Comment from aznzero
Time November 6, 2008 at 11:05 AM

i agree dave the time is now. we are the only team not to win in the east.

i just read on the paper that jordan promises changes especially towards the veterans. i wish he wouldve done that in the game instead of noticing it after the loss.

Comment from Reuben
Time November 6, 2008 at 11:07 AM

After that loss I can tell it will be a rough season

Comment from aznzero
Time November 6, 2008 at 11:23 AM

Dave Hopla must not be too happy about the free thorws

Comment from SportzWiz
Time November 6, 2008 at 11:58 AM

Hey guys im going to head down to practice in about an hour, I’m guessing this will be an intense practice as the guys most likely are not happy about yesterday’s fourth quarter performance.

I will post whatever audio i receive from the players and coaches.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time November 6, 2008 at 12:35 PM

Let’s hope not too intense. We don’t need any more injuries. You are probably right though SportzWiz. The veterans have been outplayed by the reserves since the opening day of training camp. It is probably becoming a “pride” issue with them.

Comment from SportzWiz
Time November 6, 2008 at 12:36 PM

How about “focused practice” grifonracing .

Comment from aznzero
Time November 6, 2008 at 12:43 PM

I hope they practice free throws

Comment from wiz-skins07
Time November 6, 2008 at 1:31 PM

I think we should get either Juan Dixon or Nick Young into the starting line-up. We need to keep one of them on the bench to bring that punch we need.

Also we should give JaVale McGee some more PT. He had 9 pts 5 rebs and 1 block in 13 mins last night. If we give him 30 mins can he double that? if he can get 15 pts, 10 rebs, and 2/3 blocks. He would be a monster contributer for his rookie season.

Comment from gbkdc
Time November 6, 2008 at 1:44 PM

I was so tired/sick last night that I fell asleep in the first quarter! Maybe I am not that upset that I missed the rest of the game, though. Sounds like Darius played at center again (not good), McGee played really well, Nick & Juan are remaining true to form, and even McGuire did some good things. I am really pulling for him. I don’t know why… I just have a feeling that he’s going to “get it” sometime.

Tomorrow is my birthday so maybe they will win one for me!

Comment from jdmek9tec
Time November 6, 2008 at 1:59 PM

I know everyone was pretty upset last night, but its obvious we need to do something different. Coach Jordan needs to get a different starting line up or at least play McGee at the end. I still cant get that out of my head. We were playing very well, then he subs out McGuire and McGee which killed the flow and energy.

starters;
Dixon
Young
Butler
Jamison
Mcgee

Comment from SportzWiz
Time November 6, 2008 at 2:47 PM

I will have coach’s audio from practice as well as Nick coming shortly.

Comment from d.c.
Time November 6, 2008 at 3:00 PM

Y is Eddie Jordan afraid to try new things with his players.Give Nick Young the starting 2 spot,and live and die with him. Start Juan dixon instead of Daniels.How about playing Jamison or Caron off the bench sometimes.Put a little more responsibility on Mcguire,and Blache. Stars are born when you least expect it.Put some trust in them.The thing i love about Jamison is that he’s all about team.He’ll come off the bench if it will help teams win.
Somewhere along the line u gotta take the time to develop your young players and i don’t see what is lost by benching ds or daniels.I don’t need the brett Favre of the nba at the 2 with a consecutive games streak and thats it.At the the 2 u’d like results.Deshawn is a bench player at best,and i don’t care about the threes he’s made in the past he’s not a three point shooter,he’s a streak shooter,and don’t give me dat garbage about his D,because that’s mediocre too.The problem is EJ’s inability to define and coach this team into their roles.This team looks very unorganized and lacks confidence in what they are doing.There is a huge difference between a team having the talent to play and by chance they win how ever many games, versus that team with talent playing with intent and purpose and on the same page.That’s where identity comes in and this team is lacking in that department.The offense you run isn’t your identity. The character and commitment to win by every individual on the floor is what fuels identity.Eveybody was drinking the wiz Kool-Aid last year about them getting tough in the playoffs by giving hard fouls.For many of you tired of seeing a soft team it was a welcome sight. Too many others it was a soft team just committing fouls. Toughness is in making your mind up that you are gonna play sound defense everytime down the floor,or not settling for the outside shot more often than you should. When you don’t have an identity you run the risk of looking for a different formula every season to generate wins.It seems to me that every year EJ spends half of the season going through the motions with the team and shufflin’ rotations.And lets not blame injuries.
The success this team has had is in spite of Eddie Jordan not because of him.And for all of you thinking it’s gonna be this huge change when Gil comes back think again.What this team needed in the offseason was additions that bring defensive effort and intesity towards approaching this game with a workman like attitude, not a 100 million dollar one trick pony.
Jerry Sloan coaches a team not nearly as talented as the wizards,but they play with intent,and they understand their roles in the game they play.thats y u can have a Milsap as a young player make huge strides.The coaches coach over there,and they have the players understanding what it means to play together.This team isn’t committed,and they get away with it.

