Do the Wizards stink at developing players?

[keynote]

We've had a lot of discussion about Eddie (and now Ed's) ability to manage games, rotations, install defensive schemes. I want to focus on the specific long-term issue of player development. From where I sit, I am very much concerned about our coaching staff's ability to develop young talent.


From a fan's perspective, our youngsters range in dedication and work ethic from the lazy (Blatche) to the slightly goofy (Young) to the average work ethic (McGuire, McGee), to the "gym rat" (Pecherov). Obviously, a player's work ethic plays a huge role in whether that player can make huge improvements in his game. Yet, despite the spectrum of work habits displayed by our youngsters, one thing is clear: we have yet to see significant improvement in BBall IQ and/or fundamentals in any of them.

- Blatche makes many of the same boneheaded decisions he made in Year One. He's a more effective player now than he was as a rookie, but how much is that due to coaching? Frankly, one could attribute his improvement solely to physical maturity, rather than any fundamental skills development.

- Young, in his second year, hasn't improved much defensively. He's an instinctive scorer, but he was a gifted scorer last year. His handle, range, ability to finish in traffic, etc., is all about the same as it was last year. I think he's put on a few pounds, though, so I guess the Training Staff can accept some of the credit for that.

- McGuire has added a bit of a jumper, but other than that, he's merely getting more minutes due to the injury-depleted roster. Props to Hopla, I guess, but not much else to see here.

- Pecherov is treading water. His body hasn't changed much, and he's still a one-note player.

- McGee. Grade: Incomplete, since it's his first season.

And, if we go back a few years, we see similarly flat growth trajectories for Jared Jeffries and Kwame.

On the flip side, we do see dramatic improvement from Gilbert and Haywood. Haywood in particular really added dimensions to his game and fundamental skill set. Haywood isn't dominant, but his game doesn't have any holes at this point, either. Gilbert, of course, built himself into a borderline superstar--but, he does still need more polishing as well.
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So, how should a team groom average youngsters? Obviously, the job of grooming a young Durant is different from the job of grooming a young mid-first rounder, so let's ignore the ROY candidates. Which teams do more with average rooks and 2nd year players? And, is that based on the sheer talent of those players, or the coaching staffs' ability to teach them?

In DET, Stuckey is able to step in and play starter minutes for a playoff team. Ditto with Rondo in BOS. Now, in both situations, they're surrounded by savvy, defensive-minded vets. But do Joe D and Ainge get credit for finding solid contributors with upside, or do their coaching staffs get credit for properly teaching those kids enough of the basics to allow them to contribute at all?

Anyway, I'm teeing it up for discussion.

[Silvie Lysandra]

Haywood was always a good player.
Arenas was going to be a superstar no matter what, it was obvious from his second season.

No credit to the Wiz in that regard.

Butler was going to be good too.

The Wizards are probably the worst player development team in the NBA.

[dlts20]

I disagree with you about our young guys. 1st off I always thought EJ sucked at developing players, espicaly young bigs. I think very few coaches and teams develope players. Pop seems to do a solid job and Boston is doing it with Thibedau but even that seems more of just being a good system and defensive guru then it is purely developing a player. Basicaly Im saying that 9 times out of 10 a player is going to be what he's going to be and the only thing that really changes is the situation and the oppurtunities.

When you look at our young guys, I think there as talented as any young guys in the league but there truly in a "middle of the road" situation. There more in the middle then any young players in the leauge are. By that I mean that there not on a totally young horrilbe team without stars where then can play 40mpg and put up numbers while at the same time they dont have the Super Stars and vets that can make the game easy for them.. Our record totally sucks but its still a totally different situaion then other young players. I beleive that you would be thinking differently about Young if he was on Memphis or LAC right now playing 40mpg and having the green light. He probably would average 20ppg like that, dont you think? I mean even look at Stuckey. You dont think a guy like Young could do some things if he was on the Pistons and they had kept Billups but traded Rip? Young would be putting up numbers on that team also and they would be winning. Players are just in different situations. I compare it to the NFL where a guy like Santana Moss may put up huge numbers if he played with Brady or Peyton and would be considered one of the best in the game but now he's on the Skins where he has to always depend on average QB's that makes him not seem elite when he really is.

The same goes for a guy like Blatche. There is no Center in this league that can guard him but Tap wont give him the green light at all and he's never going to play a ton of minutes. Put him on another bad team where he gets the green light and plays 36mpg then he probably could average like 16 & 9 and we would be looking at him differently. Last but not least and I say this all the time, you cannot judge any of our young guys fairly unless your going to give them the green light & play them 40mpg like other teams do "or" until Arenas gets back. Thats what people overlook so much. If there not going to get the big minutes and green light then you cant rip them at all until they play with Arenas because I beleive he makes them all 10x better. There all athletic guys and we have no real PG except for Critt who is still young and doesnt play much. I bet if you ran a lineup right now of Gil, NY, Dmac, Blatche, and McGee then all those guys would instantly look better with Gil pushing the rock and getting them a ton of easy shots. If you watch guys like David Lee, Milsap, and so on, they have it way way way easier then Blatche & McGee. All our players have to score one on one. They have to. They never are setup by anyone or have a PG who can drive and dish like those other players do. It changes everything. Dont compare our young guys to others until you see them get the minutes & green light that those other guys do or until you see them play with Gil where they can get alot more easy shots and be finishers instead of making plays for themselves all the time

[JWizmentality]

Yes.

[FreeBalling]

Haywood was always a good player.
Arenas was going to be a superstar no matter what, it was obvious from his second season.

No credit to the Wiz in that regard.

Butler was going to be good too.

The Wizards are probably the worst player development team in the NBA.

Who is in charge of player development? Could it be?

[hands11]

dlts20. That has a lot to do with it.

Young player learn better in a vet environment where they are practicing against polished players who can teach them something. I have seen lots of team with lots of young talent and they usually suck. Sure someone or two put up decent numbers but they are usually losers. But it's not just vet players, it vet players who know how to teach younger players and share the ball enough to help them grow and it's a head coach who can manages vet players.

You know when you get plugged into a winning Celtics team that there is a pride and an expectation put on you. Players want to play for those teams. A player like KG makes it like joining the Marines. Kobe makes it the same way. SA and DET are the same way. It's hard and challenging but your a part of a winning organization. There is ball busting and support.

As has been said, EFJ was no good with the post players or young players in general. He would be fine as a coach of the Celtics. Problem is, until you get a team at that level, you have to grown your own unless your really lucky.

As for developing our younger players. DMAC has improved and so have Crit. Blatche is playing better this year. What does that leave... NY and McGee. McGee is just young and NY is a flake. Crit and DMAC followed instruction. They started simple with a few core things they needed to do to help the team and then they grew their games from there. McGee and NY seem to be having a harder time with this concept but I can say I have seen McGees leverage in the post improve.

As for OP. I don't get that one. So two player have improved a lot. McGee a little less. NY is all over the place and OP I don't get. It takes the player and the coaches for the player to get better so it's hard to rank this. I guess a C or a B so I would say we are doing ok to good.

[Silvie Lysandra]

The problem is that our two most prominent veterans have openly tried to undermine the young players. How is that going to help develop them when Butler and Jamison literally refuse to pass the ball to the young players even when they work hard to get open?

[hands11]

The problem is that our two most prominent veterans have openly tried to undermine the young players. How is that going to help develop them when Butler and Jamison literally refuse to pass the ball to the young players even when they work hard to get open?

I think CB will pass to them but the better solution is to have a PG. AJ is a scorer. He will pass some but that's not really what he does. CB is a passer but I think he has been forced into trying to be more of a scorer. He would pass more if we had more scorer.

But if Crit can be the passer, then that free CB up more to be more of a scorer and like last game, even AJ can get some easier shots. DSong is a player who greatly benefits from being feed in stride. That is the biggest thing missing here. Someone who makes it easier for the scorers to score. Crit feed James in perfect timing for a 3 ball that he hit. James was playing SG. He was in rhythm so the stroke of smooth. It was a much easier shot then him dribbling up court and having to decide should I shoot or pass.

For me, my main focus is on watching to see how Crit can step it up and progress. That is the one thing that will ease the load on everyone else on the team offensively which should leave more energy for defense. Everyone has more fun when they are scoring more easily, getting hit in stride or a dunk or a wide open shot or with Mcgee, the alley-op. It gets the players pumped. It gets the crowd into the game. We haven't had a really good PG in so long, I think people have forgotten what a positive effect it can have.

Hell, most of what made PHX so good over the last few years was Nash. When he would get hurt, the whole offense went down. That team had slashers and spot up shooters, not one on one guys with handles like NY.

While we are waiting to see what EG does to move things. While we wait for the trade deadline. My eyes are on Crit. I really hope he keeps getting better and if we are really lucky, he breaks out and the team starts to trust him to he the PG floor general who can get them easy shots. If he only had Haywood out there, it would be a lot easier. He really doesn't have a good post option right now. At least Blatche coming back should help.

[hands11]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01942.html

"He was put into a tough situation and he's kept these guys together and he's kept them playing hard," Grunfeld said. "He's put in a real rigorous routine for our younger players as far as weight room, skill development and conditioning. It's been real difficult for him but he's hung in there and kept the situation going in a positive direction. Obviously, no one's happy with the wins and losses but I think we've seen development from our players and they've shown progress."


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Looks like they are doing some things differently that will help them develop. People are being kind of ridicules judging the man so harshly in such a short period of time under these conditions. When I heard they were going with Tapps, I was really happy. I thought it was a smart move. You have to cut the guy some slack. Give it some time. He is doing things that EFJ wasn't doing. It's not just going to turn into gold instantly and without so many players.

AB, Haywood, Etan, DS, GA, and now recently CB or Dixon.

In another article they mentioned that Tapps and EG think Crit turned the corner against Phili and that they now trust him to produce on the floor. That is huge. Now if we get CB and Blatche back we will be more developed then we have been in a while.

I can see James getting benched for Crit. I may take till the trade deadline or not. We will see what happens when CB returns. After that, we should see Blatche. This rest should be good for Blatche. I think he was fighting some ankle problems that should be better with the rest.

Crit, CB, DMAC, AJ, Blatche
Dixon, James, NY, OP, DSong, McGee

I think at this point they may be better starting NY

Crit, NY, CB, AJ, Blatche
Dixon, James, DMAC, OP, DSong, McGee

Let Dixon back up the PG with James at his more natural SG. Everything falls into place nicer like this. Everyone is playing a more natural position except Blatche but without Haywood he is the center.

This is where we should be once Blatche is back. I think they will look a lot more better. Tapps will at least have some options. More D, you can rest AJ, move Blatche to PF with McGee or DSong at center.