The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[RonArtest15]

Hindsight is 20/20, but I seriously wonder how Kawhi Leonard would be doing in a Wizards uni instead of Vesely....granted Kawhi is in a MUCH different situation, but he was 10x more NBA-ready.

[skinfan2k]

kenneth faried is an animal too lol

[StillUnknown]

Even though it was a blowout, I had a blast at the game. People in my section were cool as ****.

The crowd is definitely inside Blatche's dome, you can literally see his mind processing the boos the moment he touched the ball. Crowd really let him have it when Nate outjumped him for that rebound.

GS had a ridiculous amount of open shots, particularly in the first quarter. I mean its the basic fundamentals that the team is failing on. Its not like GS ran anything exotic or over the top creative. If it were restricted to just a player or two, it could be excusable, but its a systemic problem that reflects horribly on the roster & the coaches.

It is depressing to see a team with so many shooters, when we struggle so much in that area.

---------- Post added March-5th-2012 at 10:52 PM ----------

oh and John Wall is really good, like really good.

last note, Vesely has no offensive game so he must be able to finish around the rim, even with contact. Golden State is not exactly a defensive powerhouse in the middle, and he couldn't get through them. The hustle and energy is nice, but he eventually has to show that he is capable of developing something of value on the offensive end.

Edited March 6, 2012 by StillUnknown

[Warhead36]

Man outside of Wall and maybe Booker this team is a complete mess.

We NEED to sign some FAs this summer. I know Ted has his "plan" but that "plan" is going to cause Wall to walk first chance he gets. We need an infusion of quality professional caliber players in here.

[Destino]

McGee doesn't have a signature play to ***** about and now everyone, including the wittman fan club at bullets forever, is talking about our overall defense being bad. Of course those clown are blaming pick and roll instead of accepting the fact that we don't bother shooters on the perimeter. I've rarely seen a team that gets murdered by open jump shots as often as the wizards in transition. They just let guys run up to there spots and shoot like they are at practice.

Which brings me to the coaching staff which has been a bad fit at best. Saunders long 2 point shot offense was pretty much the worst fit and I can't figure wtf whittman is doing on offense. When our old man club is in we are all about drive and kick out, when they aren't it's hero ball time. Wall, Young, Crawford, and McGee all get the ball and the rest of the team stops moving and watches the show. Worst of all is his decision who to put on the floor. It feels like he's just trying **** randomly. People laughed when McGee said he wasn't clear on coaches message... You think Seraphin understands why he's lost all his minutes so that Blatche can get some cardio workouts? You think anyone understands the coaches intent with the Singleton roller coaster? But hey he's tough and talks about cigarettes and smoking totally sucks and stuff.

Fire Grunfeld and let the new GM pick a coach that matches his vision and the types of players he has/acquires. John Wall is going to improve and deserves a team that isn't put together with duct tape and delusion.

Edited March 6, 2012 by Destino

[Gator Bait]

I thought Wall was equally as bad on defense tonight as he was good on offense.

[StillUnknown]

I thought Wall was equally as bad on defense tonight as he was good on offense.

I can't say that anybody played well on defense. The perimeter defense in the 1st quarter was the worst I've seen all season.

[SuperBash]

Blatche is second guessing himself now because of the boos. Such a strong mental force, the Blatche is.

---------- Post added March-5th-2012 at 11:14 PM ----------

And how Vinny Cerrato with a wig and fake mustache is still the GM of this team, I'll never know. Who in the world gets to rebuild a team twice while in the process getting out of the first round ONCE????

[chipwhich]

And how Vinny Cerrato with a wig and fake mustache is still the GM of this team, I'll never know. Who in the world gets to rebuild a team twice while in the process getting out of the first round ONCE????

This is probably the most laughable theme of this thread.

Ernie Grunfeld is the most successful GM in this franchise in THIRTY PLUS years.

Who would coach or GM Les Boulez/The Wizards. One of the worst franchises in the NBA for 3 decades.

You have to walk before you can run. You can't get big names to oversee this mess. It's a death sentence. Take the money and run....FAST.

[Warhead36]

This is probably the most laughable theme of this thread.

Ernie Grunfeld is the most successful GM in this franchise in THIRTY PLUS years.

Who would coach or GM Les Boulez/The Wizards. One of the worst franchises in the NBA for 3 decades.

You have to walk before you can run. You can't get big names to oversee this mess. It's a death sentence. Take the money and run....FAST.

None of that means diddly poo. Right NOW EG is responsible for what might be the worst Wizards/Bullets roster ever(outside of Wall). He has made the same mistakes over and over again. Ted should have fired both him and Flip when he took over to really start with a fresh clean slate.

