The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[No Excuses]

Great ball handler. Excellent shooter and scorer.

Stevenson based on many metric systems grades out as a top 5 worst offensive player of ALL time. A hit and a miss on that draft profile. :doh:

Edited March 19, 2011 by No Excuses

[StillUnknown]

http://www.nbadraft.net/players/deshawn-stevenson

The Michael Jordan comparison isn't even the funniest part. Look at his strengths. Super character....really? :ols:

thats enough justification for them to get out of the drafting business

[B55Green]

Much like the Redskins, this is a different team this half, absolutely love it. Got over that 10 point deficit that always seems to kill their hopes and they actually played some damn good defense today. Smart shots and surprisingly they made the important free throws. Very pleased with a well deserved hard earned win.

Edited March 20, 2011 by B55Green

[WALL-LE]

Crawford is a beast with wall.

Wall's jumper has improved greatly throughout the season, he was knocking them down with ease today

Mcgee had a good game

[No Excuses]

Wall and Booker are really coming into their own. I'm liking Jordan Crawford as well. He's raw but he plays with a mean streak and he's not afraid of taking charge.

Wall is averaging something like 18, 7 and 6 for the month. He's a ridiculous rebounder for his age, size and position. In the near future he could be the first player since Chris Paul to finish the season with a 20, 10 and 5 stat line.

Please get him a legitimate front court and a good young energetic coach.

[StillUnknown]

I loved the fact that Wall was ready to put the team on his back down the stretch

dude's got all the characteristics you want in a franchise player

we played kinda sloppy in the first half, but actually managed to dominate 3rd quarter for a change.

Can't wait to see how good Wall is with better players around him

[B55Green]

Still think he can win rookie of the year?

[StillUnknown]

Still think he can win rookie of the year?

not a chance

[No Excuses]

Doubt it. Griffin just has too much hype around him. Stern's already made him another NBA poster boy. I see Griffin getting more publicity than even a player like Derrick Rose.

You're marketable, you can dunk, you can bring highlights = David Stern loves you.

[TradeTheBeal!]

Nice win but I sure did miss seeing Blatche out there doing his thing...taking 19ft fadeaways and running a turnstyle in the paint.

Edited March 21, 2011 by mboyd784

[StillUnknown]

Nice win but I should did miss seeing Blatche out there doing his thing...taking 19ft fadeaways and running a turnstyle in the paint.

:slap:

lol

[skinfan2k]

if the wizards can get nolan smith in the 2nd round, that would be well worth it. high basketball IQ

[Burgold]

I love it when the pups get to bark.

[Going Commando]

This lineup is forming real chemistry and it's only been what, four games? I like this bunch of starters and the way they gel better than the old one.

Yi is the weak link, but honestly, he and McGee are a better combination than Blatche and McGee. Blatche is a millstone on our chemistry because he's selfish and demands so many shots without being able to play within the flow of an offense. I liked what I saw from Maurice Evans too, and if we're looking for a veteran backup to steady an awfully young roster, I'd rather keep him around than Howard or Thornton.

Crawford is a bit wild but he can score and he's a nice partner for Wall. He's a little undersized so his ceiling is limited. I'm not too worried about it though.

I know some others disagree, but I really think Booker is a starting SF. He may not be the fastest guy but he compensates with strength. He's an excellent all around player and I think there is a place for him on the floor as a starter on a good team.

Great game from McGee. He's been terrific the last five games with this group. Over that span he's shooting .580 with 12.8 PPG, 9.6 RPG, and 4.8 blocks. In the last four games he's piled up an astonishing 23 blocks. He's finishing the year strong.

I think this lineup constitutes our best bet for the long term with Young being kept in a swing man role off the bench (and as our shooting specialist). The area that needs the biggest upgrade is at the 4. Yi needs to come off the bench because he doesn't generate enough offense on his own and he's too soft as a rebounder. I really think this is where Sullinger or Kanter come into our plans to give us low post scoring and defensive rebounding. I also like the idea of taking a look at my boy Justin Harper or Kenneth Faried with our late first or early second rounder.

