The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[Going Commando]

Let them take it inside and DON"T FOUL!!!!!

Phew. We needed that one so bad.

Ariza did some work on that last stop. Wow.

[Skin'emAlive]

We played defense coming out of a timeout for once. !

[Warhead36]

Yeah I don't get the whole "you should foul up 3" non sense. Play good D. You don't want to extend the game when you're winning. Even more so with our tendency to suck from the FT line. It makes sense in college because the FT shooting is so poor and the whole 1 and 1 concept.

[CRobi21]

Good win boys!

[Going Commando]

Yeah I don't get the whole "you should foul up 3" non sense. Play good D. You don't want to extend the game when you're winning. Even more so with our tendency to suck from the FT line. It makes sense in college because the FT shooting is so poor and the whole 1 and 1 concept.

Yeah don't foul there. We played it by the book and it was the right call and it actually worked out for once. Stick your best perimeter defender on the guy you know they want to take the shot and let him do work. Just don't foul.

Didn't we beat Denver in Denver last season?

We're picking up a nice collection of road wins this season. Better team on the road actually, which is truly bizarre when you stop to think about it. Now if we could win at home like the other good teams then we'd actually have something.

[Going Commando]

Who would have predicted Wall nails the go ahead three and GS gets stymied coming out of the time out and Curry forces up a left handed brick at the end?

[RonArtest15]

Who would have predicted Wall nails the go ahead three and GS gets stymied coming out of the time out and Curry forces up a left handed brick at the end?

 

Wait...curry threw up a lefty shot????  LOLOLOL. 

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

That was unexpected.

[Going Commando]

Wait...curry threw up a lefty shot????  LOLOLOL.

It's all he could get off! We knew what they were going to call and Ariza hounded him. Really impressive D from Ariza there.

[RonArtest15]

It's all he could get off! We knew what they were going to call and Ariza hounded him. Really impressive D from Ariza there.

 

 

I just saw the clip on BF.  My goodness!  Speaks volumes about what Ariza can do defensively. 

 

Curry is one of the best scoreres in the league but could only muster a lefty 3 at the end of regulation due to Ariza. 

[SuperBash]

Fell asleep after the 3rd QRT but I had a good feeling about the game. GS just couldn't make their shots like they typically do. Thank goodness they had an off night (so did we but it was very unexpected to see GS have that much of an off night). Solid defense as well

[Going Commando]

Yeah we played good D last night. Did a really good job working over top those screens and Wall and Beal stayed after Thompson and Curry. They got very few clean looks from three and we were living in the passing lanes. They couldn't get into their usual rhythm and that meant everything.

Last night Ariza showed why we can't trade him without getting a good player back in return. If we want to keep from getting embarrassed in a playoff matchup with Miami or Indy, we need someone that can play credible defense on LeBron or George.

[StillUnknown]

Yeah we played good D last night. Did a really good job working over top those screens and Wall and Beal stayed after Thompson and Curry. They got very few clean looks from three and we were living in the passing lanes. They couldn't get into their usual rhythm and that meant everything.

Last night Ariza showed why we can't trade him without getting a good player back in return. If we want to keep from getting embarrassed in a playoff matchup with Miami or Indy, we need someone that can play credible defense on LeBron or George.

 

That shouldn't be a reason to keep Ariza. The goal is simply to make the playoffs this year, we will do that with or without Ariza. If there is a good deal to be made for Ariza, we should do it and not think twice. Getting embarrassed by Miami or Indy in the playoffs could be a good thing. If we get worked, it might make Ted think twice about extending Grunfeld & Witt (although I fear extensions will be announced the moment we lock up a playoff spot).

 

 

On a sidenote, I wouldn't be shocked if Wall has dead legs tonight, he put a crazy effort into guarding Curry last night.

[CrypticVillain]

Solid win last night. I can't say anything about it because I didn't watch it and forgot to record it. The highlights were nice though...

[Rocky21]

You know we'll lose to the Clips now!!!

[Predicto]

Dubs are sloppy as hell tonight. You guys could steal this one.

 

Yeah, I saw that one coming all right.  Nice win for you guys.

Green hasn't set a clean pick yet. That kid is dirty.

 

If he was on your team, you would call him "scrappy" and "heady"  (like we do    )

[Going Commando]

That shouldn't be a reason to keep Ariza. The goal is simply to make the playoffs this year, we will do that with or without Ariza. If there is a good deal to be made for Ariza, we should do it and not think twice. Getting embarrassed by Miami or Indy in the playoffs could be a good thing. If we get worked, it might make Ted think twice about extending Grunfeld & Witt (although I fear extensions will be announced the moment we lock up a playoff spot).

