Comment from Tom Mandel
Time November 9, 2009 at 11:41 AM

We’re a couple of games off the pace we’d like to be on, but I’m not that worried about our being 2-5. My worry is rotation and roles.

One thing to remember: the games we’ve looked good (vs. Dallas and the Nets and the first 15 min vs. Cleveland) we have looked *very* good. When you think of that team, you can’t imagine the awful performance vs. Indiana and the breakdown vs. Cleveland.

That kind of inconsistency surely must reflect how early we are in the season w/ a group of guys who actually haven’t played that much together (and those who have it wasn’t recently).

Still… time to get it going. What will it take? We need Mike Miller, and we need him to shoot. We need JaVale to get some more minutes (although Brendan has played very well, esp. in our wins).

I don’t know why DeShawn is getting criticism. He is playing quite well. Our problem is not with his role, it’s with Caron’s and Gil’s, obviously.

In all, if we’re going to shoot 39% from the field and 67% from the line, as we did vs. Phoenix, we aren’t going to win many games. We actually played a good game vs. Phoenix in many respects. In every respect, actually — except shooting.

Comment from maggicman11
Time November 9, 2009 at 1:42 PM

@ tom-

I agree with you totally. the team is playing well and passing the ball well untill the shots stop falling. then we (gil) tries to take over the game by driving it inside even when there is nothing there. Unlike nash, who drove it inside and kicked it out for a 3, gil is driving it inside to score and not getting calls. thats not gonna get it done. there is not too much that can be done about shots not falling but you can attempt to put your most consistent shooter (slick) in the game to try and get things warmed up.

or you can try to do what this team does best and run-and-gun the other team to death. getting Javale and Dray in with gil, caron, and foye or slick would be an offensive attack that would be hard to match up with if we’re running. while having haywood and oberto could be effective against half court teams like san antonio, i think we are better suited with dray in there with haywood or javale.

Comment from SportzWiz
Time November 9, 2009 at 3:04 PM

Update guys….Mike James has a broken left ring finger…We will have more coming up….

Comment from dlts20
Time November 9, 2009 at 4:05 PM

We are 2-5 for 2 reasons only but they both play off eachother. The #1 reason is we dont have AJ and the #2 reason is because Flip has been terrible and refused to start Blatche. Before the season started I made a thread on here saying how Blatche should obviously be the replacment because his game is the closest to AJ and starting Oberto may ruin us because it is the exact opposite. I also said that it would put alot of pressure on Gil to be great right off the bat while also maybe changing his game from being the great passing PG he has become since Oberto cant score. To me its that simple and not even debateable. I just read that ESPN article but its 100% wrong. I cant beleive you guys agree with it. What he said is true but what was the reason for it? Thats what everyone always overlooks. They just look at it in black & white but there are real reasons for things. Gil hasnt been going one on one much but he’s now been forced to alot of times because nothing else is working. Think about our frontcourt. You have Wood & Oberto. Name one other frontcourt in the NBA that is like that. I cant think of one and its killing us. Neither guy can shoot the J, neither guy is a dominant low post scorer, and one guy cant score at all. Not other team in the league is using that except for us but everyone acts like that doesnt matter.

Even before the season started you heard Gil & Wood talk a ton about how they need AJ because he spaces the floor. Now, injuries are apart of the game so its not an excuse but the excuse comes when you replace him with a guy who is the total opposite. Remember the Bulls game was our last Preseason game and thats when Wood came back. I thought Blatche would start but Flip said that he wanted Oberto to start so that Blatche can get use to coming off the bench. I said Im ok with that because at that time it still seemed like AJ would be ready for the opener. Then the day of the Bulls game we found out he would be out 8-13 games. Now what happened in the Bulls game? We got slaughtered, they totally took Gil away, and destroyed our O. All the Bulls fans were bragging about it and it was the only game in the Preseason where Gil totally sucked and our O totally sucked with him on the court. Thats when I said that Flip said he’s going to start Oberto but that was before he knew that AJ would be out for around 10 games. 8-13 games is still a pretty long time so I think he will start Blatche in the opener. If it was 2 games then I could see Oberto but more then that, you have to start Blatche.

