Washington Wizards Blog

Comment from AUNDRA
Time August 13, 2008 at 5:55 PM

It looks like Cleveland wants a fast high scoring point guard who can shoot the lights out . However there will be chemistry issues because Mo is kind of selfish with the rock and that may not fair well with Mr. Wonderful King James. I am looking forward to this on again off again relationship!!

Comment from millie mill
Time August 13, 2008 at 8:33 PM

I don’t know how this trade will work for Cleveland. Williams is not a pass first point guard and don’t think he is a spot up shooter. He mostly creates his own shot like Gil. It will be interesting to watch. Good move for OKC and Milwaukee.

Can’t wait to see Roger Mason. I know he will get a lot of playing time in that game.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 14, 2008 at 7:40 AM

W/ Jason Smith out for the season (after playing well in the Summer League too), the Sixers are looking for a veteran big man and have Theo Ratliff in their sights. I think he is a terrific player, and I hope he signs somewhere else!

Ratliff would be a great mentor for Speights, who already looks like he is going to be a load. Watch out for Philadelphia this season.

Comment from gbkdc
Time August 14, 2008 at 9:56 AM

Well, we “handled” GREECE!

I’ll say it again, D. Wade is a monster!!!! It gives me some hope, though, because if he can come back from 2 injuries and surgery, then hopefully Gil will be able to do the same.

Comment from SportzWiz
Time August 14, 2008 at 10:00 AM

I am officially impressed with team USA. I will make a much longer and in-depth post later but that team looked AMAZING today. And yes D Wade is officially back. WOW!

Comment from truthaboutit
Time August 14, 2008 at 10:00 AM

Yea, but….LeBron has needed a decent complimentary scorer, and the Williams experiment just may be the best attempt to find one yet.

Plus, Williams is a Wizards killer….this acquisition doesn’t exactly sit well on the stomach.

Comment from SportzWiz
Time August 14, 2008 at 10:14 AM

hey truth nice to have you on the blog, like a bunch of the stuff you’ve done recently.

Here are my thoughts and questions on the trade (Im focusing on cleveland because i dont really think this was anything but a salary dump for milwaukee and okc only got a vet in smith and rid of ridnour)

- Once again the Cavs have decided to take on a monster contract with Mo Williams, that front office is doing everything possible to make Lebron happy.
- Cavs have been searching for a point guard to go with LeBron since he came into the league Mo Williams on paper seems to be the best thus far
- Is a solid three point shooter at 38% which was the biggest issue with Larry Hughes and why he didnt work out
- I think they are going to miss Joe Smith, he was a big contributer for them and gave them four very solid big men. The question will be can J.J. Hickson step up into that role as a rookie.
- How will Mo Williams handle being off the ball, in Milwaukee he started at point and Michael Redd was the off the ball player, that offense has and will always run through LeBron how will Williams adjust to not getting nearly the touches he has in the past.
- Despite his stats increase Milwaukee hasn’t made the playoffs the last two years with Williams, Redd and Bogut so how much is he a stats player vs a good player? (cue tom mandel with the wins of wages stat :))
- Finally continuity. The cavs seem to make a big trade at every opportunity (joe smith and ben wallace and wally szczerbiak) and will most likely have one more big left in them before the trade deadline (big eric snow contract coming off the books along with szczerbiak) will this team ever learn to play together with the constant changes in roster?

Comment from Wizfan4life
Time August 14, 2008 at 11:51 AM

I think this trade will work in favor for the Cavs because Lebron basically gets most of the points for the team, and they usually run into difficulty when he isn’t shooting well because they don’t have much more fire power besides some of their bench…….I think Mo Williams will put some pressure of of Lebron when teams are double teaming him, and I think it will force teams to put more pressure on lebron and Mo, but leaving the low post positions vulnerable in the process…….with Big Ben and Ilgauskus rebounding, it’s kinda hard for the team not to do well

Comment from Wizfan4life
Time August 14, 2008 at 11:52 AM

I think the Cavs use big expiring contracts to their advantage……anyone see any of our player’s expiring contracts in the next few years with some possible trade scenarios?

Comment from Wizfan4life
Time August 14, 2008 at 12:14 PM

I think the Wizards need to watch the Knicks, the 76ers, the Hawks the Pistons, and the Cavs because I think they are the eastern conference teams that will be the tough ones to beat….. I say the Knicks because we usually have trouble beating them, and because they have a new coach and first round pick. I say the 76ers because they are a new emerging force in the East with Elton Brand.
I say the Hawks because they are only gonna get better. and I say the Pistons/Cavs because they have new players coming in who are expected to produce well for them, and because we usually have trouble beating these 2 teams…….Many of yall are probably surprised I didn’t put the Celtics; I didn’t put them because they lost James Posey and because we were the only team who beat them 3 times during the regular season (without Arenas and Thomas I might add).
What are yalls opinions on these teams? Do you agree, or are there other eastern conference teams that are more of a threat than the ones I mentioned?

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 14, 2008 at 2:24 PM

SportsWiz — Maurice Williams is an above average player and about the 15th best point guard in the league. He is not as productive statistically as Antonio, however — to take one example. He is *definitely* not someone who makes a huge difference. But… he is not the reason Milwaukee hasn’t made the playoffs. Depending on his role w/ Cleveland, and on whether they sign West, etc., he may help them.

On the other hand, they gave up Joe Smith, who *definitely* helped them, and Damon Jones who is a better 3 point shooter than Williams (if that was what they were looking for). It would be *a lot* for JJ Hickson to fill Joe Smith’s shoes. On balance, I don’t see how this trade much improves Cleveland.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 14, 2008 at 2:35 PM

I don’t see how the Knicks can be much improved this year, but who knows.

Philadelphia will be a force, however — assuming Brand is back to the player he was before his injury. If so, I think they have leapfrogged us and Cleveland (sorry guys).

Toronto hasn’t improved itself; they may have gotten worse. Indiana should be better, but not enormously so. NJ is going sideways. The Hawks may be a worse team; they lost one of their best players, Josh Childress. If Wade is back, then Miami could be worrisome, because Marion is a terrific player too. No center, however. Orlando should be about the same as last year.

The top teams in the East are still Boston and Detroit.

How about us? Are we better? Really, it all depends on our bench; we have good starters and two good reserves (if Etan comes back all the way). After that, it’s all about the kids.

Comment from SportzWiz
Time August 14, 2008 at 2:39 PM

Intersting take by Marty Burns on si.com he really believes Detroit is going to fall off this year.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 14, 2008 at 5:31 PM

Detroit won 59 games last year. That is a very good season. Whom have they lost that will drop them to 6th in the playoff rankings? I think Marty Burns is blowing smoke.

Comment from gee wiz
Time August 14, 2008 at 7:20 PM

well here i come! firstly yes we did beat the celtics 3 times last year but they won the championship and once again we did not make past the first round so respect should be given to them. mo williams does bring firepower ladies and gentlemen, he lit us up last year, the cavs are going to miss joe smith though. do not sleep on the bucks they are locked and loaded this year. ridnour, redd, bogut, alexander, richard jefferson, villanueva, bell, damon jones hell thats deeper than we are right now…. well almost. but they will make the playoffs. people we are definitely in the bottom 4 right now considering we did not improve. we have a healthy gilbert and etan and a new rookie. but the only thing new is a rookie. we need to take page out of the sixers and cavs book this summer and make improving our roster a must. rest assure boston, cleveland, orlando, and detroit have this thing in the bag right now. dumars made the comment about making big changes but the core still exists with yet another big man to the fold. besides those four the heat just like the cavs have a star, and with a star on ur roster ur always in the game. but marion is a hustler and beasly is tough. haslem is a warrior also so ur looking at a mean starting 4 lol but thats about it. but they will be in the playoffs. look out for the bucks, raptors, nets, hawks, sixers and others. washington has seems very confident with their team but they may have to get their hands on the trigger and add some more bullets lol to washington (get it)

Comment from neal
Time August 14, 2008 at 11:20 PM

The Wiz will be in the thick of things if Arenas is as good as new and learned a thing or two from the bench last year, if we stay healthy, if Young and Blatche have progressed, and if Ayers makes further progress in getting the guys to play tough D consistently.

I look for Thomas to play well until he gets hurt. Then we’ll see McGee, but he’ll play like a rookie, unfortunately.

Pecherov looks to be 13th on the overall depth chart. Only Brown will play less than him.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 15, 2008 at 8:09 AM

Well, I’m not too worried about the Bucks, gee wiz. Nor the Nets, nor the Knicks. Not the Hawks either.

From where I sit, the Raptors have not gotten better; if anything, they’ve regressed a little. O’Neal looks washed up, and they lost Carlos Delfino, who was very effective off the bench. Plus, they are dragging the dead weight of Bargnani.

