Tapscott is an Idiot Playing Jamison & Butler 40 Mins

[hands11]

The absurdity of it all makes me wonder if Abe is behind it. Even if Taps is this stupid, I don't believe Ernie is. Even the casual observers from opposing teams find the minute mismanagement obvious and puzzling.

So the only guy above Ernie is Abe. We know Abe loves his veterans, and especially his 3 "All-Star's". He just paid them a lot of money and he wants to get his money's worth. He has no interest in building for the future or developing young talent with potential, because lets face it, he probably won't be around to see it. He could check out at any minute.

I just don't see any other logical explanation other than these are the demands of a senile old man.

Between this and Lyricals post, there are enough things going on that we just don't know about, so I see no point in the endless slamming Tapps over this issue.

I think it was much worse when it was Abe, EG, EFJ. There you had the owner and the coach on one side and GM on the other.

At least with Abe, EG, Tapps, I know the GM and coach are on the same side. What you don't know is how much the owner is driving the GM but at least the water is running down hill. This is the story behind the story for the season. We started to fix our front office problem. But the real fix my not happen until we get a new owner.

Point is, we don't know what the game is. We don't know what if anything Abe is doing and we have a complicated situation with salaries. And with Abe as owner, we don't even know how much of the salary situation was influenced by Abe so it's hard to know how much to blame EG for this. As such, I don't try to over think this to much. Give it time. i.e. the trade deadline at least.

Besides, last I checked, we have seen some progress in some of our young players this year. Is Tapps a top NBA coach.. No. Is he decent given this is the first time he has coached in a lone time and he came into a really bad situation.. Yes.

[hands11]

I can even accept Jamison playing heavy minutes because he at least plays hard every night and sets a good example. But there's no logic in playimg James and Butler so many minutes since they've both clearly given up on the season.

Is it really that hard to figure out ?

Crit is just learning the game. He really just started playing beginning 1/2 and averaged 16 minutes this month. He is coming along. He has had two of his best games since 1/22. That's decent progress.

James has more experience and needs to be given a chance to get something going so we can move him and his contract.

With is what we got when we moved AD because we wanted to move him and his contract.

James had some nice games in DEC. Jan he had a few but has fallen off.
Sadly, his PER for the season on only 9.03 up from 8.75 last year. I wish they drop this down into what he has done since he arrived here.

In the stats section they break it down. It is clear he has rebounding back toward his 06-07 #'s
were he has a PER of 13.3. If he can get solidly back there, we can move him easier.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/s ... yerId=1051

Critt number has not rebounds that much
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/s ... yerId=3197

Best thing he can do at this point is learn how to hit a FT. We can all see he is getting more comfortable and his game is improving but he is still very raw.

So while Crit has time to come along, we are pressed for James to show improvement so we can move him.

It may not be fun to watch but it's not overly complicated to figure out.

[nate33]

Doclinkin inferred something in another post that actually goes a long way toward explaining this fiasco.

As a condition of being an "interim coach", Grunfeld probably agreed to let Tapscott have full control of the team until the trade deadline. The idea was to give Tapscott a full opportunity to prove his ability as a head coach. Tapscott was presumably unwilling to coach with one hand tied behind his back because of a some mandate to groom youngsters.

Hopefully, the agreement includes a plan to focus on developing the youth if the playoffs are out of reach by the trade deadline.

[Benjammin]

Doclinkin inferred something in another post that actually goes a long way toward explaining this fiasco.

As a condition of being an "interim coach", Grunfeld probably agreed to let Tapscott have full control of the team until the trade deadline. The idea was to give Tapscott a full opportunity to prove his ability as a head coach. Tapscott was presumably unwilling to coach with one hand tied behind his back because of a some mandate to groom youngsters.

Hopefully, the agreement includes a plan to focus on developing the youth if the playoffs are out of reach by the trade deadline.

quoted for emphasis

We're at the point with assuming it will take 38 wins to make the playoffs of being within 6 losses of having to go on a 28 game winning streak to make the playoffs. If we're still playing Butler, Jamison, and James big minutes after the trade deadline there will be no reasonable justification for that.

[Dat2U]

I think it was much worse when it was Abe, EG, EFJ. There you had the owner and the coach on one side and GM on the other.

At least with Abe, EG, Tapps, I know the GM and coach are on the same side. What you don't know is how much the owner is driving the GM but at least the water is running down hill. This is the story behind the story for the season. We started to fix our front office problem. But the real fix my not happen until we get a new owner.

