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

[Rafael122]

In not so many words, Flip basically called McGee soft. I think in next year's draft, a banger should be our top priority. Definitely something to monitor when college basketball starts.

[montestewart]

Look at players who started off like Armstrong (6-10 or taller, between 500 and 3000 total minutes through their first 4 seasons) and a rebound rate below 14% and it's a pretty ugly group. Here are the notables from the 47 player list:

- Zarko Cabarkapa
- Patrick O'Bryant (who actually has a higher career PER than Armstrong)
- Marcus Haislip
- Jerrod Mustaf
- Acie Earl
- Jabari Smith
- Pat Burke
- Chris Welp
- Maciej Lampe
- Granville Waiters
- Uwe Blab
- Desagana Diop
- Mike Smerek
- Sean Marks
- Greg Kite
- Nikoloz Tskitishvilli

Diop was useful in a limited role. The rest of these guys are stiffs. Odds are, so is Armstrong. Four years in, draft position means nothing. All that matters is production, and Armstrong has not been productive. The safe bet is that he won't be productive this year either.

That's a grim piece of research Nivek (welcome, by the way). Hilton might best be used as the under-talented never-was who pushes (embarrasses?) a gifted player like McGee in camp, practice, and (hopefully) not in too many games, forcing the better player learn all those tricks that allow the inferior player to almost compete. Still, the above is not a pretty picture; Hilton looks like a career 3rd stringer, and McGee has thus far generally looked like a second stringer. Where's our strong starter?

Thankfully there will be real basketball soon and people can stop over reacting to every single sentence uttered in the media.

I'll give up my overreaction when they pry it from my cold, dead hand. Nice roundup though JonathanJoseph. I'm anxious to see it play out in games too. I much more enjoy complaining about what just happened than complaining about what I think is going to happen.

[Wizardspride]

Click on the link to read the rest.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 06620.html

Wizards forward Andray Blatche prepared to face his mentors

Andray Blatche often greeted it with rolling eyes or sulking. He never understood why Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood and Caron Butler were so hard on him, so unfair with a young guy who entered the NBA out of high school and was still trying to find his way.

It wasn't until after those players were gone that it sunk in. They weren't being overly critical when they told Blatche he was squandering talents and ability at his size that most people would envy.

They weren't picking on him when they told him the importance of being in good physical condition in order to handle an 82-game regular season, and possibly the playoffs. Sometimes blunt, sometimes harsh, they rarely let up on Blatche.

But as Blatche shifted from being an occasional tease to a reliable go-to guy in the final 32 games last season, the words those veterans shared with him repeated over and over again in his mind.

"Came to me like clockwork," Blatche said. "Once I got on the court, I knew what to do. It clicked into me, it was automatic."

Blatche will have a reunion this week with the former teammates he now refers to as mentors. The Wizards open the preseason Tuesday in Dallas - where they will face Haywood, Butler and DeShawn Stevenson for the first time since a trade deadline deal that yielded Josh Howard and salary cap space. The Wizards get Jamison and the LeBron James-less Cleveland Cavaliers two days later.

Although he has respect for those players, Blatche said he wouldn't lose his focus when he steps on the floor and they are wearing different jerseys.

"It's going to be kind of awkward at first, but it's part of basketball. If I dunk on Brendan, I'm going to slap him on the [rear and say] 'Good try,' " Blatche said with a laugh. "But I'm going to go out there and compete and give it my all. I'm going to go in there and do what I got to do."

[RickRoll_inDC]

Not that I know a whole lot about Hilton or anything, but I think the biggest plus to his game is on the defensive side of the ball.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe he was the Big East defensive player of the year at UCONN. It would only make sense that being from a system like that and being the defensive player of the year that he would at least understand what to do and where to be on the defensive side of the ball.

Of course, it wouldn't hurt to put on 10 or so pounds of muscle to play that caliber of defense in this league....

[hands11]

"Came to me like clockwork," Blatche said. "Once I got on the court, I knew what to do. It clicked into me, it was automatic."


I'm sure some people will question this statement but this is what I was saying years ago regarding him. I said, he has the skills. I can see it. Get him out there and lean on him more. Its worth a chance to see if this gets him over the hump and makes the light go on. We needed a true PF bad enough that it was worth the chance. Sadly, EJ didn't see that vision so we wasted years of his production. Worse, we missed it with players who in total, could have done more with him productive as a team. We had Haywood. Adding Dray with Haywood could have been a solid front court. One this team, what are we missing the most, a player like Haywood.

Really interesting that we are playing Dallas. I guess it didn't really hit me.

