Championship: why not, or how. Strategy, tactics, best hopes

[JonathanJoseph]

I got a big post a brewin' for when I get home. Just want to chirp in and agree we are exactly like the Showtime Lakers -- minus the 6-8 hall of famer, number one overall pick; the 6-9 hall of famer, number one pick, and the 7-2 hall of famer, number one pick (oh and leadership, rambis, etc, etc).

And indeed Wall will suddenly vault Arenas from being the current symbol of what is wrong with the NBA, back into a guy who got calls (after half a decade), because he was a feel good story. Wall will also give Arenas back that halfstep he's lost (which is the solitary reason he had a shot at getting so many calls in the first place and earned a reputation leaguewide of being the top player bailed out by the refs). Wall will also transform Blatche into the second round pick who gets calls over top NBA products in the playoffs. Dare to dream.

Wow. This is more reminiscent of a Wizards fan beaten down by years of frustration than any reasonable analysis. So all is lost because 6 months into the rebuild we don't match up with one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history?

But let's get to your specifics, many of which are off the mark.

We don't have a 6'8'' #1 draft pick HOF Magic Johnson, but John Wall has been described as a once in a decade prospect and he was a 6'4'' #1 draft pick.

Your characterization of Arenas as "the current symbol of what is wrong with the NBA" is simply ridiculous. The aforementioned Magic Johnson got AIDS by cheating on his wife. Kobe raped a woman. both of those guys were popular about 10 seconds later. As far as I know Arenas has done nothing other than an ill-advised practical joke gone wrong. After the first 3-point game winner that Arenas hits he'll be incredibly popular again before Steve Buckhantz can finish yelling "dagger!!".

Not sure why you are so hung up on "getting calls". Arenas got no more or less calls than he deserved as drawing contact and finishing was a strength of his game, not some mirage that only was permissible because he was popular. But yes, it would be nothing short of foolish to think that John Wall will not get Arenas easy scoring opportunities.

As for Blatche, he was already killing people in the second half of the season. And while it's popular to suggest that they were empty stats on a loser, down the stretch Blatche was killing people and winning games. Over the last 10 games, the Wizards were killing teams. Killing them, and Blatche was the go-to-guy who was being double teamed. And the double teams didn't work.

Blatche is not even 24 years old and was putting up 21/8 AND 5 down the stretch. If you're trying to list that as a reason for pessimism you better check your perspective.

[JonathanJoseph]

I'll add that I was sick on Friday and had an hour to kill and ran through stuff on my TIVO. I watched the first half of the Wizards/Warriors game near the end of the season and was quickly reminded of why I am VERY optimistic about this coming season and going forward.

The Wizards ran that Warriors team off the floor. I had the Warriors announcing crew and they were remarking how they'd never seen such a mismatch in the NBA (and the Warriors were playing well and had won 4 of their previous 6 games).

Shaun Livingston looked like an All-star and dominated the game, but Blatche was similarly dominant. They described Blatche's potential as "scary" and someone who was nearly impossible to guard.

The other thing that stuck out to me was how far Javale McGee has come this summer. McGee still has a long way to go to learn how to play position defense and what a good shot is on offense, but he's made huge strides since the end of the season. What struck me was that McGee got 25/15/3 despite looking like a chicken with his head cut off at all times. But this summer McGee looked like a player who had a much better idea of what he should be doing and where he should be on the court.

Flip Saunders had that squad BALLING despite a significant lack of talent. Of the 9 players who played 10+ minutes for the Wizards that game, 4 of them aren't in the NBA right now (Cartier Martin, Cedric Jackson, Fab Oberto, James Singleton).

It took that talentless bunch about a month to figure it out (hence the 16 game losing streak). The Wizards have infinitely more talent on the roster going into this season than that squad had and will have a full offseason and training camp to work together.

As painful and despressing as the first half of last season was, don't forget about the last quarter, which was very, very strong. That's reason for significant optimism.

