"Game Thread" Rox at Wiz Game Thread 1/16/12 2pm

[montestewart]

He will run so hard trying for an alley oop on the fast break that it is a little hard to watch him walk back on D.

He's trying to cut down on his goaltends

[LyricalRico]

Yeah I had no problem with the dunk. Of course if he screwed it up and bobbled the pass or something resulting in a turnover that's a different story, but no way should he be benched for something like that. Just goes to show just how out of touch Flip is with this team.

I like how the facts get distorted on this board based on what people say in this forum. Flip did not bench McGee for the dunk. Flip said he was dissappointed by the dunk, but pulled McGee out for other reasons and not the dunk. The game bears this out as McGee was not pulled after the dunk but was pulled from the game later, after he made other mistakes, including not getting back on D. Flame Flip all you want for treating Blatche and McGee differently, for pulling in out of the game at all, etc, but at least flame him based on the correct facts.

I didn't see the game, so I won't be dogmatic about why McGee was benched. But I think some (or even most) are basing it on Flip's own quotes:

With the Wizards trailing by six points, Trevor Booker dived to save a loose ball to John Wall, who threw it ahead to McGee, all alone on the break. As he approached the foul line, McGee tossed an alley-oop pass off the glass to himself, slammed the ball with two hands, then tapped his forehead to salute the crowd as he ran down the court.

Coach Flip Saunders appeared agitated as he placed his hands on his waist and grimaced. Wizards assistant Randy Wittman looked up, put his hand on his head and rolled his eyes. And the Rockets responded by going on a 19-4 run that turned a close game into a laugher — and made a career-high scoring effort by Wall just another footnote for a 1-12 team that continues to build upon the worst start in franchise history.

“I told him that’s unacceptable,” Saunders said about McGee’s highlight dunk. “I mean, maybe I’m too old-school, but save that for the all-star game. Not during the game.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... sports_pop

Saunders later explained: “We’ve got to get to where those plays, you know we identify with meat and potato basketball, playing hard, setting screens, playing the right way and not highlight type things and we’ve been saying that many times. You know we have some players that look for highlights rather than substance.”

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

Now, he does say other things:

Saunders said the reason he benched McGee (eight points, 10 rebounds) was because “we weren’t playing good when he was on the floor, basically,” and not the dunk. “I think because he’s a freak athlete and I think what happens, some of the stuff he does he doesn’t even know he does it. That’s just his nature. He’s gotten better. It takes time. We pounded him for 21 / 2 years not to dribble the ball full court, you know we haven’t seen any this year, knock on wood.”

But since he focused so much on the dunk, what else are we supposed to think? Even if McGee wasn't pulled immediately after the dunk happened, it's like Flip is using it as a prime example of what's wrong with McGee's game. So I don't think you can view the dunk as something separate from the benching.

And based on that, I think I'm now leaning towards being unhappy with the dunk. If it had come from somebody like Booker, I would say that he's earned a SportsCenter clip. But McGee just doesn't get it, so for him I think it was a bad play.

[cwb3]

Flip Saunders has told McGee 1000 times NOT to dribble the ball up the court. . .so he didn't!

[dandridge 10]

Yeah I had no problem with the dunk. Of course if he screwed it up and bobbled the pass or something resulting in a turnover that's a different story, but no way should he be benched for something like that. Just goes to show just how out of touch Flip is with this team.

I like how the facts get distorted on this board based on what people say in this forum. Flip did not bench McGee for the dunk. Flip said he was dissappointed by the dunk, but pulled McGee out for other reasons and not the dunk. The game bears this out as McGee was not pulled after the dunk but was pulled from the game later, after he made other mistakes, including not getting back on D. Flame Flip all you want for treating Blatche and McGee differently, for pulling in out of the game at all, etc, but at least flame him based on the correct facts.

I didn't see the game, so I won't be dogmatic about why McGee was benched. But I think some (or even most) are basing it on Flip's own quotes:

With the Wizards trailing by six points, Trevor Booker dived to save a loose ball to John Wall, who threw it ahead to McGee, all alone on the break. As he approached the foul line, McGee tossed an alley-oop pass off the glass to himself, slammed the ball with two hands, then tapped his forehead to salute the crowd as he ran down the court.

Coach Flip Saunders appeared agitated as he placed his hands on his waist and grimaced. Wizards assistant Randy Wittman looked up, put his hand on his head and rolled his eyes. And the Rockets responded by going on a 19-4 run that turned a close game into a laugher — and made a career-high scoring effort by Wall just another footnote for a 1-12 team that continues to build upon the worst start in franchise history.

“I told him that’s unacceptable,” Saunders said about McGee’s highlight dunk. “I mean, maybe I’m too old-school, but save that for the all-star game. Not during the game.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... sports_pop

Saunders later explained: “We’ve got to get to where those plays, you know we identify with meat and potato basketball, playing hard, setting screens, playing the right way and not highlight type things and we’ve been saying that many times. You know we have some players that look for highlights rather than substance.”

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

Now, he does say other things:

Saunders said the reason he benched McGee (eight points, 10 rebounds) was because “we weren’t playing good when he was on the floor, basically,” and not the dunk. “I think because he’s a freak athlete and I think what happens, some of the stuff he does he doesn’t even know he does it. That’s just his nature. He’s gotten better. It takes time. We pounded him for 21 / 2 years not to dribble the ball full court, you know we haven’t seen any this year, knock on wood.”

