Wizards in the Media Thread

[newslowsad]

Ivan wants to criticize Andray and that's the best reasoning he can think of...some finger rolls? Seriously?

I fully agree with your post though cob. How about Ivan talk with some of the young kids like Nick Young and see how they feel for once?

[nate33]

"Knowing who we were playing, knowing what happened last year -- they wanted to come in and whip our [backsides] last night, and they did it," Antawn Jamison said. "If that doesn't make you upset, then we don't want you on this team, I don't want you on this team. If you don't take it personal and play with a lot of pride, you are wasting our time. That was the message. Guys were definitely upset."

This is the second time that we've had complaints about guys not taking things personal or not getting upset. I could be the wrong, but I get the feeling that the veterans (and perhaps the coaching staff) have a problem with the young players' locker room demeanor more so than with their actual performance on the court.

Perhaps if Nick Young would throw a chair in the locker room every now and then, he'd get more minutes. Maybe McGee needs to slam his locker door shut a little louder. Because, you know, that's what wins ball games.

[LyricalRico]

"Knowing who we were playing, knowing what happened last year -- they wanted to come in and whip our [backsides] last night, and they did it," Antawn Jamison said. "If that doesn't make you upset, then we don't want you on this team, I don't want you on this team. If you don't take it personal and play with a lot of pride, you are wasting our time. That was the message. Guys were definitely upset."

This is the second time that we've had complaints about guys not taking things personal or not getting upset. I could be the wrong, but I get the feeling that the veterans (and perhaps the coaching staff) have a problem with the young players' locker room demeanor more so than with their actual performance on the court.

Perhaps is Nick Young would throw a chair in the locker room every now and then, he'd get more minutes. Maybe McGee needs to slam his locker door shut a little louder. Because, you know, that's what wins ball games.

I was thinking the same thing. Apparently Jamison would feel better about the team losing as long as everybody was as pi$$ed as he is about it afterwards.

And as for Ivan's paragraph about how Blatche letting Perkins score once showed that he's a bum, why not write the novel it would take to show all of the guys that have scored on Jamison since he's been here?

It appears that the local media has gone from absolving EJ of any guilt whatsoever to now absolving the veterans of any guilt whatsoever. What is this towns problem with reporting facts? Why do they always have to latch on to somebody as their favorite and agree with everything they say or do no matter how wrong it is?

This is one time where I would LOVE to have a Screamin' A Smith type in our market, a guy who didn't care about what people thought about him and would just tell it like it is.

[dandridge 10]

I can certainly understand the vets getting upset at the lack of professionalism of the younger players. If I was playing for the Wizards, and I saw the youngins goofing around most of pre-game warm-ups and at the end of games when were getting blown out, it would irk me too.

With that said, I'd like to see Ivan be a little more balanced in his journalism, as there is enough criticism to go around. I think Ivan is spot-on about Blatche...he is as soft as molasses and plays with little energy most of the game. However, Butler's effort on the defensive end has also been putrid this year. Why not call him out? Butler doesn't even try on the defensive end until we are down by 17-20 points.

Stevenson has been horrid this year on both ends. When Eddie Tapscott recently said that he will play those who are playing well, why isn't Ivan asking Tapscott why Stevenson has been given so many minutes?

Why is there not any interviews of the younger players to get their take on things? There has been a lot of criticism of the younger players recently. It would nice if Ivan can get a reaction from them.

[BruceO]

I don't understand who they are calling out. Why are the vets talking about the young players when the vets are not producing? They can't talk about McGee because he wasn't meant to play that much. But now with Etan sucking he's forced to play and his numbers are better than what we ever expected from etan but he fouls and his team defensive play has holes. It's their job to correct it on him.
They might talk about Blatche but he has produced on specific games. Until they allow him to play his natural PF position I hold off criticism on Blatche. I saw him play well against Rasheed, KG and Gasol. He defended them well in the post. Thats positive. Only reason we are not giving him alot of run is because all the shot blocking is falling on him and McGee and thats why they foul so much. Where's our all star PF? He can't even defend the same guys well. He can't even win more than 15 percent of the games when paired with another all star Forward.
Songaila wasn't performing earlier but is now. Dmac is performing. defensively he's our best perimeter and wing defender. Deshawn I don't like. Can't score that well, goes up uncomfortably and is too small to defend small forwards. I was watching Moon do an awesome job on vince carter the other day. I feel wing defenders who have been elite have been 6 8' and above. (bowen, battier, artest, rodman, moon, marion)
Nick was doing well before but now he's struggling. When he was producing no one else was. When he was meant to be the go to scorer we'd go to caron and Jamison. So he may be slumping right now but inconsistency and no help from other guards contributed to that.
Juan is putting up points and I wouldn't blame him if he goes to full gunner mode because even from watching the last game it was obvious in the first quarter he was the only one capable of scoring. Mike James and Critt are new and can't be blamed cause this team sucked before they got here.

