GT 10/17 Knickerbockers vs. Bullets.....

[nuposse04]

Ah, that was an odd game...I'm too young I suppose to appreciate the history behind the Baltimore heritage the Wiz enjoy but it was kind of cool to see them play up there.

Some thoughts:

-Our "star" guys got no love on foul calls in the first half. Wall shouldn't bank on getting calls but man were the refs guzzlin some knickerbocker penis. Also, I'm guessing FT practice is optional, cause damn they sucked at the line.

-Wall: had a very good game as floor general. His defense was uninterested at times (probably because he felt he was being shafted). He didn't shoot all that well, but his corner 3 pt shot is looking like something that may become semi reliable. He still took some unusual shots compared to last year. All in all, he was still a net positive.

-Beal: If this guy gets a third the respect from the refs that Harden gets, we have a perennial 21+ ppg scorer I think. Even though his 3 pt shot was just slightly off he found ways to score with only one trip to the FT line. That is impressive. My only complain so far is that I don't think he's passing as much as he did last season, but lets be honest, he's probably a better bet then either Seraphin or Ariza. Speaking of whom:

Ariza/Webster: Kind of non-factors I thought. I think playing against Melo does wear you out but Ariza went **** 3-10 and 0'fer from range. He did play decent D once again on melo. I don't understand why webster is on the bench still. My only guess is this is an early way to showcase Ariza without affecting the Win/Loss column?

Seraphin/Jan: I thought Seraphin played a decent game. Had took about two bad shots but otherwise was fairly efficient. Rebounded 11-7 in 30 is decent for him I guess. Still not ideal but he actually had more assists then TOs, which is astonishing. Also had 3 BS, I'm not sure if Seraphin is the help side defender Okafor is but its nice to see his capable. Jan had 8 rebounds in 16 minutes, he's playing his role I guess. That one pass to nobody was a bit questionable cause usually he does make smart passes.

Booker: Played like rookie/sophomore Booker I thought. Did his work on the glass and made smart plays near the basket. He needs to start next to Nene. We're going to look A LOT more competent with those two playing next to one another.

Harrington had an awful game, but I suppose it's going to be feast or famine with him. Which is fine I suppose.

Starters played well I thought. Bench...bleh especially Maynor...dude pounds the **** out of the rock. I miss Antonio Daniels. I'd actually be happy with Temple getting PG minutes tbh.

[closg00]

God Maynor is suck, and Beno is sh*tting all over him. We let Price walk for this garbage??

Beno's salary? 1-year 1.27 million. Eric Maynor is signed for 2 years - $4.12 million

[hands11]

Did Beno sign a 1 year deal? He looks infinitely better than Maynor right now.

Thats who I wanted. No idea if he would have wanted to sign with us or not though.

Maynor might be serviceable as long as he doesn't shoot the ball. At least thats what it looks like so far. Seems to be decent at running the offense but I no faith in him shooting or scoring yet. Only 3 games in so not drawing any conclusions yet but so far he has struggled. Beno is clearly the better scorer, but I think they wanted a PG that could run the 2nd unit office. Still willing to give him a chance to show he can do it but he doesn't look that athletic. Its a concern. I think Temple will get a shot at it again before preseason is over.

Really liked the way the team started out. Beal should have had 30 pts easy. He missed a lot of open shots.
Ves looked pretty good again. He was fouled on that dunk attempt. 8 rebounds in 16 min and lots of tips.
- even took at baseline turnaround. Man I wanted to see that fall. That would help him a lot.
Booker is a beast. Glad to see him back. 9 rebounds in 24 minutes and touch D. Stay healthy Book
Kevin looked smoother and more confident. He worked well with the starters.
Wall had an above average game. Nice to see him hit that corner 3 but he took 6x 3's and only made 1.
- its preseason so he is getting his work in. Wall's D looked really good at times.
Webster looks a lot stronger than last year. Went to the locker room for some reason but returned
AH still getting his legs under him. I think he will really help when he settles in. Solid vet. Nice moves.

