Washington Wizards Blog

Comment from wizardsdotcom
Time May 1, 2007 at 4:50 PM

Man….watching my videos makes me feel like I’m on the rockiest boat. If anyone loses their lunch while watching I apologize in advance.

Comment from Wizards_Fusion
Time May 1, 2007 at 5:02 PM

The Wizards were certainly different and they thrived off the uniqueness. There were fights, hibachis, gold uniforms, daggers, takeovers, swags, hair pulls, blogs, face-feeling issues, broken bones, babies birthing, torn muscles, sprains, bets, aches, dancer injury from trampoline dunk, pains, crazy wins from refs, last shot losses, breaking records, and basically the entire team going to Vegas (you thought this is WWE).

Even after all that, the Wizards came away with a 41-41 record. It was a season to remember and fans had a good time.

I compare this season to being like the freshman and sophomore years of college. A bunch of stuff happened that you won’t ever tell your parents (some bad, some good) but all these things will help you grow. I want to see if the Wizards can graduate at the top.

Comment from kg
Time May 1, 2007 at 5:40 PM

yea yea. The season is officially over. I’m going to college next year so I won’t be able to catch all wizards games plus I can’t afford NBA league pass and even if I could, the connection at college might suck. But i’ll be checking the team no matter what. What a year it’s been. We need to win the championship next year. I believe we could.

Comment from neal
Time May 1, 2007 at 6:01 PM

Yep, the Wiz have been fun. I just hope we have most of them back. New players just in the hope different is better would be a shame. We just need that center…….

Comment from LilGil
Time May 1, 2007 at 6:14 PM

Yes we changed, and I believe that it takes like one year tu understand how good you are and to understand how to use all this potential (I could go faster but we’ve seen that we needed to learn to play through injuries and other things) so you know I think Gil was a little early with his “takeover” season thing, next year, the Wiz will show the whole word that leading the eastern conference, even for two days was not a coincidence!
Eric- you’re lucky I ate 5 hours ago, lol no problem the video was great. I laughed when the journalist kept trying to have Jordan talking trash on Brendan and I even laughed harder when Ivan cracked this lil joke to Deshawn you know. By the way, did Gil run away from the media (or should I say limp away lol) ??

Comment from elysia
Time May 1, 2007 at 8:07 PM

i agree with everyone before me. that picture hits hard, but i can’t wait till theyre putting all that stuff up for next year. i can’t wait to see what the wizards can pull out of their hats next year, and its so worth the wait. and i strongly believe in the idea that change isnt always bad, some is, and some is not. i love the team as if and i have faith that we’ll come out next year bigger and better but the player im MOST rooting for is deshawn. i love the “fabulous four”’s(o thats wat im goin with now) personality and combination. PLUS: without deshawn would that classic gil vs. deshawn shootout couldnt happened. im so optomistic that im not even sad, im just anxious.

Comment from neal
Time May 1, 2007 at 10:20 PM

Tom, do you know how much Stevenson turned down last year?

Comment from suzie-qwiz
Time May 1, 2007 at 10:27 PM

Yes this team changed, for the first time in a long time they knew what it felt like to be chased. When they steped out on the floor they had a swag that said we will win this game! There were not many teams in the league that could beat this team.

I started out a Bullets fan, and I tell you I see a change, and I like it. Yeah we took a hard break at the worst time in the season, but that just makes this team hungry, and a hungry team will do what they need to do to eat.

I witnessed the biggest change in Antwan Jamison. WOW! This guy showed us leadership on and off the floor. And when the big three was just one, he put up the numbers of an all-star, I loved watching him in these last four games. I watched the defending champions quit and really roll over, and I watched this team that everyone said would get blown out of the playoffs make the Cavs use all of there timeouts and use strategy to beat what was the “the big one, the assist man and the role players”

When we look back on this season, we all will think about the buzzer beaters and the 60 point games and all that is great, but the one thing that will stand out to me is that the one guy that everyone wanted to trade early on, became the only guy to play his heart out and hold what was left of this team together.

Well now the game is in Ernie’s hands, and he has some tough decisions to make, I hope he will keep in mind the positive changes this team has made this season and build on the greatness that we already have. I hate to see any of these guys go(including Brendan), but I want to see this organization be successful and have more than just moral victories in the post season.

But for now, go mystics!

Thanks guys for an exciting season, we look forward to cheering even louder next season.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time May 2, 2007 at 7:06 AM

DeShawn turned down a 3-year, 10-million dollar deal last year — it’s good to be tall and athletic, huh?

That’s the right range for him; he should have taken that deal. I don’t think he’ll get much more of an offer, but who knows?

