WizBlog RSS FeedWIZARDS FIGHT UNTIL THE FINAL BUZZER
As has been the case the past month, the Wizards fought valiantly til the final buzzer, but the Cavs hit big shots in the final two minutes of the fourth period to complete their playoff sweep as Washington fell to Cleveland 90-97 Monday night at Verizon Center.
Veteran players Antawn Jamison (31 points),Antonio Daniels (13 points, 12 assists) and Darius Songaila (16 points, 12 in the 4th) led the Wizards.
As always, Coach Eddie Jordan was gracious even in defeat: “First of all, I want to compliment the Cavaliers. I have not talked about how well their coaching staff got their team playing the right way and at a very high level. Their players are terrific, they play basketball unselfishly, they were physical and they had a lot of good intentions out there to help each other. LeBron (James) is a major star, as we all know, and he has gotten better at making his teammates better.”
As elimination became a reality, the Wizards were left to ponder “what if”. But despite an earlier than hoped for summer, players did not hang their heads and were proud of what they accomplished, even if their victories were only moral.
“We did not make excuses, and a lot of people counted us out but guys kept their heads high and played hard,” said Jamison, who echoed sentiments that teammates and observers agreed on. “It shows the character of this team and just how important it is for us to be out there doing what we love to do.
“For myself, I just was not ready to go home. These are the opportunities you really cherish and try and make good memories from. My teammates did a good job. We did not care who we played, and we went out there and played hard. We had a lot of high expectations for this season, and we came up short, but through it all, with all of the injuries, guys did a great job of just putting it behind them and playing good basketball.”
To wrap up, check out a quick pre-game clip of NBA Commissioner David Stern, who made a stop in Washington to catch the game and had this to say about the Wizards. I think his thoughts echo those of Wizards fans around the world.
Thanks to everyone who visited and participated for a great season.
April 30th, 2007 at 9:01 PM
This was a great season anyways… I enjoyed the games.
Hey they mentioned a “thank you” to you Eric! I love this blog.. it kept us unformed and let us feel we have an inside source here. Thanks for a great season Wizards organization!
April 30th, 2007 at 11:44 PM
I second that! It was great run, thanks for keeping us fans informed and providing a forum for us to celebrate and vent. I wish everyone a safe and happy summer, and look forward to blogging with everyone in a few months. I don’t know what the off season will bring us, but hopefully it will move us closer to having games at the phone booth in June.
I heard Brendan’s locker was cleaned out to include his name plate, if this is true and he’s not coming back, I wish him much luck and hope he finds success.
May 1st, 2007 at 12:43 AM
is the blog going to stay up in the off season? and yeah i am with you guys we played with heart and passion and to lose this way is frustrating but we never laid down and gave them any game unlike other teams (cough Miami cough) and this blog has been a big part of the wizards experience as well seeing it on TV and then being able to come back here and talk about it with people who have the same respect and passion for the game was amazing so everyone keep your heads up and lets get this Ring next season
May 1st, 2007 at 12:48 AM
WizDom - thanks man. It’s much appreciated.
W4L - Thanks for the comments. We’ll be here as long as you all will have us.
May 1st, 2007 at 5:46 AM
I want to start by saying im the Biggest cavs fan to ever roam your beloved website, that being said, i give you guys alot of respect for fighting the way you did, every media outlet in the world was wrong, you guys never gave up, you didmy cavsa huge favor, if we would of dominated you guys for 4 games, it would of been the worst thing possible for my cavs…. you made us work hard for every point of every game… you truly could of won any game in theseries, and thats something to be proud of…. if you had either a healthy caron butler or gilbrt arenas, the series would of went 7 games, who knows who would of won, maybe the cavs… maybe not… but im definently looking forward to next yearwhen you get a fair shot at us….this looks to be a great rivalry in the making…you gave us a chance to win the east this year by making us work hard for everygame… be proud wiz fans, gilbert is on his way back…and bush is leaving!!! I wish you guys the best of luck…Cant wait til Gilbert is healthy again…hes my 2nd favorite player in the entire league…. which is saying alot coming from a cavs fan!!!Get healthy guys…. well see you in the eastern conference final next year!!!
May 1st, 2007 at 6:31 AM
Thanks for a good season. My husband and sons enjoy watching the games and this year has been a good one. My oldest (who turned 5 in February) is learning how to add and subtract by telling us the differential in the scores as shots and free throws are made. Entertainment AND education - thanks and my “boys” will see you next season!
