Our Projected Depth Chart

[dobrojim]

+1 on that

I'd really don't want to see JC running the point right now.
I was WAY more optimistic on him last year. He was a chucker
then, but not of the quality/quantity that he's been this season.
And he actually got assists.

[hands11]

I know Flip said they'll "go the same way" (probably with the same results), but I'd like a lineup change.

Here's what I'd try for the next 5-6 games:

PG - Wall - Mack
SG - Young - Crawford
SF - Singleton - Lewis
PF - Booker - Blatche/Vesely
C - McGee - Blatche/Seraphin

I don't envy Flip. There is no worse feeling a coach can have than to know that you need to bench a guy, and then look down your roster and see there's no one better.

Exactly. But that is changing. They just need more games.

KS and Ves will be key to changing what you just said regarding the post options. And the return of Mo and Nick finding his shot will help at SG/SF. More options is HUGE when you have none.

This is why I am not really going overboard on grading Flip or EG at this point.

This is what I expected it to be at this point. No one know Ronny would get injured and there would be no Mo o Jes yet but you had to know something like that would happen in the short term. It was very unlikely that all options would be available and that everyone would hit the ground fixing everything that they needed to fix.

But Booker hitting a few from outside with decent form was really good to see. I hope he can keep that up. That would be huge for the team. The more he can do that, the move viable he is as an option and they need options. Eventually they will reach critical mass and you will look out there and see a team instead of pieces.

[hands11]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html



Everything I have been saying. And this is why I still have hope for this team.

They went from Wall and Gil last year to it being all about Wall and him being the captain. I think the kid had a bad introduction the NBA. He was given to much praise to early. And why not. What else did the fans have to get really excited about. This is in part why I hope Ves plays well. That will help take some attention away from Wall.

To much. To soon. But with few other options, some what understandable.

Then you had Dray and McGee's with a huge sense of entitlement. Again, bread from the teams lack of other options.

So now here we are. Exactly were I hoped that would get to.

No one is immune. No one has proven enough to be a on the floor for any amount of minutes and if they are removed from the game, shut up and deal with it. No one of these young players is the proven leader. I'm glad to see the vets standing up and taking over the leadership roles on this team. That is why they were brought here. They are hear to add stability on the court and groom these young players into being NBA player. All of them are better NBA players then any of the younger players and all the younger players have more upside. That is a good combination if the young players check there egos and learn from them.

Then they can move forward as a team.

Everyone needs to play their roles and check their egos. Wall, Dray, McGee, Crawford all need to do this. Every one of them. They need to play with in themselves and bring the right attitude. And it starts with Wall and Dray. Wall was the #1 and Dray is the longest tenured player and longest established big. Both of them need to be removed from leadership roles and replaced by the vets. If those four can get their heads right and one the same page, this team will be set up to finally turn the corner and grow together. The culture will finally change. Then they can earn any leadership roles they may end up with.

This is the reset I wanted to see happen. I hope it is. And if it only took six games, that is faster then I thought it would take so they are ahead of schedule.

With Ves and Mo hopefully available, this is the start of a new season for them if that meeting has the effect I hope it will.

[BanndNDC]

at this point i just want 1) one of mason/evans/singleton/vesely on the court at all times 2) blatche playing more at center (try and improve trade value) and in shorter bursts 3) crawford playing strictly as instant offense and 4) wall getting a few more rests. enofrcing some sort of style of play should be the primary goal. nobody besides wall, singleton and maybe mcgee/vesely are definite/probable long termers.

the one lineup id actually like is wall/mason(young)/singleton(evans)/vesely(lewis)/mcgee. it'll suck but might show potential and would theoretically be team oriented (stylistically). then we could have a tradebait backup unit of mack/crawford (young)/booker/blatche/seraphin to run crappy iso's and put up stats. play the frist group 28 and the second group 20. we're going to lose anyway so might as well do it with some purpose.

[LyricalRico]

the one lineup id actually like is wall/mason(young)/singleton(evans)/vesely(lewis)/mcgee. it'll suck but might show potential and would theoretically be team oriented (stylistically).

That's actually interesting, at least offensively.

McGee
Vesely
Evans
Mason
Wall

Mason and Evans are both decent enough spot up 3pt shooters that you have to account for them on the outside, creating lanes for Wall to drive and dish to Vesely and McGee. Vesely's mid-range shot should also help with spacing.

