Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 20, 2010 at 12:42 PM

I’m still trying to comprehend what ‘Dray meant when he said “we’re gonna shock a lot of people”.

Comment from Rick
Time August 20, 2010 at 1:01 PM

my guess is, Dray thinks we are going to make the playoffs.

Thing is, when you look at the East, one team just dropped out of the playoffs (Cleveland) and Miami was already a playoff team. So who takes that spot? New York and the Wiz both got better and Toronto got worse…

So maybe the playoffs are not out of the question, but would that really be so “shocking”?.

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 20, 2010 at 1:34 PM

For a Look at what “could have been” with last years 5th pick, USA plays Spain sunday at 3pm. Spain has PG Ricky Rubio so this will be an opportunity to see him in action against NBA players. Spain is the Favorite to win the world title this year but the USA team doesnt look bad. If Spain were to have Pau Gasol this year they would more than likely beat the USA team for sure. that backcourt of Pau and Marc Gasol would DEF prove to be to much to handle for Odom or Chandler. And with Rubio running the point or Jose calderone for that matter and Rudy fernandez on the Wing this is a very disciplined group.

Comment from millie mill
Time August 20, 2010 at 2:47 PM

Not too many people are talking about Al Thornton. I’m glad they did an interview with him. I was happy to see him come to the Wizards when we traded Jamison. He must be excited to know he is going to get playing time next season, being that he is the only true Small Forward on the team besides the injuried Josh Howard.

Comment from millie mill
Time August 20, 2010 at 3:22 PM

Far as Blatche saying “we’re gonna shock a lot of people”.

I look at it like this:

#9-Toronto: didn’t do anything to make them better. They were in ninth place last season with Chris Bosh. Now Amir Johnson is their starting power forward.

#10-Indiana: has the best chance to make the playoffs with the addiction to Darren Collison. They still need a Power Forward.

#11- New York: If the roster stays the same they won’t make the playoffs. I still believe Steve Nash made Amar’e Stoudemire look as good as he does. No else on that roster is going to draw enough attention to make the defense NOT double team Stoudemire.

#12- Detroit: Really didn’t get any better. They added Tracy McGrady and Greg Monroe. That’s not enough to move them into the playoffs.

#13- Philadelphia: Jrue Holiday looked as he was getting better and better last season. The jury is still out on Evan Turner he didn’t look good at all in the summer league. They also traded their center Samuel Dalembert. So I don’t think they did anything to help themselves except firing Eddie Jordan.

#14- Washington: John Wall looked really good but not great in the summer league. There is still a question mark on Gilbert Arenas and John Wall in the back court. Blatche did an OK job as the main guy the last part of the season. With Wall, Arenas, Hinrich and a healthy Josh Howard it’s hard to see Blatche get that many shots but he should get better looks.

#15- New Jersey: Will win more than 12 games next season but not enough to make the playoffs.

Teams that I think will fall out of the playoffs:

#1- Cleveland: They only got where they were because of Lebron James. Lebron left too big of shoes to fill.

#6- Milwaukee: Won 46 games last season. I don’t believe that will happen next season. Outside of there starters they look weak.

#7- Charlotte: Trading away Tyson Chandler and letting Raymond Felton get away may hurt them more than they know right now.

In short I think there are two playoffs spots up for grabs and the battle is going to be between Milwaukee, Charlotte, Indiana and Washington.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 20, 2010 at 3:52 PM

My take is that the wiz have had 20 win seasons for two years? I believe Dray is saying that they will not be the door mat of the NBA anymore.

Also, Fernandez mentioned that he no longer wants to be part of the NBA?

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 20, 2010 at 4:01 PM

I think Dray and Al mean that “a lot of people will be surprised that the Wizards are much better than they are expected to be.” Don’t think it has anything specifically to do with the playoffs.

As to your team analysis, I disagree with *a lot* of what you say — Charlotte and Milwaukee are both going to be as good as they were last year. Charlotte added Tyrus Thomas and Shawn Livingston. Milwaukee will have Redd and Bogut back, added rebounding, drafted a rookie who could be good by mid-season and in general looks like quite a good team.

The Knicks got *a lot* better — Amar’e is not as good as Lee, but they also added Felton, Randolph, Turiaf, Azubuike, a talented Russian center, etc. They have a very good shot to sneak into the playoffs (and be eliminated immediately).

The Nets got better too. You forget that they ended the season better than they most of the year, and they have added a lot of new pieces. I’m not predicting playoffs mind you, but it wouldn’t shock me to see them compete w/ NY for #8.

Indiana is a question mark. Yeah it was good to get Collison, but Posey doesn’t do much for them, and they gave up their most productive player, Troy Murphy — you may not think he looks like much, but he goes out every night and gets you 15 and 10, shooting a high FG%, high FT%, never turning it over and getting few fouls. I think Indiana will have a *worse* record this year — tho the trade was still good for their future.

Philadelphia will be *terrible.* Cleveland and Toronto have no shot at the playoffs, that’s for sure.

But it doesn’t matter. Whoever is in the mix for #8, it won’t be us. If we win 30 games, we’ll “shock the world.” But I don’t think we will.

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 20, 2010 at 4:30 PM

The knicks are not “alot better”. in fact they are worse. Felton is not as good as Nate R. was when he was there and they were bad. Randolf nor Amare are as good as Lee, whom they lost. and they were bad with him. not to mention Amare will see a sudden drop in his numbers w/o Nash to give him the ball in impossible spots. Turiaf and Azubukie are not even worth mentioning. they will have a worse record this year than last year unless they are able to get C. Paul or Melo.

Indiana “May” be a surprise with collison, granger, Paul george, and perhaps a more developed hibbert. question mark tho for sure.

Nets should be much better than last year, but still have no go to scorer. the front court should be very good with Favors and Lopez if the SL is no inclination of how Favors will fare in the NBA. however, they will be in the playoff race.

Its hard to evaluate Charlotte. They were so effective last year because of their defense and fast break play. they lost a major part of that with the departure of chandler. but they still have the biggest piece in Wallace. they Got tyrus Thomas but he is not the interior presence of Chandler on defense, but is more effective offensively. My guess is they are battling for 8th. toronto and cleveland are out as stated by others.

76ers Have Jrue holliday, AI, Evan Turner (who should be able to contribute a great deal) which should make them contenders for the last seed as well. unless Turner is a bust.

there “could” very well be a battle for 7th and 8th between the Bucks, Wiz, Pacers, 6ers and Bobcats.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 20, 2010 at 4:31 PM

Delonte West receives 10 game suspension (once he finds a team)

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 20, 2010 at 4:32 PM

i meant the nets will not be in the playoff race

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 20, 2010 at 4:33 PM

BTW-Charlotte has Larry Brown for a coach, that will push them over a lot of the teams alone…..

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 20, 2010 at 4:36 PM

Avery Johnson for a coach, may be good for five extra wins? Will help the pg execute the offense better.

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 20, 2010 at 4:45 PM

The Biggest improvement in records will probably be the clippers. they are now a playoff team with Blake and Kaman in the front court, Baron Davis at the Point, Rasul butler at the SG and Al Farouq-Aminu, who is a stud, at the SF. and with Eric bledsoe, Eric Gordan, and Randy foye coming off the bench along with craig smith for bully purposes they are a deep team. and I cant forget the rookie Willie Warren who had an outstanding SL.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 20, 2010 at 5:06 PM

magicman11 — if things turn out the way you say, then you will be correct. Isn’t that right?

How about if things turn out the way *I* say? Will you be wrong in that case, and I am right?

So, lets see late in the season who is right, ok? In the meantime, I’m a lot more interested in the Wizards than the rest of those teams! I’m sure you are too….

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 20, 2010 at 5:17 PM

About the Clips — yes, Griffin should make them better all on his own. Foye doesn’t make any team better. Bledsoe & Willie Warren…? Who knows? There’s talent in those two, but neither of them has shown an ability to actually play productive basketball.

I’m not a big Chris Kaman fan. He has had a couple of good years along the way, but he’s inconsistent. And last year, he kind went nuts shooting — took 50% more shots than in the past; but he shoots a kind of low % for a Center, and he doesn’t get to the line much.

And Baron Davis is 31; he’s gone a little down hill each year for a while.

You are right they could be better — but… they could stay the same. Big bright spot is obviously Griffin.

Comment from Rick
Time August 20, 2010 at 5:23 PM

Tom you’ll have to count yourself among the people who will be shocked. At least I hope so.

I’m not sure how it seems like the season just ended AND training camp is right around the corner, but it does.

Comment from Rick
Time August 20, 2010 at 5:27 PM

One more thing, if Gilbert plays like a star shooting guard, we’ll win 40 games.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 20, 2010 at 5:42 PM

I hope so too Rick.

Right now we have 12 guys under contract. I have a little interest in Gilbert, because I want something good to happen for him and because I want him to be valuable enough to trade. I’m interested in seeing Andray and JaVale take hold of course.

Otherwise, none of the veterans are on my radar *at all.* Hinrich is solid but boring, and in my mind Yi, Armstrong, Nick, Al, and Howard range from bust to washed up — get ‘em out of here at the end of the year. If I’m wrong I’m wrong, but that’s where I’m at.

What I’m *really* interested in is whether *all* three rookies show real development and look like they can be excellent NBA players. I’ll be happy in that case, and I won’t care much about wins.

We have a couple of roster spots still open — I’ll be even happier if H takes one of them and develops. (If he doesn’t, I’m going to be asking why we didn’t draft someone who *could* make our team: Derrick Caracter just signed a *guaranteed contract* with the world champion Lakers. He was picked after H.)

If we sign another veteran, it’ll be to a 1-year contract — at least that seems to be the plan. Another guy I won’t be interested in. Otherwise, it’ll be someone out of camp. I like Lester Hudson; I’d be interested in him. Otherwise…

This is not a roster that can win a lot of games this year. Even if you think our *starters* are capable of it, it takes at least 9-10 guys to make a team at all good. It’s rare for rookies to be good out of the gate, and our backup veterans aren’t good at all.

Comment from millie mill
Time August 20, 2010 at 7:31 PM

@Tom

Cleveland and New York look like the same team on paper. Except Cleveland has a coach that coaches both sides of the floor.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 20, 2010 at 8:24 PM

I don’t see it that way *at all* and don’t even understand what you mean.

We’re not talking about real good teams here, don’t get me wrong. But the Knicks are good enough to contend for the # 8 spot; that’s all. Don’t think Cleveland is good enough — tho a lot depends on how Hickson develops, etc.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 20, 2010 at 9:16 PM

Some of you may remember me being high on Mikhail Torrance around draft time. Alas, this is an awful story:

http://bit.ly/cQtfV9

Pray for this kid and for his family.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 20, 2010 at 10:19 PM

In regards to cleveland, as well as the one that I was communicating about charlotte is that the coaches will demand the most from his players….Dantoni doesn’t emphasize both ends of the court (offense and defense). The variable of good coaching is a tangible/intangible that does make a difference….(avery in nj also)

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 20, 2010 at 11:27 PM

Tom… thank you for the video on Seraphin, Booker, and Gurg’s camp. Great stuff

I can’t wait to get a look at Seraphin live. That kid really looks like he is going to turn into a beast on both ends. I had no idea he could block shots like that? He appears to enjoy the defensive end as much as the offensive end. That’s pretty rare these days. I guess he is having trouble with his visa. Team says it should be taken care of by the end of the month. I guess they will use his master card instead? (I apologize in advance )

Booker after summer league and Gurg’s camp should be ready to go. I’m hoping he and Seraphin can team up at the 3 and 4.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 20, 2010 at 11:28 PM

Oh almost forgot… I read somewhere within one of the posts that Hamady is talking to european teams. I really hope he sticks but it doesn’t sound good

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 20, 2010 at 11:35 PM

If Hamady signs overseas that only leaves us two big men and Mr. Butt Splinters. I guess we are going to have to sign another Big if Hamady bolts.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 20, 2010 at 11:37 PM

When we go small I wonder if Seraphin could handle the 5?

Comment from millie mill
Time August 21, 2010 at 12:46 AM

I think Seraphin can play the five. I think he is listed as a C/F. His favorite player is Ben Wallace.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 21, 2010 at 2:52 AM

Millie Mill…. Seraphin really impresses me. I’ve actually seen very little of him minus Tom’s video and snippets I’ve seen elsewhere, but, he is young… has good size… likes to bang… and even given the hitch in his get a long when shooting… he seems to shoot a pretty good percentage. Actually Hitch it up Big Guy.. I like the soft touch

Booker is a smaller and slightly older clone of Seraphin. Those two… just by themselves could make some serious defensive and offensive noise. Put John Wall into the mix to control the flow and we may really have something very good to build around

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 21, 2010 at 2:58 AM

John Wall…. Gilbert Arenas… Trevor Booker… Kevin Seraphin… Andray Blatche…. I’m Good

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 21, 2010 at 7:30 AM

Booker is a *far more polished* player than Seraphin! I think he’ll contribute right away. Seraphin will look lost for a while, I think — just try and think about how *much* will be new to him! Country, language, NBA game, team, teammates, etc.

Another reason I hope we sign H is that he will be a help w/ Seraphin, as he speaks French.

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 21, 2010 at 11:23 AM

Seraphin is only 6’9.. He is not a center. Although his favorite player is Ben Wallace, dont look at him to be anything like Big Ben. If that were the case, hey my favorite player is D. Howard! somebody sign me and give me the millions! lol..

Booker reminds me of DomMac. He will probably be a little better on the offensive side, but not much. Best case scenario is Josh Smith. But i wouldnt hold my breathe for that one.

It shouldnt really hurt us is Hamady goes to europe. he wasnt going to play much anyway. might even go to the D-league.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 21, 2010 at 12:19 PM

ROFL….Literally…..Maggicman, ive been thinking the same thing about the “favorite players” message for the last week….now if he said his game is similar to XYZ or someone else can verify that similarity, I would be happy. TBH, the videos mean nothing, I’ll just wait until september 28th and beyond to voice my opinion, other than that, it’s full speed ahead. If it don’t fit, we must cut it…..be it NY, AB, Javale, etc…..gotta get this party started

And for those that take everything literally, “cut it” means trade, let go after this year, etc….lol…..

the difference between going to europe and d-league is money and roster spot…

Comment from Wizfan4life
Time August 21, 2010 at 12:40 PM

Hey guys after about a month absence I am back!! I just want to say that this season will be better than last season. Why do I know that? We are a younger team than we were last year and we have financial flexibility (something we haven’t had in a while). I do think the Wizards need 3 more players to make the roster complete at 15. Are we going to sign N’daye?