I think these kids like Dray, Nick, AT, etc will have a chip. They have something to prove. Even Gil fits in there to some degree.

[Hoopalotta]

This is an interesting quote:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizard ... the-e.html

"We're really, have some important things to evaluate. Our upfront people, who's going to be there? We still got a couple of spots to fill on our team," Saunders said. "It will be more important for us to continue to play hard, work on execution, get those guys minutes, and it's going to be important for some people who feel you have to win every game.

"We need to establish ourselves as a team that's going to compete. If we can do that, we'll be in games, have a chance to win games. We've got to facilitate the development of our younger players."

"Evaluate". "Get those guys minutes". "Be in games". "Facilitate Development".

What do folks make of "it's going to be important for some people who feel you have to win every game"? I don't even know what he means unless he's saying "[for some of our players] to feel" instead of "who feel". Or maybe he's saying "if we suck too bad and don't develop, Kirk's gonna to have a friggin' stroke".

Anyway, that's off of the usual tacit emphasis on "just win baby!" and is about as far as Flip is going to go in spelling out the primacy of peripheral goals. Personally, I find this encouraging.

Conversely, I'm on board with collective cringing about Flip's penchant for lambasting guys to the press in rather caustic terms. I mean, if the public kvetching stays at this level, alright, but I'm not seeing a constructive "onward and upward" end game if that intensifies through frustration or pressure.

[queridiculo]

I doubt anybody is going to question that statement since the vast majority was well aware of the kids potential. If anything, he's simply confirming what most people on this board have been saying all along, that he didn't apply himself enough.

EJ was right and so was Tapscott. Blatche was a knucklehead and it took a complete tear down of the team before some of those words criticisms finally started to sink in.

I'm pretty damn far from being an EJ supporter, but it's hard to find fault with how he handled Blatche. Suggesting that he was wasting his production is a joke as far as I am concerned.

[hands11]

Been obsessively re-watching the 'real training camp' footage posted earlier and have come away actually more impressed with players I had question marks about.

Dial in on Trevor Booker and you see him doing all the little things on the periphery of the action. Fast on transition defense, makes the smart pass, refuses to allow bigs to back him into the post with the exception of Seraphin, who missed badly, well defended. Nobody scored on him inside because he wouldn't give position. Better yet he was re-directing his man with a subtle shove into the path of another attacking player, effectively defending two players at once.

On offense he doesn't yet have a comfort zone hitting the wide open shot he's gonna get every night out there, that should come with practice, but he knows the angles and has the ability to score off a one-two dribble move, even against larger players. And he's making the smart read on the pass almost every time. This is one of those hi-IQ players who will benefit the team in subtle ways whatever it looks like he is or isn't doing. He may not always get the board, but his man won't either.

Kevin Seraphin is another who caught hell on here for his missed jumpers, but again on careful re-consideration I'm still seeing what I thought I saw. Coming off the knee injury he's rusty, lacks timing will need to adjust to the NBA, but you can see where and how he will get his groove on once he gets a comfort level against NBA competition. Big, fast, nimble, long arms, good instincts especially on defense. Rookies need time to adjust, rookie bigs more so than most, but this kid is going to be a force once he feels like he knows what he's doing out there, and he doesn't look nervous about it.

Hamady N'Diaye may have only one NBA calibre quality, but he sure changed a ton of shots when he was on the floor. Runs fast to get in position. Then those long arms come up and he's a constant threat to knock your ball out the air.

I found myself really impressed with Kevin Palmer. Kid is subtly smooth, rangy, but seems under control, good defense against the drive, tenacious. He'll be a longshot to make the team but once he develops a reliable jumper in the D-League, he'd be a quality call-up. Kid has good body control and an oncourt timing/patience that reminds me a bit of Grant Hill or Penny Hardaway back in the day: doesn't seem hurried even when making a move. I won't be surprised when he's a roster player even starter in 3 years.

Still like Lester Hudson. Way he's playing, not only making threes but the correct pass I'd bet the team will keep him.

I'd love it if we could keep rosters deeper than 15and stow 'em on our minor league D-League squad. If the owners get good profit givebacks maybe they'll allow a 20 player roster. Of course then San Antonio would be truly dominant...

JaVale looks good. Nick. John Wall turned the ball over with a few lazy passes, he'll need to make it a focus once he learns his teammates. One way or the other this should be an interesting year.

Thanks for the link.

Looks of footage to look at. They looked a little rough but it was a scrimmage.

One thing that was a let down was Nick still seems like he is a kid. Still doesn't get it.
Shame. He is so talented offensively. Gil needs to get in his ear and tell him what he learned about growing up and getting serious.

