Wizards in the Media Thread

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

nate, what you said about trading him for a young, talented player, makes sense if you're being very objective.

The trade thread deal with Outlaw coming to the Wizards would be the way to go IF Jamison were to be traded.

I really don't see that happening and am happy with Jamison. If he keeps playing at this level another 3 years, AJ will be a guy with an outside shot at HOF if he were on a title contending team.

It would terrific if Gil came back 100% and all the things Haywood alluded to come together to make that 9-10 man rotation that can beat anybody.

[dobrojim]

interesting theory "hiding him" except I don't honestly see how you can do
that in the NBA. Folks know.

The one way you could argue that works would be to say folks are making
conclusions based on his playing time. But I don't think you can hide anyone.

[hands11]

I think Wise is clearly the best columinst at the Post after Boswell. Wilbon idiotic (and impossible trades under the CBA like Barron Davis + Biedrins for Arenas) makes him unreadable.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03234.html

Yeah, Wise is probably my favorite writers and he laid out a really good case. I figured this would make it as a threat with all the people who have wanted us to tank.

It is a hard case to argue against. Really. It makes good sense.

But one thing he may have gotten wrong was his 42-40 mark and what we need to do to make the playoffs. Here is what it took the last 3 years.

2007 8th Place ATL 37-45 .451
2006 8th Place ATL 40-42 .488
2005 8th Place MIK 40-42 .488

Currently in 2008 that 8th spot could be had for a .472 record 39-43

@ .472 we have to go 32-18 .627 to get there. That's between as good as Miami and Detroit 5th and 6th best in the conference. We just took down Cleveland the 3rd best twice .818, @Houston .600, and were robbed @NO .667

but if it was what it was last year .451 then we need to go 30-20 .600

There is still a very small small window. Tonights game while it is a long shot would be huge in helping us keep hope alive if everything falls into place but bigger then this game is what we do after this one. We have to go on like a 7-1 run against much easier talent.

Wed, Jan 7, 2009 Toronto Raptors
Fri, Jan 9, 2009 @ Chicago Bulls
Sat, Jan 10, 2009 Charlotte Bobcats
Mon, Jan 12, 2009 Milwaukee Bucks
Wed, Jan 14, 2009 @ New York Knickerbockers
Fri, Jan 16, 2009 New York Knickerbockers
Mon, Jan 19, 2009 @ Golden State Warriors

If we don't find ourselves on a run through these games, this thing will officially be shut down.

Everything has to go just right and if it does, it would be an awesome story but it is a long shot. We should knew the story of this season in about a week.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Great article by Wise, but I believe they have more than a smidgen of a playoff chance.

No, they won't go 35-15 to get to 42 wins. But they could go 30-20 and creep into the playoffs with 37 wins.

HIGHLY IMPROBABLE, but stranger things have happened.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Wow, hands beat me to it by three minutes and he brought FACTS. ...

[hands11]

Great article by Wise and refreshing quotes from Haywood. He and Sally Jenkins seem to be the only legit journalists writing about the Wiz these days.

As for the team iself, this really is a group of mostly good guys, which is probably why I can see them getting frustrated when guys like Blatche act like knuckleheads. I can also see why Abe might be willing to pay to keep them together. (Whether that's the right decision is a different discusion for a different thread.)

Sally Jenkins ? Really ?

As far as knuckleheads go, here is my ranking.

Deshawn - No contest. He is #1 - please ship him off somewhere.
Gilbert - He would be #1 but at least he has super talent. He list is long so I won't go into it.
Nick Young and Blatche are a tie. NY is a KH on the court - AB off. Please get threw the summer AB.
OP - because he is wasting his chance by thinking he is Dirk from 3 land.
ET - based on only past stuff only.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Currently in 2008 that 8th spot could be had for a .472 record 39-43

@ .472 we have to go 32-18 .627 to get there. That's between as good as Miami and Detroit 5th and 6th best in the conference. We just took down Cleveland the 3rd best twice .818, @Houston .600, and were robbed @NO .667

but if it was what it was last year .451 then we need to go 30-20 .600

There is still a very small small window. Tonights game while it is a long shot would be huge in helping us keep hope alive if everything falls into place but bigger then this game is what we do after this one. We have to go on like a 7-1 run against much easier talent.

