Knicks @ Wizards November 7, 2008

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The Wizards are really going to struggle as long as Jamison can jack shots with impunity. He's really hurting the team with terrible shots. The man seems to be trying to justify his contract with FGAs instead of hustling on defense and rebounding like he appeared to do last season.

Jamison hasn't been good this season.

[mhd]

I actually think Songaila should be getting only 10-12 mpg. He's an ok player, but should never guard a center ever again. The defensive woes are stricly because of the "defend the paint" nonsense.

N1 should be playing a minimum of 35 mpg. Javele should be playing 28 mpg becase he does get gassed.

The best time to watch Wiz games is the 2nd quarter when Javele and N1 are in.

[TheBigThree]

To me, the team plays horrible defense and relies on jumpers and isolation. The Wiz stink.

Meh. I'm not going to say that we're going to the playoffs this year, but were you not the least bit excited by what you saw today? Today's game was the best I've felt about this team since Gilbert went down. There will be growing pains, no doubt, but we'll start finishing games. It's not like we've been getting completely dominated or anything. If we could find a way to stop getting down in games early (Start Juan and/or Nick Young, thanks!) I think we'll be fine.

And even if we aren't, can you at least see the potential of a healthy squad (Yes, I know you could say this for 3 years now).

[GilArenas88]

Besides that this team is just dreadful on defense their are some positives. But first with the negatives.
Were even worse at defending the three point this year than last year, and thats hard to amagin. Were going to get a record three point baskets made against us this year. Bad shot selection this is on both players and coach. Etan, Daniels, and Songalia blow big time. I still have a little hope in Deshawn.
Jamison is chucking, his shot has been way off this year, he's only been effective when slashing and playing inside.

For the positive. First of all who can't be pleased and impressed with the rookie big man McGee, he's been great. Man has excellent athleticism and boy can he jump, not to mention great length. Solid came tonight with the exception of a few missed easy alley-opp dunks, he scored 12 pts, which could have easily been 16, 10 reb 2 blks in less then 30 min. He's learning at a quick pace, and isnt a hack box Blatche is. Young has also been solid, better passer and rebounder, getting slightly better on defense and his shoot and driving have been good. Dixon is a big surprise, he's turned into a solid player, not the same ole Juan in the least. Butler has been solid, but has taken some real bad shots and bad to's. Blatche I'm not to dissapointed yet, I still think he's going to surprise some people this year.

Not only does our defense hurt majorly with Haywoods injury, and hurts our offensive rebounding game as well. Atleast Haywood used to clean up 3-4 garbage shots taken from our back court players for easy dunks. Not only is are defense bad but were missing free throws, which hopefully gets corrected.

[dandridge 10]

To me, the team plays horrible defense and relies on jumpers and isolation. The Wiz stink.

Meh. I'm not going to say that we're going to the playoffs this year, but were you not the least bit excited by what you saw today? Today's game was the best I've felt about this team since Gilbert went down. There will be growing pains, no doubt, but we'll start finishing games. It's not like we've been getting completely dominated or anything. If we could find a way to stop getting down in games early (Start Juan and/or Nick Young, thanks!) I think we'll be fine.

And even if we aren't, can you at least see the potential of a healthy squad (Yes, I know you could say this for 3 years now).

I think there is a lot to be excited about when it comes to two individual players...McGee and Young. However, I don't know if there is much to be excited about for this season. Our starting backcourt (AD and DS) look like toast, we are back to being the worst defensive team in the league, and we just wrapped up 161 million dollars in one player that could potentially be the next Penny Hardaway and another that negates any positives in scoring and rebounding with momentum killing shots and absolutely no D. I said it before the season began, the only silver lining in this season will be seeing whether we have a future in Young, McGee and Blatche. So far, two out of three look like they might be in our future plans. I'm excited to watch these two play, but can't say I'm excited about watching the TEAM play.

[sabonis]

I want to add McGee to my fantasy roster but this all looks familiar. Last year I've read exactly the same things you guys have written about Blatche as you're writing about McGee now. Maybe I'll add young to my roster and then try to trade one of my guys for another center.

or do you guys really think McGee is the real deal?

[dandridge 10]

I want to add McGee to my fantasy roster but this all looks familiar. Last year I've read exactly the same things you guys have written about Blatche as you're writing about McGee now. Maybe I'll add young to my roster and then try to trade one of my guys for another center.

or do you guys really think McGee is the real deal?

Both players have raw skill, but McGee is way more athletic than Blatche and plays with 100% more effort. Put it another way, Blatche is a fourth year player and McGee is a rookie and McGee is already head and shoulders above Blatche in terms of productivity on the court.

[W. Unseld]

DS and Caron both look like they are carrying a little extra weight. That will hurt DS's perimeter D and I think it's hurting Caron's explosiveness (unless he has an injury I'm not aware of).

[dandridge 10]

DS and Caron both look like they are carrying a little extra weight. That will hurt DS's perimeter D and I think it's hurting Caron's explosiveness (unless he has an injury I'm not aware of).

Actually, I think it was reported that Caron lost some weight this offseason.

[P'Oed]

God bless Etan and his will to fight through such heart problems and play but man....does he suck at center or what? Like what is it that Etan does for this team? He doesn't rebound. He's too short to play D against centers. He has no offensive ability. He doesn't make free throws. THe guy is good for a block or two a game that the team can't rebound anyway... Can someone remind me why we didn't let him walk to the Bucks a few years ago?

between him, Jamison being absolutely beyond awful and the grossest starting backcourt in the league, I'm not sure how this team wins anymore than 30 games this year. Stewie Griffin save us all.