I also wouldn't mind seeing more of Seraphin and Ndiaye to see how they fit in the front court rotation.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Doubt it. Griffin just has too much hype around him. Stern's already made him another NBA poster boy. I see Griffin getting more publicity than even a player like Derrick Rose.

You're marketable, you can dunk, you can bring highlights = David Stern loves you.

This. 100%.

I've been a Blake Griffin fan since his freshman year but I lost respect for him at the Wiz/Clippers game. The calls he was getting were ridiculous. The Wizards would breathe on him and a foul would be called. Then on the other side he would mug the hell out of someone and nothing. So superstar calls for a "rookie" is bad enough but what really rubbed me wrong was that he was crying at a Lebron level. Every little thing and he would start crying to the refs. Really lost respecct for him.

---------- Post added March-20th-2011 at 05:34 PM ----------

BTW, there is 0% chance Wall wins RoY. Just like the dunk contest, it's been preordained to Grffin.

(Stern is the biggest dictator out of all the sports commissioners. Maybe in the entire history of sports.)

Edited March 20, 2011 by G.A.C.O.L.B.

[MonkFan8]

Meh, real chemistry? We beat an awful team that wanted the tank loss more than we did. Have you been watching the previous few games?

The rooks are playing well being forced into action, but lets not make it any more than it really is. I hesitate to say McGee has been playing "well", because his defense is still very bad and, although he'll have a few flashy plays throughout the game, he isn't fundamentally sound enough to start in this league.

It's a shame Griffin is considered a "rookie", because Wall is having one of the best rookie seasons in recent memory.

Edited March 20, 2011 by MonkFan8

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Is there anything worse than writing a long post (esp on the cell) and then getting a "Page Not Found" when you hit submit? Lose the whole damn thing, ugh.

Anyway, Thornton got bought out McQueen. He's with Golden State now.

Again, the thing I love about Crawford is that he can run the point. He might be undersized, but both Wall and Crawford are bigger than both Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry. I really think the two have the potential to be one of the deadliest backcourt duo's in basketball. The pairing up of that kind of speed, aggressiveness and handles is ridiculous. If Wall can get his shot down and Crawford improves on his, watch out.

Young is perfect off the bench. Or he can start and Crawford is great off the bench. My concern is how much it's going to cost to keep NY. And after Blatche, I'm beyond wary of players having career performances in contract years. I was NEVER on the Blatche bandwagon and I don't feel the same vibe from Nick but still...it's something to worry about. After getting stuck with Blatche, a similar contract and resulting situation with Nick Young could be devestating. (Young is a beast in NBA2K btw. If you use him right.)

And I agree with MF8 on McGee. Obviously. Again, numbers and stats don't tell the whole story. Esp in basketball. It's not like baseball.

Oh and Yi is a complete bum. I'll be beyond bitter if we give him anything more than a one year deal with a low number. And I'm not sure we should even do that. I guess as bench filler but that's absolutely it. Great athlete, beyond soft, and arguably the most clueless player in the league. And if he hasn't gotten it yet, he ain't never getting it.

Edited March 20, 2011 by G.A.C.O.L.B.

[SiCkSoULjA]

Meh, real chemistry? We beat an awful team that wanted the tank loss more than we did. Have you been watching the previous few games?

The rooks are playing well being forced into action, but lets not make it any more than it really is. I hesitate to say McGee has been playing "well", because his defense is still very bad and, although he'll have a few flashy plays throughout the game, he isn't fundamentally sound enough to start in this league.

It's a shame Griffin is considered a "rookie", because Wall is having one of the best rookie seasons in recent memory.

Wall is the only guy on the teaming would take over McGee over the past 5 games he's playing All Star basketball at the 5. His defense has been good he seems too be gaining confidence.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

if the wizards can get nolan smith in the 2nd round, that would be well worth it. high basketball IQ

If anything, the Wiz need a veteran guard. :2cents:

[Rocky21]

Is there anything worse than writing a long post (esp on the cell) and then getting a "Page Not Found" when you hit submit? Lose the whole damn thing, ugh.

