Predict the Wizards' record in 2011-2012

[7-Day Dray]

I absolutely agree with closg. Flip HAS to go. His offense is too half-court, mechanical, and slow-paced for this roster.

[tontoz]

What exactly are this team's strengths on offense?

Basically, Flips offense needs to be ditched. The team had more success running instead of running down and setting-up the half-court.

Wall & Crawford are awful together, things opened-up for the Wiz when Crawford led the attack last year or when Wall did not have Crawford as a side-kick (missing Young there)

Brand was picking up quick fouls the few times someone tried posting him up. Post-play for both McGee & Seraphin should be encouraged when the match-ups favor us, (it will improve).

Why is Turiaf getting playing-time ahead of Hamady? Hawes nearly had a double-double. Hamady at-least is a scrappy defender and we did keep him for a reason no? Test Hamady.

I don't ever want to see another minute of Shard Lewis, I'd rather see Ves & SIngleton get all of those minutes...they might even be able to shoot better than Lewis.

Again, the roster with it's limitations could achieve a Philly-style turnaround with the right coach and new mix of players IMO. We have no-where to go but up after last night.

Let's try this again. What exactly are this teams strengths that need to be utilized?

Running? The league leader in fast break points had 18.8 fast break points last year, only 2.3 ppg more than the Wizards.

http://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/fa ... s-per-game

[tontoz]

dribble penetration, fast break, whenever blatche decides to play inside, and on occasion the pick and roll.

How are you going to drive in the half court with the defense packed inside daring you to shoot?

The Wizards were 4th in the NBA in fast break points last year. Not a lot of room for improvement there.

Blatche a strength? I rest my case.

[Nivek]

Plus, to be a running team, you need to stop someone once in awhile. It's tougher to fast-break when you're pulling the ball out of the basket.

[80sballboy]

You guys are hilarious. Running team? Who do you want as coach, Paul Westhead? With the way this season is going to go, 66 games, 7 games in 9 nights or whatever. they need to play halfcourt. If you want to run, then you will have to trap and prass and use about 12 players each night. That ain't happening.

Last night was an absolute disaster but didn't show what this team is capable of, other than the same old Javale long hook shots and scoop shots. Crawford can make those same shots and Wall looked like he was in a daze (I know he usually does). Nick Young's agent is an idiot. This guy won't get here until late next week unless another team wants him for $9M. I'm thinking about 25-37. Still a ways to go with EG on his way out. So many missed open shots last night that a lot of these guys can make. Maybe their legs were shot, I don't know. But I do know that this team isn't nearly as bad as they showed and we missed Nick more than I thought we would.

[LyricalRico]

Put me down for 10-56. This is going to be a long season. Wake me up when somebody gets traded.

[fishercob]

What exactly are this team's strengths on offense?

Basically, Flips offense needs to be ditched. The team had more success running instead of running down and setting-up the half-court.

Dude, the Wizards' problems are hardly schematic. What part of Flip's offense is Jordan Crawford taking a pull-up 23-footer with 20 seconds on the shot clock?

Why is Turiaf getting playing-time ahead of Hamady? Hawes nearly had a double-double. Hamady at-least is a scrappy defender and we did keep him for a reason no? Test Hamady.

Holy god. We're at this already? I want you to walk over to the mirror, look in it and recite the following: "Hamady N'Diaye stinks." The go write it down 100 times for good measure. He may be a nice guy with a great attitude, but his is a complete CFP.

Again, the roster with it's limitations could achieve a Philly-style turnaround with the right coach and new mix of players IMO. We have no-where to go but up after last night.

Wall may be better than Jrue Holiday. Sure didn't look like it last night. WHo on our roster is as good as Iguodala? Brand? Thad Young? Not to mention the combo of Meeks, Hawes, Speights, and Lou WIlliams is better than any combo of role players we have. Big talent gap.

[tontoz]

Dude, the Wizards' problems are hardly schematic. What part of Flip's offense is Jordan Crawford taking a pull-up 23-footer with 20 seconds on the shot clock?

