Pre-season game thread

[WizarDynasty]

dom is probably our best perimeter defender guarding small forwards but there is no cure for him not being able to reliable knock down an open jumpshot.

citing draft express.
http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre-dra ... s=0&sort=6
Dom is better at guarding s/f than nick because dom has standing reach of 8'9 with shoes on while Young's is 8'4. Which means Young's hand is almost 4 inches shorter in contesting a shout when both have their hands raised straight up.
This make sense since Nick Young is 6'5 w/o shoes while dmac is 6'7.75.
Nick lack of standing reach comes into play on defense when he is guarding taller players. the average s/g is close to 6'5 while the average small forward is close to 6'8 w/o shoes.
Thus dmac's dimensions make him more effective than Nick at guarding s/f.
But make no mistake about it, Nick Young is very long for a s/g having a 7'0 wingspan which allows him to play alot further off his man than the average 6'5 player. The average wingspan for a 6'5 player is close to 6'8 maybe 6'9 but definitely not 7'0 so opposing shoot guards are not use to going up against another shooting guard who is as long as as quick physically as nick young.
Dmac has some of the same great physical dimension at the s/f spot but his wingspan is not nearly as unusual for a s/f's as nick young's 7'0 wingspan is for a s/g. Dmac's wingspan is 6'10''5. So Nick could reach out and touch some with his arm extended further out than even dmac even though dmac is taller. That means that Nick can extend his arm and affect a perimeter player dribble and possibly face guard their eyes on a shot from a further distance than dmac. the whole point is that Nick Young has some exceptionally long arms. He can't reach has high in the sky as dMac but even though knick young standing reach is 8'4 he is also explosive off the floor with a standing vertical of 39.5 inches so he can really explode off the ground when he is focused making him a deadly defender against the average s/g if focused.
Dmac would be a better overall player than Nick young is he add Nick's offensive ability.
But we must not forget that NIck doesn't helps you both of defensive just as dmac does but he also helps you of offense. Dmac has good passing ability but I believe he is always going to a player that the defense can slack on to double team whoever is hot on offense so it will always be 4 versus five on offense. This is the best way to see it. DMac is 6'8 w/o shoes yet a 6'3 player could effectively guard him because his game is so incomplete on offense. so a player that is five inches shorter than dmac could effectively guard him. Could you ever imagine nick young being guarded by a player this is only 6'0 tall. DMac could be standing wide open and we have to cross our fingers that a professional basketball player who has been playing basketball all of his life can hit an open jump shot.
Dmac is a great player coming off the bench to change the dynamics off the game but with nick young you have a player who is a two way player at the s/g spot if he is able to develop veteran savy.
Randy Foye is always going to be a mismatch on defensive if he has to guard the average s/g that 6'5. foye's standing reach is a meager 8'1. Javaris standing reach is 8'2 and that is still poor for a sg.
Foye's real purpose on the team is to guard pg's at times while gilbert arenas. standing reach of 8'3'5 guards the shooting guard..which we saw at times when hughes was on the team.
So Nick's standing reach is still pretty crappy for a s/g at 8'4 but arenas is 8'35.
Our options right now in terms of having a sg on teh court who can hit a solid shot and quick and long enough to guard the average sg is still nick young. I think Miller can guard slower sg's but definitely guard stronger s/f who have height. DMAC is decent guarding the perimeter but is a horrible post defender one on one since he doesn't have alot mass to absorb.
foye looks like he will be better at guarding the pg than gil and that will allow gilbert to guard smaller sg's.
Our universal defender at the s/g spot is going to be nick since he guard athletc s/g on the perimeter and still attack on offense. Again there is no way Foye can Iguodola and gilbert for how long he is still 6'2 without shoes with 6'9 wingspan. very good...but nick at 6'5 w/o shoes and 7 wing span gives him 2.5 inches of height and 3 inches longer in terms of arm length when battling on the perimeter to contest shots.
As far as two way s/g's players to develop that will log heavy minutes...Nick young is the best candidate on the roster because of his measurements going up against the average s/g who is 6'5 w/o shoes.
Caron looks like he has lost alot of weight and as increased his quickness. If his defensive lateral agility rivals that of nick young i would make the case that Caron is the best player to have starting at the sg spot but from what i have seen Caron still has a a ways to go.
Caron 6'5 w/o shoes but excellent standing reach of 8'7'5 which beats nick young by 3.5 inches. His wingspan though is 6'11'5 which almost the same as nick youngs. the only thing keeping Butler from being a full time s/g is his defensive quickness due to his bad knees.
so biggest weakness with nick young on defense is mental lapses and strength fighting through screen. He has the strength to battle any s/g but at times he lacks the warrior spirit needed to fight through screens and recover quickly on defense. When Nick is required to use his strenghth he seems run away from the battle. That might possibly be related to his non aggressive survival personality from his childhood in rough california. Probably wouldn't have made to far being aggressive but now we are asking him to meet force with force. time will tell how a kid who surived by being passive in the hood is now asked to be warrior and meet physical aggression with physical aggression and not have to worry about waking up in a hospital bed lol.