Comment from Archdruid
Time November 6, 2008 at 3:30 PM

Time for change. I’m not going to watch, in TV or at the stadium, if Stevenson and Daniels make up the starting team. Please, coach, use your rookies or newbies. Don’t stunt their growth because they are new. Mason is becoming a star or at least well-known when he got out of Washington. Using the same combination especially in the last two playoffs is already enough revelation. Don’t wait for Arenas and just let the new batch shine. Change, and you can.

Comment from Reuben
Time November 6, 2008 at 3:32 PM

We obviously need to make some changes. Either drastic or minimal. I think a different starting lineup is a good idea. Maybe trading DeShawn. I dont really know

Comment from wizards_fusion
Time November 6, 2008 at 3:38 PM

If you look at the Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs, you’ll see that they have legimate starters coming off the bench (Kirilenko and Ginobili). Both Kirilenko and Ginobili get starter minutes (at least 30 mpg) and they help their team patch a weak bench.

I think Eddie Jordan should do something similar for the Wizards. Aside from Butler, I don’t have a problem with him demoting any other current starter to the bench. The Wizards bench is still a work in progress, so having demoted starters will make them more hungry to get minutes back (i.e., they’ll hopefully play harder and smarter).

Ernie Grunfeld didn’t change the core roster and Eddie Jordan didn’t really change the rotation. In order to stop the bleeding of losing, something’s got to give. I vote for change and so should you if you care about the Wizards. Losing games while experimenting with personnel will give the coaching staff better insight on what the team has and what needs to be done for improvement. Keeping the status quo does nothing.

Comment from SportzWiz
Time November 6, 2008 at 3:49 PM

fans I would recommend you listen to minutes 2-6 of Eddie talking to the media on the link above.

Comment from aznzero
Time November 6, 2008 at 3:50 PM

from the audio it seems like eddie notices the second teams energy. why not reward instead of pulling them out. all of us are frustrated we are not winning. i just wanna see us win.

Comment from Bridge
Time November 6, 2008 at 4:52 PM

Some of y’all suck as fans – seriously. I was at the game yesterday and they played HARD! People wanna maybe blame turnovers, but the Bucks also had their share (Wiz=19; Bucks=17). And I’m so sick of people saying that NY and Juan has “great chemistry” together, or that bull about AD and DS slowing us down – learn how to watch games for yourselves people, and not be so quick to leech on with what everyone else is saying. NY and Juan was not great together last night in my opinion – they were great as individuals – that “great chemistry” that y’all saw the other night just kinda happened. NY is doing great; Juan is doing great, but since they’re both out there doing great together people just wanna sum things up by saying that they have “great chemistry.” I don’t really wanna say who should start over who when it comes to DS and NY, but what I would say is that both should be getting equal time. No complaints about AD here…I think that he should play D-Song and McGee at C – yeah D-Song don’t really got the size, but he is aggressive. AB should stay Twan’s backup at PF. We need rebounds – how about putting D-Mac in more, and when he’s in, put Caron at SG or hell, play both at whatever position because that’s what Scott Skiles did – he played both his PGs (Luke and Sessions) for a long time at the same time. Pech needs more time because he barely played yesterday and I think that he would have been a huge help.

It’s just kinda sad – how quick people are to turn against people and point the finger. That unhealthy factor is getting a bit old; that’s becoming a tired excuse. This team can do it, but the coach gotta know how to do it first. Do they still do that Vets vs. “Rooks” thing during practices? If so, maybe mix that stuff up so that Vets and Rooks feel comfortable playing WITH each other instead of against each other. You know, they felt just as bad losing yesterday – they walked off that court with their heads down and the Wizards fans (that they have) here in Milwaukee just couldn’t understand that; we felt that they had no reason to walk with their heads down. KEEP YA HEAD UP GUYS!!