[Dat2U]

I got a big post a brewin' for when I get home. Just want to chirp in and agree we are exactly like the Showtime Lakers -- minus the 6-8 hall of famer, number one overall pick; the 6-9 hall of famer, number one pick, and the 7-2 hall of famer, number one pick (oh and leadership, rambis, etc, etc).

And indeed Wall will suddenly vault Arenas from being the current symbol of what is wrong with the NBA, back into a guy who got calls (after half a decade), because he was a feel good story. Wall will also give Arenas back that halfstep he's lost (which is the solitary reason he had a shot at getting so many calls in the first place and earned a reputation leaguewide of being the top player bailed out by the refs). Wall will also transform Blatche into the second round pick who gets calls over top NBA products in the playoffs. Dare to dream.

Look, we aren't going to out-talent Miami for at least the next 6 years no matter what we do. It's going to take a complete meltdown, injuries or incredible chemistry for anyone to get past that trio.

We can either give up for the next 6 years or we can attempt to put the best product on the floor and die trying.

[Dat2U]

Shaun Livingston looked like an All-star and dominated the game, but Blatche was similarly dominant. They described Blatche's potential as "scary" and someone who was nearly impossible to guard.

Ugh, don't remind me. There was only three guys I thought were worth the money they got in free agency this offseason. LeBron, Wade & Livingston.

[Dat2U]

Dunno, with the exception of Medical Bill Cartwright, the Bulls never had anything more than a defensively passable center. Will Perdue, Bill Wennington, Luc Longley etc. -- none of their true Bigs were defensively intimidating, nor offensively dominant. They were skilled enough to be on court to make smart passes, take open jumpers from midrange and keep out the way. Granted Ho Grant and The Worm were solid defenders and rebounders, but they even made due with Toni Kukoc at PF for a minute there.

Really the prototype of the versatile lockdown 3-position defender was Scottie who made the thing work. You could afford to play without a dominating lowpost Big because he was long enough and tenacious enough to deny the interior pass. Teams that relied on a pound it in offense would find their rhythm stalled long enough for the double to arrive. He was also strong enough and clever enough to cover the PF as necessary, as well as snatching the dirty work rebounds at times when the team had to make do without a PF.

I agree with you that a prodigious defensive boardsman is necessary, even if they don't block a ton of shots or whatnot. But since the handcheck rules have changed, show me a champion who didn't have that versatile swing defender player. Basically we agree to agree here. You say before we talk contender we need an interior defender and rebounder. I agree, though even a Kendrick Perkins will do. But before the team really can consider a championship, you got to have that all-court free safety type defender who can take responsibility to take the opponents best exterior attacker and is versatile enough to cover interior players as well as needed.

But even Luc Longley (a legit 7-2) & Will Perdue were respectable defenders. But it was Grant & later Rodman who anchored the D & the boards. What I'm saying is that every championship team has that anchor. We don't as of yet. I'm probably sounding alot like barelyawake right now.

I'd gladly take a dynamic wing if we can get it. There was reason I was pandering for a BOYD deal with Kirilenko incessantly prior to the draft. I was also very interested in Prince on his expiring contract.

I think we both agree on the general course of action. I'd prefer getting the big first b/c generally they are harder to get and I'd prefer we'd keep most of our resources (cap space & prospects) for that purpose.

[hands11]

It is a challenge to take the homer goggles off. Success longer term and in the playoffs is going to require solid defense along with a go to scorer or two. I think we have the scoring covered for the most part but lets look at the defense again. We were really bad for a long time. We have made some improvements but we still have a lot of questions.

It's easy to get caught up in all the excitement.

1- Adding Ted - great long term for the organization but it doesn't fix everything today
2- #1 pick in Wall. An exciting leader type who will defend the point
3- Getting Gil back. He can be an explosive scorer but still a question mark as a defender.
4- Adding Kirk so we have two new PGs both of which will defend.

So we appear to have improved defensively at the PG with Wall and Kirk but unless Gil is going to step it up as a defender, we have a problem since he is likely to be out there 30 minutes. Wall and GIl, Kirk and Gil. And while Nick can defend, he has to work through screens better. So Wall and Nick should be ok and Wall and Kirk would be outstanding. Gil needs to step it up.

