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I forgot to mention that JaVale McGee stopped by to help Butler at his camp yesterday. I asked McGee what his goals are this offseason. "I'm working hard in the weight room trying to get bigger," he said.
McGee told me that his goal is to add 15 pounds this summer. McGee played at 240 last season and said that he is already halfway to his goal.
Still 6 months away from turning 22, Crittenton would just be entering his senior season had he stayed in college. As the second youngest player on the team, Crittenton has turned to a pair of point guards, Assistant Coach Sam Cassell and Gilbert Arenas, to help him take his game to the next level.
“Sam has really been working with me on my pull-up game. I’ve been working on my one-dribble pull up. He has me working on my shooting consistency and ball-handling drills. With Gil, it is a lot of competition. We play pick-up games a lot and there is a lot of trash talking back and forth. At the end of the day it is only going to make me better. He’s been pushing me a lot in those games and its really helping me out.”
Entering his third season, Crittenton has already had the opportunity to play under three NBA coaches. With the Wizards installing a new offense under what will be Crittenton’s fourth coach, Flip Saunders, Crittenton has already begun working with Cassell to prepare himself for Training Camp and next month’s Summer League.
“I had a chance to talk to Flip (Saunders) and he seems like a really good guy. In my workouts with Sam they’ve put in some of the plays and some of the things we will be doing in our offensive sets. We’ve been working on screen-and-rolls and different things of that nature.”
While Crittenton is getting used to hearing new voices in his ear, he will not have to adjust to playing with one of the new players the Wizards just received in a trade. As a rookie with Memphis, Crittenton had the opportunity to play with and see Mike Miller’s ability on a daily basis and he is looking forward to seeing what his old teammate can bring to the Wizards.
“Mike Miller is a great shooter. He is someone that can knock down spot up threes. He can create for himself as well as others. He can handle the ball, rebound and do basically everything you need on the court. So I am really happy to have him on the team.”
Ruzious wrote:keynote wrote:^
I dunno. Isn't 210 kinda light for his frame? He was listed at 228 lbs last year.
At the end of the day, he'll still be called upon to play some SF. Butler was a little undersized before, but now he'd be giving up a good 20-30 lbs to the Pierces of the world, and a ridiculous 50+ lbs to LeBron.
Currently, Caron has to use his strength on D to compensate for his lack of length. Long, lanky players like Prince and Moon can get away with being a little light, but shorter players need that muscle. Unless the Wizards a prepared to play the bulk of his minutes at the 2, I fear that Caron at 210 lbs have an even tougher job getting physical with all of the big 3s in the Eastern Conference.
Of course, if Caron *can* shift almost completely to SG (he'd also need to improve his ball handling), does that change the Wizards draft strategy at all?
Good questions, key. I think you're right - 210 is probably overdoing the weight loss thing. I'd question - did the Wiz tell him they wanted him to get that low, or was this his idea. Hopefully, they're on the same page, because it maybe does affect what you do with the pick. Maybe they do look at a trade that brings in a Richard Jefferson (while exchanging the 5th pick for the 10th).
