Wiz 2010 General Season Tracker - Grading - How we doing ?

[closg00]

Today's scrimmage report, interesting stuff.
http://www.examiner.com/washington-wiza ... iner-email

[Shanghai Kid]

It's encouraging to hear now two different reports of people being impressed by Gilbert's defense during the scrimmages.

[20MexicanosIn1Van]

Yes. We're well positioned for a zone defense. Length is one of our best attributes. We can fill a ton of space. And Flip's zone is a pretty simple smart scheme. You guard a man until he leaves your area (then the next guy picks him up) cheat to the ball side to prevent interior passing, front the post for the same reason and to discourage the drive, and allow long 2pt jumpers but try to challenge everything else. You challenge interior passes but allow side to side passing.

Why is it that we try to allow long range twos, but seem to take more than any other team in the NBA? Long range twos are the most inefficient shot in basketball, so I think it's a good defensive strategy. But why doesn't the team use the same logic on offense?

[nate33]

Yes. We're well positioned for a zone defense. Length is one of our best attributes. We can fill a ton of space. And Flip's zone is a pretty simple smart scheme. You guard a man until he leaves your area (then the next guy picks him up) cheat to the ball side to prevent interior passing, front the post for the same reason and to discourage the drive, and allow long 2pt jumpers but try to challenge everything else. You challenge interior passes but allow side to side passing.

Why is it that we try to allow long range twos, but seem to take more than any other team in the NBA? Long range twos are the most inefficient shot in basketball, so I think it's a good defensive strategy. But why doesn't the team use the same logic on offense?

Good question. I wish I had the answer. For some reason, Flip's offense seems geared to free up shooters for open 18 footers.

[DejanBodiroga]

Real Training Camp 2010 - Washington Wizards (Complete Playlist, 1hr 10 min)

John Wall Interview
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KFZaFw2EHc[/youtube]

[fishercob]

Best part of this BY FAR is around 6:50 when Aldridge starts to say "preternatural" and stops midstream because he doesn't want to make Ronnie's brain explode.

[20MexicanosIn1Van]

I watched the first 20 seconds of that video, and the first thing Wall says is impressive.

DA: "He's got a little thing going on with Gilbert Arenas"
Wall: "Yea, it's called respect".

Damn. This guy is so humble. What other NBA player calls reporters "sir"? Having him look up to Gil, one of the hardest workers in the NBA, combined with the humility he possesses leads me to believe Wall will be one of the hardest workers in the NBA as well. Oh yea, and he's damn talented. Folks, we have a future star in the making.

[JonathanJoseph]

I watched the first 20 seconds of that video, and the first thing Wall says is impressive.

DA: "He's got a little thing going on with Gilbert Arenas"
Wall: "Yea, it's called respect".

Damn. This guy is so humble. What other NBA player calls reporters "sir"? Having him look up to Gil, one of the hardest workers in the NBA, combined with the humility he possesses leads me to believe Wall will be one of the hardest workers in the NBA as well. Oh yea, and he's damn talented. Folks, we have a future star in the making.

Yessir. He's not just a super athlete, he's a super person with super intangibles. He's not just going to be a star, he's going to be a super star.

The entire media has it wrong (outside of David Aldridge). Wall and Arenas may not work, but it should work and it should be spectacular. They have opposite skill sets (a pass-first PG and a shooter/scorer) and both are much smarter than people think and have personalities that should mesh extremely well.

Reports of Arenas playing good defense? Say it isn't so. If Arenas is playing defense and if Blatche and McGee follow through on the glimpses they've shown....

it's a great, great, great time to be a Wizards fan.

[hands11]

Can someone say "By far the best backcourt in the NBA"? That should be so fun to watch all year.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizard ... ve-in.html


John Wall looks impressive in evening scrimmages

The block. That improbable, who-was-that, where-did-he-come-from block that John Wall had on Al Thornton was the lasting image from the Wizards' scrimmages on Wednesday night. Thornton got the ball at the basket and didn't have anyone in front of him as he elevated for a two-handed slam -- until Wall swooped in, seemingly from the rafters, to knock the ball from a stunned Thornton's hands.

By that time, Wall had already established himself as the best player on the floor -- at least during the 30 minutes of practice that reporters were allowed to witness -- as he ran the floor, and his teams, with determination and an uncompromising desire to win. Wall's speed was off the charts, but his motor didn't ever seem to let up as he attacked the basket, found the open man for dunks or jump shots, and sneaked inside for surprising blocked shots.