The game was such a mess that i forgot about that. I was like W T F when he took that shot.

[hands11]

You guys are hilarious. Running team? Who do you want as coach, Paul Westhead? With the way this season is going to go, 66 games, 7 games in 9 nights or whatever. they need to play halfcourt. If you want to run, then you will have to trap and prass and use about 12 players each night. That ain't happening.

Last night was an absolute disaster but didn't show what this team is capable of, other than the same old Javale long hook shots and scoop shots. Crawford can make those same shots and Wall looked like he was in a daze (I know he usually does). Nick Young's agent is an idiot. This guy won't get here until late next week unless another team wants him for $9M. I'm thinking about 25-37. Still a ways to go with EG on his way out. So many missed open shots last night that a lot of these guys can make. Maybe their legs were shot, I don't know. But I do know that this team isn't nearly as bad as they showed and we missed Nick more than I thought we would.

This was the one player I said they could not lose to injury. That assumed he was here.

They have a decision to make. If they want to tank in a short season, don't sign Nick if he gets another offer. If they are going to bring him here, it has to be for at least two years. It wouldn't be worth the added wins to have him here one year if you are going to lose him and get nothing.

Well, I guess that could even be debatable. Winning does have value but so does a higher draft pick. I like the intangibles of winning so hopefully they sign him to two or three years for 5-6.5M

[DaRealHibachi]

This team is not as bad as we saw Friday, but there's no way we win allot of games with this uncoordinated bunch...

19-47

[pancakes3]

dribble penetration, fast break, whenever blatche decides to play inside, and on occasion the pick and roll.

How are you going to drive in the half court with the defense packed inside daring you to shoot?

The Wizards were 4th in the NBA in fast break points last year. Not a lot of room for improvement there.

Blatche a strength? I rest my case.

1 - there are ways to beat a packed paint without shooting. you can attack open space - "gaps", draw defenders, leaving open lanes down the middle or baseline. nash, paul, and rondo do this all the time.

2 - a packed paint means requires ALL the defenders to get back, especially the PF and C. Javale and Blatche should have been beating hawes and brand down the court on the regs. instead, we were pretty slow in our counter-attacks and sloppy in our half-court execution.

3 - i said we should play to our strengths, not saying what areas of the game we can improve. we can/were a very good fast break team but we didn't show that in the preseason game.

4 - blatche has repeatedly shown that he's a smooth operator down low. his touch around the basket is underratedly refined. the problem is that he insists on jacking up jumpers and there doesn't seem to be any coaching to deter him otherwise. last night at the open practice blatche was the one feeding passes to shard down low, and AB took about 5 3's (made 4). granted these are just exhibitions but there doesn't seem to be any initiative in forcing blatche to become a low post scorer. if he leaves us after his contract is up and then transforms himself into the next zach randolph i wouldn't bat an eye.

5 - pick and rolls. nobody on this board can tell me that we run enough pick and rolls. our 3 bigs: lewis, blatche, and mcgee are all PERFECT for pnr execution. lewis can run the pick/pop all day. blatche can do both depending on the matchup at PF. mcgee can convert at the rim better than just about anyone in the league. that's the playbook right there. pick and roll the hell out of the league while getting 50ppg out of those 3.

it's been said by many coaches that the pick and roll is the perfect basketball play. virtually impossible to stop if executed correctly and yet we refuse to execute it correctly - if at all.

[tontoz]

1 - there are ways to beat a packed paint without shooting. you can attack open space - "gaps", draw defenders, leaving open lanes down the middle or baseline. nash, paul, and rondo do this all the time.

Paul and Nash can both shoot. Nash is one of the best shooters in NBA history and is surrounded by shooters. Rondo plays with Pierce and Ray Allen, the leagues all time leader in 3s. That is why there are open lanes to attack.

i said we should play to our strengths, not saying what areas of the game we can improve. we can/were a very good fast break team but we didn't show that in the preseason game.

This team is already a strong fast break team. They have already proven that over the course of last season. One preseason game doesn't change that.

