Are the Wiz better with out Young, Howard, Lewis & Booker

[Donkey McDonkerton]

3 in a row, 4 outta 5.....STATs man, stats!

[GhostsOfGil]

haha hilarious. wiz win get happy.

[FAH1223]

Booker > Yi

Young > Shakur

[pineappleheadindc]

.

Donkey.....really? Really?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Yes, they are better.

Blatche playing like this is much better than Booker.

Crawford being a secondary ball handler and a much better passer and a better rebounder is better facilitating offense than Nick Young.

Jeffers and Evans have rebounded, hit threes from draw-and kicks that reflected better ball movement and spacing that wouldn't occur with Young. They're quicker than Lewis.

McGee and Blatche appear to both be playing their best ball at the same time--probably helps that Lewis isn't out there with them.

This combination of players seems to be more competitive. These wins are not a fluke--they'll play tough teams closely as well IMO.

[Hoopalotta]

It was Hamady. He was poison for us. There was no way we were gonna be the team we could be with his play dragging us down.

[DaRealHibachi]

Ofcourse we are, trade all of them for Cousins, Dynasty stuff right there...

[hands11]

You left out Martin.

Coach Flip Saunders said Tuesday that Martin (ankle) is likely done for the season, the Wizards' official site reports. (about 19 hours ago)

[tontoz]

All the Wizards need to do is schedule 82 games against garbage teams and they can be a 50 win team.

[nate33]

I said at the beginning of the season that Blatche was the key to our team. He's the only big man on the roster with a complete game. He allows our offense to be much more dynamic, and when he decides to rebound, we no longer are among the worst rebounding teams in the league.

When Blatche plays well, we are a mediocre team capable of beating bad teams. When Blatche plays poorly, we suck beyond the ability of words to describe and we're better off with him in street clothes.

[Donkey McDonkerton]

Who wins a 7 game series...all fully healthy

Craw at PG with Young, Howard, Lewis & Booker (coach Flip)

Wall at PG with Mo, Jeffers, Blatche & McGee (coach Sam I am)

[Brenice]

I said at the beginning of the season that Blatche was the key to our team. He's the only big man on the roster with a complete game. He allows our offense to be much more dynamic, and when he decides to rebound, we no longer are among the worst rebounding teams in the league.

When Blatche plays well, we are a mediocre team capable of beating bad teams. When Blatche plays poorly, we suck beyond the ability of words to describe and we're better off with him in street clothes.

Blatche is an all-star on the "all-meaningless games/out of playoff contention" team.

[Illuminaire]

Duh, Sam's team. Dude would suit up at halftime and sub himself in, then take Young to school.

[Bickerstaff]

I said at the beginning of the season that Blatche was the key to our team. He's the only big man on the roster with a complete game. He allows our offense to be much more dynamic, and when he decides to rebound, we no longer are among the worst rebounding teams in the league.

When Blatche plays well, we are a mediocre team capable of beating bad teams. When Blatche plays poorly, we suck beyond the ability of words to describe and we're better off with him in street clothes.

I was with you in thinking Blatche was the key to the season, but it seems like you're pinning all the team's failures on him, when the truth is that he started out hurt, Gilbert was horrible, Wall got hurt, Gilbert was traded, Howard never healed, Lewis got hurt, etc. This team was bad for a variety of reasons.

Also, Blatche was playing very well for the last month, month-and-a-half before he got hurt. Not All-Star level, but he was playing smarter and with more consistency.

Anyway, I think the reason they're playing well now is largely because the pressure's off, but also because I think there's a sense that the guys playing now are the team's core going forward, so it seems more a real team, in a way. I also give a lot of credit to Evans and Jeffers, though.

Whatever the case, it's been a nice change of pace.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Wizards have their best team right now with Wall, Crawford, Evans/Jeffers/Owens at SF, Blatche, and McGee.

They are better with Crawford next to Wall than they are with Young.

Jeffers is a beast of a competitor.

This is the best Blatche--ever. Frustrating and fools gold, perhaps.

This is the best McGee ever.

I really think Young is expendable. They are better without Lewis. They don't need Josh Howard.