May 1st, 2007 at 6:39 AM
Yeah logically I agree with you guys. You did an amazing job Eric with all the videos, even the gifts and simply the article which were always complete and on time, so thank you, it was great to follow the season through the blog! I hope you keep it up offseason just to have lil informations you know.
, and Roger, you know when Gil’ll come back with once again a kind of “summer frustration” and Caron too it’ll be huge, I already warn the other teams to watch out cuz we’re coming.
Thanks everyone who came regulary, we had some good (and we’ll still have) conversations about the team you know.
And last thumb up is for the team. As last year we don’t past the second round, but this year we get out with our proud still there! We fought as hard as possible, we made it hard for the cavs and that’s what we were there for, so really congrats guys, you managed really great to deal without Gil and Caron. After tonight I hope that next season the rotation will be efficient with some good elements (which will even get better) such as Donell, I love this guys he plays just as I’d like to
May 1st, 2007 at 7:35 AM
nshr3333 - thanks for stopping by and for the compliments. Good luck to you and the Cavs the rest of the postseason.
May 1st, 2007 at 7:36 AM
LilGil - I post everything on time because you never sleep!
Thanks for sticking with us all season and for stopping by the blog EVERY game.
May 1st, 2007 at 7:49 AM
Good season, sorry it had to come to an end with a sweep, but the wizards stayed in every game. Hope everyone gets some well deserved rest and come back next season with a strong, deep and defensive minded roster. Again much love to Eric for keeping the blog up and running.
May 1st, 2007 at 8:30 AM
Yea, thanks Eric. And I love the new format. And thanks for staying up on all the info.
I’m really glad the site will stay up in the off season. There will be plenty to talk about.
Wilbon’s article this morning was spot on. We need what 25 other teams need - a good center. We get that and we compete with anyone.
I’m liking Taylor more every time I see him. He played 15:04 in our last playoff game. Says to me Jordan was getting a final look to decide whether he comes back. My vote is yes.
Interesting the minutes logged at center last night:
Booth 18:21
Thomas 18:14
Ruffin :20
Haywood 0
Says to me that Jordan was getting a final look at Booth to decide whether he comes back. My vote is yes.
My fear is that Haywood gets his head straight somewhere else and comes back to haunt us.
May 1st, 2007 at 8:40 AM
hayes and haywood GOODBYE it been a nice run and a grand effort from the wizards last night they never say die in the 1st round of the playoffs but it really hurt because it was cleveland again. now it time to make some offseason moves and haywood got to go and i am glad coach jordan gave booth some run.next year if we stay injury free no team in the nba doesn’t want to see us coming.
May 1st, 2007 at 8:45 AM
Also wanna give my thanks to Eric. The blog this year was great. It’s good to know I can visit this site after the heartbreaking losses, and there were a LOT of them this year. Still, I’m happy with this season, despite the injuries. Looking forward to coming back next year better than ever. Having Songaila healthy for a full season will be very beneficial to us. And I would imagine Gil and Caron will come back with a vengence. Lets go Wiz!
May 1st, 2007 at 8:48 AM
OH AND SHOUT OUT TO ERIC AND ALL LOVE TO ALL THE WIZARDS FANS ON THIS BLOG ESPECIALLY TO LILGIL. PEACE AND NEXT YEAR THE WIZ IS GOING TO THE FINALS.
May 1st, 2007 at 8:53 AM
I thought that the way the Wizards players spoke after the game was really great. To a man, they supported each other, they looked forward, they gave credit to the Cavs, and they seemed ready to start the ‘07-08 season!
This blog has been great — now we get to use it in the off-season to see how good our GM skills are!
The one player I just don’t understand is Brendan Haywood. He had a *great* game 2, and that was the game we had the best chance of winning. I thought to myself “Terrific — even if he is playing to show other teams what he can do, he is going to help us!”
Then he came out with absolutely nothing in game 3, played 9+ minutes and contributed zero. He played sit-down minutes and, as a result, he sat in game 4.
What comes to mind is what Phil Jackson told Smush Parker, who was dogging it and complaining about minutes. He said “even if you don’t come back, GMs and coaches around the league are looking at your attitude right now.” Parker straightened out.
