Quite A Busy Offseason
SportzWiz checking in…I was just looking through this photo gallery posted on WashingtonWizards.com and it is quite amazing how much change this franchise has seen over the summer.
I still remember being in Secaucus the night of the Lottery, much lower expectations than the previous year and yet the ping pong balls were on our side that night delivering the team the #1 pick. Since then the optimism has continued to grow, the changing of ownership, John Wall, the addition of some nice young bigs, acquiring Hinrich and Yi, re-signing Howard, signing Armstrong, and the dominant play of Wall and Javale McGee at Summer League.
Wizards fans we are just a little over one month away from Camp and I can’t wait! What memory sticks out to you the most in this exciting summer?
Posted: August 26th, 2010 under Wizards.
Comments
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 12:46 PM
The John Wall / JaVale Mcgee “connection” in summer league is probably my second favorite memory.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 12:47 PM
Ernie having probably his best draft ever as the Wizard’s GM is third.
Comment from Jaba
Time August 26, 2010 at 1:32 PM
Ted’s commitment to Gilbert stands out for me. I’m a huge Gilbert fan, and after all that happened, I really didn’t think the Wiz would bring him back. So when Ted actually stated, that Arenas WILL be back, it really got me excited. Even if he
only comes back 85% the player he used to be, he’ll still be one of the best guards in the NBA. John Wall still needs to prove what he can do in this league, which I’m sure he will, but until he does, at least for me, Gil remains the face of this franchise.
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 26, 2010 at 1:38 PM
@ GR
You beat me to the chase with your comment – I also believe the Irene Pollin reaction as the pinnacle of most memorable moments for the Wiz’s off-season. The Verizon Center jumbotron kept that draft lottery television clip on replay for like 96 straight hours. It was that big – maybe bigger than the 2001 draft.
- – -
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:50 AM
Thursdays are obviously Fusey’s days for optomism
??? I didn’t post anything until now …
Comment from crozby
Time August 26, 2010 at 2:14 PM
Guys, I think we are going to be fine. I’m sticking with my “50 wins pick” because teams like Portland won 50 games last year (yea, Portland), and we have better talent this year than they did last year. You have to go by the talent. Like it was said earlier, we are solid at the 1, 2, and 4, and I think the 3 as well. As far as the 5 goes, Javale had great break-out games last year (as I stated in my run-down earlier of big games our players had last year) and he can only mature and get better this year. But, as I have said before, we have a strong scoring bench where we have 4 players that have already proven that on any given night they can give you 20+ points in a game (all doing it several times last year). And, I think that’s a huge advantage for the Wizards, seeing that so many starters on teams get hurt every year during the season. We can even afford to rest our starters more often this year with our strong bench. I say Lester Hudson to back up Wall and keep the speed on the floor, and Cartier to keep the defense spread with his outside shooting. The fact that we have great shooters on the team this year (even a 7-footer that shoots 3′s) we will definitely spread the floor for players like Gil and Wall to constantly penetrate. Again, a lightening fast/shooting guard duo that the defense will not be able to contain.
Comment from crozby
Time August 26, 2010 at 2:25 PM
Plus, Gil will be a better teammate this year, because with all the talk about Wall now possibly becoming the new leader of the team, Gil will be forced to show that he is mature enough to take on that role. It’s an ego thing.
Comment from gray16
Time August 26, 2010 at 3:34 PM
anyone see the brandon jennings/john wall alley oop?
if not, check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maHmTbH1s_8
should be fun watching all these young guys coming into the league like reke, curry, jennings, lawson, collison, wall, griffin, turner, cousins, etc. etc.
next season’s rook/soph game should be a thriller
Comment from gray16
Time August 26, 2010 at 3:36 PM
another thing to notice on that vid is how quick wall got down the court… he rebounded the miss, passed the ball ahead, and got all the way down to dunk the ball that fast… again, should be fun to watch
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 4:12 PM
favorite moments — winning the lottery, Mrs. Pollin as mentioned above, the decision to draft Kevin Seraphin, Wall and McGee highlights in SL, Lester Hudson winning the SL game w/ a no-time-left shot then running proud w/ his hand in the air.
The entire atmosphere of *starting over* is terrific. Another favorite moment was reading Ted’s 10-step rebuilding guide, which I now can’t find any more!
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 4:16 PM
great jennings to wall highlight!!
I’m thinking that might have been lester hudson #5 on defense (and who threw the good lead pass for the missed dunk that john rebounded), and maybe joe alexander who missed the dunk?
probably just my imagination!
Comment from crozby
Time August 26, 2010 at 4:28 PM
You said the word, “DEFENSE”! That’s going to make the difference in our team this year, if we play it to the fullest. We have the capable offense for sure, we just have to intensify on defense. Contest every shot, hustle for loose balls, switch quickly on screens, etc.
Comment from crozby
Time August 26, 2010 at 4:33 PM
During training camp this year, if I were Flip, I would concentrate on defense 60% of the time and offense 40% of the time.
Comment from Wizards4Life
Time August 26, 2010 at 6:34 PM
@Crozby i hear you on that lets even go 70/30 if we can get Wall a little time on the side to put some O# work in to learn the game!
Comment from Babakism
Time August 26, 2010 at 6:46 PM
@SportsWiz Funny how they made you post the same question that was already asked earlier today on the Wizards facebook page lol Although your delivery was much more detailed and heartfelt showing your true “character, commitment, and connection” to our blog. lol 
Comment from Babakism
Time August 26, 2010 at 6:49 PM
I like how Tom is sizing up this crozby guy. Ya know, waiting, watching, collecting more amo from each and every single post he makes so he can unleash it once he makes that one annoying post that he just won’t be able to take anymore. lol Or maybe Tom just doesn’t like talking to new bloggers right away lol.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 26, 2010 at 6:55 PM
@gray the VERY FIRST thing I noticed was the speed.
John Wall Grabs the rebound under his own basket, takes 1 dribble to the foul line where he passes up court to his cherry pickin teammate. Brandon Jennings takes 1 dribble from the 3 point line and that wasall the time John Wall Needed to run 3/4 of the courts distance to connect on an Oop.
Funny how the oop wasn’t really even that impressive but if it weren’t for the oop we never would have gotten to see the much more impressive court speed on John Wall.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 26, 2010 at 6:58 PM
@crozby I don’t have anything against you and for all I know Tom doesn’t but you posted for the first time the other day talking about 50 wins and I thought Tom was gonna flip out lol
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 26, 2010 at 7:18 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 dcbutler357
Time August 26, 2010 at 7:21 PM
Ok, so why is everyone waiting on Tom to say something to crozby? If anyone has something to say, say it yourself….LOL…Passive agressive…LOL
ON another note:
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.
Last note
My favorite moment of the summer was when the buzzer went off at the end of the last wizard game, and we were done with last season 
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 7:23 PM
Fusey…. It was about your…. “Put me down for 2 wins” 
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 26, 2010 at 7:26 PM
Maybe Tom is Crozby’s evil twin brother! lol jk Tom..
Comment from Babakism
Time August 26, 2010 at 8:17 PM
I got no problem with crozby lol I just see potential sparks between him and tom lol
@dcbutler trippling up on a million$ is like getting raised from 1$ to 3$ in a game of poker with your buddys. It’s worth the couple extra bucks to see what happens on the flop. it’s not like other teams offered him 3 million and we gave him 9 mil……..that would be overpaying
We might have paid a little extra but in reality we paid the same. The other teams that offered him the vetern minimum 1.3 or whatever the number is were also offering him guaranteed playoff checks and a shot at an NBA title. If we wanted to get him we had to make the deal as sweet as the other deals
If we offer a million less than what we did we might not have gotten him
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 26, 2010 at 8:23 PM
I see the momentum is building for Andray (not Andre, folks). Lots of room on the bandwagon.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 26, 2010 at 8:45 PM
Dray healthy,in shape,and recovered from his injury will make the All-Star team this year.
Don’t forget to get ready for Dray throwing some backdoor no look oops to John Wall from the block and high post ala Chris Webber
Comment from Babakism
Time August 26, 2010 at 8:47 PM
I also think half of Drays minutes will come at center this year.
I also see us going small with thorton at the 4 sometimes so we can run and gun However Booker apparently is the fastest on the team behind Wall so maybe we won’t have to go small to be fast lol
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 26, 2010 at 8:49 PM
Babakism, don’t try to come at me, because you tried to pull Tom into your little thingy with crozby and was called out on it. Everyone on here can pretty much speak for themselves, no need to try and run behind someone else or pull someone into un-necessary drama. YOU started by saying Crozby was a new blogger….that was pretty weak….
Ummm, sorry babakism, the wordsmithing doesn’t work this way, if you’re going to go young, go young and if you’re going to pay more for a player than he’s worth to anyone else, you’re really not being consistent to the rules that you (EG AND TED) originally stated. Whether it’s 3 mill or 9 mill it still applies to the cap AND is too much to pay…LOL…Sad part is we have a 9 million player also….but hey, since everyone is ecstatic to have 8/9 million dollar backup for a few years, if you like it I love it….it works against being able to buyout contracts from other teams, but hey the season hasn’t even started yet, and i’m sure there will be more moves.
What’s done is done, no biggee, but don’t be a hypocrit if one player is overpaid and whine about it, but another player is and it’s fantastic…or make up some unrealistic excuse of why it’s done.
i’ll be glad when the season can start and the babbling can cease that will be another favorite event of the summer….
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 26, 2010 at 8:54 PM
I agree with dcbutler357, the favorite event of the off-season will be the start of the new season!
Comment from Babakism
Time August 26, 2010 at 9:11 PM
@DCButler I wasn’t diverting attention away from anything or trying to start a fight between bloggers lol I was just stating an opinion because when I read crozby’s first post I immidiatly thought, “Tom won’t like reading this” so after each post I kept waiting for tom to say something but he hasn’t yet. I’ve been stuck on a couch for 2 weeks and will probobly be for 2 more so I got nothing better to do than post 20 times a day on this blog lol
so what am I hiding from???
and what does anything I direct at you have anything to do with what I say to tom??
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 9:33 PM
I did respond to crozby’s first post adding up how much everyone could score based on past averages — without noting that there’d *never* be enough shots available for that to happen. He didn’t respond, so I assumed he didn’t get what I was talking about, and reading other posts by him I concluded that he is an enthusiastic young kid who isn’t really paying attention to a world of facts, just to the world between his ears.
That’s fine — we *need* enthusiastic fans!
Oh, magicman — I responded to your blatche/murphy follow up in the previous thread.
Babakism — you’re ok by me. You too dcbutler. Where our analyses differ, I am right. Keep that in mind!
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 9:38 PM
I’m with Gotabig and dcb — *can’t wait* for the season to begin.
I wonder whether we’ll make any other moves before TC — or is this the roster we’re taking into camp? That would seem weird to me, as I don’t think Howard is going to be back for the beginning of the season.
When we going to do that all-blog shoutout for James Singleton??
Comment from tyrone2000
Time August 26, 2010 at 9:41 PM
Mrs Pollin reaction to the #1 pick and resigning JHoward. That could be a huge plus!
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.
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 26, 2010 at 9:58 PM
Actually.. if you want to compare 2 players that play the same position, like a Murphy and Blatche, look no further than how they did when matched up against each other. last game of the season…
Murphy 1-10 from the field for 3 points to end the game. 9 rbs. 3 pf
Blatche 11-19 for 26 points. 7 rbs. 1 pf.
Blatche gets the Win.
http://www.nba.com/games/20100414/INDWAS/gameinfo.html#nbaGIboxscore
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 26, 2010 at 10:10 PM
No, my other ID is not maggicman11 either. maggicman11, I own the Andray Blatche bandwagon, but you can drive it! Our man is going to show everyone how the PF position is to be played going forward. I know that Tom M. will be thrilled that Andray finally lives up to his potential…but then, after the fact, who cares?
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 10:11 PM
magicman — I know you can think more deeply than this. For example, a guy who goes 3-10 but shoots only 3s is more efficient than a guy who goes 4-10 shooting only 2s. The first guy gets 9 points for his effort, the second guy gets 8. Clear enough, right?
Now, nearly 40% of Troy Murphy’s shots are 3-pointers, which he makes at a 38.6% clip. Because you get *3* instead of 2 for a make, that’s the equivalent of shooting @ 57% if they were 2 point shots. You have no problem understanding that, right?
On 2 point shots, he shoots 53.2%. You can check all these numbers at http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Troy-Murphy-3696/stats/.
Yes, Blatche played well the last game of the season, and Murphy didn’t. Wasn’t it you who mentioned that you can’t generalize from numbers off a small sample?
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 26, 2010 at 10:24 PM
Gotabig — I’ve made it a point not to diss Andray for some time now. There’s no reason to cause discomfort to my colleagues here who are big fans. And, after all, I’d *like* him to get better, and it’s not hard to see the gifts he has.
That said, *you* at least will agree that shooting better is… well, it’s just shooting *better.* And that getting more rebounds is *better* than getting fewer rebounds. You won’t deny that just to defend Andray, will you? I mean if it was Andray getting more rebounds than another player, wouldn’t you say *that* was better?
Now look at this page listing PFs (and a few Cs and 3s slip in as well):
You can sort it by EFF, PER, WS40. However you sort it, you will find guys like Duncan, Boozer, Garnett, Bosh, Randolph near the top — all the guys that everyone pretty much agrees are among the top 4s in the league. That would indicate that at least *something* about how good a guy is is being measured here.
Yet, in none of these measures do you find Andray Blatche above the middle of the pack. Not EFF, not PER, not WS40, nothing.
Dray is just 24; he has room to grow. This is the season where he has to show that growth. We both hope he does. But anyone who thinks he has done anything special so far is in a tiny minority — one where only Wizards fans live.
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 26, 2010 at 10:31 PM
im also the one who said there is more to how good a player is than just what the stats say. Blatche’s defense held Troy in check the whole game. 1-10.. need i say more. he did the same against Garnett. Who can Troy Murphy hold in check? No One! Blatche is not as good a 3pt shooter as Murphy. you wont hear any arguing from me on that. but Murphy chooses to shoot 3s which drop his % down to 47.2… thats not something you can just ignore. Blatche plays within himself for the most part so his 3pt% doesnt drop him as low. thus he shoots 47.8 which is HIGHER than 47.2. you can try to mismatch it as much as u want but it doesnt change that fact.
look at varejao.. most of his contributions on the court dont show up on the stat board. but if u WATCH the game, u can see just how much he contributes to his teams success..
