Wiz 2010 General Season Tracker - Grading - How we doing ?

hands11 · Post #21 » by **hands11** » Wed Sep 8, 2010 1:28 pm

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizard ... -from.html

Well at least we got this.

Yi played with anger and aggression and I confirmed that there was something behind his menacing glare toward the Greece bench after a dunk in China's opening loss.

-That's a good sign but.

It's hard to tell how Yi's performance will translate to the upcoming season, since he will not be featured with the Wizards as he was with China, which was not good enough to survive a sub-par performance from Yi. But if Yi arrives at training camp healthy, as expected, he should also come with much more confidence in his abilities. There are still flaws that he will have to overcome, and his defense still leaves much to be desired, but the Wizards shouldn't have any regrets about basically renting Yi's services for free for a year.

- Now it's up to Flip and Sam to keep this edge and expand on it.

Hoopalotta · Post #22 » by **Hoopalotta** » Wed Sep 8, 2010 1:34 pm

hands11 wrote:Yi played with anger and aggression and I confirmed that there was something behind his menacing glare toward the Greece bench after a dunk in China's opening loss.

He once found a booger in his Baklava and it was payback time? That's just a guess.

*Edited to be more gooder

verbal8 · Post #23 » by **verbal8** » Wed Sep 8, 2010 2:40 pm

hands11 wrote:http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/2010/09/yi-jianlian-china-ousted-from.html

Well at least we got this.

Yi played with anger and aggression and I confirmed that there was something behind his menacing glare toward the Greece bench after a dunk in China's opening loss.

-That's a good sign but.

It's hard to tell how Yi's performance will translate to the upcoming season, since he will not be featured with the Wizards as he was with China, which was not good enough to survive a sub-par performance from Yi. But if Yi arrives at training camp healthy, as expected, he should also come with much more confidence in his abilities. There are still flaws that he will have to overcome, and his defense still leaves much to be desired, but the Wizards shouldn't have any regrets about basically renting Yi's services for free for a year.

- Now it's up to Flip and Sam and keep this edge and expand on it.

I think Yi can be the focal point of the 2nd unit. Hopefully either Blatche is able to start the season or Yi can be at least decent not being the focal point of the starters. It could be a real problem if needs to start to produce the way Young seems to.

Another potential issue is I think it could be a disaster playing Yi and McGee as bigs at the same time.

hands11 · Post #24 » by **hands11** » Thu Sep 9, 2010 3:57 am

Man this is going to be an interesting session.

So many story lines. So many possibilities. So many players who could swing either way.

Almost anything could happen.

We could get off to a rough start. Maybe Dray and Howard aren't ready. Wall has problems adjusting to the NBA. We have no rebounding. McGee is getting pushed around and not rebounding. Yi goes soft. Seraphin is overly raw. Gil tries to over compensate and chucks a lot of shots. Nick gets another hair cut. wow.

Or maybe it all works out.

Dray is ready to roll and picks up where he left off. Howard is ready enough to be called on off the bench as the recovers. Wall hits the ground running and blends his driving skills and ability to run a team at the level he seems capable. A better version of Rondo who player pretty well his first year. Everyone is giving effort so while there is no dominate rebounder, it's a team event based on energy and athleticism. McGee runs the lanes and gives some high slama jama. This gets his motor going enough that he also grabs some boards and blocks enough shots with Dray to make people think twice before shooting. Yi is pitching in with his size and weight and new experience as a leader of a National team. Seraphin also provides some instant help based on his large rump and natural skills as a body that can hold his position and create space. And with al this going on Gil coasts between the rain drops. This transition back and smooth as he is taking wide open shots from Wall passes and running the floor with a herd of athletic players that includes a Nick Young who has a wet shot, hopes and enough ball handing skills to take a ball and mid transition and take it to the rack. Hair cut not included.

It can be feast or famine. What an amazing upcoming season.

willbcocks · Post #25 » by **willbcocks** » Thu Sep 9, 2010 8:42 am

Yeah, next season will be fascinating for many reasons. I just pray for the health of everyone in the NBA...but John Wall in particular.

Last year sucked so much. The first blow for me was Greg Oden getting injured. As tired as I got of watching him lick his hands every trip down the floor, he seems like a good kid and made that Portland team fun to watch. Seeing him go down was terrible. And aside from Oden, of course, there were our problems.

Next year the Wiz have new plotlines, and the league has new plotlines. I'm more intrigued than dismayed by the Super Friends. Also, our team will play a completely new brand of basketball, which IMO cannot come soon enough. Our play with the big 3 was built on three principles: 1) poor ball movement on offense; 2) no heart on Defense; and 3) making tough shots. I prefer easy shots to hard ones even when the latter go in and enjoy Defense ten times as much as offense, so I never particularly liked our brand of ball. Hopefully next year it will be better.

Wizards2Lottery · Post #26 » by **Wizards2Lottery** » Thu Sep 9, 2010 12:49 pm

I just want to see a winning team. I'm tired of the losing **** from the last two years.

JWizmentality · Post #27 » by **JWizmentality** » Thu Sep 9, 2010 1:35 pm

Love him or hate him, Ernie sure as hell cleaned house fast. It would have taken some GM years to get all that done.

Wizards2Lottery · Post #28 » by **Wizards2Lottery** » Thu Sep 9, 2010 2:25 pm

JWizmentality wrote:Love him or hate him, Ernie sure as hell cleaned house fast. It would have taken some GM years to get all that done.

