Tuesday Update
The Wizards are back at the practice court today. After the loss last night Coach Tap said there would be a focus on rebounding the basketball today in practice. He also had this to say about the rebounding effort.
“Defensive rebounding makes the difference in the game. You haven’t made a stop defensively until you have secured the ball. Theoretically we had good stops on a number of occasions tonight, but we were unable to come up with the ball. We have to focus in on rebounding at practice, so we can give ourselves a better chance during the game.”
Tap also talked about the need to stop playing from behind. This has obviously been an issue all year, and last night was no different. The Wizards made a big run in the third, but they used up a lot of energy in the process. Anyway, I should be back around early this afternoon and I will let you know what I hear.
UPDATE:
Hey guys I just got back. I cut coach a little short. But what you won’t hear is that he expects to play Nick more. He thinks he’s got him thinking a little too much out there and that he needs to let him just play now. He also said he wants to see Nick attack out there and as he said “only two dribbles between your legs” because otherwise the defense can load up on you.
Interim Head Coach Ed Tapscott
DeShawn Stevenson
Posted: December 16th, 2008 under Wizards.
Comments
Comment from JEDOLPHNFANLIFE
Time December 16, 2008 at 2:08 PM
When Tap says he ’s gonna set Deshawn on the bench you let me know. He hasn’t played a decent game since Soulja Boy was at the phone booth!
Comment from TAG FLIP
Time December 16, 2008 at 2:31 PM
JEDOLPHNFANLIFE – thank you!!!! tell d-steve to get soulja boy in the house. o and to grow his beard out again.
Comment from JEDOLPHNFANLIFE
Time December 16, 2008 at 3:07 PM
deshawn stevenson=damon jones…big mouth nobodys who are hot or ice cold and shoot a bunch of three’s. Cleveland learned what to do with Damon when will the Wizards learn?
Comment from jeffmalone1990
Time December 16, 2008 at 4:49 PM
Some excerpts from the Post today, Mark Carig:
Blatche scored 19 points in just his second start of the season. But his surprising offensive showing provided such little consolation that after Washington’s 118-98 loss to the Pacers, Blatche blasted his own effort.
“I don’t feel I gave 101 percent of effort rebounding,” said Blatche, pointing to his two rebounds as evidence. “We’ve got to step it up. That’s what killing us. We had the game tied and we just didn’t rebound or play defense. Rebounding is just effort. I didn’t rebound, so I didn’t give that much effort.”
After trailing by 14 at halftime, Caron Butler hit a three to tie the game at 83 with 55 seconds left in the third quarter. But once the fourth quarter started, the Wizards retreated into their customary late-game backslide, which allowed the Pacers to pull away.
“It seems to me we got a little fatigued, a little disappointed, and it snowballed from there,” Tapscott said. “We’ve got to break this pattern. We’ve got to find a way out.”
Guys, I talked about this on the gameday blog for the Pacers game, the team is tired, they get down early and fight back and have nothing in the tank to get over the hump. So how do we solve that problem, first you get off to fast starts and if you find yourself getting off slower you got the bench in the game sooner, 2nd you change the line ups, I am all for Dixon, CB3, Blatche, Jamison, McGee to start, 3rd you must limit the minutes of Twan and CB3 (cannot play 40 minutes a night), Tap must trust his bench, guys our bench scoring is in the top 10 in the NBA.
Roles need to be defined
PG Dixon, James, J Critt
SG CB3,Young, Stevenson
SF Jamison,DMAC (CB3 w\ certain line ups)
PF Blatche, Darius (Jamison w\Certain Line ups)
C McGee, ET,Pech (Blatche w\ Certain line ups)
I really think in his 4th year that Blatche gets it, and he is maturing, Dray talked about energy and effort so let me say this much coaches will tell you that energy is started at the defensive end of the ball, it starts there with this team as well. Steals and blocks, allow the Wiz to get out on the break, we are giving up 104ppg until this trend changes no matter who plays, we will lose.
Comment from jeffmalone1990
Time December 16, 2008 at 4:55 PM
Also the Wizards should only go to a trap w\ McGee and Blatche in the game, they need to man up and play more straight man to man, and switch to zone from time to time, And more sets need to be run w\ a pick n roll, and motion offense sets, we are not getting easy baskets, so more pick n pop might be a way to get an open shot, drives to the lane and of course ball movement. Establishing the post w\ McGee and Blatche playing you must have a threat inside, so instead of having both in the high post (top of the key) run sets w\ Blatche and McGee on the block and feed them for the shot or inside out, and his been proven by this team if our bigs play well on both ends of the floor we win.
Comment from millie mill
Time December 16, 2008 at 5:45 PM
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/lottery2009/mockdraft
We are #3.