Wed, Jan 7, 2009 Toronto Raptors
Fri, Jan 9, 2009 @ Chicago Bulls
Sat, Jan 10, 2009 Charlotte Bobcats
Mon, Jan 12, 2009 Milwaukee Bucks
Wed, Jan 14, 2009 @ New York Knickerbockers
Fri, Jan 16, 2009 New York Knickerbockers
Mon, Jan 19, 2009 @ Golden State Warriors

If we don't find ourselves on a run through these games, this thing will officially be shut down.

Everything has to go just right and if it does, it would be an awesome story but it is a long shot. We should knew the story of this season in about a week.

+1

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

"Two years ago, I wasn't playing, Eddie Jordan and I were at each other's throats and I was basically gone," he said. "Now me and Eddie text each other on Christmas, people come up to me and say how much they miss me being out there . . . it's just crazy how things change."

Tells you something about the quality and character of both Eddie Jordan and Brendan Haywood.

Jordan is truly a class act and I'm glad he and Brendan got past their differences.

[AAEXPRESS]

That was a really good article by Wise. I really feel strongly about the Wiz playing the young players and living with the mistakes. I would also like to include Pech in the equation as well. Let's see what we really have in him. I imagine if he got more consistent minutes, we may find that he is not a total bum.

At this point I would rather have a top 5 lottery pick as opposed to trying to fight for the 8th place and sneek into the playoffs. No doubt we will get bounced in the first round. To borrow a quote from the Joker (Jack Nicholsons) "think about the future".

[Wizards2Lottery]

Can't fault this team for this season. These guys have been trying hard all year and we've been in some really close fourth quarter games that we lost just because we didn't have enough talent or experience to match the other team.

I'm cautiously optimistic about next season.

[LyricalRico]

Currently in 2008 that 8th spot could be had for a .472 record 39-43

@ .472 we have to go 32-18 .627 to get there. That's between as good as Miami and Detroit 5th and 6th best in the conference. We just took down Cleveland the 3rd best twice .818, @Houston .600, and were robbed @NO .667

but if it was what it was last year .451 then we need to go 30-20 .600

There is still a very small small window. Tonights game while it is a long shot would be huge in helping us keep hope alive if everything falls into place but bigger then this game is what we do after this one. We have to go on like a 7-1 run against much easier talent.

Wed, Jan 7, 2009 Toronto Raptors
Fri, Jan 9, 2009 @ Chicago Bulls
Sat, Jan 10, 2009 Charlotte Bobcats
Mon, Jan 12, 2009 Milwaukee Bucks
Wed, Jan 14, 2009 @ New York Knickerbockers
Fri, Jan 16, 2009 New York Knickerbockers
Mon, Jan 19, 2009 @ Golden State Warriors

If we don't find ourselves on a run through these games, this thing will officially be shut down.

Everything has to go just right and if it does, it would be an awesome story but it is a long shot. We should knew the story of this season in about a week.

If they can go 8-4 over the next 12 games (starting with Orlando) they would be 15-29. Assuming that the teams in front of them win at their current clip, they'd only be 6 games back with 38 games left and Gil possibly ready to return. Our chances get even better if one of Milwauke, New Jersey, or Miami falls apart.

As you said, unlikely but not out of the realm of possibility.

[cwb3]

Y'all should read some of the comments posted to the Post on Wise's article! There is still a lot of Haywood hate out there, and one guy (perhaps being sarcastic) calling Etan a potential all star who can do it all! Lots of people still making the claim that we can still make the playoffs. (I know Hands and CCJ do as well, respect). But I agree with Wise and Haywood, the rest of this year should be all about developing the young players and preserving the health of the veterans.

I'll still still watch and attend some game. . .I promise!

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Mods should merge this with the WIzards in the Media thread.

Curious that Wise makes no mention of McGee. It seems like ages ago, but only a few weeks have passed since this cat was showing potential of stardom. I still contend that Ernie is "hiding" him, and doesn;t want teams asking for him in a trade this summer (as opposed to Blatche) when EG makes a big move.

Either way, Wise is wise (ugh) to the fact that record aside, the WIzards are very close to being very good.

fisher, it's funny you'd mention McGee in the context of a trade idea.