I’m done with this blog –
(DJ, Glenn, SportzWiz and crew, keep up the good work)

Comment from neal
Time November 6, 2008 at 5:33 PM

I’m not for making drastic changes. If a guy is doing well as backup (Young & McGee) increase his minutes gradually. Don’t give him the pressure of starting all of a sudden. And decrease the starters’ minutes gradually if they’re not doing well. Gotta have a little faith in them. The guys shouldn’t get the idea that if they have a couple of bad games in a row they’ll be demoted. Then they’ll start pressing to do something right if they’re having a bad game. That’s not good.

McGuire’s going to have to start hitting open jump shots in prime time. Otherwise, who’s going to spell Butler when he comes out? Blatche? I hope not.

Comment from SportzWiz
Time November 6, 2008 at 5:44 PM

Don’t leave Bridge!!!!!!!!!!

Comment from Rick
Time November 6, 2008 at 5:52 PM

Bridge you make some good points.

But there is really only one thing that gets fans playing the blame game, it’s losing. Win and all will be forgiven. Lose games and lose your job. That is simply the reality in professional sports. You can say, it’s just three games, or point to the bad start last season. But the fact is, it is a bad start that NOBODY wanted.

As a fan, I say you can play hard and earn my respect, but you need to win games if you want to earn (or keep if we are talking about the coach) your salary.

Comment from getabigboyoffense
Time November 6, 2008 at 6:19 PM

It all comes down to creating situations in which the players can succeed.

Folks are complaining about AB’s performance when he only seems to get the ball at the top of the key or deep in the corner with few seconds left on the shot clock and he has to try to create something. Why would you use a player with AB’s skills as the person who runs up to set a high screen for AD? This kid would shine in a NBA offense with a coach who could recognize his skills and get him the ball when he’s in a position to score.

Ernie G., either get a better coach or trade AB somewhere where he can come back to DC and kick our butts; although, I’d prefer it if you got a real NBA coach.

Comment from Rick
Time November 6, 2008 at 6:30 PM

bigboy, you make even better points. that is my biggest complaint about EJ’s treatment of Blatche. There are lots of comments by the coach and staff about his lack of consistency. But when Blatche is in the game they pretty much use him as if he were a big useless body on offense. Ala Thomas and Haywood.

Comment from slwiz
Time November 6, 2008 at 7:09 PM

SportzWiz; thanks for letting me know audios are from practices and that not just dj/glen/you are there but other media. I’m looking for after game audio/video post game press conferences. Does that ever get put on the wizard.com or blogcast sites? For instance rockets.com video gallery link http://www.nba.com/rockets/gallery/videoplayer.html opens to several different press conferences. Sometimes players are interviewed, too, after the games. Is that something we could get up; as well as the audio practice interviews? If it’s there already I must be missing it! Thanks

Comment from slwiz
Time November 6, 2008 at 7:11 PM

Also, I’d like for Bridge to know I appreciate the comments and hope you will continue to blog when you can. Maybe if the team starts winning and things calm down you’ll feel up to blogging again!! Sure hope so!! The thought about mixing up the rookies and veterens, in practice; that’s an example of interesting and informative. It makes me stop and think and I like that. If it works in practice why not in a game?

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time November 6, 2008 at 7:15 PM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GBKDC !

Comment from jeffmalone1990
Time November 6, 2008 at 7:15 PM

All the doom and gloom, guys listen this is really early in the season, the bottom line is we just need a win in anyway we can get it. Maybe a shake up in the starting line up, maybe playing the bench for longer stretches, at this point whatever works we just need a win. Coach Jordan is a good coach, we need to toe the line until we can get healthy. I will say it again our bench play will take us to the next level this year.

Comment from ChenierFan
Time November 6, 2008 at 7:46 PM

Dear Eddie,

Great game last night. You know how we all admire you – you being the longest tenured coach in the East and all. And that Princeton offence, the way it pulls your big guys away from the basket – beautiful to watch. I just want to say thank you for last night’s game. You sure had us on the ropes with that rookie stuffing it down our throats and Young and Dixon working so well together. I really owe you one for putting Daniels and Stevenson back in to finish the game. That’s the only way we could have built up the 18 pt lead in the first quarter and the only way we could have come back in the fourth. Next time I’m in DC the beer is on me.

