Thursday Report
Hey everyone, this is SportzWiz checking in. Unfortunately I was unable to grab sound today as I was at the Mike James Reading Time-Out, but I should be receiving quotes shortly from practice. From what I hear most of the talk today dealt with Nick Young and his recent on fire performance. In the last four games Young is shooting 72% (43 of 60) from the field and has set three career-highs in points scored during the stretch (28, 30 and 33). He also has a new nickname called the “Herky Jerk” which was given to him by Steve Smith.
WIZARDS INTERIM HEAD COACH ED TAPSCOTT
On Nick Young’s recent play (25.8 ppg, .717 fg% in last four games):
“Nick has hit a spot where he’s got his rhythm back and he feels good about what he’s doing. He knows we’re going to run some plays for him so he doesn’t feel pressed and he knows he’s going to get minutes. When all of a sudden you get minutes and plays called for you, you can be selective, and better shots mean more minutes. People now are going to game-plan for him. He has to be prepared for one of those games where they have someone trying to deny him, and instead of getting 33 points he gets 16 and still feels like he has a good game because he helped open up the floor for other people.”
On last night’s game versus the New York Knicks:
“The Knicks try to make you play fast, and like I said last night they did a better job of imposing their play-style on the game. We played well offensively. We scored a lot of points. Normally 122 points wins you a lot of basketball games, but we didn’t play very well defensively. They imposed their style of play on the game much more effectively than we did.”
On today’s practice:
“Today we decided to go with more of a mental practice than anything physical because we’re going to play the same team (tomorrow night). With their pace, you want rested legs. Now the real key is figuring out how to impose our style of play on the game with more effectiveness.”
WIZARDS GUARD/FORWARD CARON BUTLER
On last night’s game versus the New York Knicks:
“It was a lot of up-and-down fast tempo play. It was a tough loss obviously, but hopefully we can redeem ourselves tomorrow night in our building.”
On Nick Young:
“He’s on a roll. He’s scoring at a rapid pace. Scoring 33 points in three quarters is unbelievable. Just to come out and be aggressive the way he has, assert himself early and establish a rhythm is unbelievable, and it shows a lot about him as a player. Now you’re seeing him explore with his ability. He’s getting the ball and he’s being real creative. He’s doing some stuff on the fly, and that’s what makes a special player.”
WIZARDS GUARD NICK YOUNG
On his recent play:
“I’m feeling good. The difference has been my confidence level. Coach is running plays for me, and seeing my shot go in is always good. Gil (Arenas) has been staying after practice with me, so I’ve been getting extra shots and working out with him.”
On if teams will start game-planning for him:
“The more Antawn and CB (Caron Butler) get going (other teams) are not going to worry about me (as much). If we get them going early, I can come in and be that spark off of the bench.”
Posted: January 15th, 2009 under Wizards.
Comments
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time January 15, 2009 at 5:28 PM
Is Nick Young the next Jamal Crawford?
a) Both are volume scorers and can go for 50+ when they’re in the zone.
b) Both can shoot the 3 and doesn’t have a shot he didn’t like.
c) Both have killer 1-on-1 moves that were most likely honed on the playgrounds.
d) Both have trouble playing defense.
e) Both are crowd favorites on bad teams.
f) Both grew up along the Pacific Coast.
g) Both have very hot looking girlfriend/fiance/wife.
h) One guy is 6-5 and the other is 6-6 — basically the same height.
i) Both are listed as 200 lbs on nba.com.
j) Both play SG.
k) Both *currently scored career highs in points at Madison Square Garden.
l) Both guys wore “1″ on his jersey at least for a season in the association.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time January 15, 2009 at 5:47 PM
I don’t know whether that would be reach or a disappointment. Nick is a better athlete (and probably a better shooter), but his game is primitive when the ball’s not in his hand and too one-dimensional when it is.
On the other hand, if you are going to shoot the way he is shooting right now, you get minutes! 
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time January 15, 2009 at 5:48 PM
Mike looks like he’s having fun at the Read to Achieve event. So do the kids.
Comment from Da_Big_Taba
Time January 15, 2009 at 5:54 PM
I think Nick Young is going to be better than Jamal Crawford. Don’t forget its only his 2nd year
Comment from SportzWiz
Time January 15, 2009 at 5:59 PM
mike was great with the kids, today was a really fun event, he had the parents and teachers of the students laughing the whole time and you could tell he’s around kids (he has four girls) a lot , he was great with them .
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time January 15, 2009 at 6:17 PM
Excellent! It’s a privilege to be a positive influence on children. Good for him.
Comment from getabigboyoffense
Time January 15, 2009 at 8:41 PM
From the Washington Post sports page:
NYK 3 point shots: Richardson 6-7; Harrington 4-6; Chandler 2-3; Duhon 2-6; Robertson 0-2; T. Thomas 0-2
The Knicks were 14-26 from 3-point land.
