What is your wish list for next season

[zardsfan]

I would like to see the following changes for next season... in no particular order of importance:

Coach Jordan fired

Defensive minded coach hired (maybe Avery Johnson)

Jamison signed by another team (I love the the guy, but it is time to move on)

DeShaun traded for a draft pick

Arenas NOT opt out this year

An 08/09 starting line-up of:
Haywood
Blatche
Butler
Young
Arenas

[VAWiZKID]

booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[clubbing_caveman]

I'm still smarting from this season. I cant even think about next.

[JWizmentality]

Apart from your first wish, the rest is just awful. Good God. I blame Eddie. He's poisoned our minds into thinking this team stinks to high heaven.

[nate33]

Coach Jordan fired

Defensive minded coach hired (maybe Avery Johnson)

I'm leaning toward wanting EJ to stay, but I can understand this sentiment.

Jamison signed by another team (I love the the guy, but it is time to move on)

That's just stupid. If you said you wanted to S&T Jamison for some other kind of player, then I could at least understand it. But wanting our 3rd best player (and MVP of the season this year) to walk and get nothing in return is idiocy.

DeShaun traded for a draft pick

Trade a 26-year-old defensive stopper and 40% 3-point shooter (who is extraordinarily durable, by the way) for a draft pick who almost certainly won't be able to help us for 2-3 years? No thanks.

Arenas NOT opt out this year

Or opt out and sign a relatively cheap deal.

An 08/09 starting line-up of:
Haywood
Blatche
Butler
Young
Arenas

I don't think Young will be better than Deshawn as early as next year.

If Blatche proves in the offseason that he is capable of displacing Jamison in the lineup, then I'd be all for it. But I don't think we should hand over the starting role to him. I seriously doubt he'll be a better than Jamison as soon as next season.

[queridiculo]

Neither Blatche nor Young have demonstrated to me that they're ready to be starters in this league.

Imho that lineup would have us going straight to the lottery.

Probably pretty unrealistic, but I'd love us to explore the possibility of landing Okafor in a sign and trade for Jamison. I'd throw in Blatche and the Grizzlies conditional to make up for the age discrepancy.

Arenas
Stevenson
Butler
Okafor
Haywood

That would give us a lineup that should be able to challenge teams defensively while still giving us enough fire power to get it done on offense if Arenas and Butler can make it through the season relatively healthy.

[no D in Hibachi]

I just hope that one of Etan or Antonio are traded. Neither can play and they are locked in for another 3 years. I'll seriously take anything for either of them--particularly Daniels. I consider them wasted cap space because neither of them provide anything to the Wizards.

It's almost like the Wizards are the new Redskins with a quarter of their salary considered dead cap space. The only difference is that unlike the Redskins where the sucky players; i.e. Brandon Lloyd and Archeleta are no longer on the team Daniels and Etan will be on the roster for 3 more season!!

That's enough to make any man pull out their hair, maybe that's why EG is thinning up top.

[closg00]

Among other things, don't waste any more time on Pech, there are plenty of guys out there (even in the NBDL) who could contribute.

[80sballboy]

It's all about the youth. Young didn't show he was ready on the defensive end and the guy has no conscience on the offensive end. If Mason goes, he's going to be elevated as that pure scorer off the bench. That's what the next step needs to be for him. He's not ready to start and although I'm weary of Stevenson's antics and bricks, he had a very good second half of the season and there's nobody on this fragile team more durable.

The key is Jamison. If he leaves, is Blatche ready or do you try and trade or sign another four? I'd love to keep Jamison around and do a S&T with Gil, but that's unlikely considering his bad knee. I just think we can't return this same nucleus with the same damn rotation that can't rebound against big front lines and has no INSIDE GAME. When we can't shoot from outside like last night, what other options do we have with this club?

[mhd]

I'm thinking if the Bobcats are stupid enough to trade away Okefor, I'd sign and trade Jamison for him in an instant. I thought Blatche was better, but Blatche does not have the consistant performance of Okefor. Okefor would not have been punked inside.

[zardsfan]

-= original quote snipped =-

zardsfan wrote:
Jamison signed by another team (I love the the guy, but it is time to move on)

That's just stupid. If you said you wanted to S&T Jamison for some other kind of player, then I could at least understand it. But wanting our 3rd best player (and MVP of the season this year) to walk and get nothing in return is idiocy.

$63 Million dollars in cap room is not exactly "nothing" in return.

-= original quote snipped =-
zardsfan wrote:
DeShaun traded for a draft pick

Trade a 26-year-old defensive stopper and 40% 3-point shooter (who is extraordinarily durable, by the way) for a draft pick who almost certainly won't be able to help us for 2-3 years? No thanks.

As far DeShaun being a defensive stopper... I think his defense may be just as "overrated" as LeTravels King status. I don't recall DeShauns defense being the difference in one single game this play-offs.

As for the "shooting" skills of our current starting shooting guard, Technically, DeShaun was a 38% 3pt shooter... Nick Young is the 40% 3pt shooter on the sqad... And Nick also happens to have a much better FG% than DeShaun (0.439 vs 0.386) and free throw shooter (0.815 vs 0.797)

Plus Deshaun STILL hasn't developed the ability to consistently finish at the basket, but Nick Young has already proven he can.

-= original quote snipped =-
zardsfan wrote:
An 08/09 starting line-up of:
Haywood
Blatche
Butler
Young
Arenas

I don't think Young will be better than Deshawn as early as next year.