Comment from Wizfan4life
Time August 21, 2010 at 12:42 PM

We need to sign one more veteran point guard because if Kirk Hinrich gets injured I don’t think John Wall is the kind of player who can play 48 straight minutes running the ball YET……he will eventually but not yet…..whatever happened to Dee Brown? I miss him and his lightening quick speed!!

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 21, 2010 at 2:47 PM

magicman — First off, Ben Wallace is listed at 6’9″, like Seraphin, and that’s on a good day. He’s not as tall as Seraphin. He is also @ 25 lbs lighter. And Kevin ain’t fat; he is just one big dude. Try enormous.

Secondly, Trevor Booker’s game is absolutely *nothing* like Dom’s game. I was and am a big Dominic McGuire fan, but Booker is by far the better player. More well-rounded. Had a much more productive college career. Can shoot, including at least the college 3 (Dom has no jump shot). Is a better rebounder, etc… Physically, he is broader, has 2″ more standing reach, outweighs Dom by almost 20 lbs, yet is actually a little faster (tho slightly less agile). He is much stronger than McGuire.

Sometimes I don’t know where you get the stuff you say.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 21, 2010 at 3:03 PM

Just noticed you suggest Josh Smith as the kind of player Booker could be at his best. Another comparison that’s totally off.

Josh Smith is an exceptional run and jump athlete. He’s a jump shooter and a shot blocker who doesn’t rebound very well. Booker is a rebounder, outweighs Smith by a lot, and is *not* a shot-blocker. A very different kind of player.

Booker is more like Millsap — tho Millsap is yet another 20 lbs heavier but not nearly as fast or agile. Judging by what Trevor did at the Combine he is *exceptionally* strong. We have to see what his basketball IQ is and how quickly he develops, but he could be very good — and I’m quite sure he’ll be a solid NBA pro.

Of course, you are right that if he is overall as good as Smith (or Millsap), tho in his different way, that would be terrific.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 21, 2010 at 3:11 PM

Wizfan4life — welcome back! We are blabbing and blabbing here trying to make the time pass til training camp. Jump in and give us a hand!

As to needing another point guard, don’t we have a guy on the roster who has played some point….? First name starts w/ a “G”. Who could I be thinking of?

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 21, 2010 at 3:18 PM

I don’t know if we’ll sign Hamady — I wish we would!

Right now we have 12 guys on the team. I don’t think we’ll go to 15, because we’ll want to keep flexibility to make a 2-for-1 trade if an opportunity presents itself.

Ernie has talked about signing a veteran wing player, so maybe that’ll happen. There are still some guys available for a veteran minimum salary. I don’t think anyone has inked Keith Bogans for example. He had a bad year last year and is 30 — no doubt on the back end of his career but probably good value at the low price we’d be paying.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 21, 2010 at 5:34 PM

LOL….Are there two Josh Smith’s in the NBA…He stopped shooting jumpers this year and focused on his inside game…..

I also believe Josh Howard is the veteran wing person Ernie was coveting , he just may not play…..ROFL….But on paper he’s our man…LOL….Kind of like having Gil as our point guard and he’s been gone for two years…i think we have the game twisted, if a player isn’t going to play for a couple of years (i.e. childress) maybe we could maintain their rights, but not pay them and have them take up a roster spot

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 21, 2010 at 5:34 PM

Tom- Ben Wallace holds a summer camp at my old college EVERY summer in richmond (VUU). Seraphin May be taller, but by NO MEANS is he bigger. Ben used to come in the the gym, hit the weights and put up over 500 lbs like it was nothing. please, lets not be disrespectful to the 4 TIME defensive player of the year by saying Kevin Seraphin is in his class..

Secondly, I said Booker is better offensively than Dom. go back and read my post. but he wont put up much better numbers than Dom because he wont play as much.. he will play behind nick, thorton, and howard on the wings. and behind Blatche (who will play alot) and Seraphin in the post. dont get to excited about the kid. you wont be seeing too much of him.
further, I cant see *any* similarities between Booker and Milsap other than height. Booker is a versatile scorer from either the wing or post (at least in college). an above average ball handler for his size and a high flyer. which of these traits are similar to milsap?? now which are similar to dom and Josh smith? or do you not see the similarities of thse too either?

saying players are alike because they both play defense makes no sense. unless of course u think kobe and oh lets say, ben wallace are similar. saying two players are similar because they both rebound makes no sense. unless of course you think dwight howard and oh lets say kevin love are similar. the same with shot blocking and please dont make me compare lebron and Mutumbo. Players are similar because of primarily there skill sets, mind sets, and maturity

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 21, 2010 at 5:38 PM

Glad to see everyone starting to come out….time to dust off those keyboards….about a month left before the “real” world sets in ladies and gents

We shall soon see if our recent investments are going to pay off. Any brokers in the crowd, I want to know our ROR on our new investments

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 21, 2010 at 5:44 PM

Oh almost forgot this one, how much a players weighs has nothing to do with how similar they are either. otherwise i guess Kevin Durant and oh lets say earl boykins are similar. lol… i couldnt resist that one!

Comment from draftazoid
Time August 21, 2010 at 5:54 PM

Here is how I see the Easter Conferences Playoff picture right now:

CERTIFIABLE LOCKS WITH NO INJURIES:
1. MIAMI
2. BOSTON
3. ORLANDO
4. ATLANTA
5. CHICAGO
6. MILWAUKEE
7. CHARLOTTE

This is going into the season with no injuries. Milwaukee has a solid team with Jennings/Bogut and adding Gooden and Maggette for depth. They will be a force to reckon with. Charlotte has no room for error. If they stay healthy they should at least get into the playoffs. I believe the top 5 teams can suffer a serious injury but still get into the playoffs.
Every year there are going to be teams that suffer an injury or two and go downhill quickly.

Which teams are going to step up and grab that last playoff spot (or take advantage of injuries)?

Indiana has the trade of the year so far picking up a potentially great point guard in Darren Collison. They are going to have a great 1-2 punch with Collison and Granger.

New York will come down to the development of Anthony Randolph. They gave up David Lee for him so I think they are hoping for his upside this year. If he blows up this year then you can pencil the Knicks in the playoffs. If not, they can still get in with Amare anchoring the team.

Washington- it’s all about the puppies. Wall, Javale, Booker, Seraphin- it is all about their development and playing better than we all expect them.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 21, 2010 at 9:49 PM

magicman — sorry, I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. And you’re just trying to back out of what you said.

*You* said KS couldn’t be a Center because only 6’9″ — that was your claim. Again, Kevin is taller and larger and longer than Ben Wallace.

On the other hand, *I never* said Kevin was in Ben Wallace’s class. He’s a young, raw rookie. But, even tho Wallace puts on an event at your alma mater, that actually doesn’t make him bigger than Seraphin — why would you think that it did?

You also said Booker might be “a little better” offensively than Dom — don’t try to back out of it now. There’s no similarity in their games. And, yes, how much you weigh sure does say something about you.

Btw, Booker *compares himself* to Millsap. Comparing him to McGuire makes no sense *at all* — they don’t do the same things. Ditto Josh Smith. Again, Booker is a rebounder, Smith is not, and the differences continue down the line touching every way they play the game.

But of course, now that I know that Ben Wallace holds an event at the school you went to… that makes anything you say on the money. For example, even though Seraphin is both taller and weighs 20 lbs more than Wallace, Ben is still bigger — cuz, cuz.. why it’s because you say so. That’s why.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 21, 2010 at 9:52 PM

magicman — Kevin Durant weighs 215 lbs. Boykins weighs 135 lbs. What are you talking about man? Your fingertips having a typing fit, just click in anything at all?

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 21, 2010 at 10:11 PM

Paul Millsap is probably *not* the best comparison for Booker, however — Booker is more of a skilled offensive player, that’s true, and although he is a *much better* rebounder than someone like Josh Smith or Dom he is not as good as Millsap.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 21, 2010 at 10:52 PM

yeah Tom I’d have to agree that after a 4 year college career at a solid program Booker is no doubt the more polished player. At 19 (or whatever lol) I’m willing to give Seraphin all the room and time he needs to develop. They both look like very good building blocks.

Keeping Hamady is almost Karma. As you say he could help Seraphin adjust as he speaks fluent French. And isn’t Seraphin’s agent named N’daiye?? That has to have some Karma value

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 21, 2010 at 10:57 PM

I’ve been thinking what DCB said. I think our veteran wing player is Howard. I don’t expect any more moves other than possibly 2 additions out of training camp.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 21, 2010 at 11:00 PM

SportzWiz or anyone else that may know … Seraphin’s visa issue is supposed to be resolved at or around the end of the month. How is his knee coming along or is he ready to go? Will he make it to training camp?

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 21, 2010 at 11:01 PM

This isn’t language class, it’s the NBA….Seraphin may speak better english than most of the american players. Bottom line is what they all do on the court starting 28 Sep 10.

Similarities, Comparisons, Clones……none of it will matter. They are going to be themselves and create their own legacies. We want the rest of the league to imulate us in the next 3-5 years. We aren’t comparing ourselves to anything except for dynasties

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 21, 2010 at 11:27 PM

Oh I completely agree DCB. Speaking French is only a plus. Being the Big East defensive player of the year last year is more what I’m hanging my hat on.

It seems we are trying to develop a defensive mind set. Cool it’s been a lot of years since the bruise brothers. Seraphin, Booker, and N’daiye fit that role. Seraphin also looks like he could be a beast on the offensive end. I think Booker led Clemson in scoring his junior year? I do know in his junior year he led the ACC in rebounds and shooting percentage and (for Tom ) came in second in blocks.

You can wait until 9/28 if you want too LOL… My dreaming starts right now

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 21, 2010 at 11:36 PM

btw Seraphin supposedly doesn’t speak a word of english.

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 22, 2010 at 3:14 AM

Tom- the fact that Ben Wallace has an event has nothing to do with it. its what he does at the events. come on man, i shouldnt have to spell it out. Do you think Seraphin can bench press anything near 500 lbs? Where do you get that Seraphin is taller? he is listed at the same height as Ben.. have you done your own measurements on ben that we dont know about? seems to me like “your” the one who doesnt know what he is talking about my friend..

The Durant weight comparison to boykins was a joke. have you not noticed how extremely skiny Durant is? im sure most the bloogers got that, or is my sense of humor a bit off?

what exacctly have i backed out of? yes booker is “a little” better Dom offensively. that isnt saying much. i think your hopes are a little too high on booker. If ANYONE else thought he was a Milsap in the making, he would have been drafted higher. heck, WE would have drafted him higher. He is no Milsap. and must i state again, it doesnt matter who players compare themselves to. my little cousin plays football for his middle school. he compares himself to Adrian Peterson. enough said..

booker was a rebounder in COLLEGE. what did he do in summer league? He was a scorer in COLLEGE. what did he do in summer league? and b4 you get the chance ill say it for you, thats just SL. well lets look at McGee. if he averages 6 ppg in the regular season and 19 in SL, then booker averages …. points in SL and….. points in SL, what do you think he’ll do in the regular season with limited minutes? not to mention JSmith avg just under 9 rbs a game last season since Booker is such a better rebounder than smith, Booker should avg at least 10 or 11 a game right? sure he will… i mean throw out the fact that Booker avergaged less rbs per games in college than Jsmith in the NBA. im sure once booker has the chance to play against better competion his numbers will sore thru the roof. thats just conventional wisdom right? it happens to all players. whatever they do in college, they do better in the NBA. lol i think this is an appropriate time for a C’mon son!

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 22, 2010 at 3:20 AM

Parle Vous… kick some butt?

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 22, 2010 at 3:36 AM

MaggicMan… Say NO to drugs LOL

bench pressing 500lbs is great if you are a power lifter… still doesn’t make him bigger? Nobody knows what Serapin can do yet, but, I’m betting he will be a force. On Both Ends

Booker a “little” better than Dominic? That one blows me away LOL. Booker at the combine was clocked faster than John Wall. Dominic is a good player but in no way shape or form holds a candle to Booker. Booker led Clemson in scoring… while leading the ACC in rebounding.

You C’mon Son LOL

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 22, 2010 at 4:20 AM

so booker is faster than wall…. ok… so is tyson gay… what whats your point?? Booker was the leading scorer for Clemson. yeah that’ll happen when the next best scoring option is Demontez Stitt. Booker lead the acc in rebounding. well lets examine that. Booker officially averagd 7.8 rbs a game. Al Farouq Aminu avg just under 11. Derrick Favors- 8.5
Gani Lawal 8.3.. jordan williamson- 8.3… but i guess it depends on how you do math. where im from, 8.3 is greater than 7.8.. and 10.7 is also greater than 7.8.. but you do your math any way you like.. men lie, women lie, numbers dont..

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 22, 2010 at 4:21 AM

and btw for all those who dont watch college bball, all those players were in the ACC

Comment from draftazoid
Time August 22, 2010 at 7:28 AM

As an unrestricted Free Agent Dominic McGuire signed a 1 year contract with Charlotte for next year for $885,000 (I believe that is the minimum for his years of service). He will make less money than Hilton Armstrong.
That is how much value the NBA has for his skills (not very much).

Dominic does not provide any skills that could not be found in many, many players in the league.

I hope he does well as a former Wizard. All the teams in the NBA do not believe he can be a very good contributor to their team. All you have to do is look at the contract he signed as an unrestricted free agent, able to go anywhere and any team (if they want him).

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 22, 2010 at 8:11 AM

Hey draftazoid, did you know that “all the teams in the NBA” passed on Ben Wallace in the draft? No doubt, the day after the draft you could have written that Ben has “not very much” value. I wouldn’t be too confident in what GMs do. Paul Millsap was picked 45th in the draft; does that total lack of NBA confidence tell you much about him?

Magicman, lets just agree to disagree. I’m a big Ben Wallace fan — have been since he was an unbelievably raw undrafted rookie trying to make the Wizards squad. Some guys develop a lot; other guys don’t. Ben sure did. Lets hope Seraphin does too.

