Our Projected Depth Chart

[pancakes3]

This is a little off topic but reading this thread/depthchart and the comments about McGee, Blatche, KS, Vesely, and Sing make me think that maybe we should have picked Faried instead of Vesely...

we need singleton.

[WizStorm]

I actually think that because of the compressed season, teams will be able to have 13 guys active -- at least for the early part of the season. I know I saw that somewhere...

Yeah, that is what I remember as well and why I put in the 8 active reserves.

My list was for the opening day lineup prediction, which should actually pretty close to what we see in preseason (with the obvious exception of Nick Young as well as seeing other camp fodder late in contest). For opening day, I fully expect Nick Young to be resigned (most likely at the 1 year tender).

[dobrojim]

I kinda DON"T expect most of the non--roster camp invitees to see much action

I think they'll give the rookies and 2nd years guys plenty of burn by which
I really mean about 2 qtrs of play.

[closg00]

Flip must be thrilled to have Mason, Evans, and Turiaf. Very curious to see how-tight his rotation his going to be this season and on the b2b's.

[hands11]

This is a little off topic but reading this thread/depthchart and the comments about McGee, Blatche, KS, Vesely, and Sing make me think that maybe we should have picked Faried instead of Vesely...

we need singleton.

Vesely is going to be better then Faried.

And yes, they get 13 active.

Also, I doubt Ves will be inactive after seeing him last night.

This should be really interesting to see how the minutes work out.

Once everyone is here, there is going to finally be competition for minutes. All three of the rookies are going to push for minutes.

[closg00]

Vesely is going to be better then Faried.

And yes, they get 13 active.

Also, I doubt Ves will be inactive after seeing him last night.

This should be really interesting to see how the minutes work out.

Once everyone is here, there is going to finally be competition for minutes. All three of the rookies are going to push for minutes.

You read it here first folks

[Illuminaire]

I suspect that Vesely will struggle in many games, especially as he is scouted more by opposing teams. There is a fair chance that he will be a non-factor offensively; he showed some flashes last night but he doesn't look particularly comfortable as an initiatior. That's fine, except that as long as Wall struggles in the half-court offense, Jan will have trouble contributing apart from setting nasty screens and keeping the ball moving.

But good golly, I'm excited about him defensively! He's not the quickest or most explosive cat on the court, but as you pointed out Hands, he has tremendous length and uses it very intelligently. He showed excellent discipline and positioning, was only beaten a few times (usually by guards... and I think he stripped two of them from behind when they did). I love that on defense he goes right to his man and boxes out instead of drifting to the rim for a board.

I just like that he seems to be our forward version of players like Affalo - quietly effective and easy to play with.

[hands11]

I suspect that Vesely will struggle in many games, especially as he is scouted more by opposing teams. There is a fair chance that he will be a non-factor offensively; he showed some flashes last night but he doesn't look particularly comfortable as an initiatior. That's fine, except that as long as Wall struggles in the half-court offense, Jan will have trouble contributing apart from setting nasty screens and keeping the ball moving.

But good golly, I'm excited about him defensively! He's not the quickest or most explosive cat on the court, but as you pointed out Hands, he has tremendous length and uses it very intelligently. He showed excellent discipline and positioning, was only beaten a few times (usually by guards... and I think he stripped two of them from behind when they did). I love that on defense he goes right to his man and boxes out instead of drifting to the rim for a board.

I just like that he seems to be our forward version of players like Affalo - quietly effective and easy to play with.

Exactly, he covers his man. He is right at their side the entire time. He was so close to Brand I thought he was whispering in his ear. He is that pesky player that just annoys you because they are always right there. You end up thinking, really dude, we are just standing here while the play is being set on the other side, how about giving me farting room. That starts to get in other players heads. I am not worried about his offense at all. Ves showed me he is a basketball player. That always has value on the court. Of what I saw, I really was impressed.

Ves, Booker, Singleton. I will enjoy watching them in combos.

I'm seeing zero minutes I would want to give to Lewis over those players at SF and PF once you add Dray, Mo Evans and Owens. I would start Booker at SF and bring in Singleton and Owens behind him. Start Dray and bring in Vesely behind him. Let Lewis be there in the wings to be a player coach.

I know it will not happen to start the season, but this is where I think they should be

Wall/Craw/Mack
Nick/Mo Evans/Mason
Booker/Singleton/Owens
Vesely/Seraphin/Lewis
Dray/McGee/Ronny/Hamady

I would have Lewis, Hamady and Owens inactive

[Ed Wood]

I would say that we will look back years from now and have a good laugh at the whole Booker at small forward concept but quite frankly I laugh at the idea currently, because it is terrible.

