Kool-Aid Drinking, Season Turnaround Thread

[hands11]

I'm glad you've finally changed from Kool-Aid to Kook-Aid.

God I hope all 3 of you are 20 or younger. If not

[TGW]

I'm glad you've finally changed from Kool-Aid to Kook-Aid.

God I hope all 3 of you are 20 or younger. If not

Aww lighten up hands...all in good fun. It was pretty funny.

[montestewart]

I'm glad you've finally changed from Kool-Aid to Kook-Aid.

God I hope all 3 of you are 20 or younger. If not

Wait, there's three of us? I think someone pulled a switcharoo

[hands11]

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2013/1/11/3866158/john-wall-injury-washington-wizards-saturday-timetable

Buckle up Wiz fans. Here we go.




Nene says, Wall is fast. Big smiles from Nene. Seems really happy to play tomorrow.

http://www.nba.com/wizards/video/2013/0 ... mv-2351616

Only MEM has beat both Miami and OKC. And the Wiz beat OKC without Wall, Crawford and Nene
Mem is .697 at 23-10

http://www.nba.com/wizards/video/2013/0 ... ov-2351352
Randy is giddy happy.

Elvis has left the building.

The bus has left the station. We will double back later for the non believers.

[closg00]

We play DET and Toronto twice this month, gotta continue the run.

[fishercob]

ESPN Stats & Info ‏@ESPNStatsInfo
Nuggets are 16-4 since Jan. 1st, TIED for best record in the NBA over that span with the Spurs (DEN plays at Raptors at 7 ET).

Their 4 losses have been at OKC, at Boston in 3OT, vs MIN when Love was healthy and vs the WIZ. They are 22-3(!) at home.

I think this was our best win of the year. The Nuggz will be out for blood when we play them here next Friday.

[nate33]

Interesting that Minnesota beat them too. I wonder if it's a case that they just don't match up well with burly PF's like Love and Nene. Faried is a wonderful player but he's undersized and lacks girth. He's much better in help defense where he can utilize his quickness and energy. Nene and Seraphin just bullied their way through him. Nene had an off night with his touch around the basket too. If he brings his A game, he really could make life difficult for Denver.

[tontoz]

Interesting that Minnesota beat them too. I wonder if it's a case that they just don't match up well with burly PF's like Love and Nene. Faried is a wonderful player but he's undersized and lacks girth. He's much better in help defense where he can utilize his quickness and energy. Nene and Seraphin just bullied their way through him. Nene had an off night with his touch around the basket too. If he brings his A game, he really could make life difficult for Denver.

We are a bad matchup for Denver. They aren't a good 3 point shooting team. They score by fast breaks and taking it to the basket. That isn't going to work well against the Wizards.

Would you want to drive if Nene/Okafor/Seraphin were back there waiting for you? I wouldn't. I am about 190 and would drive leading with my shoulder to clear space which worked against most guys. Against those 3 i woudln't even try it.

[hands11]

So it looks like the spiked Kool-Aid playoff watch is back on. Not sure how it spilled into another thread since we already stated it here.

Clean up on isle 5


http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerrankings/_/page/2

Well that win bumped them another slot up from 17th to 16th. They were straddled by MIL and ATL but the Buck just got kicked down to 19th after we made Venison burgers out of them on their home court.

Now we are between Brooklyn and Boston. Next move is to page one.

Next 3 teams ahead of them are Boston, ATL and Dallas. I say making page one would be another sign they are legit.

SOS (L25%) is now 2nd which is down from 1st.
SOS for the year is 8th

The softer part of their schedule is ahead. Every game will be a challenge but they are winnable.
http://espn.go.com/nba/team/schedule/_/ ... on-wizards

There isn't a lot in their way until Sat, Mar 23 at Golden State. Thats 18 games from now. There are a few challenging ones along the way but mostly it is clear sailing if they can keep this level of play.

While this teams record places them 3rd worst in the league. They are a fair cry better then that and I like their chances to continue to prove it. Here to hoping for good heal and success to these players, the coaches and the front office.

Looking forward to them continuing to kick ass and take names. A nice winning streak is laying at their feet. Its up to them to grab a hold of it.

See you after the 15-3 run plus the 4 we already have in the bag. That would be 30-38 with 14 games to go.

TOR looking a little tougher these days though. Hell. Who knows. Its a crap shoot.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

So it looks like the spiked Kool-Aid playoff watch is back on. Not sure how it spilled into another thread since we already stated it here.

Clean up on isle 5


http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerrankings/_/page/2

Well that win bumped them another slot up from 17th to 16th. They were straddled by MIL and ATL but the Buck just got kicked down to 19th after we made Venison burgers out of them on their home court.

Now we are between Brooklyn and Boston. Next move is to page one.

