RealGM

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Will come back to pretty this up later.

News is that Marcin Gortat is out (back in Poland with his ailing mother) -- prayers and best wishes to you Marcin. Hope mom gets better soon.

Issue: Will Randy FINALLY give Blair some run? Or will he go straight to Ryan Hollins at the 5?

Post your thoughts, opinions, and bomb threats here.

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What: Wizards vs Suns
Where: Verizon Center -- Washington, DC
When: 7:00 p.m.
TV: Comcast SportsNet, NBA League Pass,
Radio: WNEWm, 99.1 FM

I didn`t saw last game so don`t really know how Ryan looked out there. Randy played him as Gort back up so it`s probably means Blair is outside the Wittmans "circle of trust". Interesting who will start - Hollins or Hump? Maybe Nene if healthy? Blair is probably backup C at best.

I have no expectation about this game. I wanna only see some fight even if we lose...

Who played decent except Wall last game?

Randy would start Sessions at C before giving a minute to Blair

pineappleheadindc wrote:Will come back to pretty this up later.

No sweat, I got this.

Here are the Phoenix Suns dancers practicing their trademark routine, Phoenix Rising From the Asses.

AFM wrote:Randy would start Sessions at C before giving a minute to Blair

Sessions and Blair splitting PF might be an improvement.

There is no way to predict the performance of this team. There are too many inconsistent players. I'm starting to wonder if it's a lack of professionalism.

montestewart wrote:

pineappleheadindc wrote:Will come back to pretty this up later.

No sweat, I got this.

Here are the Phoenix Suns dancers practicing their trademark routine, Phoenix Rising From the Asses.

And that's not all that's rising.
#testosteronedriven

Badumdum

montestewart wrote:

AFM wrote:Randy would start Sessions at C before giving a minute to Blair

Sessions and Blair splitting PF might be an improvement.

When a team is 30th in offensive rebounds and Blair hasn't played one second at PF, I consider that an indictment on the head coach.

nate33 wrote:There is no way to predict the performance of this team. There are too many inconsistent players. I'm starting to wonder if it's a lack of professionalism.

With all of these veterans?

Porter is the only one I can understand since its his first year starting... but everyone else has no excuse aside from the rookie.

nate33 wrote:There is no way to predict the performance of this team. There are too many inconsistent players. I'm starting to wonder if it's a lack of professionalism.

Your thoughts often run opposite mine.

I wonder how abrasive and accusatory Wittman is? I wonder if he plays favorites like Hollins over Blair often? How professional are the minutes assignments? How much buy in do players have with given roles? How consistent are the lineups?

I do wonder about professionalism with Wall and how just the last couple games were freaking exemplary. Was he distracted before? But he's the best player and I hate to single him out.

Seems to me Beal could still be hurting. I thought he'd miss a ton of time with that shoulder injury.

I think working in Dudley and Temple and Humphries etc is causing Many continuity and chemistry problems.

Overall, the team lacks athletes who can keep up with Wall. Wittman's lost face is my guess. I think the coaching professionalism is more suspect than the players.

Temple has been awful lately at least as far as shooting the ball. He hasn't even been able to
shoot FTs well. Anderson can't be ready too soon so Temple can be relegated to emergency
and/or situational defensive possessions, something that is within his limitations.

Blair not getting minutes is a pretty direct result of the game changing and nearly(?) every team in
the league playing S4s or at least trying to avoid playing players who are not threats from long range
(and therefore able to spread the floor). When they allowed zone defenses, this was probably inevitable
once the players and mgmt could adapt to a new regime of what was valuable in a players skillset.
All that said, with Tat out for a couple/few games, why not start Blair and continue to let Ryan
play off the bench since he is so new to the team and particularly its defensive concepts. I remember
Blair dominating the epic bust Thabeet in college. Maybe that's not proof of anything as far as the
NBA goes, but he can get boards/possessions which is something this team clearly hasn't been very
good at this season. I would try that first and also put Hump back in the starting lineup with a short
leash.

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:

nate33 wrote:There is no way to predict the performance of this team. There are too many inconsistent players. I'm starting to wonder if it's a lack of professionalism.

Your thoughts often run opposite mine.

I wonder how abrasive and accusatory Wittman is? I wonder if he plays favorites like Hollins over Blair often? How professional are the minutes assignments? How much buy in do players have with given roles? How consistent are the lineups?

