How good can the Wizards be?

[Donkey McDonkerton]

According to my super calculations, the Wizards could be 78-4 good.

It's crazy math, but that's the outcome.

I'm quoting myself, only because I just recalculated...taking the team last night and implanting Butler and Arenas = 79-3.

Wow, it was brought down to 74 wins after the bucks game, but shot right back up last night.

[jmrosenth]

DMac's the next Rodman and Blatche is the next Dream. Clearly.

[Donkey McDonkerton]

DMac's the next Rodman and Blatche is the next Dream. Clearly.

..Opec is the next Dirk and Young is the next Kobe. These are the players I plugged in for my calculations

Dream/Haywood
Dirk/AJ
Rodman
Kobe/Butler
Arenas/AD

[LyricalRico]

I was thinking more about this last night, and it occurs to me that Young is very important. Given the financial realities, I think it's unlikely that Mason is back here next year. He's earned a decent contract and I don't think we're going to be in the position to give it to him.

I think you're really overvaluing Mason here. He's a reserve combo guard who can't create his own shot. His one claim to fame is that he can hit wide open 3's but even still he's only averaging about 37% from three, certainly nowhere near true 3pt specialists like Kapono.

He's essentially the backcourt version of Michael Ruffin. Ruffin was a journeyman until he got the chance to show what he could do in DC and he went from the minimum to the LLE. I see Mason taking a similar jump but not much more than that.

[jmrosenth]

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..Opec is the next Dirk and Young is the next Kobe. These are the players I plugged in for my calculations

Dream/Haywood
Dirk/AJ
Rodman
Kobe/Butler
Arenas/AD

I think you're aiming a bit low with Young. I see him as the next Jordan.

In all seriousness, Opec's upside is that of Sabonis, not Dirk.

[LyricalRico]

In all seriousness, Opec's upside is that of Sabonis, not Dirk.

I don't know why people keep comparing Pecherov to Nowitzki. They're both tall, white, and from Europe but that's where the similarties end. Dirk plays like a shooting guard. Pesh is a rebounder who can spot up for threes - that's it.

I compared Pesh to a young Raef LaFrentz in another thread and I still think that comparison holds true. A young Raef was about a 13 and 7 guy who could also block shots. I would think that he'd max out at about that if he ever became a starter, which isn't bad at all.

[Rafael122]

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I think you're really overvaluing Mason here. He's a reserve combo guard who can't create his own shot. His one claim to fame is that he can hit wide open 3's but even still he's only averaging about 37% from three, certainly nowhere near true 3pt specialists like Kapono.

He's essentially the backcourt version of Michael Ruffin. Ruffin was a journeyman until he got the chance to show what he could do in DC and he went from the minimum to the LLE. I see Mason taking a similar jump but not much more than that.

Mason's gonna get a portion of the MLE from some team. On the Wizards team, I wouldn't give him more than $1.5 mil per year. He's more valuable to some other team than to us b/c its been proven year after year you can plug anyone at the 2 spot and they will have a good year. Hughes, Dixon, Jeffries, now Mason.

[Donkey McDonkerton]

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I don't know why people keep comparing Pecherov to Nowitzki. They're both tall, white, and from Europe

DING DING DING...


the main reason why I always say it (in jest) is because Opec looks up to Dirk and has stated numerous times he has tried to build his game from Dirks.

[nate33]

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I think you're really overvaluing Mason here. He's a reserve combo guard who can't create his own shot. His one claim to fame is that he can hit wide open 3's but even still he's only averaging about 37% from three, certainly nowhere near true 3pt specialists like Kapono.

He's essentially the backcourt version of Michael Ruffin. Ruffin was a journeyman until he got the chance to show what he could do in DC and he went from the minimum to the LLE. I see Mason taking a similar jump but not much more than that.

Mason is better than Ruffin because he is a decent, two-way player. On a scale of 1-10, Ruffin was a 0 on offense and a 6 on defense. Mason is a 4 on offense and a 4 on D.

That said, I think you are about right that he is worth the LLE. He might actually be worth as much as $3M. I wouldn't be so quick to write him off though. The Wizards have the luxtax room to pay him next year. It's the year after that's the problem. If EG can put together and offseason deal to jettison Etan's or Songaila's contract by Summer '09 then there is no reason why we couldn't retain Mason.