But until proven differently, this team is still more an offensive team more than a defensive team.

We added Booker and Seraphin who are supposed to help defensively but we have to wait to see what have really have in them and there is no telling how many minutes they will get.

So we are counting on getting defense from J Howard, Dray, McGee, AT, Yi, Seraphin and Armstrong

So while most would be confident that we improved our defense at PG, that is all that is really clear. Dray is pretty solid defender. The rest is a lot of question marks and of them, the biggest effect is going to come from what we can get from McGee, Seraphin, Booker and Armstrong and two of those players have never played and NBA game.

I guess that's why they call it rebuilding.

[barelyawake]

I can’t do the whole cut/paste thing on my phone. So, I’ll do quotes and briefly respond while I eat breakfast.

“We don't have a 6'8'' #1 draft pick HOF Magic Johnson, but John Wall has been described as a once in a decade prospect and he was a 6'4'' #1 draft pick.”

Obviously, you didn’t read the thread because I was responding to CCJ who likened us to Showtime. The point I was making was they had multiple guys who were hall of famers and could cover multiple positions. Magic played center for Christ's sake.

“Your characterization of Arenas as ‘the current symbol of what is wrong with the NBA’ is simply ridiculous. The aforementioned Magic Johnson got AIDS by cheating on his wife. Kobe raped a woman. both of those guys were popular about 10 seconds later.”

Can we start by reminding you that Arenas is perhaps my second favorite basketball player in NBA history. But, he is not Magic or Kobe. Magic was an icon in the NBA, and was forced to retire after contracting AIDS. Kobe is the single greatest marketing tool the NBA has had since Jordan and was convicted of nothing. Both won multiple championships as the leaders of their teams. Arenas is a second round pick who had to fight for every, little ounce of respect he has gotten (and that respect was MUCH less than you think). He wasn’t even on the Olympic team. He wasn’t even voted onto the All star team in 2006. His image around the league is that of a chucker who hasn’t won anything – and now a thug. That’s his image. Reality, or how we feel about him, doesn’t matter.

“Not sure why you are so hung up on ‘getting calls’”

Because the NBA is based on getting star calls. Always has been. Always will be. I can show you studies if you need. Anyone who has watched basketball for a good deal of time knows this. Star calls go to star players (players the NBA wants to see succeed as a marketing ploy). And the point would be, because of his actions Arenas is no longer the small star he had become.

“Arenas got no more or less calls than he deserved as drawing contact and finishing was a strength of his game, not some mirage that only was permissible because he was popular.”

That’s naive. Arenas earned getting star calls. It took years. He was doing the exact same thing for years, and wasn’t getting the whistle, until he became an All Star.

“ Over the last 10 games, the Wizards were killing teams. Killing them, and Blatche was the go-to-guy who was being double teamed. And the double teams didn't work.”

Reality says hello. After losing eighteen games straight, the Wizards came into the final games of the season (you know, the time period where teams are either tanking or resting up for the playoffs). During that time, the Wizards went 5 and 5, beating exactly one playoff team. The victory over Golden State that you crow about featured the likes of R. Williams, Tolliver, Hunter and Maggette -- on the fourth worst team in the league.

[WizarDynasty]

Let's rememeber the main reason blatche reached his potential is because of the years he studied under Jamison. i hated jamison but no one can deny that jamison was an extremely talented hardworking finesse undersized powerforward. If jamison was 7 feet tall with the same build and length as blatche and the same age as blatche, he would be on a hall of fame path.
Jamison's years of training still live in Blatche and Jamison has been grooming Blatche for years to take his spot. Fans must not forget the great contribution that Jamison left us. Blatche was extremely raw physical talent and under the tutelage of Jamison, learned what it took to develop his skills to an allstar level. Everytime you see Blatche you should always say thank you to Jamison.

