Wizards preseason thread...dec 9-dec 24

Jay81 · Post #1 » by **Jay81** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 12:17 pm

Let's discuss our offseason and preseason which is now the same season here

daSwami · Post #2 » by **daSwami** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 4:04 pm

Let's!

Jay81 · Post #3 » by **Jay81** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 6:00 pm

i wonder what kind of shape the players will be in. I heard Tyreke Evans was 30 pounds overweight. With our medical staff, we could have record injuries this year.

From what I have seen

Wall,Nick,Javale, crawford were all pretty active this offseason playing games.

Illuminaire · Post #4 » by **Illuminaire** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 6:18 pm

I predict that Jan spent the entire summer making out with his girlfriend and will come into camp completely out of shape, except for his lip muscles, which could benchpress Andre Blatche.

doclinkin · Post #5 » by **doclinkin** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 2:36 am

At first glance a 66 game 'short' season suggests that older teams will have a better road to the playoffs. Thing is, the season is compressed, cramming a ton of back-to-backs (and worse) in there. Young teams with spry active puppies actually figure to do pretty well if they've stayed in shape. We'll be able to run some teams to ground on some nights with the uptempo energy.

We've got depth and redundancy in youth, which could help insulate the team from the inevitable injuries that follow a long lay-off with no access to facilities and trainers then a shortened training camp period (followed by a hectic schedule). I'd be more confident if we had a PHX style training team. On the other hand, restricted access to team docs -- with this team, that's probably a good thing...

It's unlikely Shards get amnestied to make room for the potential barrel of SF's on the roster. The team still needs to spend money to reach the minimum salary floor even with him on the roster [Bulletsforever], and I suspect Flip would be happy to retain him as our only outside shooting catch and shoot threat. (Apologies to Nick Young who still tries to dribble before his shot, thus doesn't count). I get the read that the players would have liked to retain Josh Howard as the veteran leader, but kinda doubt Ted goes that route. Youngsters need minutes.

I expect a helter skelter start to the season, and the Wiz to get a jump on some players who have been slacking. Accounts suggest JorCraw and Johnny Ballgame have been steady running hard all summer. If they can push it, we may see a few unexpected wins in trickles here and there. Defense is likely to be the most lax early and those games are the sort we are best optimized to win -- except that it runs counter to Flip's nature in general.

Either way it should be fun to watch how this mix of players works together. We have a number of too-similar players at some positions. Not enough true shooters. Insufficient rebounding. But length and energy and good attitude in most of our youngsters.

Free agency should be interesting. We're forced to be minor players even if we want to sit it out.
We need to add 2.1 million even if we inked all the D-leaguers to whom we tendered qualifying offers (unlikely, though I hope we retain Hamady).

doclinkin · Post #6 » by **doclinkin** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 2:56 am

The only free agent I'd be interested in, if all else were in a vacuum, would be Marc Gasol. But that would torpedo our certain plans to swap Rashard Lewis' amnesty-able contract with JaVale and a mess of draft picks to Orlando for Gilbert Arenas and a re-signed Dwight Howard.

No?

doclinkin · Post #7 » by **doclinkin** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 3:03 am

For discussion purposes. From bulletsforever:

TOTAL **** $47,199,334

* = Qualifying offer
** = Rookie salary scale. Chris Sheridan reported that the rookie salaries will stay the same as they were last year. Here's last year's scale.
*** = This was the salary of Armon Johnson, last year's 34th overall pick.
****=Add in the spare $1,125,874 for Mike Bibby's buyout.

The new agreement (or at least the one released to players before -- haven't seen any reported change in the current proposal) raises the team salary floor to 85 percent of the salary cap (it was at 75 percent) for the first two years, followed by 90 percent thereafter. The salary cap for this season will be identical to the cap for last year, with the only difference being that it's all pro-rated. Last year's salary cap was $58 million. Eighty-five percent of $58 million***** is ... $49.3 million*****.

doclinkin · Post #8 » by **doclinkin** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 3:19 am

If we dropped the ACL ruptured Jeffers, and Larry Owens, it looks like we'd have to spend about 4.1 million to sneak over the minimum. Though Nick Young's re-inked contract will probably some part (or all) , a of that up. Leastways Nick's agent will clearly have that going for him, a little leverage. I'd be interested to see which other teams have bottom-end issues and will be forced to swim up over the minimum tide level, be forced to enter free agency bidding just to meet the minimums. There might be a run on D-Leaguers given one-year auditions for minimal amounts just to meet that level. Low-end bidding wars.

Post #9 » by **nate33** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 5:23 am

doclinkin wrote:For discussion purposes. From bulletsforever:

Player name 2011/12 salary
1 Rashard Lewis $22,152,000
2 Andray Blatche $6,442,083
3 John Wall $5,530,080
4 Nick Young* $3,695,857
5 Jan Vesely** $2,554,200
6 JaVale McGee $2,462,399
7 Kevin Seraphin $1,680,360
8 Trevor Booker $1,294,920
9 Chris Singleton** $1,237,500
10 Jordan Crawford $1,120,440
11 Othyus Jeffers* $1,059,293
12 Hamady Ndiaye* $963,872
13 Larry Owens* $963,872
14 Shelvin Mack*** $473,604
TOTAL **** $47,199,334

* = Qualifying offer
** = Rookie salary scale. Chris Sheridan reported that the rookie salaries will stay the same as they were last year. Here's last year's scale.
*** = This was the salary of Armon Johnson, last year's 34th overall pick.
****=Add in the spare $1,125,874 for Mike Bibby's buyout.