[dlts20]

This has been such an up & down Preseason. Everytime you think we look good one game or one second, we look bad the next. Everytime you think we look like an overreated average team, then we start looking great. Its crazy but thats Preseason for you.

Blatche looking good filling it for AJ though. I think he probably has to start because you still dont know 100% what you are going to get from Gil just yet but the D is good so maybe you can stick with Oberto. Blatche will get alot of run either way

[80sballboy]

I know it's just preseason, but I've never seen Caron miss so many layups and contested drives. Maybe he needs to put that weight back on.

[no D in Hibachi]

I enjoyed watching the 1st half. It was the first Wiz action I've seen this pre-season. Blatche looked great when Haywood was in the game. He's a power forward who is a good weakside help defender.

McGee isn't ready for serious PT at this point. He doesn't manage his weaknesses very well and what was Flip doing with Miller on Thomas for what seemed to be the entire second quarter. Thomas just ate Millers lunch.

[nate33]

Stevenson still sucks. He's such an offensive liability that the offense just dies when he is on the floor. He is -15 in 14 minutes of action so far.

Oberto has 0 points, 0 rebounds 0 assists and 0 blocks in 12 minutes of action. He does have 3 fouls and a turnover, though.

[nate33]

Bulls playing some nice D right now.

[doclinkin]

Oberto has 0 points, 0 rebounds 0 assists and 0 blocks in 12 minutes of action. He does have 3 fouls and a turnover, though.

Defense is still much better with him out there. Flop vs Taj on cue...

[Donkey McDonkerton]

I think the flu is messing GA up..

[no D in Hibachi]

Arenas looks patheticly terrible. He can't beat Hunter off the dribble and he's shooting long ill-advised bricks.

[nate33]

Good grief! I can't remember the last time we scored.

[Hoopalotta]

I'm not real excited about Stevenson, Oberto and Haywood all out there at the same time. Not at all.

[nate33]

Time to bring in Nick Young. We need somebody to put the ball in the net.

[nate33]

I'm not real excited about Stevenson, Oberto and Haywood all out there at the same time. Not at all.

Yup. It would be a real bad idea to start Stevenson if the plan is to start Oberto at PF.

[doclinkin]

It's been true all preseason: Gil can't shoot. No confidence, no lift. He's quick as all get-out, though he'll lose the ball in traffic, but he's passing in part because he's passing up his wide open shot. Doesn't trust himself at all. Yet.

[GilArenas88]

Our offense looks like crap,we just aint makin anything.

[nate33]

Nice to see Arenas recognize that his team can't score so he's taking the responsibility himself. That's what we need out of him.

[P'Oed]

Caron's missed layup routine got old 2 years ago. In other news, anyone who thinks this team is capable of more than 42-44 wins is nuts.

-Pessimistic Pattie

[Kanyewest]

Missed most of the 3rd quarter. Looks I didn't miss much.

[JWizmentality]

Despite the crappy play, all the ticky tack fouls turned me off from the 1st quarter. Good grief these refs suck donkey balls! I think this was Stern's plan all along. Makes us really miss the old refs.


Damn...the Magic are gonna own this season.

[no D in Hibachi]

Did they really only score 12 points that quarter. They suck, I think 41 and 41 might be too optimistic.