If Blatche proves in the offseason that he is capable of displacing Jamison in the lineup, then I'd be all for it. But I don't think we should hand over the starting role to him. I seriously doubt he'll be a better than Jamison as soon as next season.

I don't totally disagree with you that Young and Blatche as starters won't be "better" than Jamison and Stevenson, but I feel they eventually they will be... I also don't see us getting past the first round with Jamison and Stevenson so why not make the move sooner than later?

I stand by my proposed line-up as being "better" for our future.

[nate33]

I just hope that one of Etan or Antonio are traded. Neither can play and they are locked in for another 3 years. I'll seriously take anything for either of them--particularly Daniels. I consider them wasted cap space because neither of them provide anything to the Wizards.

They each have 2 years left, not 3 years.

[nate33]

-= original quote snipped =-
$63 Million dollars in cap room is not exactly "nothing" in return.

Correction. $40M over 4 years, not $63M. Jamison isn't going to cost $15M a year. Furthermore, it's not "cap room". We'd still be well over the cap if we let Jamison walk. It would mean considerably more breathing room under the luxtax, but we would only have the MLE to use in free agency. I'd much rather have Jamison at $10M a year over some guy like Varajeo for the MLE.

I don't totally disagree with you that Young and Blatche as starters won't be "better" than Jamison and Stevenson, but I feel they eventually they will be... I also don't see us getting past the first round with Jamison and Stevenson so why not make the move sooner than later?

I simply don't buy the premise that Blatche and Young will get better faster by starting. They'll plenty of minutes as primary backups. They'll probably learn faster by having a veteran mentor in front of them in the lineup. It'll also help their development if the coach has the depth to bench them if they are playing the wrong way.

You don't hand over starting jobs to players who aren't ready unless you have to. It's better to make them earn the starting role by busting their but in practice and in games.

[queridiculo]

I'm thinking if the Bobcats are stupid enough to trade away Okefor, I'd sign and trade Jamison for him in an instant. I thought Blatche was better, but Blatche does not have the consistant performance of Okefor. Okefor would not have been punked inside.

It's a longshot, but I'm not sure the Bobcats are willing to sign him for more than $10 million per with all the money they have tied up in Wallace and Richardson.

We'd probably have to overpay to land him, but with him in the lineup we could turn a weakness to a strength in an instance.

[Kanyewest]

DeShawn and Nick Young have identical ts% in the regular season. Still, because Young is a liability on defense, I expect Young to come off the bench. Hopefully, Young can take his game to another level next season.

[queridiculo]

DeShawn and Nick Young have identical ts% in the regular season. Still, because Young is a liability on defense, I expect Young to come off the bench. Hopefully, Young can take his game to another level next season.

I'm not really worried about Youngs defense at this point. I'm more concerned with how much of a black hole he is on offense. He needs to learn to share the ball before I'd even bother considering giving him more than 10 minutes a game.

[miller31time]

By next season, Young should be more than the fringe-rotational player he was this season. He should be able to improve leaps and bounds on defense, will most likely improve his shot selection and passing, and become a credible 7th or 8th man on our team.

Then, hopefully by the following season, he will replace Stevenson as our starting 2-guard.

As for my wishlist....

-Make any trade that unequivocally makes us better. Sounds stupid, but it's pretty simple. If we can dupe Charlotte into a Jamison/pick/cash for Okafor S&T, then do it. If we can swap him for Marion, do that. But don't make a trade that doesn't net immediately equal return, because we're looking to compete sooner rather than later. No prospects or anything like that. I posted this months ago, but I'd love to get Kirilenko from Utah, sending Jamison to Houston and Battier/filler/pick to the Jazz.

-Get an energy guy off the bench. A Michael Ruffin without the league's worst offense. Watching the playoffs this year, how nice would it have been to insert that player who would sacrifice his body to get a defensive rebound or make that play that saves us a possession? Yes, McGuire is kinda sorta that guy, but his offense isn't that much more advanced than Ruff Dog's, and his defense isn't as good, either. He also makes very stupid plays that just make you shake your head. Reggie Evans, maybe?

-Have everyone healthy by training camp, so that they can practice together and get some goddamn rhythm together.

[likwitdesi]

Avery Johnson
Kirk Hinrich
Richard Hendrix

Oh yeah and Etan, Daniels, and Songaila off this team as well.

[DaRealHibachi]

Another HC who can manage minutes and create mismatches, not adjust to them...


Trade away Etan, AD, Songaila, maybe Blatche and Mason for:

A Quick Defensive passing PG who can hit a open jumper/drive and kick
A Real PF with a Post game and some D
Another Real Big behind Haywood
A PF/C (Maybe Blatche If he gains strength and consistency)
A SF with Size

08/09 Lineup

Arenas/Passing PG
Stevenson/Young/McGuire
Butler/Big SF/McGuire
Real PF/Jamison/Blatche
Haywood/Real Big/Blatche

Jamison of the bench...

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Avery Johnson
Kirk Hinrich
Richard Hendrix

Oh yeah and Etan, Daniels, and Songaila off this team as well.

Get Kirk and Hendrix and EJ can win with them. I truly believe EJ is a MUCH BETTER COACH THAN AVERY.

Johnson's going to piss guys off, try to change guys, and get outcoached even worse than EJ does.