Wizards are my under-the-radar team

[Clip34life]

I think you guys are going to surprise a lot of people and potentially sneak into an 8th seed. I think it all comes down to how Gilbert recovers and meshes with Wall.

[no D in Hibachi]

Thx!

IBTL

[dlts20]

Thanks homie. I think we can sneak up on some people as can you, if Baron is healthy and still has it

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Clip34life, I am usually very pessimistic about the Wizards but not this season. Flip Saunders had averaged 48 wins a season prior to last year, when I think he had a horrible year and so did his team. This coming season, although I have predicted 40-45 wins and the 8th seed, I think it is entirely possible for the Wizards to win 48 to 50 games. This team has more talent than most of Flip's teams, so why can't he win 48 games?

The guard play with Wall, particularly if Arenas stays, will be leaps and bounds better. The depth with Hinrich off the bench figures to be among the best. Andray Blatche when healthy is better than average at PF. Howard when healthy is better than average at SF. McGee will get a lot of points off lobs. I think Javale, if he starts, has a legit shot at Most Improved Player. He's just scratching the surface of what he can do. Guys like Thornton, Booker, Yi, and Young can bring athleticism, scoring, and energy off the bench. Washington should be much better.

So, I think you're right about this being a sleeper team Clip34life.

[Dat2U]

Thanks, yeah its all about health IMO. If Wall, Arenas & Blatche remain relatively healthy (70 games or more), then we can definitely make the playoffs as a 7th or 8th seed.

[hands11]

No way. The Wiz are a front runners. I read they are slatted above LA.

I think there my be one more warm Miller light in that tub over there without any ice left in it.

[Hoopalotta]

No way. The Wiz are a front runners. I read they are slatted above LA.

I think there my be one more warm Miller light in that tub over there without any ice left in it.

Actually, Miller took his warmth and left for the HEAT. He said he was uncomfortable on a team with such high expectations like the Wizards as he just doesn't have the ice water in his veins for the game 7 three-balls like we're gonna need.

We're going to the Superbowl!

[sfam]

I agree that Arenas is the biggest determinor for how well the Wizards do, but right behind him is McGee. I think the Wizards really need McGee to start taking man-to-man defense seriously before we can be considered playoff bound. If not, we pretty much allow any team with an inside presence to pound the ball inside all night long. But if McGee can give up his Mexican jumping bean routine, I too agree that we can easily be looking at a 15-20 game swing.

[Ruzious]

It comes down to the play of the young bigs and how quickly they learn to help the team win - rather than just make occasional spectacular plays.

[closg00]

We are especially weak at Center so my hope is that we can at-least hang around the 8th seed this year.

[hands11]

Oh and there is a few pieces of popcorn left in that bowl if you can pick through the up popped stuff. Hmmm - under the radar team. I expect as the season gets closer, you will hear a few announcers start to hedge toward giving them some attention but no one is going to go out on a limb any more then most of jaded fans here. We have the #1 pick so we are going to get talked about. Plus Gil returning is going to get covered. That was a huge story. They will talk about if Wall. If Gil. If Howard. If Dray. If McGee but they should be really talking about if Seraphin instead of if McGee. If If If If, They may make the 8th seed. I doubt many say anything more than that. Specially since they will be talking about Miami, LA, Dallas, etc. But with Wall and Gil along, we are going to get talked about and evaluated.

But under the radar is exactly what is best for us. Gibbs used to go out of his way to stay under the radar as long as possible. This is one reason you don't want players like Gil ( in the past ) going out and calling out teams and predicting 50. You don't want DSleey types going out and saying stupid stuff that draws attention. Wall isn't that type from what I can tell so we have that going for us. But people will be keep an eye on him so it will be hard to be under the radar.

You want to sneak up on as many teams as you can for as long as you can while your getting your team tuned up.

I hope all the writers and announcers guess us for not playoff bound and the lower quarter of the league. This way we can go about our business without any distractions. I'm fine with us running in submarine mode. Just out of site with our scope up. Torpedoes loaded.

But that may be a pipe dream. We have Wall and Gil. People are going to be looking at the team based on that alone. Then they will start that best back court speculation thing with Kirk. That is enough to get them looking deeper where they will find Dray and Howard and the rest, Yi, Nick, AT, McGee, Serahin, Armstrong, Booker.

For me, it is going to come down to how good is Seraphin and Armstrong cuz I have little faith that McGee can defend the post. If Seraphin and Armstrong can give us 25-48 minutes at defensive center when needed, then this should be a very interesting team to watch and they should win a lot of games. Then anything McGee gives you at center is gravy. If he is playing good and not getting abused in the post, great you need less from the other two. If not, you pull him or move him to PF cuz you have two other bodies that can defend the post.

Seraphin, Armstrong and McGee are the key to this team being good. I'm not really worried about any of the other positions cuz I think we have those covered as long as we are healthy.

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/d ... index.html

Looking at moves alone, I don't agree with his ranking. I think was heavy influenced by how good the teams were last year.

Of the crappy teams though, this stood out. We ranked second to NY of the team who had bad records but he said he was evaluating based on trades, and change in front office, stadium, etc. I think us getting Ted as owner should have counted for more. Looks like he is giving us a B when compared to other teams. Graded on a curve so to speak.

No. 9 -- NEW YORK KNICKS

2009-10 RECORD: 29-53, third place, Atlantic; did not make playoffs.

ADDED: F Amar'e Stoudemire (five years, $100 million); G Raymond Felton (two years, $15.8 million); F Anthony Randolph (trade with Golden State); F Ronny Turiaf (trade with Golden State); G Kelenna Azubuike (trade with Golden State); C Timofey Mozgov (three years, $9 million); C Jerome Jordan (trade with Milwaukee); G Andy Rautins (second-round pick); F Landry Fields (second-round pick).