Best wishes,
Scott

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time November 6, 2008 at 7:50 PM

I’m more encouraged than worried.

Some of the starters are, shall we say, not playing up to their potential right now. We know they can play. It’s very encouraging to see players like Nick, Juan, and JaVale start to shine. Dominic’s shot is eluding him, but, he plays very tough defense and grabs more than his share of rebounds. Once he feels comfortable out there offensively I think not only will his shot fall but I think you will also see some mad drives to the basket from him. Someone made a very good point. We can’t keep getting Andray the ball with 3 seconds left on the shot clock and him out of position and expect him to do anything more than throw up a prayer. He needs to let some of the “finesse” go and attack the rim a little bit more. That will build his confidence and cut down on some of the silly turnovers. I’d like to see a little more of Pesh. I keep hearing about how much he impresses in practice. Let’s see a little more of that in a game.

Our starters will start clicking and our young guys are really starting to shine. I’m encouraged.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time November 6, 2008 at 8:03 PM

LOL Chenier Fan. Cold, but, very funny.

Comment from GlingGling
Time November 6, 2008 at 9:54 PM

I’m with you Bridge.

There are some ungrateful fans here. Last night the Wiz played the best they have in three games. Things are definitely improving and people still say, “But we didn’t win.” Are you really trying to tell me the game was unenjoyable? You think the Wizards organization is incompetent even though everyone there has devoted huge parts of their lives to basketball. Teams win and teams lose, that’s what they do. We have to take these losses and learn from them, not act like we know more about basketball than the Wizards. If you have questions, ask questions courteously and appreciate when SportzWiz or Dave answers it.

Please try to use the energy from your emotions for something productive.

Saying that, Eddie’s audio was good. We’ll see minutes keep moving over to the bench. Antawn looked a little off last night, that’ll fix itself. I honestly don’t even remember Caron getting all those points. He had many turnovers though.

Did you guys happen to notice that McGee, Young, Dixon and McGuire accounted for only two turnovers in over 71 minutes played.

I think Bridge might have meant “done with this post.” At least I hope so, we need more fans like her. slwiz and jeffmalone1990 I appreciate your positivity as well.

Comment from neal
Time November 6, 2008 at 10:15 PM

Are you getting the message Bridge? We want you to stay. Need your energy and enthusiasm.

Comment from neal
Time November 6, 2008 at 10:17 PM

Bridge, would you want me to quit blogging if I didn’t agree with you? Disagreement is what makes all this interesting.

Comment from slwiz
Time November 6, 2008 at 11:28 PM

I’m trying to see “interesting” and “enjoyable” in disagreement!! It’s tough! But I will keep trying and as long as Coach does comment on player rotation and other issues that fans bring up; it helps. Thanks SportzWiz for the admonition to listen to Coach’s audio! It helps to know “consideration is under evaluation” and he gave a wonderful definition for “patience”. For me I took it to mean for the Wiz and him as Coach (hear his audio per above link). Patience, well; that’s not my forte exactly; but I’ll try. I didn’t exactly give out kudos in the Detroit game or in the Bucks game. But there is improvement and success! For starters and for bench players; regardless of the rotation issues. Hopefully against the New York Nicks tomorrow night I can blog about the improvement and successes not just harp and dwell on who’s coming in first off the bench and other player rotation issues. I believe Eddie in his way has the teams confidence so me as a fan; one goal is I’d like to try and not bail out. It’s hard because I’m so far away; I so much want to see (hear) about “my guy” but it does help when Coach is open and I believe the way the media asked the questions that tact helped Coach to not be defensive. Well maybe there at the end; but somebody got the wrong info and he set everybody straight from his viewpoint anyway. LOL I may let out a couple OMG’s, but if I can get a couple kudos in; that’s my second goal. Again, thanks to you bloggers who have welcomed me to the blog and of course to dj/glen/sportzwiz who try to keep us fans informed and close to the action; as if we were in the gym!! Love those dj audio post game featured great plays!