Blatche would have avg more rbs had he not been playing behind jamison most of the season. he also would have avg more pts, ast, blocks, steals. is Murphy almost 30 and more experienced than blatche? sure.. is he a better player? not by a long shot. sometimes it seems as if u dont watch the games because u would rather look up the stats later instead..
Comment from neal
Time August 26, 2010 at 10:41 PM
SportzWiz, what’s up with Martin? The “qualifying offer” is still out there? Is it good indefinitely?
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 10:45 PM
Before I forget again let me respond to DCB… then I’ll go back up and catch up from where I left off
DCB I first said we got Josh for a small salary then in a later post said a fair salary. I believe both to be fairly accutate. As I recall he signed for one year at 4 mil but it comes with playing stipulations. If not met the # goes down. That being said were he healthy 4 mil wouldn’t have touched him I don’t believe. If he stays on rehab timeline and stays healthy for the remainder of the season I think he will be a definate asset at a position where we are a little thin.
Second: Josh’s agent lobbied hard for the Wizards to sign him. ie wanting to play here
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 10:45 PM
now back up to read what I missed lol
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 26, 2010 at 10:47 PM
Not to mention when we played the lakers.. held Odom to 1-4..
or when we played atl held Josh smith to 10..
or when we played orlando held Lewis to 10
or the time b4 when we played the pacers.. held murphy to 4-11
Murphy can guard NO ONE
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 10:55 PM
DCB the play was to build with youth but to add veterans to compliment them. Even you said and I agreed with you. It looks like Josh Howard was the veteran wing player Ernie was talking about.
1.352,181 for 10 year players and + 10 years. 4 million will be a drop in the bucket if he comes back early, healthy, and back to his old basketball style of a few years ago….. hasn’t been that many. Just too many injuries.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:00 PM
If he doesn’t? He comes off the books at the end of the season. No harm no foul.
Comment from crozby
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:06 PM
Well Tom, I’m not a young kid. I’m 44 years old and I coach basketball. I’m not saying that the players I mentioned in my earlier posts were going to hit 20+ per night (no way in he..). I’m just tallying up the talent we have on the team (many proven scorers), which a lot of teams don’t have. Again, we have 9 of them. That’s a lot of talent. And talent is mostly what it’s all about in basketball (last I checked). Unless you know something different.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:09 PM
DCB… did you have a different wing in mind that we should have signed for the 4 mil?
Comment from crozby
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:11 PM
We’ll talk more tomorrow.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:17 PM
Crozby…. in an earlier post you mentioned “DEFENSE” and I 100% agree with you. It seems to me we are building a young, defense first, team. It’s going to be culture shock for us all as it has been Years since any defense has been played in DC.
This year is going to be a lot of fun
Oh not only defense… but very fast guys playing defense
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:23 PM
SportsWiz….any injury updates? Andray, Josh, Kevin?
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:25 PM
almost 1 month and 1 day… but who’s counting???
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 11:34 PM
This may just get a few comments around “this area” LOL. I think John Wall is going to be to the Wizards what Troy Palamalu is to the Steelers
that =’s a few more wins for the Wizards
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 27, 2010 at 1:15 AM
My most outstanding memories this summer:
1. Winning the Lottery
2. John Wall’s red carpet introduction to DC
3. John Wall to Javale McGee show in summer league.
4. How fast the Wizards went up and down the court in summer league.
5. Cheering Javale on during Team USA Tryouts.
6. Buying Season Tickets to watch a new era in Wizards/Bullets bball.
Comment from neal
Time August 27, 2010 at 6:04 AM
SportzWiz, PLEASE tell us what the status is with Martin and the “qualifying offer”.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 27, 2010 at 7:34 AM
Crozby — you should be flattered that I took you for a young kid!!
We do have a lot of talent on our team. In fact, every NBA team has a lot of talent!!
magicman — I’m amazed Andray didn’t get defensive player of the year, wow!! It’s nice he has such enthusiastic fans. I’m looking for a really good season from him.
grifonracing — “overpay” just means “pay more than you have to.” It does look like the only other suitors for Josh were offering veteran minimum deals. On the other hand, sometimes you don’t make the sharpest deal; other times you do. Ernie has been pretty good financially — except for the last Jamison and Arenas contracts, which I’m pretty sure were mandated by Abe (may he be numbered for a blessing among the righteous).
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 27, 2010 at 7:45 AM
It’s almost September. And September is almost October, when training camp starts. And October is almost November when the season gets in full swing.
Soon… but not soon enough!!
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 27, 2010 at 8:16 AM
Looks like Carmelo Anthony will be traded some time in the next few days — to the Nets perhaps? The Nuggets want young talent and picks for him; lets see what they can get.
Comment from crozby
Time August 27, 2010 at 8:57 AM
No problem Tom. I know it’s a “if” as to whether the team jives together and plays team ball to completely utilize all the talent we truly have. I believe they will and score plenty of points. As I said earlier, the key is defense. Last year we scored 100+ points 27 times during the regular season. However, our opponents scored 100+ points 34 times, in which we only won 5 of those games (lost 29). The goal this year should be to keep all opponents to least the low 90′s. We do that with stronger defense. Jamison and other players from last year did not give us that. It’s time to play defense just as hard as we play offense. As far as Carmelo is concerned, I could care less, unless he was coming our way. If he does go to NJ, that just sures up the west even more for the Lakers.
Comment from crozby
Time August 27, 2010 at 9:00 AM
Glad to be talking with you guys. I’m ready for the season. Thanks for having me.
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 27, 2010 at 9:02 AM
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 7:23 PM
Fusey…. It was about your…. “Put me down for 2 wins”
- – -
Ha – that’s an interesting typo. I meant to type 28 wins. But since I don’t believe in gambling (and I will not take neal’s $20 if I win), I’m going to leave it at 2 so I have NO CHANCE to win.
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 27, 2010 at 9:40 AM
re: Troy Murphy vs. Blatche vs. FG% vs. Defense
I’m not supporting either position (maggicman nor Tom) because I haven’t read closely what was said; however, I will say the following:
Since basketball is mostly an offense-related game (i.e., the team/player with higher score wins), you’ve got to think about the PURPOSE of defense and the PURPOSE of a high FG% (in general).
Say, Murphy and Blatche are the go-to guys for his respective team. Say, both Murphy and Blatche have the “exact” overall FG% (47.8 vs. 47.2 is darn close).
Hypothetical Scenario (A)
Assume Murphy has the ball for the final shot (and he’s going to launch as time is expiring). If Blatche doesn’t play good defense on Murphy, chances are good that Troy’s going to win the game since he shoots a pretty good FG% and he’s a solid offensive player. The PURPOSE of defense is extremely important for Blatche because he won’t get another chance to negate Murphy’s “made basket” with his own made basket. The stop has to come right now. The game’s on the line for both teams.
Hypothetical Scenario (B)
Say, the score is going back and forth because both Murphy and Blatche are scoring over each other (i.e., mano-a-mano battles; “in the zone” and “on fire” and “can’t miss”) with shots taken no further than 10 feet from the basket. Say, the game is in the late 4th quarter (2 minutes to go) with plenty of time on the clock.
Since Murphy and Blatche are TRADING baskets with each other, it doesn’t make a difference if good or bad defense was played because the score went from 0 (tied) to +2 (for Team Murphy) to 0 (tied, with Team Blatche making a corresponding 2 point basket) … and so forth. In this scenario, the PURPOSE of a high FG% is far more crucial than defense … that is, until the game arrives at Hypothetical Scenario (A).
The debate between FG% vs. defensive stats shall rage on; however, the only constant statistic in basketball is TIME. Every game has a beginning and an end. FG% and defensive stats fluctuate, but without an ending in time, all stats debates are meaningless.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 27, 2010 at 10:10 AM
I have accepted the fact that everyone currently on our roster, is on our roster for now. Whatever the reason. My only reason for bringing up JHoward is the mere fact that we have possibly a four million dollar salary applied to our books, whereas the market price for him was at 1.? mill
I’m just saying that while we said we aren’t signing/overpaying, that’s overpaying, and it effects our ability to takeover bad contracts as the season goes on. If we are just filling out the roster, we could have went and gotten any free agent three to do that…after signing HA, all bets are off for getting bonafide talent.
Now, while it’s a mere 4 mill, if we applied the per game played factor statistic to the contract, he is the most overpaid 3 in the league…(just making that up for our stat bloggers). I’m focusing on the concept moreso than the amount (minor thought, but just voicing an opinion)
While i’m there, i mean we have McGee starting and he’s still not “proven”, so that says we expect more wins, but we aren’t totally “upgrading” yet (at all positions) to ensure that we get more wins, so signing howard isn’t really a “key” to us having a breakout season. While I do see the opportunity to have a playoff year, I also see that we really didn’t try to “upgrade” as much as we could have….IMO
Just to reiterate, i accept this as a slow process, so i’m just noting observations.
BTW-No problem Babakism, all is well.
Comment from gray16
Time August 27, 2010 at 10:16 AM
here is the complete highlight film of j wall from the pickup game i posted the dunk from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4im10uc0j8o
this season should be fun to watch
Comment from Wizfan4life
Time August 27, 2010 at 10:48 AM
Getting Yi Jialian for next to nothing would probably be the most memorable off-season event this summer! The most disappointing for me? Ted Leonsis moving the Wizards training camp to George Mason after the Wizards having their training camp at VCU for years! (I’m from Richmond if anybody was wondering why I would be bothered by such a small little nuisance!)
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 27, 2010 at 10:57 AM
gray16 – thanks for the j wall youtube link. Very quick!
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 27, 2010 at 11:20 AM
I sure hop Carmelo doesnt go to the nets.. With Devin Harris at the pg, Carmelo at Sf, Terrance williams at sg (who looked liked an all-star in SL) lopez in the center, and Derrick Favors at pf… that could be another playoffs team in the east. Oh and in the offseason they picked up Jordan Farmar and Tom’s boy, Troy Murphy! lol
Comment from SportzWiz
Time August 27, 2010 at 11:51 AM
neal i will see what i can find out regarding Martin.
Regarding injuries I probably will find out with the rest of you and the media on media day. If i hear anything though I will let you know.
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 27, 2010 at 12:02 PM
Wow – what’s more devastating to a sports franchise
Gilbert’s Knee and Stupid Antics (I think he ruined about 3 full seasons now)
vs
Strasburg’s Tommy John Surgery (at least a season and a half for recovery)
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 27, 2010 at 12:07 PM
@ maggicman
I hope you know when you typed “Tom’s boy”, you’re actually referenced a homoerotic comic series called Tom of Finland.
Just be weary of these things
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 27, 2010 at 12:13 PM
Wiz_Fus- ive never heard of that.. ill have to look it up
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 27, 2010 at 12:19 PM
Wiz_fus- that was very weird.. but im sure everyone knew i wasnt talking about a homosexual comic book or artist.. We’ve been debating Troy Murphy since the previous Post.
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 27, 2010 at 12:23 PM
Wizfan4life- I used to go to VCU (and VUU which is across the street almost) and i used to be excited for every trainging camp. so i understand your being bothered. Me and my old roommate tried to sneak in for one practice. that was a failure. but since i live in springfield now, george mason is alot closer to me.
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 27, 2010 at 1:33 PM
I may walk to the Wizards training camp at GMU.
I am pumped.
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 27, 2010 at 1:36 PM
Hinrich
Booker
Seraphin
Thornton or Yi
for
Carmelo Anthony
Book it Dano!
We would be awesome!
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 27, 2010 at 1:39 PM
@ draftazoid
Do you think the Nuggets would want the 4 players you’ve mentioned in the trade?
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 27, 2010 at 1:48 PM
I think so.
A really good guard in Hinrich
2 1st round picks in Booker and Seraphin
Thornton to play Small Forward (Melo’s position)
Yi to bring in the Chinese money.
I think this trade would compare very favorably to what’s out there.
In the end I think Denver is going to want to also get rid of JR Smith’s $6million also. That would pretty much eliminate the Wizards from being able to do any deal for Melo.
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 27, 2010 at 2:24 PM
Melo appears to be history in Denver
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-anthonynuggets082610
Comment from crozby
Time August 27, 2010 at 2:47 PM
Carmelo’s salary is presently $17,149,243. Just giving up Kirk, Yi, and Al would be $15,864,699. This could work, because we are still about 5-6 million under the cap and would have some of that to complete the roster. Maybe even throw in a draft pick to make it a little more sexy. Imagine a starting five with Wall, Gil, Carmelo, AB, and McGee. Wow!
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 27, 2010 at 2:55 PM
One major problem with the Melo trade: TED LEONSIS WILL NOT PART WAYS WITH HIS DRAFT PICKS FOR A PLAYER THAT MAKES A LOT OF MONEY.
If the Yahoo report is more or less accurate, it states Denver is looking for draft picks in return as their means to start over. This automatically tells me Washington is out of the running.
I also cite the interesting position of Mrs. Anthony (aka. LaLa) having no problems to be in Jersey (aka. Brooklyn) or City of Angels. I’m sure the Nuggets would prefer to deal him to the Eastern Conference; however, if the Clippers do emerge as the team, watch out! Their fortunes may have turned faster than the Wiz.
Comment from crozby
Time August 27, 2010 at 2:58 PM
I know what you’re saying. I was just dreaming…
Comment from Babakism
Time August 27, 2010 at 3:05 PM
@DCButler no worries
@Tom didn’t notice you responded to the first post. While obviouslly there aren’t enough shots to go around for all those players to score, I think the point is that its good to have alot of players “capable” of scoring at will because if heinrich starts throwing up air balls you might get lucky throwing in Nick Young if he happens to get hot. Maybe Josh Howard is 2-12 so you put in Al Thorton or Yi and eventually someone has to be able to make some shots.