But the Sixers have improved enormously; as I said in a previous comment, they look to have leapfrogged us.

It’s hard for me to imagine that we’ll finish any higher than 5th in the East. Does anyone really think we are better than the Celtics, Pistons or Magic? And, do you really think a team that finished 22-11 and then added Elton Brand isn’t a powerhouse? Then there’s Cleveland.

But, hope springs eternal — we must be a 50 win team, right?

Comment from SportzWiz
Time August 15, 2008 at 9:42 AM

If this team can win 43 games without Gilbert I gotta believe they can win 50 with him.

Tell me a team that had this many injuries
Gilbert missed 69 games (might as well call it the whole season)
Caron Missed 24 games
Antonio Daniels missed 11 games
Etan Thomas season
Pech - 33 games to start the season

Comment from gee wiz
Time August 15, 2008 at 10:18 AM

true tom on the hawks, nets, and raps but will a new sense of fresh air teams build confidence and get excited. i will nod my head to those three teams but do not sleep on the bucks. seems like u and u are on the same page when it comes to the wiz being 5th this season. at our extreme best we can fight for third with the magic and sixers. arenas’s health, on the entire teams dedication to improvement with their own game will play a big role in how far we can go

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 15, 2008 at 1:07 PM

SportsWiz — the best argument for your point of view is what we did in the playoffs in ‘04-05. Everyone was healthy and we got to the 2d round.

But, we didn’t win 50 games that season. And we did have Larry Hughes in his prime; he had the best year of his career that season.

Comment from SportzWiz
Time August 15, 2008 at 1:20 PM

Looking at that team I like this team a lot more.

I like arenas and jamison and butler of 08 more than hughes, jamison and arenas of 05.
Id rather have AD than Juan Dixon. Brendan is a much better player today than he was in 05. Id rather have DeShawn than Jared Jeffries (since i flipped hughes and cb3 i had to flip those two). Kwame vs. Dray, I would take Dray.

I think you catch my drift I think this team can and will be a lot better assumming health is not an issue.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 15, 2008 at 1:53 PM

Obviously, Caron is overall the better player, but that was Larry’s best year ever, and it was equivalent to Caron’s ‘07-08.

Daniels is a *much* better NBA player than Juan Dixon.

Between Kwame and Dray no big deal, but Jeffries was *much* more productive than DS, (tho of course I’d rather have the guys we have now for a zillion reasons), and Ruffin produced more than Songaila (believe it or not, that’s what the numbers say). Haywood has improved over the years, but ‘04-05 was his best year before last year.

We had a weird bench, with Peeler, Samaki Walker, Steve Blake (in his rookie year, I think), Jarvis, Laron Profit and Dixon — none of whom produced much.

Daniels is the big improvement, but there have been some losses of productivity. Once again — it really comes down to the kids. Can the bench step up?

Comment from r55
Time August 15, 2008 at 2:37 PM

hey sportswiz speaking of caron and gil have you seen them around at all and do you know how they are doing

Comment from SportzWiz
Time August 15, 2008 at 3:15 PM

I saw Caron two days ago and heard this from a source very very close to him “He’s in the best shape of his life.” He said he’s just working out like a machine.

Gil has been around as well working out and he actually shot a commercial for adidas today, i’ll have pictures coming up soon from behind-the-scenes.

Pech has also been at the facility basically everyday shooting around as well as DeShawn.

I will be taking my last week of vacation before the season gets underway next week but when i return im guessing things will pick up with players coming in and hopefully we can get some good stuff for you guys.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 15, 2008 at 3:50 PM

Have fun, SportsWiz — are you getting away?

Glad to hear that the guys are in the building getting ready. Video, photos, interviews — get us the works when you return!

Comment from SportzWiz
Time August 15, 2008 at 4:16 PM

i am getting away, heading to my favorite midwestern city in the summer, Chicago!

I’ll do what i can Tom! Have a good week everyone.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 15, 2008 at 4:59 PM

Chicago is my home town, SportsWiz. I grew up in Uptown (Agatite and Clarendon) and went to the University of Chicago for most of a decade.

Comment from SportzWiz
Time August 15, 2008 at 5:12 PM

I love Chi-town TOM! (not the sports teams or the fans)

I’ll be staying with family and friends for the week in Wrigleyville, Lincoln Park, Old Town and Bucktown (I know more people in that city than in DC :))

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 15, 2008 at 8:19 PM

All neighborhoods I know very well. Enjoy yourself.