Other than that I expect I'm going to have an irrational fondness for lineups with Ves at the four and Singleton at the three this year mostly just because of the very conspicuous defense going on even though, particularly in the case of Ves over Blatche, both my brain and my sliderule will struggle to justify the preference. Which is fine, I guess, but I think it's worth remembering that this was once the general sentiment about Andray, that we knew he wasn't the player Antawn was but that the fact that he had a defensive impact you might describe using words other than horrifying was enough.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

I would say that we will look back years from now and have a good laugh at the whole Booker at small forward concept but quite frankly I laugh at the idea currently, because it is terrible.

Other than that I expect I'm going to have an irrational fondness for lineups with Ves at the four and Singleton at the three this year mostly just because of the very conspicuous defense going on even though, particularly in the case of Ves over Blatche, both my brain and my sliderule will struggle to justify the preference. Which is fine, I guess, but I think it's worth remembering that this was once the general sentiment about Andray, that we knew he wasn't the player Antawn was but that the fact that he had a defensive impact you might describe using words other than horrifying was enough.

Yeah, I really like Vesely and Singleton, as well as Booker. I agree the Booker at SF curiosity should stop immediately. If Brand can be effective at PF so can Booker. My current fantasy trade is Blatche and McGee to the Kings for Cousins/Garcia. Let Young walk. Build on Cousins and Seraphin at Center, with Booker at PF, Singleton at SF, Vesely as SF/PF 6th man off the bench. Sever ties with Lewis after this season. Go with Crawford at SG for the time being at least, backed by Garcia, Mason and Evans. Add another shooter in the draft (Barnes?).

[LyricalRico]

My current fantasy trade is Blatche and McGee to the Kings for Cousins/Garcia. Let Young walk. Build on Cousins and Seraphin at Center, with Booker at PF, Singleton at SF, Vesely as SF/PF 6th man off the bench. Sever ties with Lewis after this season. Go with Crawford at SG for the time being at least, backed by Garcia, Mason and Evans. Add another shooter in the draft (Barnes?).

I've previously been against acquiring Cousins. But after seeing this team be completely unable to score on Friday night, I'd be willing to take a chance on him and Wall forming a good duo with the other guys providing the defense. Then look for a wing scorer in the draft.

I'm still wary of Cousins' attitude, but I think this team needs to take a chance sooner rather than later.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

The current construction (w/NY) is Mcgee, Blatche, Lewis, Young, Wall with Turiaf & Seraphin backing C, Booker, Singleton & Vesely the Fs off the bench, Mason, Evans, Crawford the Gs... that would be the 13.

[hands11]

Wall/Craw/Mack
Nick/Mo Evans/Mason
Booker/Singleton/Owens
Vesely/Seraphin/Lewis
Dray/McGee/Ronny/Hamady

Ok, I know not many like Booker at SF but he did play there last year. I never put him there as a ball handling scorer long term solution. I put him there to balance other opportunities and use his toughness, rebound, and athleticism for defensive reasons.

What I a trying to plot out is where this team is going this year, not what the starting line up might be to start the year. I'm looking for line ups that allow the young talent to grow and get evaluated, so I wanted Booker, Seraphin, Vesely and Singleton to get slots where they would get regular minutes. Those are all potential future pieces that could stay. Of all of them, I only see Ves as a likely starter and Singleton as a possible starter. But Singleton is clearly going to be a valuable bench player who they will want to keep long term. And since Ves was the 6th pick, he better be a starter or else, he is a bust. On a team with this many holes, they better have found a starter with the 6th pick. So start him.

Vesley has already shown in one game that he understands the game of basket more then McGee has shown in 3 years. Actually, I think he has shown he has the best all around feel/motor for the game on the entire team. The biggest problem with this team is that it has good bench players, but it lacks quality starters. What is also important to keep in mind is something Flip said recently. You don't always start your most athletic players, you start the five that play best together.

Wall/Craw/Mack
Nick/Mo Evans/Mason
Singleton/Lewis/Owens
Vesely/Booker/Seraphin
Dray/McGee/Ronny/Hamady

I think those 5 would play well together. Lewis will clearly start at first but in time I hope Singleton finds his way into a starting role. Wall, Nick and Dray can score. Dray can defend the blocks with Ves providing weakside help. Singleton and Ves would provide great defensive range.

If Dray wants to truly be a leader on this team, he should embrace moving to center like Bosh is doing for Miami. I have been a McGee fan since before we drafted him, but the kid just doesn't have the brain power to defend the position and he lacks the maturity to be a starter. But he would be a great energy player off the bench.