Point is, we don't know what the game is. We don't know what if anything Abe is doing and we have a complicated situation with salaries. And with Abe as owner, we don't even know how much of the salary situation was influenced by Abe so it's hard to know how much to blame EG for this. As such, I don't try to over think this to much. Give it time. i.e. the trade deadline at least.

Besides, last I checked, we have seen some progress in some of our young players this year. Is Tapps a top NBA coach.. No. Is he decent given this is the first time he has coached in a lone time and he came into a really bad situation.. Yes.

okay, I'ma rant a bit here so bear with me:

1. I hate the cop out used by many on here and elsewhere that somehow meddling ol' Abe Pollin has something to do with this. I seriously doubt Abe is telling Ernie who to play or what to do considering how sick Abe has been recently. Heck, Abe hasn't even made a public appearance in nearly a year. Ernie Grunfeld isn't some weak, no-backbone GM (like Chris Wallace for example) who'd let some 80 yr old near-senile man walk all over him and ruin his reputation. EG could walk away and have a job somewhere else in no time. Grunfeld has worked meticulously to get complete control of the basketball operations so he could have total autonomy in terms of the decision making process. I think Ernie is the major reason that Susan O'Malley is no longer here. He "gently" pushed her out so he wouldn't have someone undermining his decisions by continuing to whisper in Abe's ear. In other words, he consolidated the power structure so the only voice Abe would hear would be his.

Does this sound like a man who'd let an owner undermine his decision making and reputation by forcing him to sign this player or that player against his will, or meddle in actual player rotations? Sure Ernie likely has a financial mandate to probably stay under the lux tax until we can compete for a title but outside of that I think Ernie has complete authority to do want he wants in relation to trades & coaching choices. Abe loved Susan O'Malley, but she's gone. Abe loved Eddie Jordan, but he's gone. Stop sleeping on Ernie, he's a man of his own volition.

2. As hands mentioned, the GM and coach now are on the same side. And honestly, that's kinda scary considering what were seeing from this coach. Hands, I know you support E-Tap and believe there's a plan in place and I agree with you to that extent that E-Tap is executing that plan.

However the plan has to be one of the worst ideas Ernie has ever come up with. First of all, it appears to Wizards were so intent on not losing the veterans during season that they've forgotten about the young guys and now have lost them.

We've watched the vets & the coach continually throw the kids under the bus whining about effort & consistency, even when it was obvious that the kids were clearly outperforming the vets on the court.

It's created a culture that sets a dangerous precedent for the future. The young guys now may believe that playing at a high level & playing time are mutually exclusive. Heck, they see that the coaches play favorites and vets are given preference irregardless of their on-court performance. To me that's worse that giving a young guy minutes he may not necessarily deserve. At least with giving a young guy minutes, you have the possiblity that he can grow into the position, gain confidence and get better over time. By going this route of playing favorites, your sabotaging the motivation for these kids to improve and get better.

I agree that EG is trying to build up the trade value of guys like James, Stevenson & Etan (before he got hurt), however none of these guys are going to get you an expiring contract even if they were playing moderately well...and they weren't. Their performance has been absolutely dreadful at best. Etan couldn't be traded when he was healthy, what makes anyone think its any different now after heart surgery & declining play? Mike James is a running joke around the league. No playoff team would dare put him in their rotation unless they absolutely had no other option. Even then, you could sign a NBDL scrub to do better for cheap and without the baggage. Stevenson is a historically bad shooting guard. His numbers defy logic for an NBA player that actually started for as long as he has.

It was a waste of time, space & opportunity to play these guys to "rebuild" or "strengthen" their trade value. More aptly, it was like beating a dead horse. Totally and utterly pointless.

And that also describes Caron & Jamison, our great supposed "veteran leaders" getting 40 minutes a night because they want to get their empty numbers so it doesn't look like this 10 win season is their fault.

By scapegoating the young guys and not giving them minutes the Wizards have put their development at risk. That's not worth 2 or 3 spots in the draft lottery IMO. I'd rather see McGee, Blatche & Young and so forth develop into quality players (or at least quality trade assets) and let some of these vets rot on the bench than watching this convoluted & backwards ass plan that's being carried out now.

Eddie Tapscott may be simply the guy Ernie is using to carry out this plan but that just means Ernie is an idiot too.

[miller31time]

Great post, Dat.