Anyway, Thornton got bought out McQueen. He's with Golden State now.

Thanks. I did not know that. With no Blatche, Howard, Young, Martin, Lewis it's hard to keep track of where any of the veterans are.

17 wins on the season. 19 wins is the worst record all time for the Wiz. Can the Wiz win 2 of the next 14 to not be the worst team all time?

[Going Commando]

If anything, the Wiz need a veteran guard. :2cents:

Agreed. NY is the closest thing we have and he's not even a full time starter. This is a young group that needs someone to steady it. Crawford's ability to run point in stretches is nice, but I'd like us to get another PG and keep Crawford at the 2.

Problem is, we're not a FA draw in any way, shape, or form. Plus we've got a lot of draft resources. We would probably get a more talented guard from the draft than in FA

Josh Selby is a name that's thrown around in the later part of round one. He's an undersized two, but he could be worth a look in that range because he's a good shooter and ridiculous at attacking the rim. He'd be nice if we let Young walk.

I still like Brandon Knight too if he's there at the Atlanta pick. He'd be a terrific backup point and he could come in as a two when Wall is on the court. He's extremely fast and I like what I've seen from him during the tourney.

BTW, speaking of Kentucky and the tourney, was it you GACOLB that liked Terrence Jones? He's really impressed me so far and I love his toughness and versatility. He's inconsistent right now and lets himself get carried away but I see the seeds of a really smart, efficient basketball player in him. I like him a lot more than Perry Jones at this point. Not sure if I like him over Barnes, but he's probably my third or fourth choice in the lottery (depending on how Kanter's knees check out).

[Thinking Skins]

I'm more in favor of Harrison Barnes or Terrance Jones with our Lottery Pick. I think we've got a nice set of guards with Wall at Point, Young at the 2, and Crawford as a nice backup to both. Sure, it'd be nice to get a nice reserve PG, but before we start looking at backups, we need to get some starters. I really don't trust McGee or Blatche in an 82 game season. People are hype about Kanter, but I've got to reserve judgement on him til I've seen more of him.

---------- Post added March-21st-2011 at 10:10 AM ----------

Oh and Yi is a complete bum. I'll be beyond bitter if we give him anything more than a one year deal with a low number. And I'm not sure we should even do that. I guess as bench filler but that's absolutely it. Great athlete, beyond soft, and arguably the most clueless player in the league. And if he hasn't gotten it yet, he ain't never getting it.

I'll be bitter if we give him that. I want that guy off our team. He has no offense and no defense. No inside presence, no shot, what is he on the court for? And we're starting him now? Over Evans?

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

BTW, speaking of Kentucky and the tourney, was it you GACOLB that liked Terrence Jones? He's really impressed me so far and I love his toughness and versatility. He's inconsistent right now and lets himself get carried away but I see the seeds of a really smart, efficient basketball player in him. I like him a lot more than Perry Jones at this point. Not sure if I like him over Barnes, but he's probably my third or fourth choice in the lottery (depending on how Kanter's knees check out).

Yeah, it was me.

And I'm glad to see you're coming around on Jones......just like I did on Barnes.

[Going Commando]

Is there anything worse than writing a long post (esp on the cell) and then getting a "Page Not Found" when you hit submit? Lose the whole damn thing, ugh.

Anyway, Thornton got bought out McQueen. He's with Golden State now.

Thanks for the update. I looked for him on the roster the other day and didn't see him and wondered what in the hell happened to him. I assumed he was thrown into one of the deadline trades. Where is Rashard Lewis? I don't even remember hearing anything about him? I would assume he's still here though because of his contract but it seems like a long time since I've seen him in a game.

Again, the thing I love about Crawford is that he can run the point. He might be undersized, but both Wall and Crawford are bigger than both Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry. I really think the two have the potential to be one of the deadliest backcourt duo's in basketball. The pairing up of that kind of speed, aggressiveness and handles is ridiculous. If Wall can get his shot down and Crawford improves on his, watch out.

