GT #14: TOR(10-6)-WAS(6-7), Nov 28/15 7:00

[dangermouse]

I was thinking, its early in the season, and its really only a 4 game losing streak...

But we havent looked good, at all, this year. Half the games we won, we barely won. Against teams we should have trounced. Thats what makes this losing streak scary. We just dont look right.

We need a shakeup of some sort.

[closg00]

All the Wizards had to do this season to have a really good shot at Durant was NOT be terrible. And in true Wizards fashion, they're absolutely terrible and have probably already scared off Durant for good.

We won't get KD, then the kick in the teeth comes, Ernie gets to start another rebuild. Rinse, lather, repeat.

[Tricky_Kid]

This game proved one thing. With this roster we can compete but the problem is a coach.
Yes RW is making adjustments too late and mostly if He does it is caused by injuries or like this time players demands.
Someone wrote we have better records that we actually deserved - very true. Wittless waisted all preseason and actual season with his "new offense" and trying to make Hump S4 which was wishfull thinking from the start.
It was really sad to hear Gortat`s post game interview He was really emotional and truth everything he said. On the other hand Wall was in mood "I was agressive(chucking JS for him means agressiveness) shots not falling onto the next game". Alright!? And a cherry on the cake RW smiling and talking about the same **** iver and over. You are the coach do something and what he can do best is criticize players never put blame on herself. I trully hate this guy now. I wish we cut this moron be4 this season but it`s never to late doing something good. We need blowouts loses vs Cavs and Mavs and close game vs Lakers. We will see how hard this guy is glued to this coach sit

[LyricalRico]

The way things are going right now, I wouldn't even mind starting over from scratch and dealing the two self-anointed ones.

There is going to be a second cap jump in 2017 or 2018 right? IIRC a few guys even structured their deals to be FA again to take advantage of it. Not enough time for a full Philly style reboot, though.

I'd also like to keep Wall. He was getting close to being a star when they were running a screen/roll based offense. But shopping Beal? Maybe, but I'm not quite there yet. I'd rather see if a coaching upgrade makes a difference.

[Mickstix]

Here shortly, Wittman will get the axe while Grunfeld gets another pass.. It's how Teddy does business! He'll fire Ernie once Wall and Beal are about over the hill (and they still haven't made it out of the 2nd round) Rinse/Repeat..

[DCZards]

On the other hand Wall was in mood "I was agressive(chucking JS for him means agressiveness) shots not falling onto the next game".

Actually, that's the attitude I would hope Wall would have. It doesn't pay for a player to get too down on himself, regardless of the circumstances, especially when you have almost 70 games yet to play. Leave the melting down to us fans. We're pretty good at that.

At the end of the day it was only one game...and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Hopefully, that will also be Wall's attitude.

I was at last night's game...and it was indeed a miserable place to be when Joseph knocked down that winning hoop. But Wall was more aggressive (attacking the basket) than he had been in previous games, especially in the second half. And I thought that the team overall play hard, especially on D.

Oh well, onto the next game.

[payitforward]

How many games would we have to lose in a row to have Witt fired? Conceivably

Do you think something would improve if Witt was fired? Not being sarcastic. I can't see why we'd do any better.

For this team to approach what it did last year, there had to be some kind of X factor early in the season -- as there was last season when Butler played game-changing all-star ball the first 1/4 of the season and we ran out to 19-6. When he cratered, we went 27-30 the rest of the way.

Since we added no one in the off-season w/ any potential to surprise (except by getting injured), where would that X factor come from? It had to come from Beal and/or Porter, as they are literally the only players on our roster who are not at (Wall) or past (everyone else) their peak -- or Oubre of course, but... come on, no.

Bradley Beal, whom I loved in the '12 draft, hasn't developed as expected. Yeah, he's still young. But... this is his 4th NBA season. If he's going to be a truly outstanding player, it's time for him to show it. Porter is playing very well, but... it isn't enough.

IOW, I can't see why firing Witt would have any great impact. ...

I don't know. Symbolic maybe.
This team is playing significantly worse than last year with essentially the same roster...

I don't think so. I think we are playing more or less at the same level we played at last regular season -- once Butler stopped playing like an NBA superstar, we went 27-30 to close the season.

And we're playing at that level *because* we have "essentially the same roster" -- Dudley is more or less a productivity equivalent for Pierce, and otherwise we've added no one: Neal is a subtraction not an addition, and Anderson is injured.

Now, there is no question John's productivity has regressed in these first 14 games, but it's a small sample and I'm really not worried. These are people not machines; they'll go through ups and downs. And, obviously, we should have won last night -- just make 2 FTs!

But, when everyone is playing to their "normal" productivity level, all we'll be is a .500 team -- unless, as I wrote above, some kind of "X factor" comes out of nowhere.

No need to fire Wittman -- he can't get above average productivity from an average, or less than, player. Fire Ernie -- he's the guy who has us trying to rely on Humphries as a starting 4. He's the guy who has a backup 4 who can't play well enough to get on the floor (Gooden). He's the guy who (somehow) imagined Dudley as a 4*. He's the guy who's wasted asset after asset to put us in a position where we're bandaiding problems rather than building a team. He's the guy who (seemingly) saw no point in going after Bismack Biyombo, because... I don't know why.

* Jared Dudley is a 3. In fact, he's played more 2 in his career than he has 4. In 30 minutes last night, he managed 4 rebounds. Hell, if we'd started Humphries, we'd probably have won the game!