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The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

BRAVEONAWARPATH

By BRAVEONAWARPATH
in The Tailgate

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No Excuses

No Excuses

Posted
Posted

This team can advance past the first round if they get home court for the series. It means they wouldn't be matching up against Miami or Indy. They can win a series against everyone else.

 

 

No team with Randy Whittman as a coach is making it past the first round. In game coaching and adjustments come into play in the NBA playoffs. Randy gets an F for both.

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G.A.C.O.L.B.

G.A.C.O.L.B.

Posted
Posted (edited)

I've posted before, in other threads, that (potentially sadly) much of me and my father's relationship is built around DC sports and then, almost entirely the Redskins. When football season is going, we get together every single week to catch the Skins game. In the off-season, save tickets to one or two random Nats or Wiz game, we can go months without seeing each other. We still talk probably at least once a week on the phone (why just "potentially" sad and not definitely sad) but that's it. Then football season starts up again and we'll be seeing each every week once again.

So with that said, we made a decision today. A first. It definitely says more about the current state of the Skins than anything, but it does say something about the Wizards. Instead of watching Skins/Giants Sunday night, we're getting together to get together for Wiz/Pacers tomorrow night. As my dad said, "Seems that the wizards would be more interesting since the skins are dead in the water."

Goddamn I've been waiting so long for the Wizards to truly matter again. Going into this season, you could have given me 100-1 odds, and I still wouldn't have bet $100 that the Wiz would be more relevant at the end of November than the Skins. This Skins season was so unexpected, it has been beyond ****ing depressing (and for the most part, before that, the Nats season), but the Wizards are making life easier to stomach. I just pray it's legit, a sign of things to come and not some flash-in-the-pan, false-hope dick-tease bull****.

(And ftr, growing up, pro sports, my dad brought me up on the Bullets just as much as the Skins. And the Orioles too, but that just wasn't the same as the other two (heard ten Frank Howard stories for every one Brooks Robinson/Frank Robinson/four 20 game winners/etc stories). So this isn't some bandwagon ****.)

Edited by G.A.C.O.L.B.
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Going Commando

Going Commando

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Posted

The Wizards have a special place in my heart compared to the other DC sports teams GACOLB. They've truly come up from nothing. They are the red headed step child among the four major sports teams. The Nats were bad for like five years before they lucked into two generational talents, that's nothing. The Redskins devour the other franchises in attention but the NFL sucks a fat old **** and the NBA and MLB are better leagues, I don't really care much about hockey, and I love basketball more than baseball, and I enjoy the Wizards community the most. The Wizards fan base destroys the Redskins fan base for knowledge, 99% of NFL fans are completely football illiterate.

Just read every dumbass thread in the stadium for about ten posts to confirm.

Anyway, I didn't take the Wizards seriously growing up. They were a second rate franchise. I loved playing basketball, and what I ended up doing was following players that I liked around the league, and the league in general, but not teams. I grew up a skins fan so DC sports were my default teams but there wasn't conviction behind the Wizards. I followed a little closer during the Arenas era because he was interesting and the team made the playoffs but I never believed in him or the team. God, the Foye/Miller trade alone was reason to completely right the team off. That was an unbelievably bad trade, and this was totally obvious to any non-Wizards homer the moment it happened.

Then the team got the #1 pick and drafted Wall and I was sold. I've got a lot of family in Raleigh and spent a lot of time in the area. Everyone I know is an ACC fan of some sort. Wall has always been a big deal to me. I've followed him since his recruitment. Thought for sure he'd end somewhere up on tobacco road. became even more intrigued when he went to Kentucky. Followed that Kentucky team. Couldn't believe my good luck when my DC team got the #1 pick and was going to pick basically my favorite college prospect ever. ****ing hated hearing about LeBron and Kobe at the time so the NBA was a drag until that happened. Wall got me to buy in totally. He was an unbelievable talent and I thought it was only a matter of time before he was the best PG in the NBA.

Anyway, everything just before and since we got Wall has been a damn trial. We've seen some truly awful basketball. There are no bandwagon Wizards fans. And that's a big part of why they are so rewarding to watch now. We've had to root for some real idiots (McGee/NY/Crawford) and turds collecting enormous pay checks for some **** (Blatche/Shard). We got to watch 4-28 last year. But since Wall came back, this team has been a pleasure to watch. The dude is one of the most compelling basketball players on the planet. And the supporting cast is genuinely likable and capable of playing good, smart basketball.

It's way more fun watching the Wizards actually play competitive games with players you've followed since their nadir than watch the Redskins train wreck play out in a detestable league. Lot more fun to talk to Wizards fans than Redskins fans.

BTW, success in the NBA is less an unsustainable "mirage" than in the MLB or NBA GACOLB. You can usually tell if a team is going to be good or bad beforehand by seeing if their players are good or bad. Definitely not the case with the NFL or MLB. We've got several good players now. More than a lot of the crappy ass teams in the East. So long as that remains the case, we'll probably sustain some success.

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Thinking Skins

Thinking Skins

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Posted

I'm going to state a moment of optimism for our bench.

- I'll first give Maynor some respect because although I don't think he justifies his contract I will say that he probably just hasn't found his role in the offense just yet and learning Wittman's scheme may be a complex/confusing thing to do. But I think that as the year develops and in particular as Porter and Rice get more playing time you'll see Maynor's numbers increase.

