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

[KiNgSbOi]

I love Gil, he's just Gil. He is a one of a kind personality, thank god he isn't koo koo like Ron Ron used to be.

[verbal8]

Gil messed up, again ,,, by lying to the HC about an injury. His heart was in the right place, just not a lot brain power going on there.

The issue with Gil is not brain power, but engaging the mouth(or acting) before engaging the brain.

[Ji]

since i won us the lottery...i am starting our first home game thread.

[hands11]

Well this didnt give me warm fuzzies.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4CfQSnTyDM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

[nate33]

That wasn't so bad. As we have discussed before, Flip is a little too quick to throw his players under the bus. At this point in the preseason, I would have preferred that Flip said something like: "We need to make sure that we get the ball to the bigs in the low post more and have them shooting less jumpers." By using "we", it shares the blame among the bigs, guards, and coaching staff. Unfortunately, Flip singled out the bigs as being exclusively at fault. That's no way to promote team harmony.

I was impressed with Blatche. In years past, he would have gotten defensive and said something unfortunate to the reporter which would have led to a media circus. This time, Blatche refused to take the bait. He kept dodging the question and instead focused on the team being young and new and needing time to put it all together.

I can see Blatche being worth of a team captain role in the not-too-distant future.

[hands11]

True. Flip doesn't need to say things like, Dray need to get his big butt in the post. I get what he is saying though. Specially when he is talking about a young team and how they play different away from the bench vs when they are closer to the coaches. What I get is that this team is not totally on the same page and they are still learning. Wall and Flip seem so to be on the same page. But it may take a moment for Dray and Gil to adjust. I think it would help if Howard was out there.

But what concerns me is the first thing dray said, " I don't know what they want me to do in this offense"

Here is what I got the sense was going in in Drays mind.

Me talking for Dray

I've been here a while now. I put in some hard work over the last two summers. I'm trying to do what you wanted me to do and I showed you what I can do last year if you feature me in the offense. My game is some inside but I was outside also. That is my game. The outside sets up the inside and the other way around. I'm playing off what I'm seeing.

Now you bring in Wall and it's all about him. I get that. But that isn't really the issue. He plays PG. I'm at PF but don't treat me like chopped liver. But what about Yi. He is shooting from the outside a lot. Why is that ok for him and not for me. I should be taking those shots. I have already proven I can make them. How about getting on his ass to get down low more.

Plus you have me setting all these high screens and then you want me down low also. I don't get it man. What's going on here. Now if it is a pick and roll, I get that but you have me running around up top trying to set 3 screen on one play and then you're complaining Im not down low.

Drays words, " we are still figuring this out. We have a lot of new players "
My words for Dray. Someone needs to rethink this. Let Yi set more of the high picks if you want me down low. But how about working my game into the scheme instead of trying to turn my into a pure post player. We is the love and respect for my game ?

[magnumt]

Here's out cheap ass GT if you're interested:

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1059144

--Mags

[Wizardspride]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: "The more I see of Flip, the less I like".

I hope we get off to a good start 'cause if we don't, this thing could get UGLY very quickly.

[Wizardspride]

Click on the link to read the rest.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03720.html

Wizards' Hilton Armstrong trying to get over his lack of confidence

Hilton Armstrong was in the place he wants to be - on the court, being loose and carefree. He slid over to the foul line, made a jumper and immediately started shouting instructions to his Washington Wizards teammates as he backpedaled on defense in practice on Saturday. He leapt into the lane to catch a lob from Al Thornton, made a difficult shot off the glass in one motion. And, he later tried to chase down a loose ball and hurdled a row of chairs in front of him.

Through an undistinguished first four seasons in the NBA, Armstrong always grappled with thinking too much and worrying about what he could do wrong instead of accomplishing something on the floor.

The 6-foot-11 2006 lottery pick was blessed with athleticism and talent, but no matter what encouraging words he heard from Byron Scott, his former coach in New Orleans, or his father, Hilton Sr., Armstrong could never get over his own lack of confidence. But Armstrong said he is starting to feel that wall coming down in Washington- a place close to his native New York, that his fiancee and daughter have already come to enjoy, and where the Wizards provided him with "a new beginning."

"Here, everyday, Coach [Flip Saunders] would tell me, 'Don't worry about anything, just play. We have confidence in you,' " Armstrong said after practice, as the Wizards prepared to face the New York Knicks on Sunday. "I'm very grateful that I'm here in this situation with these coaches and this front office. I'm very appreciative."

Saunders praised Armstrong during training camp at George Mason - the same school that cut short his career at Connecticut in the Elite Eight in 2006 - claiming that he had outplayed expected starting center JaVale McGee.