The Dallas game comes, we start Oberto, we win, and look great but there were alot of things that people missed in that game. 1st of all no one remembers that Oberto picked up 2 fouls in like the first minute of the game so Blatche basicaly started anyways. He played 35min that game and the thing that made us look the most dominant was Gil combined with the frontcourt length & chemsitry of Wood & Blatche. The only other game we won was against NJ without Harris and in that game Gil & Blatche again stole the show. Blatche had 30. In the other games, we lost and our O was horrible. 1st of all we played the Hawks in the Preseason without Gil & AJ and they blew us out. Theyre speed was way too much for Oberto. Then you think about the Dallas game and look at them and what happened next. Dallas looked like the best team in the league in the Preseason and they killed us even with Gil. They never really doubled Gil until late and they played a normal style D. Since then every team besides NJ has made adjustments and killed our O. They all are totally sagging off Oberto and a little off Wood while trapping Gil and playing a little zone with him. Are you guys watching? If you are then you can clearly see a million times where Gil gets trapped or a guy like Miller or Foye drives and kicks to Oberto for an easy shot but he doesnt even look at the basket. Every time it happends I scream about how it completely throws off the Offense.

When Oberto runs the pick & roll with Gil he pretty much always goes to the rim while AJ will go to the 3pt line alot which either opens the floor or leaves AJ open for a easy shot. The few times that Oberto does drop back off the pick & roll for a 3, his man is no where near him. They instead trap Gil or play a loose zone on him. It makes everyone basicaly be covered on every play except a guy like Oberto and occasionaly Wood and thats the guys that teams want to leave open like that. People act like its not big deal but its huge. Thats why Gil looks lost and thats why after that goes on for so long, you then start to see Gil and the other guys switch to one on one mode because trutfuly thats the best look they are going to get. Its sad because you can see Gil start setting up for it from a mile away and thats why the D is always waiting on it so he gets a charge or gets off a tough shot but its basicaly all he can get right now. Thats why the O looks ugly. Everyone acts like when we are moving the ball then we have success. We dont. It happened like once or twice. Other than that the way the teams are playing us, all the passes are meaningless. Its not going to be to an open guy because the only open guy will be a guy like Oberto. Think abour our O right now with Wood & Oberto basicaly always down low, Caron covered hard maned up, the SG being covered hard maned up, while Gil is being traped on zoned up.

I cant beleive a guy like Flip doesnt see that. You almost always see us actually start to get better when Blatche comes in the game. Its crazy because in alot of these game we actualy look better as an O when Foye is running the point instead of Gil but its not because of Foye bering great or Gil sucking, its because of Blatche is in the game instead of Oberto & Wood together. How many games recently have we started off like the first 6 or 7min of the game only with like 5 points as a team? It happeneds all the time now for long stretches and then Flip goes to Blatche anyways. In every game he almost has to go to Blatche or Oberto gets into foul trouble so he has to go to Blatche. Its so dumb. Its like why are you not starting him from the jump and putting Oberto in his natural spot as the backup Center? Trust me, Im not an Oberto hater. I think he’s awesome but it makes no sense for him to start at the 4. It just doesnt. As the backup Center he is a monster and as the starting Center he is again a beast when playing beside Blatche but it doesnt work with Wood because he totally clogs the lane, he doesnt look for O, and is so different from AJ. Then its dumb because against the Hawks he’s matched up against these fast guys and they have Za Za coming off the bench at Center. It makes way more sense to have Blatche against the fast guys and Oberto against Za Za.

Against the Cavs he was overmatched and picked up quick fouls. I talked before the season how I loved us matching up with the Cavs because Wood can guard Shaq, Oberto can guard Z, and I love AJ & Blatche against there 4′s. Then the game comes and Oberto starts and picks up 2 fouls. We jump out to the huge lead with Blatche in early but because of Flips dumb lineups, now Blatche ends up guarding Shaq & Z some and picks up 2 fouls and then McGee now has to come in against Shaq & Z and gets lit up. Then we also end up with Oberto guarding Shaq alot. I mean everything was so backwards. When I was watching the game I was saying this is why we needed to start Blatche. Then when Shaq went out I said that if Flip was smart he was also sit Wood so that when Shaq comes back, you can throw Wood back in. Wood styayed in, Shaq came back and killed McGee & Oberto. It was just so dumb. The Pacers are now a running team. Chenier was talking a ton about Ford giving Gil problems but that wasnt it. Its that the lineup is so messed up and its easy to take us away right now because of Oberto being so different than AJ. Again, our D has been pretty good and our O has totally sucked which makes our D even that much more impressive because if we were scoring more and not turning it over then we could get even more stops by making teams have to setup.

