Comment from SportzWiz
Time June 11, 2008 at 1:25 PM

Some things I noticed from the workout (realize this was in a 5 minute time frame so take it FWIW)

Danny Green is thick and not in a Tractor Traylor meaning. They say some guys have an NBA body, he’s one. He also said he struggled recovering from an ankle injury in Orlando and this is the first time he felt close to 100%. He said it was his best workout yet.

Robert Vaden – Has really trimmed down since I first saw him as a frosh at Indiana. He played this year at 220 is now tipping the scales in the 190′s.

Taj McCulllough- Looked like a really good teammate. Was always there supporting the other guys, clapping, hi-fiving. Good positive attitude.

Deron Washington – Maybe the best vertical leaper of anyone that’s come through. The guy explodes off the ground. He’s 6’7 and had no problems with the backboard tap drill. He made it look easy.

Comment from Wizfan4life
Time June 11, 2008 at 3:06 PM

i like deron washington….good player. ok heres what ive figured for the wizards sallary cap BEFORE signing jamison, arenas, and mason: 41,356,894 (i got this figure from hoopshype.com but subtracted arenas’ final year offer and added a little more than 1 mil extra 2 what blatche’s salary was because they had him as a free agent)……..so what i think we should do is sign gil to a 6 year deal with him making 13 mil next year and increasing by 10% each year, sign jamison to a 4 year deal with a player option with him making 8.6 mil a year, and sign mason to a 3 year deal for 1,543,106 his first year and we should have an even $65 mil salary cap………leaving us with 2-4 mil dollars left 2 sign other players, trade, etc without going over the luxury tax……..that may be too much for mason but hey, i just got a number that looks at least sorta nice right? lol

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time June 11, 2008 at 3:27 PM

If you think about how to look at stats and maybe find a “sleeper” — a guy who get taken in round 2 or isn’t drafted, and then somehow makes the league, and people say ‘how did that happen’ — Danny Green is a perfect example.

He is not even listed on DraftExpress’s NCAA stats for possible draft choices. But, when you look at his own stats, he grades out along w/ some of the best 2s and 3s.

He shoot 47% (w/ 40% of his attempts being 3 pointers!) and 87% from the line, and he gets you a rebound every 4.5 minutes from the 2/3 position (that’s very good). He’s got good size and length. If he’s quick enough to be a 2, he should be a good defender.

I expect to see this guy in the league. Will he be a starter? Who knows. But, he’ll bring energy and skill and basketball IQ. He looks smooth in the little video we have from SportsWiz. Danny Green is a player.

Comment from SportzWiz
Time June 11, 2008 at 4:16 PM

We’ll see if Green stays in the draft, he’ll make his decision on Sunday.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time June 11, 2008 at 5:13 PM

Given that he’s had to fight what seems to have been a tough ankle injury, he may be smart to go back.

Comment from wiz-skins07
Time June 11, 2008 at 5:32 PM

This is an interesting article — Just By the Numbers: Evaluating this Years PG Crop

Comment from wiz-skins07
Time June 11, 2008 at 5:33 PM

Tom — What do you think about that article. Is there anyone in particulary who stands-out to you. Your a numbers guy. I am really not although i did good in Algebra 2. LOL.

Comment from wizfan and the kid
Time June 11, 2008 at 7:38 PM

Tom and everyone,
Call me nuts, but I still like George Hill. I think this could be one of the guys we are talking about when speaking about bringing in someone for a low price, but could be a sleeper. I wonder if the Wiz have any interest in bringing him in? I personally think he has a better upside than Lester Hudson.

Also, what has anyone heard about Antwan? I mean we have all the stuff about Gilbert this and Gilbert that, but honestly I think I’d like to hear a bunch more about what Antwan is saying. I think he is a much better bellwether of what is going to happen. Are there any inside stories about what is going on with him?

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time June 11, 2008 at 8:35 PM

Well, the two combo guards who stand out are Lester Hudson and George Hill. They are both *very* strong on net possessions (rebounds plus steals minus turnovers), and they both shoot pretty efficiently. The rest of their stats (assists, fouls, blocks) don’t stand in the way of their earning the top WS rating.

By the numbers, they remind me of Stephon Curry from Davidson, esp. Hill does. As I think Curry will be a great pro, maybe I’m starting to be pretty intrigued by Hill. But, will either Hudson or Hill really be able to translate from a small college to the pros? I think Curry will, but he’s not in this year’s draft.

Of the conventional point guards, I seem to strongly favor Mario Chalmers. What do you guys think?

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time June 11, 2008 at 9:49 PM

Thanks Wiz-Skins. Even I enjoyed that article

I was surprised at how high Ty Lawson ranks in the “true” point guard catagories. He looks more like an Antonio Daniels kinda point guard.