I am quite sure Seraphin isn’t as *strong* as Ben Wallace right now. Apparently he has never yet spent time in a weight room. But he is definitely bigger. Still, neither “big” nor “strong” makes a basketball player, tho they help.

As to Booker, you’re wrong about the rebounding numbers — but it’s hard to compare with Smith admittedly, since there are no college numbers for him. By the way, rebounding is one basketball skill that translates extremely well from college to the NBA.

But, as with Seraphin so with Booker — we’ll just have to see. My hopes for Booker reflect what a strong college player he was, especially his junior year when he was behind only Griffin and Blair and Kenneth Faried among NCAA bigs in overall productivity. Pretty good.

Comment from draftazoid
Time August 22, 2010 at 10:38 AM

Hey Tom,

The difference between Ben Wallace and Dominic is that Ben was a rookie. Dominic is a 3 year veteran. Everyone has been able to see what Dmac can do, and apparently he is not valued very much.
As for Millsap, he proved he could play so the NBA paid him. Unfortunately, we don’t know if Millsap will produce like he did 2 years ago because he has hit his fat cow contract. No need for him to work anymore. He is guaranteed.

Comment from draftazoid
Time August 22, 2010 at 10:43 AM

Don’t get me wrong. I love my former Wizards. I just thnk because they are from our home team and our fans have invested their time in watching them play that the players value is increased in the fan base. That’s understandable.
Dmac is a perfect example. A 3 year veteran who has proved to be a serviceable player here in the district. Unfortunately for him, all the other teams in the NBA, including the Wizards, do not think they can find players that are better than him.
The proof is in his unrestricted, free agent contract. (For petes sake, Hilton Armstrong is making more money).

Comment from draftazoid
Time August 22, 2010 at 10:46 AM

That is going to be a heck of a fast break with Wall-Booker-Javale. That is some serious speed. (you can’t team speed).
Can’t wait. I am defintely looking forward to how much Flip makes the team run, run, run.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 22, 2010 at 12:29 PM

BTW-Regardless of what a player is paid by their team, if it doesn’t equate to the league’s rules, the league will pay the difference in salary….Just an FYI when we quote how much a player agreed to…

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 22, 2010 at 12:40 PM

sad….but the top 40 dunks is a beast….

Former Pistons executive Matt Dobek, fired in May for leaking information, allegedly commits suicide. http://bit.ly/bejCBQ

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 22, 2010 at 1:31 PM

actually im not wrong about the numbers.. here are the ACC leaders in scoring, rebounding, assist, fg %, steals and blocks.. oh and btw, since we’re talking about the ACC like its a power house conference or something, Trevor Booker was 6th in the ACC in blocks per game. Not bad for a guy who “is not a shot blocker” wouldnt u say?

http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2009-2010/confonly.html#conf.wki

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 22, 2010 at 3:02 PM

I guess you can get more rebounds when you are on the floor than when you are on the bench? So when coach sits you down you stop rebounding. Then when he puts you back in you can grab some more boards. Right?

As a junior, Booker got 12.7 rebounds for every 40 minutes coach put him in the game. As a senior, he got 10.9 rebounds for every 40 minutes coach put him in the game. Josh Smith got 9.8 rebounds for every 40 minutes his coach put him in the game. It’s hard to compare, admittedly, because we don’t have college stats for Smith.

If we look at blocks per 40 minutes on the floor, we can start w/ Whiteside’s extraordinary 8.2 — what a number! Then right after is our own Hamady N’Diaye with 6.4 and Jarvis Varnado with 6. Scroll down for a while and, you bet, you do get to Trevor Booker at 1.8, so no I wouldn’t call him a shot-blocker. Not saying that’s bad, mind you, but it’s not what stands out about him — it’s below average for an NCAA Div 1 PF.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 22, 2010 at 6:08 PM

And at the end of the day, The Mystics end the season at #1 in the East

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 22, 2010 at 6:18 PM

Fernandez fined by the NBA for his comments about going to Minnesota (uhhhhhhhh hello, you’re not a star yet, you dont get special treatment, and you can’t say what you feel, based on your POTENTIAL)…LOL….

Potential, that word sounds familiar

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 22, 2010 at 6:53 PM

Whiteside, Hamady and Varnado are all centers. not PFs. nor do they play in the ACC. not to mention are 7 footers. except Varnado i think.. not sure bout his height. but your argument for him were based on his numbers at clemson and in comparrison to other ACC player.

Dont get me wrong i think Booker will be a productive player as long as he plays within him self. he has the tools. He CAN be a shot blocker. with his “speed”, aggressive nature, and athletic ability its hard not to believe he can average 1.5 blocks a game if he had adaquet playing time. which leads to my comparrison to Smith. Versatile, Athletic, can score from anywhere on the court, creates match up problems. and average rebounder.

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 22, 2010 at 6:53 PM

well whitside doesnt any way

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 22, 2010 at 7:53 PM

Just wondering,If seraphin is such a beast, shouldn’t he be on the french national team?

Comment from neal
Time August 22, 2010 at 8:43 PM

Grifon, u don’t have to apologize to me. I like dumb jokes.

As I remember, here are the estimated wins:

gettabig 45
neal 33
grifonracing 32
Tom 20

Who else wants to take a shot?

Which of our rookies have signed a contract?

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 22, 2010 at 8:50 PM

‘Dray giving back to the Syracuse area with a free clinic and school supplies for the local kids.

http://blog.syracuse.com/sports/2010/08/andray_blatche_gives_back_to_s.html

Very nice.

Comment from datonypony
Time August 22, 2010 at 11:59 PM

@Dcbutler

I’m pretty sure there was a statement regarding Seraphin withdrawing himself from the French National team to rehab!

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 2:20 AM

Seraphin has won the silver medal as a member of the “under 20″ French team. I don’t know if he ever played with the Big Boys?

Thanks Neal I knew if anyone would apprciate the master card thing… you would LOL. We are obviously brothers from different parents? Even close in Predicted Wins? Please don’t trade me to Cleveland LOL.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 2:30 AM

Seraphin is “reported” (grain of salt time) to be 19

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 2:42 AM

Thanks Gabbo… great article

I’m putting a lot on Wall next year. It’s no surprise I like Booker and Seraphin. But, the player I think will make or break us next year is “your guy” Mr. Blatche. I think he has gotten “IT”. He is 23 and .. what?.. a 4 year veteran? IF HE PLAYS LIKE HE DID… in the 2nd half last year… OR Better (I’m guessing the latter ) We will be a lot closer to Neal and my #’s than Tom’s number.
Love ya man… but 45 is a bit out there

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 2:53 AM

Neal.. I believe Seraphin and Booker have signed. Hamady has not

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 23, 2010 at 3:08 AM

Rubio is younger than JWall and he’s on the national team….lol….

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 7:48 AM

magicman — ok, ok, I give up! Besides, if Booker turns out to be as good as Josh Smith, I’m going to be very happy!

Seraphin — yes, he was on the French national team. Removed because of his injury preventing him from practicing/playing.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 7:55 AM

Gotabig — thanks for the link; it’s a nice story. Andray definitely seems to be developing into a good person. A good thing to see!

He talks about his injury, Summer work in the story too:

“It’s coming along,’’ he said of his foot. “I have one week left with the boot before I get back to playing ball. Everything’s going good with rehab and the treatment.’’

“Definitely playoffs,’’ he said. “That’s our expectation.’’

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 7:59 AM

Grifonracing — Andray turned 24 last week. He was drafted in ’05, so he’s actually played 5 years, although his first year was mostly washed out by the shooting (he played @180 minutes).

I wonder what the average NBA career is? I bet Andray has already exceeded the average. Strange thought….

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 10:18 AM

We missed Andray’s birthday? Gabbo you are slipping my friend lol.

I’m only counting 4 years Tom because of the shooting thing. The first year we were all glad he was still “here”

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:13 AM

“We missed Andray’s birthday? Gabbo you are slipping my friend lol.” – GrifonRacing

“WE didn’t miss Andray’s birthday. LOL! Since ‘Dray’s birthday was only yesterday (8/22), I’m sure belated good wishes of one day will be appreciated.”

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 23, 2010 at 12:09 PM

On paper, the 2009-2010 team looked very good. While Gil’s suspension effectively ended our chances for any real success, the surprising lack of harmony that became obvious early in the season had begun the meltdown. IMO, the 2010-2011 team is superior to last year’s team for several reasons (not in order of importance): (1) John Wall should provide the Wizards with a real point guard who can both distribute the ball and put it in the basket. His flat-out speed and willingness to run the floor will fit right in with Flip’s style; (2) the Wizards will finally start two forwards who will NOT be under-sized for the positions; (3) Gil will be able to simply score without trying to distribute the ball – we won’t be concerned that Gil might be overly selective about his shots in order to maintain his shooting average-he’ll just fill-it-up; (4) our defense will be much stronger – size alone at the 3 and 4 will help and the matador defense of the former forwards will be gone along with the bull attitude they projected; (5) we are younger, quicker, bigger, and hopefully, not inclined to play Me-ball.

I believe that Wall will be a winner. I know little to nothing about Armstrong or Seraphin or Booker, but I have seen Howard, Hinrich, Thornton, Blatche, Young, McGee, Gil, and Yi play and I believe it is a very good team with depth. I would really have liked us to sign Singleton. He has great toughness and heart.

If I wrote that I thought that the Wizards would win 45 games this coming season, I should have written AT LEAST 45 games.

Comment from neal
Time August 23, 2010 at 1:03 PM

Wouldn’t it be exciting if you were right gabbo? I really hope so.

I also think we’ll be better than last year. I disagree with Tom that a player will be about as good in any situation in the league. I think chemistry and coaching are more important than Tom thinks. If I had to start a team with one person, I’d choose a head coach rather than any one player.

Jordan was a good coach but couldn’t keep control of his players. I think Saunders is a better coach but he had the same problem with the same group. I’m really glad he and EG and Leonsis decided to pull the plug and start over with more coachable players.

The decision to sign Howard says to me that Leonsis wants to be competitive now, as well as rebuild for the future. The good news is we’ll be better with him (presuming he stays healthy and is over his distracting whims). The bad news is that he will take minutes away from Booker. It also says to me that management decided that Booker isn’t ready for the regular rotation and/or management doesn’t want the young guys to get too used to losing.

Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 23, 2010 at 1:25 PM

The team is still VERY QUESTIONABLE at the center position. When Brendan Haywood is finally needed for his defensive communication in the paint and a “higher than you think” bball IQ, he’s not here.

Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 23, 2010 at 1:28 PM

@ neal

Flip couldn’t control veterans (see Pistons and last year’s Wizards); however, Flip is pretty good at getting at the attention of younger players (see Timberwolves and, hopefully, this year’s Wizards).

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 23, 2010 at 2:01 PM

I think flip can get us to at least 30 wins. we have the talent, size, and scoring. there are only a few teams that are stacked in the east. Miami, Orlando, Bulls, hawks. i would normaly include the Celtics in there but we have played them as good as anyone in the league since they brought in garnett and ray allen. there is no reason to believe that outside of these teams, we have a shot at being better than the rest of the east. no other team is impressive enough for me to say, there is NO WAY we finish with a better record.

Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 23, 2010 at 2:05 PM

@ maggicman11

You don’t think the Milwaukee Bucks are stacked? They’ve got some legitimately solid players at every position:

Bogut
Brockman
Delfino
Dooling
Douglas-Roberts
Gallon
Gooden
Hobson
Ilyasova
Jennings
Maggette
Mbah a Moute
Redd
Salmons
Sanders

Comment from neal
Time August 23, 2010 at 3:07 PM

In an effort to create a little interest, I’ll send $20 to any person who can guess the number of victories we’ll get this year. You can change your estimate at any time up to the day of the first preseason game. So far:

gabbo 45
neal 33
grifon 32
maggicman 30
Tom 20

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 23, 2010 at 3:30 PM

“Michael Jordan, Kwame Brown together again in Charlotte
Michael Jordan just doesn’t know how to quit Kwame Brown.

Brown, drafted by Jordan with the No. 1 pick in the 2001 NBA draft, will sign with the Charlotte Bobcats, the team Jordan now owns, according to ESPN.com. Brown’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, is the source of the report.”

That is hard to believe. Kwame just can’t get away from that abusive relationship.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 3:33 PM

Gotabig — I’d like to have Singleton too. Really, I’m kind of surprised he’s not on a team already. He is a productive player and appears to be an excellent teammate as well. Go figure.

If every Wiz veteran is at least 2 times as productive as he’s been any time in the previous 3 years, and if Wall plays like he’s in his 3d year not his rookie year, and if Booker and Seraphin are solid first-year pros — if all these things happen, why then we might win 45 games. Hmmm, call that 35 wins instead.

If, instead, we get rookie-level production from the rookies, production at their established levels by the guys who’ve been in the league 3 or more years and aren’t coming off injuries, production at their most recent levels from Gil and Howard, and a little bit of improvement from JaVale — why in that case… we’ll win 20+ games.

Not to beat a dead horse, but Howard has been on the way down for a few years, Yi/Thornton/Nick/Armstrong are all way below average nba players, Gil will come back as a guy about to turn 29 who’s had multiple injuries (i.e. not a 25 year old at his peak), JaVale is a fabulous athlete who *no one* who plays w/ him or coaches him thinks understands the game or how to play his position, Hinrich is Hinrich, we have 3 rookies, and that leaves Andray.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 3:41 PM

Kwame has never been a really *bad* player to tell the truth. Just not good. He’s better than Hilton Armstrong for example.

If he’d been drafted 31st rather than 1st, no one would complain about him.

If he’s playing for veteran minimum, he’s a valuable pick-up.

