Wizards preseason thread...dec 9-dec 24

[dobrojim]

man, after watching those day 6 highlights I have only one word

champ-yun-ship

book it

oops, better change that color font. Someone might not realize
my seriousness or lack thereof

[Hoopalotta]

Mo Evans is be back with us according to Hoopsworld:

AlexKennedyNBA: Maurice Evans has agreed to a deal with the Washington Wizards, according to sources close to the situation.

[montestewart]

Mo Evans is be back with us according to Hoopsworld:

AlexKennedyNBA: Maurice Evans has agreed to a deal with the Washington Wizards, according to sources close to the situation.

That's 14 on the roster without Young (assuming N'Diaye's on it). Collins, Wilks, Owens all hoping Young bolts.

[Halcyon]

Watched day 7 highlights...McGee definitely showing off that hook shot in the block. Wall's catch and shoot jumper looks pretty good, nice lift, release is good and good form.

Really like what I'm seeing out of Mack, he's going to be a steady PG for us, who can make some big 3 pointers.

[B-easy]

Watched day 7 highlights...McGee definitely showing off that hook shot in the block. Wall's catch and shoot jumper looks pretty good, nice lift, release is good and good form.

Really like what I'm seeing out of Mack, he's going to be a steady PG for us, who can make some big 3 pointers.

Not that much lift and a little slow. Preseason games should tell us more.

[dobrojim]

josh howard will not be back according to this morning's Post

he's signing with UT

[hands11]

Sounds like Mack might have a better season than Jan.

In the thread a while back about which Wizards would surprise, I predicted Mack could be the best rookie.

The Butler Bulldogs went to consecutive Final Fours with and without Gordon Hayward. The two holdovers on both squads, Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack, are legit NBA prospects IMO. I like the Ernie Grunfeld selected a mature/winner draft pick with Mack.

As for Jan, I wouldn't be surprised if it takes him a long while to contribute, but he did win in Europe, too. I just don't like his horrific shooting and his lack of heft and bulk for the NBA game. He's not quite quick enough to beat SF's to a spot and he won't post PFs. He will be an over-the-top dunker who can pass well, but won't be great. It will take him a while, but I do like his approach to the game, just not his shooting skills or NBA-readiness.

Its going to be a hard call between Singleton and Mack. Minutes will matter. But Mack was a solid pick. In that last video he was nailing everything. Catch and shoot and he has a Wall connection. He looks really comfortable taking the shot.

It's looking less and less like there is even room for Nick on the team. And even if he comes back, he is going to be way behind meshing in. The bus has left the station.

It would suck to have him walk and get nothing for him though.

Had he signed earlier, the starting spot was his to lose. Not sure if that is the case anymore. And if he isn't starting here, he just lost his opportunity to sign a 1 yr and get paid as a UFA.

You swing for the fence, you either get a home run or you don't. Nick should have push for a 2 year contract at 5-6M and got into camp on time. His agent blow it.

[hands11]

And Finally they actually look like a team and you can kind of see the camaraderie building. Hopefully a good sign for the wiz kids.

Of course they didn't show many of the bad things but all the things I took away from the vid were improvements from before or signs that improvement will not be totally impossible.

I dunno maybe I'm being a homer but I'm looking forward to seeing them play on Friday

I think you're on point, REDardWIZskin. I have noticed the same things. I no longer think the question is "Are the Wizards going to improve?"

I have two main questions now, that are interrelated: First, "How much are the Wizards going to improve?" And, second, "How good of a coach is Flip Saunders?"

We shall see on both, because this group is altogether more cohesive, more mature, longer and better defensively because of Singleton and IMO Owens being there at the start of camp, and with McGee a bit bigger and Blatche in shape. Turiaf will defend and keep the intensity up as well. Booker is a year more experienced. This is a mentally and physically tougher team with guys like them and Shelvin Mack, who I do like a lot.

I think this season comes down to Flip's coaching. They should be much better.