Crawford came on remarkably fast once he was given an opportunity. I confess I knew almost nothing about Crawford other than what you all mentioned on here about the LeBron camp tape and what I'd seen with my own eyes over the last three games. So I just now went and looked him up on Wikipedia and had an oooooh **** moment. I didn't put it together that this kid is #55 from Xavier last year! I'd actually watched him play in college and had no idea LOL! He played pretty well against us (Richmond) and it was pretty obvious he and #52 were there best players and a really dangerous backcourt. Man that's something else, I wondered what happened to him--turns out he's on my NBA team.

Aside from the black mark of having gone to Xavier, I'm twice as excited about Crawford as I was before I found that out. I want him to be the long term starter now.

I see what you mean about Curry/Ellis and I think that's a good comparison to start from in terms of size and speed. Our duo will be better in the end though because they fit into their roles better. Wall is a big pure point guard whereas Curry is an undersized two playing a bit out of position at the point. Crawford is a long but undersized two playing in his proper position for us. Man I don't know if that makes any sense.

What I am trying to say is that our guards fit more naturally into the traditional 1 & 2 roles than Curry & Ellis do, as I think both Curry and Ellis are natural 2s. Plus Crawford and Wall might be about the same height as Curry/Ellis, but to my eye they look a lot longer and stronger. I know for a fact that Wall has a ridiculous wingspan and Crawford looks really long armed and rangy too.

Wall will eventually iron out his shot to become an all around stud. If Derrick Rose could do it, so can Wall, as I think Rose's jumper was a lot rougher than Wall's when he came into the league. Crawford needs to settle down with his shot. He looks like he gets impatient and he'll start chucking and get overly aggressive. But I'm not going to let that discourage me as he's a rookie and I just assume that he'll improve.

Young is perfect off the bench. Or he can start and Crawford is great off the bench. My concern is how much it's going to cost to keep NY. And after Blatche, I'm beyond wary of players having career performances in contract years. I was NEVER on the Blatche bandwagon and I don't feel the same vibe from Nick but still...it's something to worry about. After getting stuck with Blatche, a similar contract and resulting situation with Nick Young could be devestating. (Young is a beast in NBA2K btw. If you use him right.)

Blatche is still tradeable, so I don't think the move to give him an extension was crippling on a long term. If Young got a similar deal, he'd be fine--just as long as it didn't make him the starter by default. I agree with what you're saying about the contract year thing though. It's why I think Crawford has made him expendable. I'd like to keep him because he's a great shooter and you can never have too many of those. Plus outside of him, we don't have a consistent 3 pointer on the roster. But it's not worth breaking the bank for him and I definitely want Crawford in my plans as the long term starting 2. If Young can accept a Ben Gordon style role as a swingman coming off the bench, then that'd be ideal. If he can't then, I would let him find another team that will let him start.

And I agree with MF8 on McGee. Obviously. Again, numbers and stats don't tell the whole story. Esp in basketball. It's not like baseball.

Yes, the numbers don't tell the whole story, but I'm going off of what I saw from him the last three games in particular. The triple double was a bit empty and his showboating was childish, but at least he played hard in an otherwise meaningless contest. Other than that, I thought McGee has been excellent the past two games. He's an unselfish player who can give you 30 good minutes a game at the 5 and bring a couple of special talents to the table (finishing & shot-blocking). I don't agree that he played bad defense yesterday. He'll let things get away from him and react slowly on occasion, but that's the norm for the position (plus he's only 23). When he's motivated and playing outside Blatche's shadow, he's been extremely efficient and looks like one of the better centers in the conference. He plays hard, he's just immature. If he were lazy like Blatche I would worry, but I don't think that is the case.

The trouble is in just getting McGee to this level each night. I think it can be done. I think when you surround him in winners like Wall, Crawford, and Booker, it bleeds off on him. Give me Jared Sullinger at the 4 and then that's the perfect mix to let McGee percolate in. He's still a man-child right now but he will grow up eventually.

