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

[dobrojim]

Fairfax works better for some than for others



not saying I'll go but it might be tempting

[Wizards2Lottery]

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.

I know about the Cue bus but I'm not sure if it runs past 12 AM. Same goes with the metro rail. On Tuesdays, the trains don't run past 12 AM.

This is good for people with cars I guess but this event could have been so much bigger if it was held at VC. Then they would have let the metro trains run past 12 like they do for most late night sporting events at Verizon Center or Fed Ex Field.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Finally some news starting to come out.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizard ... -news.html
Andray Blatche says he'll be ready for training camp

Andray Blatche assured me in a text message today that he will be ready when training camp begins on Sept. 28. Blatche had his boot removed about 10 days ago and has been moving without discomfort, Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld said on Monday. Grunfeld would not commit to a time when Blatche would be back on the court.

Although Blatche has been riding a bike and working on the elliptical machine in recent days, Grunfeld said he has yet to be cleared to participate in basketball related activities. Grunfeld added that Blatche was able to keep down his weight despite limited mobility.

"He's making good progress," Grunfeld said, "but we're not going to rush.

The Wizards extended a contract tender last week to second-round pick Hamady N'Diaye, ensuring that the team would retain his rights. The team had until Sept. 5 to make the offer - which was a non-guaranteed contract worth the league minimum - before N'Diaye became an unrestricted free agent.

The Wizards still expect N'Diaye to play in Europe next season, although N'Diaye's agent, Keith Glass, told the Washington Examiner last week that his client's limited playing time during summer league damaged his prospects for work overseas.

- As expected, they are not planning on him being on the team this year.

Not sure if this wasn't commented on days ago, but I wonder why he can't just play and get better in the D-League. Sure, Europe might have better competition and better training and support, but N'Diaye's a mature, 23-yr old who really needs to get confident playing against guys he can beat. He should be blocking shots, rebounding, and trying to learn to score in the D-League IMO.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

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 ?

The ONLY way I see this really working out is Booker must play SF. He and Yi probably need to be play SF because of Blatche, Seraphin, and Armstrong being PF/Cs.

My question, hands, is how good of a SF can Booker be. He's fast enough in transition for sure. IF he can defend SF, on dunks alone and on decent rebounding Booker can help. Otherwise, he's a bad pick at where he went due to Seraphin and other options on the team at PF.

Booker needs to move to SF. In summer league he showed he's probably not going to be a good NBA PF.

[Ruzious]

There are definitely positives of having in the DLeague, CCJ - like them being able to follow his progress better, but I get the feeling that he's better off en Euro, because the NBA puts so few resources into the DLeague. It's a waste of an opportunity.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

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 to keep this edge and expand on it.

doc says Flip's system should suit Yi, but I'm thinking Flip's personality is more like the Greek who Yi was angry with. I have to see Yi under Saunders.

[Ruzious]

The ONLY way I see this really working out is Booker must play SF. He and Yi probably need to be play SF because of Blatche, Seraphin, and Armstrong being PF/Cs.

My question, hands, is how good of a SF can Booker be. He's fast enough in transition for sure. IF he can defend SF, on dunks alone and on decent rebounding Booker can help. Otherwise, he's a bad pick at where he went due to Seraphin and other options on the team at PF.

Booker needs to move to SF. In summer league he showed he's probably not going to be a good NBA PF.

If I'm the coach, Booker is strictly a 3, and Yi is strictly a 4. Armstrong doesn't see the floor unless there are injuries or the game is out of hand. Booker does not equal Singleton. He can't replace Singy's rebounding; then again, Singy isn't the athlete that Booker is and certainly doesn't have his speed. Seraphin is our only big that I can see being a plus on the boards. You just hope the others aren't big minuses.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

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.

I want Gilbert, Wall, Blatche, and Howard to all be healthy and their career bests by playoffs. I want McGee to finally get Flip's trust and for him to develop chemistry with Wall throughout the year. I want Yi to prove his 20/10 average in FIBA was no fluke, and I expect when all that goes down John Wall wins rookie of the year and the Wizards advance to round 2 of the playoffs.

I can't see Gil staying a Wizard in all this, but if he does his health is most important.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

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

Since the first trade last season, I have no beef with EG. Minor things about what might have been done sooner, and guys like Gee or Livingston, and whether Hinrich/Seraphin and Booker were the right moves; HOWEVER, I have nothing but love for the new look and EG's housecleaning under Ted Leonsis.