From the Wizards Insider in the Washington Post: “Part of the problem was the Wizards went with a small lineup, with Antawn Jamison playing heavy stretches at center and Dominic McGuire going at power forward. Tapscott said he had to go to that lineup because when the Wizards had Andray Blatche or JaVale McGee on the floor, the Knicks spread the floor and bombarded them from three-point range. The Knicks hit 14 of 26 three-point attempts. ”
According to Tap, he didn’t play McGee nor Blatche during the 4th quarter because the Knicks were bombarding us with 3-point shots. Instead we played AJ at center and the Knicks won the game in the 4th quarter because they killed us off the boards.
Either Tapscott has his head stuck somewhere where the sun doesn’t shine or he thinks that the entire Wizard fan base is stupid. There were NO 3-point shots made, or even taken, by any Knick who would have been guarded by either McGee or Blatche during the 4th quarter, or for that matter ANY quarter.
So, the game was lost because we went small to defend against the Knick big men making 3-pointers and got outrebounded which led to second-chance points.
Tap is FAST becoming the master of the “big lie”. Tell it with conviction and often enough and folks begin to believe it.
Comment from getabigboyoffense
Time January 15, 2009 at 8:52 PM
Both Butler and Jamison had more minutes individually than McGee and Blatche has collectively. How about giving CB and AJ a little rest every now and then, Tap? With Blatche and McGee in the game together, the opposition takes some really crazy shots in order to avoid the block. McGee and Blatche also clog the middle and get rebounds. Why can’t Tap see this?
Tap loves to quote famous people, so I have one for him:
‘None so blind as those that won’t see.’?A single effort of the will was sufficient to exclude from his view whatever he judged hostile to his immediate purpose.
[1852 E. Fitzgerald Polonius 58]
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time January 15, 2009 at 10:15 PM
Tom I’ll support any player named Griffen
GetaBB… I’ve been wrong all these years. I always thought you tried to hold teams to jump shots on defense and tried to keep them from scoring the high percentage shots in the paint? I’ve been shown the error of my ways. I now know to put a small center and power forward in so the other team finds it easy to score in the paint. It sure put a quick halt to all those pesky outside jump shots.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time January 15, 2009 at 10:19 PM
Tom? You felt you were qualified for the Warrior’s Gm spot, but, not for ours? Hmmm. Shoot for the equipment manager HERE and I give you 3 years until you are the GM
Comment from ChenierFan
Time January 15, 2009 at 10:32 PM
That remark by Tapscott about not playing Blatche and McGee because of weakness in defending the 3 is total unmitigated nonsense. Didn’t Javale, in fact, block a three point attempt at the end of the first quarter.
Is it possible to get another interim coach? Why not? The term “interim” implies temporary doesn’t it? I would like to have a reason to watch the Wizards the rest of the season. My wife thinks I’m crazy to keep watching and she is right. She thinks that once Gil couldn’t come back that this became a “throw away year” and the reason they don’t play Blatche and McGee so much is to protect them from injury early in their careers. Interesting idea from someone who is not really a basketball fan.
Comment from dmac
Time January 16, 2009 at 9:26 AM
No use rushing Tapscott away. EG needs to clean his desk off to. EG made this move of giving Tapscott the interim job. We don’t need no more philsophies from leadership. We need answers on how to rebound and play defense.
I know what maybe Tapscott will let Randy Ayers be the head coach for the next 7 games and we will see what happens then.
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time January 16, 2009 at 9:27 AM
It doesn’t make sense to think the team is limiting minutes on Blatche and McGee so that they can be protected from injury during a failed season. If this is true, then why play them at all? Blatche and McGee can get hurt away from the basketball court as easily as they can on it. Taking chances and risks are part of everyone’s daily actions and injuries are just a specific, negative consequence for athletes. If Tapscott wants Blatche and McGee to get minutes, they’ll get minutes. I believe this is how we need to think of the situation – instead of wanting Blatche and McGee on the floor because they were productive. I know this may not make much sense, but that’s how it is.
It makes zero economic sense to get another “interim” coach at this juncture of the season. Pollin is already paying Eddie Jordan for not coaching the Wizards. Pollin is also paying Tapscott to coach the Wizards. If Tap is released now, Pollin needs to pay for 2 guys to not coach and a third person to coach.
The biggest problem I observed with Tap’s coaching is that he lets the other team dictate what they want to do and makes Wizards adjustments to combat it. This is very different than having the Wizards dictate what we want to do and make other teams adjust to our gameplan.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time January 16, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Wiz-fusion,
Has anything at all made sense this season…lol..? We’re just die-hard fans going through a Very trying season.
Write a comment
You need to login to post comments!
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time January 15, 2009 at 5:04 PM
Nick’s effective FG % last night was over 85% — can’t argue with that.