GT #78 Wizards @ Knicks...Tuesday April 9th

[dandrews]

Keep in mind, the Knicks are probably playing the best basketball in the league right now. Still a pretty brutal display of defense though.

[nate33]

Randy is an idiot for thinking we'd beat them playing Big. You actually need skilled bigs for that. Nene is playing like 60 % and Okafor's only skill in the post is an occasional jump hook. The inefficiencies by them is just compounded by the fact they can't rotate and run out to the 3 point lines fast enough. This loss is as much on the Randy as it is on the players. Kudos to the knicks for having a historic shooting exhibition, but a competent game plan should have at last made the game watchable.

I disagree. The Knicks were missing all of their big men. Why should we let them off the hook and allow them to go small? We would simply be taking away our one advantage. We don't have enough healthy smalls to compete with them in a small-ball contest.

What I don't understand is why were weren't able to pound it inside and then either score or kick it out for open threes. Nene/Okafor should have scored on the block on every possession or else force the double team and kick it out for an open 3.

[JWizmentality]

Just getting back from the game. That was brutal. I knew that game was over when Chris frikkin Copeland is raining threes. Chris Singleton is playing his way out of the league. Why didn't we keep James Singleton?

[hands11]

Seriously though, it's time to shut Nene down and start Booker or Seraphin and put Vesely in the rotation. Nene should get off his feet and focus on getting better for next year and the team needs to figure out what it has in the young forwards.

Yeah, Nene hasn't hit an outside shot in forever. Whatever the problem is with that right knee, that was the dagger for his season. He was out there lame before, not he just sucks.

That game was to be expected.

NY is on a roll. They have tons of shooters and they have a AS that you can't defend 1 on 1
We suck on the road.
We are not a deep team and we are missing one of our two best players in Beal. And Trevor A was out.
Plus Nene is on a bum knee.

The Wizards got a lot better this year, but they didn't get better enough to deal with all that.

All is not lost. "If" we draft right, the player we add will be a huge upgrade over the bench we have now.
EG really goes about draft non top 3 pick all wrong. First you find basketball player, then you consider upside.

A player like Pierre would have keep the energy up and hounded Felton.

And we need more shooters and an athletic SF.

I can't wait for them to cut Martin. Yeah 16 pts but he rarely does it when it matters. His handles suck. He has no heart. Please let him be gone.

Singleton doesn't seem to have enough heart either. Nor does Kevin S or Ves. That 4 players right there. Thats way to much heartless punks for one team.

Give me some ballers off the bench. Pierre, Doug McDermott, Victor Oladipo. Gotta add more basketball players and more heart. More shooting.

We have way to many 12th player types on the bench ... with upside .

[hands11]

Yep, I don't care what the team has been saying about playing for the 9th spot. I think they are starting to mail it in for the summer. Maybe with all of this warm weather, they think its summer already.

Tank you, very much is all I have to say about games remaining on the Wizards schedule.

Holding are to dreams of 29 are you CJJ ?

[hands11]

Jan finished +7 . Clearly we just need to play him 48 minutes a game.

His first season Jan finished + 1.9 when he replaced Rashard Lewis and others. http://www.82games.com/1112/11WAS14.HTM

This season Vesely is -7.1 backing Okafor and Nene.
http://www.82games.com/1213/12WAS15.HTM

I've seen the same kind of variation in +/- with Javale and with Blatche.

Blatche was plus one year that he backed Jamison but before he was traded about as negative as a player can get. (He's a strong player for Brooklyn, go figure). McGee was plus when Flip never utilized him. However, under Wittman, McGee before he traded was a net negative, as he still very much is with Denver playing behind Koufos and for George Karl. Plus/minus kind of depends on who the player is replacing and the circumstances IMO.

So, what to make of Vesely? In Vesely's first year he actually moved around and the offense of the team was a bit better with him on the court even with him being a terrible offensive player. Vesely is an enigma IMO, not quite as horrible a player as he seems, but he's also a player one has to wonder why he's not much better than he is.

Very very few NBA player can find court time if they are unwilling to even look at the basket to even fake that they are going to shoot.

Ves would do great if he was playing for Princeton in the 60s. But this is the NBA is the year 2013

Go back and watch the video on him. He was just an athletic long kid who could finish. He was having fun playing that role. He would dunk and hang on the rim. He had one NBA move and that was one dribble to the hoop for a dunk. Other then that, he has what he shows. He can set picks. He can run and he can pass quick. That is all nice but he has zero offensive skills and no heart to even try to gain them. Now if he was a monster rebounder like Rodman, then he would have value. But he doesn't.

You have to at least have some heart to try to have some offense. Even Ruffin shot sometimes and he did it like he believed it was going in. McGee looked like a fool on a lot of offensive plays but at least he tried.

[nuposse04]

Randy is an idiot for thinking we'd beat them playing Big. You actually need skilled bigs for that. Nene is playing like 60 % and Okafor's only skill in the post is an occasional jump hook. The inefficiencies by them is just compounded by the fact they can't rotate and run out to the 3 point lines fast enough. This loss is as much on the Randy as it is on the players. Kudos to the knicks for having a historic shooting exhibition, but a competent game plan should have at last made the game watchable.

I disagree. The Knicks were missing all of their big men. Why should we let them off the hook and allow them to go small? We would simply be taking away our one advantage. We don't have enough healthy smalls to compete with them in a small-ball contest.