This team is very close to exactly how I'd like it contstructed.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

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.

Yep. I suspect Singleton would have provided more than Seraphin or Booker this season at a much cheaper price.

I would have rather seen the Wizards bring back Singleton and Livingston, and have them try and draft Dominic Jones (not Seraphin) or James Anderson. Instead of bringing on Hinrich in trade, I think pursuing a quality FA SF would have been a better move. You hate Childress, but I'm not so sure he wouldn't have fit.

Regardless, it's okay the things are constrcted.

[closg00]

There are definitely positives of having in the DLeague, CCJ - like them being able to follow his progress better, but I get the feeling that he's better off en Euro, because the Wizards put so few resources into the DLeague. It's a waste of an opportunity.

Corrected

[hands11]

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 ?

The ONLY way I see this really working out is Booker must play SF. He and Yi probably need to be play SF because of Blatche, Seraphin, and Armstrong being PF/Cs.

My question, hands, is how good of a SF can Booker be. He's fast enough in transition for sure. IF he can defend SF, on dunks alone and on decent rebounding Booker can help. Otherwise, he's a bad pick at where he went due to Seraphin and other options on the team at PF.

Booker needs to move to SF. In summer league he showed he's probably not going to be a
good NBA PF.

You are right. He better be able to defend SFs. He will cover some PFs also but if he can't cover SFs, he is a bad pick. My concern with him is his energy level. Covering SFs isn't a job for someone who coasts between bursts.

[hands11]

http://www.bulletsforever.com/

They are doing a daily review of each team. So far, things are not looking good for anyone they have reviewed.

These team look better on paper but when you consider the players and coaches, not so much.

[closg00]

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.

I want Gilbert, Wall, Blatche, and Howard to all be healthy and their career bests by playoffs. I want McGee to finally get Flip's trust and for him to develop chemistry with Wall throughout the year. I want Yi to prove his 20/10 average in FIBA was no fluke, and I expect when all that goes down John Wall wins rookie of the year and the Wizards advance to round 2 of the playoffs.

I can't see Gil staying a Wizard in all this, but if he does his health is most important.

Gilbert makes more money than LeBron, it's hard to imagine that someone would take his salary on even if he looks like the Gilbert of old. What I think might be more likely is IF Gilbert looks good, he opts-out in 2012 to play elsewhere.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The ONLY way I see this really working out is Booker must play SF. He and Yi probably need to be play SF because of Blatche, Seraphin, and Armstrong being PF/Cs.

My question, hands, is how good of a SF can Booker be. He's fast enough in transition for sure. IF he can defend SF, on dunks alone and on decent rebounding Booker can help. Otherwise, he's a bad pick at where he went due to Seraphin and other options on the team at PF.

Booker needs to move to SF. In summer league he showed he's probably not going to be a good NBA PF.

If I'm the coach, Booker is strictly a 3, and Yi is strictly a 4. Armstrong doesn't see the floor unless there are injuries or the game is out of hand. Booker does not equal Singleton. He can't replace Singy's rebounding; then again, Singy isn't the athlete that Booker is and certainly doesn't have his speed. Seraphin is our only big that I can see being a plus on the boards. You just hope the others aren't big minuses.

Roger that to all in bold, Ruz. I wish they had not signed Armstrong to a guaranteed spot.

While Yi obviously IS a PF, he's going to need to be on the floor with Blatche some. Yi by virtue of being primarily a jump shooter is a guy I might play with both Blatche and McGee. I can see Yi being a frontcourt sub at PF, C, or SF. He'll get killed in the post and out-quicked on the perimeter defensively. However, if he's a SF against the average SF Yi will board. If he's a C Yi will pick and pop, or he'll cut to the hole and have too much lateral speed for Cs to cover.

Yi is a tough matchup when he's got it going.

[AnotherFinn]

There are definitely positives of having in the DLeague, CCJ - like them being able to follow his progress better, but I get the feeling that he's better off en Euro, because the Wizards put so few resources into the DLeague. It's a waste of an opportunity.

Corrected

Having H at D-legue eats a roster spot too, They might want to keep that spot open for D-league tryouts/trades.

[Dat2U]

The ONLY way I see this really working out is Booker must play SF. He and Yi probably need to be play SF because of Blatche, Seraphin, and Armstrong being PF/Cs.