Comment from MarkyMark
Time May 2, 2007 at 9:13 AM

Ernie has been the best thing for the Bullets/Wizards in 2 decades. He has found talent consistently where others before him - Wes Unseld - were clueless.

He knows where we need to beef up the team and I am sure he will do it. The Big 3 will be intact and the role players will be better than last year’s. 3 years in a row to the playoffs and now we are hungy to make that next step.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time May 2, 2007 at 9:23 AM

Well, we *made* that next step two years ago, getting to the second round of the playoffs.

Right now, I’d be happy to trade Haywood to the Jazz for Paul Millsap, a rookie rebounder taken by Utah *1 pick* before we took Veremenko, who will never play an NBA game. But, of course, that trade can’t happen, because it’s hard to trade unequal contracts.

Which is my point — it will be *hard* to acquire the guys we need to, as markymark says, “beef up the team.” It’s not hard to figure out whom you want, but it is hard to get the guy on your roster.

With 8 free agents, it should be an interesting off-season.

Comment from middletonss
Time May 2, 2007 at 12:12 PM

I like the core players we have. If the Wizards lose Stevenson, I would like to see AD run the point and move Gil to the SG. Also I don’t think Haywood and Jordan are never going to get along. Haywood’s pay is too high comparing to his play, I hope they offer him a buy out.

Comment from MarkyMark
Time May 2, 2007 at 1:05 PM

I agree - Brendan and Coach Jordan are done. What has happened is not fixable.

Let’s hope Ernie can find some sleepers. All of the Big 3 were deemed expendable by their previous teams. At least he has the insight to find those types where others may overlook them.

Comment from neal
Time May 2, 2007 at 3:03 PM

eccentric beethoven, I looked up J. Magliore and Mikki Moore. The best things I could see were that Magliore only made $830,000 this year and Moore made only $1 million. That makes them very affordable. But what I want to know is whether they are usually at the right place at the right time on defense. Have you watched them enough to have an opinion?

Comment from neal
Time May 2, 2007 at 3:17 PM

Tom, I also thought Thomas was originally listed at 6′8” or 6′9″ - then someone on this site told me I was wrong.

Millsap is only 6′8″. Isn’t he another Songaila? Are you talking about Millsap playing center? Anyway, he’s not available.

Of the available FA centers, who would you most like to have?

What do you think of middletonss idea of AD at PG and Arenas at SG?

Comment from Wizards_Fusion
Time May 2, 2007 at 3:58 PM

I spent the last few days reading as many Wizards message boards, blogs, etc. as possible to gather a better sense of how fans are feeling now that the season is over. The following is what I observed (these opinions do not necessarily reflect how I feel):

1. Brendan Haywood is not welcomed back
2. Jarvis Hayes’ tenure in Washington is over
3. Eddie Jordan needs to be fired/replaced
4. DeShawn Stevenson needs to go (about a 65/35 ratio)
5. Andray Blatche needs to stay
6. Roger Mason needs to stay
7. Michael Ruffin needs to go
8. Calvin Booth needs to go
9. Etan Thomas needs to go
10. The team is only a first or second round playoff team at best.

Jamison has a player option that no one is talking about. It is a whooping $16.36 million. The player option goes away if Jamison signs a long term deal. I hope Jamison takes a paycut but signs long term and retire as a Wizard. Hayes also has a player option that is worth $3.49 million. Etan Thomas is making $6.37 million next year.

Right now, the team takes up a little less than $40 million dollars in salary with actual live contracts from these players (Arenas, Butler, Thomas, Daniels, Haywood, and Songaila). The total team payroll this season was $62.73 million. The league salary cap this season was $53.136 million. Teams can go over the league salary cap if they resign their own free agents. That’s why I feel the Wizards can and should retain Stevenson. The league salary cap goes up between 4 to 6 million per year, so that’s not a lot money to get outside free agents for the Wizards this off-season.

The unrestricted free agents for big men are weak this off-season, so it won’t be a big surprise to me that Haywood is back next season.

On the subject of getting rid of Eddie Jordan, I hope you know that his successor is Mike O’Koran. Mike runs the same systems as Eddie, so all the issues people complain under the Jordan regime will show up again. Because the players more or less like Eddie Jordan, it is a bad move to cut ties with him at this moment.

Comment from neal
Time May 2, 2007 at 10:09 PM

I suppose Stevenson can demand about $3 mil a year - what he turned down before the Wiz got him for peanuts. I think we can’t do better than him for that price. And unless there’s a clear advantage I’m in favor of keeping our own and continuing to build chemistry. I fell the same about Hayes. We have the right to match any offer and if that’s only a million or so I think we should give him another year. Anyone at that price is a gamble. And I think he would fight for minutes behind Stevenson and our first round pick.

