Really, do we care? Saunders vs Brooks GT 12/29/09

[ErikChowbay023]

Flip better make a change, Blatche needs to be in the starting line-up, I dont understand why Flip is so afraid to make a change..

[Wizards2Lottery]

The consensus is that Haywood will be off to greener pastures at the end of the year. People are looking to move him while he has value.

Wood won't be part of a rebuilding process anyway, might as well move him.

I think thats stupid..he is the longest tenured Wizard, and one of our best players, why would we let him go..

Because we won't be able to afford him and he's tired of losing?

[Hoopalotta]

First of all, we're in no position to tell him what to do. He's an unrestricted free agent on the most disappointing team in the league. Our leverage is limited and he already turned down an extension over the summer. Do you think he's happy here? Do you think anyone is happy here?

He's getting a minimum of $40 Million over five years if you ask me.

Letting him walk for nothing with some half baked "we sure hope that..." plan would be stupid.

[ErikChowbay023]

The problem has always been defense..

Flip did the right thing by calling out the TEAM publicly..but hopefully he calls out Jamison in the locker room..Jamison is our biggest problem..

Everybody else is showing effort and grit on defense.. Jamison kind of half asses it, and simply does not rotate or contest shots...

[miller31time]

The consensus is that Haywood will be off to greener pastures at the end of the year. People are looking to move him while he has value.

Wood won't be part of a rebuilding process anyway, might as well move him.

I think thats stupid..he is the longest tenured Wizard, and one of our best players, why would we let him go..

Again, because he's probably gone at the end of the year and we could actually get something of value for him right now - something that would help the rebuilding process.

I'm not saying I'm absolutely in favor of it, but that's the argument.

[miller31time]

Flip can call out the team all he wants but playing Jamison 41 minutes is going to hurt the defense.

It's basically saying, for 5/6ths of the game, OKC is playing 5-on-4 on offense. Add Arenas and it's 5-3, but at least Arenas' contributions seem to spread a bit further.

I can't fault him for playing Jamison a lot - he's seen as a big part of this team. Plus, the organization is probably showcasing him.

But let's not act like we can be a good defensive team with Arenas and Jamison getting 40+ minutes.

[VictorPage44]

did anyone happen to catch the huddle on court at the end of regulation in the memphis game? it looked like jamison said something to the group, and then it looked like arenas kind of sneered at him as he walked away. like the flip high five, take it for what its worth, but I think at this point jamison is definitely exuding a lot of negative energy.

[ErikChowbay023]

IMO Arenas is actually playing great defense at the moment, and I know steals don't mean everything..but he is really disruptive in terms of deflections, blocks, fighting through screens, he actually looks like he`s trying to get better...

[VictorPage44]

IMO Arenas is actually playing great defense at the moment, and I know steals don't mean everything..but he is really disruptive in terms of deflections, blocks, fighting through screens, he actually looks like he`s trying to get better...

Not sure I agree with the "playing great d" part, but I agree that the effort is getting better. conley left him flat footed a few times last night, but he did get in a few passing lanes.

[ErikChowbay023]

Yea I am also not liking Jamison`s body language. A lot of things could be fixed if he would just bring Jamison off the bench

[queridiculo]

IMO Arenas is actually playing great defense at the moment, and I know steals don't mean everything..but he is really disruptive in terms of deflections, blocks, fighting through screens, he actually looks like he`s trying to get better...

Arenas has quick hands and does a good job playing passing lanes, but that's where it stops in terms of defense. He's one of the poorest man to man defenders in the league and gets beaten of the dribble with regularity.

I can see him being effective with better defenders around him, but the reality is that he's part of the problem.

[ErikChowbay023]

Look at the Lakers, no Ron Ron, and they are struggling ...

[dandridge 10]

IMO Arenas is actually playing great defense at the moment, and I know steals don't mean everything..but he is really disruptive in terms of deflections, blocks, fighting through screens, he actually looks like he`s trying to get better...

I think Arenas played better defense tonight, but let's not get crazy here. Arenas has been pretty bad on defense this year and last night against the Grizzlies he was awful. Both Conley and Mayo were lighting Gilbert up when Gilbert was defending them.

[queridiculo]

Look at the Lakers, no Ron Ron, and they are struggling ...

The Lakers struggle has more to do with lack of production from the bench than lack of defense with Artest out.

In the NBA you need to have at least 3 competent defenders to have a shot at playing and winning in the playoffs.

Washington has exactly 1, Brendan Haywood.

[ErikChowbay023]

Yea..but a lot of teams have poor man to man defenders at the guard positions..

We do not play really good help defense, because of missed rotations.. we either don't rotate fast enough, or just dont rotate at all.. Jamison at the four hurts us a lot.. Blatche or McGuire are much better defenders.. and can either make up a missed assignment with their athleticism or length.. Mcgee would also help a lot ..because he can really protect the rim...

There are gonna be time when a man gets beat in a 1 on 1, our team needs to be in better positions to help and cover...

This is how you are supposed to play defense - http://www.youtube.com/watchv=2JX_izoMa5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbqgEK3x ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zP2qJmx ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwfEJKAR ... re=related

[montestewart]

Look at the Lakers, no Ron Ron, and they are struggling ...

The Lakers struggle has more to do with lack of production from the bench than lack of defense with Artest out.

In the NBA you need to have at least 3 competent defenders to have a shot at playing and winning in the playoffs.

Washington has exactly 1, Brendan Haywood.

