Comment from Rick
Time October 20, 2008 at 2:06 PM

i just read that Nick Young will need surgery on his knee, but that he won’t do it until after the season? I’m not a doctor, but considering the way this season is starting to unfold, maybe it makes sense for him to just go ahead and have the surgery now.

Comment from aznzero
Time October 20, 2008 at 2:19 PM

hey rick,
where did you read that Nick needed surgery?

Comment from GlingGling
Time October 20, 2008 at 2:20 PM

Rick this happens more often then you think. Technically even Gilbert didn’t need the surgery on knee this last time but the debris floating around were too uncomfortable for him to deal with (at least that’s the impression I got from his blog post). AD could have had surgery on his wrist last season, in fact Brendan has the same injury. AD say he could live through the pain because it happened to his off hand. There seem to be many injuries that “can’t get worse” unless you suffer a similar situation as to what caused the original injury. Hell, players even play on injuries that can get worse. Jermain O’Neil played with a torn ACL for two and half years. He’s a good example for getting surgery out of the way immediately.

In the NBA, as in many sports, injuries have a huge gray area.

Comment from GlingGling
Time October 20, 2008 at 2:26 PM

From Gil’s blog,

So it was right before I was going to work them out and we were all talking and they were seeing where my mind is at and I told them that if it wasn’t for this lagging in the back of my knee I would be fine. I can play through swelling and pain, but this little thing going on down there was irritating me.

Eventually I asked the trainer, “When do you think this will go away and when do you think I can get back on the floor?”

He was like, “Realistically, you know you were going to miss preseason.”

And I was like, “Yeah …”

And he was like, “Well, you might miss the first month of this season too.”

So I was like, “Well, I might as well go and get it cleaned out then.”

All the doctors said that if I do get it cleaned out, then it might help me out in the long run because it might actually speed up my recovery because I won’t have that pain that’s keeping me from the stuff I need to be doing.

I was like, “Well, I really don’t want to operate on my knee again, but if that’s what’s going to help, then I guess I have to.”

—–

In my mind that explanation is filled with gray. It sounds like he could have gone either way, but the prospect of the surgery helping him won out.

Comment from SportzWiz
Time October 20, 2008 at 2:56 PM

Nick went through a full practice today, and I saw him doing up and under reverse layups. The big question will see how his knee responds tomorrow. But this is one thing that I wouldn’t be overly concerned about at this time.

Comment from Rick
Time October 20, 2008 at 3:12 PM

doctors often answer questions in shades of gray, because that is the reality. they don’t know for sure. the problem i have with guys playing hurt, or playing in pain is that the body will compensate to try to protect itself and prevent the pain and can cause you to hurt something else.

nick is very valuable to this team, but more so in the long term than for the beginning of this season.

Comment from Rick
Time October 20, 2008 at 4:16 PM

On a separate note, I’d really like to see Blatche in the starting lineup. He played really well last year in the games that he started. Maybe is it just a mental thing for him (and he needs to get over it), but I say if it works, let’s go with it! Especially when there seems to be so much that is not working right now.

Comment from GlingGling
Time October 20, 2008 at 4:24 PM

Rick, Andray and Etan might split a few starts. I feel like he’ll get some starts along the line but at the same time as long as Etan is healthy they’ll probably try to keep him in that starting role so he gets his rhythm back. Etan IS our center now and we need him comfortable.

Comment from GlingGling
Time October 20, 2008 at 4:25 PM

aznzero, the Wizards Insider has a post talking about it.

Comment from GlingGling
Time October 20, 2008 at 4:35 PM

SportzWiz, impressing the coach is step number one. Good job JaVale.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time October 20, 2008 at 5:42 PM

Good news in the Post article about JaVale! This could get interesting.

Comment from neal
Time October 20, 2008 at 7:06 PM

I think the issue is who will back up Thomas, not whether he will be the starter. I presume Jordan was just being coy to emphasize that nothing is guaranteed. McGee will have made a major impact if he is in the regular rotation, even as a backup.

At this point it looks to me like McGee, surprisingly, is winning the competition to be the backup C. And McGuire may be shooting himself out of the regular rotation, making Blatche the backup SF.

