Wiz losing ways- feels right

[Ruzious]

I like Harden a lot, but I wouldn't draft him top 3. For a guard, I either trade down for Henderson of Duke or Williams of Louisville, or I bank on Green of UNC being there in the 2nd round. Henderson and Williams both have star potential, imo, and Green would be a great fit as a role player - to split time with Young.

I don't get the hype on Holliday. I think he needs to stay in school.

[dobrojim]

the draftexpress write up on one of them made me wonder why he was
ranked so high....then they started talking about defense. Looking again,
it was Holliday. Never seen him play so I'm not sure what to say about him.
But given our defensive deficiencies, someone that shines in that area sounds
like an intriguing pick, although as you say, perhaps not at #3.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

don't feel right to me at all

that said, it's become what's expected on a nightly basis

the one ray of hope I have is that we've been in a LOT of
games in the 4thQ and with Gil, a fair number, as opposed
to say almost none, of those games would be wins.

We just better get lucky in the lotto.

Good point, jim. This is definitely a stick close only to fade at the end team.

Gil with solid legs hits the big shots late in games. More than a fair number of those games would be wins with healthy Arenas, provided the team's still a scrappy enough team to be in games in the fourth.

As far as the lottery, it's going to be good for the Wizards, regardless IMO....

I believe chances are whoever the Wizards draft that player WILL help. Even if it ends up not being Griffin I feel good about Harden, Holiday, Clarke, Teague, Monroe (because they'd be trading somebody or Greg), or just about any tradeable asset the Wizards acquire.

The lottery position in and of itself is very valuable because the Wizards might end up drafting a player somebody else covets.

[bulletproof_32]

don't feel right to me at all

that said, it's become what's expected on a nightly basis

the one ray of hope I have is that we've been in a LOT of
games in the 4thQ and with Gil, a fair number, as opposed
to say almost none, of those games would be wins.

We just better get lucky in the lotto.

Good point, jim. This is definitely a stick close only to fade at the end team.

Gil with solid legs hits the big shots late in games. More than a fair number of those games would be wins with healthy Arenas, provided the team's still a scrappy enough team to be in games in the fourth.

As far as the lottery, it's going to be good for the Wizards, regardless IMO....

I believe chances are whoever the Wizards draft that player WILL help. Even if it ends up not being Griffin I feel good about Harden, Holiday, Clarke, Teague, Monroe (because they'd be trading somebody or Greg), or just about any tradeable asset the Wizards acquire.

The lottery position in and of itself is very valuable because the Wizards might end up drafting a player somebody else covets.

The patented 4th quarter collapses actually give me hope for the future, as well.

To me, the 4th quarter is where the losses of both Gil and Wood are so obvious. We can't get any stops in the 4th and our "scorers" can't get easy buckets like Gil can when the opposing teams clamp down.

Having one of Gil or Wood would easily turn around a number of the close 4th quarter games.

Getting both of them back and adding another impact player this summer (either via draft or trade), definitely makes me optimistic about next year/ the future.

[He Hate Me]

i see we're all at different stages of grief. Some are overly optimistic borderline-delusional (trading Jamison/Blatche for Amare...) while others like me are lethargic.

[doclinkin]

I dunno. Doesn't feel 'right' to me to be losing, except considering how many injuries we have. I suppose I had higher aspirations for the team but we were star-crossed with various medical disasters. The Bullets teams of past years gave me little enough room for high hopes so any small success was sufficient-- If we could steal a game from one of the big boys and fight hard even in a losing cause well fine. I appreciated the effort of 4th tier talents like Chris Whitney, playing on two sprained ankles.

I'm a couple different ways with this team/roster. Seems to me our talent is better than our output, even with the injuries. Some part of that is experience, training, high-level post-season college play or lack thereof. Some part of it is coaching. Longterm.

With EJ I had the feeling that no matter what you never knew what would shake out. That we could always catch hot and defy our statistics or conventional wisdom, win with no-defense tweeners, uptempo or slowed down, the guys were never disheartened even in rough circumstances and never slacked on motivation even when by all rights they had a good excuse. Seemed to me all we needed was a bit of health at the right time. And eventually the rooks and puppies would sort it all out, learn to win.

Now I got trepidation. Not really sure what's gonna happen with the roster, since any deals we make now aren't from a position of strength. Even to dump salaries we have no demonstrable dominant players and game-changers that teams will salivate over. Our best value player is a consummate glue-guy, with a few defensive questionmarks. And we're stocked with difficult contracts, choked with cap-clogging deals. So the roster we have may be what we've got. But I don't see many offensively inventive coaches who could make this roster flow the way they used to. And we lack some pieces for a defensive re-fit. The probability is we'll see changes-- and even at 9 wins change ain't always a good thing, for the longterm. Where's the best mismatches to our advantage? Gilbert, only, if he ever gets 100%...