I think Brendan has had all the chances the Wizards can give him. Moving him is going to be very difficult, but he has to go.
May 1st, 2007 at 9:00 AM
One thing worth noting:
The NJ Nets are still playing; they have two rookies in their rotation, playing significant minutes and contributing good numbers. Both of them were taken in the first round, after Oleksiy Pecherov. They were also both big-college players — not some kind of out of the blue surprise. Josh Boone and Marcus Williams.
To tell the truth, I think we’d still be playing if we had Marcus Williams on our team.
The onus is on Wizards management to get Pecherov over here and contributing.
May 1st, 2007 at 9:11 AM
Everyone reading - TM played a big role in helping me get this thing on the right track, so a big shout out to him.
TM - my guess is that everyone will be quite familiar with Pech at this point next season.
May 1st, 2007 at 10:25 AM
All in all, this was a good season that ended in a very frustrating way. I am not blaming the Wiz for anything that happened here at the end of the season. The fact is that they played hard and with heart. We just saw time and time again they did not have that extra “ummph” provided by the likes of Gil and Caron. Needless to say, without the injuries to those two, things would look a lot different right now.
That being said, it is time to move forward. As far as I am concerned, we should re-sign Andray and DeShawn. If we can get them for cheap, we should re-sign Roger Mason, Jr. and Calvin Booth. It is time to wave bye-bye to the likes of Donnell Taylor, Michael Ruffin, Mike Hall, Jarvis Hayes and Brendan Haywood.
It is time to clear out come cash in order to build reserves to sign Gil and Antawn next year. This summer we need to bring over Olecksiy (Job #2 behind inking DeShawn and Andray). The Wiz also need to look into either buying out Juan Carlos Navarro’s international contract and bringing him over, or trading his rights to some other team. I feel we should give a real honest look at the following free agents:
Ruben Patterson
Andres Nocioni
Anderson Varejao
Rashard Lewis
Michael Pietrus
It should be an interesting off-season
May 1st, 2007 at 11:51 AM
wizkid034 - Navarro’s contract can only be bought out by Navarro (I believe it’s $10M?) - NBA rules stipulate that teams can only pay up to $500k towards an international player buyout. The only way JCN has a shot at coming to the NBA is if he pays the buyout.
May 1st, 2007 at 11:53 AM
STOP THE BRENDAN HAYWOOD BASHING!
Whatever happened to destroy the relationship between Haywood and Coach Jordan is between them. It is clear that Brendon needs a different kind of coach relationship to be consistent and effective. Just remember that he is a known resource and has a track record that goes back several years.
Also remember than with Etan Thomas starting the Wizard’s record has been horrible, even with the Big 3 in the lineup. Remember when the season started? Also remember when Thomas went down and Brendan got his starting role back. The Wizards went on a tear and worked to the best record in the Eastern Conference.
That was with Brendan starting every game. When Thomas and Ruffin came back from injury is when the issues seemed to start. Brenden is not good when pushed to compete for minutes - he begins to look over his shoulder expecting to get yanked if he makes a mistake or is not effective. He is the type of personality that needs confidence from his coach, not recriminations and constant second guessing.
I liken it to the LaVar Arrington thing with the Redskings. He was an All Pro until he got into a spat with a defensive coach who hounded him and made him feel totally unwelcome. When he played, he led the team in tackles. Still he could not please the coaching staff who apparently were mis-using him and not taking advantage of his obvious skills. So they go rid of a player who had been highly productive for many years. Now that coach is gone too. Classic case of mis-management.
Now with Brendan the Wizards have taken a 7 foot center who has produced for the team for several years and have turned him into a bench warmer, and now he will likely never play for the team again. His role on the team is to be a defensive stopper and shot blocker. He has never been a 10 rebound man, nor has he ever been a 15 point a game man. That has never been his role. With the big 3 doing all the scoring they needed him to be the guy in the middle that could disrupt things for the other team, get a few blocks, and the rest is gravy.
Etan Thomas is certainly not the answer - he has very poor defensive skills and at the end of the game any skill player on any team can easily score over him. Etan, while he can provide some rebounds and points, is not the guy the Wizards need. Unfortunately, Coach Jordan’s attempt to instill some extra effort into Brendan by having him compete with Etan backfilred. It made Brendan into a malcontent. He does not thrive on coming off the bench - he needs confidence and trust and 25 - 30 minutes as a starter to be effective.