@Magicman and Tom I really wished I read the post on this page before I posted on the previous topic cause I just said alot of the same stuff Tom just said lol I guess I’ll just repost lol
Comment from Babakism
Time August 27, 2010 at 3:06 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.
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 27, 2010 at 4:21 PM
I can understand that babakism. but what the stat sheet doesnt show is how missed 3s, much like missed layups, usually end up as fast break points for the other team. long shots equal long rebounds so its either an offensive rebound, or fast break points going the other way. Now if the person shooting the 3 is your PF and your best rebounder, then your chances at that offensive rebound goes down tremendously. so although 3s made do give you 1 more point than 2s made, missed 3s usually end up 2 points for the other team, or -2 points for that player who misses the shot. of course this doesnt show up on the stat board so Tom probably wont agree. but that is the case..
Comment from neal
Time August 27, 2010 at 4:21 PM
Thanks in advance, SportzWiz.
Update on estimates:
crozby 50 ?
gotabig, tyrone2000 45
dayle 43
draftazoid 42
jeffmalone 41
maggicman 39
rick 35
millie, dcbutler 34
neal 33
grifonracing, gray16, jwall 32
jaba 31
datapony 29
phemy 28
Tom 20
Wizards_fusion 2 ?
Wizfan4Life, want to take a guess?
Comment from neal
Time August 27, 2010 at 4:23 PM
I guess cutting and pasting emoticons is too much to ask.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 27, 2010 at 4:36 PM
@magicman I like your logic on himbeing a PF shooting 3s and not being under the basket. Way to think outside the box
BTW I just friended you on facebook and I find it amusing that we have 2 friends in common lol
Comment from dayle
Time August 27, 2010 at 4:56 PM
Grifon, Tom & Neal, thanks for the warm greetings.
Although I am a rabid Wizard’s fan, what I know of
the game is just from watching over the last 6 or so
years. So, hopefully you won’t mind some questions
from time to time.
Jaba, I agree with you 100% about Gilbert. I wonder
why so many are so anxious to trade him before we
see how he will do. If his knee holds up I think he will
be great. It seems to me he would be a natural at the
2. I thought he was a little slow at point guard and
spent too much time thinking about getting assists rather than just playing. Ted Leonsis said Gil has had
a reckoning.. let’s hope so and that he really has
matured.
If Josh Howard heals and stays healthy he should be
worth every penny.
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 27, 2010 at 5:12 PM
I know the highlight of Brandon jennings to Wall was nice but the #1 ranked high school player in the nation was on the other team. He schooled Wall a little bit on this play. and then got a steal on Wall the very next possession.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 27, 2010 at 5:17 PM
Doc Rivers son. kind of annoying that they make a big deal out of this video though……….. like when everyone oooooood and aaaahhhd cause Iverson crossed up Jordan when he was a rookie lol Iverson should be able to get past Jordan the same way Jordan should have had no problem dunking on Iverson
It was a nice play for the young kid to make but these are also pretty relaxed games with out a ton of D
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 27, 2010 at 5:34 PM
If Gil, If Jhoward, If Javale….
if “ifs” and “buts” were candy and nuts oh what a party it would be
“If “ifs” and “buts” were candy and nuts, wouldn’t it be a Merry Christmas?”
If this team makes the playoffs not only will we shock a lot of people we will shock ourselves also…Should we really expect a player that has been injured for three years to be a star player….wooooo he looked good in pickup games….an 82 game season that will focus on attacking your weaknesses is a different story….good marketing though
It took AB 30-40 games, as well as the team to figure out how to throw the ball out of a double team, should we expect rookies to come in and make an immediate impact?
Reality of it is, Jwall is starting as far as we know. Its going to take a learning curve for him to adjust, and being the #1 pick, the opposition isn’t going to lay down for him….
Patience…..
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 27, 2010 at 5:35 PM
btw-highlight reels are just that “highlight” reels….heck, we make javale look like a perennial all-star with his dunk highlights…..nuff said
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 27, 2010 at 6:27 PM
We aren’t going to trade our young picks for Carmelo. Not going to happen.
I’m sure we’d offer Gilbert — and I’d be happy to acquire Carmelo in that case — but I can’t see Denver going for that.
As to this season, “patience” is the right advice. We will *not* be a good team; there is literally no chance of it given what we know about our players.
But we have taken the first steps in the right direction.
1. We have 3 rookies who might all be very productive NBA players; if we sign H (as I hope we will) he has a chance to be a rotation player w/ defensive impact.
2. We have a couple of young players in Dray and JaVale who still have a shot to be very productive in the league as well.
3. We have a fair amount of dead wood that’ll come off the books next Summer (Nick, Yi, Hilton, Howard — he’s a one-year rental; you can count on that).
4. We’ll have a high pick next year — and I think we have our round 2 pick next year as well (we surrendered a “future” 2d round pick to the Bulls, but not 2011 I don’t think).
5. We only have one long-term questionable contract.
We are rebuilding. New era. But we’ve only just started.
Comment from dayle
Time August 27, 2010 at 9:22 PM
Yes, DCB, “IF” is an important word, unless of course
you know the future. BTW, there is a wonderful poem,
“If” by Rudyard Kipling.
There is one thing that is a fact.. no one knows what
will happen with the Wizards this year, no one knows
how Gilbert will play, no one knows how Josh Howard
will play, no one knows how the team will play together,
no one knows how many, if any injuries there will be or
how serious… and I don’t think we know how good a
coach Flip will be. We are all speculating.
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 27, 2010 at 9:48 PM
If Denver would give up Melo for Booker and Seraphin and our first round pick the next two years, the Wizards would take the deal immediately. A bird-in-the-hand…You have to realize how few rookies make it in the NBA.
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 27, 2010 at 10:15 PM
I don’t believe that the Wizards have any desire to trade Gil. If his knee has recovered (and I believe that it is 100%), he is a 28 year-old All-Star with 25 years worth of NBA wear and tear on his legs. His knee was not any issue last year, so there is no reason to believe that it is any worse than any other player’s knee.
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 27, 2010 at 10:18 PM
I like Melo’s offensive game; but I prefer Gil’s game. Gil has demonstrated that he can absolutely take over a game. Melo is a great contributor. Wall, Gil, Melo, ‘Dray and JaVale would be a winning combination.
Comment from neal
Time August 27, 2010 at 10:25 PM
Mea culpa, Babakism.
Update on estimates:
crozby 50 ?
babakism 46
gotabig, tyrone2000 45
dayle 43
draftazoid 42
jeffmalone 41
maggicman 39
rick 35
millie, dcbutler 34
neal 33
grifonracing, gray16, jwall 32
jaba 31
datapony 29
phemy 28
Tom 20
Wizards_fusion 2 ?
Dayle, I think Arenas is still a very good player. But he’s not worth $20M/yr for the next four years, particularly since he’s going to be over the hill when our team peaks. I’m sure the Wiz will trade Arenas the first chance they get. For the good of everyone, Arenas needs to play well next year so that the Wiz can trade him to a team that is willing to pay top dollar NOW.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 27, 2010 at 10:37 PM
The ONLY reason Gilbert is on this this team is his contract/knees. Other than that he would have been gone and we would have had about four first round picks, 20 mill under the cap and AB could have gotten that raise he was asking for.
Gilbert ain’t still here because he can get us a championship, nor because he led us to the playoffs, nor because we think he can be the Gil of old. He is here because of the business part of the game, who cares what he did a few years ago,its his job!!! he got paid/and is getting paid for it
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 27, 2010 at 11:08 PM
The reason that Gil is on this team is because management believes that he can significantly contribute to the Wizards’s success. If that were not the case, they would have cobbled together some kind of deal to get him out of Dodge.
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 27, 2010 at 11:09 PM
Also…Gil will help us get to 45+ wins this season.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 27, 2010 at 11:55 PM
Dayle I agree. Nobody knows what will happen with the Wizards this year. This year we will see who develops, who doesn’t. Who can play defense and who can’t. How good John Wall will be against true NBA opponents. Will Booker and Seraphin impress? Will Andray, who I really think “got it” the 2nd half of last season be the force I thought he could be since we signed him?
It’s going to be a lot of fun to watch and see
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:00 AM
Carmelo? Really? put me down as a definate NO.
Why would we shoot ourselves in the rebuilding foot that way? The “only” trade I’d make would be Gilbert for Carmelo. No way I’m giving up Ted’s plan. It seems to be a good one, and, if we give up our young guys and draft picks for the future we lose Ted’s plan. I don’t see it happening. Not to mention Ted already said…. No high dollar veterans until they could put us over the top.
Folks…. we are no where near the top right now.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:13 AM
DCB… were it not for the “IF’s” everyone would get bored and go away and do crossword puzzles LOL
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:16 AM
Fusey… I want your “real” number. I knew 2 had to be a typo. The only people that will project less wins than Tom will be fans of teams in our conferance
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:22 AM
BTW.. lol… I’m sure nobody has any intension of “really” taking any of Neal’s money lol. I certainly wouldn’t. Neal always does things to make it interesting. He has outdone himself this off-season. Great Idea Neal
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:26 AM
Tom is probably independantly wealthy… the only reason he picked 20 wins… doesn’t need any of Neal’s money LOL
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:28 AM
LOL…The only thing that’s not an if is Gil’s contract…..
We have said “If” about Gil’s playing abilities for too long, to make him a priority in our plans…but since it’s not an option….rah rah shushkumbah go wizards….lol
This should be the last year that we wonder “if” javale is going to turn the corner, before we make him an “off the bench” player. Well, he’s already an off the bench player, but he’s starting…LOL
Grif, uhhhhhhh no….lol…
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:37 AM
Gil’s contract is a FACT. No If’s involved LOL.
Last year for JaVale… wow you are fickle.. Patience.. Patience
I see a lot of this years Wizards fighting for their NBA lives. That’s a good thing. Like every one of them is playing in a contract year. I think we will see the “absolute best” they can produce this season. Exciting? Probably. A total bust… Possibly.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:42 AM
Yes, this will be fun. One thing i didn’t realize is the amount of players that play overseas. I hope NY has a VISA/PASSPORT…LOL…
I feel for the guys that just didn’t have the skills….how in the heck did ruffin/boothe etc make it to the nba…must be a height thing, cuz the skills were lacking….
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:50 AM
If nothing else for Nick… there is always McDonalds?
I Did Not say that. LOL
truth… he is on the edge. It’s known Flip has been personally working with him. Did it work? Did Flip make a dent? Nick has “all” the skills needed. Was Flip able to “package” them? Nick is one of the players fighting for his NBA life. We will see…………..
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:53 AM
Thankfully/Hopefully the Ruffin/Boothe days are behind us
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:03 AM
well, having a good playmaker will extend a lot of careers…ask frye in phoenix.
I will give a pass to a few, due to not having a playmaker on the team, when livingston wasn’t on the floor. However, what players did better when livingston was on the floor?
NY has the size to play a three, if I was personally working with someone AND felt they had “it”. Signing JHoward wouldn’t have happened for 4mill, while others were offering 1.9 mill for one year of service, regardless of the fuzzy feelings JHoward had for us. If he would have went elsewhere, it would have been business. I’m sure Livingston appreciated the opportunity also, but he was honest about it…..
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:04 AM
Also, thornton is a three, he’s not even on the radar….lol….
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:11 AM
I may be wrong in the long run, but, I think John Wall is going to be the “difference maker”. If he performs like he did in summer league… controling the flow at will… knowing were all of his teamates were at all times and making all of them better….. this is going to be the team of the future…
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:13 AM
I understand your reservations about Howard. I have them too. I personally think the risk is worth the potential reward.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:22 AM
My fear for Howard is that he tries more to meet the contract stipulations than he values his knee. Understandable, but, a potentially horrific decision. He Must let himself heal. Damn the NBA until he is fully healthy. The initial timeline is much different than the current timeline. I hope that’s a medical thing and not a Josh Howard’s Agent thing.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:26 AM
Gil may be here cause there is not a way to for them to get rid of him but by that can easily turn into him being here because he is the most valuable asset to this franchise
Get ready for……………”Da Takeover II” cause its about to happen!!!!!!
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:32 AM
Babakism… I have no doubt Gil will come into next season with a chip on his shoulder (when he plays at his best ). I expect, partnered with Wall, Gilbert will average close to 30 this season.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:35 AM
If he can play some “real” defense… the skys the limit for us.
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 28, 2010 at 8:32 AM
The “IF” is on the Wizards side to be better.
Look at the ages of our players. Almost every single one is under 28 years of age.
Contrary to my man Dcbutler, I expect the Wizards to get good by December and then win enough to take the 7th or 8th seed.
I won’t be shccked if we make the playoffs. I expect us to make it.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 8:34 AM
Grifonracing — if John Wall performs like he did in SL, we’re in trouble. He certainly had times of playing terrific, but if he shoots .375 in the regular season and turns the ball over the way he did in July…. But I don’t think he’ll do those things; he’ll start out w/ TO problems, but he has the will and the hands to get that under control.
Gotabig — that’s a nightmare trade you propose. You *cannot* build a good team by acquiring players at their peak for high salaries in return for your future. Unless you can pay *unlimited* salaries (e.g. the Lakers @ $90m), that’s a recipe for disaster.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 28, 2010 at 8:35 AM
I wonder how good we would have been 3 years ago if Gil hadn’t gotten injured.
3 Years ago was the 1 half of a season where we actually played lock down D
Gil had been injured early in the season and we were on a big time downward spiral heading into allstar break. But Jamison made that awesome buzzer beater against the clippers to get us a win heading into the break. That truly changed our stride coming out of the break.
Looking at the game log, 90% of all of our wins after allstar break were done holding our opponents below 100 points a game. Half of the wins we held our opponents to 80 points a game. These teams were no slouches either such as Boston, Orlando, Cleveland, Detroit, New Orleans, and Miami.
I still think if Gil had been healthy that year we would have beaten Cleveland in the playoffs. This was also the year where they suspended Darius Songalia for nothing.
I also wonder if Gil had never gotten injured would we have learned to play D that second half of the year
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 8:40 AM
Grifonracing — what reward for Howard? He has a one-year deal. If he was signed for *three* years at that salary, you could argue that we were taking a risk in return for a potential reward. This is a marriage of convenience, as it were. We needed a wing for this transitional year in which we are *not* adding veterans at a high price — because we are waiting to see about the new CBA — and Josh needed a place to play.