Comment from crozby
Time August 23, 2010 at 3:53 PM

People must realize the potential of the starting 5 and what we have as a bench. We know for sure Gibert averaged 22 points last year when playing (reasonable). Add in Blatche for 20 (he did it after the All-Star break, reasonable), Josh for 12 (his average last year), McGee for 10 (seems reasonable), and Wall for at least 15 (seems reasonable), and that’s 79 points per game. The Lakers only averaged 78 last year: Kobe 27, Gasol 18, Bynum 15, Artest 11, and Fisher 7. And after Odom coming off the bench (averaging only 10), there’s nobody else that really produced last year from the Lakers. The Wizards can come up with those points just from Kirk, who averaged 10 last year off the bench. And, you can throw in Nick who averaged over 15 points per game towards the end of the season, Al Thornton who average 10 last year, and Yi who averaged 12 last year. Really, the Wizards team can score more points than the Lakers. Oh, and the Wizards (with a worst team last year) actually beat Boston in April.

Comment from crozby
Time August 23, 2010 at 3:54 PM

The potential is there…

Comment from neal
Time August 23, 2010 at 4:35 PM

An interesting perspective, crozby. It does point out that we have balanced scoring and that IF a lot of things turn out right we could be a playoff contender. So, crozby, how many games do you say we’ll win? More than the Lakers?

I tend to be a little optimistic when I see that we have a lot of good players. I forget that other teams do too. And since I don’t keep up with the rest of the league I don’t have a basis for comparison.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 23, 2010 at 5:48 PM

I hope someone finds their fairy godmother, because some of these wishes are definitely made for disney world…..comparing a championship team to a 20 win team….the only comparison is that they are both in the nba….lol…..

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 5:50 PM

counting up potential point averages like that has *zero* relationship w/ reality. Why don’t you see how many shots it took those 5 guys to score the 79 points? Vs. how many shots it took the Lakers starters to get their 78?

Then add up the average TOs for the 5 starters, etc.

The Lakers are a good team; they won the title last year. We are a bad team; we won 26 games last year and then we lost our most efficient player in the off-season and have acquired some non-producers. Etc.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 6:00 PM

neal — “I see that we have a lot of good players…” Which ones? Measured how?

We *don’t* have a lot of good players. We have a lot of *bad* players. And we have some question marks. And we have some rookies.

I can’t think of a single team in the NBA with a worse roster than the Washington Wizards. Not one.

Philadelphia, Toronto and Detroit are really bad too, and they are going in the other direction (we’ll get better over the next couple of years).

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 6:10 PM

Here’s a full set of NBA statistics you can fool around with:

http://www.draftexpress.com/stats.php?sort=&q=&league=NBA&year=2009%2F10&per=per40&min=15&pos=all&qual=all

I’ve included only guys who played 15 minutes or more last year. The number show what they did per 40 minutes they played, so you can compare someone who played lets say 22 minute/night on a good team w/ someone who lets say played 33 minutes/night on a less good team (because he had to).

I’ve got it set to all players, but you might want to switch to PF, and see what Andray did compared to other players. You may want to check not just points per 40 minutes, but how often players get to the line, how many rebounds they get, how often they steal or turn the ball over. And so forth.

Switch to SF, and see how Howard and Thornton compare to other players in the league. Or Nick. Or check Nick as a 2 guard.

You’re not going to like what you see. Not for *any* of our players. Sorry.

Comment from neal
Time August 23, 2010 at 6:31 PM

Thank you for the really good stats, Tom. But it looks to me like Howard and Blatche compare very well. McGee looks average (but I expect more of him this year). No stats on Wall and Arenas. I’m not convinced the stats bear out your outlook.

I think we will have a solid core of 5 good players starting. The rest of the rotation will be Hinrich, Thornton, Yi (who I expect to be better) and Seraphin. Could be a lot worse. I expect Martin back and he may work his way into the rotation.

Comment from draftazoid
Time August 23, 2010 at 6:42 PM

Neal,

Put me down for 42 wins this year.

Comment from draftazoid
Time August 23, 2010 at 6:45 PM

Our 3 guard rotation: Wall-Gilbert-Hinrich is in the exceptional category, IMO.
2 good defenders
2 good shooters
3 guys who can play point

How many teams have as good a 3 guard rotation as the Wizards? I don’t think there are many.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 23, 2010 at 7:03 PM

hmmmm, we must be basing this off of potential, because Gil hasn’t played like a star since 2006? JWall hasn’t played one pro game yet…..lol….going by our ONLY sure thing (Heinrich), we are in trouble right now…LOL…

Comment from JWALL
Time August 23, 2010 at 7:43 PM

This is going to be some kind of NBA season coming up.
MJ just signed Kwame Brown to play for him one year in Charlotte. I can imagine MJ said you owe me big time.
Maybe MJ figures if Larry Brown could handle AI maybe there is some hope for Kwame. Who would have predicted this move.

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 23, 2010 at 7:43 PM

thanks for the stats tom.. some things that stood oout to me.

1) Gil is still the highest scoring PG in the league per 40
2) Howard was the 6th highest scoring SF in the league after Lebron, durant, carmelo, maggette, cant remember the other 1.
3) Dray was the 13th highest scoring PF in the league
4) Mcgee was the 16th highest scoring center.

this doesnt mean we will win a championship or anything like that.. but like i said b4. we have the scoring to to compete for the playoffs.

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 23, 2010 at 7:48 PM

Wiz_fusion- I think the Bucks are a good well balanced team. but i cant say that they are SO good that we cant compete with them or that they will DEF have a better record. i dont think Jennings is better than Wall and i know he isnt better than Gil. There PF spot is a Question mark. the only position they have us beat is Center with Bogut. and Mcgee, although not as good, has shown he can slow down shorter Centers in the league with his shot blocking/changing. he gets in the heads of these guys from the weak side. Redd is there best player on the wing and he is not good enough to take a game over. he is not unguardable.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 8:50 PM

magicman — now sort power forwards by FG *attempts* — Andray is 9th or 10th. So 13th in scoring but by taking more shots.

Now sort by FT attempts — now Andray is on the middle of the 2d page.

Now sort by rebounds — Andray’s on the middle of the 2d page.

Now sort by turnovers — Andray’s 3d in the league in frequency of turnovers.

Ok, now lets compare him to a *really good* PF. Sort by FG attempts again. You’ll see that Andray and Tim Duncan’s lines are right next to each other, making comparison easy.

They take the same number of FG attempts — but Duncan gets his team 2 more points out of the same number of tries.

Andray gets to the line 4.2 times, but Duncan gets there 6.1 times.

In other words, Duncan is the better scorer — higher FG%, gets to the line 1.5 times as often.

He’s also better just about everywhere else.

Andray gets 9 rebounds, but Duncan gets 12.9 rebounds.

Steals and Turnovers are effectively about the same (Duncan has fewer steals but also fewer turnovers — net is equal)

Andray gets 3 assists, but Duncan gets 4 assists.

Andray fouls 3.9 times, but Duncan fouls only 2.5 times.

That’s what you see when you compare Andray to an *actual all star.*

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 9:02 PM

Now Josh Howard:

Yup, 6th in scoring per 40 minutes. And he gets to the line very effectively too: 5th in that stat.

Unfortunately, he’s 4th in FG attempts — helps to explain that scoring huh? How about his FG % — towards the bottom of the league.

How about frequency of fouls — ooops, he leads the league!

How about rebounds. He’s in the bottom 3d.

Doesn’t turn it over much at all, which is good. Steals about average for a 3.

How about assists? Bottom 25% of the league.

So here we have another low efficiency volume chucker who does basically nothing else. But of course he scores points, so you love him.

Think about it — if all these guys shoot a low %, and all of them like to shoot it a lot, are we going to win games with our scoring? No, we’re not.

Comment from tyrone2000
Time August 23, 2010 at 9:06 PM

pencil in 45 wins for me…

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 9:23 PM

You like that McGee is 16th in points among Centers? Why don’t we compare him to someone we *know* isn’t very productive — lets take the Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan, who was picked high in round 2 the same year Javale was taken in the middle of round 1.

They played the same number of minutes per game last year: 16.3 for DJ, 16.4 for JM.

McGee scored 16 points, Jordan only 11.8. That *must mean* that JaVale is the better shooter, right? Uh oh… looks like JaVale takes 12.7 shots to make 6.5 field goals, while Jordan takes only 8.4 shots to make 5.1 field goals. So JaVale only makes 1.4 of those extra 4.3 shots. Maybe we’d be better off if JaVale shot 60% like Jordan instead of 50% ??

What about rebounding? JaVale gets 10.1, but — ouch! — DeAndre Jordan gets 12.7.

JaVale does a couple of things much better than Jordan — blocks about twice as many shots, and shoots a much better FT %. But, because DeAndre Jordan is an efficient shooter and an above average rebounder for a Center (JaVale is *below* average), he actually contributes more to his team winning games. Sorry.

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 23, 2010 at 9:26 PM

Tom M. – I don’t even know where to start to address your negativity. Why are you comparing Tim Duncan, a PF who been a starter since 1997, to Andray Blatche, a player who finally had an opportunity to demonstrate his ability JUST LAST YEAR (2010)? Has Duncan shown all-star play?…Sure. Will ‘Dray show all-star play? I believe so. If I were starting an NBA team tonight would I pick Duncan or Blatche as my PF? I’d pick Blatche with out a doubt! Watch a few games this year instead of making proclamations after reading the box score and you might see what a really good athlete AB is and what a really good team the Wizards are.

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 23, 2010 at 9:27 PM

@tyrone2000 – 45 wins; Great choice!

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 23, 2010 at 9:30 PM

Tom M. – There is serious consideration that has to be given to a player’s performance and the system in which he plays. DeAmdre Jordan plays with his back to the basket and shoots from within 3 feet of the basket; Javale McGee plays facing the basket and receives the ball primarily 15-20 feet from the basket. Watch the games!

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 9:34 PM

*Anybody* paying even the slightest attention to the numbers I just showed you will understand that they don’t support winning many games.

Overall, these 3 key players shoot way more than average — and we haven’t even gotten to Wall and Arenas (who chucks up the 8th most shots per 40 minutes of anyone in the league)!! But they shoot a relatively low % (as does Gil) and they don’t rebound.

When you don’t rebound, you *get fewer shots on basket.* If you shoot fewer shots with a lower % than your opponent — anybody here pass elementary school arithmetic? You lose.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 9:37 PM

Gotabig — you keep trying to figure out ways that guys results don’t matter. But they do. If *everyone* rebounds badly, the other team gets more rebounds. If they get more rebounds, you usually lose. If they also shoot a higher %, you are sure to lose.

You explained that Andray doesn’t rebound because Flip’s offense has him away from the bucket. Gee, his *defensive rebounding* is actually worse than his offensive rebounding.

I do watch the games. And I also see the score at the end of the game. You know the one that has us with fewer points than the opponent? Losing the game?

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 23, 2010 at 9:41 PM

Does JaVale being *away from the bucket* explain why he doesn’t rebound? If so, how does he manage to block so many shots?

I might also mention that because I watch the games I am aware that *no* JaVale does not usually receive the ball 15-20 feet from the basket. In fact, when we actually pass him the ball he’s usually set up to post, which he does poorly. His greatest *success* receiving the ball, on the other hand, is a lob that he dunks. *At the basket.* Shheeesh.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 23, 2010 at 9:52 PM

The key to this season is the system, and holding players accountable. We can look at AB as Juwan Howard, when the bullets were BAD and Juwan looked like an all-star because he was the best one on the team. Now that we resemble a team this year, everyone doing their part or playing their role is a key. With success as a TEAM, the individual accolades will come.

I just hope flip can be a GREAT coach this season.

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 23, 2010 at 10:33 PM

Ok this FG% thing is getting out of control.. yes Fg% is important. but if a player shoots 3 times every game and makes all 3 every game, he’ll avg 6 pts with a 100% fg%.. that 100 sure looks beautiful doesnt it? but if you have a player that shoots 10 times a game and makes 6 then he avgs 12pts a game on 60% from the field. 60 looks like crap compared to 100 right? well look at it this way, the highest scorers in the league shoot alot more than the lowest scorers in the league. and miss more too. accept for the really bad players.

for example: Kyrylo Fesenko avg 2.6pts on 54% from the field.
Lebron James avg. 29pts on 50% from the field.

sure lebron avg more pts, but he took more shots to do it. hmmm…. doesnt sound so good anymore right? its no secret that it takes more shots to put up more pts. its also no secret that the more shots you take, the more shots you miss.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 23, 2010 at 10:43 PM

Know your role, play your role, and if you carrying the trophy off the court, all the other stuff really doesn’t matter….LOL….Unless its a bunch of people with nothing to do, until the season starts again…LOL

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 10:44 PM

LOL maggicman.. you make a strong point

If a player takes one shot and makes it… 100%, but it isn’t going to help the team win.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 10:47 PM

DCB I agree. I think we weeded all of the “selfish” players out. I think we now have a Team of guys that only need to learn to play together. We have some awesome raw young talent. I personally think the young guys and Gilbert are going to be a lot of fun to watch play as a team this year.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 10:50 PM

Fusey.. that is the one player I’m really going to miss. Haywood! He was a rock and got everyone set. I was very sorry to see him go when he left. He does deserve a good paycheck though. He certainly waited long enough to get it

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 10:54 PM

I also think a major difference this year is that we haven’t played with a “true” point guard in years. We have one now. One that has shown he loves to control the pace of the game. That can’t be measured in stats, but, I’m betting everyone of his teamates will appreciate him A LOT

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:00 PM

I’ve said it before… Andray could have half again as many rebounds as he gets if he would just GRAB the ball, instead of trying to tip it in or back out atheletically lol. More points and better percentage too if withing 3 feet he grabs the ball in both hands and Dunks IT. Finesse is great…. but 3 feet away power is key.

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:10 PM

now im not stupid or sarcastic enough to say fg% doesnt matter at all. i mean if you have 2 guys that average 6 pts, one shoots 3 shots a game and one shoots 15. ill take the the guy who shoots 3 shots. or if two players take 15 shots a game and one averages 20 and one avgs 12…. you get the point.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:10 PM

Crozby… Welcome

I like our potential too

Draftazoid I agree. If Lester Hudson brings his A game to training camp ( really hope he does.. a bit older but can really play) we may just have an awesome 4 guard rotation…. 3 of which love playing defense

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:11 PM

NO NO… I totally agree with you.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:12 PM

I guess my example was a bit extreme

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:15 PM

I really meant it when I said I liked the point you made

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:16 PM

Did anyone see Lavrell Hawkins run against the cardinals tonight??!! Im gona try to vote him in the dunk contest!