Jamison at his prime was one of the most talented and creative offensive powerforward of his era. he had to rely on craftiness to excel. He passed many of those traits to blatche. if you look at the blatche timeline, how many powerforwards could blatche have studied under that were of the same offensive basketball IQ as jamison. Dirk, Garnett, Duncan, R. Wallace, j.Oneal--there aren't alot of them. Blatche studied underone of the best tweener offensive p/f's in the game ----there aren't to many highly skilled offensive powerforward in the league..i know because i played nba 2K and did many drafts and and there were only a handful of offensively gifted powerforwards.

[Kanyewest]

The road to a championship involves the Wizards actually becoming a playoff team. Even the Celtics who improved from worst to first to go on to win the championship looked to be a decent playoff team with Allen, Pierce, and Al Jefferson. A superstar player has to at least view your organization as a team that will making a move forward like KG.

Buy low, sell high. RIght now IMO, the Wizards would be selling low given how bad their team was this past season. Of course they would have been selling high if they had decided to trade pieces from the 2007-08 team. Getting lucky. Having expiring contracts to make a trade in a year when an all star caliber player becomes available. Examples of selling low, Pau Gasol and the Memphis Grizzlies.

Trading assets for better future assets. For instance, trading a first rounder for a future first rounder which could ultimately be a higher pick down the line. Ultimately gives your team the flexibility to move 2 or 3 first round picks to acquire a player.

Having a system in place and sticking to it. While firing Eddie Jordan may have been a necessary step to improve the defense, it ultimately proved to be costly in other ways. It dramatically lowered the value of someone like Caron Butler, who was ineffective as a catch and shoot player.

Avoid giving up too much for one dimensional players who are good short term fixes but not long term ones. Someone like Antawn Jamison is a very good scorer but ultimately is a weak link defensively; the nature of Jamison's game also provides for some inconsistent stretches during the season; and a bad stretch could cost you a playoff series. Someone like Brendan Haywood is a very good defender, but IMO wasn't someone you ould want to run your offense through with the game on the line. Of course some may point to Haywood's high efficiency back in 2007-08 but hasn't gotten back to shooting at 75% from the free throw line since.

[doclinkin]

Not sure why you are so hung up on ‘getting calls’

Because the NBA is based on getting star calls. Always has been. Always will be. I can show you studies if you need. Anyone who has watched basketball for a good deal of time knows this. Star calls go to star players (players the NBA wants to see succeed as a marketing ploy). And the point would be, because of his actions Arenas is no longer the small star he had become.

Hung up on 'getting calls', because trips to the free throw line are one of the Four Factors of winning basketball games, listed by order of importance: Shooting (eFG), Ball Handling (TO rate), Rebounding (by % of all available balls), and Free Throws (per FG attempt).

Probably the first should be eFG differential: do you score easily on a FG attempt and do you prevent your opponent from scoring easily. Are you more efficient than your opponent.

Arenas got no more or less calls than he deserved as drawing contact and finishing was a strength of his game, not some mirage that only was permissible because he was popular.

That’s naive. Arenas earned getting star calls. It took years. He was doing the exact same thing for years, and wasn’t getting the whistle, until he became an All Star.

But I'm not sure if this isn't a recursive phenomenon. The egg came first since a chicken was not yet a chicken until beneficial mutations occurred and the protochicken squatted out that chicken-to-be. Players become stars in large part because they are good at scoring. Then you get that feedback loop that protects the budding star. Gilbert dropped 61 on Kobe driving to the bucket yes, also hitting from outside. Any player who does that will get a few calls later.

Plenty of non-stars get a high proportion of calls simply due to their playing style. A list of players sorted by FT attempts per FG attempt turns up Chris Andersen, Kyle Lowry and Corey Maggette before we reach LeBJ or DWade. Ramon Sessions gets a better foul rate than #1 pick Derrick Rose.

I have doubts that our current offensive philosophy helps us max out in this factor. The system that made Gil a star ain't in place right now. And I suspect he'll be a bit more cautious in his headlong drives to the hoop anyway.