[crackhed]

singleton should start over lewis imo.

[doclinkin]

I liked the Singleton/Booker pairing out there. They shared time with Crawford I think, would have looked better with Nick, but they shored up and supplemented JaVale well, I can see this being an effective frontline, especially as CSing shows off that reliable 3-ball and figures out what else he can do on the offensive end.

[leswizards]

I know Flip said they'll "go the same way" (probably with the same results), but I'd like a lineup change.

Here's what I'd try for the next 5-6 games:

PG - Wall - Mack
SG - Young - Crawford
SF - Singleton - Lewis
PF - Booker - Blatche/Vesely
C - McGee - Blatche/Seraphin

I don't envy Flip. There is no worse feeling a coach can have than to know that you need to bench a guy, and then look down your roster and see there's no one better.

If they are gonna lose 66 games this season, they might as well lose them with the guys who are still viable assets and let those players use those 66 games as on the job training. I hope Flip goes with the line up you have suggested and give the minute break down roughly as:

Wall 36 mpg at pg.
Young 36 mpg at sg
Singleton 24 mpg at sf
Booker 36 mpg at pf
McGee 36 mpg at C

Crawford 12 mpg at pg and 12 mpg at sg
Vesely 24 mpg at sf
Seraphin 12 mpg at C and 12 mpg at PF

Everybody else can rot on the bench for all I care.

[LyricalRico]

^ I'd make some tweaks to that, leswizards. First, I don't think Seraphin should play PF. McGee's minutes should probably be in the 30-32 range, so that would still give Kev 16-18 mpg at C. Second, I would split the PF minutes evenly between Booker and Vesely so that both of them maintain their energy throughout the game. And then if Mo Evans is healthy, I'd have him backup Singleton.

[nate33]

I know Flip said they'll "go the same way" (probably with the same results), but I'd like a lineup change.

Here's what I'd try for the next 5-6 games:

PG - Wall - Mack
SG - Young - Crawford
SF - Singleton - Lewis
PF - Booker - Blatche/Vesely
C - McGee - Blatche/Seraphin

I don't envy Flip. There is no worse feeling a coach can have than to know that you need to bench a guy, and then look down your roster and see there's no one better.

That's the lineup I'd like to see too. Though I'm so down on Crawford that I might play Mason in his stead - at least when Wall is on the court. The idea is to make sure that there are plenty of catch-and-shoot players to make Wall's job easier. And on most nights, I'd probably leave Seraphin on the bench with Blatche getting the backup C minutes, so Vesely gets more PT at PF.

[Nivek]

I agree nate.

And I'd actually want to trade Blatche, then go get one of the D-League bigs who'd be willing to eat glass for a shot in the NBA. Let him fight it out with Vesely and Seraphin for playing tim.e

[closg00]

I know Flip said they'll "go the same way" (probably with the same results), but I'd like a lineup change.

Here's what I'd try for the next 5-6 games:

PG - Wall - Mack
SG - Young - Crawford
SF - Singleton - Lewis
PF - Booker - Blatche/Vesely
C - McGee - Blatche/Seraphin

I don't envy Flip. There is no worse feeling a coach can have than to know that you need to bench a guy, and then look down your roster and see there's no one better.

That's the lineup I'd like to see too. Though I'm so down on Crawford that I might play Mason in his stead - at least when Wall is on the court. The idea is to make sure that there are plenty of catch-and-shoot players to make Wall's job easier. And on most nights, I'd probably leave Seraphin on the bench with Blatche getting the backup C minutes, so Vesely gets more PT at PF.

+1 This^ is the line-up to go with, Blatche at reduced minutes helps him, and helps us. Role this line-up out depending on match-ups.

I hope the shooting coach is working with Booker though, this^ lineup essentially leaves us playing 1 on 5 with Young being the only shooter. Singleton, if he has time to spot-up, can hit some shots and he will improve, but he isn't scoring-threat.

[fishercob]

I liked the Singleton/Booker pairing out there. They shared time with Crawford I think, would have looked better with Nick, but they shored up and supplemented JaVale well, I can see this being an effective frontline, especially as CSing shows off that reliable 3-ball and figures out what else he can do on the offensive end.

Hi doc.

[hands11]

A line up change and the first win going against TOR.