We offered more than anyone else — more than we needed to offer you could argue. On the other hand, we do need to field a team this transitional year, and there really weren’t a lot of FAs who could command any minutes at all at the wing yet could be signed for much less than Josh. I’m sure that was the thinking behind Ernie’s decision to offer a little more and make sure we got him.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 8:42 AM
Babakism, have you ever tasted bacon wings? You know… “if pigs could fly.”
We’ve played *a lot* of games with Gil starting, hundreds. We’re a .500 team in those games. That tell you *anything at all?*
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 28, 2010 at 10:01 AM
How anyone could think that Booker and Seraphin and two future 1st round picks for Carmelo Anthony would be a nightmare trade for the Wizards is beyond my comprehension. Melo is 26 years-old with 7 years of NBA experience. He was the third leading scorer in the NBA last year at 28.2 ppg. He had 6.6 rpg and 3.2 apg. He has proven that he CAN play. Rookies and future picks MIGHT be able to play. EG would consider such a trade a dream, not a nightmare.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 28, 2010 at 10:17 AM
@Tom I know we are a .500 team with Gil on the court. The point I was trying to make was that during our 4 year run at being competitive and making the playoffs that stretch of basketball without Gil in the lineup was the only time we actually played hard nosed team Deffense on a Detroit Piston Boston Celtic level.
My bacon wings are would Gil have bought into the Defensive philosophy that was instilled after his injury went down? would he have made strides to become a better deffensive player that year? Either way I guess it all would have been lost the following year anyways because Haywood got injured and he was the on court catalyst for the whole 30 games we actually decided to play D lol
I just bring it up because we are talking about trying to be a better Deffensive team now and it would have been nice if Gil would have not been injured that year and learned to be a better deffender so he could bring a little bit more to the table.
Oh well, Kirk Heinrich will be our Deffensive leader this year.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 28, 2010 at 10:23 AM
Josh Howard will contribute defensively as well.
Defense is an attitude that is contagious.
Josh Howard will be able to use his experience of being taught Defense by Avery Johnson to help change our Defensive culture here
Kirk Heinrich got to play for Scott Skiles in a Defensive minded system as well which makes him an asset to changing the culture.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 10:28 AM
Babakism — Howard certainly has been an excellent defender in his career. He has excellent technique, and he *had* excellent mobility. Going on 31 and coming off of a couple of knee injuries, he’ll have to rely on the technique part.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 10:29 AM
Gotabig — I assume that if *Ernie* would think of this as a good trade, then the Nuggets should get something sort of like this — about the same value — when they trade Anthony.
They won’t. Watch.
Comment from gray16
Time August 28, 2010 at 10:51 AM
i’m pretty high on booker so i wouldn’t want to trade him, even for melo. but i’d rather see melo decide to sign here instead of trading for him. no need to trade away a bunch of young guys for someone who might not even stay here past the season. unless of course arenas was the guy getting traded for him.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 10:56 AM
But Melo will be traded this season, because he won’t sign an extension w/ the Nuggets — they aren’t going to want to get nothing for him.
If they arrange something to a place he wants to go — reportedly NY, because of his wife’s career (NJ would work for that too) — then signing an extension will be part of the transaction. Obviously, a team trading for him doesn’t want him to expire at season’s end and become an unrestricted FA.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:00 AM
On a more serious subject, good news on Mikhail Torrance from his agent:
Happy Walters: Mikhail Torrance update: Improving every day. A therapist is working with him. He is opening his eyes. Trying to focus. Starting to recognize some things. This is great news and everyone is excited. We hope that he will be able to follow some commands soon! Twitter
Not to write unnecessarily personally on this blog, but one reason I like draft picks and young players is that they really are “kids” in my mind — almost like *my* kids to some small degree. In a way, that’s how I view them. So this kind of thing is mightily upsetting to me.
Comment from neal
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:09 AM
I think Tom has it right re. Howard. He’s glue to hold the team together for a year and we had some extra room under the cap. In order for him to sign for only one year on a rebuilding team we had to offer more than other teams. If he isn’t a distraction to chemistry it seems like a good deal to me. Should help us stay competitive.
Come on Fusion, what’s your real number? I won’t force you to take money. Your public wants to know your opinion.
Comment from Phemy
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:01 PM
random fiba news:
China lost to Greece, but Yi had 26pts 13rebounds (9-15 from the field, 8-11 ft, 1block 1to 1foul) ;>
Comment from jeffmalone1990
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:07 PM
Click here to see Wall and others in action:
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:13 PM
The problem with John Wall’s turnovers is that the players he played with in Summer League (most of them) are just not very good.
Game one of Summer League Wall had 4 turnovers where the players did not know the pass was coming (Flip’s words).
Once the season starts that will not happen very much because everyone will be expecting a great pass and John will be playing with Superior players than what he played with in Summer League.
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:18 PM
We can’t count on Howard. He is a bonus if he plays at all. The Wizards are gambling on him.
His small salary for a player his caliber tells me that no team thinks that he can make a full recovery. It is too much of a gamble.
He is definitely not the glue to this team.
This team is John Walls. Where he goes, the Wizards will go.
Comment from jeffmalone1990
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:26 PM
The season to me comes down to four players:
Arenas-can he come back close to All-Star from now playing the SG on a full time basis? (I think he will,and add years to his career thanks to Wall)
Wall-we know what he can do on offense, I want to see what he can do with his on the ball pressure, and getting some easy transition buckets. If he can be a lock down defender with close to averaging 8 assists a game, we will be in really good shape (I think he will do that as well as score, and be among the top in the NBA in steals)
McGee-I am going to tell the board this one, McGee and his development will take the Wizards from an okay season, to a really good surprise team! (DCBUTLER knows about my source, lol) with that being said,if he can play about 30 minutes a night get a double, double and close to 3 blks a night…wow (break out year for Mr Mcgee)
Blatche-look I am not looking for Dray to continue to put up his numbers he posted after the trades and all star break (that would be great) However if he can be close to 18 and 10 a night I will take that, and just being consistent over the full 82. I do think Dry turned a page last year, and as a fan I am very pleased to see his leadership on and off the court. Not to mention his work ethic and conditioning improving. (I believe Dray will be very solid this year and he and McGee will be one of the best 4\5 combos in the NBA, as they have done it in spurts at times they will see it full time this year)
My wild card-Flip Saunders-rotations, time management, okay sorry guys got ready for the season, lol………
OKC has the blueprint with the commitment on the defensive end as a unit when that improves for us as well as rebounds, I have the Wizards with over 40 wins this year!
Comment from Babakism
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:49 PM
No matter what scenario you can think of Carmelo Anthony won’t be a Wizard……………………..
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 28, 2010 at 12:59 PM
Ted has the chips to use if he wants Carmelo.
Cost would be too high.
First words out of Denver’s mouth would be “John Wall.”
That would get it done but we ain’t trading John Wall for anyone (Thank God!)
So Babakism, I just thought of a scenario but we are not trading John Wall.
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:00 PM
i agree.. chances that carmelo lands with wizards are slim to none.. but it sure would be nice! id give up draft picks to get him. smartest thing for denver to i think would be wait till the trade deadline to trade him so they know the draft picks they get are high as possible. trading him for draft picks now is dumb because he will put whatever team he lands with in a position to not have any top 10 draft picks. maybe no lottery picks at all
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:04 PM
Jeffmalone,
We already have the best defensive guards when Wall and Hinrich are on the floor at the same time.
Put in Booker at the 3 and we could disrupt any teams “go to scorers” from the wings which usually play the 2 and 3 positions.
I think Hinrich was a huge, huge get for end of games defense. I loved his acquisition.
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:06 PM
draftazoid- i think if denver was in a room with Ted and they asked John Wall Ted might smack the first person he sees in blue! lol.. he loves young talent. but then tapscott would be in his ear like Ted lets take the deal. and offer gil too for jr smith. then Ted would fire tap.. so it might work out in our favor! lol
Comment from Wizfan4life
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:06 PM
Neal: I am going to guess 33 wins for us this season
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:11 PM
Carmelo thinks he has the power to force Denver to trade him.
That is a bunch of Bologny.
Carmelo’s handlers are playing this wrong. They are demanding things and making the owner look stupid.
If Denver has the guts to tell Carmelo that they will not trade him and he can just walk next year without a sign and trade Carmelo could lose, I am making a calculated guess: $50million over the next 7 years.
Personally, I would love the Denver Owner to tell Carmelo and his handlers to “kiss where the sun don’t shine.”
Comment from dayle
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:23 PM
Neal, some people like Steven A.Smith say that
Gilbert will be better off than others his age because
he’s had alot of rest the past couple of years and not
so much wear and tear on the body. I worry about the
knee. Someone at the halfway house said when
Gilbert played some basketball there, his knee swelled
up etc. Someone else said that was because he was
playing on cement. I think it’s too soon for everyone
to write him off. BTW, did Dwayne Wade have surgery
on his knee?
Are these blogs saved so we can read them later?
Question for anyone. What percentage of the game,
success in the game, do you believe is mental? I don’t
mean b.ball IQ but confidence, attitude, nerves &
things like that. Remember when LeBron whispered in
Gilbert’s ear before the free throw?
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 28, 2010 at 1:38 PM
Did we all forget that Gilbert played in all of the first 32 games in a row before he was kicked out?
Did we also forget that he averaged 36.5 minutes a game last year?
Did we also forget that he scored 22.6 points and 7.2 assists a game last year?
Why are we acting as if Gilbert hasn’t played in 3 years?
He proved last year that he can still play. If he plays the same way he did last year then we are good to go. All indications from NBA players is that Gilbert is back and playing like he was 3 years ago.
Comment from jeffmalone1990
Time August 28, 2010 at 2:00 PM
dayle: The mental part (IMO) is 50% and the other 50% is God given abillity
Comment from gray16
Time August 28, 2010 at 2:07 PM
dayle, imo from experience the game is very mental as much as physical. for guys like gilbert (especially when he was in his best days) his confidence was about as high as anyone, if not higher than anyone in this league. he could make shots others won’t take, with ease. his confidence in those days was among larry bird level, basically one of the most confident players i’ve seen ever play the game, for that period of time.
as for those fts, he was shooting poorly from the line all night. his confidence was shaken from that, it had nothing to do with lebron imo.
but if gil can get even close to the same confidence he had back then, he should be fun to watch. but a difference i see between him and j wall is, gilbert will reach levels of confidence that are crazy and will help his team by taking over, wall can breed confidence in others by being a leader. put them both on the same team with both having their confidence and your team automatically plays much better.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 2:31 PM
draftazoid — John Wall led the NCAA in turnovers last year. Excuses are just that… excuses. I think he’ll get better, but if you don’t think he has a problem to solve you’re just dreaming.
John also shot .375 — and he was also playing *against* inferior players, to use your scenario. You think he’s going to suddenly shoot a lot better when real NBA veterans are guarding him?
Wall is a *rookie* — stop acting like he’s going to change the world by getting on the court. One or two guys that do that come along every generation, LBJ being the most recent. Too much pressure.
Comment from jeffmalone1990
Time August 28, 2010 at 2:41 PM
Wall is a *rookie* — stop acting like he’s going to change the world by getting on the court. One or two guys that do that come along every generation, LBJ being the most recent. Too much pressure.
Tom-he will change the *Wizards* world when he is on the court! We did not have a PG on the roster last year, John wall is a PG period! Rondo also does not shoot very well, but I think it is working out for him huh?
Turnovers take place for a PG simply because he has the ball over 80% of the time, now you can do nothing about TO’s however you can do something on the defensive side of the ball which is steals!
From day 1 the Wizards are a better team, Gil goes to SG and from the look at the SL this year, the guys are excited to play with him! That alone will get more victories for this team!
I have Wall and Griffin taking the co-rookie of the year this year!
Comment from neal
Time August 28, 2010 at 2:59 PM
Update on estimates:
crozby 50 ?
babakism 46
gotabig, tyrone2000 45
dayle 43
draftazoid 42
jeffmalone 41
maggicman 39
rick 35
millie, dcbutler 34
neal, wizards4life 33
grifonracing, gray16, jwall 32
jaba 31
datapony 29
phemy 28
Tom 20
Wizards_fusion 2 ?
Comment from neal
Time August 28, 2010 at 2:59 PM
Only a nut case would predict fewer wins than Tom.
Comment from neal
Time August 28, 2010 at 3:03 PM
You guessed the correct number, wizards4life.
This team has major IF’s at every position. IF they all come true the guys estimating 40+ wins get to say “I told you so.” If none of them do Tom gets to say “I told you so.” I think the odds are about 1 in 5 that we win more than 39 and about 1 in 5 that we win less than 30.
Comment from neal
Time August 28, 2010 at 3:05 PM
My wife says I seem depressed. I told her I would be alright if wizards_fusion gives us his real opinion.
Comment from maggicman11
Time August 28, 2010 at 3:06 PM
Wall lead the ncaa in TOs… He also led his team to a near perfect season and was the best player on the court everytime he stepped on it. he has been a winner in high school, college and the SL. i have not seen this guy lose alot of games. i mean when you get a guy who ALWAYS wins, its something to that. regardless of TOs..
Lebron James was 4th in the NBA in TOs
Dwight Howard 5th
Deron Williams 6th
Kevin Durant 7th
Dwayne Wade 8th
Kobe Bryant 11th
Rondo 13th
Carmelo 14th
which one of these players who all lead the nba in TOs have not changed the “world” of their respective franchise?
Comment from gray16
Time August 28, 2010 at 3:50 PM
i noticed wall has this tendency when defending a player who decided to pull up on him to not put his hand up. this is something he’s gonna have to change, face guarding can be a very useful tool, and with his long arms, just putting a hand up makes a big difference. this is something sam and coach will have to work with him on.
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 28, 2010 at 5:34 PM
The more touches a player gets, the more turnover opportunities he’ll have. Wall will be an outstanding point guard, especially with a good players around him…and, Yes, the Wizards will prove to be a good team.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 28, 2010 at 5:51 PM
@Tom queen james is the wrong name to use. The correct name to insert into your statement would be Dwanye Wade.
