pancakes3 wrote:well if you want to make the argument that blatche has holes in his game, don't use my bit of social commentary as the tackling dummy. i was merely pointing out that we shouldn't be looking to run him out of town at all costs like some trade proposers are doing - trading him for someone like Brad Miller for instance. I didn't even know Miller was still in the league.
however, i will chip in this: we're bad defensively, but we're not 1980's run and gun bad. blatche is bad, but he's not really letting defenders through like a breeze through a screen door either (eye test). I think blatche and mcgee overall has the potential to be a half-decent frontcourt actually. if i may put on my CCJ hat for a second, if we could get JV to play PF defensively and AB to lock down C's and do so intelligently? I don't see why our oppefg% wouldn't lower and our rebounds wouldn't climb.
McGee is about as fast and as long as big men get. Physically he can show and recover on pick and rolls as well as anyone in the league It's just that he has no idea what or why he has to show on pnrs. he also has no idea how to keep his head on a swivel, keep his arms up, or locate his man by "feel" rather than by sight. AB on the other hand knows how to do these things, he's just slow footed. he can go toe to toe with an ancient KG but as for the crazy fast PF's out there? the Amare's, Bosh's, and Durant's... or the crafty PF's like Dirk, Marion, and Odom? i'd rather let JV and his go-go gadget arms flail around and let AB's "steadfastness" (read: slowness) plod in the low low post.
If they did switch up defensive assignments, practiced hard, and sneak JV some ginko biloba into his protein shakes? we've got a really decent frontcourt imo.
Juwan Howard about 15 years ago was the same kind of player for Washington that Andray is today.
Howard could score, pass, and rebound adequately. He shot a little better than Andray does. Andray's bigger and able to play more C. Comparing them each in their prime, where the two guys are very similar is neither has much run and jump athleticism but both are highly skilled. They can dribble, pass, shoot, rebound and each has both back to the basket moves and a face up game.
Thinking back on Howard's days and how they ended in Washington, I remember the Webber trade exposed Juwan's lack of athleticism. Like pancakes3 said above,
Howard looked like a plodder, even after signing that deal that paid him more than Webber, and around the same as KG and Shaq.
Eventually, MJ's coach Gar Heard came in and played guys like Micheal "Animal' Smith, Aaron Williams, and a guy I thought was a good player, Gerard King, ahead of Howard. (Kind of reminds me of what Kuester did to Hamilton in Detroit). Eventually, Howard got traded to Dallas (miracle trade by MJ IMO). I digress. What I noticed back then is that THE COACH'S STYLE dictated which PF would be effective.
Heard didn't like Howard. Likewise, I doubt very seriously another coach would enable Blatche the way Flip does.
I think the Wizards might be better already just running with McGee and Booker at PF.
Tre Johnson is the future of the Wizards.