Competent defense takes effort, intensity, and focus. Arenas likely will never be above average on defense, but he is a gifted athlete can thinks fast; he should be able to play much better defense (i've seen short spurts of it this year) and it is difficult to watch him fail to improve this part of his game.

Haywood is a more than competent defender, and Butler, McGuire, and sometimes Blatche are generally competent. Undersized and/or poorly focused guards are the beginning of our defensives problems, and Jamison is the end. Huge holes there. Huge.

[dandridge 10]

Flip better make a change, Blatche needs to be in the starting line-up, I dont understand why Flip is so afraid to make a change..

When the Wizards held a "meet the new coach" party for season ticket holders at the beginning of the season, I asked Flip point blank why he thought he could improve the Wizards defense despite the fact that two other coaches haven't been able to do it and the players have not shown a willingness to play D despite a lot of criticism over the last 4-5 years. Flip's answer was that his defensive scheme was different. He also said part of the Wizards defensive problem was quick shots on offense, which led to long rebounds and fast break opportunities for the opposing team. I honestly think Flip thought that he could change the way these players approached the game and that the defense would improve if the players just committed to playing his system and playing the right way. I think Flip is now realizing that some of the players are just not going to change...no matter what, they are going to continue chucking up shots and not putting the effort on D. We have to remember that Flip hasn't been here for the last 4-5 years. It took most of us on this board more than 30 games to finally understand that this team is not going to improve defensively with the current players. Heck, even this year, half the people on this board thought that the Wizard's poor defense was due to EJ or Tap, not the players.

While I would have no problem with Flip benching Jamison and starting Blatche, I don't expect us to turn the corner with Blatche in the starting line-up. Yes, Blatche is a better man defender than Jamsion. However, Blatche still sucks on help defense (e.g., when Durant beat Butler to the basket tonight and Blatche was in position to help but just watched Durant dunk it) and Blatche is a poor defensive rebounder. Moreover, Blatche is not going to solve what I think is our biggest problem...the inability of our guards to keep opposing players from penetrating. This team is not going to improve defensively until we get some new blood on this team that cares just as much about playing defense as they do about making buckets.

[ErikChowbay023]

Look at the Lakers, no Ron Ron, and they are struggling ...

The Lakers struggle has more to do with lack of production from the bench than lack of defense with Artest out.

In the NBA you need to have at least 3 competent defenders to have a shot at playing and winning in the playoffs.

Washington has exactly 1, Brendan Haywood.

McGuire can defend, Blatche can defend, Nick can defend, Caron can defend when he wants to...Haywood,

[dandridge 10]

Look at the Lakers, no Ron Ron, and they are struggling ...

The Lakers struggle has more to do with lack of production from the bench than lack of defense with Artest out.

In the NBA you need to have at least 3 competent defenders to have a shot at playing and winning in the playoffs.

Washington has exactly 1, Brendan Haywood.

Competent defense takes effort, intensity, and focus. Arenas likely will never be above average on defense, but he is a gifted athlete can thinks fast; he should be able to play much better defense (i've seen short spurts of it this year) and it is difficult to watch him fail to improve this part of his game.

Haywood is a more than competent defender, and Butler, McGuire, and sometimes Blatche are generally competent. Undersized and/or poorly focused guards are the beginning of our defensives problems, and Jamison is the end. Huge holes there. Huge.

Exactly, and IMO, huge holes that cannot be satisfied with our current roster. Sure, we could plug McGuire in one of the holes, but we suffer offense. We can plug Blatche in one of those holes, but we also suffer offense as well as rebounding. We need more two-way players on this team.

[ErikChowbay023]

Flip better make a change, Blatche needs to be in the starting line-up, I dont understand why Flip is so afraid to make a change..

When the Wizards held a "meet the new coach" party for season ticket holders at the beginning of the season, I asked Flip point blank why he thought he could improve the Wizards defense despite the fact that two other coaches haven't been able to do it and the players have not shown a willingness to play D despite a lot of criticism over the last 4-5 years. Flip's answer was that his defensive scheme was different. He also said part of the Wizards defensive problem was quick shots on offense, which led to long rebounds and fast break opportunities for the opposing team. I honestly think Flip thought that he could change the way these players approached the game and that the defense would improve if the players just committed to playing his system and playing the right way. I think Flip is now realizing that some of the players are just not going to change...no matter what, they are going to continue chucking up shots and not putting the effort on D. We have to remember that Flip hasn't been here for the last 4-5 years. It took most of us on this board more than 30 games to finally understand that this team is not going to improve defensively with the current players. Heck, even this year, half the people on this board thought that the Wizard's poor defense was due to EJ or Tap, not the players.

While I would have no problem with Flip benching Jamison and starting Blatche, I don't expect us to turn the corner with Blatche in the starting line-up. Yes, Blatche is a better man defender than Jamsion. However, Blatche still sucks on help defense (e.g., when Durant beat Butler to the basket tonight and Blatche was in position to help but just watched Durant dunk it) and Blatche is a poor defensive rebounder. Moreover, Blatche is not going to solve what I think is our biggest problem...the inability of our guards to keep opposing players from penetrating. This team is not going to improve defensively until we get some new blood on this team that cares just as much about playing defense as they do about making buckets.

Well I never really though of Pierce and Allen as defenders, but they could all of a sudden play D when KG got there... we need a player who is a superstar, who is a defensive leader...

Denver played defense also, as soon as Billups arrived..