Lebron didn’t even make the playoffs his first 2 years in the league
Dwayne Wade took his team into the playoffs as a rookie and actually adcanced out of the first round.
John Wall isn’t going to be a one man team out there.
John Wall doesn’t need to be the best player on the court.
If he plays within his role we can be a great team.
John Wall just needs to run 100 miles a minute on offense and defense and we will take the turnovers hopefully he can have at least a 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio and hopefully he can average around 2 steals to make up for it. Obviously 2-1 isnt great but he has to be a little bit out of control in order to have the impact he can have on the game.
Hustle = Inspiration
Comment from Wizards4Life
Time August 28, 2010 at 7:09 PM
@neal throw me down at about 35 i say we can make it to that at least.. but its not going to be hard to get the 8th spot in the playoffs in the east… sub .500 team every year has had the 8th spot heck we had the 5th spot and were like 2 games over.. so i guess put me on the high hopes team side of the blog
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 7:33 PM
There is no way in the world Ted is going to go get Melo for some of our draft picks, for one year’s worth of play (ok, except for the second round pick that was a waste). That would be the same thing we did last year to get miller and foye.
But I bet Gil’s name was first on the list of getting moved out of here…lol…if anyone is a blogger for the sake of any one player besides wall…..happy trails.
Wall will help to change the wizards world, heck livingston did it for a moment, but he didn’t get the proper play. Come to think of it, he didn’t even have good players around him…i really hope NY and thornton come in here ready and better, or they’re a gonner or benchmates. As mentioned earlier, the experience of Gil, Heiny, and JHoward, and AB will help ease the transition for JWall if they stay healthy a whole year. The way it looks, JWall will be schooling mcgee moreso than vica versa. Crawford is looking for a deal out of ATL (10 MIL/1YEAR LEFT)…GOOD TRADE BAIT. How many years are left on JR Smith, at six mil, we can ship thornton and ny there….
I’m really starting to think we are going to make some more moves, there are a lot of things starting to open up…..we can start moving new signees after Dec 21st right?
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 28, 2010 at 7:35 PM
JOHN WALL WILL CHANGE THE WORLD!
At the least the Wizards world.
#1 pick of the draft.
Every #1 pick point guard has turned into a superstar.
He is compared to Derrick Rose.
So what if he turns the ball over.
So what if he shoots .375 right now as a “19 year old.”
So what…., So what…., So what….
He is a bonafide stud.
Teams were already complaining that he was getting superstar calls from the Ref’s at Summer League.
That is great news.
The Ref’s have already gotten the word to call his games and give him the “Calls” because he is a Superstar Already.
John Wall got the Wizards a Prime Time first week game.
The NBA knows he is a superstar and has scheduled the Wizards accordingly.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 7:51 PM
LOL….Yeah, but if they suck, that schedule will change accordingly….LOL….
sl is no-where near what he’s going to see in the league on a nightly basis. It’s good to be enthused
BTW-don’t think he will get those calls against billups, williams, etc, and they will “body” him.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 7:56 PM
BTW-Gil played in the first 23? games and avg XYZ….I recall him forcing layups without lift in his legs and not getting calls (he kind of hurt the team down the stretch trying to be a hero and not being able to). The telling sign was when Tyreke Evans stole the ball in the last seconds of the game, in the middle of the court from Gil and Sacramento won the game. Sooooooooo, yeah he avg XYZ points, etc etc etc, but the team had a losing record and he had a green light to do whatever, whether it hurt or help the team….I’m just saying…..
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 7:59 PM
Wow, Caps now Mystics go into playoffs as #1 seeds and get shown the exit door…..mystics are first #1 seed to lose to a four seed in WNBA History….gotta be on the good side of history sometimes…lol….
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 8:10 PM
China’s team looks like it has to over-achieve just to stay competitive, but Yi looks like he has a nice game…..but FIBA isn’t the NBA….
BTW-Denver really doesn’t want carmello to go…just yet….lol.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 8:16 PM
Hmmmmm, just how much does the Heiny trade help us?????:
http://www.bulletsforever.com/2010/8/28/1655656/report-wizards-talk-to-nuggets
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 8:18 PM
don’t you just love how we rebuild, compared to everyone else’s mentality of rebuilding……dangit ernie?!?!?!?
“Denver is looking to completely rebuild with a trade, and therefore, Hinrich’s on-court value means little to them. If Hinrich had an expiring contract, the Wizards could put together an enticing package, potentially including some combination of Hinrich, Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee, Nick Young, Al Thornton and draft picks. But he doesn’t, and that makes things tough.”
Comment from neal
Time August 28, 2010 at 8:57 PM
I agree babakism. One thing Wall brings is attitude/optimism. I value that more than a lot of people.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 9:43 PM
Oh, don’t get me wrong — I think Wall will be a terrific player and that drafting him was the right thing to do and that he’ll be *better* than Derrick Rose (though I don’t think that’s saying as much as maybe you think it is). I think he’ll be in Rajon Rondo territory — and that’s exalted territory.
But not his first season. Still, he does change the Wizards’ world, sure. He’s a foundation piece for our future. I’m excited to watch him — and Booker, and Seraphin, and Dray, and to see Gil come back. I’m a fan.
But I’m also realistic. This year… 20 wins. And when that comes true, you’ll all be telling me all the reasons it *still* doesn’t mean I’m right. But I’m used to that! . I’m sure Gotabig still thinks he was in some sense “right” when he said last year this time that we had the best roster in the NBA and were going to win 60 games.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 9:47 PM
dcbutler — nothing wrong with the move to get Hinrich, man. And none of our other off-season moves are wrong for the rebuilding effort (as little as I think it means to acquire Yi, Armstrong or Howard).
Melo wants to leave for 2 reasons: 1) he wants the big NY stage (and his wife needs it for her career), and 2) he wants to contend for a title.
We can’t give him either of those things. New York gives him the first (and most important one) and he may think that with him and Amar’e it gives him a shot at the 2d one as well (don’t think he’s right about that tho.). NJ gives him #1 as well — and has a core that’s closer to turnaround than nearly any other rebuilding NBA team.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 10:13 PM
@Tom, I’m not asking you if it was okay
This is the deal, the way that the wiz are rebuilding is the way that we have chosen to rebuild. It is what it is. There is something wrong with getting Heiny and strapping yourself from making moves, to get a pick that is unproven. It is no different than signing antawn, gil, juwan howard, etc. to big contracts and being unable to do anything else. It stops you from making other moves to better your team. I’m not worried about anyone agreeing with me, nor am I asking anyone to agree with me. Since I don’t run the team, it’s just an opinion.
There is nothing wrong with getting bonafide players and building around them also. Rondo was a rookie as a point, or a second year player and look what he had to work with. No, its not a once in a lifetime thing. Boston’s championship teams weren’t drafted by boston. Didn’t parrish come from another team? as well as McHale? The lakers didn’t all get drafted by L.A? San Antonio is a team that can say that they drafted a lot of their players.
yes, we’re being patient, but don’t sit here and act like it has to be done via the draft or not going out and getting/paying for a star, just because you haven’t figured out how to do it…LOL….The fact is that Ernie doesn’t know how to put a whole team together, well at least he hasn’t proven that he could do it.
At a certain point, stop talking and put something bonafide on the floor, and not making excuses when you aren’t following your own plans….
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 10:17 PM
Just read a rumor that Denver would like to trade Carmelo to Minny! Now that would be a comeuppance for someone demanding a trade!
Kahn has one really good player — Kevin Love — and will have high draft picks until forever, Melo or no Melo. Denver could fleece him for Love and picks and I don’t know what to even out the salaries. I’d laugh. Then I’d cry.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 10:19 PM
I lived in SF in 1980, when Red Auerbach picked the pockets of the Warriors and Al Attles. He sent the first pick in the draft and a mid-round pick to us for Robert Parish and the 3d pick, which he used to grab McHale (so in fact he *did* draft KH). I thought I would fall straight over when he did that!
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 10:20 PM
when you take the names and faces out of the conversation, you paid a two year contract 8 and 9 million towards your cap for two years, for a backup player. No, they aren’t subtracting the money that was given in the trade…so it’s not a factor towards our cap….I DON’T CARE IF ANYONE SAYS IT’S OKAY, IT STRAPPED THE TEAM.
IT HINDERS THEM AND IT’S IRRELEVANT ON WHO CAN BE PICKED UP, ITS THE POINT THAT ITS A BURDEN….whether it’s carmelo anthony or anthony johnson….
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 10:27 PM
We started rebuilding 2 months ago, dcbutler — how far do you want to get in 2 months?
Now… Denver is a smarter drafting team. They fleeced nitwit Kahn out of the pick they used to pick Ty Lawson — by far the best point guard in last year’s draft, which made the move especially stupid since Kahn picked a guy 4th who will struggle to be a backup in the league (Jonny Flynn). Given that we also traded w/ Kahn last year, it’s hard to believe we couldn’t have gotten that pick — but Ernie wanted veterans. He *wasn’t* rebuilding.
I’m sure Abe Pollin determined direction and hoped for a chance to win a title before he died. Can’t blame him — and can’t blame Ernie either for doing what his boss told him to do, especially under the circumstances.
In the time Ernie’s been here — and heck for a decade before that! — we haven’t added a single player out of the draft who had an impact on the team in his first 2-3 years, and only one player who has had an impact *at all* — Dray. And even he is festooned w/ question marks.
But this year we have added 3 guys who at least have a legitimate *shot* to have that kind of impact. So, yeah, things are changing — but it’ll take more than a couple of months.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 28, 2010 at 10:36 PM
dcb — I don’t see how the trade “strapped” the team, honestly. We had no plan to spend big this year, because of the new CBA that’s coming. And I’m totally in agreement with that. Can’t see a reason we’d do it.
Even with Hinrich, we’ll have tons of cap room next summer and an extremely young core of players. Especially if we somehow manage to trade Gil — that would make Andray our 2d oldest player after Hinrich! That’s really hard to believe, and it’s the right direction.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:23 PM
I want a championship team by December or all of this is pointless…LOL….How is that for patience….
I know EG is trying, but he’s a lost puppy….time to pull out the big dogs and build the new house.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:28 PM
Gil was a half step slower and didn’t explode off the floor last year, but, he played well and fairly consistently. I see no reason for him not to help the team this year. I hope he has taken the off time to get in the best shape of his life.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:31 PM
Gabbo when I read your Carmelo post I almost used the word “cringe”. I wouldn’t mind the Booker/Seraphin thing but to lose the next 2 first round draft picks would throw a monkey wrench directly into our future plans.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:34 PM
Tom is that all you got? LOL. turnovers and shooting percentage? I like that he addressed his turnover “issue” heads on in front of media cameras. I have no doubt, as a rookie, the turnovers will be there. He IS a rookie after all. BUT… and it’s a big But.. He controlled the flow of the game every time he was on the court. There are point guards and then there are point guards. Will be nice to have a “true” point guard in a Wizards uniform for the first time in a very long time. Daniels was old lol.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:34 PM
Well, owners that want yes men, will not have championships for 30+ years, and that says alot about the coaches/gms that they hire…..Sure the owner has some sayso, but Phil Jackson coaches his way, Shanahan coaches his way, Larry Brown coaches his way. We don’t need puppets, we need people that can do their job and can take ownership for their “mistakes” as well as take the notoriety for their accomplishments. Go get someone that can do the job their way and get the job done correctly. There isn’t anyone that has a job and fails, that can blame that failure on their boss and get away with it. If you are hired to be a yes man, that’s fine, but it’s an excuse that isn’t accepted. Why even take the position if you can’t put your spin on the team.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:38 PM
So in other words DCB… you won’t be happy until we get Carmelo, Kobe, and Dwight Howard?
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:39 PM
THAT’S RIGHT, GET TO WORK….LOL
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:39 PM
By December may be tough LOL
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:39 PM
LOL….Have the NBA jealous of us for once
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:40 PM
how is rehab coming?
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:42 PM
Well, Ted had two teams finish at the top of their conferences(caps and mystics), but fell apart in the post-season….is that what the wiz have in store for them????
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:43 PM
Let’s wait and see how the Caps and Mystics do again next season and I’ll have an answer for you
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:45 PM
Experience is a big thing in pro sports. Both of them have now been “on top”. With another year under their belts…. Let’s see
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:45 PM
i’m good, I started walking in the boot two weeks ago, and started driving again. about six more weeks in the boot (two with the heel lift and four without the heel lift) and then I can start wearing shoes again, maybe with a slight ankle brace/support.
I started rehab last week and it’s helping to strengthen and give flexibility to the tendon.
Thanks for asking
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:47 PM
You are almost back to being “cleared to play”
Great News
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:47 PM
well, september is a few days away, training camp real soon, then reality will set in….
Great time of year. wow, i haven’t heard too much about college football this year.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:48 PM
lol…exactly (cleared to play)
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:49 PM
Driving again? If your situation is anything like mine….. your Wife said something like “AT Last… he is finaly out of the House!” LOL
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:52 PM
I don’t think my college team is going to set the world on fire this year. You never know though… Joe Pa tends to work “some” magic
I agree not much hype this year?
Comment from dayle
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:54 PM
Hey Neal, on the estimating, it’s not all guys!
I agree about the mental being 50% and if we
include team chemistry, even higher. Of course
that’s another IF.
It seems some people just want to have young rookies
and watch them develop, win or lose. Do they want to
get rid of or trade anyone with any experience?
We’ve had two awful years. Forget about patience,
it’s time to start winning!!!
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:55 PM
Neal… LOL… I live and breath for your posts
You are upset huh?
FUSEY give him you pick for wins Already!