So who are these vets yelling at? When the bench consisting of these young guys they are supposedly mad at has been one of the top benches? When this bench was the one that had been bringing us back into the games while they gave away leads.
If anything Antwan and the rest of the vets should be mad at themselves for how much they suck and need Haywood and Gil. Also for gods sake push the tempo. I think thats one of the things..we don't run anymore.
The bright side though is we have brought playing Etan to a full stop. well...almost a full stop. The results with him as our center vs the results with haywood as a center have been made obvious.

[fishercob]

GREAT stuff from Steinberg this morning: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/

[mhd]

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

[Ruzious]

The article has a rare thing for the media called... perspective. Tank... you very much, Mr. Wise.

[doclinkin]

Brendan Haywood again showing up as 'smartest cat on the team':

"If I'm playing GM, I'm not gambling on Gil," said Brendan Haywood on Sunday when asked to play Ernie Grunfeld for a few minutes. "I wouldn't even want him practicing until he was pain-free for three weeks. Then I wouldn't play him any back-to-back games. Unless we were in the playoff hunt, it wouldn't make any sense for his long-term health.

"That's your $111 million investment. You don't want to be penny-wise and dollar-foolish right now. It's too much of a risk. If you're the GM, you've basically tied your legacy to Gilbert Arenas. If it works out, you're going to be a genius. If not, you might have to find something else to do."

Haywood's other reasoning for caution had to do with the future. "You bring me and Gil back healthy, put us on a starting five with Caron, Antawn, DeShawn or Nick," Haywood began, "and add whoever comes out of the draft, Griffin or Harden or one of those guys. And you throw in some of the young guys who you don't have concerns about anymore because they were battle-tested this year, that's a solid, nine-, 10-man rotation that can beat a lot of teams in this league.


"I think that's how you got to look at it from a bigger picture."

[JWizmentality]

Brendan Haywood again showing up as 'smartest cat on the team':

Aint it funny, that the two smartest guys on the team (Etan and Wood) can't get along.

[nate33]

I like the in-depth quotes Wise provides. It helps the fans get to know the players better. It's easy to casually suggest trading this guy or dumping that guy, but it's much harder when you know them. It's easy to understand why Abe falls in love with guys like Jamison and Butler.

Jamison isn't going anywhere.

Heck, that may be for the best. As long as Abe is willing to take the luxtax hit when Jamison's contract gets expensive, i don't mind him sticking around as a veteran leader (and hopefully as a 6th man in the upcoming years).

I'd still trade him for a young talented player, but if all we're getting is some cap relief, we probably should just keep him. It's Abe's money. He can spend it how he wants.

[nate33]

Brendan Haywood again showing up as 'smartest cat on the team':

Aint it funny, that the two smartest guys on the team (Etan and Wood) can't get along.

I'm not so sure I'd rank Etan as one of the smartest on the team. He's no idiot, to be sure, but I'm not so sure that he's brighter than Jamison or Butler. Mike James seems like a pretty articulate guy too.

[mhd]

Nate, can the Wizards get out of the luxary tax hole by simply getting an expiring for James and say the 2nd round pick?

[mhd]

I hope Brendan is a Wizard for life.

Assuming everyone comes back (and no trades), our depth would be:

PG: Arenas/James/Critt
SG: Stevenson/Young/Critt
SF: Butler/McGuire
PF: Jamison/Blatche/Songaila/OPEC
C: Haywood/McGee/Etan

Factor in the lotto pick, and we have to consolidate the roster. The absolute best case scenerio for us is to trade James+Dixon for Malik Rose. Then on draft night, OKC gets 1 and takes Griffin. We get the 2nd, and Minny gets the 3rd. We swap picks and agree to trade Mike Miller+ for Etan+Stevenson, so Minny gets Harden while we take Jordan Hill.