BUt I do think JohnWall in and of himself carries an aura of starpower and a style that will help teammates benefit from calls.

[Kanyewest]

Hung up on 'getting calls', because trips to the free throw line are one of the Four Factors of winning basketball games, listed by order of importance: Shooting (eFG), Ball Handling (TO rate), Rebounding (by % of all available balls), and Free Throws (per FG attempt).

Probably the first should be eFG differential: do you score easily on a FG attempt and do you prevent your opponent from scoring easily. Are you more efficient than your opponent.

Correct. At no time did the Wizards in the past 5 years did the Wizards have the talent/chemistry to win a championship (or contend) aside from a stretch in the 06-07 season where they knocked off two teams with 15 wins in the Mavericks and Suns and had a point guard who was knocking down game winners at the buzzer. Yes, the Wizards were a very efficient team during the regular season but in the playoffs, when there is much more game planning, the Wizards offensive efficiency dropped dramatically, especially someone like Antawn Jamison (whose only good postseason was in 06-07). Star calls play a part of in it (ie even though the Wizards improved their defense in the postseason, someone like LeBron James could throw his hands up in the air to get a call).

Problem with Jamison wasn't that he was a choker but rather that the Wizards had worn him out by the time the end of season rolled around. The reason I believe Antawn Jamison played well in the 07 playoffs was because he was coming off some rest.

IMO, you can't afford to play guys 40+ mpg and expect to win in the long run unless that guy has an abundant amount of energy to sustain playing on both ends of the court. You need to save those 40 minute per game outputss for the playoffs. That's why it is important for Flip to attempt to establish some bench play. Of course, that's easier said than done, since coaches will attempt to have shorter rotations to benefit their chances to win in the short term.

[hands11]

Hung up on 'getting calls', because trips to the free throw line are one of the Four Factors of winning basketball games, listed by order of importance: Shooting (eFG), Ball Handling (TO rate), Rebounding (by % of all available balls), and Free Throws (per FG attempt).

Probably the first should be eFG differential: do you score easily on a FG attempt and do you prevent your opponent from scoring easily. Are you more efficient than your opponent.

Correct. At no time did the Wizards in the past 5 years did the Wizards have the talent/chemistry to win a championship (or contend) aside from a stretch in the 06-07 season where they knocked off two teams with 15 wins in the Mavericks and Suns and had a point guard who was knocking down game winners at the buzzer. Yes, the Wizards were a very efficient team during the regular season but in the playoffs, when there is much more game planning, the Wizards offensive efficiency dropped dramatically, especially someone like Antawn Jamison (whose only good postseason was in 06-07). Star calls play a part of in it (ie even though the Wizards improved their defense in the postseason, someone like LeBron James could throw his hands up in the air to get a call).

Problem with Jamison wasn't that he was a choker but rather that the Wizards had worn him out by the time the end of season rolled around. The reason I believe Antawn Jamison played well in the 07 playoffs was because he was coming off some rest.

IMO, you can't afford to play guys 40+ mpg and expect to win in the long run unless that guy has an abundant amount of energy to sustain playing on both ends of the court. You need to save those 40 minute per game outputss for the playoffs. That's why it is important for Flip to attempt to establish some bench play. Of course, that's easier said than done, since coaches will attempt to have shorter rotations to benefit their chances to win in the short term.

Another main reason AJ exploded that year was because he was the only real scoring option and AJ is a high volume scorer. He is best when he is getting in a flow and lots of attempts.

As for the biggest factor...I say it is the percentage you hold a team under it's scoring average while not allowing them to do the same. Now this is just a generalization but it is mostly about how much you can get them off their game. Every winning team needs to be able to score effectually itself, but if you keep a team down in the effectiveness they expect, and they press and get frustrated and never get in a flow. You break their backs.

I'm not worried much about our offense. I think we have it covered with PGs, driving, outside and even inside and offensive rebounding.

On D, we have questions. Out front we we will be good. But we have D questions all over after that. And we have lots of new players trying to learn Flips system.