The new agreement (or at least the one released to players before -- haven't seen any reported change in the current proposal) raises the team salary floor to 85 percent of the salary cap (it was at 75 percent) for the first two years, followed by 90 percent thereafter. The salary cap for this season will be identical to the cap for last year, with the only difference being that it's all pro-rated. Last year's salary cap was $58 million. Eighty-five percent of $58 million***** is ... $49.3 million*****.

The best move would be to front load Nick Young's (or Aaron Afflalo, if we decide we want him more) contract to the maximum extent possible. If we think he's worth 4 years, $20M, then pay him $13M this year and $2.3M in each of the next three years. Better yet, convince him that based on the time value of money, it would be fair to pay him just $2M a year in years 2, 3 and 4.

Post #10 » by **nate33** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 4:37 pm

doclinkin wrote:
It's unlikely Shards get amnestied to make room for the potential barrel of SF's on the roster. The team still needs to spend money to reach the minimum salary floor even with him on the roster [Bulletsforever], and I suspect Flip would be happy to retain him as our only outside shooting catch and shoot threat. (Apologies to Nick Young who still tries to dribble before his shot, thus doesn't count). I get the read that the players would have liked to retain Josh Howard as the veteran leader, but kinda doubt Ted goes that route. Youngsters need minutes.

The numbers appear to refute this observation:

bulletsforever wrote:Synergy breaks down the plays involving Nick Young on offense as follows:
Spot-up shooting = 263 plays (23.8%)
Off Screen plays = 233 plays (21.1%)
Isolation plays = 172 plays (16.2%)
Transition plays = 163 plays (14.8%)
P&R Ball Handler = 141 plays (12.8%)
P&R Roll Man = 3 plays (0.3%)
Post-Up plays = 28 plays (2.5%)
Hand off = 15 plays (1.4%)
Cuts = 19 plays (1.7%)
Offensive Rebounds = 12 plays (1.1%)
All other plays = 49 plays (4.4%)

As you can see, Spot up shooting, Screen plays, Iso's and Transition make up more than 75% of the offensive plays Nick was involved in. After watching all 1,105 plays, I was blown away by how efficient Nick was at spot-up shooting, especially 3-point spot ups. He shot 46% (69% TSP , or 1.38 points per play) from the 3-point line in spot up situations... and he hit 60% when he was wide open. ( I counted 62 instances where the opponent was too far away to get back to bother Nick when he shot - Nick drained 37 of those shots - a bunch of those shots were created by John Wall and Jordan Crawford). For comparison Ray Allen, the premier shooter in the League, shot 49% in spot up 3-point situations last year

dlts20 · Post #11 » by **dlts20** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 5:32 pm

7 day Dray will turn heads this year

hands11 · Post #12 » by **hands11** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 8:11 pm

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... %E2%80%A6/

This sounds about right.

Defense, run, finish, Nick scoring in bunches.

Several players who can close out the game with the ball in hand: Wall, Nick, Crawford and Dray.

They could surprise this year if things fall into place.

This is no longer a team with huge roster turn over or lack of talented depth.

What they lack is experience and established performers. And reliable perimeter shooting.

They are well positioned to have to make a leap and start to build an identity. This is stage 3 of a 5 stage rebuild.

Stage 1 - clear out players and contracts you dont want. Clean house.
Stage 2 - load up on drafted talent and accumulate your picks
Stage 3 - Gel with that new talent and build an identity.
Stage 4 - Make playoffs and add in FA to fill in the holes, make the big trade if needed.
Stage 5 - Add the last pieces to over the final hurdle.

7-Day Dray · Post #13 » by **7-Day Dray** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 3:21 am

dlts20 wrote:7 day Dray will turn heads this year

hands11 · Post #14 » by **hands11** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 3:04 pm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wiz ... _blog.html

They are practicing today so maybe we get some footage of Dray and Hamady to see what kind of shape they are in.

Interesting to see these guys running with Brendon Haywood. Looks like those channels are still open.

When all the house cleaning took place, Haywood was the one player I didnt want to see leave. I thought he was part of the core since he was a good defensive center.

dlts20 · Post #15 » by **dlts20** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 11:57 pm

who & when are we playing in the preseason? A home & home with Philly probably

hands11 · Post #16 » by **hands11** » Thu Dec 1, 2011 1:14 am

I'm getting pumped to see the boys balln again. I dont know if they will win anything but there isnt a team in the league that has better leapers, dunkers and blockers then the Wizards.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uielL9-h6LE&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YNXzwxrt2s[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLGFtWeeMGw&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfwWDjQBoQc[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blfoMX_faOg[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NGo8RO23tE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXr1ceIehbU[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSbMtFF2b7s&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]

Jay81 · Post #17 » by **Jay81** » Thu Dec 1, 2011 2:26 am

Im reallly afraid that we could be an 8 seed and completely destroy our chances of getting a lottery pick

B-easy · Post #18 » by **B-easy** » Thu Dec 1, 2011 2:52 am

I rather make the playoffs than be in the lottery. Winning should be of the highest priority.

tontoz · Post #19 » by **tontoz** » Thu Dec 1, 2011 3:39 am

Jay81 wrote:Im reallly afraid that we could be an 8 seed and completely destroy our chances of getting a lottery pick

This team was bad last year and lost several of its best players. get ready for a lot of bad basketball. Hopefully there will be some noticable individual improvement from the young guys but i am not expecting many wins.

GhostsOfGil · Post #20 » by **GhostsOfGil** » Thu Dec 1, 2011 4:01 am

tontoz wrote:
Jay81 wrote:Im reallly afraid that we could be an 8 seed and completely destroy our chances of getting a lottery pick

This team was bad last year and lost several of its best players. get ready for a lot of bad basketball. Hopefully there will be some noticable individual improvement from the young guys but i am not expecting many wins.

+1 ya i mean our 3 of our 5 starters had trouble winning in street ball games this summer