The crazy thing is that if we played Jamison and Butler around 30-34 minutes per game and had this record, GM's and fans could all say that the reason the Wizards are so bad this season isn't really their fault since it's clear that we're resting our stars.

But we're not doing that. We're playing Antawn and Caron 40+ minutes nightly and STILL take sucking to the extreme.

That reflects VERY poorly on our two stars because it shows that they can't carry the team. It brings their value down significantly.

This entire situation is just a disaster in every possible sense of the word. But oddly enough, very Wizards-esque.

[LyricalRico]

However the plan has to be one of the worst ideas Ernie has ever come up with. First of all, it appears to Wizards were so intent on not losing the veterans during season that they've forgotten about the young guys and now have lost them.

We've watched the vets & the coach continually throw the kids under the bus whining about effort & consistency, even when it was obvious that the kids were clearly outperforming the vets on the court.

It's created a culture that sets a dangerous precedent for the future. The young guys now may believe that playing at a high level & playing time are mutually exclusive. Heck, they see that the coaches play favorites and vets are given preference irregardless of their on-court performance. To me that's worse that giving a young guy minutes he may not necessarily deserve. At least with giving a young guy minutes, you have the possiblity that he can grow into the position, gain confidence and get better over time. By going this route of playing favorites, your sabotaging the motivation for these kids to improve and get better.

This is my major concern. At least stop the media quotes that make it seem like inconsistent play from everybody under 25 is the only reason the team is losing. What purpose does destroying their confidence serve?

[fishercob]

Not sure if everyone saw this recent piece by Ivan, but it's worth reading: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02334.html

A couple of noteworthy passages:

"You can throw a guy in and you can end up hurting his development by doing that," Tapscott said. "If you put him in and he's overwhelmed, he's not able to play the game that builds confidence. The other thing, too, is that you want to establish a certain culture within your team where you reward work ethic, approach and all those things too. You don't give things to people, people earn them. They earn them through solid play and making contributions. Otherwise, you can destroy the fabric of your team. You don't do that for any one player ever."

Agree with it or not, that's fairly revealing about the organization's philosophy on playing the kids. I can also say, having been a bench warmer on my high school team, I wasn't going to get a lot better by playing long stretches in games, getting continuosly schooled. In fact, it would have killed my confidence. The way I got better was by worker in the summer time. I'm not saying in-game experience isn't important, but let's not overstate it.

Another telling quote from Jamison:

"Just play those guys and lose games?" Jamison asked. "No, no, no. I'm not going to be a part of that. We're still trying to win games. Those guys have to earn their minutes and learn how to be professionals. That's how it is in this league."

I have to respect that attitude. I am less concerned about limiting Jamison's minutes because he's proven so durable. Butler's another story, but for now I have to just hope for the best.I think a lot this comes down to the old Herm Edwards adage. And once the Wiz start sitting their better players in favor of getting the kids experience, there could be some unintended negative consequences.

[LyricalRico]

So Jamison, a guy who only plays on one half of the floor and hasn't won ANYTHING is dictating how the team uses it's players? Mom and pop organization indeed.

It would be different if the team were hovering around .500 with the vets and they wanted to fight it out instead of raising the white flag. BUT THEY ARE LOSING GAMES ANYWAY! That's why this is so frustrating.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Doclinkin inferred something in another post that actually goes a long way toward explaining this fiasco.

As a condition of being an "interim coach", Grunfeld probably agreed to let Tapscott have full control of the team until the trade deadline. The idea was to give Tapscott a full opportunity to prove his ability as a head coach. Tapscott was presumably unwilling to coach with one hand tied behind his back because of a some mandate to groom youngsters.

Hopefully, the agreement includes a plan to focus on developing the youth if the playoffs are out of reach by the trade deadline.

Interesting inference, indeed. (How alliterative ..)

As for any speculative agreement upon inferred deal: I don't think that matters at all, nate.

If I'm EG I can always fire Tapscott and bring in Wes Jr. if I'm worried about youth not playing after the trade deadline passes. EG is the GM and his ass is swinging in the wind so I know he'll get rid of Tapscott to save his own skin if need be.

That said, I don't really think there's a chance Tapscott and Grunfeld AREN'T on the same page. Just in case they aren't the interim can be shortened.

What I think is the bad record and tanking and Gil and Brendan taking forever to return all serve the greater good in the long haul: More lottery balls.

[fishercob]

Who are you going to put out there that's going to do a better job than Jamison, Rico?