Maybe we never get healthy and have to blow it all up. Maybe. Seems to me though we'd do fine with our starters all healed rested and back in game shape. Or simply even inserting a healthy Gil into the Dmac-CB-Tawn-Blatche line-up. We've got a collection of good guys and underdogs, I just want to see vindication for the lost hopes. Though unfortunately without EJ, a similar decent human being.

You know, Obama won, however implausible, why not them Wiz?

Thing is the team could go a few different ways. Never know what Abe is thinking, and at this point in his long life I suspect it's tougher to stay patient. He keeps his own counsel, seems like any GM may be at risk, whatever their midterm plan.

The lotto pick, I have mixed feelings. This year isn't deeply stocked with obvious successes. My 1-B favorite player is a probable late-lotto pick undersized skinny guard, whatever his NBA pedigree. And I suspect we will end up with neither the worst record nor the top pick. And in that case, looking at the roster I'd bet Ernie tries to swap both picks + filler for a veteran who can play next to semi-untradeable guys like Gil or 'Tawn. Might as well try to maximize what we've got in their short term window of success. Still, I don't see who he would land. So who knows.

Eh. Whatever. It's a weird feeling being ambivalent about losses. I still love the wins, but hey pingpong balls are our usual compensation, though usually in years when the roster is hopeless. We're on the edge is all, which makes it actually that much more of a risk. So close... and yet....

It all hinges on the next coach.

[Dat2U]

The probability is we'll see changes-- and even at 9 wins change ain't always a good thing, for the longterm.
...

Maybe we never get healthy and have to blow it all up. Maybe. Seems to me though we'd do fine with our starters all healed rested and back in game shape. Or simply even inserting a healthy Gil into the Dmac-CB-Tawn-Blatche line-up. We've got a collection of good guys and underdogs, I just want to see vindication for the lost hopes. Though unfortunately without EJ, a similar decent human being.
...

looking at the roster I'd bet Ernie tries to swap both picks + filler for a veteran who can play next to semi-untradeable guys like Gil or 'Tawn. Might as well try to maximize what we've got in their short term window of success. Still, I don't see who he would land. So who knows.

Couple of thoughts to this.

1. A team with 9 wins through 45 games should make a change MANDATORY!

What we've seen this year is Caron & Antawn while putting up good numbers stat wise, don't add up to much in the win column. Reason: both are undersized tweeners and both give away much if not more defensively than what they bring to the table offensively. Let's face it, Brendan Haywood was even more underrated than we thought. He did a helluva of a job making those two look passable occassionally on the defensive end.

We've got to break this twosome up. At Jamison's age & contract, of course he's the preferred candidate to be moved. We've got to get bigger at one of the forward spots, if not both.

2. Good guys and underdogs our team may be, but it hasn't gotten us anywhere. It may make a nice personal story for some but the fact is we can't compete with the elite teams. At best, when everything is clicking and we are healthy, were still a 2nd tier team in the East. I could see us possibly lucking up and getting a favorable 1st round matchup but were still fodder for the Celtics & Cavs of the world and I also think the Magic have past us regardless of how healthy we are.

3. Eddie was a good guy. But he had his faults and he lost his job not because he started 1-10 this year, but because of his biggest flaw. The unwillingness or inability to get this team to play credible defense. Five years and no improvement on that end of the court, only futher regression year after year. It's the type of flaw that doomed this team to 40-plus win seasons even in the best of health.

4. I do agree with you that I see GMEG staying pat and using our lottery pick to deal for a veteran. My guess is he probably thinks that a yr of improved health and another solid vet will help get us on another 3-4 yr playoff run with possibly even winning a series or two down the road. I'm just afraid that EG will turn to another no-defense, offensive minded veteran to be that guy he trades for, i.e. another Antawn Jamison. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we see Michael Redd or a Rip Hamilton acquired for the pick along with dumping some bad contracts. Maybe its because I have such a low opinion of EG at this point.

[dobrojim]

I guess I have kind of a love-hate relationship with AJ

He is obviously flawed, but at the same time, a definite talent.
The further obvious dilemma is whether we'd actually get better
by trading him for someone else the who would it be going part
ways towards giving us some idea of whether or not it would be an
actual improvement.

The other alternative that has been discussed at considerable
length is to get a physical stud type PF and let AJ get 25-30
mpg off the bench at both fwd spots. For a guy who if played
full time, gets you 20-10 on a lot of nights, his contract is not
outrageous. This to me seems like a more ideal solution. But
it all depends on what is actually possible and no of us on
RealGM knows that.

All that said, I'd trade him for Bosh, Amare and a number of others
probably as well. Why not? I like him as well as the next guy and
wouldn't mind if he stuck around but we all know this is a business
and you gotta perform.