Official Thread - Wizards vs Hawks (2/5/11)

[DallasShalDune]

Out of 50 games, we've won 13. We're going to win 6-8 games out of our next 32.

We will not go 100% defeated on the road this season, and I believe we can still be around .500 at home. We went through a rough patch in the schedule, hence all the Ls, but we were winning winnable games a month ago when the schedule was more forgiving.

I'm calling 25-27 wins. That's really bad, but not less than 20 bad (obviously).

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I don't think we will crack 20 wins this year.

I think this team SHOULD have around 20 wins NOW.

The talent on this roster is more than sufficient for 20 wins now and about 32-36 wins for the season. That they probably win 20 or less is on Flip's prefences and failure to hold every player accountable, as well as low motivation and complacency within core players upon whom this coach relies.

[B-easy]

here is my quick thoughts on a few players
Wall--really good player who is surrounded by just crap. Needs alot of work.. he is probably 2 years behind Derrick Rose. In other words, in about 4 years, he will be where Rose was in 2 years. Awful shooter right now and he even knew it back in the summer

Wall isn't surrounded by crap, Young can shoot, he's just very undisciplined and wreckelss, Blatche has tons of talent but he's also undisciplined and seems lazy and unmotivated. Mcgee should have a big man coach developing him as Wall has coaches and former players trying to help him. You also have Rashard Lewis, Thornton, Hinrich, Booker, this team is too talented to be playing this poorly, you have to look at the coaches and all of the players including Wall.
Rose was a beast as a rookie, his mid range shot was money and he had a floater that was very effective. Wall has nothing close to that yet. Rose would take over games in the crunch, he was and still is very humble, soft spoken and would never bicker with his coaches like Wall has done. I agree, Wall needs alot of work, and I know his assist numbers are high, but that's because all this team does is shoot the first time he passes it off, this team plays like it's in a rec league.

I agree with this. I used to think that Rose had poor jumper in his rookie season but according to this http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=derrick%20rose he had one of the better jumpers in the game. Russel Westbrook, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul all had SIGNIFICANTLY better jumpers than Wall.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Of course the Wiz have enough talent to win more games. But if the talent doesn't give as much effort as the opposition - which continues to be the case - then the talent is the problem.

Fair enough. Flip just needs to bench each and every player who loafs the same way he benches McGee for Javale's missteps.

[Kanyewest]

When everyone talks about this roster like there is legitimate talent there, aren't we more referring to POTENTIAL?

I mean, who can honestly look at this roster and ever see it competing for anything but the 8th playoff spot? This roster from top to bottom is a complete and utter joke of a basketball team.

John Wall has the POTENTIAL to be a GREAT player.

Nick Young has the POTENTIAL to be a rotation player on a good team.

JaVale McGee has the POTENTIAL to be as good as he wants to be.

Realistically though, nobody can really expect this team to be much better than they are. This entire franchise needs a whole lot of work before we even return to being respectable.

I'd argue NY is a legit rotation player. He's been our best player, and while we might sometimes overrate him, I'd say he could crack most teams', even playoff teams', 8-man rotation. NY is legit, and Wall will be fine. You're right he has the potential to be great, and you're right to point out that both Wall and McGee are not great yet, but I'd still argue for NY.

Even if Young is a legit option for a good team, the point still stands. The Wizards aren't really that good at this point. Yes Blatche has regressed but I would also point to that Blatche probaby lost the guys who he played best with in Livingston and Singleton. I think Blatche is not a lost cause and could eventually find his rhythm with John Wall in years to come.

[Zonkerbl]

Look, Wall's defense stinks, and that hangs up the big men to dry constantly. If you're seeing a lack of effort it's because Blatche probably realizes there's no point giving up an and one for nothing, and then the overall lack of effort bleeds into other parts of the game.

All rookie PGs struggle on defense. We were warned Wall's defense is questionable and we're seeing the deflating effect it has on the front line. OTOH we know Wall has amazing physical gifts that could be utilized to play amazing defense, but his mind has to catch up to his body. That will transform this team from a twenty win team to a fifty win team. All the mental lapses result from knowing that in the clutch they can't stop anybody. If Wall figures out how to play defense the dam will break and wins will flood out uncontrollably.

[nate33]

OTOH we know Wall has amazing physical gifts that could be utilized to play amazing defense, but his mind has to catch up to his body. That will transform this team from a twenty win team to a fifty win team.

Nick Young too. In theory, based on their length, athleticism, footspeed, and reflexes, the Wall/Young backcourt could pan out to be the best defensive backcourt in the league, or perhaps second-best to Westbrook/Thabo. It would really help to have a Varejao/Noah type of guy at center who knows how to step out on the pick-and-roll.

[dobrojim]

a little late in getting around to it but just as a general comment
on the team, our guys have physical/athletic skills that should
make them semi-competitive. But for whatever reason, inate
BB IQ or coaching or something else, they do not understand
HOW to play.

In some ways it is a simple game - work hard to get good shots
for yourself and your teammates. Work hard to prevent ie challenge
good shots for your opp.

We simply do not do either of these things well enough.

in the case of the ATL game, as has been pointed out, FTs can matter
and in this game they did. Even with the disparity, we allowed them
to maintain a more comfy margin than if we had simply made a
reasonable number of our 4thQ FTs. It would seem to me to be
easier to continue to hold a lead when it stays above 5 pts
than when they know their next miss or 2 could mean the loss
of the lead

[dobrojim]

another thing I meant to say was that the Wizards should
really do a better job when playing defense to create
contact with picks/screens that are not properly
set. Force the refs to make a call. Run into them
hard!