The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[StillUnknown]

We signed Jannero Pargo to a 1yr deal.

[SiCkSoULjA]

Pargo really? Here's a point guard that make Nick Young shot selection look great. Hell we already have a chucker in Jordan Crawford but at least he passes And can get others involved, I don't think I ever saw Pargo pass over shooting the ball.

[RonArtest15]

Pargo really? Here's a point guard that make Nick Young shot selection look great. Hell we already have a chucker in Jordan Crawford but at least he passes And can get others involved, I don't think I ever saw Pargo pass over shooting the ball.

Who else is out there? Folks here were clamoring for Pargo as the backup to Wall (before we signed Price). He's solid but unspectacular. Got no issues w/ this signing given the options.

[Destino]

I would have preferred letting Crawford play point with whoever survives camp backing him up. Let Beal and Martin split time at the two.

[RonArtest15]

I would have preferred letting Crawford play point with whoever survives camp backing him up. Let Beal and Martin split time at the two.

I think the decision to not have Crawford run the point (as a starter in Wall's absence) is the fact that the team isn't ready to throw Beal in a starting role (or have Martin start) just yet.

[Renegade7]

This may be a blessing because it will force Wall to slow down when he comes back to not re-aggravate the injury. If the team really is improved, then we'll be able fight back for a late playoff seed with the last 4 months of the seasons. Not feeling November schedule, but there are winable games in there to show what we can do without Wall...

[hunterx]

I am trying to get pumped for the season, but too distracted by the awesomeness of the Nationals and of course RG3 mania and the Redskins. With preseason starting this weekend, can you guys break down a few position battles or roster battles that we novices can watch for?

Beal looked good in the summer league but I guess you guys are suggesting he will be a backup, maybe 15-20 minutes a game?

[endzone_dave]

I just hope Wall takes sufficient time to let the injury heal. Why rush back, it's not like they can go to the NBA finals.

[Going Commando]

I would have preferred letting Crawford play point with whoever survives camp backing him up. Let Beal and Martin split time at the two.

Me too.

What exactly is Crawford's role? Wall is very clearly a pure point and Beal is a pure 2. We're going out and trying to get backup PGs. Where does Crawford fit? I thought he was going to be the first guard off the bench and a spark plug style sixth man. Figure Wall will be getting 36 + MPG and Beal should be getting 32-34. That doesn't leave much room for Crawford and a backup PG.

[Going Commando]

I am trying to get pumped for the season, but too distracted by the awesomeness of the Nationals and of course RG3 mania and the Redskins. With preseason starting this weekend, can you guys break down a few position battles or roster battles that we novices can watch for?

Beal looked good in the summer league but I guess you guys are suggesting he will be a backup, maybe 15-20 minutes a game?

I think Beal will be a starter early in the year and will get 30+ minutes a game. He's too good not to. He led Florida in minutes played as a true freshman IIRC and that was a senior laden backcourt. He just forced the coaches to find a way to play him because of how good he was.

He rebounds, plays super smart, plays hard on defense, and takes good shots. He's got the kind of game that will translate to the NBA early on in his career.

Crawford will be the odd man out if he's not getting the opportunity to play point. Crawford can be a playmaker and he's not selfish, he just takes terrible shots. Far too confident in his own shotmaking ability. I think what you'll see is him take on more of a slashing and facilitating role to make room for the better shooters we've got now. Last year, the ball was a hot potato if we had to score in the half court. Nobody wanted to shoot except Crawford and Young, especially from 3... so you saw JC take a bunch of crap shots until the offense started to find a flow late in the year.

The thing is, unless Beal proves to be a creative offensive player with the ball in his hands, JC is our only other creator outside Wall. We don't have the ability to move the ball around like a San Antonio. You need guys who can create their own shots and score against a set defense. That wasn't Beal's role at Florida at all, so I don't know if he has those skills. For all his inefficiency and overconfidence, JC can create his own looks at the basket. So we may have to lean on him while Wall is out.