Regarding his numbers, they can be off, but I don't think they tell an outright lie with McGee. His PER is that of a quality starting center and it reinforces what I've seen on my own--a good but not dominant big who can play within himself offensively and show flashes of brilliance in the paint on the defensive end. McGee is probably miles ahead of where he was two years ago, and I think he'll continue to make strides the more he gets to mature with this core.

I wish he had made the US national team over the summer. I think that would have done amazing things for his development. Judging by all of the players who made megaleaps after playing on that team (Westbrook, Rose, Gay, Love, Gordon), McGee could have made the leap sooner rather than later. If the stars hold out of the Olympics, I really hope McGee and Wall make the 2012 team for this very reason.

Oh and Yi is a complete bum. I'll be beyond bitter if we give him anything more than a one year deal with a low number. And I'm not sure we should even do that. I guess as bench filler but that's absolutely it. Great athlete, beyond soft, and arguably the most clueless player in the league. And if he hasn't gotten it yet, he ain't never getting it.

Yeah, but even still, wouldn't you rather see him start than Blatche? Yi is a stiff, but at least he doesn't hinder our offense by taking up a ton of shots. Plus I get the sense that Blatche and McGee dislike each other, or at least playing with each other. Blatche is too egocentric and it's not good that he's the mature one in that pair...

I guess Yi is your 10th or 11th man and that's fine. I'm surprised that Seraphin is even less ready to go than Yi. I was really hoping for something from him. We really need a power forward.

---------- Post added March-21st-2011 at 11:13 AM ----------

Yeah, it was me.

And I'm glad to see you're coming around on Jones......just like I did on Barnes.

Yeah it took seeing him juxtaposed against a million other players in a format like the tournament for me to see him shine. He's a power forward in a small forward's body like Booker is, only he's got the speed of a guard. He looks like he's about as good an athlete as Barnes is and I would guess that he's got a longer wingspan and stronger frame than Barnes.

Barnes has him on offensive tools and basketball IQ though. Barnes is a very controlled player who doesn't seem to make a lot of mistakes. He keeps his temper and competitive fire on a leash and has the poise of a winner IMO. He's also got a very rounded offensive game for a first time wing. I know Barnes was a post player for most of his life so he's made a pretty rapid adjustment to a new role in terms of developing finesse (and still has upside).

Both are winners, so I don't really give either an edge in that category. I also like both a lot more than I like Derrick Williams and Perry Jones. Jones' teams have never been very successful and I don't have any interest in adding another raw, immature player onto our roster no matter what kind of an athlete he is. Williams just doesn't do it for me for some reason. I've seen him play a few games where he's come up big but I just don't see him being a good fit for us. I want a strong power forward or a highly versatile small forward from this lottery. Williams will be a good scorer in the NBA but I think he's soft and finesse looking.

I want to see Kanter with my own eyes aside from what you can pick up on youtube. What I've read about him is extremely impressive. There is a strong consensus on him as a player and two things jump out at you:

1) Well developed offensively

2) Rebounding machine

That's exactly what we need from our power forward and the nice thing about Kanter is he can play some center too. The problem is that I've also read from a bunch of different places that he has concerns over the health of his knees. That really worries me given the fact that our medical staff is poorly thought of and guys like Greg Oden have been so disappointing because of knee issues.

That's why I'm praying we get Sullinger.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Barnes Leaning Toward Staying At North Carolina

Harrison Barnes is a top NBA prospect. Most NBA draft outlets have him pegged as a top five pick.

With those kind of projections, you'd think the 6-foot-8 small forward would be a lock to come out. Not so, according to ESPN.com’s Chad Ford.

Barnes would like to win an NCAA championship for the Tar Heels before declaring for the draft, a source told Ford.

"He's the sort of guy who cares about more than just going to the NBA," the source said. "He wants to leave his mark."

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/212411/Source_Barnes_Leaning_Toward_Staying_At_North_Carolina#ixzz1HGY4IXaj