The Wizards played Boston very tough and they are DESTROYING the Hawks as I type this.

[Illuminaire]

We struggle to score against teams with disciplined defense or good shot-blockers though. Against those teams, we need players like Young who can stretch the floor.

If we get Williams and a decent shooter with the 19th pick, I agree, Young becomes expendable.

If we can resign him cheaply though, there's no reason not to keep a good player who fits well with our PGotF. When our biggest need from the SG spot is defense and 3-pt shooting, especially against the elite teams, I'd rather not write Nick off until we see his price tag.

[nate33]

CCJ, this is the same team that put up the most embarrassing defensive effort of the season against Indiana two games ago. Jeffers, Evans and Owens wouldn't make the regular rotation of any playoff team. The Wizards still suck. We've got a long way to go.

You've got to take these games with a grain of salt. Half the teams have nothing to play for or they're resting starters. And nobody has scouted our band of D-League scrubs.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

CCJ, this is the same team that put up the most embarrassing defensive effort of the season against Indiana two games ago. Jeffers, Evans and Owens wouldn't make the regular rotation of any playoff team. The Wizards still suck. We've got a long way to go.

You've got to take these games with a grain of salt. Half the teams have nothing to play for or they're resting starters. And nobody has scouted our band of D-League scrubs.

Our opinions couldn't be more different.

They have won 5 of their last 8. They melted down at the end against Boston but trailed 83-87 in the fourth. Their other loss, besides at Indy, was against Miami. They played them tough and got royally hosed by the officials. The Wizards do not suck.

They beat a playoff team by 32 and had the crowd in Boston cheering from relief in a game they were played evenly until the last 5 minutes. nate, check out Owens D-League career. He was the ROY in that league. He's one of the best D-League players ever if Win Score/48 is to be believed. So is Mustafa Shakur. All Owens did is get a D-League Championship appearance with him in the starring role. You are using the argument of where a guy comes from as determining his worth. I don't buy that at all. I say look at the scoreboard, nate.

This is the way the Wizards could have been playing all along.

You say they suck. I say Flip sucked thinking guys like Hinrich and Armstrong and Yi deserved all the minutes they got over better players. He is playing guys that compete. Jeffers gets boards and makes plays. Look at his stats in the Miami game. Owens is the one guy who showed up at Indy and he had double figures tonight.

nate, this team is playing its best basketball. Flip said so himself.

[nate33]

Nate, check out Owens D-League career. He was the ROY in that league. He's one of the best D-League players ever if Win Score/48 is to be believed. So is Mustafa Shakur. All Owens did is get a D-.

I think you just refuted your own point in the same paragraph. Shakur sucks. His PER is 6.5. His win score is negative. Clearly, having a high win score in the D-League doesn't mean much.

I'm pleasantly surprised with the Wizards' play of late, but I refuse to get all that excited. It just doesn't mean anything until they can do it against decent teams who bring their "A game".

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Nate, check out Owens D-League career. He was the ROY in that league. He's one of the best D-League players ever if Win Score/48 is to be believed. So is Mustafa Shakur. All Owens did is get a D-.

I think you just refuted your own point in the same paragraph. Shakur sucks. His PER is 6.5. His win score is negative. Clearly, having a high win score in the D-League doesn't mean much.

I'm pleasantly surprised with the Wizards' play of late, but I refuse to get all that excited. It just doesn't mean anything until they can do it against decent teams who bring their "A game".

D-League stats for Shakur is the WS/48 I was referring to.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/nbd ... mu01d.html

I am also pretty sure the guy's a decent NBA player. If you want to use PER, then Yi's is 9.4 and Seraphin's is 8.3, nate. Wall has a bad ORTg of 99, a worse WS/48, and a very bad DRtg of 111. His PER is respectable at 15.5. However, that is skewed by injuries and playing with Hinrich.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/WAS/2011.html

The numbers can say what you want them to say. My opinion is Jeffers and Owens both are good looking bench players. Shakur isn't needed with Crawford on board, but I like him, too. I remember his first couple games. There is a reason he was signed the rest of the season long ago. He is not a bad player.