I think Martin is a nice backup 2, a better pure fit at that position than Crawford. I see JC and Beal eventually settling into the starting roles at guard while Wall remains hurt.

What interests me more is how the minutes at forward are going to be split up. It looks like Vesely is going to earn some minutes at one of the forward spots, and you figure Ariza will get a lot of time too. Nene is being talked about at PF, and I think the idea is to play him and Okafor together when both are healthy. But both Seraphin and Booker have demonstrated in the past they deserve to get some burn. Where do they fit in now?

Also, Singleton is going to have to show some massive improvement to earn time this year. Ariza is basically better than him in every way and took his role from him. Singleton will almost certainly be the odd man out unless he looks good this year.

Ultimately, I think we'll see a ten man rotation where:

1.) Wall and JC split time at point with Wall getting 36+ MPG.

2.) Beal, JC, and Martin splitting time at the 2 with Beal getting like 32 MPG or so. I also see some three guard lineups where we need extra shooting on the floor because Vesely and Ariza are not good 3 point shooters really.

3.) Ariza starting at SF but sharing a lot of time with Vesely

4.) Nene and Booker getting most of the minutes at the 4 when Nene is healthy. When he's hurt, Booker, Vesely, and Seraphin will share the minutes.

5.) Okafor starts at the five but with Seraphin getting at least 20 MPG at the five specifically. When Okafor is injured, Nene and Seraphin will share the minutes at the five like they did last year. We'll just run two big man lineups like we did last year.

[StillUnknown]

http://www.bulletsforever.com/washington-wizards-recaps/2012/10/7/3469608/wizards-vs-bobcats-score-final-nba-preseason

The Washington Wizards were shorthanded for their preseason opener, and it showed. Playing without John Wall, Nene, Emeka Okafor and Trevor Booker, the Wizards struggled all day against the Charlotte Bobcats, falling, 100-88. There were some bright spots, and the injuries provide a mitigating factor, but all in all, it was not an encouraging debut.

The game itself wasn't televised or played on the radio, so take the following observations with a grain of salt.

Recap of today's preseason game against the Bobcats

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

http://www.bulletsforever.com/washington-wizards-recaps/2012/10/7/3469608/wizards-vs-bobcats-score-final-nba-preseason

Recap of today's preseason game against the Bobcats

nothing new seems like...

I hope injuries don't kill this season like every other season in the past

[Going Commando]

Not that I'd have watched it, but I'm surprised they didn't broadcast the game in any form. What are we, a DII team?

---------- Post added October-7th-2012 at 07:28 PM ----------

Without Wall for over a month, we have almost no chance at the playoffs. We're going to lose almost all of our first 14 games no doubt.

I'd like to see us win 35 games though, and look good when Wall gets back.

The silver lining in this is we should get to see a lot of Beal early... so long as he doesn't get hurt too. Hopefully get to see a lot of Kevin Seraphin too. Those two and Nene are going to have to take over a lot of the scoring load early on, and maybe Beal will take the opportunity to star and run away with it. If we're not going to make the playoffs or doing anything worthwhile as a team, I'd love to see Beal contend for ROY or Nene make it to the All Star game. Give us something to feel proud about.

[RonArtest15]

Not that I'd have watched it, but I'm surprised they didn't broadcast the game in any form. What are we, a DII team?

---------- Post added October-7th-2012 at 07:28 PM ----------

Without Wall for over a month, we have almost no chance at the playoffs. We're going to lose almost all of our first 14 games no doubt.

I'd like to see us win 35 games though, and look good when Wall gets back.

The silver lining in this is we should get to see a lot of Beal early... so long as he doesn't get hurt too. Hopefully get to see a lot of Kevin Seraphin too. Those two and Nene are going to have to take over a lot of the scoring load early on, and maybe Beal will take the opportunity to star and run away with it. If we're not going to make the playoffs or doing anything worthwhile as a team, I'd love to see Beal contend for ROY or Nene make it to the All Star game. Give us something to feel proud about.