My question, hands, is how good of a SF can Booker be. He's fast enough in transition for sure. IF he can defend SF, on dunks alone and on decent rebounding Booker can help. Otherwise, he's a bad pick at where he went due to Seraphin and other options on the team at PF.

Booker needs to move to SF. In summer league he showed he's probably not going to be a good NBA PF.

If I'm the coach, Booker is strictly a 3, and Yi is strictly a 4. Armstrong doesn't see the floor unless there are injuries or the game is out of hand. Booker does not equal Singleton. He can't replace Singy's rebounding; then again, Singy isn't the athlete that Booker is and certainly doesn't have his speed. Seraphin is our only big that I can see being a plus on the boards. You just hope the others aren't big minuses.

The whole Booker at SF thing seems incredibly unrealistic. Someone please tell me what they saw at Clemson or in the VSL to indicate that Booker could have any success there? Booker's supposed quickness didn't really translate on the court, at least IMO. Nor did I see the energy or activity level that you'd want from a "crash forward". I think it's a bit much to expect him to transition into a new position and be successful if he doesn't have the necessary tools to make the switch.

I view him as an undersized face-up 4. His ball skills are credible enough to take slower 4s off the bounce and his J is respectable from 15-20 ft to make it a viable part of his game, but against quicker opponents at SF his quickness & ball skills will be neutralized. Of course the rebounding is a major issue but to me playing PF is his only legitimate option.

[hands11]

Based on what we have seen so far, which is very little, it's hard to see him helping out much.

That said, we really have no idea because we have seen so little.

Step 1 is going to be seeing what Flip, Sam and his teammates can get out of him.

If they can't get him to increase his intensity, then he won't be playing at either position.

Glide and burst is fine on offense if you're a scoring. What we need from him is defensive intensity.
That's going to take a faster motor then what I saw from him so far. And if he can't raise it up to that level, he is pretty much a warm body, some fouls and another practice body.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl1iknKUBmU

For me, I think all the showboating is a sign of immaturity and if he does to much of that in the NBA, he is going to get a T.

It the space between the ears that matters more than most give it credit.

[hands11]

http://www.bulletsforever.com/2010/9/11 ... #storyjump

The Wizards were able to generate a little momentum at the end of the season due to their play in the final 10 games. The Wizards would like nothing better but to build upon that effort. Unfortunately, the team's early season progress could be affected by injuries to three players who are expected to play a significant role with the team - Josh Howard, Andray Blatche and Yi Jianlian.

Yi Jianlian - Pain in his Achilles' tendon kept him out of a game against Turkey at the FIBA Worlds. The results of a MRI were negative and the injury was not considered serious. After a little rest, Yi started in China's final game against Lithuania. The Wizards believe that with some rest, following the tournament, Yi should be 100% by the start of training camp.

Andray Blatche - In mid-June Andray Blatche broke his fifth metatarsal in his right foot, which required surgery to correct. Originally, it was predicted that it would take three months to recover possibly keeping him out of training camp. Blatche, who had a protective boot removed from his foot in late August, is predicting that he will be ready for the start of training camp. The team is happy with his progress but does not want to rush him back unnecessarily and risk aggravating the injury.

Josh Howard - Howard tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) on February 22nd in his fourth game with the Wizards (vs. Chicago Bulls). Howard had surgery in mid-march and the recovery was expected to take between six to eight months. Howard's recovery has progressed faster than was expected. And while the Wizards do not expect him to be ready at the start of the regular season, Howard's agent, according to Michael Lee, has said that he "could be able to go full speed by October."

Gone is Mike Miller who split time between Shooting Guard and Small Forward last season. So while Howard is fully mending, the majority of the Small Forward minutes will likely fall to Al Thornton, Nick Young and possibly Cartier Martin (assuming he makes the final roster). The Wizards also have the flexibility to switch up their lineups and have Hinrich play some Small Forward when they go to a smaller lineup. When the Wizards want to go with a bigger lineup they can potentially use either Andray Blatche or Yi Jianlian in that role, but likely for limited minutes. The Wizards also have the possibility of using Trevor Booker at the position to potentially match up with the bigger, more physical Small Forwards.


Dray at SF. That's crazy talk.

[closg00]

I agree with Dat & Hands, Booker HAS to make-it as an SF for us in-order for this pick to make any sense at all, otherwise where and when is he going to play? We'll have to see what Flip does with him. I hope Booker can get a shot off.