Are you saying that Flip's system should be abandoned because of one preseason game? You said "None of our rosters strengths are utilized " even though they were 4th in the league in fast break points last year.

4 - blatche has repeatedly shown that he's a smooth operator down low. his touch around the basket is underratedly refined. the problem is that he insists on jacking up jumpers and there doesn't seem to be any coaching to deter him otherwise

In order for Blatche to be effective down low he has to establish low post position consistently which takes strength and effort on his part, not something he is known for. There also has to be good spacing around him to allow him room to operate. The lack of shooting hurts the spacing. Plus Blatche needs to make good decisions when he gets the ball, again not a strength.

You can say Blatche could be effective if this or if that. I say if a doughnut didn't have a hole it would be a danish. Blatche is what he is. He isn't suddenly going to get smarter or stronger.

Running pick and rolls effectively requires guys who actually set good picks and make good decisions on the fly. Again not a strength of our players.

[CaPtaiN eYeSaNo]

26-40

[hands11]

23-43

[sashae]

12-54. Worst team in the league. Wake me up for the draft (or when the Wall-to-the-Knicks rumors start.)

[no D in Hibachi]

12-54. The only starter from 2011 to return in 2012 will be Wall. See ya Blatche, Lewis, McGee, Young.

[pancakes3]

Paul and Nash can both shoot. Nash is one of the best shooters in NBA history and is surrounded by shooters. Rondo plays with Pierce and Ray Allen, the leagues all time leader in 3s. That is why there are open lanes to attack.

there are lanes to attack because the defenders aren't lining up in a red-rover line. you don't drive to the basket, you just drive to the space in between defenders and force a double-team. parker, rose, and wade do this as well. seriously, you've never seen nash drive to the basket, then seemingly abort and go back out to the perimeter, only to feed a cutter while the defense is caught between chasing nash or maintaining the defensive shape?

This team is already a strong fast break team. They have already proven that over the course of last season. One preseason game doesn't change that.

:/ people said that our offensive philosophy in the scrimmage didn't look like it was highlighting our strengths. you asked what our strengths were. i told you. now you're saying... i know they're our strengths, but you're still wrong?

Are you saying that Flip's system should be abandoned because of one preseason game? You said "None of our rosters strengths are utilized " even though they were 4th in the league in fast break points last year.

in that particular preseason game, no. and flip's system is a lead-guard dependent system where wall would attack the defense and then made decisions based on how they responded. we were NOT running that system. we were running a motion offense that was closer to Eddie Jordan's philosophy as the perimeter players looked for openings up top while others were cutting baseline.

In order for Blatche to be effective down low he has to establish low post position consistently which takes strength and effort on his part, not something he is known for. There also has to be good spacing around him to allow him room to operate. The lack of shooting hurts the spacing. Plus Blatche needs to make good decisions when he gets the ball, again not a strength.

You can say Blatche could be effective if this or if that. I say if a doughnut didn't have a hole it would be a danish. Blatche is what he is. He isn't suddenly going to get smarter or stronger.

i'm not saying blatche could be effective, i'm saying he has been effective. analogously i'm only calling that danish a donut because 2 days out of 5 that danish has a hole in it and damnit i'm not crazy.

Running pick and rolls effectively requires guys who actually set good picks and make good decisions on the fly. Again not a strength of our players.

setting good picks and knowing what to do with the ball are all MINOR issues. it's not asking our players to run faster, jump higher, or shoot better. i just want the big guy to stand in the way of the other big guy, and i want the small guy to get around that collision faster than the other small guy. it's literally the easiest play in basketball. schoolchildren execute it. the entire play is almost intuitive. making excuses for professional players to not be able to run it is just laughable. it's like saying 5 yard slants and 3 yard outs aren't part of a football player's strengths. it's a gosh-darn prerequisite if you're going to play in the league.

[WizBiz]

17-49

[Zonkerbl]

I forgot there were only 66 games. I'll change my prediction from 23 games to 14.

[fishercob]

24-42 -- a 30 win pace in a 82 game season.