[No Excuses]

This is chipwich:

[StillUnknown]

Ernie's contract is up at the end of the year, this is the biggest (and should be easiest) call of Ernie's early tenure as owner.

If he extends Ernie, I lose faith in the man.

[SuperBash]

This is probably the most laughable theme of this thread.

Ernie Grunfeld is the most successful GM in this franchise in THIRTY PLUS years.

Who would coach or GM Les Boulez/The Wizards. One of the worst franchises in the NBA for 3 decades.

You have to walk before you can run. You can't get big names to oversee this mess. It's a death sentence. Take the money and run....FAST.

This theme also represents D.C. Sports over the past 20 years. MEDIOCRITY. Being content with something average should not be accepted. Strive to be better, not mediocre.

[No Excuses]

Ernie's contract is up at the end of the year, this is the biggest (and should be easiest) call of Ernie's early tenure as owner.

If he extends Ernie, I lose faith in the man.

The fact that he hasn't been fired yet tells me he's back. GM's who are usually let go are fired mid season so the new guy can come in and evaluate the team and have more time to consider offseason options.

Ernie is coming back and Ted is dumb. Even if Ernie isn't coming back, Ted is still dumb. At least give the new guy more time.

Look at the Capitals. Their dumb GM still has a job. Ted doesn't like changes.

Edited March 6, 2012 by No Excuses

[chipwhich]

This is chipwich:

....BROKEN RECORD...

Yep...

It's been broken since I watched them win a title. 30 plus years ago.

NBA is not for the weak at heart.

I am sure a "real" GM wants to GM our team.

---------- Post added March-5th-2012 at 11:48 PM ----------

This theme also represents D.C. Sports over the past 20 years. MEDIOCRITY. Being content with something average should not be accepted. Strive to be better, not mediocre.

It's not about being content. Bee's are attracted to honey. Les Boulez don't have any honey.

Edited March 6, 2012 by chipwhich

[Warhead36]

The Wizards are still an NBA franchise. Go out and hire a young, hungry up and comer who will be happy to be an NBA GM. Someone who is innovative and not afraid to take chances. What big name did expansion team Oklahoma City hire to build their team? Or the guy in Denver? Or Memphis? Redskins fans seem to think the only way to win is to only get established big names but more often then not it's better to get a young hungry up and comer and let him develop into the next big thing. Everyone starts off as a nobody.

[chipwhich]

The Wizards are still an NBA franchise. Go out and hire a young, hungry up and comer who will be happy to be an NBA GM. Someone who is innovative and not afraid to take chances. What big name did expansion team Oklahoma City hire to build their team? Or the guy in Denver? Or Memphis? Redskins fans seem to think the only way to win is to only get established big names but more often then not it's better to get a young hungry up and comer and let him develop into the next big thing. Everyone starts off as a nobody.

Oklahoma City drafted an all star. And it wasn't because they had a great GM.

[Warhead36]

Oklahoma City drafted an all star. And it wasn't because they had a great GM.

Wall is an all-star caliber talent(not as good as Durant I'll give you that but Durant and his team weren't very good his second year either).

I get what you're saying chip: you can't win in this league until you get a superstar. But that doesn't excuse the fact that EG has made some horrendous moves in recent years and is responsible for this cluster**** of a roster. That's why he needs to be fired. What happened in the 1970s has nothing to do with it.

[MonkFan8]

Ernie Grunfeld is the most successful GM in this franchise in THIRTY PLUS years.

Rofl.

This is really something to write home about.

How long does he get to live off the glory years when the EC was so bad we made the playoffs with a barely .500 record?

[StillUnknown]

Wall is an all-star caliber talent(not as good as Durant I'll give you that but Durant and his team weren't very good his second year either).

I get what you're saying chip: you can't win in this league until you get a superstar. But that doesn't excuse the fact that EG has made some horrendous moves in recent years and is responsible for this cluster**** of a roster. That's why he needs to be fired. What happened in the 1970s has nothing to do with it.

Its not so much that he's horrible at picking players because some of the players he's selected in drafts show potential or have a certain quality that makes them acceptable in the right situation. His problem is that he has no clue how to build a roster. We have so many players with similar skillsets, and shooting is not one of them.

Finding talent is one thing, finding talent that compliments each other is completely different. Ernie has failed miserably on that account.

Edited March 6, 2012 by StillUnknown

[chipwhich]

Rofl.

This is really something to write home about.

How long does he get to live off the glory years when the EC was so bad we made the playoffs with a barely .500 record?

Well out of 30+ years being the best Les Boulez has to offer, you tell me

---------- Post added March-6th-2012 at 12:07 AM ----------

Wall is an all-star caliber talent(not as good as Durant I'll give you that but Durant and his team weren't very good his second year either).