Kirk Hinrich, Hilton Armstrong and Lester Hudson also had impressive debuts. But the most interesting and dramatic part of the evening came when Wall's red team (featuring Hudson, JaVale McGee, Cartier Martin and Trevor Booker) played against Arenas's white team (featuring Armstrong, Adam Morrison, Kevin Palmer and Hamady Ndiaye). It was the current face of the team against its former face in a six-minute battle and the results were quite entertaining.

The red team took an early 6-0 lead, with Morrison hitting Ndiaye for an alley-oop dunk, Arenas blowing past Wall for an easy layup and Palmer knocking down a long jumper. But the red team quickly bounced back behind Wall, who pushed the ball up the court and got floored by Armstrong. As Wall hit the ground, some of the season ticket holders in attendance let out a collective gasp, but Wall hopped up and made both free throws.

Arenas responded with a nifty runner off the glass, but Wall scored or assisted on the next three baskets, finding Lester Hudson for a jumper, pulling up over the 6-foot-11 Armstrong and making an over-the-shoulder pass to Martin for a jumper that tied the score at 8. Wall would give his team a 14-10 lead when he was fouled making a left-handed layup and made a free throw. Hudson had a wicked crossover to push the lead to six, before Arenas made a solid, veteran move.

With Wall pressuring him above the three-point arc, Arenas extended his elbow to push back the startled youngster, then stepped back to drain a long shot over him to put the score at 16-13. Wall tried to counter Arenas but was called for an offensive foul after trying to create separation with Arenas for a shot.

But it didn't affect the final outcome. Wall's team scored the final seven points of the game to win easily, with Wall assisting Booker with a ridiculous, full-court bounce pass on the final basket. In the final scrimmage of the night, Wall led his next team (which featured Hinrich, Yi Jianlian, Nick Young, and McGee) to an easy 16-7 victory over another team with Thornton, Hudson, Morrison, Booker and Armstrong. Wall connected with McGee for two dunks and hit the final shot as time expired. But in addition to swatting Thornton's dunk, Wall also caught up to Hudson to reject his layup attempt.

"He can do a lot different things," Coach Flip Saunders said of Wall. "He can do a lot of things that can have an outcome on the game, offensively and defensively. I've been impressed with his ability to play hard, his leadership ability and there is no question that he's a gamer. He loves to get involved in game-type situations."

The Wizards had a brief scare late in the game with Arenas and Wall. Arenas was trying to get around Wall and collided with Armstrong. He stumbled back, then looked over after at the bench and shouted, "Nick, get up." Young replaced Arenas for the final minute of the game.

Arenas went back to the training room, but fortunately, it wasn't anything more than a tweaked left ankle. Arenas returned but didn't participate in the final layup drill, in which players had to run end-to-end, pass the ball, catch it, and score without the ball touching the floor. Arenas stood near the foul line to catch passes and feed the ball to the players. Wall blazed through the drill, finishing one pass with an emphatic dunk.

And, Arenas seemed to be okay a little later. He took jumpers from the top of the key, about 35 feet away, and easily made eight of his first 10 shots.

Also, Sean Marks developed a hamstring injury early in practice and had to sit out the scrimmages.

That's some awesome stuff. And we aren't even talking about Dray or Howard yet. If Wall can really help get the competitive fire of this team going, that can yield a lot of results. We have a ton of pieces that can be better than what they have shown to date. If he can get 10-15% more out of multiple players, the total affect can be huge.

Then we just have to hope Flip and Sam can instill the system that compliments that.

Add to this that Ted has opened the doors to past Bullet winners and things are looking hopeful.

[hands11]

I watched the first 20 seconds of that video, and the first thing Wall says is impressive.

DA: "He's got a little thing going on with Gilbert Arenas"
Wall: "Yea, it's called respect".

Damn. This guy is so humble. What other NBA player calls reporters "sir"? Having him look up to Gil, one of the hardest workers in the NBA, combined with the humility he possesses leads me to believe Wall will be one of the hardest workers in the NBA as well. Oh yea, and he's damn talented. Folks, we have a future star in the making.

One of the things that gave me that shiver up the back was when he said he is learning moves from Gil.

From what I can see, Wall and Gil and going to get along great. There is not only not a problem here but they actually seem to like each other and click. More good news from Wizards Nation.

Gil has to respect Walls talent and Wall respects Gils talent and experience. I get the feeling Gil is taking to Wall as a very talented younger brother. Gil wants to see Wall succeed. And Wall as a pure PG wants to see everyone around him succeed.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I watched the first 20 seconds of that video, and the first thing Wall says is impressive.