 

 

On a sidenote, I wouldn't be shocked if Wall has dead legs tonight, he put a crazy effort into guarding Curry last night.

Oh yeah, if we can get a good player back for Ariza (especially a big man) I would do it. But it has to be a good and useful player. Not some flier or some role playing veteran. Or else someone has to give us a good draft pick and I don't really see that happening.

The other thing we get from keeping Ariza is that 7.8 million in cap savings this summer, which is considerable.

I like Porter too, and wouldn't mind accelerating his role and I think he'd swim by the end of the season.

But you have to get something good back for Ariza. He's been one of the better starting SFs in the Eastern Conference. And we don't win games like the one last night without him.

And yeah, I think most of our starters are going to be gassed tonight. Randy went with a short bench and they did a lot of running because of all the turnovers and fast breaks. They were totally gassed with several minutes left in the fourth qtr last night despite two days rest.

[Going Commando]

If he was on your team, you would call him "scrappy" and "heady"  (like we do    )

Yeah he's a goon. A lot of teams in the East have guys like that. But there is a difference between the kind of screens he was setting and the ones that say, Joakim Noah or Taj Gibson set. Green was using his arms to hit and hold the defender and on some of them didn't even try to plant. Just blocked the guys and kept shoving them as he was rolling. It wasn't slick, the refs just blew it.

It didn't end up having a major impact on the game though because the Wizards ended up doing a really good getting over the top of the screens on the whole. There were some bad missed calls that went GS's way though that could have been very impactful.

- Curry's flop on what was actually an illegal screen by him that got called an offensive foul.

- The missed travel on the sideline where Martell ended up getting called for a foul with 4 seconds left on the shot clock when Curry was trapped, had no shot, and got sent to the FT line.

- Nene getting mugged by the weak side help on a late attempt and no call, then going down the floor and getting a clean contest on David Lee and getting called.

- David Lee hooking Wall around the neck when he went over his back on a late rebound but instead of getting FTs they gave us the timeout.

This screw job from the refs wasn't particularly egregious considering how bad it usually is for the Wizards. Nene in particular gets screwed over as much as any player in the league. But it was one sided, particularly down the stretch. I'd be salty about it if we lost.

[Predicto]

This screw job from the refs wasn't particularly egregious considering how bad it usually is for the Wizards. Nene in particular gets screwed over as much as any player in the league. But it was one sided, particularly down the stretch. I'd be salty about it if we lost.

 

Everyone always thinks the refs are biased against their team.  Warriors fans think that they get screwed over all the time too, because we see what we want to see.  

[nuposse87]

Warriors are a tease of a team. They are primarily jumpshooters, and fairly good ones at that. They're good enough to roll over a lot of regular season opponents, but they come off as pretenders to me. Once you take Curry away no one except maybe Lee is good enough to take make you consistently pay with them. Assuming health, Por, SAS, OKC should easily roll over them. I think a team like the Grizz (who are REALLY surging since Gasol's return) could also knock em out. 

 

If I'm the warriors I try to consolidate asset for love. Klay+Barnes+Lee+'14 pick (going to be high) for Love+Martin. They're not going to be able to keep BOTH Klay and Barnes anyways. They could have absurd floor spacing then. Of course Curry will have to learn to take control of the damn ball, and play a lick of defense. 

[Destino]

Everyone always thinks the refs are biased against their team.  Warriors fans think that they get screwed over all the time too, because we see what we want to see.  

 

That's especially true in basketball where there are so many instances where a foul could be called and/or could go either way.  

[Going Commando]

I think the Warriors are already good enough to contend. Every team in the West has a flaw, so the Warriors aren't any different in that regard. They've got the best starting five in the West and they have legitimate roster balance.

There really isn't a lot separating the top six teams in the West when you get down to it.

Indy is dominant and if they get home court throughout, they're going to be a bear to play. But Miami isn't as good as they've been the previous three seasons. I think this year is unique with 8 teams that all have the pieces to win a title.

But if the Warriors did spin Thompson, Barnes, and Lee for Kevin Love, that'd be an incredible coup. They'd be scary.

[Predicto]

Warriors are a tease of a team. They are primarily jumpshooters, and fairly good ones at that. They're good enough to roll over a lot of regular season opponents, but they come off as pretenders to me. Once you take Curry away no one except maybe Lee is good enough to take make you consistently pay with them. Assuming health, Por, SAS, OKC should easily roll over them. I think a team like the Grizz (who are REALLY surging since Gasol's return) could also knock em out. 