Again, you can tell when a team is just not good enough to be great. Weve seen that before. Weve seen where no matter what we would win half our games and lose half. Thats not the case right now. Again, you cant even judge them because everything is so out of wack. We should be 7-0 right now the way our D is playing. Your boy Clewiston will talk about winning games when your O isnt on and I totally agree with that but there is a huge difference between missing shots and just being totally out of sync. We arent just missing shots. The whole flow is off totally. You cant win like that and very rarely will any guys have good games. I still think if Flip started Blatche then things would look alot different. Look at Oberto in SA. He started with a big but Duncan is a low post dominant scorer. Again, look around the leauge at every single team and tell me one of them who is playing a frontcourt where neither guy is a dominant low post scorer and neither guy has any range. On top of that one guy isnt a scorer at all. You are killing the whole team like that. It wont work. I cant beleive how Flip is such a great Offesnive coach and cant see that. Again, you see plays where Gil or MM drive and do a great move & dish to Oberto and you can see there expression. Its like they pause because they are then use to the guy shooting it but then they realized that they screwed up by giving it to him and they have to run full speed back over there to get it back. Its the same with Caron and everyone. Its all thrown off because of it.

Thats why I thought it was so dumb when a pro like AJ yells at the team. I cant beleive that the fans liked it. You think these guys just dont have heart? You think these guys went from warriors in a tremendously tough game 1 on the road against a top notch team like Dallas, to all of assuden not caring? Its so untrue. These guys want to win so bad just like they did in Dallas but its not flowing. Then when the flow starts you can see guys start to get a defeated look on there face. Its draining and frustrating. You need to boost them up. There not lazy or lax. They want it so bad but its not flowing and then guys feel dumb & defeated. People are crazy for not realizing this. Again, watch how everything totally flips when AJ gets back and he’s there to spread the floor so guys can drive, teams cant trap Gil because you have an elite scorer with range, if teams trap him then he will get a ton of assist, teams will have to now cover both which leaves Miller open for the J, when they close he can then put it on the floor and now dish to all scorers. Everyone loses the handcuffs. On top of that you now still come off the bench with a beast in Foye & Blatche and now Oberto is going to be killing it on that unit with a guy like Blatche beside him and his passing ability will really help out guys like Foye & DS. The game totally changes from that instant.

The 1 sad thing is that everyone is going to instantly give AJ all the credit. They have said Gil was the #1 in the past, they have then said Caron was the #1, and now they will start to say that AJ is the #1 and worth more than Gil. Ive already seen threads questioning wether Gil is worth the 111. The truth is that its not so much of AJ as much as it is him just being totally different than Oberto and now Oberto gets back to his normal spot. Are you guys crazy enough to think that we really cant score 90pts? Even against the best defensive team in the Cavs we have always lit them up. When they beat us it was because they outscored us. Against bad D teams like the Suns, Pacers, and Hawks, we have routinely put up 120 or more. You guys think that has really changed? You guys think we have went from that to now only getting 80 something when we have more offensive talent than ever? Its not true. Remember how I use to always make threads talking about how we scored 115pts and still lost by double figures and how sad that was? That was our story. Now we are actualy playing good D and losing because we have to struggle life & death to get 90 and its because Flip made this one horrible move. Watch how everything immediatly chagnes when AJ comes back and we start puting up 30 & 40pt quarters like clockwork. Watch how we again look like the best passing team in the league like we did against the Mavs & Nets.