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d819f8df0/Can-t-Miss-Run-n-Jump

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:18 PM

oh i believe you.. I just wanted to get that out b4 anyone thot i didnt understand where fg% is important in some ways

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:18 PM

“anyone”? LOL

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:19 PM

Speak your mind at all times in here. We are all listening. Not just one

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:20 PM

ok…. tom! lol..

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:21 PM

I value your opinion and I’m sure others do too. This has got to be the best blog in the NBA bar none.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:23 PM

I’ve been on this blog a long time. Tom is an aquired taste LOL. Problem.. he is usually right It something all of us old timers have adjusted too. You will too

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:26 PM

thanks. I Value everones opinion on this blog as well. I mean i may think we win 30 games some may think 40 some 20 and so on.. but at the end of the day none of us are professional analyst. if we happen to be right, its luck. even if we were pros. if so, we would be rich from betting on the NCAA tournament every year. my opinion is no more right or important than anyone elses.. even if i do happen to be right, it doesnt change that. its just very refreshing to debate! lol

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:29 PM

I actually really like tom. mostly because i like debating. my wife hates it! lol.. but its hard to debate w/o someone who is passionate about their opinion as i am

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:32 PM

Tom is the antagonist’s opinion to all of our protagonist’s opinions lol. He loves to get into debates/ wars?/ discussions lol. Debate Away

Tom is a really Cool Guy. That’s a Fact

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:33 PM

Oh and when you turn out to be “right” in here…..RUB IT IN ! LOL

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:35 PM

Odd? My wife lives and breaths to “debate” LOL

Comment from neal
Time August 23, 2010 at 11:48 PM

All the Wizard’s “me” generation is gone except Arenas and I think the odds are at least 50-50 he’ll be gone by the trade deadline. EG hasn’t drafted well but he’s pulled off some trades that I would have never thought could be made.

I guess my idea of buying out Arenas for about 50% of his contract is dead. It would have happened by now. The Wiz will apparently wait till they get a deal that has no long-run impact. They may have to wait until another year is gone off Arenas’s contract.

Any more ideas about how many games we’ll win? dcbutler? jwall? wizards_fusion?

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 24, 2010 at 1:56 AM

Neal… it is probably highly unlikely Gilbert isn’t a Wizard all of 2010-11. A buy-out would defeat our present plan. IF Gilbert comes back healthy and willing to fill a role he will be a definate asset to us. And if he plays well will be trade bait next off season when we will have a handle on who plays and who doesn’t. Next off season will be the key to our progression… or?

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 24, 2010 at 2:03 AM

Lot’s of players come off the books after this season. A very exciting time in Wizards land

Comment from jeffmalone1990
Time August 24, 2010 at 5:18 AM

Hello blog family

I have been away but enjoying all of the comments and posts, so I will go with a record of 40-42 and 8th for a playoff spot……..

Wall and Griffin take home ROY
Arenas gets the comeback player of the year

And Dray avg’s a double double for the season……

Comment from JWALL
Time August 24, 2010 at 7:11 AM

I am looking for a rewarding experience this season watching the Wizards launch into a new era. I am not going to continue to look into the past. It is gone. Players who were here are gone and not on our roster anymore. They had their time here now it is time to move on.
Remember we are rebuilding. Rebuilding takes time. I am not going to get my hopes up and gurantee that we will be in the playoffs this season. But I won’t be totally shocked either. This team can will itself to be something special.
Yes maybe some players on the roster now won’t be here this time next year. But let’s deal with the NOW.
Like many of you I have observed and watched from the sidelines most of the players on our roster. Roster wise we have a pretty balanced squad to work with this season. So as dcbutler357 said on a previous post let’s hope Flip can bring the best out of this talent and get them to play as a team giving their very best every night. There are a lot of if’s in this season. So I just want to watch everything unfold and feel good about JWall, Gil, AB, Kirk and AT leading the way.
This will be a good year of evaluation.
So let’s pray and hope our guy’s will stay healthy and return from their injuries and have good fortune.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 24, 2010 at 7:53 AM

Wow, here I was sleeping a few rooms away from the screen, and you guys were saying nice things about me! Awwww….

magicman — *obviously* a guy going 1 – 1 doesn’t tell you anything about him and doesn’t make him a contributor. And players aren’t machines either, so some nights even the good ones shoot a low %. Ditto on rebounding.

Really, it’s *team* FG% and *team* rebounding that win games, isn’t it? If your team gets itself more possessions and in those possessions shoots a higher %, you *cannot* lose the game.

But the team only gets the rebounds its players get and only shoots the % its players shoot, right? So, that’s why the players who score efficiently (shoot a high % and get to the line more than average for their position) and get you possessions (rebound, don’t turn it over, get steals) are the ones that contribute most to wins.

All the talk in the world doesn’t change those facts. If you build a team by going out to get all the top *scorers* at every position, you build a loser. That’s exactly what Isaiah Thomas did with the Knicks.

We’re rebuilding. We won’t be a good team this year, but I bet we’ll be a fun team to watch. At the end of the year, we get to dump nearly all our unproductive veterans (Nick, Al, Josh, Yi, Armstrong), and if along the way Gil plays well enough that someone wants to absorb his contract (esp. if it’s in return for young talent, expiring contracts, and picks) we’ll have taken a giant leap into the future.

In the meantime, this year we’ll win 20 games.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 24, 2010 at 7:55 AM

Love what you wrote just above, JWALL: “a rewarding experience this season watching the Wizards launch into a new era.”

Comment from SportzWiz
Time August 24, 2010 at 9:02 AM

Hey guys, been on the west coast for the past week (a little vacation) and definitely getting excited for the season.

Just 4+ weeks til camp.

A lot of posting at the top regarding Seraphin and playing center. I would agree with Tom on this one, as I’ve said in the past definitely looks more like a 4/5 than a 3/4. Not sure if he’s more a 4 or 5 at this moment but the guy just has a big frame that makes him more of a back to the basket player.

Regarding Seraphin, not 100% sure on all the visa status situation or knee but I will see what I can find out.

Also, usually in the next week or so guys trickle back into town for pick up games, if I get the chance to watch any of these games I will let you know what I see.

Comment from neal
Time August 24, 2010 at 9:18 AM

OK jeffmalone, I have you down for 41 wins. What do you think millie?

Comment from crozby
Time August 24, 2010 at 9:27 AM

Just getting back on from yesterday (I work a lot). I was asked how many wins this year, and I pick 50. Also, I wish a lot of people would stop comparing this team to the past Wizards. This is a totally different team. I say again, totally different team. Forget about the past. We now have a “true” point guard (oh, and he was the best pg in college basketball) who is lightening fast and will energize the entire team to play better. And, he plays great defense as well. He is compared to Derrick Rose, who averaged 20 ppg last year. I say again, 20 ppg last year. Take out Randy Foye and insert John Wall and see what you get- more action, more defense, and more points, which could have won us a lot more games last year by itself alone. Add a returning all-star player beside him (Gil) (a pure shooter that spreads defenses like crazy) and we potentially have maybe the best backcourt in the NBA. Speed can kill, and they have plenty of it, both of them. John Wall is not a pg like Rhondo, Nash, or others. He is faster and can go to the hole and dunk on you. I am also a Lakers fan (2nd favorite team), but the Wizards backcourt can now compare to the Lakers backcourt in my opinion. Kobe and Fisher avg. 34 per game last year (Kobe 27, Fisher 7). With Gil at 22 and Wall possibly at 15, that’s 37- more than the Lakers. And, the defense is about the same. I think Kobe provides better defense than Gil, but Wall will provide better defense than Fisher. Averages out to be equal backcourts defensively. Josh Howard will give you a little less defense than Artest, but will give you more points. AB has proved he can avg. 20 a game (two more than Gasol), and has some of the best moves under the basket for a PF (similar to Gasol). They both play a lot alike. Both can shoot from outside and both know how to get to the basket. All that is left is for McGee to have a breakout season and get to around 12-15 per game (similar to Bynum, who avgs. 15). But, if he doesn’t, our bench could make up for that, because I think with Kirk, Thornton, Nick, and Yi, we actually have a better bench than the Lakers did this past year- more scorers. I know that I am comparing the Wizards to the Lakers (and some may think that is crazy), but in order to measure how far you are, you have to compare yourself to the champions. I actually see us as a junior Laker team. Two great guards and two 7-footers under the basket that can score. And, I know I talk a lot about scoring, but if a team scores 110, as long as you score 111 you still win the game. We have scorers! No doubt about it! Heck, look at Phoenix, who gave the Lakers a hard time in the playoffs this year. They have always been a great scoring team with lackluster defense, and they were very close to going to the championship this year. I coach basketball and I know talent when I see it.

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 24, 2010 at 11:07 AM

Before anyone says so, I do not have another ID called “crozby”, but he is as enthusiastic about the Wizards potential for 2010-2011 as I am. Another coach who knows talent when he sees it. Welcome aboard!

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 24, 2010 at 11:10 AM

Welcome back jeffmalone1990.

Comment from Phemy
Time August 24, 2010 at 11:46 AM

heh,

Well I’m not that optimistic, so I’ll take 28 wins! Our division is just that tough… and I don’t think it will be JaVale’s year yet. Kid needs some more experience!

You guys saw Spain vs. USA? I really liked Ricky Rubio! I really wanna see him in the nba on a good team, how he will do compared to Jennings, Wall, Rose etc. Boy got potential! Let’s see where he will end up playing… and when..

On other (international) news, “FC Bayern München” has invested alot of money for their basketball team (right now they are only in the second highest league in germany) and got really good players. 2 players of the german national team, the coach of the national team and some other really good european players. Watch out for them in 3years or so, Europe here we come! Go Bavaria, go FcB Munich

..greetz

Comment from jeffmalone1990
Time August 24, 2010 at 12:29 PM

@Neal-yes 41 is a safe bet!

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 24, 2010 at 11:10 AM

Welcome back jeffmalone1990.

Thank you very much Gotabig! Almost time for camp, and getting pretty excited about the season, I am very happy that no news is good news re: Arenas. I think he will be “a monster on the court” and he can comeback without the spotlight that has been on him the past few seasons, since he is not the face of the franchise but one of the faces of the franchise.

Comment from crozby
Time August 24, 2010 at 12:35 PM

All, I am just looking at what these players have done in the past (which is fact). And, since they are so young, they should only get better (avg. age 24). We now have 9 players on the team that have proven (or will prove- talking about Wall) that on any given night they can give you 20+ points in any given game. Talking about Gilbert, Wall, Blatche, Howard, McGee, Kirk, Thornton, Nick, and Yi. If you don’t believe me, just go to http://www.nba.com/wizards/roster/ and click on each player and then “game stats”. It will show you that all of these players had games last year where they scored 20 or more points in a game (nearly all of them several times over). How many teams out there will have 9 players (yes, 9) that can potentially give you 20+ points on any given night? Even if you come down to 15+ points per game, we see the number of times each player did that last year during the regular season (with notables added): Gilbert Arenas (31 times, season high 45, scored 25 against Boston); Andray Blatche (34 times, season high 36, scored 31 against Boston); Josh Howard (13 times, season high 25, scored 18 against Lakers, season shortened by injury); Javale McGee (3 times, season high 25, scored 14 against Boston, limited playing time till end of season when he came on strong because of more minutes); Kirk Hinrich (15 times, season high 30 against Boston); Al Thornton (25 times, season high 31, scored 18 against Lakers and 24 against Boston); Nick Young (17 times, season high 29, scored 22 against Lakers); and Yi Jianlian (22 times, season high 31, scored 19 against Boston). Throw in John Wall and you can only guess what his numbers will be like (wow). As you can see, we have built a real threat scoring team that could potentially put up 115+ points on any given night. And, as shown above, all of our players have shown that they can score big against the best NBA teams (Lakers and Boston). Also, we still have at least two other slots to fill. Lord forbid we add two more proven scorers. This could get very interesting once teams see that every player we put on the floor is a potential scoring threat that can light up 15-20+ on any given night. These are the type of teams that drive defenses crazy- balanced scoring at the max!

Comment from millie mill
Time August 24, 2010 at 12:54 PM

Neal, put me down for 34 wins. 10th seed in the east.

Comment from gray16
Time August 24, 2010 at 1:27 PM

i say 32 wins for the wiz this season. i think the leadership of wall combined with the talented scorers and flip’s coaching should get us there. i think wall brings a lot of intangibles to the table that could help this team produce wins.

if we only win 20, i expect a lot of games to be heartbreaking losses in the fourth quarter, much like the end of last season. a lot of losses would be in the single digits imo.

if we were to win 40+, everyone would have to be healthy, dedicated, and playing at their best.

i put neither out of the question but don’t belive either will happen. so i’m settling on 30-35 wins this season.

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 24, 2010 at 1:40 PM

@neal – great idea to have everyone predict the # of wins!

Do you have a summary? Who has not chimed in yet?

Comment from neal
Time August 24, 2010 at 2:04 PM

OK, here’s where we stand re. estimated wins:

crozby 50
gottabig, tyrone2000 45
draftazoid 42
jeffmalone 41
millie 34
neal 33
grifonracing, gray16 32
maggicman 30
phemy 28
Tom 20

Need to hear from dcbutler, rick, jwall, wizards_fusion, wizards4life and the lady bloggers we used to have.

Phemy, are you blogging from Europe? Where?

Comment from Phemy
Time August 24, 2010 at 2:13 PM

The U.S. national basketball team finalized its roster for the world championships when Boston Celtics star Rajon Rondo asked to withdraw from consideration.
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/olybb/news/story?id=5493184

Neal, still blogging from Germany, south bavaria. 20.12pm right now

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 24, 2010 at 2:15 PM

Just as long as you don’t start blaming players and coaches when the losing starts, you can predict anything you want.

It would be illegal to take your money away, but what a temptation to offer 2-1 odds we don’t reach 30 wins!! Easy money….

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 24, 2010 at 3:10 PM

Well I surely hope Crozby wins that money! =) but is it too late too change my prediction? I think i was inspired! lol.. Ill say 39 wins

Comment from neal
Time August 24, 2010 at 3:19 PM

Predictions can be changed at any time before the day of the first preseason game. Currently:

crozby 50
tyrone2000, gotabig 45
draftazoid 42
jeffmalone 41
maggicman 39
millie 34
neal 33
grifonracing, gray16 32
phemy 28
Tom the stat man 20

If more than one person gets the right number multiple $20 prizes will be awarded.