The new lineup becomes:
PG: Arenas/Critt
SG: Butler/Young
SF: McGuire/Miller
PF: Jamison/Blatche/Hill
C: Haywood/McGee/Hill

That team has a ton of talent, and I'd probably look to see if we could get a superstar with some type of package of Blatche, McGee, etc.

[MJG]

Brendan Haywood again showing up as 'smartest cat on the team':

Haywood is awesome. I want him to finish his career here, then continue to stay with the organization after he retires in some capacity.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Brendan Haywood again showing up as 'smartest cat on the team':

Aint it funny, that the two smartest guys on the team (Etan and Wood) can't get along.

I'm not so sure I'd rank Etan as one of the smartest on the team. He's no idiot, to be sure, but I'm not so sure that he's brighter than Jamison or Butler. Mike James seems like a pretty articulate guy too.

Songaila's probably sharp as hell, too.

As for doc's assertion, Brendan might be the smartest from a GM standpoint and from knowing how to manage an injury. Haywood HAD TO think EJ was an idiot for the way his minutes were handled and for the way Gil was rushed back while injured.

The really good thing about Brendan's comments is it shows he wants the best for EG. EG is a guy who was the voice of reason back when Eddie Jordan, the guy who started Etan for "effort" while he sat Haywood an entire playoff series, wanted Brendan gone. I'm glad Ernie was smarter than Eddie then.

Brendan's take on what EG should do with Gilbert is really on the mark.

[hands11]

I like the in-depth quotes Wise provides. It helps the fans get to know the players better. It's easy to casually suggest trading this guy or dumping that guy, but it's much harder when you know them. It's easy to understand why Abe falls in love with guys like Jamison and Butler.

Jamison isn't going anywhere.

Heck, that may be for the best. As long as Abe is willing to take the luxtax hit when Jamison's contract gets expensive, i don't mind him sticking around as a veteran leader (and hopefully as a 6th man in the upcoming years).

I'd still trade him for a young talented player, but if all we're getting is some cap relief, we probably should just keep him. It's Abe's money. He can spend it how he wants.

But in 2 years, Abe won't likely still own the team. That was my projection for a AJ trade date all along.

Maybe we pay 13M to bring him off the bench in 2010 but it is hard to believe we are going to play 15M to have him do that in 2011. Not unless we are a top team and don't want to loss him and Tedd doesn't care about the cap.

[LyricalRico]

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.)

[fishercob]

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.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I like the in-depth quotes Wise provides. It helps the fans get to know the players better. It's easy to casually suggest trading this guy or dumping that guy, but it's much harder when you know them. It's easy to understand why Abe falls in love with guys like Jamison and Butler.

Jamison isn't going anywhere.

Heck, that may be for the best. As long as Abe is willing to take the luxtax hit when Jamison's contract gets expensive, i don't mind him sticking around as a veteran leader (and hopefully as a 6th man in the upcoming years).

I'd still trade him for a young talented player, but if all we're getting is some cap relief, we probably should just keep him. It's Abe's money. He can spend it how he wants.

Honestly, I'm not even objective about trading Jamison any more. I hope he retires a Wizard, unless he asks for a deal elsewhere.

Dat hates him, but I love the guy's character and am a fan of his game. He's the best player on the Wizards team right now. In my mind, even compared to Caron, I believe Jamison at SF would be hard for most teams to handle. I'm hard-pressed to find anybody his size who rebounds like he does while being a scorer. He is a very good player.

What really impresses me about Jamison is that he misses few games and has played all out this season, even with the team having a terrible record.

Dat, I think he is a leader of men.

Aside from limitations on defense, I think the only problem with him is fatigue late in games. I stared the thread called "The Lunacy of Playing Jamison 40 Minutes. My take on it is the man's undersized at PF and tends to get worn down at the end of games. Perhaps he takes a play or two off on defense due to sheer exhaustion. I think Jamison gives good effort but would be at his best for 34-36 minutes a night, especially with some of those minutes at SF. Jamison could play harder on the defensive end in those minutes IMO.

I've even seen him defend better the past couple seasons. What he still does is let certain plays go.

Overall, I like Jamison and think he's a winner an and off the court. I kind of get pissed when I see trade ideas like James to Cleveland for Szczerbiak and other filler for cap relief.