When was the last time Washington had a legitimate POST

[daSwami]

looking at today's roster - blatche has got some low post skills, when he chooses to use them. Other than him, (unless KSera has some post moves he's been hiding) this team, as constructed, is going to rely on drives and dishes by Wall/Arenas to get our bigs involved in the half-court scheme.

[hands11]

You're preaching to the choir. The offense with pre-injury Arenas was more than good enough to go deep in the playoffs. Arenas was one of the league's top offensive weapons and one of the most efficient high-usage players. But, the defense sucked. That was partly Gil's fault, but lots of people were responsible for the bad defense.

I don't agree here. I don't believe those team had what was needed to go deep.

They lacked the right coach.
They lacked the right PG.
They lacked the right PF
Gil didn't play good enough D, not did AJ

Second round was about right for that team it happens to be as far as they went.

The problem was defense, not offense or right 'PG'. How many points did you want the Wizards to average? Especially when your center is not a threat.

How good would the offense have been if they utilized Haywood/Etan more? I know defense was the main problem, but putting the shortcomings of an offense with a top 2 or 3 scoring average on the point guard is not fair to Gil. Offensively, Haywood/Etan should have been used slightly more than Detroit used Big Ben.

The problem was on the defensive side.

You welcome to your opinion but I believe how you score matters. I watched games where they went to Haywood early and would get the other teams in foul trouble. Players sitting on the bench is the most effective D. Thats how you play good D with your offense.

You thinking to linear. I'm talking strategy. Similar to why you run the ball in football early even if it isn't getting you 5 yards a carry. Plus, Haywood was less likely to get hurt getting the foul unlike a smaller guard taking it in there.

[hands11]

looking at today's roster - blatche has got some low post skills, when he chooses to use them. Other than him, (unless KSera has some post moves he's been hiding) this team, as constructed, is going to rely on drives and dishes by Wall/Arenas to get our bigs involved in the half-court scheme.

Wall, Gil and Kirk - thats better than a lot of teams have for setting up the rest of their players.

But keep in mind we will probably be running a lot and we have lots of runners so posting up wont come into play as often.

If we have that, Dray should fill most of what we need in the half court for post set up plays. Other times we will likely pick and roll and that is something McGee is going to do well with Wall and the other feeding him.

I'm not all that concerned about the offense.

As for D. Wall and Kirk are huge upgrades guarding players up top and that is where you stop things before they get started. They are going to force turnovers and also make teams take longer to set up their offenses.

That alone is an improvement in our D over last year because it will buy everyone else more time to get in position to defend.

Then if we can just get something from Seraphin, Armstrong and Yi on defense. That is the IF.

Can't wait to see what they show tomorrow.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

When Gil was healthy the team had injury issues, but the offense was fantastic. Nivek is right about that. The defense, outside of Brendan Haywood, sucked. Would it have been a luxury to have a guy like Blatche is now at PF on those Wizards teams in the past? YES.

I think the teams in the past just had the misfortune of running into Wade's team and then Lebron's, three times in a row. They had enough offense to advance, despite bad defense. What they didn't have is enough defense to stop Lebron at the end of games.

Guys like Ruffin and Etan were really in over their heads, literally, against the likes of Lebron and Ilgauskas.

[Nivek]

You welcome to your opinion but I believe how you score matters. I watched games where they went to Haywood early and would get the other teams in foul trouble. Players sitting on the bench is the most effective D. Thats how you play good D with your offense.

The times the Wizards did that could be counted on one hand. The times when Arenas got opposing players into foul trouble were many. If the plan is to get the other team into foul trouble, then the smart strategy is to have Arenas attack the basket early -- because he was good at penetrating, excellent at drawing fouls, superb at making the free throws, stayed healthy (his injury came on the defensive end, not from getting fouled on the offensive end), and because he was far more likely to be a recipient of a star call.

You thinking to linear. I'm talking strategy. Similar to why you run the ball in football early even if it isn't getting you 5 yards a carry. Plus, Haywood was less likely to get hurt getting the foul unlike a smaller guard taking it in there.

This one goes in the same category as skinny players are more susceptible to injury. Where's the evidence? Same here -- where's the evidence that shorter players get hurt more frequently than taller ones?

But, c'mon -- are you seriously trying to argue that the Wizards would have been better defensively if they'd run more post-up plays for Haywood?

[Brenice]

Back then, you didn't have to double Haywood, you didn't have to foul him. You let him throw up shots like his eyes were closed, fading away. The defense would be like , and beg you to keep feeding him the ball. It made no sense back then. Haywood has improved some since then, but people shouldn't act like he was a threat. He wasn't even strong enough to go up strong. And, he has no court awareness.

I didn't mean when was the last time the wizards had a superstar post player, just a legitimate one. Brendan was legitimate defensively back then, but not offensively.