DA: "He's got a little thing going on with Gilbert Arenas"
Wall: "Yea, it's called respect".

Damn. This guy is so humble. What other NBA player calls reporters "sir"? Having him look up to Gil, one of the hardest workers in the NBA, combined with the humility he possesses leads me to believe Wall will be one of the hardest workers in the NBA as well. Oh yea, and he's damn talented. Folks, we have a future star in the making.

Yessir. He's not just a super athlete, he's a super person with super intangibles. He's not just going to be a star, he's going to be a super star.

The entire media has it wrong (outside of David Aldridge). Wall and Arenas may not work, but it should work and it should be spectacular. They have opposite skill sets (a pass-first PG and a shooter/scorer) and both are much smarter than people think and have personalities that should mesh extremely well.

Reports of Arenas playing good defense? Say it isn't so. If Arenas is playing defense and if Blatche and McGee follow through on the glimpses they've shown....

it's a great, great, great time to be a Wizards fan.

JJ folks really don't give Gilbert credit for being a smart guy. I agree with you that he's smart and that Wall is way sharper than most think.

I like Wall's demeanor and his mindset most of all. I see him as a turnover-prone player and one who lacks a great midrange shot at this point. HOWEVER, the kid works HARD and is very respectful. His lateral movement, length, range as a defender, competitiveness are all top-notch. What's going to make the kid an all-time great, barring injury are his humility and his work ethic.

Wall being exposed to a great defender (Hinrich) and a great offensive player (Arenas) will only serve to make a sharp kid that much better. Wall being respectful of Gilbert and Gilbert being the confident competitor that he is is already working in practice. It is a beautiful thing to see.

JJ I am glad you made the point that Arenas and Wall are both smart guys. Gil did a dumb thing last season and his pranks and clowning got him into trouble, but don't think for one second he's not a sharp guy.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Why is it that we try to allow long range twos, but seem to take more than any other team in the NBA? Long range twos are the most inefficient shot in basketball, so I think it's a good defensive strategy. But why doesn't the team use the same logic on offense?

Good question. I wish I had the answer. For some reason, Flip's offense seems geared to free up shooters for open 18 footers.

Flip's offense does bother me in this respect as well.

Fortunately, Wall can get to the rack and shouldn't have to settle for many long twos. Also, Gilbert can get any shot he wants and will often drill the three.

[doclinkin]

Yes. We're well positioned for a zone defense. Length is one of our best attributes. We can fill a ton of space. And Flip's zone is a pretty simple smart scheme. You guard a man until he leaves your area (then the next guy picks him up) cheat to the ball side to prevent interior passing, front the post for the same reason and to discourage the drive, and allow long 2pt jumpers but try to challenge everything else. You challenge interior passes but allow side to side passing.

Why is it that we try to allow long range twos, but seem to take more than any other team in the NBA? Long range twos are the most inefficient shot in basketball, so I think it's a good defensive strategy. But why doesn't the team use the same logic on offense?

Yes Flip's team always are among the league leaders in the 'wrong' two. By design. I've spoken about this a bit in the Championship 'tactics' thread.

Basically the theory is to take what the defense gives you. Defenses are often willing to give up that 2pt shot. A little effort will spring you free for an unguarded jumper. A wide open shot is a high percentage shot; generally Flip's teams post excellent shooting efficiency stats in support of this methodology.

Two problems with this: In the post-season teams clamp down on that midrange attack as well. Teams adjust and have time to counter game plan. The counter effectively runs as follows: slow the pattern and you disrupt the play. They force your team to take shots late in the clock with time running down.

Also: a wide open shot ain't fouled. You don't stop the clock, don't soften the interior defense.

So in effect that nice regular season shooting efficiency tends to evaporate.

This year however that looks to change somewhat. The addition of Gil means we have a legit long range threat, and the attack skill of John Wall plus his chemistry with JaVale will tend to mean we get more shots directly at the rim. The uptempo direction the team is headed in means we'll see more unguarded shots early in the clock. The midrange game is still there, still an option, especially once Dray returns to pick up where he left off (plus Yi from Eurothree). That's a key feature of the sets, to allow room underneath for those guard crossing patterns, so Bigs can't clog the paint as easily.

We still don't have great options from the corner three though. The short three, the 2nd most efficient shot in the game (after a dunk). That's a strategic shortfall. If Nick Young can start to hit that shot it helps. Or Thornton who's been practicing it all summer apparently. With our ballhandling attack guards that wide open shot is gonna be there all game long. We need someone confident and capable of dropping it in. This is one reason why Flip is contemplating playing Kirk alongside Gil and Johnny Balls. Not the best of all possible worlds, but one way to shoehorn it into the playbook.