I know Jamison is ineffective on D, but I don;t think he doesn't try on D -- and I dont think he makes stupid plays. He's phyically limited and good teams exploit those limitations.

The kids -- as kids are prone to do -- almost all didn't show up tonight. That's going to happen from time to time with a team this young and injured. I don't think that's a symptom of a mom and pop organization.

[fishercob]

What I think is the bad record and tanking and Gil and Brendan taking forever to return all serve the greater good in the long haul: More lottery balls.

Agreed. It's always darkest before the dawn. The Wizards are going to be good next year.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Doclinkin inferred something in another post that actually goes a long way toward explaining this fiasco.

As a condition of being an "interim coach", Grunfeld probably agreed to let Tapscott have full control of the team until the trade deadline. The idea was to give Tapscott a full opportunity to prove his ability as a head coach. Tapscott was presumably unwilling to coach with one hand tied behind his back because of a some mandate to groom youngsters.

Hopefully, the agreement includes a plan to focus on developing the youth if the playoffs are out of reach by the trade deadline.

quoted for emphasis

We're at the point with assuming it will take 38 wins to make the playoffs of being within 6 losses of having to go on a 28 game winning streak to make the playoffs. If we're still playing Butler, Jamison, and James big minutes after the trade deadline there will be no reasonable justification for that.

It's a stupid-assed thing to be doing, regardless of the Wizards' record. My whole point in starting this thread is it's lunacy no matter how you slice it.

Too many minutes are reducing Jamison's useful career minutes and increasing chance of debilitating injury. Too many minutes to Butler who's mailing it in and feeling entitiled to all star consideration is cancerous to the young guys. Too many minutes to chuckers who aren't defending while giving quick hook to McGee who already plays like every game is his last sends a terrible message to McGee and fans alike.

Worse, is the coach is apparently too dense to understand it would probably be synergistically better to have games that don't go according his formula. if AJ's tired on a back-to-back and playing like ass, then a 16-24 minute outing could give him and his replacement at PF (Blatche/DMac/DSong a world of good).

Any how, I could go on, but the minutes Jamison's playing and Butler's playing (and also James and Stevenson are playing) just don't make a bit of sense to me.

[LyricalRico]

Who are you going to put out there that's going to do a better job than Jamison, Rico?

I don't know who I would put because I don't know how good these guys can be because they're always sitting on the bench in warmups. Besides, it's not about them being better than Jamison right now. It's about developing for the future.

Again, if the team was winning with Jamison you'd be absolutely correct. But they are still losing games faster than anybody else in the entire NBA. At this point it doesn't matter if Jamison plays or not. So why not see what you have in the young players.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

okay, I'ma rant a bit here so bear with me:

1. I hate the cop out used by many on here and elsewhere that somehow meddling ol' Abe Pollin has something to do with this. I seriously doubt Abe is telling Ernie who to play or what to do considering how sick Abe has been recently. Heck, Abe hasn't even made a public appearance in nearly a year. Ernie Grunfeld isn't some weak, no-backbone GM (like Chris Wallace for example) who'd let some 80 yr old near-senile man walk all over him and ruin his reputation. EG could walk away and have a job somewhere else in no time. Grunfeld has worked meticulously to get complete control of the basketball operations so he could have total autonomy in terms of the decision making process. I think Ernie is the major reason that Susan O'Malley is no longer here. He "gently" pushed her out so he wouldn't have someone undermining his decisions by continuing to whisper in Abe's ear. In other words, he consolidated the power structure so the only voice Abe would hear would be his.

Does this sound like a man who'd let an owner undermine his decision making and reputation by forcing him to sign this player or that player against his will, or meddle in actual player rotations? Sure Ernie likely has a financial mandate to probably stay under the lux tax until we can compete for a title but outside of that I think Ernie has complete authority to do want he wants in relation to trades & coaching choices. Abe loved Susan O'Malley, but she's gone. Abe loved Eddie Jordan, but he's gone. Stop sleeping on Ernie, he's a man of his own volition.

2. As hands mentioned, the GM and coach now are on the same side. And honestly, that's kinda scary considering what were seeing from this coach. Hands, I know you support E-Tap and believe there's a plan in place and I agree with you to that extent that E-Tap is executing that plan.

However the plan has to be one of the worst ideas Ernie has ever come up with. First of all, it appears to Wizards were so intent on not losing the veterans during season that they've forgotten about the young guys and now have lost them.