Seraphin is also an interesting project but he is just that. I don't see him as starter material. So if Dray moves to center, you can balance out the other assets. This also put McGee where he should be in his contract year. He should get paid like a back up, not a starter. He could be great as a birdman type. Then maybe in 2-3 years he will be ready to start in the mold of a T Chandler. The kid still has a lot of upside but it is still only that, upside. He does not have the maturity to be a starter. Like Nick, he isn't worth more then 5-6.5M right now but he probably wants 9M.

I think I like this balance of line ups even better then my first list. If Nick only signs a 1 year, SG is really important. If he signs for 2-3, it is still important but not as pressing. And if he signs an extended contract you have a better chance of signing McGee, but given he is a back up center in my line up, he probably wants to leave so there my be trade options to consider where you find the pieces you are missing which again, we will know better once we know what Nick signs for. This team has 1 clear starter, it probably has 2, it could have 3. And in a long shot they have 4. Wall, Ves, Dray, Singleton. That is what they need to find out this year.

This puts most of next draft class right in our target. There is still lots to figure out regarding this team final configuration but all of it should be more clear after another draft. They just need to keep drafting smart mature players like they did last draft. Under the new draft guidelines, they would not draft Dray, McGee or Nick. That said, Dray and Nick have been around long enough to show some growth in maturity.

Lots to figure out and that is what this year should be about.

I like some of the lower ranked players.

Bradley Beal
Jeremy Lamb
Terrence Ross
Jeff Taylor
Tyler Zeller

[montestewart]

Since 82 Games has Booker listed as playing 0% of the Wizards minutes at SF, I take it to mean that, by their measure, he played less than half of 1% of the Wizards minutes at SF, so less than 20 minutes. I don't recall seeing him play there at all, other than maybe covering SF on a rotation. When he was on the court with much taller Lewis or Yi, he was always playing PF.

Just because McGee is sort of built like Nance, Seraphin is sort of built like the Mailman, just because Booker is 6'7", etc.

[nate33]

As far as I'm concerned, Booker is 6-9 with a neck deficiency.

[montestewart]

As far as I'm concerned, Booker is 6-9 with a neck deficiency.

and plays quite big as a PF, with long arms and good lift. Could maybe even pull off C in a pinch against the right team. I haven't seen much outside shot or handle (well, you could say that about the whole team in game 1) and despite his quickness and explosiveness, most SFs could speed right around him. I'd put him about 6th on the SF depth chart. I'd probably try Crawford there before him.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Well Owens was waived bringing the roster to 15 which Ted says they will keep.

The general depth chart looks something like this...

C - McGee, Seraphin, Turiaf, N'Diaye
PF- Blatche, Booker, Vesely
SF- Lewis, Singleton, Evans
SG- Young, Crawford, Mason
PG- Wall, Mack


Overall, I like the moves made this shortened offseason. Keeping/Adding vets Lewis, Evans, Mason add shooting and leadership, with Turiaf adding leadership to the bigs. I think McGee, Blatche, Lewis, Young, Wall is a respectable starting 5. The depth looks pretty good at each position. I like our draft picks and overall youth

[Illuminaire]

I'm growing more and more comfortable with the idea of swapping Blatche for an expiring and mediocre-to-crappy pick, then running Booker and Vesely as a platoon at PF.

[Severn Hoos]

I would roll with this lineup/rotation:

Wall/Crawford/Mack
Young/Crawford/Mason
Singleton/Lewis/Evans
Blatche/Booker/Vesely
McGee/Turiaf/Seraphin/N'Diaye

Most games, I'd have Evans, Hamady, and either Vesely or Seraphin inactive.

I'd play Blatche in hopes that he'd catch someone's eye and then move him for just about any offer, especially if it's an expiring contract.

I'll give Lewis a little more time, but at some point he might go to the "Inactive/Waiting to be Amnestied" list.

But starting Lewis & Young, bringing Singleton & Booker off the bench makes no sense. Need more balance in the lineups - start Singleton!

[Ruzious]

As far as I'm concerned, Booker is 6-9 with a neck deficiency.

and plays quite big as a PF, with long arms and good lift. Could maybe even pull off C in a pinch against the right team. I haven't seen much outside shot or handle (well, you could say that about the whole team in game 1) and despite his quickness and explosiveness, most SFs could speed right around him. I'd put him about 6th on the SF depth chart. I'd probably try Crawford there before him.

Boy, I wish I could see what you guys see. To me, he looks like a very short PF who cannot match up with most PFs at either end of the court for more than a few minutes at a time.