Neal and his wife need piece of mind
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 28, 2010 at 11:58 PM
Patience Dayle
We are on the right road. If we hold steady on course, my best guess is that we will be one of the best teams in the East when teams like Boston.. forget that they are already there…. Miami, and Orlando get old(er)
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 12:00 AM
ahhhhhhhhhh, the lil things in life….don’t miss them until you lose them…lol…
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 29, 2010 at 12:09 AM
LOL… I have figured a way to drive after “almost” every injury I ever suffered racing, wrestling, or football related. I HAVE to be able to drive. It’s my passion
Should I kinda avoid you and the boot on the road though? LOL
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 29, 2010 at 12:10 AM
PS.. I love basketball but always STUNK playing it LOL
Comment from neal
Time August 29, 2010 at 12:12 AM
Update on estimates:
crozby 50 ?
babakism 46
gotabig, tyrone2000 45
dayle 43
draftazoid 42
jeffmalone 41
maggicman 39
rick, wizards4life 35
millie, dcbutler 34
neal 33
grifonracing, gray16, jwall 32
jaba 31
datapony 29
phemy 28
Tom 20
Wizards_fusion 2 ?
Fusion, speak to us. Please.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 29, 2010 at 12:14 AM
That’s really cool Neal. Quite a few of us on there.
Fusey… here Fusey.. here boy LOL
Comment from neal
Time August 29, 2010 at 12:28 AM
Fusion, withholding your true feelings is not good for your emotional health.
Worse, you may get Grifon pissed with you.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 8:27 AM
Grif, the boot gives me super-powers, go for it….LOL..
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 8:32 AM
after seeing us play with no point guard for two years (did we have a point guard two years ago??) oh i think we had critt and the guy we bought out last year…yeah mike james….anyway, after not having a point guard for two years…hehehe, and having 20 wins, how can one say that we will still have only 20 wins next year? We have a true power forward and no one is playing out of their position (FINALLY). Well I don’t feel Javalle is a center yet, but that’s just my opinion, but for the most part, we have people in their true positions with leadership in place. That should get us in the 30s by itself? BTW-Even though Booker was a PF in college, with his speed, that will catapult him into a better than good SF (i think he may be special)
Comment from gray16
Time August 29, 2010 at 10:01 AM
well dc, you can’t really compare this team to previous teams to say just because we finally have a pg again, that we will do better. but i do think we will do better in the end, but not just because of getting a pg, but getting john wall (meaning the type of player he is).
i also think fresh minds will best serve flip and his schemes so that he can control their growth instead of trying to convert veterans. we’ve already seen a difference in dray, a difference in attitude with nick, and a difference in javale with work ethic, so with more fresh minds he can continue to do good work.
man this season is taking it’s time getting here. just can’t wait for the first week of games.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 10:17 AM
gray, that’s true, I was looking at the overall team and having everyone playing their natural positions. This will be a team with a different mindset. I think everyone will rely on each other moreso than wait for any one person to take over the game. the standing around watching days are over…This will definitely be an interesting season, as we watch the team grow together
Get your popcorn ready (but don’t think i’m not tired of eg..lol…)
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 10:18 AM
wow, kevin love is being a beast on espn 2 right now for usa vs slov.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 10:36 AM
Kobe is so full of it…on Rome is burning he said he wouldn’t have jumped ship like LeBron did…..DIDN’T HE ASK FOR A TRADE A FEW YEARS AGO?!?!?!?
OMG, SUCH HYPOCRITES
Comment from gray16
Time August 29, 2010 at 10:59 AM
lol kobe, he see’s his chances at a 3 peat going away so he’s gonna say that…
of course this is also the guy who called gilbert arenas a shot jacker and yet again the same guy who was jacking jumpers with a hurt back and finger almost costing his team so many games this season…
nobody is going to have the balls to agree with what lebron did, so i’ll do it myself. he did the smart thing, and i don’t blame him one bit. let kobe chase jordan’s shadow, go get yours lebron… that is until john wall leads the wizards past you
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 11:06 AM
Yeah, well we better stop looking at potential and get bonafide in the house…..they have set a precedent that they are willing to go to teams that will make it work (having multiple stars on one team to win a championship). Sooooooo, let it be known, it ain’t just about the money, they are going to get that regardless. Gotta be able to bring in more than one important player to succeed. So whether you like it or not, you may not pay now, but you are going to have to pay
Comment from Babakism
Time August 29, 2010 at 11:16 AM
@butler I hate Kobe but perhaps his whining about wanting to be traded was a bluff to make the GM make a move to get the team better. None the less he is still a douche.
Denver should keep Carmelo the way the Suns kept Amare last year. Denver is still a contender with their current team.
This won’t happen but if it did we would all be laughing…………………….. Carmelo Anthony to Cleveland Cavs lol
Cleveland doesn’t have the assets to trade for Carmelo and he wouldn’t sign long term there anyways cause he wouldn’t be surrounded with a good enough cast.
But how funny would it be if Carmelo went there and somehow won a championship with the team queen james left behind lol
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE me some bacon flavored wings!!!
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 29, 2010 at 11:19 AM
Kirk Hinrich was a great pickup.
We are set at guard. That’s for sure.
All 3, wall, gilbert, kirk, can play the point.
Hinrich is a great defender, All Defensive Team.
End of game situations when we are protecting the lead or need turnovers we could have both John Wall, who Flip has pretty much already called him the best defensive point guard in the league, and Hinrich on the floor.
Hinrich is a great combo guard, especially if he is your 3rd guard.
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 29, 2010 at 11:25 AM
Tom,
I would agree about the two points you made for Carmelo.
The one thing, HUGE thing, to not forget that in order for Carmelo to get the $65 million, 3 year extension, he desires he needs Denver. Carmelo cannot get that money and go to New York or a west coast team unless the Nuggets are willing to cave in.
Right now, it does not look like Denver wants to help Carmelo out. I think Carmleo’s handlers are going to make the Denver owner make a stand against trading him.
If Carmelo really wants to go to New York or follow his wife around he can just wait to become an unrestricted free agent and go where he pleases. Of course, he would be giving up millions upon millions upon millions of dollars that he will NEVER make up unless Denver becomes a bunch of wimps and caves in.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 11:45 AM
I don’t want to make this an issue, but isn’t this the same argument that was being made about bosh, etc……That 65 mill is nothing to him, he will get paid regardless….hasn’t the trio taught us anything about the dollar signs?
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 11:48 AM
These players are already paid, they want championships…pay attention owners, a precedent has been set
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 29, 2010 at 12:02 PM
Yea. But the difference is that Lebron, Wade and Bosh all hit free agency.
Carmelo is trying to make a move NOW. He is not a free agent. Denver does not have to do a thing for him.
The day he hits free agency, Denver cannot offer him the 3 year extension at $21.67million a year.
With the new CBA next year no one knows what the max contract will be.
If the owners play hard ball what if the max contract is $15 million?
Point #2:
There is growing sentiment with the owners to have a FRANCHISE TAG like the NFL. If that happens Carmelo is a Denver Nugget for a very, very long time. That could happen as early as next year. Carmelo is stuck in Denver, CP3 would be stuck in New Orleans.
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 29, 2010 at 12:28 PM
lol – you guys kill me. i was out like 1 day and i’ve been summoned nonstop – like adding friends in facebook. since the last 24 hours, you guys have posted like 129 opinions. it takes time for me to catch up, which i have now!
i thought i acknowledged my typo and that the “2″ should be “28″. @GR and neal – my TRUE prediction is 28 wins. are you guys happy now? lol
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 12:29 PM
Tomatoes tomatos, okay so he waits a year and then goes to NY…..small potatoes.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 12:34 PM
I love it how we change the scenarios to validate our responses. I said, take the names/faces off of the deal…..why would a team sign a backup for 8 and 9 million dollars over two years?
It has strapped the team from trading him because the contract is for two years. Impact players aren’t even getting signed for more than 5-6 mill a year…LOL….
Sooooooo, at the end of the day, we are still paying too much for our players (Heiny, JHoward, Yi). The reason is that no one else will pay that much and it’s effect on our salary cap this year and heiny/gil possibly on next years.
Comment from gray16
Time August 29, 2010 at 12:45 PM
wouldn’t we first have to judge how much hinrich, jhoward, and yi help this team before we call them overpaid?…
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 29, 2010 at 12:54 PM
re: Melo again
Seriously, with a straight face, how can you fans not think Melo is more desirable than Booker/Seraphin? I know what’s going on – you guys are trying to buy into “Teddy’s Edicts of Building a Franchise”, which is understandable. For my money, I would want Melo and I would not even blink if Blatche/McGee are gone to get that deal done. As a matter of fact, I say everyone on the roster is tradeable except Wall. I’m sorry, but Melo is legitimately proven in the NBA. I can’t say the same with over 70% of the Wizards roster. And I don’t like uncertainty, which is a reason why throwing all your eggs into the rebuilding basket is very risky.
If you want a championship by December 2010, the Wall/Arenas/Anthony angle presumably has a higher probability to get there than Wall/Arenas/Blatche. And from a financial perspective, Melo will help cover any losses Ted may envision if the trade happened.
re: Wall
What’s with this notion of “he’s a rookie/the NBA life will be tough/he’ll need time to adjust/etc.”? I don’t buy it one bit. If he’s head and shoulders above most of the cats before he’s played one meaningful minute, he’s ready. I don’t think we should undercut him and his abilities and talents. Let HIM tell us/show us/lead us to what HE wants us to get out of him. What I’m saying is that if he’s brilliant, he’s brilliant.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 12:55 PM
Nope, their market value is not worth their take-home to other teams, meaning we paid too much for them….it’s my opinion and what’s done is done.
At the end of the day, we have paid more for Seraphin than we have for John Wall…LOL….Never thought anyone would say that….seraphin better be a beast…lol
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 1:03 PM
wiz-fus, i’m with you on getting bonafide players….once they get someone in the front office that knows how to put a winner together, we will have a few high profile players on this team…..a man that hasn’t owned a b-ball team has the master plan to putting one together? OVERNIGHT?…lol….may the force be with you.
I’m sure they have some strategic planning going on (thoughts actions periodically changing to achieve the goal)
Comment from gray16
Time August 29, 2010 at 1:50 PM
dc, okay, i just feel more worried about their impact to this team rather than other teams. we may get more out of them than other teams could, mabye even more than just their playing. hinrich could always help bring a defensive mentality to the team, as well as helping wall off the court as a mentor. i’ll say if i think we are overpaying for hinrich and howard after they are done as wizards.
wiz fusion, i would trade many players to get melo IF i absolutely knew he would be here past this season, which he probably wouldn’t.
if he wants to come here, let him sign here next season.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 29, 2010 at 1:52 PM
@Butler Yi is paid 4 mil and the player we traded got paid 1 mil. NJ paid usthe difference in his salary so we are really only paying 1 mil because he is only under contract 1 year and we weren’t planning on using that cap space.
Gray16 is right. We are just making opening arguments right now, Once the trials of the season truly begin we will then be able to truly judge who is and is not overpaid.
Comment from neal
Time August 29, 2010 at 2:00 PM
Update on estimates:
crozby 50 ?
babakism 46
gotabig, tyrone2000 45
dayle 43
draftazoid 42
jeffmalone 41
maggicman 39
rick, wizards4life 35
millie, dcbutler 34
neal 33
grifonracing, gray16, jwall 32
jaba 31
datapony 29
phemy, wizards_fusion 28
Tom 20 ?
We loves ya fusion.
dratazoid, I think we are actually SET at all 5 positions. We’ll pick up a couple more marginal guys (one will be a guard), but they’ll be hard put to crack the rotation until injuries happen.
That’s not to say we are STRONG at all 5 positions. We have major question marks at all, particularly C, IMO.
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 29, 2010 at 2:35 PM
Comment from gray16
Time August 29, 2010 at 1:50 PM
wiz fusion, i would trade many players to get melo IF i absolutely knew he would be here past this season, which he probably wouldn’t.
if he wants to come here, let him sign here next season.
- – -
I understand your concern, gray16. As an example to refute your fear, remember when Grunfeld got Caron from the Lakers and then immediately inked him to that 5 year, 45 million dollar contract – before he’s played one second with the Wiz? EG must have seen enough from Butler to know he’s worth keeping more than a year.
It is my understanding whichever team ultimately gets Melo (even Denver, if they somehow find a way to keep #15), that GM will push Melo to sign the 3 year extension no matter what (to ensure that your scenario won’t happen).
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 3:11 PM
“@Butler Yi is paid 4 mil and the player we traded got paid 1 mil. NJ paid usthe difference in his salary so we are really only paying 1 mil because he is only under contract 1 year and we weren’t planning on using that cap space.”
Okay, so now you work in the front office and know if we were planning to use the salary space or not…LOL…PLEEEEAAAAAAASE…..LOL
The season hasn’t even began yet, who knows who we can pick up this year and get a draft pick….the more salary space the better. I think each team HAS to have at least 40 mil spent (something like that), but to say we don’t need salary cap space is……….(it was a nice try to make an excuse)…lol…we could have used that on the guy w/ the lakers and have another 1st round pick…lol…since we stated that the more draft picks, the merrier…
overpaid is judged by how much the market is paying and how much you paid for it, it’s simple accounting. They’re value is not going to skyrocket based on what they do for the wiz….lol…..i have some desert land in Ariz, if we want to be that gullible.
Okay, I’m done talking about that.
Good Luck on the season ahead.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 29, 2010 at 4:03 PM
@Butler Yi is a considerably better than ross and has potential upside if we decide to resign him.
I don’t work in the front office but the front office makes statements and Ted Leonsis has his 10 steps or whatever that thing is Tom loves so much.
Ted and Ernie both said we were not going to pursue max free agents.
We should expect that the Wiz will follow the Capitals game plan of building a team through the draft while picking up lower salary free agents to short term deals like Josh Howard
You say we overpaid Howard but when you look at the NBA pay scale I’d rather have 4 mil for Josh howard then the 24 mil ATL is paying for Joe Johnson
Josh Howard is getting paid about the same if not less then what we paid Deshawn Stevenson
Tom says Josh Howard will be here 1 year and thats it, which is probobly true. I wouldn’t be surprised if the team has success and Josh fits in well and has recovered from his injury if we were to resign him to a 3 or 4 year deal around 15 or 20 mil. But that is looking WAAAAAY into the future.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 4:34 PM
Ok Babakism, thanks
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 4:48 PM
1) Okay so in the article below, Flip worked with Rasheed Wallace? Is this true, and when?
better yet, let me stop there, i’ll just let everyone read the article for yourselves….
http://www.bulletsforever.com/2010/8/29/1657279/ready-or-not-wizards-rookie-kevin
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:03 PM
Flip coached Rasheed Wallace in Detroit.