Getting rid of Jamison was pure genius. He fleeced Cleveland with that trade. And in the end, I don't think we end up with John Wall if Stephen Curry is on this team and I'd rather have Wall than Curry.

fifthstop · Post #29 » by **fifthstop** » Thu Sep 9, 2010 8:54 pm

The CLE was not bad at all. Just imagine if it were for a 2011 1st though!

Dat2U · Post #30 » by **Dat2U** » Thu Sep 9, 2010 10:09 pm

Wizards2Lottery wrote:
JWizmentality wrote:Love him or hate him, Ernie sure as hell cleaned house fast. It would have taken some GM years to get all that done.

Getting rid of Jamison was pure genius. He fleeced Cleveland with that trade. And in the end, I don't think we end up with John Wall if Stephen Curry is on this team and I'd rather have Wall than Curry.

WOW! Now were celebrating and giving credit for Ernie making the OBVIOUS move??? After we dumped Wood & Butler it was pretty clear what the next step HAD to be.

While were at it, lets praise Ernie for having the foresight & wherewithal to draft John Wall. Now that was brilliant decision right there!

Dat2U · Post #31 » by **Dat2U** » Thu Sep 9, 2010 10:13 pm

hands11 wrote:
TheBigThree wrote:I'm confident Booker will get it going. I don't put much stock into preseason for non-lottery picks especially. Singleton was good, but he's not some irreplaceable hustle guy. I don't think losing his few MPG is going to be the difference from us being a bad rebounding team and a good one.

Booker is a question mark. That's all.

Singleton was a known quantity. And while that quantity wasn't a top producing star, he was a solid vet. He was a glue guy. He was a tough mature guy front court player where we lack tough guys. We have Wall and Kirk on the other end.

Singletons benefits are not about his numbers. Personally, I feel having him on the team would have had a big affect. I'm not saying we would win another 20 games because of him but I do think the team would gel and develop faster with him. I think he would have an affect on his teammates and molding them. Why he left is just another sign of why Singleton is a great dude.

My idea was the pay min more than the vet min. Not sure if we did that or not but I think we were a better team with him than without. What SIngleton brings to this team is something the team sourly lacks. So where do we go from here ? More of it will fall on Dray to step up as a role model and leader because besides him we have McGee - a kid still, Seraphin - rookie, Armstrong - a vet but a new guy, and Yi - known to be soft but looking better, Booker - a rookie question mark.

See why he mattered so much ?

Great post. Totally agree. With Singleton, it was about him providing the mentor ship & leadership that our young bigs desperately need. It made all the sense in the world to keep him, especially considering he wouldn't have cost us $17 million over the next two years.

Having 6 young bigs in the front court fighting for minutes & trying to develop with little veteran influence isn't ideal IMO.

hands11 · Post #32 » by **hands11** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 12:49 am

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/

The Wizards' plans to move training camp to George Mason's Patriot Center after spending the past six seasons in Richmond have been known for some time, with new owner Ted Leonsis expressing a desire to be closer to his fanbase.

They made those plans official on Thursday but also announced that much more change is in store as the Wizards take a different, more interactive approach to training camp, with a midnight practice on Sept. 28. The event will be open to the public and feature player introductions, an open practice, giveaways and ticket offers for regular season games. The team will also offer special incentives for George Mason students. Doors open at 11 p.m. on Sept. 27.

closg00 · Post #33 » by **closg00** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 1:07 am

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Midnight madness in the NBA?

The Washington Wizards are stealing an idea from the colleges. They announced Thursday that their first practice at training camp will start at midnight on the morning of Sept. 28.

The Wizards say that the event will have all the fanfare associated with the college version: an open practice for the fans with player introductions and prizes.

It will be the first training camp for the Wizards under new owner Ted Leonsis, whose innovative marketing helped bring in new fans to the NHL's Washington Capitals.

It's also the first training camp for the Wizards at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. The team wanted a venue closer to Washington after training in Richmond, Va., for six years.

hands11 · Post #34 » by **hands11** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 1:46 am

I think Im going to have to show up for this

Wizards2Lottery · Post #35 » by **Wizards2Lottery** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 2:21 am

Getting to Mason is a pain in the butt from where I live. Would have loved to go but no metro access ruins it. Wish it was being held at VC instead.

verbal8 · Post #36 » by **verbal8** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 10:25 am

Wizards2Lottery wrote:Getting to Mason is a pain in the butt from where I live. Would have loved to go but no metro access ruins it. Wish it was being held at VC instead.

You might want to look at the Cue bus schedule. It is a bus line that runs from Vienna to George Mason.

verbal8 · Post #37 » by **verbal8** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 10:33 am

hands11 wrote:I think Im going to have to show up for this

I am pretty sure I can make it.

JWizmentality · Post #38 » by **JWizmentality** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 2:21 pm

Take pictures. Share with the rest of us.

TheGreatWall · Post #39 » by **TheGreatWall** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 2:28 pm

A 12 am practice being held at West Bumblefukk? Pass.

Nice idea in theory -- just bad execution.

Post #40 » by **Rafael122** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 3:07 pm

...they should have done the Midnight Madness at Verizon Center. No way I'm going all the way out to Fairfax. But I agree, great idea, but a fail on the location. Ted owns the team now, he can do whatever he wants. Put the midnight madness at Verizon Center, and you will probably get 10,000 people easily even on a weekday.