[doclinkin]

I watched the first 20 seconds of that video, and the first thing Wall says is impressive.

DA: "He's got a little thing going on with Gilbert Arenas"
Wall: "Yea, it's called respect".

Damn. This guy is so humble. What other NBA player calls reporters "sir"? Having him look up to Gil, one of the hardest workers in the NBA, combined with the humility he possesses leads me to believe Wall will be one of the hardest workers in the NBA as well. Oh yea, and he's damn talented. Folks, we have a future star in the making.

I love John Wall too and all the yaddayadda. But in context "Respect" is the name of the silly handshake that Nick Young has everyone on the squad doing. He's been running it since LA Ball, you can catch him in the footage at the LA HAX Nike Real Run, after he wins with the walk off three, flexing the "Respect" handshake with his 'coach'.

The rest of the interview though is grin worthy. Kid is just naturally poised, it's a remarkable thing.

[closg00]

Asthma attack

JaVale McGee, who recently discovered he has asthma, has fell ill over the last couple of days.

Hilton starts?

Hilton Armstrong now has the green light. "Hilton probably had his best day today," Flip said during his media availability. "He shot the ball well, rebounded well, [and he's] doing a lot of little things. He's very much a cerebral player." Without the stability of a Brendan Haywood or an Antawn Jamison to score every which way, Saunders is going to need to get the most out of his young frontcourt. "We're going to be playing at a totally different pace because of John, because of Kirk, and their ability to push the ball," Flip said. "I think we have some guys that play hard, and play cerebral, and they'll be able to pick things up."

http://www.examiner.com/washington-wiza ... iner-email

[montestewart]

Good analysis of the Wizards' long twos doclinkin, from the regular season benefits to the playoff shortcomings and the need for a good corner shooter. Thanks.

[REDardWIZskin]

There are definitely positives about long range twos that can give guys fits on defense, especially if you have someone to hit them consistently like Rip did with the pistons. Todays league is centered around the 3pt shot or driving all the way to the basket, but being able to pull up can really keep defenders on their heels. However, you also have to have physical tools to excel at it. Wall and Gil are such driving threats with the quick step that pulling up or pump faking after two steps could really keep a defender off balance. Rip wasnt that quick driving the lane but his length and quick release made his midrange deadly. Theres logic there, i dont know if i would say that it is the most inefficient shot as much as i would say that it is the most unattractive shot. But the from the standpoint of a defender it can be trouble becuse it adds a third element to a drive/3pt shot game to worry about. One of the reasons i think Kobe has been so sucessful. Alot of his shots go up btwn the free throw line and the 3 pt line

[no D in Hibachi]

Two problems with this: In the post-season teams clamp down on that midrange attack as well. Teams adjust and have time to counter game plan. The counter effectively runs as follows: slow the pattern and you disrupt the play. They force your team to take shots late in the clock with time running down.

This is a valid point, Doc. However, I think one of the Wizards biggest strength's is their ability to penetrate and attack the rim. Arenas and Wall are both better than any player from Flip's Piston team at attacking the rim. If defenses crowd the Wiz on 16-18 foot jumpers I'm sure Arenas and Wall will be more than capable of blowing past the pressure defense as the clock is running down.

I really think the Wiz will end up among the league leaders in FTA this season. Besides Miami, what team in the league has two players with Arenas' and Walls skill in attacking the rim? That will be deadly during the reg season and in the playoffs. I'm sure Flip will modify his offense a little in order to capitalize on his player's strengths.

[hands11]

Ok, so since Wall and Gil seem to be getting along and Wall is showing Gil respect and Gil is showing Wall moves.... what if... what if Gil learns some things from Wall along the way?

Maybe.. just maybe.. Wall helps Gil become a more balanced mature person.

Now that was be a huge win win.

That is what I think will be part of the Wall Affect. We have had a team of .. well..bubble heads.

I think Wall is going to help them mature because for a young man, Wall is very mature.

[KiNgSbOi]

Wall being so mature and respectable to his peers at this young of an age shows he was raised the proper way. This is how it should be for everybody, don't you just hate it when these 18+ year olds act so disrespectful and hard/smart alicks. Back to John, his leadership will show for sure, the desire to win and play hard every night will rub off on the other players. It can only do wonders for the team and himself as well.