Loosing Haywood has left a huge hole in the middle. We have no known anchor. At least we should be fast enough to at least get back on D and scramble about a lot. That could be effective during the regular season. Just run other teams off the floor.

But come the playoffs, things are very different.

[JonathanJoseph]

But I'm not sure if this isn't a recursive phenomenon. The egg came first since a chicken was not yet a chicken until beneficial mutations occurred and the protochicken squatted out that chicken-to-be. Players become stars in large part because they are good at scoring. Then you get that feedback loop that protects the budding star. Gilbert dropped 61 on Kobe driving to the bucket yes, also hitting from outside. Any player who does that will get a few calls later.

Plenty of non-stars get a high proportion of calls simply due to their playing style. A list of players sorted by FT attempts per FG attempt turns up Chris Andersen, Kyle Lowry and Corey Maggette before we reach LeBJ or DWade. Ramon Sessions gets a better foul rate than #1 pick Derrick Rose.

Right. Winning is correlated to high FT Attempts because getting FT attempts is an effective and efficient way to play offense.

The favorable calls are the effect, not the cause.

[dangermouse]

Reports are Melo is a lock for NY. There was a talk of him being overrated in another thread, and for the first few years he was in the L, thats how I felt too. Then I think it was around 2-3 seasons ago or so, Nuggets were on an absolute tear at the start of the season and Melo was in the top 3 in MVP discussion. This changed my mind a little on Melo after I had seen a few great games that were televised.

Anyway, so if this is the case and isnt just spin, I think we should keep Arenas (if he can still give us around 20ppg, 5apg) put in a reasonable bid for Marc Gasol and a reasonable bid for Kendrick Perkins. I prefer Gasol over Perk because hes a year younger, I like Perkins defense, but Gasol is a decent defender as well but he scores a lot better. It fills a gaping need for a banger inside. We should be able to fill SF through the draft or through trade, Josh Howard may even be the long term guy, Thornton may even break out. Who knows, we have a lot more choice and options there than at C.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Who was the prodigious defensive big on the Showtime Lakers? Surely, not a 35-40 yr-old Kareem. Pau Gasol is not a prodigious defender. Andrew Bynum's big and a good defender, but I wouldn't call him elite. Same with Odom. Artest is very good but not nearly what he was defensively. Kobe is great defensively in spurts. Overall, the Lakers are very good defensively and they're IMO even better offensively.

I believe the Wiz have the athleticism and length and offense to compete at a very high level. The dominating big will be needed to advance in the playoffs, but I think Washington's really close talent-wise to having a team that compete if they can dictate tempo and run.

Remember the Phoenix team that didn't advance after Horry got dirty on them? That team didn't lose because it didn't have a defensive big. Stoudemire was beasting that year against Duncan. That team could have won it all if they had got past the Spurs.

I like Washington if they can run, score, and get calls.

Kareem forced the miss, Magic grabbed the board then initiated the break.

Problem here is that you can dictate tempo and run best if you can collect the defensive board. PHX's 7seconds or less philosophy works well with Nash running (and running) it. But in general you can run uptempo upcourt and in transition best off opponent misses.

Point is in the playoffs they allow players like Horry to get dirty. At this point refs are loathe to determine the outcome of a game simply on whistles, so you need a gritty ugly option that doesn't require fancy tricks. They let you ugly it up a bit more in the paint.

Personally I think the Wiz are pretty close to having an approximation of all the players they need, but not quite there. Fun to watch is a probability. I expect we'll be fun to watch even in defeat. Player development is the biggest question mark though. And mental ability.

Floor general: John Wall.
Multi-tool Big: Dray.
Physically intimidating Frontcourt player: hallucinations of JaVale with better positioning and quite possibly a post weight-room KSeraphin.
Raise the game scorer: flashback-era Gilbert. Nick at his high-percentage best. John Wall in jitterbug mode. JaVale spoonfed on the alley oop diet.

Chemistry, development of young talent, and opium dreams can envision this team into a dynamic and invigorating offensive machine.