We've watched the vets & the coach continually throw the kids under the bus whining about effort & consistency, even when it was obvious that the kids were clearly outperforming the vets on the court.

It's created a culture that sets a dangerous precedent for the future. The young guys now may believe that playing at a high level & playing time are mutually exclusive. Heck, they see that the coaches play favorites and vets are given preference irregardless of their on-court performance. To me that's worse that giving a young guy minutes he may not necessarily deserve. At least with giving a young guy minutes, you have the possiblity that he can grow into the position, gain confidence and get better over time. By going this route of playing favorites, your sabotaging the motivation for these kids to improve and get better.

I agree that EG is trying to build up the trade value of guys like James, Stevenson & Etan (before he got hurt), however none of these guys are going to get you an expiring contract even if they were playing moderately well...and they weren't. Their performance has been absolutely dreadful at best. Etan couldn't be traded when he was healthy, what makes anyone think its any different now after heart surgery & declining play? Mike James is a running joke around the league. No playoff team would dare put him in their rotation unless they absolutely had no other option. Even then, you could sign a NBDL scrub to do better for cheap and without the baggage. Stevenson is a historically bad shooting guard. His numbers defy logic for an NBA player that actually started for as long as he has.

It was a waste of time, space & opportunity to play these guys to "rebuild" or "strengthen" their trade value. More aptly, it was like beating a dead horse. Totally and utterly pointless.

And that also describes Caron & Jamison, our great supposed "veteran leaders" getting 40 minutes a night because they want to get their empty numbers so it doesn't look like this 10 win season is their fault.

By scapegoating the young guys and not giving them minutes the Wizards have put their development at risk. That's not worth 2 or 3 spots in the draft lottery IMO. I'd rather see McGee, Blatche & Young and so forth develop into quality players (or at least quality trade assets) and let some of these vets rot on the bench than watching this convoluted & backwards ass plan that's being carried out now.

Eddie Tapscott may be simply the guy Ernie is using to carry out this plan but that just means Ernie is an idiot too.

Nothing to add, 'cept I really like the big parts and the bottom line.

(And it's my birthday and I'm deliriously happy even though I haven't gotten any ... yet ... and I'm not drunk or high or anything ... or off the meds).

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Great post, Dat.

The crazy thing is that if we played Jamison and Butler around 30-34 minutes per game and had this record, GM's and fans could all say that the reason the Wizards are so bad this season isn't really their fault since it's clear that we're resting our stars.

But we're not doing that. We're playing Antawn and Caron 40+ minutes nightly and STILL take sucking to the extreme.

That reflects VERY poorly on our two stars because it shows that they can't carry the team. It brings their value down significantly.

This entire situation is just a disaster in every possible sense of the word. But oddly enough, very Wizards-esque.

fisher, I remember thinking about 2-3 years ago that in actuality Brendan Haywood is the second best Wizard to a healthy Gil. Even thought then that Brendan's presence was actually more important than Gil's based on how much of the defense he provided and how profoundly more effective Brendan was at C compared to Etan.

Jamison and Butler have gotten way more credit than they deserve and the record this season speaks for itself. Haywood held things down last season and steady PG play and scrappy play from DeShawn and RMJ PLUS the all star offense of both Caron and Antawn all came together last season.

What went unnoticed is how inspirational and pivotal Haywood's play was in saving the asses of EJ, AJ, and CB.

[LyricalRico]

Speaking of Jamison and Butler being overrated, am I the only one noticing 3-5 plays per game where they ignore open teammates and only pass the ball to each other? Somebody like DMac or McGee will be open but they'll hold the ball until the other "All Star" works to get open so he can pad his stats. It's pretty blatant sometimes. I think they've completely bought into this whole "the young guys are causing all of our problems and we need to teach them a lesson" idea and I think that's very dangerous for this team's future prospects.

[MJG]

Speaking of Jamison and Butler being overrated, am I the only one noticing 3-5 plays per game where they ignore open teammates and only pass the ball to each other? Somebody like DMac or McGee will be open but they'll hold the ball until the other "All Star" works to get open so he can pad his stats. It's pretty blatant sometimes. I think they've completely bought into this whole "the young guys are causing all of our problems and we need to teach them a lesson" idea and I think that's very dangerous for this team's future prospects.