But since he focused so much on the dunk, what else are we supposed to think? Even if McGee wasn't pulled immediately after the dunk happened, it's like Flip is using it as a prime example of what's wrong with McGee's game. So I don't think you can view the dunk as something separate from the benching.

And based on that, I think I'm now leaning towards being unhappy with the dunk. If it had come from somebody like Booker, I would say that he's earned a SportsCenter clip. But McGee just doesn't get it, so for him I think it was a bad play.

Perhaps Flip addressed the dunk so much is because the media asked him about it.

[Illuminaire]

Flip Saunders has told McGee 1000 times NOT to dribble the ball up the court. . .so he didn't!

ROFL!!!!

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

If I was Saunders I wouldn't have even waited until next deadball. I would have called a time-out and benched McGee for the rest of the game for that dunk. What a complete Busch-league move that was by McGee, it showed complete and utter lack of respect to a game he's so very priveleged to be able to play for a living. The funniest part about it was it was a completely lame dunk, like come the f*ck on McGee. Was he frustrated at the time? Who knows, but who really cares. Mcgee, you want to throw the ball off the backboard, atleast have a team with a .500 (still a Busch league move IMO if we were 13-0) record you chump. We are a horrible 1-12 because of this exact mentality.

[fishercob]

If I was Saunders I wouldn't have even waited until next deadball. I would have called a time-out and benched McGee for the rest of the game for that dunk. What a complete Busch-league move that was by McGee, it showed complete and utter lack of respect to a game he's so very priveleged to be able to play for a living. The funniest part about it was it was a completely lame dunk, like come the f*ck on McGee. Was he frustrated at the time? Who knows, but who really cares. Mcgee, you want to throw the ball off the backboard, atleast have a team with a .500 (still a Busch league move IMO if we were 13-0) record you chump. We are a horrible 1-12 because of this exact mentality.

Spare me.

[Illuminaire]

If we weren't overreacting to something, we wouldn't be Wizards fans. At least, that's how I justify the insanity.

[dangermouse]

What if he did a windmill? Does this discussion still happen?

Was he supposed to lay it in and then say "sorry, please forgive me" to the Rockets?

I'm perplexed by the amount of piss and vinegar people are excreting over this play.

Flip Saunders sounds like an old fuddy duddy.

McGee did that dunk with ease. There was no one around to even bother him. If he did that with 2 defenders chasing him down, different story.

The only thing i didnt like about it was how quickly he leaked out for it. Thats a gamble right there and I could understand if that is why he was benched. Otherwise, he threw it down and was quick to run back to get on D.

The guy is a highlight machine and he just wanted to put on a show. Sure, sometimes that trait works against his game, but really... there are about 20 other plays that night where McGee was doing something wrong, out of position on D, didnt rotate etc. etc.... And he gets benched for that.

I half expect Flip to start yelling "your name is TOBY!!!" when he pulls McGee sometimes.

[keynote]

What a complete Busch-league move that was by McGee

Well, he *does* have hops.

[Dat2U]

McGee's dunk wasn't ideal. It also probably points to the overall immaturity issue but I don't have a big problem with it. Especially since he made it and honestly, I don't think it was a terribly high risk move for him.

The bigger problem was out entire frontline being abused and embarrased by Samuel Dalembert in the 3rd quarter. That display was sickening and letting Dalembert go off like that was unacceptable. That pisses me off a lot more than a little bit of poorly timed showboating.

[nate33]

Yeah, the dunk thing doesn't bother me too much either. It was a close game and the team could use a little spark from the fans; and it was a fairly low risk shot for McGee. If the team was a .500 club, it wouldn't have been an issue at all. I understand why people are raising an eyebrow given that we're 1-11, but it's not like McGee has a lot of time to weigh the pros and cons as he sprinting out on a fast break.

I would put this way down on the list of McGee's deficiencies. I wouldn't care at all about the dunk if McGee would guard the pick and roll better.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

If McGee really wants to be a wise guy from now on he'll just lay the ball in every single basket. If I had his ability and wanted be bad a butt head I would never dunk again as long as Flip is coach.

[pancakes3]

go 5 games without dunking? a tall order for mcgee.

[BarnabyJones]

I half expect Flip to start yelling "your name is TOBY!!!" when he pulls McGee sometimes.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Now the national media is laughing at McGee. The dunking story is on Yahoo with a real disgusted looking Mcgee in the picture.

Comedy of errors
JaVale McGee's alley-oop to himself earned him a seat on the bench

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball- ... thuhW8vLYF

This year's version of the Washington Wizards is terrible. Not only have they slung their way toward the bottom of the NBA's pool, but the team also appears to be on pace for an NBA-worst won/loss percentage. Worse than even that (a historically bad record only guarantees a 25 percent chance at the top overall pick in the NBA draft), this squad has long been regarded by observers both strident and fanciful as the absolute dumbest team they've ever seen.

I am going to put this in the Flip Saunders thread, too.

[Zonkerbl]

Ok, now this is way over the top. Yes, it was showboating and is a pretty good example of what's wrong with McGee.

Does it deserve national attention? