Game Thread: Tanks Melo - Wiz @ Nugz

[Ced67]

Crit
N1
McGuire
O-Pec
McGee

Pinch me.

They all played together but they sure did stink the joint up, it was almost funny. Here's the sequence.

Rejection, Dunk by Denver, repeat

Even if that was the case, it wouldn't bother me a bit. No better way to learn is from their own mistakes.

But in reality, they came in down 12 and thrown against the Nuggets starting 5 and held serve for more than 7 minutes until a couple of vets were reinserted into the lineup (they left with the same 12 point spread)

Stop blaming the vets man, the vets where the reason they where in the game to begin with, early in the first. It was when the young guys came in off of the bench early that the game got away. This lineup in right now is clueless. I know people want to see the young guys get run but if the reason they arent playing as much is because they arent working hard enough, I have absolutely no problem with that. If they arent working during practice and not giving max effort than they shouldn't be rewarded by getting PT. If you'll notice the only one who's getting consistent PT is McGuire and he's known as one of the hardest workers on the team. If they arent working hard they shouldn't get PT period. Its setting a bad precedent.

[FreeBalling]

Same ol 4th Qtr.

[WizStorm]

Stop blaming the vets man, the vets where the reason they where in the game to begin with, early in the first. It was when the young guys came in off of the bench early that the game got away. This lineup in right now is clueless. I know people want to see the young guys get run but if the reason they arent playing as much is because they arent working hard enough, I have absolutely no problem with that. If they arent working during practice and not giving max effort than they shouldn't be rewarded by getting PT. If you'll notice the only one who's getting consistent PT is McGuire and he's known as one of the hardest workers on the team. If they arent working hard they shouldn't get PT period. Its setting a bad precedent.

Kindly show me anywhere that I was blaming anyone, vet or otherwise. My only point was the missed golden opportunity for playing time for the youngsters in such a craptacular season.

But if you do want me to go there, I would point out that even with near unlimited playing time for the vets, the Wizards' record speaks for itself. There simply ain't no one that is healthy on the roster that actually deserves consistent PT. Sure the youngsters make plenty of mistakes and more than there share of boneheaded plays. But at the same time, they seem to play with so much more energy that many times it helps cover up those mistakes. That was the case tonight, where you just want to focus on what they did wrong, but fail to acknowledge any of the positives. And in the end, they actually outperformed their veteran starting counterparts where it mattered, on the scoreboard.

[Ced67]

Stop blaming the vets man, the vets where the reason they where in the game to begin with, early in the first. It was when the young guys came in off of the bench early that the game got away. This lineup in right now is clueless. I know people want to see the young guys get run but if the reason they arent playing as much is because they arent working hard enough, I have absolutely no problem with that. If they arent working during practice and not giving max effort than they shouldn't be rewarded by getting PT. If you'll notice the only one who's getting consistent PT is McGuire and he's known as one of the hardest workers on the team. If they arent working hard they shouldn't get PT period. Its setting a bad precedent.

Kindly show me anywhere that I was blaming anyone, vet or otherwise. My only point was the missed golden opportunity for playing time for the youngsters in such a craptacular season.

But if you do want me to go there, I would point out that even with near unlimited playing time for the vets, the Wizards' record speaks for itself. There simply ain't no one that is healthy on the roster that actually deserves consistent PT. Sure the youngsters make plenty of mistakes and more than there share of boneheaded plays. But at the same time, they seem to play with so much more energy that many times it helps cover up those mistakes. That was the case tonight, where you just want to focus on what they did wrong, but simply fail to acknowledge that there were positives from their play where in the end, they actually outperformed their veteran starting counterparts.

Yeah, I misread you're post the first time, when I saw "until the vets came in," I thought you where blaming it on the vets, my apologies. As far as the game is concerned. You and me must have been watching a different game. Yeah NY had a couple of shots go in, a lot of which came off of 1 on 5 play, and McGee had a couple of good follow ups but when it was the 5 young guys playing together, it was a train wreck. Chris Anderson and JR Smith dominated them, they couldn't even run a play. And also what I saw was NY and McGee trying to make a spectacular play, in a tit for tat against JR Smith and Chris Anderson that they clearly lost, instead of making the right play. Now if those guys where in there trying to execute in late game situations, I would be all for more playing time for those guys so they can grow, but if all they are going to do is go 1 on 5(NY) and power slam and do a salute, which is driving me insane by the way(McGee), instead of making good plays, then I could care less if they get consistent minutes.

When McGee learns how to play some position defense and hit the jumper that he takes every time he posts up, maybe I wouldn't have so big a problem with his salute, but the guy has done nothing and he already has a signature, come on.

[no D in Hibachi]

I agree that JR Smith dominated Young, however I don't agree that Young plays 1 on 5. He maybe plays 1 on 5 once or twice a game, but I didn't really see him force the issue to the point where he was being selfish tonight. I mean he only took 13 shots and converted on 7, which is above 50%. To be honest, I would have liked it if he were a bit more aggressive with his shot tonight because the Wiz needed a bit more offense.

For what it's worth, I'm not too ashamed that N1 was abused by JR Smith. I follow the Nuggets pretty closely out here and I'd argue that he's the most talented player on the team. I know it'd never happen, but I think the Nugs would be better if the offense flowed through him instead of Carmelo.

Lastly, Javaris Crittenton is just awful. At the time I was infavor of the trade because I figured he'd bring something to the team, but he sucks so bad on offense it's just mind numbing.

[milehigh]

For what it's worth, I'm not too ashamed that N1 was abused by JR Smith. I follow the Nuggets pretty closely out here and I'd argue that he's the most talented player on the team. I know it'd never happen, but I think the Nugs would be better if the offense flowed through him instead of Carmelo.

I would agree that J.R. is the most talented player on the Nuggets, the problem though is his consistency which really isn't his fault. But it's hard to be consistent when your coach isn't consistent with you always taking him in and out of the starting lineup giving him crazy minutes one game and not playing him much the next. Not to mention his constant bashing of J.R. in the media. Where as Kleiza can go 1/6 and Karl will tell the media that he will play him more. Karl is starting to cut that out recently just because he can't ignore J.R.'s talent anymore.

I know it'd never happen, but I think the Nugs would be better if the offense flowed through him instead of Carmelo.

While Melo may be taking the most shots on the team, the offense doesn't necessarily run through Melo every game. If you have been watching the Nuggets this year you would know that they have a way more balanced attack, and a lot of different players leading the team in points from game to game. Billups has really helped in that area getting every involved.

[hands11]

Awesome game. That was entertaining. Man Denver is deep.

Anderson is a freak.

Nice to have a solid vet PG like Billips instead of an AI.

Nice minute distribution for the Wiz. Even with AJs line he still didnt come back for more mins.

Crit is on a 3 game down swing. Other then that, a little bit of good from each of the younger player with a little bit of bad.

Nick seems to be settling in. I don't see him doing that endless dribbling every time he gets the ball anymore.

Nice to see OP out there contributing. Someone needs to show him the video of him going up getting blocked. He can't go up with the same form as if he was taking a jumper. He exposed the ball to a block from behind.

Good job by Tapps.

I wish they had a column for dunks in the box scores.

[DC old guy]

Nick seems to be settling in. I don't see him doing that endless dribbling every time he gets the ball anymore.

I agree and was going to post on this at some point. About three weeks ago, he started to just go up for the shot instead of dribbling around. He was terrible for a few games, but has now learned to do it and is playing much more efficiently.

[no D in Hibachi]

I think one of the good developments in N1's game is that he is moving with out the ball much better. He seems very deliberate in his off the ball movement. For instance, if you haven't noticed, he'll curl around Jamison, Songaila, Blatche or McGee when they are in the high post and take a hand-off pass where he just explodes to the hoop, generally for a base-line dunk.

[hands11]

Nick seems to be settling in. I don't see him doing that endless dribbling every time he gets the ball anymore.

I agree and was going to post on this at some point. About three weeks ago, he started to just go up for the shot instead of dribbling around. He was terrible for a few games, but has now learned to do it and is playing much more efficiently.

Yeah. Definitely.

Tapps has been working with him all year trying to get the light to go on and now I at least see a flicker. Man we could have used this Nick from day one. I wish we could just bring back the vets and start a new season right now. It may be a little early to say Nick is over the hump but I have my hopes that we will see more consistent production.

Now if they have Nick moving in the right direction finally, it's time to get back to Crit and McGee and dare I say -- OP.

Crit needs to add some things to his game but for now, he needs to learn to slow it down sometimes. While it is part of his advantage that he is fast, he needs to pick his spots and get in control a little more.

I would say the same of McGee. He gets ahead of himself and off balance. They just need to keep working with him about playing smarter and how to position himself on D. The next really big leap for McGee probably won't happen till next year after he has a summer to work on his game.

[hands11]

I think one of the good developments in N1's game is that he is moving with out the ball much better. He seems very deliberate in his off the ball movement. For instance, if you haven't noticed, he'll curl around Jamison, Songaila, Blatche or McGee when they are in the high post and take a hand-off pass where he just explodes to the hoop, generally for a base-line dunk.

Not sure I'm following you on that play but the give and go he has does is wicked. He passes it to someone and it looks like he is shot out of a cannon as he goes toward the hoop were he gets the ball back and goes for the dunk.

Nick and McGee are oozzing with physical talent if we can get them NBA ready.

Oh yeah, McGee needs to learn to shoot with an extended arm. Phil and Buck are always commenting on that. He shoots like a 6-7 players instead of a 7-0 player. Something to fix in the off season.