I think Eddie Jordan is a good coach. I could probably identify better, but they’re not available. And I’m not in favor of making changes just in hopes things will improve. We had enough of that with prior regimes.

Haywood may be as good as any free agent center out there, but I can’t imagine he and Jordan can patch things up this time. Too much bad chemistry - not good for the team.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Booth or Ruffin return as the third center. That wouldn’t bother me.

Wizards_fusion you sound very knowledgeable. Did you see the list of FA centers I posted a couple of days ago? Who do you think is the best of the lot? Preferably, a guy who would be in the right place at the right time on defense and could hit half his free throws.

I would love to see the Wiz and Jameson sign the long-term deal as you describe. Let’s presume we could then sign a good FA center.

Comment from Wizards_Fusion
Time May 3, 2007 at 1:07 PM

Neal:

I looked at the list of free agents you posted (here it is again).

Esteban Batista (restricted)
Slava Medvedenko [had potential but washed up now in NBA; like Wang Zhi Zhi; and is more a PF than a C]
Michael Olowokandi (32 yrs) [never tasted success with any team; has concentration and motivation problems like Haywood]
Martynas Andriuskevicius (restricted) [his face got punched by Awvee Storey in D-League; not tough enough to play in the paint]
Dwayne Jones (restricted)
Scott Pollard [was average with the Kings; people marvel at his hairstyles more than his game today]
Anderson Varejao [a good energy guy with a passion for charges/flops and offensive rebounds; but he'll command a pricey tag and he's more suited as a PF]
Kevin Willis (44 yrs) [still in good physical shape but not a long term solution]
Dale Davis (38 yrs) [career is most likely over]
Dikembe Mutombo (40 yrs) [still in good physical shape but not a long term solution and can only play 15 minutes per game]
Jake Tsakalidis [has good hustle but very inconsistent]
Chris Mihm [injuries have killed his potential]
Earl Barron (restricted) [offcourt issues and Miami Heat seems to want him back]
Jared Reiner
Mikki Moore (31 yrs) [having a career year with NJ but has been an overall underachiever]
Marc Jackson (32 yrs) [D-league material at best]
Kelvin Cato [career is most likely over]
Darko Milicic [probably the best free agent of this lot, but the Magic have enough cap space to match any offer]
Pat Burke (restricted) [at best a garbage time player that can hit 3s]
Sean Marks (31 yrs) [career is most likely over]
Jamaal Magliore [probably the 2nd best free agent of this lot; he can rebound but may be out of shape; free throw % is about what Haywood shoots]
Luke Schenscher (restricted) [has upside but a very weak NBA body; not ready to bang even against Songaila]
Vitaly Potapenko (32 yrs) [career is probably over]
Melvin Ely [he's bulked up but that has hurt his athleticism since college]
Rafael Araujo [not NBA ready; needs to stay in Europe for development]
Calvin Booth (30 yrs)

It is difficult to answer your question about the “best of this lot” because most of these guys don’t get playing time. Most are the “Calvin Booth-type” player for their current team (a solid practice player with some NBA years under his belt but won’t be ultilized unless the game is a blowout). With that said, I added my analyses on the ones that I know something about in [square brackets]. I would only look at the following guys seriously for the Wizards as a Center replacement (Darko, Magloire, Mutombo, Varejao, Olowokandi, and Mikki Moore). Everyone else is not better than Haywood/Thomas combination.

Also, there are other free agent PF/C that weren’t on the list. They are (from ESPN.com)

Ryan Hollis [Wizards should consider]
Primoz Brezec
Mike Sweetney
Malik Allen [Wizards should consider]
PJ Brown [Wizards should consider]
Austin Croshere
DeSagana Diop [Wizards should consider]
Jamal Sampson
Antonio McDyess
Chris Webber
Zarko Cabarkapa
Chuck Hayes [Wizards should consider]
Michael Doleac
Ruben Patterson [Wizards should consider]
Brian Skinner [Wizards should consider]
Malik Rose
Shavlik Randolph [Wizards should consider]
Alan Henderson
Joe Smith
Kurt Thomas
Matt Bonner
Danny Fortson

The more I think about how the Wizards play offense, the more I think Haywood is one of the few centers in the NBA that can run up and down. Although Haywood is upset, I am leaning toward Ernie Grunfeld keeping him and having Eddie Jordan try to repair the relationship.

Comment from aznzero
Time May 3, 2007 at 3:01 PM

thanks eric for all the inside info and not to mention the give aways! it was probly one of the most memorable season for me. thanks again. oh eric is it true that gilbert wants to be traded????

~ed

Comment from LilGil
Time May 3, 2007 at 3:04 PM

Where di you get that aznzero?

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[...] to the readers here and Washington fans alike. Especially since that’s what most of the players were saying in post season interviews last [...]