Macker wrote:Somethings got to change. I was a fan through thick and (mostly) thin over the past 20 years. But this is killing me. How come we have legit stars who have good character, and we're just mediocre?
I guess this is where I differ with lower expectations and more of an appreciation that the team is _over-_ achieving.
LeBron James gives any team a chance to win. Because To borrow fishercob's line, he's sofa king great.
[I'm gonna steal that one all the time fish, thanks].
But there's a reason why the Wiz' allstars never dominate in an All-star game, and barely even register. Because, whatever their talents, the system is what helps them be great. The system is what gives them opportunity to earn allstar nods.
No question these are nice players, in many respects-- but not one of 'em would be a franchise player on another Alpha dog team. Even our most talented player recognizes it and says he'd like to be a second banana on a championship team, doesn't want to be a leader. IN some respects he was most comfortable and most dangerous when he was able to defer to Larry Hughes for half the game.
The system made journeyman Larry (on his fifth team now?) think he was an all-star. Gave twice-traded Caron the chance to develop and improve despite his 'tweener' knock. Gave the first (and second) all-star election for a player who had back-to-back 50's earlier in his career. And let Gil become a supastar.
The heavy minutes for our primary players are in sum a cause for their success, for the team's success, but also both a liability & indictment of the team overall. Liability: yes heavy minutes expose players to fatigue related injury; indictment: heavy minutes for starters tend to reflect a lack of depth on the bench.
Last year we had no bench. Just a collection of leftovers. This year we have talent, but it is 'depth-to-be'. Not yet seasoned talent. ("What were they before they were leftovers?" "Leftovers to be...")
The fact is you tend to lose games relying on rookies and young folks to pull heavy weight. Portland surprised the helloutta most folks this year. Charlotte tends to be the more likely example. In a recent broadcast they said the Wiz are the third youngest team. ('Third' seems unlikely). But no matter what, the primary bench depth we added was: Nick Young.
Plus the development of Dray (younger than our rookies, and just getting over his 'raw' phase -- in more ways than one).
And RMjunior getting acclimated to the system. Pounding the point: Mason, who never did much of anything in his NBA career until he got into the system and had a chance to integrate himself into it.
Some things take time. Wiz talent is worth less in trade now than they are worth to the team in the future. Either playing for the team, or as trade bait. Injuries aside, Gil is opting out, who's gonna sign him? Jamison -- given his leadership role it's a tricky trade, not just in local PR but league wide. Players talk, they respect loyalty, rewarding a job well done. I think Ernie's patience goes a long way towards rebuilding the franchise's rep league-wide. Might have been nice to be patient with Big Ben, Rasheed, etc, no?
Trades take talent, depth, resources (stockpiled picks), and motivation. This year we got little enough of the first three to risk blowing it all up on a gamble. The motivation comes after the playoffs, to see how far we can ride a re-invigorated roster.
Because the truth of it is evident in the record, we're nice, sometimes dangerous, but not dominant. Not top of the food chain. We have a good blend of the talent we got, and a smart coach who has designed an offense that fits the league's current vogue and the roster we got.
And, given a little seasoning, yeah maybe we got assets and depth to be that damn good team, in the conversation every year. The fact is, despite setbacks, we're developing. Getting better. Shoot, we're even playing defense this year. And Big front lines. Whatta y'all complaining about?