The key is to look at the team’s winning percentage over the games in which the team was relatively healthy and Etan was starting rather than Brendan. You will see a remarkable stat: Etan’s winning percentage is terrible. Brendan’s is very good.
That is because, at 6-10 with relatively short arms, Etan does not take up as much space as Brendan. He does not make the other team adjust their shots and shot selection. He does not shut down anyone on the other team. And his personal stats are just below Brendan’s over several years.
You cannot substitute for 7 feet and long arms. Even when he is not scoring or getting a lot of rebounds, Brendan makes a difference, and that translates into wins.
You have to wonder how the playoffs would have gone with Brendan in the paint as a starter every game, and in there at the end of games guarding Cleveland’s big center, who had a great 4th quarter every game with the likes of Songalia at 6-8 guarding him.
Would they have won the series - no, not without 2 all stars. But would they have had a better chance to win a couple of games? YES
So now the Wizards have no center. Etan? awful, losing record, just look at the stats.
Booth, better but again coach will not play him much.
Unless Ernie can come up with a stud somehow the Wizards are going to take a step back next year. Brendan will not be back and there is no way to mend what has happened. Did he deserve to be benched for the last game, the only player not to play? He had to really good games and one bad one in which he got yanked after 9 minutes. That is no reason to not play him. Untimately look at the Cleveland papers - they are saying it is great that Brendan did not play - see below:
“At the mall or at the movies, Cavaliers 7-foot-3 center Zydrunas Ilgauskas stands out in a crowd. On the court, he’s still tough to miss, the biggest of the big men in the middle. But for some strange reason, the Washington Wizards couldn’t find him in Game 1 — until it was too late. With a huge size advantage down low, Ilgauskas scored 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter when Cleveland beat Washington 97-82 in the first-round playoff series opener It wasn’t LeBron James or Larry Hughes who did the Wizards in. Instead it was the guy nicknamed ‘Z’ who put them to sleep.
If Washington has any notion of evening this best-of-seven series in Game 2 on Wednesday, the Wizards must do a better job of containing Ilgauskas, who’s five inches taller than Etan Thomas, Washington’s starting center. ”
’nuff said.
May 1st, 2007 at 12:18 PM
I learned 5 things about the Wiz after this playoff series
1. Jamison is still a top 25 player in this league. Some people have written him off cuz of his knee issues. Jamison’s consistency in all 4 games and for him to literally carry the team on his shoulders were beautiful to watch.
2. Ruffin can’t dance, his teammates say. But Darius invented a new move: The Songaila Shimmy. Varejao was embarrassed after that play and Darius kept it cool by chewing on his gum.
3. This team has good players. There are some rotten apples but the guys that normally don’t get minutes showed they can play in the NBA. The bar is set for these other guys, so they can’t slack off next season.
4. I haven’t said anything negative about Haywood all season but his behavior after the game spoke volumes with him not being a member of the team. I couldn’t believe he acted like a child in a group of professional men that respects each other after going through 4 tough battles. He made his statement and that’ll be the last one from him in a Wizards uniform.
5. The Wiz doesn’t look like to have that much money on free agents, but they should look into these guys if a deal can be made
PJ Brown
DeSagana Diop
James Posey
Ruben Patterson
Mikki Moore
Jamaal Magloire
Andray Blatche
Roger Mason
Donell Taylor
May 1st, 2007 at 12:23 PM
1 more thing before I forget. I want to shout out to the Dakota Wizards for winning the NBDL championship. I saw the game on NBATV this past Sunday. It was crazy cuz no one cared to play defense. Washington Wizards is affiliated with them along with Chicago Bulls, I think. The Wiz did win, just a different geographical location.
May 1st, 2007 at 1:02 PM
will this blug is still up when wizards are off season. I like this blog, I read it every day. it could be cool if we can build a chat room for wizards fans.
I think wizards should invite all wizards season tickets holder (or crazy fans) to collect all wizards fan idea what we need to do this off season.
next season, we will two pre-season games at home (nomally we only have one) I just wonder why?
May 1st, 2007 at 1:22 PM
Good point Wizardsdotcom…I forgot that is was a player buy-out. So, I am going to go back to not even knowing JCN exists. There is no way that the Wiz will ever be able to pay him the money he will lose on the buyout, plus a regular salary.