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:07 PM
Babakism, Great Point!
The Wizards got $6million dollars on the Hinrich trade because they broke it into two trades.
The Wizards also got $3million on the Yi trade.
The Wizards are under the salary cap so salaries do not mean a thing really.
So Hinrich’s salary is really $3million this year and $8million next year.
Yi’s salary is actually $1million this year and “ZERO” next year because the Wizards do not have to offer him a qualifying offer.
The best part of the Hinrich and Yi trades is that if the Wizards are not in contention for the playoffs they can use them as trade bate at the trade deadline.
These trades were Win-Win, especially when you consider that we got Seraphin for nothing.
Comment from neal
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:16 PM
Thanks dcbutler for the links. Putting the articles together it sounds like:
1. Seraphin is not ready for the NBA – needs a year or two of experience to develop his shot and offensive moves.
2. Seraphin has been playing in the French league, which is not as good as the Euroleague and doesn’t send many players to the NBA.
3. Seraphin has been playing C but will have to switch to PF in the NBA.
4. The Wiz told Seraphin they would not send him to the D League if they drafted him.
I don’t like the conclusions I reach. I really hope Seraphin ends up in the D League for at least a year.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:16 PM
okay so he really did nothing for his career….LOL….Poor Seraphin
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:18 PM
Draftazoid,
thanks for clarifying…lol…..nothing at all
seriously, we’ve beaten that topic DEAD. Lets go to the game, grab a heiny and watch the show
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:18 PM
The D league is hell. No first round draft picks go to the D league.
If a first round draft pick goes to the D league then they suck and were over rated.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:19 PM
Neal, if OKC and Milwaukee didn’t bite, why did we?
Errrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeee!!!
you’re fired!!!!….lol…
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:20 PM
I guess he did that because Ted said we haven’t drafted overseas at all….okay, so Ted gets the blame for this move?….LOL….
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:22 PM
lol….well, if a first rounder goes to d league, what does that say about the selecter….NY and Javale should have went to the d league…LOL…Maybe the abc league also
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:27 PM
Seraphin sounds like a Ben Wallace type. Wallace couldn’t score.
He was a big body who can play defense and defend the rim.
I am pretty sure that’s what EG was drafting. Offense would be a bonus.
Seraphin sounds like a great athlete who is HUGE.
Let’s give him a chance before we say he is a bust.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:32 PM
wow, 21st for AB?
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:34 PM
Wow!! you waste a 17 on something like that???
Errrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeee
Come back here, you’re fired again!!!!!!!
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:40 PM
Seraphin was a good pick. We won’t know until we start playing.
21 is too high for Andre until he plays good for more than a couple months.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:46 PM
so, theres around 30 sumodd teams and he’s in the “worst” bracket?…wow….betta not let getabig see these posts…LOL….
a good pick, thats a first rounder, and needs to go to the dleague, moreso than the verizon center? Okay, i’ll go along for this ride, as a spectator…lol…somebody is going to have to hold their composure and be the designated driver after this one…lol…
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 29, 2010 at 5:59 PM
From nbadraft.net about Kevin Seraphin
6 foot 9 inches and 263 lbs.
Strengths: Hulking bigman who has added a great deal of muscle in the past year and a half … Shows nice potential due to his combination of strength and athleticism … Explosive post player with ideal strength and toughness to play inside … Very aggressive around the rim, known for making ferocious dunks … Big, soft hands allow him to grab boards with ease … Strong rebounder with a willingness to bang inside … Huge frame with wide shoulders and thick legs. Not many players with his girth have the type of athleticism he possesses … Has shown some development in his offensive game adding a turn around hook shot and better feel in the post … Still has a ways to go but his development in the past year gives him some offensive hope … Does a solid job of playing “within” himself. Knows his role as an interior force and doesn’t attempt to face the basket or play outside his comfort zone …
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 29, 2010 at 6:01 PM
The Wizards Brass said they needed to add TOUGHNESS so they drafted Seraphin and Booker for that purpose.
I could not agree more!
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 6:01 PM
and you paste that to say????????????
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 6:07 PM
BTW-I would rather hear someone that is over there watching the kid play, rather than someone trying to sell a product.
and i da sure don’t see a hulking big man in the videos that have been shown…LOL….
well, we’re not playing rugby or football. and there you go again, cutting and pasting a portion of the post….LOL…I’m done with this also…lol…..
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 6:08 PM
oh well, enjoy the upcoming holiday everyone, time to take a lil break and enjoy the quiet-time
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 29, 2010 at 6:36 PM
Wizards place 6 players in ESPN’s Top 150 Fantasy Basketball Rankins.
1. John Wall- #48
2. Andre Blatche- #59
3. Gilbert Arenas- #87
4. Josh Howard- #99
5. Kirk Hinrich- #124
6. Javale McGee- #139
That is alot of Love for the wizards by fantasy basketball.
Look for Wall, Gilbert and McGee to move up considerably in these fantasy rankings.
Point Guards and Centers are slim pickings in Fantasy.
http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/basketball/fba/story?page=fbarankings100719
Comment from Babakism
Time August 29, 2010 at 7:15 PM
I hate fantasy basketball………lol
Just got finished doing 2 fantasy football drafts though and I am pumped! lol
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 29, 2010 at 8:16 PM
Melo is out of the question, but what about JR Smith?
Wiz need 3 pt shooting and a 1 year deal for 6 mil to chance on this guy’s talent shouldn’t be too bad.
This guy’s been making 30 foot 3s since high school.
And yes, he can create his own shot. I have no idea about his defense but since he’s quick, I would imagine he’s not too bad with steals?
Tom M – what’s the word on JR Smith from your side of the tracks?
Comment from gray16
Time August 29, 2010 at 8:36 PM
asking tom about jr smith… oh lord this won’t end well… lol
Comment from neal
Time August 29, 2010 at 9:03 PM
We really do need more 3 point shooting ability. Arenas, Hinrich and Young are the only ones whose % merits them taking those shots.
Interestingly, Yi shoots 34% from 3 point range and the article referred to above says he should quit taking long 2 point shots and set up behind the line. 34% at 3 point range equates to 51% at 2 point range. I’d take that. If Yi stays outside he’s not inside to rebound but neither, presumably, is his defender. I guess the reason why Yi’s rebounding figures aren’t so good is because he plays outside so much. Yi is reportedly very quick for a big man, so that’s an improvement over Pecherov. I predict a career for Yi.
In accordance with my last post it looks like Seraphin won’t be playing C and I can’t see him getting minutes away from Yi at PF. So he’ll do a lot of watching if EG doesn’t send him to the D League. Furthermore, it looks like Armstrong will be in the regular rotation.
Comment from neal
Time August 29, 2010 at 9:24 PM
I meant “career year” for Yi.
Comment from gray16
Time August 29, 2010 at 9:37 PM
if seraphin isn’t sent to the d league, i will be highly upset with this team’s continued lack of use of the league… it’s there for a reason, use it. don’t be ashamed, if you are getting a guy purely on potential, let him build his game there. no need for him to sit on a bench like neal said.
as for 3 point shooting, we have:
gil: at one time one of the best 3 point shooters in the league. and if he’s spotting up instead of off the dribble, it’s money, the score changer hits the button as soon as he takes the shot lol.
hinrich: decent 3 point shooter, and he will hit a few out there. they will all be spot up shots though, but he’s smart enough to know how to get open and get his teammates attention to get some good looks out there.
nick: one of the best 3 point shooters on the team. he has a great set shot from behind the arc, and i could see him leading the team in 3 point percentage playing with wall.
martin: if cartier is on the team, he could be a guy to spot up for 3s on the peremiter. he has a decent 3 point shot, and spotting up around wall or blatche will definitely help him get good looks.
and my pick for a dark horse with 3′s and long twos:
trevor booker. his spot up jumper is so clean looking, and better yet, he’s left handed. i expect him to be able to make long jumpers when given good looks. i don’t expect him to take many, but i expect him to make a decent percentage of them. he could wind up hitting those big threes that help momentum in your teams favor.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 29, 2010 at 9:56 PM
1. We gave up literally *nothing* to get Hinrich and Seraphin. We’re paying Kirk $3m this year, and there’s a good shot that he’ll be traded before we have to pay next year’s salary. A good player at a very low effective salary who will also be pretty easy to trade *and* a tremendous young big man prospect (you think those are easy to find?) all for what? “A future round 2 pick.” How anyone can think that’s a bad move is beyond me.
2. Seraphin is 20. He played in the top French league — that’s better basketball than the NCAA, guys. He’s raw — sure. You know any 20 year old bigs who are not raw? Go look at the last 10 #17 picks, and see how many guys w/ his upside were picked at that spot — for that matter, tell me how many guys picked then *ever* became starters.
3. The trade for Yi… well, he ain’t much. But no one doubts he’s better than Quintin Ross! NJ wanted to clear cap space for the LBJ sweepstakes, so they paid the salary difference for us.
4. No we weren’t intending to go out and sign FAs in the overpriced Summer market, just because we had cap space. You don’t have to work in the front office to know that, you just have to keep your eyes and ears open. “Save our powder” was the phrase Ernie used. If you would have done something different, why don’t you tell me who you’d have acquired.
5. Are any of these moves going to make us a playoff team in 2010? No, of course not! We’re going to win 20 games, guys — maybe fewer than that.
6. Is Seraphin going to play? Depends on Seraphin, doesn’t it? I imagine he’ll get minutes. If all he does is rebound and block for enough minutes to foul out, that’ll be at least as much production as we’re going to get from Armstrong and/or Yi.
7. “Booker could be special” — hey, if he is as good as Taj Gibson was for the Bulls last year, I’ll be *more* than satisfied.
8. J.R. Smith? He went down a lot last year, after a couple of pretty good years. Seems like a troubled kid. He has an expiring contract, and I don’t think we want to invest in him long-term next year. If he had a bargain contract, and they’d take Nick Young for him… of course! But, he doesn’t and they won’t (and salaries don’t match anyway).
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 29, 2010 at 10:01 PM
dcbutler says that if first rounders go to the D League that means they’re failures — not true; it happens all the time. Thabeet was picked #2 last year, and *he* went to the D League. (Of course he still has time to become a bust!! )
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time August 29, 2010 at 11:42 PM
from ESPN Insider:
Denver guard J.R. Smith was involved in an altercation at the team’s practice facility on Aug. 13 and initially no charges were going to be filed against him, but that could change. The Denver Post reported the Denver police department reopened the investigation Thursday.
“Additional information has come forward,” said Mary Dulaki, who is in charge of records for the police department. “A witness they hadn’t gotten before, they’ve now interviewed and made a decision to re-open the case.”
Smith allegedly choked a player — not one who plays in the NBA — because the player was too physical with him during a drill at the Nuggets practice facility. The player, Damien Lolar, was instructed by members of the Nuggets staff to be rough with Smith.
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 29, 2010 at 11:57 PM
Tom,
I’m not the one that said that, you can’t even go and copy and paste me saying that. If it ain’t statistics, your opinions are kind of out there. Since when did JR Smith go downhill.
And as i stated earlier, there’s no taking into consideration what we got behind the scenes for heiny or any other player, their total salary counts against our salary cap, I thought you were good with numbers, or just when you’re trying to prove YOUR point…lol…
And contrary to our mgmt, Heiny’s salary is for two years, anyone dumping salaries doesn’t want two year contracts except for us, GO FIGURE, but of course you don’t see anything wrong with that…..just because…lol..no rhyme or reason, just to be against the grain
Your place as an elder statesman is slipping, everyone is calling you out…lol…..
Maybe you need to take a much needed break until the season starts, my friend
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 30, 2010 at 12:39 AM
Thank you for the article DCB. I whole heartedly agree with the author. I too think we are gathering players for the long run. I don’t think we have any intensions of making the playoffs this year, and, maybe not next year.
We are going to see the same rotations we did last year with the “tryout” team. Everybody but Quinton Ross plays lol. This year is going to be an “evaluation/learning” year. It’s truely going to be interesting to see what we have.
I doubt.. given the rebuilding mode… anyone is going to the D league. It makes no sense. We have to evaluate the players together, not seperate.
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 30, 2010 at 12:44 AM
I’m getting a little encouraged over Yi’s play in the FIBA. If he can carry his play there over into our season… we may have found a gem?
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 30, 2010 at 2:23 AM
Wall, Arenas
Arenas. Hinrich, Nick (go Fliip)
Howard, Booker, Nick (go Flip), Al?
Andray, Yi, Kevin, Al?
JaVale, Kevin, Hilton
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 30, 2010 at 2:27 AM
If N’daye impresses in training camp…. Woo Hoo
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 30, 2010 at 2:35 AM
This is Nick’s last chance to be my “Roger Mason jr.” player
You old timers will appreciate that
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 30, 2010 at 7:02 AM
DCbutler and Tom,
I am the one that said the D league is crap.
Thabeet is a bust. The #2 pick in the draft should be a starter from Day 1.
The D leagues best player last year was a second round pick this year from OKC (I forgot his name).
Neal, it is shamefull for a player to go to the D league. Besides the Wizards do not own a D league franchise. Only 8 teams do from what I heard. The rest are owned by outsiders.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 30, 2010 at 7:17 AM
Alot of people seem to think that Kirk Hinrich was brought in as “Gil Insurance”
Anyone ever stop and think that he might be “J Wall Insurance” ??? like in case wall is to erratic and inefficient as a rookie.
Hinrich is an excellent 3 point shooter close to 40% for his career.
I think that even if Hilton Armstrong is the backup center there is no way he plays more than 10 or 12 minutes a game unless Mcgee is in foul trouble and even if Mcgee Fouls out he won’t play in the fourth quarter. Most likely Mcgee should see at least 30 minutes a game and Blatche is gonna see some time at center. I just looked at Hilton Armstrongs numbers and he probobly has some of the worst per 36 minute averages I’ve ever seen. They made me think of the 2.5 QB rating Matt Stafford put up against my D in Madden last night lol
Comment from Babakism
Time August 30, 2010 at 7:35 AM
JR Smith has shown flashes of being a on the ball lock down deffender but I don’t know how consistently he does it. When him and Melo took turns guarding Kobe in the playoffs he did a very good job staying in front of Kobe.