The Wiz usually start the regular season slowly. That may be because Jordan places more emphasis in the preseason on testing the reserves than getting the starters ready. Hard to say which idea is better in the long run.

Comment from GlingGling
Time October 20, 2008 at 7:25 PM

Grif, thanks for the heads up on that article.

Neal, I agree. I highly doubt McGee will be starting at center early in the season and maybe not even in the entire year. McGee is making a great case for backup center and if he keeps working as hard as he’s been, he will be backup center until Haywood gets back. It’s gonna be interesting to see how the 3,4,5 backups play out with four guys vying for minutes.

Comment from JC
Time October 20, 2008 at 9:51 PM

Hey SportzWiz,Jc here any more opinions on the roster?

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time October 20, 2008 at 10:53 PM

Neal I wouldn’t pencil Andray in at the back up 3 just yet. They haven’t played McGuire at the 3 yet. All, or most, of his minutes have been at the 2. He doesn’t look very comfortable there at all. Still he has looked good in almost every way but his shooting. I think he will be a valuable player at the 3 this year. The 2 remains questionable lol.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time October 20, 2008 at 10:56 PM

I wish Etan could play the 4 just a little bit. If he could we would really have a lot of big man versatility with the quick development of JaVale.

Comment from GlingGling
Time October 20, 2008 at 11:58 PM

Grifon, I’d never put McGuire at the 2 in the regular season although they may have put him there to try to foster his quickness, ball handling, and passing. Most 3s can play at least a little 2. I think he can be a very good 3.

As for Etan playing the 4, it likely won’t happen. Though it might be interesting to see Etan and JaVale out there together.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time October 21, 2008 at 2:42 AM

GlingGling… as for Etan playing the 4, it likely won’t happen. You can take out the “likely” part LOL. Etan Can Not play the 4.. I was just wishing he could.

McGuire hasn’t played a minute yet at the 3 and I’m not really sure why? Maybe they are worried more than they are saying about Nick’s Knee? Aren’t we tired as fans hearing about knees? These are young men… very young men? Why all the injuries? Kornheiser should have never said ONE WORD about the curse of the “Le Bullet”. Michael Wilbon… throttle that guy would ya?

Comment from neal
Time October 21, 2008 at 8:32 AM

I think in the Princeton offense 4 guys have to be able to drive and shoot from the perimeter. That doesn’t make Thomas a very good fit for PF. Moreover, he thinks and plays like a C. And a pretty good one.

OK, I’m premature about counting McGuire out from backing up Butler. But I don’t think he’s wrapped up that spot either.

I agree Gling, it will be interesting to see how things play out.

Comment from SportzWiz
Time October 21, 2008 at 9:42 AM

Just an fyi on McGuire. He along with Dee Brown and JaVale were singled out by Eddie Jordan for having good games overseas.

Dom isn’t a great scorer, but the guy rebounds the ball very well, he blocks shots and he plays good defense. And his offensive game has gotten better, when Nick gets back Dom will move to the three where he will fit in better offensively, but he can guard several positions which makes him a very nice player coming off the bench.

Comment from GlingGling
Time October 21, 2008 at 10:53 AM

Good to hear SportzWiz, those are the guys I like to hear good news about.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time October 21, 2008 at 11:33 AM

When Etan came into the league, it was thought that he’d move from college 5 to nba 4, but he couldn’t play the position.

Interestingly, back then he was listed at 6’8″ (ok for a 4). Once he moved to the 5, they started listing his height as 6’10″ !

That’s bad news about Nick’s knee. Right now, almost his entire game depends on natural athleticism instead of Basketball IQ; maybe he’ll have to up his understanding of the game? Hope he can get himself to do it.

Dominic has to be able to make open jumpers at some reasonable clip, just to keep defenders honest. But, he brings so much other stuff to the game I think he’ll be just fine.

Comment from slwiz
Time October 21, 2008 at 1:41 PM

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2008-10-21-instant-replay-notes_N.htm

I have some concerns about misuse towards disruption of flow of the game. I can see it could be good if a toe was in the line or just over the line. And it would help if a player was fouled in the middle of shooting a “well, was it a 2 or 3 point shot”. Any other comments?