Armstrong has been limited some, and missed two preseason games, after developing a bizarre right shoulder injury that he still cannot explain. He just knows that he woke up one morning with some soreness and swelling that may have been caused by sleeping the wrong way or absorbing a hit in a game or practice that had a delayed impact. "I'm not really sure," how it happened, Armstrong said.

As for his battles with confidence, Armstrong said those began in college, where he struggled under a demanding, hard-nosed coach in Jim Calhoun, who gave him little room for error. "Coach Calhoun, he's a great coach. He knows how to win, get players to the NBA. But for me, personally, talent-wise, he didn't work with me," he said. "My confidence was broke. It's not even a secret. Any time I'd mess up on the court, I'd come straight out. That really messed up my mind a little bit."

[KiNgSbOi]

I don't like Armstrong what so ever, I would be perfectly happy if he doesn't play much at all. All he can do is block a shot here & there, other than that, he is useless. It's a shame we lack good big men, one is a project, the other is slowly getting it together but still needs time.

[queridiculo]

I think Armstrong played well against the Bucks and there's certainly a role for an inside presence with a softie like McGee getting major minutes at the 5. Scary as it may be, he's the closest to an inside presence this team has.

I'm still amazed that Washington didn't keep Singleton around or made any sort of push to sign a veteran big man. The Wizards is frontcourt is severely lacking and I just don't see McGee as the type of player you can let play through his mistakes in hopes that he will improve as the season goes along.

[Ruzious]

That wasn't so bad. As we have discussed before, Flip is a little too quick to throw his players under the bus. At this point in the preseason, I would have preferred that Flip said something like: "We need to make sure that we get the ball to the bigs in the low post more and have them shooting less jumpers." By using "we", it shares the blame among the bigs, guards, and coaching staff. Unfortunately, Flip singled out the bigs as being exclusively at fault. That's no way to promote team harmony.

I was impressed with Blatche. In years past, he would have gotten defensive and said something unfortunate to the reporter which would have led to a media circus. This time, Blatche refused to take the bait. He kept dodging the question and instead focused on the team being young and new and needing time to put it all together.

I can see Blatche being worth of a team captain role in the not-too-distant future.

That would be quite the amazing transformation. Even for most of last season, he had maybe the worst body language of any NBA player I've ever seen. He's taken great strides, but as far as becoming captain material, I think I have a better chance of winning $1 million from the McDonalds Monopoly game.

[dlts20]

does anyone know anything about a Dray injury or anything?

[Hoopalotta]

There was a Wizards chat a few days ago with Weidie from Truth about it on ESPN the other day....

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page ... -dime-live

Scroll down in the chat window till you get to the 'Zards logo. Nothing really ground breaking, but we'll take what we can get.

Excerpts:

Millie MillMillie Mill:
This preseason, why haven't we seen much from the #17 pick Kevin Seraphin?

Kyle Weidie
It seems like the team knows his development is in for a long haul ... so they're not in a rush to determine what they see out of him in the preseason.

Seraphin has a lot to learn ... about the game and the English language.

AaronAaron
I'm getting the sneaking feeling that Arenas may have some serious psychological problem going on. I'm not trying to be mean, but he seems like he's bi-polar or manic depressive. How else can we explain his very odd behavior?

Kyle Weidie
I think Arenas only has psychological problems when it comes to dealing with the media.

With his teammates, from what I've seen, he's been great ... and that's the main thing that matters

Snottie Drippen
Kyle, with the athletic-but-raw talent in DC, what kind of W/L record do you see this year? Do the comments by JaVale and Dre (both seem confused by what's asked of them by Flip) bother you? It seems in organizations like San Antonio and Utah, you'd NEVER hear a player come out publicly like this.

Kyle Weidie
It's bothersome, but not 'that' bothersome. They're kids ... they'll learn.

As far as wins and losses ... right now I get the feeling of between 33-36 wins ... but it really all depends on how this team grows as the season goes along.

Wall didn't hesitate to get on JaVale McGee about rebounding, etc. during summer league play .... looks like he'll have to step up and be even more of a vocal leader to several players older than him.

Good luck with him on that, but if any 20-year old can do it, he can.

[hands11]

Feels like a low energy point.

The excitement of camp starting is past.
We got to watch a few games with different line ups and even player who may be sitting on the bench or off the team.

But wow, we only have one more preseason game to go ?
How did that creep up. It felt like we had 2 or 3 more to go.

Well, we should be getting lots of answers soon enough. Who stays ? Who goes.

The week after that last preseason game is going to suck. Oct 28th can't get here soon enough.
That said, we need that time to get in as much work as possible because we still have a lot to get done.

Patience Wizards fans. There will be up and downs. We are a young talented team and have a few holes that need filled. I just can't wait to see how much who we have can fill them.

[pancakes3]

since i won us the lottery...i am starting our first home game thread.

yay. back-to-back #1 picks!