Next 3 teams ahead of them are Boston, ATL and Dallas. I say making page one would be another sign they are legit.

SOS (L25%) is now 2nd which is down from 1st.
SOS for the year is 8th

The softer part of their schedule is ahead. Every game will be a challenge but they are winnable.
http://espn.go.com/nba/team/schedule/_/ ... on-wizards

There isn't a lot in their way until Sat, Mar 23 at Golden State. Thats 18 games from now. There are a few challenging ones along the way but mostly it is clear sailing if they can keep this level of play.

While this teams record places them 3rd worst in the league. They are a fair cry better then that and I like their chances to continue to prove it. Here to hoping for good heal and success to these players, the coaches and the front office.

Looking forward to them continuing to kick ass and take names. A nice winning streak is laying at their feet. Its up to them to grab a hold of it.

See you after the 15-3 run plus the 4 we already have in the bag. That would be 30-38 with 14 games to go.

TOR looking a little tougher these days though. Hell. Who knows. Its a crap shoot.

Playoffs or not, I'm just happy with the way they are playing. They have been a complete disaster and embarrassment since the blow up. Watching jokers like Blatche, McGee and Young. This new Wizards led by John Wall with Nene, Okafor, Beal, Webster and company are a team we as fans can be proud of. They have shown determination and heart this year. It is fun to watch this team now, and great to see them winning now and coming together as a team!

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Looking at the team splits from December (14 games), January (16 games), and February (6 games):

http://www.basketball-reference.com/tea ... 13/splits/

FG/FGA and FG% followed by 3P/3PA and 3P%
===========================================
December: 33.6/82.4 -- 40.8% -- 6.0/18.6 -- 32.2%
January: 36.9/81.8 -- 45.1% -- 6.9/17.2 -- 40.1%
February: 37.8/81.3 -- 46.5% -- 6.7/17.0 -- 39.4%

--Three straight months the team has shot better from 2PT.
--The TEAM hits nearly 40% of threes--an excellent number.

The Wizards are shooting the ball significantly better than two months ago. The Wizards are shooting .465 this month. There are only 6 NBA teams shooting better overall. (MIA, SA, OKC, DEN, LAC, HOU)

http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... _2013.html

The offensive FG% is better than 75% of the league right now this month and better than 50% the last two months.

Points scored / Points allowed / Differential
=======================================
December: 88.1 / 95.4 / -7.3
January: 95.6 / 95.3/ 0.3
February: 92.8 / 88.5 / 4.3

If the Wizards were to maintain a +4.3 point differential, that would rank 6th behind OKC, SA, MIA, LAC, and NYK.

I think this team is playing great and people are selling them a little short … until they hit their next slump. When that happens I will probably tart generating John Wall trade ideas.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Playoffs or not, I'm just happy with the way they are playing. They have been a complete disaster and embarrassment since the blow up. Watching jokers like Blatche, McGee and Young. This new Wizards led by John Wall with Nene, Okafor, Beal, Webster and company are a team we as fans can be proud of. They have shown determination and heart this year. It is fun to watch this team now, and great to see them winning now and coming together as a team!

+1

This Wizard team is one of my favorites. I love the way when they were 4-28 nobody sulked publicly and said publicly they wanted out. Not one player threw another under the bus. They stuck by Randy Wittman, too. The coach didn't throw guys under the bus. The coach never deflected all blame on young or old players. The players actually bonded when this team was putrid. They kept faith in Beal when he struggled mightily. THEY didn't throw Wall under the bus even if I and other fans have. Most of all, they're really turning up their intensity in games and they're winning now.

I like the way they are playing, too, SUPERBALLMAN. This team consistently closes games strong. Fourth quarters go well for this team, in general. That is a good sign of things to come if they stay healthy.

[nate33]

CCJ, we may be shooting a better FG%, but we are shooting fewer 3's, offensive rebounds are down, and turnovers are up. Overall, our offense has improved considerably since the pre-Wall days, but it's still not very good.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

CCJ, we may be shooting a better FG%, but we are shooting fewer 3's, offensive rebounds are down, and turnovers are up. Overall, our offense has improved considerably since the pre-Wall days, but it's still not very good.

nate, I have a tremendous amount of respect for you. This time I flat out think you're ignoring the best defense being played right now and focusing on the offense as if it exists in a vacuum. Scoring 92 points is not good at all. However, if you're allowing 88 points you're going to win 55 or 60 games.

I would love for this team to have stretch four and another breakdown player. Someone who can go end-to-end and score would be a godsend. However, this team is darn good right now, as hard as it is to fathom.

[nate33]

Who's ignoring defense? I never said the team isn't playing good overall. Their defense is fantastic. All I'm saying is that the offense isn't very good. This all goes back to the question of whether or not we need a stretch 4. I think we do because it would greatly help our offense. You apparently agree. What are we arguing about?