I get what you're saying chip: you can't win in this league until you get a superstar. But that doesn't excuse the fact that EG has made some horrendous moves in recent years and is responsible for this cluster**** of a roster. That's why he needs to be fired. What happened in the 1970s has nothing to do with it.

He does what ownership tells him to do.

Wiz are/were a messed up team.

Let's see what Ted has up his sleave.

---------- Post added March-6th-2012 at 12:09 AM ----------

Finding talent is one thing, finding talent that compliments each other is completely different. Ernie has failed miserably on that account.

What's worse????

He is the best in franchise history

We all wan't to turn this thing around....

You can't compete when you are a giant fail.

[No Excuses]

Yep...

It's been broken since I watched them win a title. 30 plus years ago.

NBA is not for the weak at heart.

I am sure a "real" GM wants to GM our team.

King of the strawman argument: chipwich.

No one is advocating to go hire the entire Spurs front office. However, a change may not be a bad option when the current GM has proven to be incompetent in decision making year after year. And cut the bull**** about ownership forcing Ernie's hands. Abe on his death bed wasn't telling Ernie to go trade a top 5 lottery pick for Mike ****ing Miller. That was Ernie being a stupid idiot, something he's demonstrated season after season.

[Destino]

He does what ownership tells him to do.

If that's true he just an order taker and worthless. Somehow I doubt they told him to draft two SF that couldn't shoot onto a team that collectively can't shoot.

Question the wizards should be asking is who can we trade.

- McGee. He's easily the most valuable trade asset and we're going to lose him at the end of the season.

- Blatche. Hot garbage... But tall hot garbage.

- Singleton/Vesely. We don't need both of them and in many ways they are the same player.

- Nick Young. A black hole on offense but off the bench for a playoff team that needs a scoring boost maybe he's a useful black hole.

- lottery pick. For a star I could see it but not an old injured "star"

Edited March 6, 2012 by Destino

[Going Commando]

I can't say that anybody played well on defense. The perimeter defense in the 1st quarter was the worst I've seen all season.

It got better in the third when we started pressuring, then by the end of the quarter it started breaking down again.

Why don't we consistently pressure shooters? It's a simple thing to do and really only takes effort. How many times does a team have to make 20 3s against us before we figure out we need to be doing this regularly?

Also, we're not a good enough defensive rebounding team. We've got no glass eater on that end. McGee can be spectacular on the offensive glass but he plays the shot on defense and doesn't clean up the glass on defense.

We need Davis or Robinson as bad as we need perimeter shooting.

Need to figure out what we're doing with Booker, Vesely, and Singleton together.

You've got to figure the defense will get better over time as Singleton, Vesely, and Wall grow up.

---------- Post added March-6th-2012 at 06:39 AM ----------

Its not so much that he's horrible at picking players because some of the players he's selected in drafts show potential or have a certain quality that makes them acceptable in the right situation. His problem is that he has no clue how to build a roster. We have so many players with similar skillsets, and shooting is not one of them.

Finding talent is one thing, finding talent that compliments each other is completely different. Ernie has failed miserably on that account.

I'm going to reserve judgement on these last two draft classes until our coaching isn't horrible. We're long, athletic, and energetic. Good qualities no doubt, so why aren't we seeing any of the traditional benefits of them on the court? Lackadaisical efforts night after night, far fewer transition buckets than we should be getting, ****ty rebounding, etc.

Whittman strikes me as a dumb man. He literally does not have the mind to run the show. How has he gotten as far as he has in NBA coaching?

[Going Commando]

Oklahoma City drafted an all star. And it wasn't because they had a great GM.

Presti is brilliant and a phenomally good GM. One transcendent talent does not a contender make. Otherwise we would actually be good.

---------- Post added March-6th-2012 at 08:45 AM ----------

Also Presti was in charge in Seattle when they drafted Durant. He's not the reason they were able to get Presti.

We need to be hiring someone out of San Antonio's front office to replace Ernie.

---------- Post added March-6th-2012 at 08:55 AM ----------

Questions:

1.) Do you all prefer an 8 man rotation or 10 man rotation?

2.) Are you satisfied with Vesely, Singleton, or Booker as our potential long term starting solutions at the 3 and 4?

3.) If not, are Vesely, Singleton, and Booker eventually becoming the 6, 7, and 8 men in a title contending rotation?

4.) Generally and realistically speaking, what would your ideal pieces for your rotation look like (not looking for a team full of Kobes, LeBrons, and Dwights)?

I want to get a sense of how everyone sees our team building situation right now, where they'd like it to go, and how they think it best to get there.