Again, just look at the last Preseason game. This isnt just a regular season thing. People looked at it like it was a Preseason game so it didnt matter and they were fooled by the fluke Mavs game but the truth is that Preseason game was the real deal and youve seen all our regular season losses look the same exact way. The O was completely shut down, Gil was takened out, and Oberto ruined us. Now Oberto isnt playing the whole game so I dont want to put it all on him but from the jump it sets the tone sometimes to where the team gets depressed and then it doesnt matter who you put it. Its like when you only score 6 team pts in the first 6min of the game. You can then put Blatche in and sometimes it will totally change but other times you have already set the tone for guys to feel sad and for the opponent to feel like they are 10x better. Mark my words. Its still going to take awhile for everyone to get totally adjusted and for guys like AJ to knock the rust off and for him & Miller to get there shooting stroke back with the shoulder injurey but you will see an immediate change in our play and in like 5 games you will see a team that right now looks like the worst team in the league, start to look like the best team in the leauge that quickly because of that one move. Watch how Gil routinely gets close to putting up 10 dimes per game again and scores 25pts with ease while shooting a great percentage and getting to the line at will. It will change everything

Comment from Aj
Time November 9, 2009 at 4:08 PM

Longest post ever.Lol. Go wizards!! Im tired of the haters saying we suck, let’s break the slump tomorrow.

Comment from Rick
Time November 9, 2009 at 4:15 PM

flip is saying it without naming names, but there is way too much selfish basketball coming from arenas, butler, and foye. those guys are just jacking contested shots all game. it’s no wonder they are shooting a poor percentage.

if flip has so many offensive plays, then why aren’t they running any? it’s like they run a play to the first option and he either shoots, or else the play totally breaks down and somebody goes one-on-one. that is letting the defense off easy and making it hard for us to score when we do not get out in transition.

even if not running plays, how about just some good old-fashioned ball movement?

Comment from Wizards4Life
Time November 9, 2009 at 6:44 PM

OMG dlts I can’t read that book lol but I agree AJ is a big reason we don’t have a better O# he would spread the floor lets not forget that miller was doing alot of that as well.. I would like to see AB start but if AJ comes back he will come off the bench I don’t see that causing a problem with in AB or the game he plays off the bench so i don’t know why he dose not start

Comment from JayP
Time November 9, 2009 at 8:13 PM

so when is miller expected back?

Comment from llballa19
Time November 9, 2009 at 9:19 PM

Go Wizards, no worries right now. We just got to bounce back in South Beach. We can do it!!!

Comment from maggicman11
Time November 9, 2009 at 10:06 PM

man dts that was a load off your chest! lol..
but i totally agree. I said from the start that Blatche should be starting even before the dallas game. teams win with a mixture of inside and outside attacks. if all teams need to worry about on D when they play us is our wing players it makes it very hard for us to score. Ive seen Oberto open with noone around from 15 ft and wont think about takin the shot, and teams wont gaurd him beyond 10 ft. that is disrespectful. they dont respect oberto or wood on O. thats why Blatche needs to start so we arent playing catch up every game. not only that but flip needs to start taking wood out the game when he makes bonehead plays on the offensive end. its one thing when your good but try to do too much (gil), but when you have absolutely NO offensive game at all (wood) dont throw up prayer hookshots or jumpers from 15 ft. there is a good reason they dont gaurd you out there. when he starts thinkin he has a yao ming skill set we have waisted O possesions.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time November 10, 2009 at 2:53 AM

Thanks for the awesome post dlst20. We needed that

Maybe that perspective can make it to the coaching staff (in a shorter version )

Comment from Babakism
Time November 10, 2009 at 4:16 AM

The reason Oberto is hurting the O is because Mike Miller is injured and Nick Young is ICE.

Oberto starting over Blatche is the right move because Blatche is producing and won’t have to adjust his mindset when AJ comes back because his role won’t change. Changing roles could mess with his production.

Even if Oberto starts Blacthe has played nearly double the minutes of Oberto and is on the floor when it matters most.

Sometimes you have to run the ball up the middle for no gain so you can get the 80 yard touchdown later on. Thats kind of what we are doing now.

Our time will come, we just have to be patient

Comment from M2
Time November 10, 2009 at 8:05 AM

DLTS………

AWESOME!

Thanks for getting it

Comment from dcbutler357
Time November 10, 2009 at 1:13 PM

babakism,

We still luv you….lol….WOW!!

Comment from ToughLove
Time November 10, 2009 at 9:35 PM

Its tluv checkin and sayin hello to the family.Luv the chemistry so far.48 minutes like this and we’ll win a whole lot more than we lose this season.Dre and Gil need to blend badly.They are the two matchup probs for any team and let the others feed off them.Andray starting is still a key(even when Twan returns).DL&M i feed off you too…….