[Ruzious]

I doubt anybody is going to question that statement since the vast majority was well aware of the kids potential. If anything, he's simply confirming what most people on this board have been saying all along, that he didn't apply himself enough.

EJ was right and so was Tapscott. Blatche was a knucklehead and it took a complete tear down of the team before some of those words criticisms finally started to sink in.

I'm pretty damn far from being an EJ supporter, but it's hard to find fault with how he handled Blatche. Suggesting that he was wasting his production is a joke as far as I am concerned.

+1. While the coaches have gotten blasted time and time and time and time again here, they really deserve credit for developing a kid who would have otherwise been a lost cause. And so do Blatche's "mentors" deserve credit. Now, the same thing has to happen with McGee, and frankly - there are a lot of reasons to belive it's not going to happen. McGee needs the kind of mentors that Blatche had, and maybe Blatche will have to be the key mentor.

[Nivek]

I was talking to an out-of-town friend about Blatche yesterday. He wondered why I called Blatche a knucklehead. When I laid out the stuff Blatche has done -- getting shot (while still out at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning), soliciting an undercover cop, speeding while driving on a suspended license (third offense on the suspended license), refusing to re-enter the game, chronically late earlier in his career, having to live at Verizon Center for a few days because he couldn't pay his rent or afford a hotel (yes, he'd literally run out of money until his next check arrived). I think I left some stuff out.

My friend's reaction, "Holy ****, I need an Excedrin."

My point is that while anyone with eyes could see the skills Blatche had, there was plenty of evidence that he was not ready to be a reliable player and contributor. And that's just the stuff that went public.

[DallasShalDune]

Saying that, Nivek, I think Dray has done the right things to prove he is becoming more mature. He knows he has a tude, but he also appears to be doing his best to fix it. The same goes for Gil.

[LyricalRico]

Saying that, Nivek, I think Dray has done the right things to prove he is becoming more mature. He knows he has a tude, but he also appears to be doing his best to fix it. The same goes for Gil.

I don't think you can say that yet. Let's get through an entire season with no issues and then we can talk about Gil fixing himself and his image.

[Nivek]

Dallas -- I want to agree with you about Blatche. I'm hoping he's turned the corner. But, there was that "failure to talk with the coach" incident last season. I'm more than willing to forget about all that past stuff if Blatche shows that he has truly put that kind of knuckleheadeness behind him. I'm not there yet with him, however.

That said, my point in that previous post was simply to point out that coaches have been justified in not trusting Blatche with a bigger role.

[Ruzious]

Not that I know a whole lot about Hilton or anything, but I think the biggest plus to his game is on the defensive side of the ball.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe he was the Big East defensive player of the year at UCONN. It would only make sense that being from a system like that and being the defensive player of the year that he would at least understand what to do and where to be on the defensive side of the ball.

Of course, it wouldn't hurt to put on 10 or so pounds of muscle to play that caliber of defense in this league....

He was, indeed, and he was an extremely late bloomer there - only played significant minutes in his last season at UConn (and they had a bunch of future NBA front court players in his time there.). And he has reportedly gained muscle mass this offseason, but it's a big stretch to think he'll be an adequate rotation player.

[Nivek]

To Ruz's point -- Armstrong played almost as many minutes his senior year (943) as he played in his freshman, sophmore and junior years combined (1037). He did win the Big East Defensive Player of the Year award, but his other numbers were pedestrian -- just 9.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in 27.7 mpg. He did block shots (3.1 per game), but that shot blocking really hasn't translated to the NBA. At least not yet.

[dobrojim]

this may have been already commented on somewhere
but it just occurred to me that we now have 2 former
bigEast DPOY winners

[montestewart]

this may have been already commented on somewhere
but it just occurred to me that we now have 2 former
bigEast DPOY winners

It's like having Ewing and Mutombo

[NoStatsGuy]

hey knick here!

wonder how serious gilberts knee and ankle issues are?

does anybody know something?

[nate33]

hey knick here!

wonder how serious gilberts knee and ankle issues are?

does anybody know something?

His knee his fine. The ankle sprain is minor. He is day-to-day. They're holding him out of the preseason game against Dallas but the sense is that he could play if it was a real game that mattered.

[NoStatsGuy]

hey knick here!

wonder how serious gilberts knee and ankle issues are?

does anybody know something?

His knee his fine. The ankle sprain is minor. He is day-to-day. They're holding him out of the preseason game against Dallas but the sense is that he could play if it was a real game that mattered.

good to hear, thanks a lot

looking forward to the wizards this season