LOST: F David Lee (traded to Golden State); F Al Harrington (signed with Denver); G Chris Duhon (signed with Orlando); G Sergio Rodriguez (signed in Europe).

No. 12 -- WASHINGTON WIZARDS

2009-10 RECORD: 26-56, fifth place, Southeast; did not make playoffs.

ADDED: G John Wall (first round, first pick overall); F Trevor Booker (Draft day trade with Minnesota); G Kirk Hinrich (trade with Chicago); F Kevin Seraphin (trade with Chicago); F Yi Jianlian (trade with New Jersey); F/C Hilton Armstrong (one year, $992,680); C Hamady Ndiaye (Draft day trade with Minnesota); new primary owner Ted Leonsis.

LOST: F Mike Miller (signed with Miami); G Randy Foye (signed with Clippers); G Shaun Livingston (signed with Charlotte); G Quinton Ross (traded to New Jersey).

RETAINED: None.

THE KEY MAN: F Andray Blatche.
For all the caterwauling about whether Gilbert Arenas can coexist with Wall next season, any hopes Washington has of a quick resurgence lies with Blatche, the Wizards' power forward who teased them with major numbers (22 points, eight rebounds per game) after the team shipped Antawn Jamison to Cleveland and Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood to Dallas last February. The 6-foot-11, 23-year-old Blatche waited behind Jamison for five seasons, but now the four spot is all his. Is he going to be a force for years to come or a March Wonder who never manages to lead his team anywhere?

THE SKINNY: Talk about rebuilding on the fly. The Wizards may start next season with as many as eight new players on their roster. But airing Verizon Center of the stench from last season's horror show was a necessity. Wall has superstar potential, and the Wizards wasted no time making him the face of the franchise. It will take a couple of years to see if this all comes together, and for Leonsis -- who turned the NHL's Capitals into a Stanley Cup contender -- to put his stamp on the team, but this summer was a good beginning.

[Dr Positivity]

I'm picking you guys to make the playoffs. Great backcourt with Wall/Arenas/Hinrich, good SF in Howard, good PF in Blatche. Biggest hole is C but I think Javale could play well.

I'm also picking the Nets to make it though

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I think the Nets have an excellent shot to make the playoffs.

--Avery is a good coach.
--The backcourt got better with Harris healthy and with Morrow and Farmar picked up in free agency. Morrow should have the chance to take more shots than he did at GS, where he led the league in three point percentage once.
--The Nets got rid of soft players like Yi and drafted Favors, who should be really good around the end of the year. He will help the defense.
--Outlaw is a decent player. Between him and Terrance Williams the team will have athleticism on the wings. If those two don't come through I wouldn't be surprised to see Damian James start as a rookie. He's really strong on the boards.

I think the Nets should be much improved, and very capable of having a better record than the Wizards.

[Ruzious]

The Nets? I feel bad for Favors. He went from the worst distributing college team to the worst distributing pro team. This is going to stunt his development. Williams is the only guy interested in involving his teammates, and he's basically a developing 3. I think it'll take Favors a few years to start reaching his great potential. The Lopez/Favors combo looks great on paper, but it'll take a while. If they had won the lotto, there's no telling how good an offseason they could have had - starting with Lebron. But I think they're going to have another shot at the 1st pick next year. They have some pieces, but they're well behind the Zards in the team evolution phase. If they win 30 games, I'll be surprised.

[pancakes3]

morrow should still be benchbound since i think lee is a better sg. they're an oddly assembled team, for sure and i don't really see a particular style of ball that they would excel in. harris is a faster paced pg but the rest of the roster seems to be built for a slower half-court game. they don't have shooters to compliment their penetrator and low post option (morrow is start). it'll take a good job from avery and a bit of luck for them to get going, definitely.

as for us? we're golden. 50 wins or bust.

[JonathanJoseph]

The Nets? I feel bad for Favors. He went from the worst distributing college team to the worst distributing pro team. This is going to stunt his development. Williams is the only guy interested in involving his teammates, and he's basically a developing 3. I think it'll take Favors a few years to start reaching his great potential. The Lopez/Favors combo looks great on paper, but it'll take a while. If they had won the lotto, there's no telling how good an offseason they could have had - starting with Lebron. But I think they're going to have another shot at the 1st pick next year. They have some pieces, but they're well behind the Zards in the team evolution phase. If they win 30 games, I'll be surprised.

Yes, the Nets will suck for another year. I'm still skeptical that Devin Harris is better than "very good" and the Nets will rue the day they took Favors over Cousins. In watching summer league, Favors looked a long way away from being a starting caliber player.

[Dat2U]

The Nets are a mess. Favors was the right pick but Ruzious is right that the Nets are probably the worst team he could go to considering the lack of playmakers on that team.

Harris a huge questionmark. His game & body language were awful last year. Personally I would have tried to dump him if possible. The only keepers on that roster are Lopez & Favors.

They are comparable with the Cavs & the Raps for the worst collection of 2/3s in the league. Courtney Lee is terribly overrated IMO. He's a bench player IMO. I've never been fan of Terrence Williams. I don't think his shooting or ballhandling are quite up to par. Outlaw is decent 3/4 and an ideal 6th man type but is grossly overpaid.

Winning 30 games would be the absoutely ceiling for the Nets. If I had to go out on a limb, I'd say 25-57 next year.

[Stu Scott]

Wizards are full of terrible players.

[Ed Wood]

Wizards are full of terrible players.

Well I wouldn't blame you for taking a sidelong look at the roster but eye'd say that analysis is a bit lazy.

[pancakes3]

lazy but techincally correct. i mean, nothing stu said was wrong. our roster is full of terrible players. outside of 3-4 players, our roster is crap. then again, so are the lakers.