Hold on...with out wall we're just going to fall apart like that? C'mon now. I didn't watch a minute of today's game, but are you basing your comment off of that? I know that we played 1/3 of our regular roster and the Bobcats were at full strength.

No need to panic. at all.

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

Heard Beal dropped 8 in the first...nice

[Destino]

BOX SCORE

Wonder why Seraphin shot so poorly? 5-14 from the field with only 2 free throws attempted.

The Washington Wizards were shorthanded for their preseason opener, and it showed. Playing without John Wall, Nene, Emeka Okafor and Trevor Booker, the Wizards struggled all day against the Charlotte Bobcats, falling, 100-88. There were some bright spots, and the injuries provide a mitigating factor, but all in all, it was not an encouraging debut.

The game itself wasn't televised or played on the radio, so take the following observations with a grain of salt.

THE GOOD

Bradley Beal: Beal got off to a really great start, and while his efficiency tapered off as the game went on, he was still the Wizards' leading scorer on the afternoon. In the short term, he may have to sacrifice some efficiency in order to be the team's top offensive option, but I'm OK with that. One concern: he had his shot blocked three times, so he'll need to figure out some way to combat his lack of size.

Chris Singleton: He spent most of his time in the game playing power forward, and he did a much better job stuffing the stat sheet, scoring nine points and grabbing nine rebounds. He did commit five fouls, but it seems like he played better going against slower defenders. The Wizards don't have much room to do this on their roster, but it may serve them well to get Singleton some minutes at power forward in small lineups.

Martell Webster: He struggled initially, but was really productive in the fourth quarter as the Wizards were coming back. I like that he got to the free-throw line five times, because it seemingly demonstrates that his shot-fake-and-drive game is looking good. That's going to be a key for Webster if he wants to see the court. He was also very good in transition, which demonstrates that he's back to where he used to be athletically before the many injuries.

Shelvin Mack: Was much more efficient running the offense than A.J. Price, picking up seven assists with no turnovers. He still isn't much of a scorer, but he proved he can manage a game despite his lack of quickness.

THE BAD

The defense: For a team that's priding itself on the defensive end of the floor, Sunday was not encouraging. The Wizards allowed the Bobcats to shoot 45 percent from the field (it was higher in the first half) and let them get to the free-throw line 46 times. The latter statistic is especially concerning. The Wizards want to be physical, but they also need to be smart. Fouling too much isn't helping them.

Jordan Crawford and Trevor Ariza: Crawford shot 3-12 from the field and didn't do much to get his teammates good shots. From the sounds of it, he was the same guy he was last year. Ariza, meanwhile, committed six turnovers, and while he was OK otherwise, the turnovers demonstrate that he shouldn't be creating much offense. Without Wall, though, the Wizards may not have a choice.

Jan Vesely: Five fouls in 18 minutes.

A.J. Price: You can live with Price having a poor shooting game, but you can't live with him committing five turnovers.

Here's hoping Thursday's performance against the New York Knicks is better.

Mike Prada's write up on SB Nation

Edited October 8, 2012 by Destino

[nuposse87]

Weren't Okafor and Booker out for this as well? Probably doesn't make for good defensive depth up front. Its good to see beal being aggressive and webster being a bright spot...Too early for me to write the team off just yet..but we're gonna need at least average pg play by committee. Crawford needs to fix his **** too.

[Going Commando]

Hold on...with out wall we're just going to fall apart like that? C'mon now. I didn't watch a minute of today's game, but are you basing your comment off of that? I know that we played 1/3 of our regular roster and the Bobcats were at full strength.

No need to panic. at all.

No, not based on today. I didn't watch today's game (wasn't broadcasted) nor did I look at the box score.