Comment from ChenierFan
Time June 11, 2008 at 9:58 PM

Has there been any comments on the allegations by Tim Donaghy about refs influencing games? For me three thoughts come to mind:
1) I believe there has been some unwritten rules going on for a long time that protected star players and star teams. I remember when the Bullets played the Knicks in the playoffs back in 74 when the Bullets were set to beat the Knicks when all of the sudden, the Bullets couldn’t touch the Knicks without fouls called on them. The next year the Bullets were getting shafted by the refs against the Celtics (Chenier even fouled out of a game [in Boston Garden, of course] which hardly ever happened) but the Bullets were too good and beat them anyhow. This same pattern exists today. It’s been a running joke how LeBron gets away with traveling and gets the benefit of calls. Poor Andray (Speed Racer) Blatche can’t even touch someone without a call against him. There is clearly two standards of refereeing at play here, and that has been grudgingly accepted (like the proverbial “make up call”).
2) The stock defense that David Stern has is that Donaghy is lying to get a lighter sentence… That doesn’t make sense because he would only be hurting himself further if it was found out that he is lying now.
3) To think that Donaghy acted alone doesn’t make sense either. Consider that there are three refs for every game, not one. If one of the refs is looking to manipulate a game, the two other refs would need to be looking the other way to allow the dishonet ref to make questionable calls. More likely, there is an unwritten rule among the refs not to make other refs look bad, even if one of them is engaging in questionable calls.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Comment from gee wiz
Time June 11, 2008 at 10:19 PM

its kind of hard not to find dignity, honor, truth, honesty or anything respectable in sports these days. corruption in politics, government even police officers. in this crazy world we live in sports is something we look to, to get our minds off of life, something to cheer, smile, and be proud about…… but being proud is hard when everything u believed or saw is not so. steroids and now cheating, maybe football, baseball, but not tha NBA. there must be something going on. no game is referreed tha same way…. not a single game is ref’d tha same way throughout the game. one day u can be physical, the day u cant breathe on a player. y did donaghy wait until now for all this???? u would think spygate was enough. my theory is this…… something has to start somewhere, donaghy is not tha first, and if he is he is not tha only one. my point is there is no way he could done these things without someone knowing, and if it worked for him at the time, then im sure someone else was in on it to. he is like the jose canseco of the NBA now he is going to continue to leak out faulty or truthful information

Comment from gee wiz
Time June 11, 2008 at 10:20 PM

typo it is kind of hard ……..

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time June 12, 2008 at 6:13 AM

But, the important question is… are the refs taking steroids?

Andray “speed racer” Blatche (love that!) gets called for fouls because *he commits them.* He gets out of position and reaches. Does LeBron travel? Sure — but, admit it, *everybody* travels. If LeBron played for us, we wouldn’t be complaining about the calls he gets.

As I have pointed out many times, look at total fouls and foul shots per game and per season. Where do we rank? Is there a big disparity among teams? Not really. Is there unconscious favoring of star players — sure!

As to conspiracy theories, I’m not interested.

Comment from dmac
Time June 12, 2008 at 12:19 PM

In response to any news about AJ that was a concern I had. With Gill being out of the country in Europe for the first two weeks in July will make things interesting. Do you think Gil is giving EG enough time to deal with AJ?
I was thinking about Larry Hughes and how the Wiz sent him a lower first offer than what he thought he should have received.
Think about it guys. AJ just had the best season of his career. He made 16 mil. this year. Is he going to accept lower than 10 mil per season. I don’t think so. If we really want to keep Gil then the Wiz are going to have to do right by AJ.
I think AJ deserves between 10 to 12 million per season to resign. This lines up with Gil being willing to accept less to resign with the Wiz.

Actually I think that we will have to give Gil and AJ close to what each one of them made this year and a little left over possibly to resign Mason
Gil- 14 to 16 mil
AJ- 10-12 mil

The rumor is if AJ does not resign with the Wiz then Cleveland is going after him.

Comment from dmac
Time June 12, 2008 at 12:38 PM

I forgot to say that this may be the year Abe has to be willing to go over the luxury tax to bring the Fat Lady back
The Wiz have to understand that it is going take them opening up their pocketbooks to compete with the other top tier teams in this league especially if they want to get out of the first round.
Look what it did for Boston and the Lakers.
You guys have heard about the Pistons may be going after Melo.

You have to spend money to get mo money (fans and playoff games).

If we bring back Gil and AJ back and deal the 18th pick possibly to bring in another piece of the puzzle or either AB breaks out next season alongwith NY with some good fortune we could be in the finals next year. Also we need to put our team in all black
road uniforms to go with the blue sometimes. that gold and black uniform is for the NABDL.

Comment from gbkdc
Time June 12, 2008 at 2:05 PM

NOOOOOOOO, AJ CANNOT GO TO CLEVELAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO