Trevor Booker

[closg00]

I guess we have no thigh bruise experts on the board these days.

I just find it really odd that it has taken him so long to heal from this.

Come-on Hands, If you have time to post, you have to time to read Wiz coverage don't you?

Fans, however, were able to see forward Trevor Booker play for the first time this season. The 23rd pick in last year’s draft missed Friday’s game because of a right thigh contusion suffered when he was playing in Israel with Bnei HaSharon during the NBA lockout.

Booker wound up not playing a regular season game with that club, instead coming back to the United States to have his leg examined, and he was able to practice during the last two days of training camp. Saunders said mid-week that Booker had made great strides rehabilitating his leg and perhaps he would be able to play against Philadelphia.

Both Booker and Vesely will have another day to rest with the Wizards not practicing on Sunday. Washington’s next and final preseason game is Tuesday in Philadelphia.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html

[7-Day Dray]

He played in the scrimmage at Fan Fest last night, and he got really high up on one alley oop. Looks good to me (no homo).

[hands11]

I guess we have no thigh bruise experts on the board these days.

I just find it really odd that it has taken him so long to heal from this.

Come-on Hands, If you have time to post, you have to time to read Wiz coverage don't you?

Fans, however, were able to see forward Trevor Booker play for the first time this season. The 23rd pick in last year’s draft missed Friday’s game because of a right thigh contusion suffered when he was playing in Israel with Bnei HaSharon during the NBA lockout.

Booker wound up not playing a regular season game with that club, instead coming back to the United States to have his leg examined, and he was able to practice during the last two days of training camp. Saunders said mid-week that Booker had made great strides rehabilitating his leg and perhaps he would be able to play against Philadelphia.

Both Booker and Vesely will have another day to rest with the Wizards not practicing on Sunday. Washington’s next and final preseason game is Tuesday in Philadelphia.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html

Yeep. I had already read that. That doesn't address my question though. Why the hell did it take so long to heal.

[hands11]

He played in the scrimmage at Fan Fest last night, and he got really high up on one alley oop. Looks good to me (no homo).

Cool. Just wanted to get a feel for if this would be a nagging problem since it took so long to get better.

[pancakes3]

7DD, i was there last night too! where were you sitting? i got a shirt. i was the guy yelling for the contest winners to choose sam cassell to take the half-court shot for them. also, jan vesley didn't get in - odd?

[7-Day Dray]

7DD, i was there last night too! where were you sitting? i got a shirt. i was the guy yelling for the contest winners to choose sam cassell to take the half-court shot for them. also, jan vesley didn't get in - odd?

lol I wasn't there, just saw the highlights on the Wizards website. And Jan had a minor hip injury.

[MF23]

Start this man! Lets keep this going for the next 10 games and see what happens. By keep this going I mean keep Booker and Singleton in the starting line up and let the cards fall where they may.

[sfam]

Start this man! Lets keep this going for the next 10 games and see what happens. By keep this going I mean keep Booker and Singleton in the starting line up and let the cards fall where they may.

I think it would be really hard for Flip to not start him at this point. Unless they lay some serious eggs, I'd bet on nagging injuries for Blatche and Lewis for the foreseeable future.

[chpmntsptx]

Saunders infuriates me. There's no reason not to go to Booker in the post more... like I said last year, he has the cleanest post game on the roster. Run some 1-2 with Singleton or Young and Booker or McGee. It's really not rocket science.

The other things the continues to plague the offense is that the guards STILL cannot adequately run the pick and roll. Mack is the only one that's shown signs. HIT THE ROLL MAN YOU MORONS. That this continues to fail is simply coaching.

Booker shot better in college and just hasn't translated his J in the league. It so obviously a mental block he hasn't overcome. One thing, though -- he's often SO wide open that he doesn't need to contemplate a shot, he needs to drive the freaking rim. He's quick enough to avoid a charge and a good enough passer to dish it.

But whatever.

Last note: sit Wall until he commits to better effort on defense. So tired of his bs.

[Illuminaire]

Over the last three games, only Singleton has missed more wide open jump shots than Booker. Those two are costing Wall an average of almost 3 assists/game.

On the plus side, Booker has shown a MUCH better post game than I ever expected. Dude wants to mix up down there. I say we give him a few more opportunities a game.

[no D in Hibachi]

Booker and Singleton are becoming self-checks on offense. They are unbelievably poor shooters from the perimeter. The defense doesn't even bother running out for their open jumpers. The spacing on the floor is just killing Wall. Washington doesn't even have one forward that has a semi-reliable jumper.

[Ruzious]

Saunders infuriates me. There's no reason not to go to Booker in the post more... like I said last year, he has the cleanest post game on the roster. Run some 1-2 with Singleton or Young and Booker or McGee. It's really not rocket science.

The other things the continues to plague the offense is that the guards STILL cannot adequately run the pick and roll. Mack is the only one that's shown signs. HIT THE ROLL MAN YOU MORONS. That this continues to fail is simply coaching.

Booker shot better in college and just hasn't translated his J in the league. It so obviously a mental block he hasn't overcome. One thing, though -- he's often SO wide open that he doesn't need to contemplate a shot, he needs to drive the freaking rim. He's quick enough to avoid a charge and a good enough passer to dish it.

But whatever.

Last note: sit Wall until he commits to better effort on defense. So tired of his bs.

Booker never had a reliable jump shot at Clemson - that was one of the knocks on him. He never showed any perimeter skills. And he can have all the post moves you want, but if he's made any kind of volume shooter, he's going to get his shot blocked too often. He's the best we have at PF, but that's a bad thing. As was said, he and Singleton together are just awful offensively.

[closg00]

Booker and Singleton are becoming self-checks on offense. They are unbelievably poor shooters from the perimeter. The defense doesn't even bother running out for their open jumpers. The spacing on the floor is just killing Wall. Washington doesn't even have one forward that has a semi-reliable jumper.

Big +1 to what you Ruz wrote. Unfortunately Flip doesn't have any options because of Ernie's imbalanced roster. Booker/Singleton/Wall kills-us on offense and obviously Vesely is just as bad offensively so Flip is really f**ked.

[WizarDynasty]

the problem with both booker and singleton is the ability to sprint and dribble the ball low to the ground with their off hand. this limit their ability to react to defensive pressure forcing them to their off hand both of them normally turn the ball over.
Booker can't attack the lead foot of a defender because the defender is always daring him to drive to his right and snce booker's right hand is his weak hand...and he knows that he can't control the ball ifhe has to come to a complete stop in the lane if he dribbles with his right..he elects to pass it.
the same problem exist with singleton.
Until we get an expert outside the organisation to help these guys correctly build a step by step progress toward elite dribbling with their off hand, we won't be able to take advantage of the offensive potential that both booker and singleton have because both have alot of offensive potential if they became expert dribblers with their off hand and both can create huge mismatches..booker has pretty explosive step but can't take advantage of it due to lack of low to ground dribbling ability.
Singleton has tremendous size advantage in the post if he could maintain a low dribble with his offhand and not have to worry about fumbling and instead of focusing on his dribbling, focusing on the basket.
the problem now is our players are focusing on the ball while dribbling instead of focusing on the basket or ways to beat their defender to key spots to avoid their shots being blocked.

[hands11]

Booker and Singleton are becoming self-checks on offense. They are unbelievably poor shooters from the perimeter. The defense doesn't even bother running out for their open jumpers. The spacing on the floor is just killing Wall. Washington doesn't even have one forward that has a semi-reliable jumper.

Big +1 to what you Ruz wrote. Unfortunately Flip doesn't have any options because of Ernie's imbalanced roster. Booker/Singleton/Wall kills-us on offense and obviously Vesely is just as bad offensively so Flip is really f**ked.

I would have hoped he added mid range set shot over the summer. It's not like he has to shot them contested because teams leave him wide open. Very disappointed that he hasn't shown he added that ability.

Losing both Dray and Ronny so early in the season has really put a ton of stress on this roster and they are scrambling to adjust with no short term quick options.

Booker is best as a scrappy player with other shooters on the floor who open the floor so he can rebound, slash and get put backs and make some post moves. After several games of Booker and Singleton starting without Dray off the bench, Flip is adjusting by putting Nick at SF so they have more shooters.

The only short term viable option they have for new options at PF is KS. He has the body, athleticism and a few post moves with a little more range. KS getting court time should be a main priority for the team over the next few games.

Wall, Crawford, Nick, Kevin, McGee is a line up they need to try more. Even if it looks ugly at first.

I don't expect we will see a lot of that without Ronny available to back up at center because someone has to do that, but he could get a few minutes to see what it looks like. Kevin and McGee would give them strength and length in the post to rebound and defend.

If they are going to lose, may as well see what KS can do. He is one of the young pieces they are considering keeping.

[closg00]

the problem with both booker and singleton is the ability to sprint and dribble the ball low to the ground with their off hand. this limit their ability to react to defensive pressure forcing them to their off hand both of them normally turn the ball over.
Booker can't attack the lead foot of a defender because the defender is always daring him to drive to his right and snce booker's right hand is his weak hand...and he knows that he can't control the ball ifhe has to come to a complete stop in the lane if he dribbles with his right..he elects to pass it.
the same problem exist with singleton.
Until we get an expert outside the organisation to help these guys correctly build a step by step progress toward elite dribbling with their off hand, we won't be able to take advantage of the offensive potential that both booker and singleton have because both have alot of offensive potential if they became expert dribblers with their off hand and both can create huge mismatches..booker has pretty explosive step but can't take advantage of it due to lack of low to ground dribbling ability.
Singleton has tremendous size advantage in the post if he could maintain a low dribble with his offhand and not have to worry about fumbling and instead of focusing on his dribbling, focusing on the basket.
the problem now is our players are focusing on the ball while dribbling instead of focusing on the basket or ways to beat their defender to key spots to avoid their shots being blocked.

What good is improved dribbling for these guys that can't shoot? I don't mind one or two defensive guys on the team who are poor shooters, but we've got 4, possibly 5 (What happened to Mack?)

[nate33]

I would have hoped he added mid range set shot over the summer. It's not like he has to shot them contested because teams leave him wide open. Very disappointed that he hasn't shown he added that ability.

For what it's worth, Booker has improved his shooting percentage from 16-23 feet. Last year, he shot 18% from that range. This year, it's up to 25% on double the number of attempts per game. That's progress.

Unfortunately, 25% isn't good enough. He's got to get it up into the mid-30's before opposing teams think it's worth it to guard him, and he needs to be in the low 40's for it to be the type of shot a team actively tries to get when running the offense.

[sfam]

It appears as if virtually nobody (other than maybe Ray Allen) worked on their game this offseason - I mean that league-wide. Even Dirk came in out of shape. Basically, they all thought the season was going to be called off, so they took some extra time enjoying life.

Yes, there are levels below which no professional should go, like Blatche who came in looking pregnant with twins. But I wouldn't get on Booker too much this offseason for not improving his shot much because again, virtually nobody appears to have done so. I'm willing to allow a do-over for Booker here, in the hopes that he shows dramatic improvement (like in the 15-25% range) next offseason.

Bottom line, this offseason was silly crazy for all concerned, and looks like an absolute wash in terms of player development...

...except perhaps for McGee. He actually appears to have worked on his game somewhat, but the biggest change seems to be his maturity level.

[tontoz]

So far Booker's per 36 numbers are 11.6/8.8, shooting 57%. I would like to see both numbers a bit higher but that is still decent production.

Now that Capt Amnesty is out for a few weeks he should get some more scoring opportunities.

[Illuminaire]

Booker is looking like an excellent backup PF right now. Really an awesome guy to have come off the bench. For his draft slot, that's a pretty good outcome.