I'd trade Javale for Kevin Love, especially while Love looks unworthy of the top-5 pick. Love's the best offensive rebounder (I know the Wolves miss a lot) in the league already. At 20 years old. He'd be the ideal PF next to a defensive C like Haywood. Then again, maybe Blatche would be the guy to trade for Love. That's for another thread, however ...

Mike Wise not mentioning Javale was kind of an interesting omission, fisher.

Oh, about Love's rebounding. Scroll to the bottom of the link. Dude's already #5 in offensive rebounds and is #1 by a signifcant amount in offensive rebounding percentage. Love's got problems defensively and scoring, but the one thing he does well NOBODY else is even all that close. I think he's going to be good down the road. Maybe not as good as Javale, but maybe a whole lot better. I don't know, but I'd gamble on Love.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... eke01.html

[dobrojim]

I've never liked the idea of tanking

in the spirit of further optimism, lets not forget that we could not
only get GA back, perhaps within a month, we could also get Haywood
back within 1.5 months.

Right now we just don't know. But Hands is right. We'll know after this
next stretch of games, esp since before we move into 8th, we gotta get
outta 15th place. 14, 13, 12.....

[miller31time]

Mods should merge this with the WIzards in the Media thread.

Done. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Y'all should read some of the comments posted to the Post on Wise's article! There is still a lot of Haywood hate out there, and one guy (perhaps being sarcastic) calling Etan a potential all star who can do it all! Lots of people still making the claim that we can still make the playoffs. (I know Hands and CCJ do as well, respect). But I agree with Wise and Haywood, the rest of this year should be all about developing the young players and preserving the health of the veterans.

I'll still still watch and attend some game. . .I promise!

cwb3, note my new signature.

I'm all for playing the young players.

Just so happens that I'm of the opinion they've played the young players and won 3 of the last 5. They can keep doing the same thing and MAYBE play .600 ball the rest of the way. They play their best ball so far with Dom and Andray playing big minutes. I think Nick and Javale won't hurt them, either, in limited minutes.

Even playing some of Jamison's and Butler's minutes, the young guys have young legs. McGuire is only going to get better. (Not so sure about Young.) So is Blatche.

I think developing the young players while still winning games is the way to go. They can do both.

[cwb3]

I hear you CCJ, I just don't want to see Gil or Brendan taking any on court contact until they are 110% healthy. And I want to keep Jamison and Butler's minutes way down, play them enough to keep them sharp, but not much more than that. I think we have to get McGee enough minutes to see if he can really play and develop into a solid backup for Haywood. I hope we see more of Javaris to see what we have in the kid. . .I think Blatche and McGuire are coming along well this year, and I'd like to see Nick learn how to both play within the system and pick his spots, but to move and shoot with that confidence he had earlier, when he does pick his spots.

[dobrojim]

I think we've already seen enough of JaVale to realize he could potentially be
a very nice backup (or better perhaps). He's only what 20, 21?

I think JaVale could end up being a cross between TysonC and Pau G.
But he's not nearly there yet.

Etan has had success v Howard, but not this year. That said he's been
getting a little better lately. And you still should just about always
foul Howard rather than let him dunk (duh). Pesh could be useful there
as well as Etan.

[dandridge 10]

I agree 100% with everything Mike Wise said. Although nothing in life is certain (except for death and taxes), the Wizards really don't have a realistic shot at making the playoffs. I'd say Gilbert is at least another month away from returning, and even then, he is not going to be the same player right away. I also seriously doubt Haywood is coming back this season. Although this team appears to be playing better, they are nowhere close to being a team that can come back from the deficit they put themselves in.

So, all decisions now should be based on the future. I don't believe in tanking, but I do believe in investing in the future; and that means playing the young guys more to see whether they fit in our long range plans and bringing back Arenas very slowly, only after he is 110 percent healthy.

By the way Fishercob, Mike Wise is on my email list for St. Ann's basketball. He keeps telling me he is going to show up "next week", but he hasn't yet. I hope he starts coming out so I can get some inside scoop on the Wiz. I heard he is a pretty good baller.

[fishercob]

7 or 8 tonight?