18 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

Our friend with Ball Hogs Radio have posted an interview with Wizards Rookie Chris Singleton:

http://www.ballhogsr...talks-with-bhr/

[BSLChrisStoner]

CSN Washington: http://www.csnwashin...128&feedID=6356

Do the Wizards have enough to make the playoffs?

1) Wall, Mack
2) Crawford, Mason
3) Rashard Lewis, Vesely, Singleton
4) Blatche, Booker, Seraphin
5) McGee, Turiaf

[Adam Wolff]

I only got to see pieces of tonight's preseason game, but the issue all year is going to be perimeter scoring.

There really isn't a great perimeter shooter on the team. At one time, Lewis was. He's a pretty worthless player now actually, a shell of his former self, and a black hole when it comes to offense. I actually believe he should be benched. Vesely and Singleton have plenty of growing to do, the more time they get at the 3 the better. Lewis is making 20+ mil this year, I don't think anyone will feel real sorry for him sitting on the bench.

John is an average outside shooter. Reports I read said he has improved, but that remains to be season. Crawford is a wildcard. Seems to be a streaky guy. Vesely is known more for his athleticism at this point, Singleton for toughness and defense.

Blatche is honestly probably one of the better perimeter shooters at this point, which is rather unfortunate. He can't shoot 3's, but he can step out and hit deep 2's.

They're building with young players, but who knows if they're the right ones. Tonight was a disappointing start, though. Although it is just that first preseason game.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Washington 83 Atlanta 101

CSN Washington: Grading the Wizards vs. Hawks
http://www.csnwashin...838&feedID=6356

[mweb08]

The answer is no, they do not have enough to make the playoffs. The team is just too dumb imo to make that leap.

Their season is kind of like what O's seasons turn into, meaning it's all about the development of the young core.

[bnickle]

I would say the key is to put yourself in the best position to get the #1 pick for the '12 draft.

[BSLChrisStoner]

CSN Washington: Should Wizards demand trade for Cousins?
http://www.csnwashin...042&feedID=6356

EDIT: Guess not, Kings say no plans to trade Cousins.

NBC Sports / ProBasketballTalk: http://probasketball...marcus-cousins/

[1925maroons]

The Wizards go 0-6 for the first time in history and it won't get better with a shortened season and less rest. It's not Flips fault, but this should be his last year. Play on words here, but a "Wall" can't stand without a foundation. They need to build around him and I'm not sure how they can do that at this point.

[Adam Wolff]

I thought it'd be nice to have a thread to talk solely about the Wizards. Some of my thoughts:

- I think it should be clear after last night's game that Singleton and Booker need to be in the starting lineup. Their energy and heady defensive work sets an excellent tone for the game. Then, you can bring in Blatche, who gets put into a good role to get his shots against the oppositions second line players.

- Vesely can be really good if his offense develops. His hustle, passing, and defensive prowess are already enough to earn him minutes. Look out if the rest of that game develops.

- Wall's shot has looked gross lately. If he could start knocking down mid range jumpers with some regularity, it would help his entire game and the offense as a whole SO much.

- Crawford should stick to driving to the hoop and give up on his Michael Jordan turnarounds and fadeaways.

- McGee was off to a hot start last night, then made a couple bonehead plays and seemed to disappear for the rest of the game. I think this was a product of Flip giving him less playing time, but also, it seems JaVale really needs to get off to a good start to have any value later in the game. I'm hoping he improves on his ability to rebound from a mental error and not let it affect the rest of the game.

It should be interesting to see if they can carry any of the momentum from their complete team effort win over Toronto into Chicago and at least give one of the best home teams in the league a good game.

[BSLChrisStoner]

I caught a bit of the Wizards OT win over Toronto last night. They were playing fairly hard trying to get their 5th win, but they continued to hurt themselves with dumb decisions.

Blatche is out for a few weeks with an injured calf. This is allowing Booker to start, and he seems to be a useful player. If Booker was coming off your bench as designed, I would think that would be a win for most teams.

Singleton was a player I liked a lot in College. Not sure he ever stars in the NBA, but he has some offensive skills, and he wants to play defense. Again, seems like a useful reserve at the minimum. I would think Crawford, and Mack also fit into this grouping.

I know you need stars in the NBA, but I'm surprised the Wizards are so pathetic when they can have multiple useful players coming off the bench.

I don't know what to make out of players like McGee, and Young. As shown last year in the dunk contest, McGee really has great athleticism for a big man. He should be better than he is. Young had 29 points last night, and you occasionally see him post big scoring nights like that. Not a lot of consistency or a desire to play any defense there though.