Comment from Rick
Time December 16, 2008 at 6:00 PM
i actually believe that this team can still make the playoffs in the east.
however, maybe that is not the best thing for us long term. due to our roster and salary cap situation the only way we can really bring in meaningful talent to complement our core is thru a high pick in the draft.
we are not going to win a title this year. so to not make it a total waste, we should be giving as much time as possible to develop players like blatche, young, mcguire and mcgee. Dixon is not going to get much better, neither is Songalia or James or Thomas or Stevenson. We know how good they can be. Each minute they are on the floor is a wasted opportunity in my opinion.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time December 16, 2008 at 9:07 PM
Whether it’s the best for us or not long term to make the playoffs, we are *not* getting there. We have almost 20 losses, and it’s December.
My question is will we stay in the top three in the draft? If so, we would have the 3d and the 33d pick in the draft. You should get a very good player and a good player with those picks.
Of course, we have arranged to have no roster room.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time December 16, 2008 at 9:16 PM
Cleveland and Miami trading Marion for Wally and Anderson V in the works.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time December 16, 2008 at 10:34 PM
the trade is a rumor for now
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time December 16, 2008 at 11:30 PM
Given our team’s luck even if we are the 3rd worst team come lottery time you know those percentage ridden lottery balls will have us drawing 8th lol. That’s just how this teams luck seems to go.
Comment from Da_Big_Taba
Time December 16, 2008 at 11:42 PM
i like rubio
Comment from wiz-skins07
Time December 16, 2008 at 11:42 PM
Tom,
even though we have no cap space..we can drop..mmm..Pech and Javaris
Comment from Agent0
Time December 17, 2008 at 12:19 AM
Yes, we can allways make arrangements. Just like how we did couple weeks ago, we can move/waive/trade/ or do whatever is needed. Honestly, I wouldn’t we surprised either if we got 8th or something even higher than that.
Comment from M2
Time December 17, 2008 at 1:27 AM
Everyone… Draft picks mean NOTHING… There is ZERO guarantee that a high draft pick will pan out, let alone pan out immediately, & from what I can tell everyone is ready to win right now.
We drafted Kwame Brown with the NUMBER ONE PICK, so what?
This league is full of players that have already proven they can play & we have a team with at least 8 guys who have proven they can play.
Those are the players you focus on. Not Pech & Crittenton & future draft picks etc. Where is that gonna get us IMMEDIATELY?
We need a couple of guys (Gil & Haywood) to get healthy, a new coach with a fresh fire in him, & continue to bring along guys like D Mac, Nick, McGee & hell… even Blatche. It would also be nice if J Crit ends up as advertised some day…
But for you all to be “draft picks” “draft pick” “draft draft draft”, that’s just funny! Good luck with that…
Comment from Jason C
Time December 17, 2008 at 3:12 AM
We could defensive rebound better if we used a bigger lineup. Just a thought.
Comment from zbp18
Time December 17, 2008 at 3:49 AM
jeffmalone1990, I totally agree with you. It’s amazing you said almost everything I was thinking in my head, I’ll just add a couple of things.
We’ve been playing small ball since D-Steve got to the Wiz which wasn’t a big problem with a true Center (Haywood) on the court. In past years Jeffries 6′-10″ (who D-Steve replaced) was part of the starting five, which helped out on the boards. Without having Haywood in there this year, we need to play a bigger line-up like jeffmalone1990 was saying, and I also agree with Jeff’s starting and substatution patterns.
I think coach Tap should have a rule: When they start off in the first quarter if the Wiz gets behind by 6 points (don’t wait until we get down 10) call a time-out. If coming out of the time-out the wiz aren’t cutting into the lead or if the opponent goes up by more than 6 points start your substitutions. Thats part of everyone knowing their roles, and knowing what to expect when they don’t produce.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time December 17, 2008 at 9:26 AM
No, we can’t waive, etc. anyone we want to make cap room, but you are right it’s a little early to be thinking about next June. All the same, making a 2 for 1 trade for (I guess) the sole purpose of getting Crittenton…? I just don’t get it.
We have 14 guys w/ guaranteed contracts for next year. Roster maximum is 15. We get to sign our top pick, but the problem will be not to waste our high 2d rounder (i.e. the kind of pick that got Miami Mario Chalmers and Houston Carl Landry, etc.)
Comment from SportzWiz
Time December 17, 2008 at 10:32 AM
I really don’t want to talk about the draft because we are 22 games into the season, but the worst a team could do if they had the 3rd worst record is get the 6th pick in the draft.
The lottery only picks the top 3 teams and then you fall into line with whatever pick you were out of the teams that didn’t get selected.
Comment from Rick
Time December 17, 2008 at 10:53 AM
i’d be happy to trade songalia, thomas, pech to move one of our picks up higher if possible.
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Comment from Agent0
Time December 16, 2008 at 1:21 PM
I think that this will be the practice that has been needed for so long now. We DO in fact have height, but need to learn to use it to our advantage. If we can just concentrate what has been killing us for so long, we will just fine. Good rebounding leads to good wins, which is something we need BADLY.