But we lack quality defensive rebounding. Unless Booker is what I hope he can be (or Josh Howard recovers quickly, 100%, and signs cheap longterm) we lack a shutdown outside-inside defender; a long or strong perimeter smothering blanket.

lb]And unless Flip tweaks his system, and McGee/Seraphin (even Booker from the crash wing) develop into featured forces, we lack a go-to easy option high percentage interior offense when you simply need bread and butter buckets regardless of the opponents' efforts to stop you. Risking Gilbert and Wall in the paint all the time would make me nervous. Shooting a quarter of your shots from the long midrange ain't a high percentage system. And we have few enough outside shooting options when you need that 2nd-most efficient scoring shot (3pt artillery) since they've packed the lane.[/b]

Ultimately it would also help to have a savvy playoff-seasoned role-playing veteran with a championship on the resume. For now we have Sammy on the sideline; and Kirk will sub in this role on the floor. But yeah, we have interesting raw materials. We can play giant killer and spoiler a few games a year. But we're still leagues away from real contention.

(For the sake of vanity/posterity, let it be remembered that I suggested the model for this team should be the Showtime Lakers. My expectation is that won't happen because Flip and his ego/inflexibility will not allow it to happen. If the Wizards come out sluggishly and lose games at the start of the season, and Flip is constantly cracking about poor defense and guys not sticking to the system; I am sure I will be posting it's all Flip's fault. The team should just run and score.)

doc, you mention that it is very important to get defensive rebounds in order to run. I am going to go out on a limb and predict that Yi will be fine on the boards.

In a Truth About It article on Yi David Thorpe at Pro Training Center mentioned that Yi's taller than the tallest 2010 draftees. Yi stands over 7 feet flat-footed, most likely, because he's taller than Jerome Jordan or Solomon Alabi. That article mentions in April 2010 Yi averaged over 9 rebounds in 34 minutes per game.

My suspicion is that because of his height and history in the league Yi's numbers on the boards will be similar to Jamison's. Antawn was always in the top-10 in defensive rebounds. He played a lot of minutes. Yi's defensive rebound percentage rate has been higher than Jamison's. At his height and knowing about his athleticism I think he'll hit the boards well. (It's his shotmaking that will suck at times.)

Right now, I think the biggest problem is not at C or PF. I think having two offensive 7 footers will work reasonably well with Wall/Gilbert on the floor. I think SF is the huge question mark until Howard comes back.

[Ruzious]

(For the sake of vanity/posterity, let it be remembered that I suggested the model for this team should be the Showtime Lakers. My expectation is that won't happen because Flip and his ego/inflexibility will not allow it to happen. If the Wizards come out sluggishly and lose games at the start of the season, and Flip is constantly cracking about poor defense and guys not sticking to the system; I am sure I will be posting it's all Flip's fault. The team should just run and score.)

Sorry, I can't let that slide. Are you seriously implying the Lakers didn't play defense? They had some of the best defensive players of the era - Kareem, Cooper, Worthy, Rambis... and Magic was probably the best defensive rebounding guard of the era - not to mention the most unique PG in history by a mile.

But it's Flip's fault that the Wiz foolishly won't play like them? His ego will prevent him from doing what you think he should do? Really? Do you really think Pat Riley didn't care about defense? Westhead didn't, and Magic got him fired. Right? Westhead was not Showtime Lakers. Riley was. I think that's where you're confused.

[nate33]

(For the sake of vanity/posterity, let it be remembered that I suggested the model for this team should be the Showtime Lakers. My expectation is that won't happen because Flip and his ego/inflexibility will not allow it to happen. If the Wizards come out sluggishly and lose games at the start of the season, and Flip is constantly cracking about poor defense and guys not sticking to the system; I am sure I will be posting it's all Flip's fault. The team should just run and score.)

Sorry, I can't let that slide. Are you seriously implying the Lakers didn't play defense? They had some of the best defensive players of the era - Kareem, Cooper, Worthy, Rambis... and Magic was probably the best defensive rebounding guard of the era - not to mention the most unique PG in history by a mile.