[hallas]

The Wiz run some weird offensive sets for their personnel. They don't really make an effort to keep the ball in Wall's hands, despite the fact that he's exceptional at both slashing to the rim and distributing. Instead they seem to play hot-potato until someone feels like taking a shot. The few times that they screen for Wall and let him drive, or let him create off his own dribble, Wall seems to do an exceptional job of converting or finding an open man.

Put Wall on the Knicks with D'Antoni and I think he's an All-Star. He's basically Jeremy Lin, only about twice as fast. And that's saying a lot, because Lin is pretty quick himself.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Grantland: What do you do about a problem like the Wizards?
http://www.grantland...hington-wizards

[SBTarheel]

Grantland: What do you do about a problem like the Wizards?
http://www.grantland...hington-wizards

wow, I totally forgot they made the playoffs four straight years.

Good article overall, I agree that getting rid of Blatche, Lewis, and Young are the top priorities, and hoping to get lucky in the lottery..

[Brobey]

Grantland: What do you do about a problem like the Wizards?
http://www.grantland...hington-wizards

wow, I totally forgot they made the playoffs four straight years.

Good article overall, I agree that getting rid of Blatche, Lewis, and Young are the top priorities, and hoping to get lucky in the lottery..

I am a fan of Grantland and that article is just one of the reasons. A lot of there stuff is "meh" but I love these types of articles and their "next level" stats/play breakdown/development discussion for basketball and the NFL.

That being said, the writer hit the nail on the head with Lewis' contract and the need to get rid of Grunfeld. Need to bring in a "new wave" GM, especially at the point the Bullets are in their rebuilding.

[SportsGuy]

How did they not amnesty Rashard lewis?

[Brobey]

How did they not amnesty Rashard lewis?

It's actually smarter that they didn't because of the new "Salary Floor" in the NBA...if they would have amnestied Lewis, without Lewis' contract, they would have not met the floor and had to go and sign players to overinflated contracts that would've set them back even further, since if you amnesty someone, you pay them, but their contract does not count against your salary cap.

Lewis' contract will actually be one of the sought after things during the trade deadline this year, especially since the Wizards have about $7 million of open cap space this year, so they can actually take more contracts back for Lewis.

Since it was written better than I can, from the Grantland article: "A team has some bloated contracts they want to get rid of. Since Lewis is due $23 million on paper, that is his number for trade purposes. That means a trade partner can send the Wizards roughly $20-30 million in players for Lewis, then buy out Lewis for the guaranteed portion of his contract ($7-8 million)."

If this doesn't work this year, I expect them to just buy Lewis out of his contract as they would say about $15 million (since only $7 or $8 million in his contract is guaranteed money) and this would still count towards the salary cap, therefore, they'd get rid of Lewis, but still have the $$ to count against the cap. In addition, they would still have the ability to amnesty someone else (Andray Blatche).

[BSLChrisStoner]

ProBasketballTalk: Wall pretty mad about getting selected 12th in rookie/soph game
http://probasketball...ophomores-game/

[BSLChrisStoner]

CSN Washington: Wizards over Lakers
http://stats.csnbalt...s=13&final=true

Nice comeback for the Wizards. Interesting game with Wall scoring 4 points, and 6 others scoring at-least 12.

[Adam Wolff]

CSN Washington: Wizards over Lakers
http://stats.csnbalt...s=13&final=true

Nice comeback for the Wizards. Interesting game with Wall scoring 4 points, and 6 others scoring at-least 12.

It was an exciting game to watch. Kobe was pretty terrible, and just kept chucking up shots. I believe they said at one time he had a stretch in the 2nd half where he went 4-23.

Booker was the real difference maker. He just completely outworked everyone on the court. He grabbed 17 boards (8 on the offensive end) and had 18 points. I understand that +/- is a flawed stat, but for what it's worth, he was a +15 for the night. I'm starting to like how he and JaVale play together. They both can rebound, albeit in very different ways, and they're an interesting pairing defensively. Booker is undersized, but very physical, and JaVale's propensity to go for the blocked shot does have a tendency to stick in the offensive players mind as he's making his moves.

The other X factor was Kevin Seraphin. He had a very respectable 14 and 9, going 7-8 from the field and playing really well down the stretch. He got 25 minutes, which is just a minute shy of tying the most minutes he's played all season. He's made A LOT of progress, especially on the offensive end, and should absolutely be getting 20+ minutes from here on out.

All in all, very good team win. Encouraging stuff, really.