Jazzfan1971 and FloppyMoose's Season Preview - The Wizards

[jazzfan1971]

Washington Wizards

Projected Lineup
------------------------------
PG - John Wall, Andre Miller
SG - Brad Beal, Glenn Rice Jr, Garrett Temple
SF - Paul Pierce, Otto Porter, Martell Webster
PF - Nene, Kris Humphries, Drew Gooden
C - Marcin Gortat, DeJuan Blair, Kevin Seraphin

Trading Block: It's odd to say, but, I'd guess Kris Humphries will be the first guy to lose favor in Washington. It looks to me that his contract is fully guaranteed for 3 years (at least that's what it looks like on hoopshype.com/salaries) and that means his last year will be eating 4.6 mil of cap room that might be better spent elsewhere.

Position Battle: There is only one to watch on this squad: Paul Pierce vs. Otto Porter. Seeing who wins and when will tell us a lot about which direction the coaches are looking to go this year. Either riding their vets into the sunset or giving their youth center stage. I really have no idea who is going to win this one, as even at this age PP might still have more to offer a team, but, it's awfully hard to limit Porter if he's in the conversation.

Mystery Man: Trevor Ariza. One wonders how much of an impact Ariza's defense and 3pt shooting helped Washington last season and how able Pierce and/or Porter will be able to offset the loss.

Floppymusings: Letting Ariza go is hard, but it's made up for by Pierce, Miller, and another year of experience for Wall, who continues to get better and better. We are finally starting to see the John Wall I expected. Like a lot of teams, the Wizards will need to stay healthy - although I am only penciling in Pierce for as many minutes as he had last season. But Wall is young and Gortat may be impervious to harm. The east is tougher, but the Wizards will be pretty good anyway.

Jazzfanramblings: I'm not really a car guy. I've done a little work, mostly in my teens, replacing a water pump, changing spark plugs. A little of this and that... nothing major. So, I've been in my fair share of Auto Part stores.

Have you ever looked around an auto-part store? There is just so much crap on the shelves that I'd never use or recommend anyone else use. Aluminum powder to dump in your radiator, gunk to dump in your oil to stop a gasket leak, goo to put in your tires to stop a leak, who knows how many other 'gimmicks' are there on the shelves ready to be sold to folks who have a problem. Gimmicks that really won't fix the problem, but, will gum it up for a little while, giving you a little time. I'd never put that crap into one of my vehicles.

Or.

Maybe I would.

I guess if I had a car on it's last legs, ready for the scrap heap, and maybe I had a shiny new car on order or planning to purchase in a couple of months and I just needed that car to last for a LITTLE WHILE LONGER..... Then ok. Maybe those gimmicks would make some sense.

I kinda feel like Washington is in that situation. They are patching leaks all over their team with parts off the shelf that really won't FIX anything, but, will get them by just a LITTLE WHILE LONGER until that new shiny player comes along. That new shiny player in the dreams of Washington owners and management is Kevin Durant.

Washington won't commit to anything that might hamper their ability to woo Durant when he becomes a free agent. So, you see them load up with a bunch of veterans with a couple years left in the tank to get by for a couple more seasons before they make their move.

It's a pretty bold gambit in my estimation. They are essentially devaluing a couple seasons of John Wall to make a run at the brass ring. It's basically what Miami did to Dwyane Wade. But, boy did that work out for them. And that's what Washington is hoping will happen for them in a couple years.

I figured it was less bold of a gambit for Miami though. That's because I've until recently believed that Pat Riley had sold his soul to the devil, had mob connections, and was just the biggest, cheatingest snake in the league. So, I figured it wasn't much of a gambit and more of an execution of a plan when Miami did it. I don't get that sense here.

I hope things work out for Washington one way or another, but, I think were I the GM I'd have been more about building around Wall rather than swinging for the fences with Durant. We won't know which path was the correct one for a couple years.

Projected Record - 48/34

[PerkinsFor3]

I think Rice might play SF a lot. Which makes the battle between him and Porter pretty interesting.

[Dat2U]

I still think the Wiz need to move Pierce to PF and give Porter/Rice as much experience as possible to maximize this roster's potential.

I worry about the slow plodding Nene/Pierce frontline not really being compatible with a Wall/Beal backcourt. Pierce needs more room to operate, ideally at the 4 against bigger 4s where he had a lot of success last year.