But it's Flip's fault that the Wiz foolishly won't play like them? His ego will prevent him from doing what you think he should do? Really? Do you really think Pat Riley didn't care about defense? Westhead didn't, and Magic got him fired. Right? Westhead was not Showtime Lakers. Riley was. I think that's where you're confused.

+1

I get real tired of hearing coaches being blamed for everything a team does wrong. The NBA is a players' league. With the exception of a few elite coaches (Popovich, Jackson, Sloan, Riley, Brown, maybe Skiles) there isn't a hill of beans difference between any competent coach. Teams will succeed or fail based on the talent and effort of their players.

[doclinkin]

(For the sake of vanity/posterity, let it be remembered that I suggested the model for this team should be the Showtime Lakers. My expectation is that won't happen because Flip and his ego/inflexibility will not allow it to happen. If the Wizards come out sluggishly and lose games at the start of the season, and Flip is constantly cracking about poor defense and guys not sticking to the system; I am sure I will be posting it's all Flip's fault. The team should just run and score.)

Sorry, I can't let that slide. Are you seriously implying the Lakers didn't play defense? They had some of the best defensive players of the era - Kareem, Cooper, Worthy, Rambis... and Magic was probably the best defensive rebounding guard of the era - not to mention the most unique PG in history by a mile.

But it's Flip's fault that the Wiz foolishly won't play like them? His ego will prevent him from doing what you think he should do? Really? Do you really think Pat Riley didn't care about defense? Westhead didn't, and Magic got him fired. Right? Westhead was not Showtime Lakers. Riley was. I think that's where you're confused.

+1

I get real tired of hearing coaches being blamed for everything a team does wrong. The NBA is a players' league. With the exception of a few elite coaches (Popovich, Jackson, Sloan, Riley, Brown, maybe Skiles) there isn't a hill of beans difference between any competent coach. Teams will succeed or fail based on the talent and effort of their players.

Actually I support CCJ's premise, if not his example. Chemistry comes from a mesh of system and players, there are plenty of competent coaches who lose their jobs based on an ill fit between roster and philosophy, where others succeed with the same group.

We've seen an object lesson recently here. Jamison, Caron and Gilbert were a near ideal fit for the system that EJ cobbled together to suit their talents. They managed all-star level success in large part because of that system, Switching to Flip's system they found themselves struggling. Less freedom to freelance, stricter motion patterns, ball dominated by the PG position instead of creative duties distributed and dispersed around the floor. And under EJ the talents of a guy like Big Wood were minimized since he was a poor system fit at the offensive end.

Now I don't think that the coach is the primary difference between Showtime and our squad. (Though, hey you cite Riley as an exception. You have to expect that JaVale wouldn't be so damn obstinate in refusing to do the basics of his job if he had Riles staring laser beams at him. So maybe. It would be nice to see what a HOF calibre coach could do with this undeveloped talent). But it does worry me (in terms of developing JV for instance) that we're relying on a jumpshooting system that encourages and rewards midrange creativity from the bigs.

[Induveca]

Strongly disagree.....a coach steers the ship. You can have all the talent in the world, but if there isn't someone directing that talent in some type of system....who has the respect of the players then the team will never advance past mediocrity no matter the talent. Come crunch time, the coach is the most vital person on the team.

Just look at Atlanta these past 3 years. With a Hubie Brown/Riley/Jackson/Popovich/Rivers....even a Jeff VanGundy they are going to have a lot more wins. Those guys have won off of pure talent with pathetic coaching.

[nate33]

Note that I said "any competent coach". I agree that bad coaching can kill even a talented team. I don't consider Flip a bad coach though. His record speaks for itself.

I think it's absurd to assume that simply by instituting a "Showtime Lakers system" this team can be successful like the Showtime Lakers. Those Lakers played defense, and they also happened to have three #1 overall picks in the starting lineup. It was arguably the greatest collection of talent ever assembled.