What does this team need to get to the next level? ('Ship)

[nate33]

I know that this has been beaten to death already but defense wins championships and this team simply doesn't play playoff defense. Another huge hole for years now has been low post scoring. It's hard to win consistently without getting easy baskets on the blocs.

The team ranks 19th in defense (by points allowed per possession). I agree that's not enough to win a championship, but at least it's a considerable improvement over last year's 28th ranking. For a while there before Butler got hurt, we ranked about 15th on defense - and that's counting the first five games when the team was just awful.

The bottom line is that the team has shown the capability for playing above-average defense when healthy. Next year, we could be healthier and we should get some individual defensive improvement out of Blatche and Young. Also, everyone will be a bit more familiar with Ayers' system.

I think this team is capable of being a top 10 team defensively. We'll never be a top 3 team like San Antonio or Houston, but ranking 10th or so on D along with a great offense should be enough to make us contenders.

[Wizards2Lottery]

I think our low post scoring has gotten better... unlike previous years AJ is actually working down low more and Brendan is finishing at the FT line (even though I bet the stats show hes sucked lately).

Defense has been better too and I think a lot has to do with the dum dum Etan Thomas not being in the lineup. ET definetly has one of the lowest Bball IQ's in the league. I hardly ever saw him use his size to be an intimidator in the post.

[Ced67]

I think this team is in a pretty good position but I think we definitly need more to get over the top. The main thing would be a legit big man. We are definitly not going to get a Duncan or Howard but I think there are some solid guys we can target. My original thought was to trade Arenas for Brand but after what Jamison's has been doing all season and because Brand is only a couple years younger than Jamison and is coming of of surgery, and because Jamison is the leader of this team, I'd rather keep, but if we do a sign and trade for Arenas it will probably be to an LA team, so, hear is my proposal:

What about a trade of Arenas and Haywood for Chris Kaman and Corey Maggette. Now on the surface this may not look like a good deal, but with this team playing better team basketball without Arenas I thnk its works. Im not sure how the financials would dwork because we would need to sign Arenas but I think hed agree to it because he'd be going back home. Also in this deal would be a swap of fisrt rounders.

Why for LAC: They get a draw for the fans that they have always needed and a great guy in Arenas to pair with Elton Brand for the next couple of years. They also get a downgrade at Center but its a good trade off for Arenas. Also if and when the 6'7 Sean Livingston returns they would have the perfect compliment to a 6'3 shootin PG in Arenas. Arenas could play more like a 2 and still be able to gaurd PG'S because of the 6'7 Livington.

Why for us: We get a big legit center in Kaman who in the west is averaging 16ppg, 13rpg and almost 3 blocks. He is extrmemly consistent and in the East would more than likely be even more effective. We also get Corey Maggette who I think can be our sixth man and average 15ppg off the bench. For years we have been looking for a consistent bench player and Maggette would fill that role. If you remeber it took Eddie Jordan a long time before he would start Butler when hie first got here, I think it was because he wanted some pop off of the bench. We also would more than likely have a pick in the 6-10 range where I would take a pure PG for the future like Darren Collison, Ty Lawson or DJ Augustine.

2008-09 Lineups

LAC

PG - S.Livingston
SG- G. Arenas
SF - A. Thornton
PF - E. Brand
C - Brendan Haywood

WIZ

PG - A. Daniels or Collison/Lawson(depending on development
SG - D. Stevenson / Corey Maggette / Ni. Young
SF - C. Butler / Corey Maggette
PF - A. Jamison / Songaila / Blatche
C - C. Kaman / E. Thomas / Blatche / Songaila

The reason I start Stevenson over Maggette is for his ball handling and also I would rather have Maggette in off of the bench when either Butler or Jamison is out. Also I really like Collison and would mre so like us to draft him because of his speed and also because of the fact that hes shooting 51.5% from three this season so hes has range which is something that Daniels doesn't have. I think he can be Rajon Rondo with a shot.

[nate33]

What about a trade of Arenas and Haywood for Chris Kaman and Corey Maggette. Now on the surface this may not look like a good deal, but with this team playing better team basketball without Arenas I thnk its works.

Pace-adjusted per-40 stats:

Code: Select all

Player        PTS  REB  AST  STL  BLK   TO eFG%  TS%  PER
kaman,chris  17.0 13.9  2.0  0.7  3.1  3.2 .478 .531 17.7
haywood,bren 15.8 10.8  1.3  0.6  2.5  2.2 .535 .590 18.6

On/off differential per 100 possessions

Code: Select all

Player        ON/OFF
kaman,chris  +3.3
haywood,bren +5.5

Statistically, Haywood is outplaying Kaman. I'm not quite sure I believe the numbers. I'd probably give Kaman the edge over Haywood, but the advantage is small. If Kaman is better than Haywood, he isn't so much better that it's worth the downgrade from Arenas to Maggette.

Another issue with Kaman is that I believe his rebounding numbers are artificially inflated. He doesn't have a real PF alongside him to take any rebounds from him. LA's two "power" forwards, Thornton and Thomas each average 6.8 boards per 40 minutes. That's less than Caron Butler and a heck of a lot less than Jamison's 11 boards per 40.

Kaman gets a lot of boards by default. His rebounding rate this year is an impressive 20.9. But in each of the 3 years prior, when he had Brand (grabbing 10-11 rebounds per 40) alongside of him, Kaman's rebound percentage was just 15.9, 16.4, and 15.1 respectively. For comparison, Haywood's rebound percentage has been 15.2, 16.1, 14.6 and 14.2 in the past 4 years respectively.

Kaman's superiority (if any) over Haywood would be on offense. And on this team with a healthy Arenas, offense isn't really the problem. That superiority would be minimized. There is only one basketball. There are diminishing returns for each additional good offensive player brought onto the floor.

And I haven't even brought up the fact that there's no room in the starting lineup for Maggette; and his lack of an outside shot makes him a bad fit on the team. He also displaces Nick Young. And the loss of Arenas leaves us thin at PG. I'm not thrilled with the notion of a 34-year-old Antonio Daniels starting PG for us again next year. AD needs to be a 20 mpg backup.

[adarsh1]

Derrick Rose.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Love, Rose, Bayless all strike me as talents capable of taking teams to the next level.

If the Wizards were to try and trade their way to a championship, I think Sam Smith's idea would be a way to get there. Noah had 18 pts, 15 rebs, 2 asts, 2 stls, and 4 blks in what I consider will be a routine day's work for him soon. Folks say Hinrich's not that good and they could be right. But if there were a way to trade Gil for Noah, Hinrich and a pick that could get one of the guys above you HAVE TO jump on that.

But back to reality, I think the Wizards could add a guy like Dorsey maybe with a round two pick and maybe draft Collison in round one.

Trade or better, use the MLE or LLE to get a veteran scoring wing, somebody reputable like Rasual Butler.

Last, trade Etan for somebody like Jared Jeffries and include Pecherov or Blatche. Choose one or the other and replace with the "thug" defender, and just keep using Darius off the bench in a role he's comfortable with.

This team with speed at the PG, brute strength with finishing power and defense at PF/C, and one mature hired gun in the 6'8" or taller realm to go along with Nick and Darius; and you have a team.

Maybe Tim Thomas would fit off the bench.

I see this team becoming really tough next season if everybody comes back and stays reasonably healthy.