Okay, that being said, scratch my whole thing about JCN. I agree with chomp on Diop, Moore, Magloire and Posey (obviously I like Patterson too!). Diop has a team option this year, so we will see what happens with that. Moore is a FA along with Posey and Magloire. To me Diop and Magloire are the better options. They are 25 and 28, respectively, and are both physical defenders. We need some threat of low post offense, but they need it on defense more. The Princeton offense will take care of the the shots there. Adding Pecherov to the mix will help alot as well.
May 1st, 2007 at 1:23 PM
Bottom line is that Brendan Haywood is the best center we have, and he is proven to give the Cleveland center fits based on many meetings over the past couple of years. And he did not play in game four, was yanked after 9 minutes in game two, after having very good efforts in the first two games.
It does not make sense to me.
May 1st, 2007 at 1:24 PM
And now everyone is jumping on the bandwagon calling for Brendan’s head. Just remember that when the team was winning and was on top of the Eastern Conference, that was Brendan as the starting center.
May 1st, 2007 at 2:08 PM
The main problem with Brendan is his attitude, he doesn’t want to be a wizard anymore and that’s the point!
May 1st, 2007 at 2:11 PM
Another data point in the Brendan Haywood story - when Etan Thomas started, the Wizards almost always lose, even when the team was relatively healthy. This is a startling fact, but go ahead and check it out. Etan gives you some enthusiastic minutes and once in a while some good numbers, but we lose. That is because at the end of the games when everything is on the line, he can’t defend against skill players. He is not big enough nor skilled enough.
Coach Jordan has handled Brendan all wrong - like we did with Kwame Brown and the Redskins did with LaVar Arrington. When you show a lack of confidence in a player, yank him whenever he makes a mistake or shows inconsistency, you break him down and make him less productive. Some players can work through this, others are more fragile. A good coach will recognize this and treat each player to maximize their potential. Eddie Jordan is great at a lot of things, but he has handled Brendan all wrong.
He put Brendan into a competition with Etan, then handed Etan the starting job. When Etan started, the Wizards lost. When he got hurt and Brendan came back, the Wizards went on a tear to the top of the Eastern Conference. When Etan and Ruffin came back, the problems came back. Eddie won the mind game but the team lost games, and now Brendan will never be back, and we do not have a center to replace him.
May 1st, 2007 at 2:16 PM
i am not even going to go there lets just say i am with you Lil Gil
May 1st, 2007 at 2:20 PM
As to Brendan “acting like a child” and being “unprofessional”:
Through the benching and the fights with Etan, Brendan has never said anything bad about the organization or the coach to the press. He stated that he does not like to come of the bench - that is obvious - but that it is the coach’s decision and that he would make the most of the minutes he got.
But in game 3 - after 2 really good efforts - he was yanked after 9 minutes. Yes he was being unproductive but he was not given the chance to turn it around in the second half. And then in game 4 Jordan played every player but Brendan. If it was me I would be really pissed, anyone would. Rather than face the press and answer questions about why he did not play, he chose to leave instead. It was clear to him, and to all of you, that Eddie Jordan has written him off, and he just walked. I don’t blame him.
People are now saying this was unprofessional. But Arenas chose not to speak to the press or even travel with the team after he was injured. Was that unprofessional?
May 1st, 2007 at 2:24 PM
Please don’t misunderstand me - I am not saying Brendan is the best center in the league or that he is the answer for the future. Just that he is our best center and the handling of his situation has contributed to his leaving the team with no center.
When he played the Wizards usually won - that is the bottom line.
I would love to have Chris Wilcox, Carlos Boozer, Ben Wallace or someone like that - who can get 20 rebounds and play defense like nobody else.
But now we have Etan Thomas, and that’s it.
May 1st, 2007 at 2:29 PM
This says it better than I can:
CLEVELAND (AP) — At the mall or at the movies, Cavaliers 7-foot-3 center Zydrunas Ilgauskas stands out in a crowd.
On the court, he’s still tough to miss, the biggest of the big men in the middle. But for some strange reason, the Washington Wizards couldn’t find him in Game 1 — until it was too late.
With a huge size advantage down low, Ilgauskas scored 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter when Cleveland beat Washington 97-82 in the first-round playoff series opener.
It wasn’t LeBron James or Larry Hughes who did the Wizards in. Instead it was the guy nicknamed ‘Z’ who put them to sleep.