I do wonder about professionalism with Wall and how just the last couple games were freaking exemplary. Was he distracted before? But he's the best player and I hate to single him out.

Seems to me Beal could still be hurting. I thought he'd miss a ton of time with that shoulder injury.

I think working in Dudley and Temple and Humphries etc is causing Many continuity and chemistry problems.

Overall, the team lacks athletes who can keep up with Wall. Wittman's lost face is my guess. I think the coaching professionalism is more suspect than the players.

Yeah, I don't think it's any intentional lack of professionalism among the players. It could be the team has unintentionally tuned out Wittman. Even when the team had a winning record earlier this season, I couldn't help notice Wittman's unnecessary negativity during games. Like I said in another thread, he can't get away with the verbal stuff Pop can, because he ain't Pop - he's miles and miles below Pop's resume and hasn't earned that kind of trust/respect/love of his players.

Ruzious wrote:

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:

nate33 wrote:There is no way to predict the performance of this team. There are too many inconsistent players. I'm starting to wonder if it's a lack of professionalism.

Your thoughts often run opposite mine.

I wonder how abrasive and accusatory Wittman is? I wonder if he plays favorites like Hollins over Blair often? How professional are the minutes assignments? How much buy in do players have with given roles? How consistent are the lineups?

I do wonder about professionalism with Wall and how just the last couple games were freaking exemplary. Was he distracted before? But he's the best player and I hate to single him out.

Seems to me Beal could still be hurting. I thought he'd miss a ton of time with that shoulder injury.

I think working in Dudley and Temple and Humphries etc is causing Many continuity and chemistry problems.

Overall, the team lacks athletes who can keep up with Wall. Wittman's lost face is my guess. I think the coaching professionalism is more suspect than the players.

Yeah, I don't think it's any intentional lack of professionalism among the players. It could be the team has unintentionally tuned out Wittman. Even when the team had a winning record earlier this season, I couldn't help notice Wittman's unnecessary negativity during games. Like I said in another thread, he can't get away with the verbal stuff Pop can, because he ain't Pop - he's miles and miles below Pop's resume and hasn't earned that kind of trust/respect/love of his players.

I don't disagree. The lack of professionalism might extend to the coaching staff as well. But I maintain that the inconsistency of performance and effort is greater than what we would expect based on normal physical fluctuations (hot streaks, etc.). They're playing inconsistently due to mental failures - failures in effort, strategy, execution, and attention to detail. The defense is too lackadaisical, the turnovers too frequent, the rotations too slow.

If we can't beat the Lakers, it may be time to revive the bag over head costume.

dobrojim wrote:Temple has been awful lately at least as far as shooting the ball. He hasn't even been able to
shoot FTs well. Anderson can't be ready too soon so Temple can be relegated to emergency
and/or situational defensive possessions, something that is within his limitations.

Blair not getting minutes is a pretty direct result of the game changing and nearly(?) every team in
the league playing S4s or at least trying to avoid playing players who are not threats from long range
(and therefore able to spread the floor). When they allowed zone defenses, this was probably inevitable
once the players and mgmt could adapt to a new regime of what was valuable in a players skillset.
All that said, with Tat out for a couple/few games, why not start Blair and continue to let Ryan
play off the bench since he is so new to the team and particularly its defensive concepts. I remember
Blair dominating the epic bust Thabeet in college. Maybe that's not proof of anything as far as the
NBA goes, but he can get boards/possessions which is something this team clearly hasn't been very
good at this season. I would try that first and also put Hump back in the starting lineup with a short
leash.

OTOH, Temple gets steals, rebounds and plays terrific defense.

And why does anyone expect real contribution from Alan Anderson, I wonder. At 33, Anderson has played in 6 NBA seasons. In only 3 of them, the last 3, has he played significant minutes. In only 1 of them -- last year (his best year by far) -- was he better overall than Garrett Temple. A lot better? No, but a little better overall. A tiny little bit better.

Now, Anderson played lots more minutes last year than Temple, which makes the comparison less reliable than it would be otherwise, but, again, why expect a lot of Anderson? Like Temple he was undrafted. Most of his professional ball has been played in Europe or the D League. And, he's coming off of injury/surgery at 33 years old.