[RickRoll_inDC]

Here's an idea for a future game lineup:

McGee
Jamison
Butler
Young
Dixon

I didn't actually see the game, but according to the box score it looks like this is probably the lineup used for most of the game. McGee apparently looks really good now (was I the only one who was happy when we picked him?)

[newslowsad]

Guys, this is getting painful.

Giving up 13 or 14 three's to the Knicks...jesus.

The perimeter D is worse than ever.

Juan looked great the point tonight though and McGee is outplaying Blatche, which is pretty funny.

McGee/Etan
Jamison/Blatche
Butler/Songaila/DMAC
Young/Stevenson
Dixon/Daniels/Brown

[80sballboy]

We are awful. I'll admit, EJ has to start Dixon and probably Young and bench AD and Stevenson. It's a shame that it took four games and the rotation is still not known. Even if you start those guys, you have to have a second team. AD should be used to coming off the bench. Maybe that will re-energize them, but at this point, who cares. Maybe we need another top 10 pick.

The problem is that Blatche is killing us. We were supposed to build a team around this kid in the nexrt few years and he has regressed. Is he working with Tony Massenburg like Javale? Is he working at his game at all? You can't continue playing this kid if he is this bad. Get Pecherov off the bench and de-activate Dee Brown or D-Mac. EJ should have played Brown more tonight against Nate Robinson. Why play zone against a team shooting this well? That's because AD can't defend points guards anymore.

I admit I was wrong. Don't play the young guys-start them. Maybe have a veteran contingent off the bench off slow guys and mix in Blatche, D-Mac or Dee Brown with Etan, AD and Stevenson.

We need to find out if these guys can still play and try and offer them up late as trade bait. Where's Blake Griffin when you need him?

[queridiculo]

It's certainly too early to jump to conclusions with two key players out in Haywood and Arenas, but from what I've seen so far I'm really wishing we had a GM with authority that had just blown this team to pieces while we had the chance.

[BruceO]

I'm happy about the game. I don't expect much out of a team thats not 100 percent. I don't expect much from AD and Dsteve who are our starters now but in the future will be most likely backups to Nick and Gil if Juan Dixon doesn't play ahead of them. So I don't expect much from them and I don't care. I watch the game to see Blatche, Nick and Mcgee. The rest are known quantities. Aside from those guys Jamison, Caron, Haywood and Gil are going to be around. And two of those people are not healthy currently.The rest are interchangeable and disposable. Jamison I was very clearly saying we need to get Gasol for him before Gasol was traded. I also thought Jermaine O'neal was another possibility. Also Rasheed. Because those guys are bigger low post monsters. Look what Rasheed and Zebo were doing to us in our games. It was straight abuse. A low post threat is huge. Our low post threat has been posting Nick young on guards lol.

I was a big NY fan when we drafted him and was begging for him pre-draft and we got him. McGee was another I was begging for pre-draft and we got him as well. I've had to defend both on their draft threads and I'm just glad to see how they are doing. Nick is very efficiently getting 16 points per game! from the bench! in limited minutes. McGee is outplaying Etan. Blatche still has things he needs to work out. I've defended him too but he has yet to prove his ability to the fullest. He has yet to play with a high basketball IQ or temperament that mcGee shows.
Either way I'll take an L for the emergence of NY, Mcgee and Juan dixon. Eddie said he had been seeing this trend all through camp and look at the minutes today. Songaila got zero, Etan played less than 15 minutes , Mcgee got extended run and produced more than Etan possibly would have and NY and Juan played more than Dsteve and Ad and produced as well. Keep them in there till Gil and Brendan come back. Then it can be

Gil/Juan
NY/Dsteve
CB/ Mcguire
jamison/Blatche
Haywood/Mcgee
and still have AD, Dee, Songaila and Pech waiting to step in as needed. We will need better defensive guards and a better low post threat than Jamison. I'd trade jamison for Rasheed if I could.

[omegatronic3]

eeesh..we stink...I don't wanna hear any moral victories about how Mcgee and young looked good.
The knicks suck and we cant beat them...we're in for a rude awakening this year!!!!!!!

Seems like were scoring but the D is just aweful. I guess Haywood was our entire D because otherwise we are the same team as last year.

ET need to be on IR

[FreeBalling]

It figures that the year we suck, the draft class isn't strong. Unless you want the 18 year old Spaniard.

Chances are we're gonna trade the lottery pick we have along with Etan and/or Daniels to give us more cap space.

I hope your correct.

[LyricalRico]

I think AD/Etan will be trade-able next summer for the simple fact that they will have expiring contracts. If I'm going to use a lottery pick to shed salary, I'd like to use that on Songaila and/or Stevenson.

The problem is that if we're willing to give up the pick because the draft is weak, wouldn't that also factor in to a team decision on whether or not it's worth taking on one of our cast offs to get it?

[nate33]

EJ will definitely play Haywood and McGee. Hell, he played Etan and Haywood early on and is now playing Blatche and McGee.

In 6 seasons, Haywood and Etan have been on the court together for a grand total of 23 minutes.

[nate33]

God bless Etan and his will to fight through such heart problems and play but man....does he suck at center or what? Like what is it that Etan does for this team? He doesn't rebound. He's too short to play D against centers. He has no offensive ability. He doesn't make free throws. THe guy is good for a block or two a game that the team can't rebound anyway... Can someone remind me why we didn't let him walk to the Bucks a few years ago?

At the time, just about everyone on the board wanted to match the Bucks' offer and retain him. The only dissenters that I recall were me and Severn Hoos.