 

If I'm the warriors I try to consolidate asset for love. Klay+Barnes+Lee+'14 pick (going to be high) for Love+Martin. They're not going to be able to keep BOTH Klay and Barnes anyways. They could have absurd floor spacing then. Of course Curry will have to learn to take control of the damn ball, and play a lick of defense. 

 

As a Dubs fan, I am much more scared of Memphis than I am of Portland or even San Antonio.   We match up horribly against Memphis (and OKC).   We could play Portland, the Clippers and the Spurs toe to toe and have a good chance of winning a series, but Memphis will just overpower us.   

 

As good as Love is on the offensive end, I wouldn't make that trade.  His defense is no better than Lee's, and Lee already gives us 20 and 10 every night.   Well, every night but last night.  Losing Klay and Barnes and a pick would be too much.  The team would be older, more shallow and worse on defense (because Klay is an excellent defender).   

Edited January 30, 2014 by Predicto

[Destino]

I think the Warriors are already good enough to contend. Every team in the West has a flaw, so the Warriors aren't any different in that regard. They've got the best starting five in the West and they have legitimate roster balance.

There really isn't a lot separating the top six teams in the West when you get down to it.

Indy is dominant and if they get home court throughout, they're going to be a bear to play. But Miami isn't as good as they've been the previous three seasons. I think this year is unique with 8 teams that all have the pieces to win a title.

But if the Warriors did spin Thompson, Barnes, and Lee for Kevin Love, that'd be an incredible coup. They'd be scary.

Lee plus one of either Barnes or Thompson would make sense, but not both. The warriors don't have a great bench and trading both of their young guys away would make it worse.

Their success will come down to stopping opposing teams from getting easy points in the post season. They don't have to be great defensively but they have to get back on defense, limit turnovers, and force the other team to play half court basketball. If they can slow the other team down they should be able to simply out score them.

....unless they run into Memphis and find themselves in a wrestling match. They aren't built for that.

Edited January 30, 2014 by Destino

[Going Commando]

Bogut changes things in the Memphis dynamic IMO. Bogut is a bruiser with the size to match up on Marc Gasol plus the strength to challenge him in the post.

They don't really run offense through Bogut though. I think they should try it. He's always had a nice post game. I think GS can shoot Memphis out of the gym and even though they're not deep, is Memphis?

Regarding that Love trade, you have to consider it even if it's both Barnes and Thompson plus Lee. The draft pick probably isn't a huge factor because GS is going to be picking late for a while.

It's a big price but it's Kevin Love. He's a superstar and a lot of people consider him a top five player in the NBA. Notice I said "a lot of people think" instead of "I think."

But more importantly, Kevin Love can create a ton of offense for himself and Curry can lean on him as a legit second superstar like Durant can with Westbrook and how LeBron used to be able to count on Wade. CP3 can cound on Griffin and Dwight can lean on Harden. GS isn't getting that with Lee. He's a really good player. But he's not Kevin Love.

Love is flawed and Curry is flawed. But Dwight and Harden are flawed. Griffin is flawed. Aldridge is flawed. Westbrook is flawed. A lot of the best players in the West have flaws you have to account for, but they bring so much scoring and/or rebounding to the table it's worth it.

It's going to take an appealing package to get Love. But Love is one of only a couple upcoming FAs that can change the league power dynamics by changing teams. If he pairs with another superstar, that team is going to be a top five team.

And I also wouldn't overvalue Thompson or Barnes. They've still got untapped upside, but I don't think either are particularly high ceiling players. Thompson is 23. He'll give you forty one game then disappear the next several ones. He's streaky and doesn't have an off the bounce game, doesn't score from many places on the floor, doesn't get to the FT line, and doesn't facilitate. He's a one note offensive player. I also wouldn't call him an excellent defender yet. He shows flashes and he has the tools. But he's still learning. But even if he does reach his ceiling, what is he? A terrific 3 & D player at the SG spot. Is he an All Star? Or let me rephrase, is he an AS if there was actually more than one AS caliber SG in the West now?

What's Barnes's upside? GS isn't using him much and they've got Iggy for several more years. His % from 3 is good, but his other numbers aren't good. Is he a future All Star? If you don't think he's going to be, then you're thinking he's going to be a role player. Trade coins for paper.

Lee is the best player in the deal on GS's end, and I think he's a fringe AS in the West. But he's 30. Kevin Love is 25. An an All NBA player. The best or second best PF in a league with a ton of great PFs.

I think you pull the trigger on the deal and figure out the rest of the role players as you move forward.