Things that seemed more a then anything was... I thought Glen Rice could shoot from outside. What's going on with him. I like most of what he does out there. Active on D. Drives well and has good body control. But his outside shoot looked terrible. Hopefully he works on it and gets it fixed. I think he will. Not going to be hard on him because while he doesn't look like it, he is only a rookie in his 3rd game.

They got some good work in. First quarter would have been a blow out by the Wizards if Beal hit more open shots. They got out to a fast start and looked really good. Won the first quarter. Beal was really gunning in the first which was good to see. Good shots but missed some easy ones for him. Ended up 8-17 but he could have easily been something like 12 or 14 for 17. Seems they were falling short. Maybe he is still finding his legs.

The ball seems to move faster and the team plays quicker without Nene out there. Maybe let him come off the bench and bet up on the 2nd units of other teams with AH. Worked well in his first season here when he arrived at the end of the year. They let the young gun start and run then brought in the vets to beat up on the 2nd lineup of the other team.

Randy still playing with different line ups. I saw some good things.

Melo was a machine.

Interesting game. Next up, three younger teams. Lets see what they do against them. This is where they struggled last year.

[Knighthonor]

Beal has greatly developed.

I dont understand why he not getting the Hype.

What can the Wizards add to improve his play style?

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

God Maynor is suck, and Beno is sh*tting all over him. We let Price walk for this garbage??

But but Maynor adds offensive power to the second unit, and he makes his teammates better.

He's a high character guy. Plays the right way. Fits what we're trying to do. I'm lying to you. Defends. Is unselfish. I'm lying to you. We're set up to make the playoffs this year.

[GhostsOfGil]

They got some good work in. First quarter would have been a blow out by the Wizards if Beal hit more open shots. They got out to a fast start and looked really good. Won the first quarter. Beal was really gunning in the first which was good to see. Good shots but missed some easy ones for him. Ended up 8-17 but he could have easily been something like 12 or 14 for 17. Seems they were falling short. Maybe he is still finding his legs.

This seemed like a trend last season as well. I remember seeing a stat that broke down his points per quarter which declined as the game went on. I'll see if I can find it.

[popper]

I wanted Nate Robinson because he can fill it up and that's what our second unit needs most. I must admit however that I was OK with the Maynor signing but now realize how wrong I was. He flat out sucks and I hate his contract. Hope he turns it around somehow but I'm not confident at all.

[TGW]

I wanted Nate Robinson because he can fill it up and that's what our second unit needs most. I must admit however that I was OK with the Maynor signing but now realize how wrong I was. He flat out sucks and I hate his contract. Hope he turns it around somehow but I'm not confident at all.

I'm just laughing at the people who thought Maynor was a better "fit" for the Wizards. I hate when people say that.

This FO loves to get players he thinks makes a good "fit". How about just getting good players instead. Would probably work alot better.

[jivelikenice]

I was hoping everyone critical of the Maynor signing was flat wrong but I hated the signing and Nate was the obvious guy to target. Hell, I'd rather see Satoransky running backup pg ahead of Maynor.

[jivelikenice]

Finished up watching. Wall didn't shoot great tonight but he's absolutely in control of the team and game when he's in. Creating shots for himself and others is just coming easy to him now. As a floor general, he was outstanding.

Beal is a stud. I liked how he didn't attempt the dunk a couple of times and finished "safely". Big future ahead for the kid. This backcourt really does fit well together.

Ariza does nice things and plays some good team ball with extra passes and slashing, but he just missed open shots. That's the issue; at home where we score and shoot better, we can afford one guy missing a few open looks but on the road thats a killer. Only if he had Webster's shot!

I know this idea has no chance of happening because of the absense of Okafor, but I'd love for them to bring Nene off the bench. Wall/Beal could handle the scoring for the starters and Nene can help solidy the second unit. I've really enjoyed small ball w/o Nene the last two games and the guards have really taken off under this style. I don't want Nene holding them back....

[jivelikenice]

Also have to add that while I've been down on Booker, he's looked better and more like the old Booker. He's also moving well without the ball which is helping create good spacing on offense, whereas last year he seemed so anxious to prove he could shoot that he stood in the way for too often.