If Washington has any notion of evening this best-of-seven series in Game 2 on Wednesday, the Wizards must do a better job of containing Ilgauskas, who’s five inches taller than Etan Thomas, Washington’s starting center.
…While Ilgauskas had his way with the Wizards, Jordan kept 7-footer Brendan Haywood on the bench. Haywood played just five minutes — zero in the fourth.
Ilgauskas was surprised Haywood wasn’t banging into him inside.
“He (Haywood) has had success guarding me before, and I think for sure I’m going to see him a lot more,” he said.
But Haywood knows that decision is up to Jordan.
“I can’t do anything to change the situation,” Haywood said Tuesday. “If there’s going to be a lot of changes, it’ll be because he feels there should be. If not, he’ll play the guys he thinks will help him win the game.”
May 1st, 2007 at 3:32 PM
Food for thought, MarkyMark. But if he thinks Jordan was riding him, how would he have reacted to some of the coaches who yell more?
We need for Navarro to work off at least another year of his contract.
I don’t think Pecherov is going to solve much. He’s a slender 6′11″ PF who likes to play facing the basket and shoot jump shots. In my book, that puts him behind Jamison and Songaila.
According to realgm.com, here are the FA centers, as of this summer.
Esteban Batista (restricted)
Slava Medvedenko
Michael Olokowandi (32 yrs)
Martynas Andriuskevicius (restricted)
Dwayne Jones (restricted)
Scott Pollard
Anderson Varejao
Kevin Willis (44 yrs)
Dale Davis (38 yrs)
Dikembe Mutombo (40 yrs)
Jake Tsakalidis
Chris Mihm
Earl Barron (restricted)
Jared Reiner
Mikki Moore (31 yrs)
Marc Jackson (32 yrs)
Kelvin Cato
Darko Milicic
Pat Burke (restricted)
Sean Marks (31 yrs)
Jamaal Magliore
Luke Schenscher (restricted)
Vitaly Potapenko (32 yrs)
Melvin Ely
Rafael Araujo
Calvin Booth (30 yrs)
Who is better than what we have or can draft? Who can we afford?
May 1st, 2007 at 3:51 PM
jamaal magliore or mikki moore would be a good fit for the wizards
May 1st, 2007 at 4:24 PM
MarkyMark - this is what you said “Through the benching and the fights with Etan, Brendan has never said anything bad about the organization or the coach to the press.”
It is true that Haywood never criticized the Wizards as an organization throughout the 5 seasons. However, he has had numerous run-ins with Eddie Jordan and voiced his displeasure directly with the media. From the Washington Post on 10/18/06
“The friction between Jordan and Haywood played out on an almost nightly basis last season whenever Haywood was pulled from a game. He often would lower his head and sulk to the sideline while Jordan either offered an angry stare or ignored him completely.
It also sprouted up at times in media, with the sides trading verbal jabs, Haywood lamenting for more playing time, Jordan demanding more production. Jordan benched Haywood twice last season, and the relationship was damaged when Jordan sat him and Antawn Jamison in favor of Michael Ruffin and Calvin Booth in late December.”
You also said “Arenas chose not to speak to the press or even travel with the team after he was injured. Was that unprofessional?”
First, Arenas posted his NBA.com blog the next day after his surgery about various things. Isn’t that like speaking to the press? Besides, what is he going to say to the press anyways? He’s injured, his season is over, and he still believes in his team. Do you really need a press conference to say that? And how many professional athletes have a press conference after their surgery? Second, Arenas couldn’t even walk. He’s still limping today and it’s been nearly a month. Is it wise to carry damaged cargo like Arenas to the last 8 regular season games when it does him nor the team any good? I don’t think so.