Comment from Bridge
Time November 6, 2008 at 11:30 PM

I like low-key(ness), so just KNOW that I don’t say things to get attention or to try to be right all the time. I just get so mad sometimes. Y’all don’t really understand how much I love basketball, and that stemmed from a family tradition and in our tradition, we were/are VERY loyal to our team – - it’s like basketball is in my blood or something. I just tell things like I see things, you know. It’s not rocket science knowing that sometimes ya just are gonna lose.

“As a fan, I say you can play hard and earn my respect, but you need to win games if you want to earn (or keep if we are talking about the coach) your salary.” – - Rick……*Rick, there’s like a gazillion games left; you act like the Wiz are going to be 0-gazillion – they are only 0-3.

“I think Bridge might have meant “done with this post.” At least I hope so, we need more fans like her. slwiz and jeffmalone1990 I appreciate your positivity as well.” – - GG……..*(A to all my bloggers) Alright, yeah, that’s what I meant. I love people’s opinions – of course it keeps the blog jumpin’. For the Wizards I like seeing the glass as half-full because they DO play hard and they just seem like a great group of guys. This is the most diverse and charismatic team in the league. I believe, Dammit!

GO WIZARDS!

Comment from slwiz
Time November 7, 2008 at 12:22 AM

Funny, but I know the Wiz are preparing for the Nicks and I feel like I’m preparing too! Theres so much to learn! Sometimes in the boxscore there is a +-. What exactly does that mean and how is it calculated? And Tom if you answer (others please feel free as I think Tom’s on the road some) please use the KISS method!! LOL I’m not a statistical genuis by any means but I do know a little about numbers and counting:) I did well with algebra but not geometry!! LOL And yeah, yeah I do know how much you love basketball, Bridge; and I do know you are one loyal fan!! Keep it up!! And I do know it was anger not attention that caused you to back away; some others had to step away, too; hope they will be back for the game against the NY Nicks as it’s a home game and the blog will be a jumpin’!!

Comment from GlingGling
Time November 7, 2008 at 1:01 AM

neal, it’s not about disagreement. Disagreement is arguing about rotation, something we’ve done time and again. It’s about fickle the nature of many fans. It’s about people talking about Eddie like they are above him, like they know more than him. I don’t enjoy having to tolerate such derisive comments, which is why I will continue to advocate against them.

Comment from GlingGling
Time November 7, 2008 at 1:07 AM

slwiz, it is the Lenovo stat. There is a little blurb about it on this page.

http://www.nba.com/statistics/plusminus/plusminus.jsp

Comment from wizfan and the kid
Time November 7, 2008 at 1:31 AM

Holy smokes! What has gotten into this place? We have not reached the bad start we had last year and all of sudden people are flying off the handle? I am sorry I even mentioned Coach Jordan yesterday. People, the man is not perfect, but he is a solid coach.
The people that should be upset are Coach Ayers and Dave Hopla. Especially Coach Ayers. It is his defensive schemes that are being poorly executed. And the foul shooting has been… foul. Also, last night you were missing some size. Bogat vs. Etan would have been a better match up than Darius. I am still unclear why Pech, who we were told by Coach Jordan, “Can bang inside” did not get a chance to show it last night near the end of the game.

Anyhow, the real deal is this: It is early. Caron played a great game and came up silly at the end (turn overs and fouls), something that will not happen as the season goes on and we are contending more. We lost because of our mistakes. We beat ourselves. And that, frankly, is good news.

Oh, and to whomever is saying to give Andray more playing time, he better earn it. His defense is awful and fouls much too often because his hustle is not there. You can see him looking at McGee and thinking about losing more playing time. The question is, will he do what it takes to get up and get going.

Overall folks… hang in there. Time to say: Go Wiz!

Comment from gbkdc
Time November 7, 2008 at 10:37 AM

Bridge, I do hope you will stay. But I understand why people are negative sometimes. I think we all get frustrated and upset when our team loses, and we come here to commisserate, share the pain a little bit, and vent. So I understand some of the negative posts. We’re all only human. And I agree also that I prefer to hear the positives, which is why I always look for AUNDRA’S posts because he is so positive! But I don’t blame people for wanting to vent, pointing out things that they didn’t agree with or didn’t understand, etc. It seems to me like this is the right place for venting after losses. And also for celebrating after wins!