dobrojim wrote:nothing to do with the game in question but EJ had to go.
Tapps will be gone (as coach) at the end of the season.
DCZards and the other EJ supporters can't get around his
actual record of mediocrity in results and the fact that
he would play Etan Thomas ahead of Brendan Haywood.
nuf said.
i think someone has a case of "amnesia"..quoting an abstract Calculus the robot..lmao...before last year haywood suck big time...he fumbled the ball with poor hands....his hands were just as bad as kwame's. He couldn't dunk with one hand and missed layups and point blank range. He was a horrible defensive rebounder and he didn't have a medium range jumpshot. He was almost as bad as shaq shooting free throws. he was liek Blatche early in the season when it came to fouls because he couldn't block shots cleanly and always bumped whoever was driving. Haywood was not very good. It wasn't until last year that he really blossomed..he finally developed the ability to put the ball on teh court and actually drive without turning it over..he began dunking with one hand and hitting his medium jumpshot with regularlness. He also finally knew where he was suppose to be on offense and defense and directed everyone on defense where they needed to go. Before last season, Haywood was very childish and would slack running the court on offense and defense and would get in arguments with Kwame Brown on the bench. "He was teh reason EJ elected Jamison as captain since Jamison was the only person Haywood respected and wanted Jamison respect--so even Haywood can be blamed for why Jamison is still here". It wasn't until last year that Haywood finally started to "get it and turn himself into an allstar". It wasn't until last season that Haywood could actually grab are rebound with only one hand because his hands were so bad. It wasn't until i recommend him to practice dribbling up and down the court so that his finger tips would get used to ball since all he did before that was try and catch the ball and shoot but since he never dribbled the ball extensively for his entire career..typical post player..he never developed finger sensitivity for ball pressure. EJ's only source of motivation for Haywood to work harder was reducing his minutes. EJ is a huge reason why both Blatche adn Haywood have developed their all around princeton skills. If not for E.J, it is very likely that these guys would be Etan or Magloire Replicas but E.J. always encourage that all players touch the ball and be able to handle it out on the perimeter..forcing even Etan to develop his dribble skills.."bigs in princeton have to dribble and pass too".
We now see that this roster had no quality starting man to man defenders one- four so the blame rests heavily on EG, not E.J. E.J. probably aided this problem by not thinking great man to man defenders were necessary to be successful but E.J. can be heavily responsible for the motivating Haywood to improve his skills as he always felt Haywood could performed better.
AGain, i dislike E.J. because he devalued the physical attributes of defensive player thinking defense was pure effort instead of getting players with the raw physical attributes to be great defenders..wingspan and lateral agility.
yes Haywood has improved tremendously..but it was because he made his agility stronger by working 1000 hours on pick and rolls strengthening his legs to stop his momentum on a dime..which translated to all other aspects of his game related to defending out in space. I love Haywood and only sadden that he has been on the wiz for five years before he really became a two way player..playing above average on both offense and defense--"only one season..and that was last season when he knew that he didn't have to compete with Etan and that if he worked hard he could earn teh starting spot...instead of having it given to him--it was ej forcing Haywood to earn minutes that made Haywood get better..always remember"...but i remember what he used to be and E.J. sacrifice years to develop him and only harvested the fruits of his labor for one season.
The problem of this team is EG love for acquiring Bigs and forwards with poor defensive lateral acceleration..which are fatal flaws that are almost impossible to improve. Took Haywood almost a decade to get to point where his agility was slightly above average and this attribute is difference between a player getting a charge and not getting called for an easy foul.
McGee is going to take McGee close to a decade to get his agility where it needs to be...that's if he works really hard...which is why you want to select a player who's agility is already developed before they enter the NBA because you save yourself years of work and years of useless defensive fouls due to poor "man to man defense on the perimeter."
Build your team w/5 shooters using P. Pierce Form deeply bent hips and lower back arch at same time b4 rising into shot. Elbow never pointing to the ground! Good teams have an engine player that shoot volume (2000 full season) at 50 percent.Large Hands