May 1st, 2007 at 5:43 PM
I heard a lot about Arenas lately, words like “selfish” or “unprofessional” and I thought about what I think of him a little. As wizards’ fans we all love him (believe me I ain’t no exception) and it’s sometimes hard to open your eyes to the reality, but this time I really tried to be honet with me. I heard every single things Gil said to the media this year (even things he didn’t) and I believe I have all the cards in my hands to lead me to a complete judgement. Arenas is an amazing player who went through many hard things in his life. Growing up without a mother change many things and as one of his teammate once said “he doesn’t share easialy with his friends and he doesn’t want to open himself” which is totally understandable. He’s always looking for something to push him forward (last summer…) . The fact that he held a press conference about how happy he was to on the cover of “live 08″ or the numerous times he made prediction about his scoring ability or even not coming to games lately made people think about him as a selfish player. But no he ain’t no selfish player, he’s a guy with a big heart which could seem open ( he says a lot of what seem personal things on his blog) and he tries his best to help the community. The point is that Gilbert is Gilbert and that if we all had to live his life I think we’d understand him a lil better, and his behaviour on the court and everywhere else. He has a team mentality (I just remembered of one of his great assists of the season, are assists selfish?? ) but he wants to be recognized for what he is today. Some people hate that, some don’t, but no matter from which point you see him, you gotta remember what a good mentality he has, and what a good atmosphere there’s around him ( a locker room + Gilbert Arenas = a whole lot of people laughing) so believe me please, Gilbert is quirky because he wants so and I prefer to see him doing all these crazy things, and not coming to a couple of games rather than not speaking to his teammates thinking that he’s better than them or even playing really selfishly. Sorry for that but I had this in mind for a long time…
May 1st, 2007 at 6:12 PM
There’s probably two sides to the Haywood story, but my impression is that he wasn’t picked on.
Gilbert is full of himself, as are many young elite athletes. But unlike many, there’s no anger or malice for others that I sense. His playfulness is fun and refreshing, I think. He looks to shoot first, rather than pass, as would the optimum PG for the Princeton offense. But he’s much improved in that area it seems to me, and he’s still a work in progress. I love watching him, and I hope we can get a lot better before he becomes a FA after next year, so that he decides to stick it out with the Wiz.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:24 AM
I love Gilbert, he is the best thing to happen to Washington sports in many years - I was just using that to make a point. Back to Haywood - yes he really hates to be taken out of a game and he hates losing minutes to the likes of Etan Thomas, who is not as good.
Actually I like that passion - he wants to play.
I have always liked Brendan, I am not sure why. Perhaps because he is a legitimate 7 footer and he has gotten better each year until this year. And because all of the alternatives on this team right now are lesser players.
Benching him - while perhaps justified - hurt the team. We needed Brendan to play Ilgauskas and play well. All of the things Jordan tried instead did not work and Ilgauskas had a breakout playoff round. Playing Brendan - giving him positive reinforcement - would have produced better results. Ernie spoke to Jordan and told him that but Jordan, after seeing 9 minutes of lackluster play in game 3, gave up.
Oh well, I have vented. Ernie - I am sure - will find a good post player who can rebound 10 - 15 per game and block shots - let’s hope so anyway. Brendan is done here.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:40 AM
In response to MarkyMark — yes, Haywood is our best center. Yes, we were a better team with him starting and I am sure we had better results during his minutes off the bench too. He is a talented kid.
But, the relationship between him and the coach has deteriorated beyond saving. The idea is to get what value we can for him in a trade.
As far as Etan goes, first of all there is no way he is 6′10″. When he came into the league, he was projected as a 4 (which he cannot play at all), and his height was listed at 6′8″. He hasn’t grown. He is *not* a starting center. I imagine Ernie knows that; what he can do about the situation is another question.
We also need a defensive, rebounding 4 — I only wish we hadn’t missed Paul Millsap by one pick in last year’s second round. Mikki Moore, whom people have mentioned as a possible free agent 5 for us, actually plays a lot of 4 for NJ. He is 31, but he is very competitive, would fit our culture well, and might be affordable. I like his play a lot.
Is there a solution in the draft? Anyone think Roy Hibbert will drop to #16? Seems doubtful. Any way to trade up in the draft? That’s very hard w/ the current cap rules. Any sleepers out there at the 4 or 5, whom we might pick? I don’t know.
It might be hard to take a big step forward this off-season. But, we have a talented GM, so lets see!
Of course, he *definitely* needs all our suggestions!
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:41 AM
Eric — thanks for the shout out. I’ll keep helping the Wizards any way I can.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:46 AM
Someone was saying resign Roger Mason and let Donell Taylor go.
Have you looked at Roger Mason’s stats?
I’d rather have Taylor by far. He is still rough, and he doesn’t have a shot (although his shooting % is way better than Mason’s), but he is quick, athletic, and has long arms. He’ll play ten years in this league; I hope he plays a lot of them for us.