1st off let me say that I think our starting group will be very good and will be able to hold its own. However, I tend to think that Howard will atleast start out on the bench. I think he will be just coming back and they like his energy there anyways. They will probably bring him along slowly. Also, I think we would have enough scoring in the 1st unit anyways if Dray is right by then so you dont really need Josh.

The fact is that I cant remember the time we had a good consistent bench. We either always have a ton of young guys who dont know nothing or play like crap because they are scared they will be bench after every little mistake, or we have old washed up vetrans who were barely good in the 1st place. I have always a nice mix of vetran & young guys on the bench who have a style that you can count on and play with energy.

Its been forever and the same thing, where the starters go to the bench and we get outscored by 10. Now we will be coming off the bench possibly with a great vetrean 3sum of Hinrich, Howard, & Yi sprinkled in with some NY who I think would play well between 2 guys like Kirk & Howard. Even if you just stay with the 1st 3, its still great if youre going to keep in Gil & Dray or whoever. I just think it keeps us consistent all game long. I wouldnt trust Al off the bench as much as Howard but that would still be alot better than the past. For some reason, I think Seraphin & Booker can give you some solid minutes without the thought of them overstepping there boundaries

my only point is that shooting percentage doesn’t tell you how much a person is contributing all the time. for instance, mike miller would shoot a good percentage most of the time, but at times he still wasn’t helping the team (with his shooting). if he would pass up a open shot and give the ball to someone else with time down on the clock, the person that misses the shot get’s the bad mark on the paper when mike deserves the bad mark for the play. this is just one example of shooting percentage =/= contribution.

but i think we agree on a lot of things here, just not completely. i just feel that looking at a stat sheet to determine how good a player is doing is not the correct way to go about it. i see it as more of a tool, but the main way to determine is by watching the games. that’s second to none imo.

as for iverson, i don’t know if his teammates rebounds went up because of him, i just know that there were nights when he wasn’t shooting well at times but still drawing so much attention with his shots taken that it would still help the team, and not just from offensive rebounds. these are just my opinions from playing and watching the game.

That’s true Tom. It is also why I stated that up front:
“It is my opinion that neither of those statements is true.”

“Alex Kennedy: The Wizards have invited Kevin Palmer to training camp, according to sources. Palmer averaged 8 points and 3 rebounds during Summer League.”

1. John shot .375 in SL; if he’d shot .475 that would have been better right? That’s all it means to say .375 isn’t very good. There’s room for improvement.

2. No one in his right mind thinks that stats tell you everything about the game or a player! No need to make the point.

3. As to taking/missing tough shots in a way that helps your bigs get rebounds, something you claim Iverson did — so the bigs that played with AI would have higher rebound numbers than when they played on other teams, right? You’ve checked that? You’re not just running a highlight reel in your head or anything, are you?

I agree w/ the first clause — he needs minutes. But he needs to show in practice that he is *trying* to learn, that he is coachable; he has to *earn* those minutes in other words.

I’m not as sure of what you say in the last clause. I mean, *of course* he has progressed since first stepping on an NBA court — it would be hard for him not to. But has the lightbulb really come on? Has he worked on *changing* his negatives? I don’t know for sure obviously, but if so we’re not yet seeing the results in the way he positions himself and works on the court.

Describing what he was doing with his minutes at the Team USA camp, he said he was just trying to “do my thing” in the minutes he had. I’d a lot rather have heard that he was trying to soak up coaching, learn from watching and playing against Tyson Chandler and other veterans, etc.

What we have on the roster, is what we have on the roster. I’m ready for them to hit the court

UNLESS, we need some glue to keep the team competitive and not let the younger players get used to losing all the time. I really can’t judge how important that is but it surely has to be considered.