- The second thing is about Vesely. I'll admit that I was skeptical about getting too optimistic about him after his summer league play last year and it not rolling over, but this year he seems much better. The one knock on him so far has been his lack of offense. But I really think he hasn't reached his max. He was showing a decent jumper in the summer league and we have all known for years that his issue wasn't fundamentals it was confidence. I think that as he gets more plays and just continues to practice in the off time, I think we'll see his confidence in his offensive game increase. But that's got to be on Wittman not being so quick to bench him 5 games or so for taking a bad shot or a shot too early in the clock.

- I could say the same thing about Temple. I'm not sure how much he'll be as far as a consistent shooter, but last year in the stretch, especially after Beal went down we started seeing Temple with more offensive production.

- I think part of the problem is that the total is less than the sum of the individual parts. Kinda like when Gortat first came over. I think it takes time learning a new point guard in Maynor and learning to set up players in different positions.

- The main thing I think we can lean on with our bench is their defense. Especially if Ariza returns to the bench, then a lineup of Maynor/Temple/Ariza/Harrington/Vesely plus or minus a player here or there is a pretty good defensive lineup especially at the 2, 3 and 4 playing passing lanes. Vesely and Ariza can grab board. Then there's Rice/Porter/Singleton/Seraphin/Booker (not as a lineup but just the remaining guts) and the word that immediately comes to mind is potential. Like when Rice's shot starts falling and when Porter starts to play, that immediately will increase our rotation (Wittman allowing). Seraphin and Booker are hit/miss players based on matchups and energy. The only real problem area in those spots is Singleton who hasn't really shown me anything to inspire me that he'll bring anything to the table.

- I'm not trying to argue that our bench will ever be on cast with the Lakers bench, but I think we have talent there that's still developing. I don't know if I'll call it a leap, but Vesely has definitely improved this year. The minute Temple/Porter/Vesely can start adding a jumper to their game as an outlet for Manyor then I think our bench production pointwise will increase a whole lot.

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Sticksboi05

Sticksboi05

Posted
Posted

 the NFL sucks a fat old ****

 

Honestly, it's harder and harder to love football nowadays especially with ****ing losers caring more about fantasy than the team they are supposedly diehard fans of.

 

Redskins will always be my #1 team.  I actually got into baseball first because of my Dad.  It was the 90s and he is from Cleveland so those were good times, of course until the World Series...but we always hoped D.C. would get its own team.  I got into hockey and basketball at about the same time, mid-late 90s.  In a way, video games, especially those on the SNES, helped me love sports.  Of course, when the Expos finally came to D.C., Nationals became my baseball team 

 

I really want all four teams to be successful, I am not a snob fan against any team or league, I just want to experience a moderate period of winning more than just division titles.  I mean last year was pretty cool winning the NFC East, NL East and the Capitals coming back to win the Southeast but I want to at least sniff championships.  D.C. could be so much better of a sports town, wish everyone supported everything.

 

We have a lot of elite players that are all under 30.  We have a future superstar in Harper, an elite pitcher in Strasburg, a blossoming star in John Wall, hopefully a superstar QB and a generational talent 3x NHL MVP.  It's too bad, that for three of these teams, the failure of management is trickling down and screwing the on ice/court/field results.

 

We've been waiting a few years for the Wiz to be competent again on the court and so far, the Wizards look like a respectable team and that is a start.  It's a start that I'll take. 

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skinswillwin06

skinswillwin06

Posted
Posted

As for the NFL, obviously part of it is the Redskins sucking, but the league is becoming more of a joke with each passing week. We are now reviewing frame by frame when someone's helmet comes off on a blow to the head to determine if a touchdown should stand or not.

 

For the Wizards, I'm as pumped as I've been in a long time for tonight's game. Really think the Wiz will come to play hard.

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G.A.C.O.L.B.

G.A.C.O.L.B.

Posted
Posted (edited)

As for the NFL, obviously part of it is the Redskins sucking, but the league is becoming more of a joke with each passing week. We are now reviewing frame by frame when someone's helmet comes off on a blow to the head to determine if a touchdown should stand or not.

As soon as I saw that last night, I texted Who Del/Big Weirdo and my brother and told them that the NFL had officially jumped the shark for me on that play/call. I thought for a second that the man was dead cause he wasn't moving, and then they took the TD away from him because his helmet had come off six inches too soon. So ****ing lame. Seems like every single game now is dominated by such calls.

Edited by G.A.C.O.L.B.
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Thinking Skins

Thinking Skins

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Posted

I've always loved football but like everyone says, the nfl just pisses me of more and more, and with Godell acting like supreme ruler who's ruining the game its just becoming unwatchable. It's like I used to hate the nba and players like Jordan because he'd get calls nobody else would get. That still pisses me of matter of fact.

But I just hate the way this town gets all in uproar with the skins and refuse to Evelyn talk about other teams. I remember when the Caps were beginning their run and callers would be mad that skins talk took up 90% of the airtime. Now we've got 4 legit teams and freaking Czabe who I now listen to because he's better than the junkies said he won't talk wizards until they are 500 or better. What kind of bs is that? The good thing though is that the wizards have time to grow together as a team. I remember how much this town loves controversy and how the talk of last year with the nationals wasn't how good they was but about the strausberg shutdown.

That's how this town is though and went I fear we're kinda drained to this fate. 1067 kinda pointed this out back when they first started doing sports, their ratings are higher when the area teams lose. So it does them good to blow up every franchise.

It's sad that Sports can be so depressing

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