OK, Tom. I’ll bet you a virtual $20 at 2 to 1 I’m righter than you.

Comment from neal
Time August 24, 2010 at 3:35 PM

What I know is that someone is dead wrong.

Maybe we should just put crozby and Tom in the same room and let them discuss this thing until they reach agreement.

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 24, 2010 at 3:48 PM

“Just as long as you don’t start blaming players and coaches when the losing starts, you can predict anything you want.” – Tom M.

I always expect to win every game we play. If we don’t, someone’s to blame and I’ll let them know about it on the blog.

Comment from jeffmalone1990
Time August 24, 2010 at 4:03 PM

Amen gotabigboyoffense, and if the blog is down I am calling the post game to blame something, lol

Comment from Rick
Time August 24, 2010 at 4:26 PM

I am hoping for 40 wins. But I am going to make my guess 35 wins. or can i get 2 guesses?

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 24, 2010 at 5:22 PM

Gotabig — you made me laugh out loud!

Someone tell me how you make the “wink” smiley, please. Maybe it’s

Comment from HardCoreFan
Time August 24, 2010 at 5:49 PM

Tom,

The wink is . But I think you have it!

Comment from draftazoid
Time August 24, 2010 at 6:52 PM

COACH K AND HIS CRONIES SHOULD STICK TO COLLEGE!

How do you cut the best point guard, at least in the playoffs, in Rajon Rondo?
I don’t care what his shooting percent in these exhibitions or scrimmages.
When money time is on RONDO is MONEY.

They gave Rondo an out by saying he gave up his spot. The fact is Coach K did not play him against Spain.
Can you imagine the Celtics or any other NBA Team having Rondo on the floor and not playing him in the last 20 seconds of a big game. That is insane. Insanely Stupid. Maybe if Rondo was in, it would not have taken KD to be superman blocking two shots.

What a bunch of crap. I hate the Celtics but I love watching Rondo.
The lasting effect in this is that Superstars are going to have to rethink about playing (trying out) for Team USA if there is a chance they will be cut. Just ask Rondo.

Comment from draftazoid
Time August 24, 2010 at 7:09 PM

4 Question for this Wizards Season

1. How good is Al Thornton?
2. Will Andre Blatche and Josh Howard heal 100% soon?
3. Does John Wall have the IT and will he provide similar stats to Derek Rose’s rookie season, who he is often compared too? (17 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds in 37 minutes a game)\
4. Javale McGee- Will he break out this year?

Comment from neal
Time August 24, 2010 at 8:02 PM

You only get one shot Rick.

HardCoreFan are you a new blogger? Want to take a guess at how many wins we’ll get? Guess correct and u get $20.

Comment from JWALL
Time August 24, 2010 at 8:22 PM

Draftazoid I believe is better than he is being forcasted to be. I believe he may surpirise a lot of folks including Tom. We will see as the season progresses.
Andre and Josh should not rush back that way they can be 100% when they get back.
John Wall will average between 7-9 assists a game and average between 12 and 14 points a game. His challenge will be to’s and stamina. He will be better in the 2nd half of the season as he learns the league.
Javale will break out only if he breaks out of bad habits and really commits mentally to improving his decision making. He needs to think more rebounds and blocks than dunk attempts. I see the 5 spot operating as a commitee with Javale, Hilton and KS. That is 18 fouls from the 5 spot to work with.

Rick simply because somebody only predicted 20 wins I am predicting 32 wins. I want my $20 when I win.

Comment from draftazoid
Time August 24, 2010 at 8:24 PM

Neal, thanks for taking everyone’s predications. I will buy a Wizards coffee mug (I drink it 24 hours a day) with my $20 bucks.

Tom, what does your evaluation say of how good Al Thornton will be for us this year?

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 24, 2010 at 8:33 PM

Taking into consideration all of the drama (injuries, benchings, growing pains, weird line-ups/trying to get another draft pick), I will go with 34 wins.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 24, 2010 at 8:33 PM

another thing taken into consideration is trades

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 24, 2010 at 8:49 PM

“Gotabig — you made me laugh out loud!” – Tom M.

Another of my life goals achieved!

Just kidding, my friend.

Comment from neal
Time August 24, 2010 at 9:57 PM

Tom, you don’t want anyone to blame the players or coaches? Where’s the fun in that?

Comment from neal
Time August 24, 2010 at 10:36 PM

Tell me how you guys insert those little faces.

Comment from datonypony
Time August 24, 2010 at 10:43 PM

For the record, I am guessing 29 Wins!

Put me down, when the season’s over, I want the prize money in New Zealand Dollars thanks!

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 24, 2010 at 10:45 PM

Neal, those faces were out prior to blogging….lol….

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 24, 2010 at 11:34 PM

JWall, Rick, and me at 32. I hope we don’t get “too many” of us picking the winning number Neal. Don’t want to break the bank (never tried the wink before… let’s see lol)

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 24, 2010 at 11:34 PM

Good that web site was right lol.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 24, 2010 at 11:37 PM

I don’t know about Neal, but I’m one of the most computer illiterate guys you guys know lol.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 24, 2010 at 11:40 PM

Datonypony.. I knew you were overseas.. didn’t realize it was New Zealand. That’s Really Cool. Isn’t it amazing how much smaller the world has become

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 24, 2010 at 11:56 PM

We won 25 games last year. It IS interesting to me that all of us, minus Mr. Happy (LOL… you know I’m kidding you ) pedict the Wizards to win more games than that. Phemy is the smallest # over at 28 (+3).

Last year we were disjointed with the big 3 playing selfish ball in the 1st half, then, ran with the tryout team the 2nd half. It doesn’t sound like it should be hard to top 25 with a team of guys that want to be here and play as a team. John Wall alone “should” be worth … oh let’s see 7 games? lol

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 25, 2010 at 12:00 AM

Yeah Yeah… I know LOL. Here come the Nick, Yi, Al, etc. numbers

Comment from dayle
Time August 25, 2010 at 3:05 AM

Hi everybody. I’ve been reading you all for ages.
(how long has this blog been going?). Have learned
alot but you’re keeping me up too late!

Put me down for 43. If everybody stays healthy
might be more. Something none of us know is, will
there be team chemistry? Very important don’t you
think?

Very pleased Josh Howard is on the team. More about
that later. Have to go to bed!

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 25, 2010 at 4:43 AM

Well since we all have our Win Predictions in…. Who will lead the wiz in scoring this year? Gil, Wall, Blatche, Howard, other?? Im going with Blatche..

Comment from draftazoid
Time August 25, 2010 at 6:43 AM

Scoring: Gilbert
Assists: John Wall
Rebounds: Andre
Bench Time: Nick haha

Comment from Babakism
Time August 25, 2010 at 7:37 AM

I think it will be very important for Blatche to average at least 10 rebounds a game. I’d also like to see him average 2 blocks. I’d love to see him average 20 a game which I think he is very capable of but I think it would be more important for him to play a complete game than to constantly dominate in scoring.

Perfect Blatche line 17 points 12 rebounds 5 assist 2 blocks 1 steal

I think that is alot to ask of him but he has the tools to get the job done and that is how he can be most effective.

@Tom why do you always call Al Thorton below average???? I’ve posted his stats several time and they aren’t poor. They are twice that of Nick Youngs (which isn’t saying a ton) did you not enjoy watching Thorton play last year??? He hustled every play and took the tough Defensive assignments too, (Melo, Pierce,Lebron)

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 25, 2010 at 8:01 AM

neal — you make a regular smiley face with : followed by )

The wink is ; followed by )

Comment from Jaba
Time August 25, 2010 at 8:15 AM

Neal – I’m predicting 31 wins, but of course hoping for more!

@ magicman11 – I’m going with Gil for most ppg! He will be asked to shoot…..and I’m sure he will enjoy doing so!

SportsWiz – welcome back! Hope you had a great time out west. Is there any news regarding Hamady maybe signing with a European team? Rumor had it, him and his agent were seriously considering that option. I’d like to know if H will be there for training camp. (If he’s not, I REALLY hope the Wiz will bring back Singleton!)

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 25, 2010 at 8:24 AM

@neal – codes for various faces:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Smilies

Enjoy

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 25, 2010 at 8:27 AM

Draftazoid/Babakism — Thornton is in a contract year. He is working hard this Summer, it is reported, trying to get his body in top shape. Apparently, he has always had some fatigue problems. I imagine this will be a little bit better year for him as he does what he can to optimize the next deal.

Is he going to get significantly better as a player? Not very likely! He’s 27; it’s off the map rare for someone that age to improve. He’s been playing basketball all his life. How he plays is how he plays.

Al is not a good player, guys. He is intelligent, professional, a good teammate. But he doesn’t produce much. He shoots about an average FG%, but he does nothing else well at all. He doesn’t rebound, he turns it over more than he steals it, he gets to the line very rarely, and he fouls a lot.

Babakism points out that he’s better than Nick Young. Yes, he is. Nick is in the bottom 20% of all players in the league.

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 25, 2010 at 8:40 AM

Tom M. – On what are you basing the remark about Nick Young being in the bottom 20% of all players in the league? Has someone ranked the players 1 – x?

Nick is a great scorer. Nick needs some size so that he doesn’t get pushed around. Flip said that Slick worked hard on that aspect and is in the best condition of any player on the team. Nick played very good basketball the last few games of last season, and he had several games over the past few years where he looked like an all-star.

He frequently looked lost in Flip’s zone defense and he had trouble fighting through picks when the Wizards played man defense. However, I have always liked the fact that he could score on anyone one-on-one, and he has a nice mid-range jumpshot and can hit the three-pointer.

Nick needs to be stronger and more consistent, and he has to keep focused. If he can do these things, he’ll contribute.

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 25, 2010 at 8:52 AM

It’s interesting how people see the same thing differently. Some people see the glass as half-full; some see the glass as half-empty. I always see the glass as over-flowing. And then there are some people who don’t even see the glass.

Comment from Rick
Time August 25, 2010 at 9:00 AM

Ok Neal, if I only get one guess, I’ll stick with 35 wins.

Gottabig, I am all with you in support of Blatche, and have been for years. Nick Young is another story however. I agree that he is a great one-on-one scorer and solid free-throw shooter, but that is about it. The man does not play defense. And he has not shown to be a great scorer in the context of the offense. He does not make anyone else on the team better. I don’t expect Nick to become a good all-around player overnight, or in one season for that matter. But he MUST improve at least one facet of his game this year (either defense or ball handling or driving and kicking) to prevent me from totally giving up on him.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 25, 2010 at 9:09 AM

How come I think we’re only going to win 20 games this year?

Do you remember choosing up sides in the schoolyard? The guy who picked the better players had the better team, and they won the game.

Basketball is a simple game. The team with better *players* is the better *team.* Of course, a coach can make you worse — above all by playing the less good players more minutes. But a coach doesn’t usually make his players better.

The team we had last year after the trades went 9-23. 6-22 after the initial spurt of excitement passed.

Three of the best players on that team — Miller, Livingston and Singleton — aren’t here any more. Some of the scrubs are gone too, thankfully.

Assuming for a moment that the new set of scrubs (Yi, Armstrong…) aren’t any better than the old set of scrubs, and that we don’t expect much rookie production from Booker and Seraphin (at least not enough to really impact our record), we can see that we replaced the 3 good players we lost with Arenas, Howard, Wall and Hinrich.

Hinrich is certainly a better combo guard than, say, Randy Foye — so that’s good.

As a rookie, will Wall out-produce Livingston for the whole season? Maybe so. And anyway we didn’t have Shawn for all those games and he got better as he wore off the rust. But… maybe not — even if he improves all season and ends up better.

Arenas was down a fair amount last season from his peak year ’06-7. He turned it over more, didn’t get to the line as much, didn’t make as many 3s. It’s a big question whether he ever gets back to top form. And I remind you that we have at best a .500 record in games Gilbert has started as a Wizard. He’s very good and incredibly entertaining, but he’s not as good a player as you think he is.

Howard was terrific at his peak — but that was a few years ago. He’s been slipping year-to-year for a while, and he has had multiple injuries. He is unlikely to be back right away any way. And he won’t come back at top form right away. I can’t see him being all that much of a help.

So… our future is bright. But we won’t win many games this year.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 25, 2010 at 9:15 AM

Glass half full or half empty? Depends what glass you’re looking at. I’m *very happy* with the Wizards!! We have broken up a team that at its very best was mediocre. We have a new owner who is committed to contending for a title. We have decided to rebuild from the draft and any other way we can acquire young talent. We got lucky in the lottery and got the top pick in the draft. We took a big swing at the ball and went for Seraphin. I like Booker. We will have tons of cap room next Summer, and we have only one long-term contract so we have lots of rebuilding flexibility.

Full to the brim!

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 25, 2010 at 9:43 AM

Gotabig — I base my estimation of Nick Young on *what he does* as a player. Yes, he is gifted; so what.

How good do you think John Salmons is? Do you think he is a terrific player? A star? Average? Lets compare what he and Nick do w/ every 40 minutes they’re on the floor:

they each take 15.7 shots. So they both like to shoot/score.

Nick gets 15 points out of his shots. Salmons gets 16.2 points out of his.

Nick gets to the line 3.6 times. Salmons gets there 5.6 times.

Nick shoots 80% from the line (2.9 pts); Salmons 87% (4.9 pts).

Obviously, Salmons is the better shooter/scorer. If Nick can “score on anyone” then I guess Salmons can score on anyone and their brother.

How about the other stuff? Well…

Nick gets 2.9 rebounds; Salmons gets 3.4 (better… but neither of them is a good rebounder — Stephen Curry is a little stick of a guy but still gets 5 boards in 40 minutes!)

Nick gets 1.3 assists; Salmons gets 3.5 assists.

Nick has .8 more TOs than steals; Salmons about the same — .7

Nick commits 4.1 fouls; Salmons 2.3 fouls.

So… in *no way* is Nick in a class with John Salmons as an NBA player, and in most ways he isn’t even close. Overall, he’s pretty pathetic in comparison. Now, Salmons is above average, but he’s no star. The comparison was based on last year’s numbers. If I did it on career numbers, Nick would look even worse.

