Washington Wizards - What's their ceiling?

[triple_threat]

I'm not sure exactly what their rotation is going to look like since I havent followed them much lately, but I'll take my best shot (correct me if I'm wrong):

Wall/Hinrich
Arenas/Young/Hinrich
Howard/Thorton
Blatche/Yi? Small Ball with Howard?
Mcgee/Armstrong?

On paper, that looks like a lot of talent to me, but there is a ton of uncertainty, mainly:
- Arenas and Howards Health
- Can Mcgee handle starters minutes?
- Was Blatche just putting up empty stats on a bad team last year or is he for real?
- How will Wall's game translate?

I think they are will suited to be a fast break team. So my question is (assuming they stay relatively healthy, especially Arenas):

What do you think their ceiling is this year? How about in 2 or 3 years?

[Blazing_royale]

many factors

-Depends how WALL plays out. could have rookie wall early or succeed immediately
-Arenas adapting not having the ball in his hands much
-depends on the health of Howard *injury prone
-Blatche *maturity will always be an issue; someone needs to keep his head straight
-McGee- unproven


to me this squad is talented but lotta these players are unproven, and i don't know if these players compliement eachother and lastly chemistry is key.

[BoomFizzle]

That frontcourt is a serious worry. Probably be horrible defensively.

[Jimmy Recard]

That frontcourt is a serious worry. Probably be horrible defensively.

This mainly. I have no doubts in the backcourt coexisting. Arenas, Wall and Hinrich will compliment eachother pretty well. All capable of playing both guard spots. Only downside, we're going to be playing with an undersized SG basically all the time.

Our success this season will depend heavily on our frontcourt being able to defend and rebound.

Offensively though, i think we'll be fine, and definitely fun to watch.

[triple_threat]

How bad are Blatche and Mcgee defensively? Is it their man D? Help D? Both?

[NickAnderson]

Most of those players need the ball to be effective.

[Wizardspride]

How bad are Blatche and Mcgee defensively? Is it their man D? Help D? Both?

Blatche isn't that bad defensively.

And as for McGee....his biggest problem is his man to man D. He needs to get stronger.

[G-Heel]

I think 8th place is highest they can go. I think they're still a year or two from being a legitimate playoff team.

I remember last year an expert rank them higher than Magic going into the season, wonder what that dude thinks now.

[schneiderjazz]

They'll be pretty fun to watch and they definitely have tons of talent. I think their biggest problem will be chemistry. Not enough shots to please everybody and some guys with a history of doing stupid things.

[SolidSnake008]

JK......I'm still not too sure how they're going to handle the rotation and i think i heard that they're going to give the PG duties to Wall.....They are in year 1 of his era so i think the best case scenario is 7th seed but as i say that i feel like i'm underestimating them...Javale is looking good at the very least he should be an Impact shotblocker and should get rebounds at a decent clip But i think how Andray not being 100% might effect the team in a big way

[the7boss]

I remember last year an expert rank them higher than Magic going into the season, wonder what that dude thinks now.

This guy was high or what?

The acquisitions of Randy Foye and Mike Miller put them ahead of the previous season NBA Finalist? Cool story.

Speaking of the new Wizards, they look like a ton of unproven talent on paper but the lack of frontcourt experience and depth will hurt them badly. And the main thing, how is going to handle Gilbert being the second man in the team? Because it's going to be Wall's team, right?

The best scenerio for them is to trade Gilbert as soon as he shows some signs of his former self to a contender who can take on his huge contract. Not an easy task, though.

[Jimmy Recard]

How bad are Blatche and Mcgee defensively? Is it their man D? Help D? Both?

Blatche isn't too bad defensively. He's actually very good when he's committed, he's just incredibly lazy at times though. Mcgee is downright embarrassing on D, especially his man D. Can't hold his ground when being backed down, picks up silly fouls, doesn't know how to position himself, his foot work is atrocious and defends with his hands instead of his feet.
His help D can be quite good at times, he's got great length and timing, but he bites on every fake and picks up stupid fouls. Neither Blatche or Mcgee rebound all that well defensively either.