What I don't understand is why were weren't able to pound it inside and then either score or kick it out for open threes. Nene/Okafor should have scored on the block on every possession or else force the double team and kick it out for an open 3.

We weren't able to pound them inside because our big guys aren't good enough to overcome their quick double teams. I understand wanting to exploit a team's weakness, but we aren't exactly "strong" with our bigs. It's like two weaknesses going at it. They're adequate, but against a good defense that played with WAYYYY more swagger tonight, they played terribly. Outside of Wall, Webster, Nene and occasionally Beal, nobody really plays like they have a chip on their shoulder. The game seemed lost after they mugged Wall at the end of the half.

[hands11]

Randy is an idiot for thinking we'd beat them playing Big. You actually need skilled bigs for that. Nene is playing like 60 % and Okafor's only skill in the post is an occasional jump hook. The inefficiencies by them is just compounded by the fact they can't rotate and run out to the 3 point lines fast enough. This loss is as much on the Randy as it is on the players. Kudos to the knicks for having a historic shooting exhibition, but a competent game plan should have at last made the game watchable.

I disagree. The Knicks were missing all of their big men. Why should we let them off the hook and allow them to go small? We would simply be taking away our one advantage. We don't have enough healthy smalls to compete with them in a small-ball contest.

What I don't understand is why were weren't able to pound it inside and then either score or kick it out for open threes. Nene/Okafor should have scored on the block on every possession or else force the double team and kick it out for an open 3.

They started off working it inside. Webster was cutting. But Webby is to injured to play a power inside game. Nene is also. And without Trevor A and Beal to spread the floor.. well you saw what happened. NY jumped the lanes and made passing a nightmare for them. All that was left was Wall one on one.

If we have Beal, Trevor A and a healthy Webster, things would have looked better.

They need more quality depth. They aren't there yet. They are better, but they have more upgrading to do.

[dangermouse]

Knicks uniform looks like they just finished Judo class. Only just noticed that.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Very very few NBA player can find court time if they are unwilling to even look at the basket to even fake that they are going to shoot.

Ves would do great if he was playing for Princeton in the 60s. But this is the NBA is the year 2013

Go back and watch the video on him. He was just an athletic long kid who could finish. He was having fun playing that role. He would dunk and hang on the rim. He had one NBA move and that was one dribble to the hoop for a dunk. Other then that, he has what he shows. He can set picks. He can run and he can pass quick. That is all nice but he has zero offensive skills and no heart to even try to gain them. Now if he was a monster rebounder like Rodman, then he would have value. But he doesn't.

You have to at least have some heart to try to have some offense. Even Ruffin shot sometimes and he did it like he believed it was going in. McGee looked like a fool on a lot of offensive plays but at least he tried.

Sure seems that way. In the Wizard of Oz (I am strictly talking the old school, original movie) the Cowardly Lion lacked courage and the Tin Man had no heart. Vesely isn't like the Scarecrow, because he's a high IQ player.

hands, I wish there were someone or something that could help the guy but he doesn't seem to want to learn any other way. You would think a player who moves off the ball and passes would also be skilled on the subtle things and high on skills, but that is not the case. Jan can't even shoot FTs decently.

[pancakes3]

Randy is an idiot for thinking we'd beat them playing Big. You actually need skilled bigs for that. Nene is playing like 60 % and Okafor's only skill in the post is an occasional jump hook. The inefficiencies by them is just compounded by the fact they can't rotate and run out to the 3 point lines fast enough. This loss is as much on the Randy as it is on the players. Kudos to the knicks for having a historic shooting exhibition, but a competent game plan should have at last made the game watchable.

I disagree. The Knicks were missing all of their big men. Why should we let them off the hook and allow them to go small? We would simply be taking away our one advantage. We don't have enough healthy smalls to compete with them in a small-ball contest.

What I don't understand is why were weren't able to pound it inside and then either score or kick it out for open threes. Nene/Okafor should have scored on the block on every possession or else force the double team and kick it out for an open 3.

We were trading 2's for 3's and we weren't even good at getting the 2's. With Nene/Okafor against their "power forwards" like Novak and Melo, nuposse04 noted that we couldn't defend the perimeter. Also, Okafor missed a bunch of gimme's. His lone points came from a dunk of his own layup. He was completely ineffective and bobbled wall's handoffs like a hot potato.

Also like Dandrews said, the Knicks are playing some championship quality ball. We played to the best of our abilities for the most part. Only Okafor had a subpar game. Singleton was his usual zero self on offense. We just didn't have the talent to match up with the Knicks. It would have been a lot closer if we had Ariza in to cover the stretch PFs but given the roster... it's hard to expect anything more out of our guys.

This was just one of those games where you say... well... they were better.

[tontoz]

^^Okafor's lack of offense stood out last night. He had some easy chances that he blew because he couldn't catch a routine pass cleanly.

When Melo's jumper is that hot, and the rest of their team is hitting 3s, there isn't much you can do.

[sfam]

^^Okafor's lack of offense stood out last night. He had some easy chances that he blew because he couldn't catch a routine pass cleanly.

When Melo's jumper is that hot, and the rest of their team is hitting 3s, there isn't much you can do.

They had won 12 in a row and were playing for their first division championship since the 1500s. They weren't gonna lose. But our scrubs MUST have heart and drive. If they don't (they don't), they need to be gone. I'm sure we can find comparable, hungrier scrubs from the D-league right now.