CCJ

I have been telling you that for years. lol

All your dreams will come true this year though. This is the year your Flip bashing will have merit if there is anything to bash about.

The man finally has a team to coach. What Flip walked into and all the transitions that have happened during the seasons was an impossible situation for him. So many player came and went. And huge holes in the roster like no defensive centers. Terrible team culture of stupid. Given the crap he had been handed, I think he has done an admirable job so far. Sure there was some things he could have done better. The wetting our pants comment comes to mind. But no man is perfect. Specially when put in a terrible situation.

Now, he can be judged in a more conventional way. As is true of EG post Abe.

Given the GMs and coaches this team had in the past, I feel very lucky we have EG and Flip because I have lived through a lot worse.

The state of the franchise is strong. They have a sound owner, GM, coach and a good city to market. The front office is looking good and you need that first. Well, that is what we had first. Now we have a roster that has been transformed. It still will evolve over time but for where they are in the rebuild, this is exactly the type of roster you want. It is more of a hard hat team. It has a star in Wall. It has players with room to grow. It has a D stud. Some quality personality vets. And a project in Jan.

Now we see what you have. You gel. You raise the value of assets. Learn to play as a team. Learn to win. Then you pick which assets to keep and which bundle some for a trade.

I expect they will show good progress this year and Flip and EG will get extended 3 years.

How good will they be ? Really tough to tell for a team at this stage because there is very little that is established. It depends on how quickly they can mess. It depend on if they have enough to defend the paint. Center is still the biggest question.

If things break well for them, they have a break out year and finish around .500
If not, they simply show progress and finish about .350 to .400

I would be shocked if they don't at least win .350

[hands11]

Agreed. I think a reliable 15-17 foot jumper would be more important for McGee than a post game. He's always going to struggle to establish position in the post given his high center of gravity. His post game needs to be good enough so that he can abuse teams if they try to guard him with a smaller player, but I don't expect McGee to be a major low post option against legit starting centers with size and girth. Against those guys, I'd rather McGee take them out to the perimeter where he can work the pick-and-pop, pick-and-roll, and occasionally pump fake and drive to the rim. It'll also clear up the lane for Wall to penetrate.

All true but right now, the TEAM need post presence.

McGee should have added a 10 footer in the off season. Practicing his post game is what he should be doing now. I see he worked on it though. He has a left handed hook. He must have put in a lot of work to feel comfortable doing that in practice.

Once he shows he can do the primary things the team needs, then he will get wiggle room to show his other stuff. Rebounding should be his main focus. That and position D. No reason he shouldn't be grabbing 10 plus boards a game. That is how you establish yourself and get respect from teammates and coaches. If he does that, Wall will spoon feed him as a reward.

[pancakes3]

Anyone going to fanfest tomorrow?

http://info.washingtonwizards.com/forms ... VP12-05-11

[Zonkerbl]

Is McGee any bigger?

[Nivek]

McGee needed to run down to the post, stupid idiot. WHAT IS HE DOING STANDING NEXT TO WALL? GET IN THE POST YOU FRICKIN MORON!!!!! YOU ARE A CENTER NOT A GUARD!!! Can't tell from the clip but I bet McGee's man was also lollygagging down the floor and Wall saw that, and if McGee had run the floor he would have had a nice highlight alley-oop.

You've gotta run every time. Every time. Because it forces your man to follow you down the floor, meaning less pressure on the ball carrier. If you're a big, you've gotta get under the basket to clear out space at the top of the key. Clearly McGee wasn't thinking about setting a pick either because he was just standing there.