Wall/Mack
Nick/Craw/Mason
Singleton/Lewis/Vesely
Booker/Dray/Vesely
McGee/Dray/Seraphin

DNP. Mason and KS

I'll admit, I didn't think Flip had the balls to pull this off but he talked with Dray and Dray is on board. True or not, they say Dray has a knee thing to go along with the shoulder we know about.

Flip is going to stick with this for a while because he want more scoring off the bench and Singleton and Booker bring great D hustle.

I said don't judge this team until at least 10 games. Well that is 9 down. Vesely finally got to play a full game and he is smart effective defender. The kind of player I said he would be. Glue and moral booster. Energy guy who makes the right plays. He will be a fan favorite and seems like he already is.

The path forward is 10 deep team ball. Defense, turnovers and scoring in the paint more.

If they keep that up, they can play well enough for players to develop which is what this team needs to do with these young guys.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

I'm actually liking the idea of moving Blatche to the backup center. I like his offensive game as a sub for McGee, and like the idea of playing him at center where he's forced inside more, can take advantage of his pick n pop ability and high post passing skills. I think it would also increase his trade value to promote him as a "center" and a "off the bench" contributor.

I like going with the forward rotation of Booker, Singleton, Vesely, Lewis.

I'm about done with Crawford. I like Young at SG, backed up by either Mason or Evans, with Mack backing up Wall.

Ulitmately, I'd like to deal Blatche/Crawford as a package in a trade.


McGee/Blatche
Booker/Vesely
Singleton/Lewis
Young/Evans(Mason)
Wall/Mack

That's what I'd be running with at least for now.

[pancakes3]

3 thoughts on lineups:

1 - while we do need shooters to help space the floor against wall, it's insignificant to what wall is doing to himself. young is a good shooter and singleton/lewis are decent shooters too. that's more than what rose has to work with in chicago. the reason wall can't drive to the basket easily is because his own shot is lacking and he doesn't pick his spots very well. he could be on the suns roster and the spacing will still not look very good.

2 - booker cannot play with seraphin. with those two at pf/c, our frontcourt loses too much size, speed, and defense. booker's got to play with either mcgee/blatche or else we're going to get crushed down low every time.

3 - i really dislike crawford but i think his shot selection can be helped if he moves to sg and mack runs backup point and controls where the ball goes. crawford plays decent with a 14 second shot clock but you can't trust him with the first 10 seconds. so i'm completely done with crawford trying to run point but i'm willing to tolerate a few more games of him as the backup 2-guard before calling for his head on a platter.

[hands11]

1st Win at home against TOR - W93-78

Wall/Mack
Nick/Craw/Mason
Singleton/Lewis/Vesely
Booker/Dray/Vesely
McGee/Dray/Seraphin

Well that didnt last long. now Dray is out so they went with

L78-64 against Chicago on the road

Wall/Mack
Nick/Craw/Mason
Singleton/Lewis
Booker/Vesely
McGee/Seraphin

DNP for Mason

The D still looked good but not so much the scoring. Franchise low in pts 64

Thats a 30 pts drop off in just 1 day.

[hands11]

No telling when Dray will return.

Wall/Mack - this seems to be the only thing that is established well in the rotations.
Nick/Craw/Mason
Singleton/Lewis/Mo Evans
Booker/Lewis/Vesely
McGee/Seraphin

[montestewart]

Now, old lady, you have one last chance. Confess the heinous sin of heresy, reject the works of the ungodly, two last chances. And you shall be free, three last chances.

[hands11]

I think it is time to make yet another change. Put Crawford back in the starting line up. At least he rebounds and has fight in him. Nick seems in a mental slump and I think I am ready to let him go longer term. I had hopes for him this year but he just doesn't seem to have head and heart I want.

They also need to get Mo out there more. Let him back up SF. And they need to get Mason hitting. He is there only quick shooting 3 point shooter that can catch and shoot ala Korver light. They have to get more from Mo and Mason while KS is getting up to speed and Singleton and Booker settle in as starters. Vesely will be here for a while so they can bring him along with 10 minutes a game for now while he gets his big toe wet. To many young players out there already to force to many minutes on him.

I would go with.

Wall/Mack
Craw/Nick/Mason
Singleton/Mo Evans
Booker/Lewis/Vesely
McGee/Seraphin