Initially I thought the Nick Young for JR Smith wouldn’t be a bad idea although like Tom said”the salaries don’t add up” However………………………..
I’ve compared Nick Young to JR Smith before saying Nick could carve out that type of role for himself if he worked hard.
Interestingly enough They actually have very similar career numbers.
In fact Nick Young actually shoots a higher 3 point percentage and FG% than JR Smith.
As I’m sure Tom thinks to himself almost every day he comes on this blog, Isn’t it amazing how peoples views on how good a player is be scewed from to many ESPN highlights and being in dunk contest.
Looking at the numbers and knowing Nick Young is nearly as gifted if not equally gifted as JR smith without any off court troubles I think I’d rather have NY
Which site do you guys like to use when looking up stats? I LOVE basketball-reference.com
Comment from Babakism
Time August 30, 2010 at 7:41 AM
@Neal I would love to see Seraphin get some time in the D League. I think it would build his confidence alot and give him the minutes he won’t see with the Wiz.
Most likely Booker should see more minutes being a more polished player and Yi and Thorton are more polished as well. Not to mention the English barrier.
The only minutes Seraphin will get on the wiz this year will be garbage time and possibly some “Hustle/enforcer/thug type minutes
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 30, 2010 at 7:59 AM
Babakism — I usually get my numbers from draftexpress, which despite the name has numbers on everybody. I use that site because of the variety of ways you can look at the stats.
dcbutler — sorry to get you wrong about the D League my friend. J.R. Smith went down last year only in the sense that his assists were down, his rebounds were down, his FT% was down, the number of times he got to the line was down, his 3pt% was down, and his 2pt % was down. Other than that, he didn’t decline.
Babakism — *no way* Nick’s numbers are similar to Smith’s numbers. Nick is a good 3pt shooter, without a doubt (and he’s a better FT shooter), but Smith’s 2pt % is higher — and above all he *does other things*. He rebounds, gets assists, gets to the line more often. A much better player than Nick Young. Note that he’s actually 5 months younger than Nick, in case you thought it’s because Nick is still developing.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 30, 2010 at 8:02 AM
Babakism — one more thing — it’s not about whether Nick is “gifted”; he is exceptionally gifted, as is J.R. Smith. His problem is he doesn’t really understand how to play the game. He’s like an overgrown schoolyard player.
Now J.R. Smith has problems too obviously — w/ his temperament and stuff off the court. I’m not suggesting he’s a guy I’d want on the Wizards. But, leaving aside last year’s decline, he is a pretty good NBA player.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 30, 2010 at 8:20 AM
According to the Post, no H for us this year:
“The Wizards are unlikely to sign second-round pick Hamady Ndiaye for the upcoming season, according to a league source. They still retain his rights, but the source said that Hamady Ndiaye is also looking into playing overseas next season. The 6-foot-11 center whom Coach Flip Saunders affectionately likes to call, “H,” had an uninspiring showing in summer league, as he averaged just 3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1 blocked shot in limited minutes. He had nine points, seven rebounds and four blocks in the finale against New York, but the Wizards are not pressed to put him in uniform just yet.”
Looks like we turned the 30th and 35th pick into Trevor Booker. Hope he turns out. This was a *very* deep draft. Coming out of it w/o figuring out how to get a round 2 pick who could make the team was not so good.
Comment from neal
Time August 30, 2010 at 8:51 AM
I’m fine with N’Diaye playing overseas a year or two. Like Veremeenko, if he plays there a couple of years and is just a journeyman there, we can trade him for a really top-flight hot dog vender.
Comment from Gotabigboyoffense
Time August 30, 2010 at 8:53 AM
Historically, are there a lot of 2 round picks who make a team?
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 30, 2010 at 9:17 AM
Let’s put the D league and European Teams in perspective:
1. If a player is close to making an NBA team but is not there right now they go to Europe like Scotty Reynolds did.
2. If a foreign player gets drafted and they are not ready then the NBA team “Strongly Encourages” that player to stay with their European team for a year or two. The team retains the right to the player. If the Wizards think Seraphin is not ready then they will just tell him to stay in Europe this year. I doubt it with him being the 17th player taken that that is what they want.
3. “H” is typical for a player drafted in the second round (especially very late in the 2nd round) who is not ready for the NBA. Send him to Europe for a couple of years while the Wizards retain his rights. Hopefully, he turns into a beast overseas.
4. The D League is made up of players who are below the level of European Leagues. Everyone, except for Thabeet, is making a maximum salary of $18,000 a year.
5. Most NBA teams do not own a D league franchise. They don’t control who are the coaches.
6. If the Wizards believed in the D league, don’t you think they would have signed “H” to a contract and sent him to a D league franchise? No promising NBA player wants to go to the D league. Only one kid made it to the NBA this year and he was only a second round draft pick. Thabeet is only there because of the massive amount of money that was given him.
So let’s stop saying we want our players to go to the D league. It is not happening. The Wizards would rather send the player overseas to Europe, as most teams would do.
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 30, 2010 at 9:28 AM
Tom, I would have to agree that drafting “H” was a bust considering that Caracter and Robinson were both taken after H and they both signed with the Magic and Lakers.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 30, 2010 at 9:47 AM
Gotabig — yes, there are. In fact, after pick #1 the correlation between where a guy was picked in the draft and his career in the NBA goes way down. GMs have a *very* hard time picking accurately.
2004: Varejao, Trevor Ariza, Royal Ivey, Chris Duhon, Vassili Spanoulis (who went back to Greece but was pretty good here), Pape Sow.
2005: Brandon Bass, C.J. Miles, Ersan Ilyasova, Ronny Turiaf, Travis Diener, Monta Ellis, Roko Ukic, Louis Williams, Andray Blatche, Ryan Gomes, Amir Johnson, Marcin Gortat. (A banner year — and many of these guys are better than @ 8 lottery picks that year!)
6 rotation players or starters out of ’06 too. 11 in ’07 who have been rotation players.
Going back a bit further, there were 10 in ’03. That year (a great draft year w/ LBJ, Wade, etc.) 9 first-rounders have had completely marginal careers or else didn’t make in the league at all!
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 30, 2010 at 9:53 AM
Draftazoid — Stanley Robinson had the most remarkable fall in the draft. He was projected in Round 1 by just about everybody and almost didn’t get drafted. His college numbers didn’t really command the high opinion, but they weren’t *that* bad!
I’ll be interested to see whether he can translate his incredible athleticism into NBA success, but I wouldn’t have picked him over H.
H is a legitimate 7 footer with very good athleticism. He was worth a flyer. But I’d sign him. He is *very* smart and motivated. Now, maybe a year in Europe will boost his skills, and he’ll be back. Hope so.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 30, 2010 at 10:05 AM
Draftazoid — guys like Scottie Reynolds go to Europe and have their whole careers there. There are a few exceptions (Anthony Parker is a good example), but mostly they don’t get better enough over there to earn a job in the NBA.
I think you have D League salaries wrong — but you are certainly right that they don’t make much. But 40 guys were called up last year, and we have one of them on a qualifying offer (Cartier Martin). That’s *a lot more* than come over after having gone to Europe. Alonzo Gee looks to have made the Spurs roster out of D League.
Comment from Wizfan4life
Time August 30, 2010 at 11:13 AM
Tom- I agree with you that JR Smith is a great offensive player, but he would be too demanding of a player on our team. He would no doubt have to play a good 25 minutes a game to average his 12+ points per game he averages already, and with the roster we have now it would be hard to give him those minutes even if we traded someone like Nick Young off the team.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 30, 2010 at 11:14 AM
@Tom please do me a favor and pull up both players numbers side by side and look at their per 36 minutes or per 48 minutes. JR smiths numbers are only slightly better. JR gets more assist but his rebound numbers are only slightley better. If Nick young shoots a better 3 point % and an overall fg% better than JR smith it doesn’t matter what JR smiths 2 point FG% is because Nick’s numbers indicate he is a more efficient scorer. As far as what you said about JR smith getting to the foul line………you are WRONG lol(I love ya tom but I’m just excited that I can say your wrong about a stat lol take it as a compliment) Nick Young actually gets to the foul line more often than JR smith we are talking decimals here but Nick Young shoots a better % of his free throws as well. All shooting statistics indicate that Nick Young is a more efficient scorer than JR Smith. JR smith beats out NY on steals and assist which are important but when you look at all the stats they really don’t look much different.
Is JR Smith a better player……….Yes…………But I don’t think the gap is as big as people would think it is.
One last interesting stat is both players shoot half of their shots from 3 point land.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 30, 2010 at 11:19 AM
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/y/youngni01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/smithjr01.html
Comment from draftazoid
Time August 30, 2010 at 12:40 PM
Ted is still working on Gilbert and Andre with their past character issues.
Ted stressed, and I mean stressed, that character will play a big part of the future wizards.
I think you can scratch out Mr. JR from being a Wizard.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 30, 2010 at 1:13 PM
Babakism — think about this again. Using 36 minute numbers:
For his career, Nick gets his team 14.1 points by shooting 14.6 times.
For his career, JR gets his team 16.2 points by shooting 15.8 times.
You do see why Smith’s productivity is higher in that stat, right? He’s more efficient. Gets his team more points per shot. The reason for this is the mix of shots — he shoots twice as many 3s as Nick yet still makes them at a very good clip.
Nick is *a little better* than JR at the line:
For his career, Nick gets to the line 3.6 times and produces 3 points.
For his career, JR gets to the line 3.7 and produces 2.8 points.
But it doesn’t make up the difference.
So, JR is a bit better scorer. And he’s also better at pretty much everything else.
Rebounds:
Nick gets 3.0; JR gets 3.9
Fouls:
Nick 3.4; JR 3.1
Turnovers:
Nick 2.0; JR 2.3 — Nick is better here…
Steals:
Nick .8; JR 1.4 — …but JR’s steals more than make up for the TO advantage Nick has.
Assists:
Nick 1.7; JR 3.0
You may look at this and think ‘hey these are small differences.’ But Smith is just that much better *everywhere*, and the result adds up to a pretty significant difference.
Now, if you look at e.g. ’08-09 stats for both players, or just over the last 3 years, Smith is *way way* better than Nick. JR came into the league out of HS, and he was *terrible* his first 2 years.
Sorry.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time August 30, 2010 at 1:15 PM
draftazoid is right — no way he’ll be a Wizard.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 30, 2010 at 3:29 PM
@Tom we also have to figure that he has had the chance to play along side of Chauncey and Carmelo on a perenial contender.
Nick got most of his minutes without Gil and Caron around a bunch of inexperienced players on Lottery bound teams.
I’d take my chances on NY over JR at this point.
Interesting how JR got better after our boy Chauncey got there.
At least you and I can both agree the MVP of the denver nuggets is Chauncey Billups
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 30, 2010 at 5:23 PM
JR Smith can play the point also, NY gets in trouble if he even thinks about dribbling.
I thought the wizards had some stake in the Dakota Wizards of the d-league, also a d-league player can take up space on our roster….Thabeet still had a spot on Memphis’s roster (unless the rules have changed)
i thought the dleague teams were owned by nba teams????
how do some people convince themselves to even spit out some of their information…lol…..
btw-seraphin had prereqs on being drafted….lol….take a look at them and get a laugh…do i need to say ernie you’re fired again…lol
Comment from thewiz87
Time August 30, 2010 at 11:51 PM
Does anyone know what are the wizards doing about there two free agents still left on the roster James Singleton and Fabricio Oberto are the playing on signing any other players?
I think Gilbert Arenas is a selfish player, his got 4 years $80 million dollars left on his contract does anyone think he deserves that money I sure don’t if he really cared about this franchise he would set up a meeting with Ted and restructure his contact for real maybe 4 years 40-50 million in come on that’s still 10 million per year SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL IS HE PLAYING ON BUYING plus that would show us the fans that Gilbert cares about the franchise ITS NOT ALL ABOUT THE MONEY HIS JUST LIKE ALBERT ALSO WHAT ARE THE WIZARDS CHANGES IN GETTING MELO FROM DENVER LOL..
Comment from thewiz87
Time August 31, 2010 at 12:00 AM
ALL I KNOW IS THE WIZARDS BETTER NOT BE DONE CUZ LETS GET REAL THIS TEAM WE HAVE IS AT BEST A 8TH OR 7TH SEAT IN THE EAST AND MOST DEF DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TO BET ANY OF THE TOP 4 TEAMS IN THE EAST MIAMI, BOSTON, ORLANDO, ATLANTA IN A PLAYOFF SERIES
Comment from dcbutler357
Time August 31, 2010 at 7:17 AM
wiz87,
I feel your pain. Can we actually blame Gil for having this contract, in the first place? There’s two sides to every story, but I think this is a good conversation piece. This could be a win-win situation.
Comment from Babakism
Time August 31, 2010 at 9:28 AM
Half the money players make and sometimes more comes from shoe deals and comercials ect ect. Gil lost all of that. I seriously doubt he would restructure his contract right now when this is his only source of income. Yes I know he has more money than he actually needs but it would be dumb for him to do so.
After Gil makes the All-Star team he might be just enough of a class act to restructure his deal as an apology once he starts getting some of those endorsements back.
Funny how everyone calls Gil greedy when………..
1)Gil earned his contract through his play resurrecting this franchise.
2)Unlike Albert Haynesworth he is a very nice guy who has given so much to our community. He cares about his past actions and wants to be loved by everyone.
3)Gil took less money than what we offered him to give us some extra financial flexibility. We could be sitting here talking about 90 million left on his contract as opposed to 80. Joe Johnson didn’t care enough to do that for the hawks and now they are dealing with Jamal Crawford wanting to be traded because the team can’t offer him an extension because they need the money to sign Al Horford.
Obviously we have wasted 31 mil on Gilbert already but if we make the playoffs and are competitive over the next 4 years with Gil making every all star game wouldn’t the final 80 mil be worth it?????
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Comment from GrifonRacing
Time August 26, 2010 at 12:43 PM
SportzWiz the one memory that will be with me always was watching Irene Pollin, while wearing Abe’s championship ring, as we drew the #1 pick. Her reaction is one I will remember for a very long time.