As to Blair vs. Hollins -- did anyone notice that Hollins played 11 minutes vs. the Lakers? You had to look carefully to notice him. Blair is a heck of a lot better player than Ryan Hollins! Nor does Hollins shoot the 3 -- or the 2 for that matter, or rebound, or....

The problem with Temple is that he plays a position where you like to get at least
some minimal offensive contribution. If you're a complete self check like Ruffin, you
hurt the team. It's a little easier for someone like Ruffin since many teams do not
rely on their bigs for a significant part of their scoring. Or if they have a big that
can score, efficiently at least, then you're probably already a pretty good team.

dobrojim wrote:
Blair not getting minutes is a pretty direct result of the game changing and nearly(?) every team in
the league playing S4s or at least trying to avoid playing players who are not threats from long range
(and therefore able to spread the floor). When they allowed zone defenses, this was probably inevitable
once the players and mgmt could adapt to a new regime of what was valuable in a players skillset.
All that said, with Tat out for a couple/few games, why not start Blair and continue to let Ryan
play off the bench since he is so new to the team and particularly its defensive concepts. I remember
Blair dominating the epic bust Thabeet in college. Maybe that's not proof of anything as far as the
NBA goes, but he can get boards/possessions which is something this team clearly hasn't been very
good at this season. I would try that first and also put Hump back in the starting lineup with a short
leash.

My prayers are with Gortat and his family.

Wittman's obstinate enough to still not play Blair at all.

nate33 wrote:

Ruzious wrote:

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:
Your thoughts often run opposite mine.

I wonder how abrasive and accusatory Wittman is? I wonder if he plays favorites like Hollins over Blair often? How professional are the minutes assignments? How much buy in do players have with given roles? How consistent are the lineups?

I do wonder about professionalism with Wall and how just the last couple games were freaking exemplary. Was he distracted before? But he's the best player and I hate to single him out.

Seems to me Beal could still be hurting. I thought he'd miss a ton of time with that shoulder injury.

I think working in Dudley and Temple and Humphries etc is causing Many continuity and chemistry problems.

Overall, the team lacks athletes who can keep up with Wall. Wittman's lost face is my guess. I think the coaching professionalism is more suspect than the players.

Yeah, I don't think it's any intentional lack of professionalism among the players. It could be the team has unintentionally tuned out Wittman. Even when the team had a winning record earlier this season, I couldn't help notice Wittman's unnecessary negativity during games. Like I said in another thread, he can't get away with the verbal stuff Pop can, because he ain't Pop - he's miles and miles below Pop's resume and hasn't earned that kind of trust/respect/love of his players.

I don't disagree. The lack of professionalism might extend to the coaching staff as well. But I maintain that the inconsistency of performance and effort is greater than what we would expect based on normal physical fluctuations (hot streaks, etc.). They're playing inconsistently due to mental failures - failures in effort, strategy, execution, and attention to detail. The defense is too lackadaisical, the turnovers too frequent, the rotations too slow.

I wonder how well NBA players as a rule know intricacies of basketball in general? I never made my HS varsity basketball team. If you said to me, "We prefer to play a four-out, one-in motion offense," I would have to use a search engine and run to YouTube just to acquire rudimentary knowledge of what each player should do. How well do players know this?

Nate, I've always been fascinated with whether pros are primarily genetic wonders with great size and sufficient athleticism or if they are tremendous technicians who understand even the most minute nuances of the game?

When Flip Saunders (R.I.P.) took over a roster full of veterans Eddie Jordan coached previously, as I recall he tried using IPads to teach voluminous plays. I thought he knew well what he was teaching but there might have been a huge learning curve.

At the very same time, Eddie Jordan failed spectacularly when veterans like Elton Brand wanted none of the Princeton offense.

I wonder if systems have to match personnel and what about teachable moments? Encouragement helps for sure but so does realism. If you have a guy like Blair find a way to use him IMO.

I think the skills of NBA players go across the spectrum as far as their mental abilities and insights
into the game go. There are a few outliers among the outliers that get away with low bbIQ. But
at that level, you can only get away with so much. See JaVale McGee, one of the most gifted
athletes I can think of but all his gifts were/are from the neck down.

I think this team has crap starting at the 4 and some games they're able to overcome that and other games they can't. Everybody has to play out of their minds for them to win and that just isn't going to happen every single game.