[dangermouse]

Wtf was Maynor this bad in OKC? Watching the game now. He does not look like an NBA caliber player. Not even a 3rd guard.

[hands11]

I was hoping everyone critical of the Maynor signing was flat wrong but I hated the signing and Nate was the obvious guy to target. Hell, I'd rather see Satoransky running backup pg ahead of Maynor.

There ya go. Now it makes more sense. Maynor was signed to attract Satoransky to come over. They would be like, come on Satoransky, you can beat this guy out. Come on over.

[Upper Decker]

I wanted Nate Robinson because he can fill it up and that's what our second unit needs most. I must admit however that I was OK with the Maynor signing but now realize how wrong I was. He flat out sucks and I hate his contract. Hope he turns it around somehow but I'm not confident at all.

I'm just laughing at the people who thought Maynor was a better "fit" for the Wizards. I hate when people say that.

This FO loves to get players he thinks makes a good "fit". How about just getting good players instead. Would probably work alot better.

I was very vocal about how terrible this signing was. I felt like Nate Rob was a long shot so he was sort of off my radar. I was very much of the opinion that Beno Udrih would be the best most realistic option. He signed a 1-year vet minimum with the Knicks to be the 3rd PG. He made Mayor look silly last night.

[LyricalRico]

Finally got to watch a preseason game and...

Wall+Beal = AWESOME

[FAH1223]

God Maynor is suck, and Beno is sh*tting all over him. We let Price walk for this garbage??

Beno's salary? 1-year 1.27 million. Eric Maynor is signed for 2 years - $4.12 million

I wanted Beno over Maynor. Atleast Beno is a champion.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

God Maynor is suck, and Beno is sh*tting all over him. We let Price walk for this garbage??

Beno's salary? 1-year 1.27 million. Eric Maynor is signed for 2 years - $4.12 million

I wanted Beno over Maynor. Atleast Beno is a champion.

I don't want to exaggerate. But I believe the Knicks will win a couple a few more games this year because they have Beno and the Bullets will lose a few because we have Maynor. Add that to the fact that having a total suck #2 pg means heavier minutes on Wall's legs and that we blew cap room and a spot that could have gone to a serviceable big (think Blair) and this signing becomes a total, unmitigated, stinking plume of suckitude.

I've seen enough positive things over the course of the past couple of games to keep myself off the ledge. However, the fact is, we have two legitimate, potentially really good players (Wall, Beal), both of whom fell into our lap. We have a number of decent players who we either paid a bit over market value to get/resign (Martell) or acquired in asymmetrical trades (with us on the short end) like Emeka and Ariza. And we have a number of players that were acquired using valuable draft assets (Singleton, Vesely, Seraphin) who haven't developed and who could be replaced by pretty much any run-of-the-mill D-leaguer.

GM positions in the NBA are among the most desirable jobs on the planet. How in the world does EG still have a job?

[Kanyewest]

Guess I need to watch this game to see how bad Maynor was. Looks like he had a bad game from the box score- 3 assists 1 turnover are OK, 1 rebound is meh, and 1-6 from the field, and 0-2 from 3 point range. For me, I need to see a larger sample size for writing him off but at the very least looks like the Wizards front office dind't have to use that exception to get Maynor.

[Nivek]

I disliked the Maynor signing from the outset, but I don't think he's actually THIS bad. My expectation is that he's going to be terrible this season (and next). But that's based on his career so far, not the preseason. My hope is that he plays better as he learns the team and the system, and the coaches figure out how to use him. Hope.

[payitforward]

Agreed. I didn't think -- and don't imagine -- he's this bad a player. No way he was ever an upgrade over Price (and that's a damning enough statement!), and there was just no reason to target him. But he's looked altogether awful, worse than I could have imagined.

His feet look slow; his reaction time. I wonder whether he's still not recovered from last year's injury. Why do you give a guy a player option when he hasn't shown that he's gotten past a pretty serious injury?

Why...? Because you are Ernie Grunfeld, the man who knows better than (insert name here). As many have asked many times, including more than once today, why does this guy have a job?

The answer is that he has one outstanding skill: he knows how to manage his owner.