Comment from SportzWiz
Time August 25, 2010 at 9:51 AM

hey dayle welcome to the blog and great to hear your thoughts

Comment from tyrone2000
Time August 25, 2010 at 10:22 AM

NYoung just needs to work on his left hand and bball IQ. Did Singleton sign somewhere else?

Comment from draftazoid
Time August 25, 2010 at 10:27 AM

tyrone,

Can’t work on your bba IQ. You either have it or you don’t.
Highest: Kevin Garnett
Lowest: Kwame Brown
Everyone else: somewhere in between

Both Garnett and Brown were almost identical coming out of high school. Almost compared exactly in physical makeup.
Difference is one is made to play basketball and the other is made to play basketball on XBOX.

Comment from draftazoid
Time August 25, 2010 at 10:36 AM

You gotta say that the Wizards glass is half full.
Almost every significant player is under 26 years of age which is less than the prime time age between 26 and 28 years old.

Comment from tyrone2000
Time August 25, 2010 at 10:37 AM

Instinct is something you have or you don’t…IQ can be obtained…maybe I should have said bball instinct

Comment from neal
Time August 25, 2010 at 10:42 AM

gotabig, thanks for the link but I still can’t get “emoticons” to work. Do I have to download wordpress software or something? The info sheet says I go to my “Admin Panel” but I don’t know how.

Update on estimates:
crozby 50:-)
gotabig, tyrone2000 45
dayle 43
draftazoid 42
jeffmalone 41
maggicman 39
rick 35
millie 34
neal 33
grifonracing, gray16, jwall 32
jaba 31
datapony 29
phemy 28
Tom 20

babakism? dcbutler?

Comment from neal
Time August 25, 2010 at 10:44 AM

Spotzwiz, this is the second time you’ve taken time off. You gotta give 100% if you expect the Wiz to do so. Honeymoons and vacations are just an excuse for slacking.

Comment from neal
Time August 25, 2010 at 10:49 AM

Eureka! It worked!

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 25, 2010 at 10:51 AM

neal — as you can see the emoticon you gave me *does* work. You need a space in front of any smiley, etc. you create and one after it. Otherwise, how the software can’t “see” it: it looks like part of the before or after word.

for example this shouldn’t work — ;):(

but this should —

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 25, 2010 at 10:52 AM

Oh well… mostly right!

Comment from neal
Time August 25, 2010 at 11:12 AM

Got it now. Thanks Tom.

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 25, 2010 at 11:49 AM

Just saw your question, neal. Tom M.’s got you covered.

Comment from neal
Time August 25, 2010 at 11:56 AM

According to hoopshype we have 10 players under contract, including Wall and Booker, but not Seraphin or N’Diaye. It’s my understanding that the Wiz gave C. Martin a qualifying offer. So the odds are he’ll eventually sign at that salary or the Wiz will match whatever offer he gets elsewhere. So adding him and Seraphin we have 12. Then I expect N’Diaye and someone like Hudson to get non-guaranteed contracts, which will bring us to 14. That would keep flexibility in case we have to take multiple players in an Arenas trade.

I’m optimistic about this group. I think we have good attitude and coachability and they’ve apparently been working hard to improve. I expect the following to have career years:
Young
Martin
Thornton
Blatche
Yi
McGee

Comment from Babakism
Time August 25, 2010 at 11:58 AM

I am gonna go with 46 based on the fact that my low 40 high 39 numbers have already been taken lol why not shoot for the moon!!

Can we please resign James Singleton!!!!!!!!

Nick Young probobly will never get it but………..he still has a little bit of time. If he worked hard he could have a JR Smith type role for his career. Although looks like JR Smith might not even have his own role any more lol whats going on over there in Denver???

Comment from Babakism
Time August 25, 2010 at 11:59 AM

I wanna make one too!

Comment from nbnetbullits
Time August 25, 2010 at 12:03 PM

more D helps..
flip clicks ..
some luck..
44 wins

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 25, 2010 at 12:27 PM

neal:

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/washington.htm

Doesn’t list the salary for Josh Howard, but we know he’s signed. That’s 12.

I don’t know what we offered Martin, or whether it was guaranteed, but for sure whether out of camp or by signing a cheap FA, or via a 1-2 trade of some kind, we will certainly add at least one player and more likely 2.

I hope one of them is N’Diaye. As I’ve said a zillion times, coming out of the deepest draft in many years w/ no round 2 choice would be *failure* on Ernie’s part.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 25, 2010 at 12:30 PM

Babakism — it would be a *great* idea to re-sign James Singleton.

Why that guy doesn’t have a job I do not know. He is a good NBA player (unlike a lot of guys who *do* have jobs!). For example, he is a *much* better player than Al Thornton.

Comment from Jaba
Time August 25, 2010 at 1:37 PM

Just read this on Bullets Forever: “Last night there was a pick-up game played at Verizon Center on our practice court. There were many NBA players in attendance and a few NBA All-Stars played as well. I stumbled into watching purely by accident.

Gilbert Arenas played last night. It was a very good evening of basketball. Gil – our All-Star – matched up against another NBA All-Star. It was quite a show and quite a display of talent.

I won’t comment yet on Gilbert or who was in the gym last night but suffice to say Gilbert looked trim, fit and explosive. His shot was sweet and he did one left handed dunk that was something to see. It had everyone talking. I was impressed and am happy.”

Ted Leonsis was quoted here.
Makes me very happy to hear something good about Gil! I’m really looking forward to seeing the guy play again!

Comment from dlts20
Time August 25, 2010 at 2:04 PM

saw this from a fan on another Wiz site:

I was downtown and happened to run into Sam Young who told me they had been playing at Verizon yesterday with a bunch of other nba players and that Gil was torching the place. He said gil had a few exposive dunks and was burning it up from all over the floor. He said Gil looked in better shape than he has ever seen him…. Just thought I would pass the word….

Comment from neal
Time August 25, 2010 at 2:26 PM

Right, Tom. I was looking at an outdated page.

So we have 12 under contract and I am presuming Martin and N’Diaye will make 14.

Comment from neal
Time August 25, 2010 at 2:28 PM

SportzWiz, what’s the status with Martin? I read he was given a “qualifying offer”. Must that be a guaranteed contract? Does he have a certain period to sign it? If he doesn’t sign it do we still have a right of first refusal?

Comment from Rick
Time August 25, 2010 at 3:44 PM

How can Leonsis say “I’m not going to comment on Gilbert” in the middle of a comment on how Gilbert looks physically and how sharp his game looks? I wonder what would an actual comment on Gilbert contain?

Comment from Babakism
Time August 25, 2010 at 4:19 PM

I will probobly end up reposting this because a new thread will be put up soon but I wanted to be the first to say……………………..

Atlanta Hawks

People keep evaluating our conference and division and ranking the teams. Myself and many(probobly all) have considered the Hawks a shoe in………….but…………………..

There was a time when we were on a nice string of playoff qualifications and had even won a playoff series

Atlanta has made it 3 years in a row and like us has only made it out of the first round of the playoffs.

Every year in any sport there is always a team that is supposed to be great but it just doesn’t happen…………………..it could be any team but my crystal ball says Hawks lol

Perhaps Josh Smith will bring hookers into the locker room and Joe Johnson will pull a Gil after getting his MAX contract and tear his knee. Maybe at allstar break they will decide they were better off without a PG and trade Bibby so they can get more small forwards again lol

I don’t wish ill will on anyone or team but we’ve seen firsthand that it can happen and what an injury or 2 can do to your teams season.

Do you think if we all type,

“SIGN JAMES SINGLETON”

at the same time on the blog that it might work??? lol

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 25, 2010 at 4:46 PM

On Twitter: “Jus finished another good run over at the Verizon Center wit the fellas…” – Chris Paul (last night)

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 25, 2010 at 4:55 PM

Oh man… I would *love* to be in that gym!! Gotabig, can’t you sneak in??? With a little video camera???

SportsWiz — come on man! Grab your flip video and turn it on!

Comment from Phemy
Time August 25, 2010 at 5:39 PM

Man I wish Gilbert would still be blogging…

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 25, 2010 at 5:56 PM

The key to our season is Javale McGee. We have seen how potent our team could be with scoring. If we had a big man down low on a consistent basis altering shots, and causing havoc, we would really shock a lot of people. So I will say, whether it be McGee or whomever receives the minutes at the five is very instrumental in how successful we are this year.

I’m not worried about the 1, 2, or 4 position that much. It’s the 5 and a little of the three….

GO MYSTICS

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 25, 2010 at 5:58 PM

BTW-Didn’t we hear the same news about Gil prior to the beginning of last season also….I’m just saying…

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 25, 2010 at 6:00 PM

Oh, sorry neal, I gave you 34 last night (wins this season).

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 25, 2010 at 6:31 PM

JaVale recruiting any help he can in universal studios

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZlCjI5WVKw

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 25, 2010 at 7:51 PM

dcbutler — yes we did. Takes time to work the rust off I guess.

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 25, 2010 at 7:59 PM

Tom M. – at my age and size I couldn’t sneak into the Grand Canyon.

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 25, 2010 at 8:04 PM

@maggicman11 – Thanks for the JaVale youtube link. That guy in the donkey suit is pretty glib.

Comment from neal
Time August 25, 2010 at 8:31 PM

Sorry I missed your post dcbutler. Got you down now.

GO MYSTICS!

Comment from dayle
Time August 25, 2010 at 11:28 PM

Thanks SportzWiz. I appreciate that. It can be a bit
daunting coming on here with all the very knowledgeable people.

I like Josh Howard because of what I saw after the
big trade. Remember how energetic and exciting the
team was for a few games.. and they won several in
a row! which I don’t think had happened previously..
they beat Denver as I recall. After Josh went down
we started losing.. we still played with energy but it
wasn’t the same.. a big piece was missing. Also, he
was very upbeat and made alot of positive comments,
according to mgmt. Sometimes a player is re-invigorated
when coming to a new team. Perhaps he feels it’s a
new start for him.

I don’t think the comments on Gil last year were quite
this positive. They were a little tentative. Happy to
hear these. And he should stay as far away as possible
from blogging and tweeting!

Comment from Arthritic
Time August 26, 2010 at 12:32 AM

/ 40 mins or / 48 mins are unreliable stats.
they are stats that tell you about what “could have been”
i honestly think they mean nothing.
the most likely reason a player doesnt get 40 minutes a game is because hes not good enough to get those 40 minutes.
just because someone averages 20 points off the bench in 20 minutes does not mean hell double his average in double the time

basic statistics tells you that you need a large sample size in order for the statistics for the sample to be legitimate, or statistically relevant

if a guy averages 5 minutes / game and averages, say, 5 points a game.
…
it would then mean that he “averages” 40 points / 40 minutes.

there are so many variables that come into play

for example, fatigue will kick in so the efficiency of the player will decrease. obviously the player wont be as fresh at the end of the game as he was at the start.

if someone isnt getting enough minutes its because they havent earned them yet.
those per 40, 48 mins statistics dont mean much.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 1:56 AM

Welcome Dayle

Josh didn’t play many minutes for us last year, but, like you I saw the 110% effort he gave too. Mr. Howard is trying to “stay in the NBA”. It’s our good fortune he picked us to play for for a very small salary. He…. if healty (and can stay that way) could be a difference maker. Last couple years his stats are down mainly because he can’t stay healthy.. but then that’s the trade off if you go at 110%. He is the 3 we Need. Booker will be better defensively.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 2:13 AM

I want to see Cartier signed to solidify the 3. If that happens… we are good at the 1,2,3, and 4. Large question mark at the 5. Will Seraphin.. at 19 be “that guy”?

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 2:17 AM

will Hamady “show us something” in training camp?”

I like the possibilities

Comment from neal
Time August 26, 2010 at 7:10 AM

Dayle, there’s not much of a correlation on this site between frequency of posting and possession of knowledge. I have lots to say and know almost nothing, for instance.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 7:22 AM

Grifonracing — “It’s our good fortune he (Josh Howard) picked us to play for for a very small salary.” Actually, we made him the largest offer, and in retrospect it seems to have been for much more than necessary.

According to Josh, *all* the other offers were veteran minimum contracts. He’s a better player than that, obviously, but people were concerned he’d only be available for the 2d half of the season — and maybe not even that much.

I’m concerned about that too.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 7:24 AM

dayle — welcome! Don’t worry about the “knowledgeable” people here. We’re all just very opinionated. Pitch in to your heart’s content, and if you cause some debates… well that’s a good thing! This is a *boring* time of the year for the NBA fan.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 7:27 AM

Arthritic — some people will do *anything* not to look facts in the face, huh?

Stats per 40 minutes (or some other number) are the *only* way to compare players. Yes, of course they don’t mean anything over a small sample, and yes of course a 5 minute per game player can’t be compared that way to a 35 minute a game player.

But who was doing that? In fact, the points you try to make in your post make Nick look *worse* in the comparison, not better.

But the main point is that if you look, for example, all the 4s in the league, and compare their stats per 40 minutes. You find that those stats rank them in the right order. I.e. the best ones look the best seen that way, etc. That’s kind of the point.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 7:36 AM

Some of you will remember me mentioning the awful thing that happened to Mikhail Torrance (who I had liked for us as a round 2 pick).

He is starting to do better:

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/08/25/mikhail-torrance-breathing-on-his-own/?synd=1

He’s a really nice kid. I’m praying he recovers. I hope you’ll keep him in your thoughts too.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 7:45 AM

Bulletsforever ranks the top 30 power forwards in the nba:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Ranking-the-power-forwards-30-through-21;_ylt=AjX.CqMDW37PxdsDg1rwMpK8vLYF?urn=nba-264815

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 8:01 AM

Ok, ok… I did post the bulletsforever link at least a little bit to tweak Gotabig.

Andray Blatche is rated the 21st best power forward, and I know that will steam our colleague, who has an exalted opinion of Dray!

Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 26, 2010 at 8:38 AM

Having only started consistently for 32 games, it is small wonder, and no surprise that ‘Dray is ranked 21 amoung PFs. I can’t argue with the ranking based upon his performance prior to the last 32 games. I just see the past 32 games and the tremendous potential. This will be the year to tell the tale.