[jangles86]

Wiz could possibly play the slowest line up in the league of all time.

Andre Miller
Glen Rice
Paul Pierce
Nene
Dejuan Blair

That's some serious slow

[keynote]

Nene has a pretty quick first step for his size. It's just that his second, third, and fourth steps are slow.

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[dlts20]

I still think the Wiz need to move Pierce to PF and give Porter/Rice as much experience as possible to maximize this roster's potential.

I worry about the slow plodding Nene/Pierce frontline not really being compatible with a Wall/Beal backcourt. Pierce needs more room to operate, ideally at the 4 against bigger 4s where he had a lot of success last year.

I still like Pierce alot better at the 3 then he is the 4. No team is going to compete for a title with Pierce at the 4 and the Wiz have a deep frontcourt. At this rate even the backup bigs are more prove than Porter & Rice. I also think Pierce is fine to run with Wall. He still has underrated burst if you watch his highlights from last year and he can still shoot it from deep while driving off the 3pt line. Again, Ariza was the trailer alot on the break last year anyways. I agree that Porter & Rice should get burn but I dont want to see Pierce play over Hump & Blair right now

[JWizmentality]

Wiz could possibly play the slowest line up in the league of all time.

Andre Miller
Glen Rice
Paul Pierce
Nene
Dejuan Blair

That's some serious slow

Nene has always struck me as a pretty mobile big guy. Slow he is not. No slow guy picks Noah's pocket and takes it the full length of the court before anyone can catch up.

[AussieBuck]

Yeah as many minutes as possible at PF for PP so Gooden/Hump/Seraphin don't see the floor.

[Boarder Patrol]

I think they had a good off season and made some smart signings, still though, Ariza/Booker > Pierce/Hump/Blair in terms of talent right now. They're relying on internal improvement from Wall/Beal, which is a pretty safe but but I see them anywhere in the mid forties. Not so sure Miller/Rice/Porter/Hump/Blair has enough scoring unless you get Porter taking a leap.

[Hidden Eye]

I think they had a good off season and made some smart signings, still though, Ariza/Booker > Pierce/Hump/Blair in terms of talent right now. They're relying on internal improvement from Wall/Beal, which is a pretty safe but but I see them anywhere in the mid forties. Not so sure Miller/Rice/Porter/Hump/Blair has enough scoring unless you get Porter taking a leap.

[floppymoose]

Wow. That image is super lame-o.

[BruceO]

I knew I'd be disappointed at the preview.
There was nothing really said and majority was some metaphor about some shiny car and an opinion that we are doing patch ups. This isn't a temporary solution like what patch ups are. The movement is now. they're going for it with the added benefit of positioning to go after durant in 2016 to avoid treadmilling if they don't have enough now.

As for your kris humphries first to be traded thing. I doubt that. washington has been trying to stabilise it's situation and only the knuckle heads were traded in the past. New players are acquired carefully and have stayed through their contracts. I'd assume nene to go first before humphries.

The patch ups as you call them, the big men provide physicality, rebounds and experience. washington starts the year with a much better bench than last year which had the likes of singleton, vesely, maynor. .when they added andre miller and gooden the bench improved. now ontop of that you have humphries and blair, otto porter and Glen rice who had good offseasons.

The keys should be. wall and beal playing like a top guard tandem by taking the next step. New additions pierce and humphries being starter material without heavy liabilities. old additions nene and martell healthy and playing to starter ability ( martell used to start and spacing and effect was as good as arizas) and Glen rice and porter stepping Into sixth man guard and defensive stopper positions. If martell or pierce can't start one of them has to step up and relegate the others. ..Then everyone else just play to par.

regular season doesn't matter. I hope it'll be used to prepare them for their playoff roles where i feel this team will be better built for in the match ups with other teams in the east

[Prospect Dong]

That bench looks pretty rough, or at least risky. You're relying on Miller to hold it together for one more year and then Rice and Porter to emerge as playoff quality backups behind guys who, for reasons of their own, aren't exactly sure-things either. They need a little luck and a lot of health to make that work, IMO.

Webster as third string a year after signing that deal is pretty depressing. I suppose he's a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency backup wing, but calling him a "starter ability" player is straight-up delusional.