It's based on the fact Wall is our best player and our only real playmaker to speak of. We're not like the Bulls in that we can suffer his loss and keep playing at a high level. We don't have the coaching, the organizational strength, nor that depth of talent for that. We haven't even demonstrated much of an ability to play at a high level with Wall for that matter.

Who is going to run point for us the first month? Who is going to make the plays? Who is going to lead the team? I'm pretty sure we're going to dig our hole deep that first month and pretty much take ourselves out of any sort of playoff picture.

[WALEOVECHKIN]

Hollinger on Wall:

There are bad jump-shooters, and then there is John Wall. Last season he shot 3-for-42 on 3-pointers. That is not a typo. He also shot 29.7 percent on 2-pointers beyond 10 feet, which might not have been so bad if he hadn't taken THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY of them in an abbreviated season. Defending Wall merely required stopping his initial tornado burst upcourt after he got the ball, because once he ran a pick-and-roll, opponents just went under the screen and watched him miss ... Wall would be an All-Star if he was a remotely capable outside shooter ... he's about where Derrick Rose was after his second season ... except that Rose was a passable shooter and Wall is an awful one

[Destino]

Hollinger on Wall:

There are bad jump-shooters, and then there is John Wall. Last season he shot 3-for-42 on 3-pointers. That is not a typo. He also shot 29.7 percent on 2-pointers beyond 10 feet, which might not have been so bad if he hadn't taken THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY of them in an abbreviated season. Defending Wall merely required stopping his initial tornado burst upcourt after he got the ball, because once he ran a pick-and-roll, opponents just went under the screen and watched him miss ... Wall would be an All-Star if he was a remotely capable outside shooter ... he's about where Derrick Rose was after his second season ... except that Rose was a passable shooter and Wall is an awful one

Why start at 10 feet? If you look at every two point shot that wasn't at the rim (3 feet or closer) or in three point range he shot 29.6% (139/469). This is nothing new of course, it's the reason that Wall handed the ball off to the shooting guard in the half court offense and went to sulk in the corner. Hopefully his approach this season is better than it was after his rookie campaign. Instead of improving his three point shot in year two he simply decided to stop attempting them and as a result actually got far worse in terms of %. If he fails to improve his numbers again the bust talk is going to get really loud.

Having said that I don't think he got to be as good as he did by quitting. I think his pride was wounded and that he did spend a lot of time working on his shot. Time will tell.

Edited October 9, 2012 by Destino

[gbear]

Did anyone catch Kobe on Kwame Brown and the 2005-2006 season?

"I almost won an MVP with Smush Parker and Kwame Brown on my team," Bryant said before Wednesday's 93-75 exhibition loss to Portland. "I was shooting 45 times a game. What was I supposed to do? Pass it to Chris Mihm or Kwame Brown?"

lol

Thanks again Jordan

[StillUnknown]

2nd preseason game is tonight on CSN & NBA tv at 7pm

Did anyone catch Kobe on Kwame Brown and the 2005-2006 season?

"I almost won an MVP with Smush Parker and Kwame Brown on my team," Bryant said before Wednesday's 93-75 exhibition loss to Portland. "I was shooting 45 times a game. What was I supposed to do? Pass it to Chris Mihm or Kwame Brown?"

lol

Thanks again Jordan

Kobe is kinda funny when you catch him being honest in interviews.

Edited October 11, 2012 by StillUnknown

[Going Commando]

Kobe is kinda funny when you catch him being honest in interviews.

Funny... horrifically selfish douchebag... same difference. There is a reason the guy has never won anything on his own.

[StillUnknown]

Funny... horrifically selfish douchebag... same difference. There is a reason the guy has never won anything on his own.

No player in NBA history has ever won anything on his own, I know your feelings on Kobe, but that's not a fair critique.

[hunterx]

What's an acceptable shooting % for our team? You can break it down by position if you like, but it just seems like I am constantly seeing guys go 4-13, 6-18 or whatever else. I'd love to see most of our starters have a strong night of over 50%.