I noticed it with Jamison very early in the season actually, specifically with McGee. He just would not pass him the ball, no matter how obvious it was that he should. This has only gotten worse as the season has gone on, spreading to the other younger players - he simply doesn't appear to like throwing them the ball if there is any other option whatsoever. And as you mention, Caron has joined in with him as of late as well. It's really disturbing, and honestly, can make the game really truly difficult to want to watch when it's at its worst.

[Kanyewest]

While I believe that Butler and Jamison's minutes should be cut to perhaps 35 mpg here are some factors to consider:

On playing Jamison and Butler close 40 minutes, It certainly makes it easier to trade Butler and Jamison. For instance, if Jamison started cutting down on his minutes dramatically, other GMs would believe that Jamison is declining and can't be a full time starter anymore. With their inflated aggregate stats, there could be a GM who would overvalue them.

And from Caron Butler's perspective, he wants to increase his value for his contract year. There are going to be losers in LeBron James sweepstakes, so there are going to be a few teams that will still have cap room in 2010-11 that need a small forward and one may overpay for his services. Playing at a high level from this point on and proving that he can stay healthy will increase his value.

And as much as I would like to believe this team is tanking on purpose, they are just playing that badly. But their pride is on the line. They don't want to finish with the worst record in the league. They believe that playing their guns close 40 minutes per game will save them from being the worst team. The organization also doesn't want to create a culture of losing.

Maybe guys like Butler and Jamison aren't good enough to turn it off and on like great players such as Shaquille O'Neal. The best way for them to maintain their productivity is to put forth their maximum effort every night.

And it's not unusual for good, veteran players on bad teams to log major minutes.

- Vince Carter logged 38.9 mpg in the 2007-08 season
- Ray Allen logged 40.3 mpg in the 2006-07 on a bad Seattle Supersonics team
- KG logged 39 mpg per game in his final season with the T-Wolves
- Paul Pierce played 37 mpg coming off an injury in the 06-07 season
- Shawn Marion played over 40 mpg before Steve Nash's arrival

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

While I believe that Butler and Jamison's minutes should be cut to perhaps 35 mpg here are some factors to consider:

On playing Jamison and Butler close 40 minutes, It certainly makes it easier to trade Butler and Jamison. For instance, if Jamison started cutting down on his minutes dramatically, other GMs would believe that Jamison is declining and can't be a full time starter anymore. With their inflated aggregate stats, there could be a GM who would overvalue them.

And from Caron Butler's perspective, he wants to increase his value for his contract year. There are going to be losers in LeBron James sweepstakes, so there are going to be a few teams that will still have cap room in 2010-11 that need a small forward and one may overpay for his services. Playing at a high level from this point on and proving that he can stay healthy will increase his value.

And as much as I would like to believe this team is tanking on purpose, they are just playing that badly. But their pride is on the line. They don't want to finish with the worst record in the league. They believe that playing their guns close 40 minutes per game will save them from being the worst team. The organization also doesn't want to create a culture of losing.

Maybe guys like Butler and Jamison aren't good enough to turn it off and on like great players such as Shaquille O'Neal. The best way for them to maintain their productivity is to put forth their maximum effort every night.

And it's not unusual for good, veteran players on bad teams to log major minutes.

- Vince Carter logged 38.9 mpg in the 2007-08 season
- Ray Allen logged 40.3 mpg in the 2006-07 on a bad Seattle Supersonics team
- KG logged 39 mpg per game in his final season with the T-Wolves
- Paul Pierce played 37 mpg coming off an injury in the 06-07 season
- Shawn Marion played over 40 mpg before Steve Nash's arrival

Good post, KW.

What I think is EG and Tanks are doing what NBA teams do: Play the guys based on the name of the player and much the pay them. They're giving the contracts, the offense the guys supply, and veteran status preference. Most teams will play their main offensie guy 37 or so minutes. EJ/Tank--EG's guys tend to bump that up to 40 minutes a game.

KW, as for their pride on the line I say they're reall stupid if they don't figure out they'd win more games playing Jamison and Butler both 25-30 minutes, but just having them on the court at the end of tight games IF they need go to scoring.

Best bet to win games would be with healthy Blatche, McGuire, McGee, and Nick Young all balling; but with Jamison's steady rebounding and Caron's edgy play featured in unselfish roles.

A good coach would turn this Wizard team into something near .500 over the last half of the season by simply lettling McGee, Young, McGuire, and Blatche go but closing with them and whatever vet is hot. Intentionally limit Butler's minutes to make him fiery and tell him to pass, drive, and play defense--that would be all it takes.

I'm thinking the tanking's a good thing for now, though.