[heatwillbeback]

as high as Wall wants to take it

if your team doesnt have a superstar, you are irrelevant. Cant win

so if Wall becomes that, they of course will be very good

[20MexicanosIn1Van]

My prediction for the rotation is something like this:

Pg: Wall/Hinrich/Arenas
Sg: Arenas/Hinrich/Young
Sf: Thorton/Young/Booker to start the season then Howard/Thorton/Booker when Howard comes along.
Pf: Blatche/Yi/Seraphin
C: McGee/Seraphin/Armstrong

Obviously Wall is unproven, but the guard rotation has potential to be elite. Most Wizards fans believe Arenas will be fine without the ball in his hands. Recall that in previous years, come fourth quarter when Arenas was most effective, he'd be running next to Antonio Daniels who took care of the PG duties. Besides, Wall seems to be a distributor as much as he is a scorer.

The defense from the bigs is the biggest concern. Blatche is an average defender but McGee is pretty bad in this aspect. His athleticism allows him to block shots, but don't be fooled by highlights. He is a poor man-to-man post defender. I have hope because he's young and post defense is very hard to learn in the NBA. Furthermore, his size and athleticism has the potential (and it happened sometimes last season) to scare guards from driving to the hoop. From a rebounding stand point, he is tall and athletic enough to get offensive boards but lacks the positioning required to be a good defensive rebounder.

Seraphin, on the other hand, is supposed to be a pretty good defender but a poor offensive player. I don't know if anyone on RealGM has seen him play, so who knows.

Basically, this season the ceiling is 7th seed with likely being an 8th-10th seed. I'm really hoping they sneak into the playoffs to get the young guys that invaluable playoffs experience and build a winning culture.

In the long run, I see this team's ceiling as better version of the Hornets when they went to the second round a couple years ago. John Wall, at his highest peak, can be in the same league as CP3. He has the athleticism, the size, the vision, the work ethic, and the handles (however, from what I've seen in summer league, his jump shot is poor at the moment). Arenas is better then whoever the Hornets trotted out as their SG. As the SF of the future, there is a big question mark with this team. Is Howard in the team's longterm plans? What about Thorton or Booker? But it's not like Stojackovic was a world class SF or anything. In the last 30 or so games of last season, Blatche was just as good as David West if not better. While McGee has a lot of similarities to Chandler - hyper-athleticism, oop-catcher, shot blocker, but poor post defense.

So, the Wizards ceiling in the longterm is an NBA championship contender IMO.

[Blackmun]

I think they're in the competition for the 8th spot. I don't think this team can do too well against the Knicks, and that's going to be a problem seeing they are in the same division.

Long term, I'd say they look real good. Wall is a future superstar, no question. McGee can be very legit if he bulks up a bit. Interesting team for sure.

[Flopper]

If anything they may be the most intriguing sub-500 team in the league. Best case scenario would be Wall coming in and quickly becoming a dynamic distributor, Blatche and McGee tapping in to their raw potential and performing on a consistent basis, and Arenas and Howard getting/staying healthy. Hinrich will be steady as usual and will be the best third guard in the league by far.

If all this happens they could very easily grab a seven seed in the East, but I'm guessing it won't and they'll probably end up ninth. Either way I'm definitely looking forward to watching them against my own team and on the national games.

[PerkinsFor3]

How bad are Blatche and Mcgee defensively? Is it their man D? Help D? Both?

Blatche isn't that bad defensively.

And as for McGee....his biggest problem is his man to man D. He needs to get stronger.

Hello, Seraphin.

[20MexicanosIn1Van]

I don't think this team can do too well against the Knicks, and that's going to be a problem seeing they are in the same division.

They're not in the same division.

As for Seraphin, he's HUGE. Listed at 6'9 and about 270. Oh yea, and 20 years old.

[Blackmun]

Well, yeah, of course they're not, my brain is lagging a bit today Well they're not going to beat Miami either!

[Theoretic]