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Flip's negative focus on McGee's substance, when all Javale is doing is to be in the top-10 in the entire NBA preseason players for rebounding per minute has taken the energy down.

Flip's comments that Blatche should "keep his big butt in the paint" has brought the energy down.

Flip singling out the bigs for the ball stopping has brought the energy down.

Flip praising a guy who I know cannot play, Hilton Armstrong, has got me remembering how many minutes Fabricio Oberto didn't rebound or score but did foul excessively last season. Flip's got another player he's partial to and that's taken the energy down.

Seraphin not playing at all but Armstrong having a huge role has brought the energy down.

Yi's terrible play the last three games has brought the energy down.

Arenas sittting out for Nick brought things down a bit. His groin injury brought things down way more. Now, I'm much more guarded about how I think Gil's year with the Wizards will be. That they went to the league office on him faking an injury brought things way, way down.

Hinrich's mediocre play the past few games, but the knowledge that Flip is going to play three guards no matter how bad they get pounded on the glass has brought the energy down a notch.

OVERALL, hands, I'm definitely way down from where I was on the Wizards about a week ago but most of it comes down to the head coach. Wall and McGee can ball. So can Blatche when he gets in shape.

I feel like the biggest obstacle to the season is Flip Saunders.

I think the Wizards need to try and move Yi, Nick Young, Al Thornton, and Hinrich (or Arenas, but he's not going anywhere) to try and get defensive rebounding and a starting-caliber SF in case Howard doesn't come back.

What I think I see from training camp is a coach that will kill the spirit of this team and a team that lacks depth, particularly inside.

[closg00]

Flip's negative focus on McGee's substance, when all Javale is doing is to be in the top-10 in the entire NBA preseason players for rebounding per minute has taken the energy down.

Flip's comments that Blatche should "keep his big butt in the paint" has brought the energy down.

Flip singling out the bigs for the ball stopping has brought the energy down.

Flip praising a guy who I know cannot play, Hilton Armstrong, has got me remembering how many minutes Fabricio Oberto didn't rebound or score but did foul excessively last season. Flip's got another player he's partial to and that's taken the energy down.

Seraphin not playing at all but Armstrong having a huge role has brought the energy down.

Yi's terrible play the last three games has brought the energy down.

Arenas sittting out for Nick brought things down a bit. His groin injury brought things down way more. Now, I'm much more guarded about how I think Gil's year with the Wizards will be. That they went to the league office on him faking an injury brought things way, way down.

Hinrich's mediocre play the past few games, but the knowledge that Flip is going to play three guards no matter how bad they get pounded on the glass has brought the energy down a notch.

OVERALL, hands, I'm definitely way down from where I was on the Wizards about a week ago but most of it comes down to the head coach. Wall and McGee can ball. So can Blatche when he gets in shape.

I feel like the biggest obstacle to the season is Flip Saunders.

I think the Wizards need to try and move Yi, Nick Young, Al Thornton, and Hinrich (or Arenas, but he's not going anywhere) to try and get defensive rebounding and a starting-caliber SF in case Howard doesn't come back.

What I think I see from training camp is a coach that will kill the spirit of this team and a team that lacks depth, particularly inside.

This is part of what I posted in another thread, it came from the Wiz beat writer for the Examiner.

However, Flip Saunders definitely seems to support the play of Armstrong as of late. When he fouled out two games ago against Milwaukee, Flip went on record saying Armstrong played the best pick and roll / screen defense, better than anyone, and had nothing but praise for HiltonI found it somewhat surprising. because to me, Hilton comes off a Chris Weber type -- not in body, mind you, but in soul. Hilton seems like he has an immaturity, a sort of lack of enthusiasm when things don't go his way -- whereas I guess you could say N'Diaye, one of my fan favorites, gives the appearance of immaturity with an abundance of enthusiasm.

[Rafael122]

So in a nutshell: Flip knows that what he says about Blatche or McGee, positive or negative won't have an affect on their play while Hilton has the mind of a 5 year old and needs to be praised for anything and everything.

Makes sense.

[Ruzious]

It's just a matter of Mr. Cause working in conjunction with his associate, Mr. Effect. If Armstrong gives good effort and plays to the best of his ability, he gets applauded by his coach - to show him that that behavior is appreciated. If Mr. McGee loses concentration (some would call that laziness, but... How dare they.) on the defensive end too often - failing to use his outstanding tools, he gets the opposite of applause from his coach - hence, Mssrs Cause and Effect.

Hmm, remember that before Flip commented about the rebounding, the rebounding stunk? And after Flip commented about it, it improved by a ton? Flip, how dare you.

Instead of having self-motivated, very high IQ players like Mssrs Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker; Flip has talented kids at "developing stages of maturity" - such as Mssrs McGee, Young, and Blatche - and he's dealing with it. How dare you, Flip Wilson Saunders. Don't tell me - The devil made you do it?