen to Yi, Wall and Blatche. Flip needs to use the bench a lot more and at this point Seraphin can't be worse than Armstrong. I really want to see him get minutes. He might be a bit clueless and the language barrier will cause problems but he'll go in and bang with the other teams big men and grab rebounds/block shots. Armstrong provides nothing in in the paint.

The bench actually got a fair bit of playing time last night. Arenas got 32, Armstrong 18, Booker 19, Jianlian 13, and Young 19. Armstrong also grabbed ten rebounds which was good for the team lead. I'm not sure what he brings to the table in the long term, but he had a decent game last night. For the most part the bench played fairly well. I think our starters were the ones who got the worst of it. FWIW, Wall's minutes were also down to 31 last night. They were definitely too high in the past, I believe he had 44 the night before.

[ACW]

This was SportsCenter's TOP play

44hMUCCnmIE&hd=1

Edited November 14, 2010 by ACW

[StillUnknown]

[No Excuses]

The bench actually got a fair bit of playing time last night. Arenas got 32, Armstrong 18, Booker 19, Jianlian 13, and Young 19. Armstrong also grabbed ten rebounds which was good for the team lead. I'm not sure what he brings to the table in the long term, but he had a decent game last night. For the most part the bench played fairly well. I think our starters were the ones who got the worst of it. FWIW, Wall's minutes were also down to 31 last night. They were definitely too high in the past, I believe he had 44 the night before.

A lot of the cutting into the minutes for our starters was because of injuries or foul trouble. Blatche picked up two early fouls and sat the entire first quarter. Wall pulled something late in the third. Yi got hurt so Booker got his minutes. Flip hates McGee so Armstrong undeservedly got more minutes than he should.

I always thought Eddie Jordan sucked at rotations and coaching in general but Flip Saunders is making him look like Red Auerbach. As some posters have said earlier in this thread, at least one phase of our team used to look NBA caliber. Under Flip, it's looked like complete crap on both ends of the ball. This is with a veteran team when he had Miller, AJ, Caron and Brendan or with the younger guys.

Edited November 15, 2010 by No Excuses

[Hubbs]

Hey, how was your experience? Chipwich's offer was amazingly generous.

The tickets are for the game on the 27th. Wish I had them for tonight, too. And yes, generous as ****.

Let's get a petition started and sent to ESPN that using the nickname "J-Woww" for John Wall by an ESPN anchor is now grounds for summary dismissal and loss of pension. This needs to end now.

Also, has anyone else noticed that McGee leads the league in per minute blocks by quite a bit? He's at almost six--about a full block higher than the next guy. At least there is something positive to take away from McGee's play so far.

Also, interesting stat from last night: The Wizards had 8 free throw attempts, the Bulls had 34... Whatever happened to home town officiating? Edit: I'm dumb. I see the game was away. Nevermind.

Anyone who calls him J-Wow should be shot.

Edited November 15, 2010 by Hubbs

[Going Commando]

A lot of the cutting into the minutes for our starters was because of injuries or foul trouble. Blatche picked up two early fouls and sat the entire first quarter. Wall pulled something late in the third. Yi got hurt so Booker got his minutes. Flip hates McGee so Armstrong undeservedly got more minutes than he should.

I always thought Eddie Jordan sucked at rotations and coaching in general but Flip Saunders is making him look like Red Auerbach. As some posters have said earlier in this thread, at least one phase of our team used to look NBA caliber. Under Flip, it's looked like complete crap on both ends of the ball. This is with a veteran team when he had Miller, AJ, Caron and Brendan or with the younger guys.

Yeah I agree that I don't really think Saunders is the man for the job. It's clear he doesn't make sense for us. We need a patient coach who's willing to suffer growing pains gracefully and a guy with a track record of working well with foreign players. I have no stake in Saunders whatsoever. But I thought for that game alone, our bench finally got involved, and perhaps even outperformed the starters. Wall probably could have kept going despite the pain in his foot but he was wisely pulled. He's hit the 44 minute mark this season, that's far too much time and I wouldn't be surprised to see him slump in a month or so as the grind of the NBA season gets to him. We haven't given him any chance to adjust hardly. And Blatche's conditioning is notably poor, giving him as much time as he's been getting means we're getting an ineffective player by the end of the game.

The problem with our youth is where it's concentrated. Outside of Wall, it's almost entirely in the front court as Hinrich, Arenas, Young, Howard, and Thornton bring the age on our roster up quite a bit. Armstrong gets so much PT because Yi, Booker, and McGee are all so young, not to mention a bit undersized. Same for Seraphin who's what, 20? Blatche is by far our most experienced big at 24 years old. It kind of sucks having so little experience in the front court because those positions seem to take the longest to adjust to the NBA. In view of that, we'll probably be a poor rebounding and defensive team for a while as this group of players grows together. One thing's for sure, we won't become a significantly stronger and tougher team until Seraphin and Booker start getting a lot of time.

One thing I'm confused about though is why we've stacked the PF position with so many young prospects when we've already got a 24 year old incumbent with a lot of time left on his contract. Why trade for Yi and then trade for the rights to Seraphin and Booker all in the same offseason following the breakout year of Blatche? We're hedging our bets so thoroughly for a good backup PF? That's simply a foolish team-building strategy unless you trying to get quite a few high draft picks in a row.

[Going Commando]

Well, we're officially ranked last in both of ESPN's power rankings this week. Honestly, this might as well continue, disheartening as it is. Maybe we'll end up with a 40% chance at the number one overall pick this year. We're on pace for what, 20 wins? Guess we'll be praying for draft salvation.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Well, we're officially ranked last in both of ESPN's power rankings this week. Honestly, this might as well continue, disheartening as it is. Maybe we'll end up with a 40% chance at the number one overall pick this year. We're on pace for what, 20 wins? Guess we'll be praying for draft salvation.

I have a strange feeling that the Wiz are about to turn the corner.

I could be wrong but its just a feeling I have.

[Santana_Fan]

How long is Josh Howard supposed to be out?

[StillUnknown]

Flip said Wall's not playing tonight