Not really defending McGee, just pointing out that the team's half-court sets often begin with the center at the top of the key. Then they start their play and he ends up moving into the paint. That doesn't excuse McGee -- just because the set starts there, it doesn't mean he should just jog that spot and stand. His first move in a transition situation should have been to run hard to the hoop, then try a flash-post in the lane. He'd have gotten great position. THEN, if he doesn't get the ball, move to the top for the offense to start. He gave up on the transition play.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Agreed. I think a reliable 15-17 foot jumper would be more important for McGee than a post game. He's always going to struggle to establish position in the post given his high center of gravity. His post game needs to be good enough so that he can abuse teams if they try to guard him with a smaller player, but I don't expect McGee to be a major low post option against legit starting centers with size and girth. Against those guys, I'd rather McGee take them out to the perimeter where he can work the pick-and-pop, pick-and-roll, and occasionally pump fake and drive to the rim. It'll also clear up the lane for Wall to penetrate.

All true but right now, the TEAM need post presence.

McGee should have added a 10 footer in the off season. Practicing his post game is what he should be doing now. I see he worked on it though. He has a left handed hook. He must have put in a lot of work to feel comfortable doing that in practice.

Once he shows he can do the primary things the team needs, then he will get wiggle room to show his other stuff. Rebounding should be his main focus. That and position D. No reason he shouldn't be grabbing 10 plus boards a game. That is how you establish yourself and get respect from teammates and coaches. If he does that, Wall will spoon feed him as a reward.

Coaching--bad coaching IMO is the reason Javale has not already exceeded 10 rebounds per game.

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

On the link go to Per-36 min stats and sort by rebounds. You will find Javale McGee had the highest rebound rate on the team. In the same time required for Blatche to get 8.7 rebounds, Javale got 10.4. Flip simply did not play him long enough.

Also, Javale averaged 13.1 points on 9.9 shots at .55% over that same time. (Blatche required 15.9 shots to score 17.8 on 44% shooting per-36)

Per-36 minutes Javale averaged 13 and 10 last season.

Problem is Javale did not play 36 minutes and Flip Saunders is directly responsible for IMO bad coaching.

[Zonkerbl]

Hm. But what if Flip yanked him when he was playing poorly? In which case, if Flip had left him in, Javale's stats would reflect how poorly he was playing.

Or Javale would have fouled out anyway, so who knows.

[Illuminaire]

Can we PLEASE all remember that Javale has had major conditioning issues AND he played more than 70% of other starting centers?

I'm getting sick of hearing the same arguments that just don't take reality into account.

[closg00]

Can we PLEASE all remember that Javale has had major conditioning issues AND he played more than 70% of other starting centers?

I'm getting sick of hearing the same arguments that just don't take reality into account.

+1 People forget or do not understand asthma.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Guys get less tired when they get an occasional touch on offense. Nothing revives a player better than scoring. Flip asked Javale not to shoot.

The single most egregiously wrong thing Flip did was to undervalue Javale McGee's contribute. Second, he overvalued Andray Blatche's. The excess minutes that Blatche and Yi got should have gone to McGee, Booker, and Seraphin.

The argument that Javale had to come out because he was tired had nothing to do with Yi's burn and Armstrong's burn last season.

I believe McGee could be all-world good this season and Flip Saunders will still play him less than 30 minutes per game.

[hands11]

Is McGee any bigger?

Taller ? I read last year he was 7-1 but they never updated anything on his profile.

[hands11]

Can we PLEASE all remember that Javale has had major conditioning issues AND he played more than 70% of other starting centers?

I'm getting sick of hearing the same arguments that just don't take reality into account.

+1 People forget or do not understand asthma.

+2 You can't just read the stats. That is only one piece of information. There are tons of other sources. Like our own eyes seeing how things played out with him. His jumping bean thing he did forever. His major brain farts. Flip was trying to coach the kid to do basics and he is a stubborn nut to crack. He had good games and he had good runs, but it wasn't like he was playing solid.

And it was Flip and crew that found his athletic asthma problem.

And bring Dray into the argument is pointless. He is a totally different person with his own set of circumstances.

I'm stating to think Flip owes CCJ money or something. CCJ, let go of the rock brother. You said before you would. Start fresh. Just see how things pain out this year and judge accordingly. You're cherry picking information and blaming it all on Flip. That isn't even close to fair.