Comment from gray16
Time August 26, 2010 at 8:50 AM

the only thing i don’t agree with on that pf list is blake griffin being that high. mabye coming in all hyped up gets him there, but after missing an entire season from injury when we already don’t know how good he will be? i’d leave him unranked, and definitely not put him above guys like rashard lewis and blatche.

glad to hear about arenas, can’t wait to see him play again.

as for the per 40 stats, the thing i have against them is they show what a player is doing per 40, but games are what matter. games aren’t determined on per 40 stats, they are determined in a game. if you can rebound with the best, score with the best, or pass with the best, you should be getting good minutes, or your coach is just dumb. i don’t completely throw out per 40 stats, but i go off of per game stats a little more, and watching the game a lot more.

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 26, 2010 at 10:30 AM

I believe that list of PFs is the authors own personal favorites in order. How Blake griffin is on the list i have no idea. maybe this guy is just a clippers fan. Im not gona get on here and say Blatche should be # 1 or top 5 on anyones rankings but David west was ranked 12th in the league at his position. Blatche 21st. In 9 more minutes a game, West avg. ONE more rebound a game than Blatche. thats right, in NINE more minutes. West avg. just 5 more points than Blatche in NINE more minutes a game. West started EVERY game last season.. Blatche started less than half the season and West is ranked 12th and Blatche is ranked 21st. West avgs fewer blocks per game in 9 more minutes. Their Offensive rebounds are identical at 2 per game, but West needs 9 more minutes to get his 2. I wouldnt take much from this list.
Tom, i thot you would appreciate my reasoning on this one! =-)

Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:02 AM

@ neal

put me down for 2 wins

Comment from Babakism
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:16 AM

Blake Griffin has no buisness up there

Love is good but he is not top 10

Troy Murphy to high

Carl Landry????? seriously

Haslem 20??? just cause he plays with the 3 douches doesn’t mean he should be ranked higher

Lamar Odom is a small forward

Gasol is really a center but I guess I can deal with him being ranked #1

Garnett should be ranked #2 how has his productivity declined more than Tim Duncans??? he is still the best Defensive PF in the league and while his Offensive production has slipped it is by choice and he can still turn it on when needed

1)KG
2)Pau
3)Dirk
4)Duncan
5)Bosh
6)Zach Randolph
7)Amare Stoudamire
8)Carlos Boozer
9)David West
10)David Lee WHO WASN”T EVEN ON THE LIST?????????????

After this year Blatche should play his way into the top 10!!!! you can do it buddy!!!

I think half of Blatche’s minutes this year will come playing center

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:47 AM

Great news about Mikhail Torrance Tom. Thank You

Hopefully he makes a quick and full recovery.

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:50 AM

Thursdays are obviously Fusey’s days for optomism

Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:54 AM

Tom, I think we gave Josh a fair contract based on what he “can” do. I’m with you. I hope he heals on the “new” timeline and I hope he is able to stay healthy. Either way he is ours. Time to make the best of our situation.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 3:33 PM

magicman — david west is not a very good player, no. no matter how you measure it

babakism — wrong on Love. He is one of the top 20 players in the game right now.

And wrong on Troy Murphy too. You may not think he’s real pretty, but he puts up terrific numbers night in night out. Watch what happens to Indiana this year to see what I mean.

Comment from Babakism
Time August 26, 2010 at 5:08 PM

@Tom top 20 players in the game??Love??? top 20 PF but overall players

20 players better than Kevin Love in no particular order

1)Chris Paul
2)Deron Williams
3)Steve Nash
4)Chauncey Billups
5)Rajon Rhondo
6)Derek Rose
7)Russel Westbrook
8)Tony Parker
9)Yao Ming
10)Pau Gasol
11)Dwight Howard
12)Tim Duncan
13)Zach Randolph
14)Amare Stoudamire
15)Carlos Boozer
16)Chris Bosh
17)Dirk Nowitski
18)Kevin Garnett
19)Al Horford
20)Al Jefferson(why wasn’t he on that power forward list either??
21)Dwayne Wade
22)Kobe Bryant
23)Joe Johnson
24)Kevin Durant
25)Paul Pierce
26)Gilbert Arenas
27)Andrew Bogut
28)Gerald Wallace
29)Stephen Jackson
30)Josh Smith
31)Carmelo Anthony

I even gave you 11 extra people just in case you didn’t like some of the names I picked

Ever since this injury I think I have become fascinated by list lol

BTW I do like troy murphy I just thought he was rated to high. He always kills the wizards just like David West when he made that fade away buzzer beater at the foul line.

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 26, 2010 at 5:45 PM

Ok Tom I think I caught you.. You say Troy Murphy has “terrific number”. Lets compare to Blatche. (im sorry but im bored)

Both Averaged 14 points per game. But Blatche had a better FG%.

Murphy played Five more minutes a game than blatche, and avg a little less than 4 more rbs a game than Blatche. Ill give him that. even tho he does have more time on the floor.

They both avg 2.1 ast as well as 1 steals a game. but as stated above, it took Murphy 5 more minutes a game to get his 2.1 and 1 steal.

Blatche avg a little better on Blocks per game too. Murphey about a half a block per game.. Blatche, about 1…. in 5 fewer minutes.

Blatche avg 0.8 more TO per game. in his defense, in the second half of the season he was the go to guy. teams were game planing for him so he had star like TO numbers. Murphy was never the go to guy.

So…. Tom, does this mean Blatche has “terrific numbers” as well? or have i not convinced you?

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 5:46 PM

Most of the guys on your list aren’t nearly as productive as Kevin Love, but honestly I get tired of demonstrating stuff in simple ways when really all fans like you look at is how many points does someone score and wow a nasty dunk and ‘carmelo he a beast’ etc.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 6:05 PM

magicman, you have *got* to be kidding!

Lets start w/ FG% — you have to include 3s for it to be real. So, every 40 minutes, Andray puts up 17.8 shots and creates 17.2 points for his team with those shots. Murphy puts up 13.9 shots and creates 15.6 points for his team with his shots (because 40% of his shots are 3s, which he shoots at a high %).

So in his almost 4 extra shots, Andray gets his team 1.6 more points.

And, while that’s happening, Murphy also grabs 3 more rebounds and turns it over half as much, while also fouling less. As for explaining away Andray’s TOs because he was the go-to guy, he had only slighly fewer per 40 in previous seasons, so… no go on that one!

Think about a game your team loses by 5 points. Now add 3 rebounds to your team total (taking them away from the other team), lower the turnovers by 1.5 while you’re at it. And get more than 1.6 points on those 4 extra shots. You just won the game rather than losing it. Dig?

Comment from Babakism
Time August 26, 2010 at 6:37 PM

@Tom I don’t just care about points

thats why the first 8 guys on that list are PGs who’s job is to distribute. Yeah half of them are good scorers too.

are you telling us you would rather have Kevin Love on your team than Carmelo Anthony???

Glue Guys or Role Players are awesome and vital to a teams success but you can’t win with an entire team of Glue Guys. You need Prolific Scorers as well.

What Kevin Love does is great. It’s more of an effort than a skill but a skill none the less. I know this because I do the same thing. Always watch where the ball goes so you are always in perfect position to the basket and your man so you can get that perfect box out and rebound. Crashing in on the weak side for a chance at an offensive rebound instead of watching from the corner or walking back on D.

While it is a vital part of the game and just as valuable a talent as being a prolific scorer it is not as difficult. Anyone can do it but for some reason alot of people just don’t do it.

Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 26, 2010 at 7:07 PM

ok, who said we gave Josh Howard a small salary to stay with us???? We double, if not tripled the other offers that were thrown his way….yeah, we overpaid as usual……….and who cares about the incentives, if they aren’t sharing them with us.

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 26, 2010 at 7:17 PM

Tom it sounds like your stretching now my friend. I could have sworn you were just all about fg% a few days ago. now the fact that Blatche shoots a better OVERALL % from the field than Murphy is a no go? How about you take a game you lose by 5 and add a higher fg% to our team, an extra block (-2 points for the other team) And a extra OFFENSIVE rebound (which blatche avgs more in) and we win the game also right? or will you try to come up with a way its not the same? Come on man, i just want to hear you say it one time. Blatche is a pretty darn good player. you dont have to say all start or great. just a pretty good darn player. ill die a happy man! lol

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 9:20 PM

magicman — do you really not get it? *Murphy* shoots the higher %, not Blatche. He shoots 53.2% on 2 pointers and 38.6% on 3-pointers. Blatche matches neither of those figures. He also shoots a higher % from the line. FG% is a measure of efficiency in shooting. Murphy is much more efficient. Look at my post again.

Blocks don’t mean much; they don’t have any correlation to speak of with wins and losses (this stuff has been studied, magicman; it’s not a matter of opinion).

Defensive rebounds and offensive rebounds have exactly the same value. They get your team the ball. If you only get the ball after the other team scores, you can’t win.

If you take Blatche’s average numbers off a team’s nightly results, and you replace them with Murphy’s average numbers you give your team a better chance to win. Murphy gives you 5 more chances to score off of extra rebounds and fewer turnovers, and you take the 4 extra shots that Blatche took that gave you 1.6 points and let someone else take those shots (nearly everyone does better than that).

That’s why Murphy makes $11m and Blatche $3.2m.

Now, Murphy is 30; he is in the last 1/3 of his career. Blatche just turned 24; he still has some upside. So comparing their *future* is a different matter.

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 9:26 PM

Babakism — there are a lot of players I’d rather have on my team than Carmelo Anthony. Melo is a good player, don’t get me wrong, but he is extremely over-rated.

He plays SF and Love plays PF, so you can’t compare them directly in the sense of having one over the other. But I’d certainly rather have Love than for example Amar’e. And overall, yes, Love is a better player than Carmelo.

Of course you can’t win with a team of only one kind of player — or with guys that only play one position. But if you have a team of all guys who are “prolific scorers”, you win @20-25 games in the NBA. That’s what Isaiah did with the Knicks. Because in general scorers are over-rated, they are also over-paid compared to what they actually contribute. But Isaiah had an unlimited budget, so he could sign all scorers. Turned out to be a terrible team didn’t it?

Comment from maggicman11
Time August 26, 2010 at 9:50 PM

Tom- sorry bud, wrong again.. Murphy didnt shoot 53.2%.. he shot 47.2%

Blatche shot 47.8%..

Id like to see where you get that blocks have know effect on wins and losses. mainly for laugh, because it makes absolutely NO SENSE. if blocks didnt help teams win games then they wouldnt waste time trying to block shots. there have been sooo many close games that came down to one shot, and a strong defensive presence (block) stops a game winning shot. I would have NEVER expected you to say something like blocks have no correlation in wins and losses. a block can win or lose a game. do you remember Blatche shutting Garnett down near the end of the season? that doesnt show up on the stat line but do u think Murphy would have been able to do that? wait i can answer that because he has had the chance b4. NO.. i cant believe this is even a discussion. Troy Murphy is NOT as good a player as Blatche. not even close.

here are murphy’s numbers.. you’ll have to try harder than pulling stats out of the air. u should know im a little better than that.

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/troy_murphy/index.html

Comment from Babakism
Time August 27, 2010 at 12:54 PM

It’s great if you are able to grab aot of rebounds but in order for you to grab the possesion getters you need people to play toug,h lock down, hustling, shot blocking, shot altering DEFENSE to even get the chance at a rebound. Love is a below average defender who relys on other players to do the dirty work that doesn’t always show on the stat sheet so he can fill up his rebound numbers.

If Love could play D on a high level or maximize his scoring potential more than I would have no problem calling him one of the top 10 or 20 players in the game

Playing D on a high level for a big man doesn’t mean he has to block a ton of shots. All I ask is that Love be able to lock his man down in a Bruce Bowen type way. Always stay in front of your man, make sure whatever shot he takes is the most difficult shot you could possibly force him into, switch well on screens, give help D, bump the cutter, ect ect ect.

Dennis Rodman is probobly a better example than Bruce Bowen because they play the same position. He didn’t block shots but his rebounding and Defense got him Deffensive player of the year multiple times and he was always All Defensive first team without ever averaging more than a half a steal or block per game.

In my opinion right now we don’t really have any true Defensive specialist in the NBA and it truly saddens me.

Joakim Noah is very good at what he does but I haven’t seen enough of him to anoint him the next Ben Wallace

Ben Wallace is not what he used to be although if he played on a contender that actually used him 30 minutes a game in the correct way(unlike cleveland) I bet he could still get another D player of the year award

I guess we do have shane battier(whos also getting old) and Thabo Sefalosha who’s only roles are to defend top scorers

Kobe Bryant can lock on and defend any player in the league better than any other guard but his primary role is scoring.

Who will be the next Ben Wallace and Bruce Bowen?? lol

got a little off topic there lol

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that Love’s biggest impact is with a “deffensive stat” but yet he doesn’t have the deffensive prowess to ever get on an all Defensive Team

Comment from Babakism
Time August 27, 2010 at 1:12 PM

@Tom yes That Knicks team sucked but what about teams like the Suns who have been full of scorers for years? they never went to a championship but they came close and were highly competitive every year.

@magic I would rather have Blatche than Troy Murphy on my team. But until Blatche is able to do what he did last 20 games for an entire season They or equal or perhaps Murphy has a slight edge because he has produced for several years. Blatche does shoot a better FG percentage but Tom is right about factoring in 3pointers. every 3 pointer made is worth 50% more than every 2 pointer made meaning if say if Mike Miller shoots 40% 3 pointers and shoots 10 shots a game all 3 pointers he scores 12 points but Andray Blatche shoots 60% FG percentage on only 2 pointers and shoots 10 a game he scores 12 points also. Even though he Mike Miller made a much lower percentage, because they were all 3s he scores just as many points as Andray Blacthe even though Blatche made 2 more shots. EQUALLY EFFECTIVE

What these stats don’t take into account is how well Blacthe sees the court and how many times he is able to get Hockey assist by making the extra pass and breaking down the D.

The stats also don’t show that even though Murphy might shoot SLIGHTLY more efficiently than Blatche because of his 3s, Blatche scores most of his points in and around the basket which is vital to an Offense and is much more influential in helping his teammates get involved in the offense than Troy Murphy is.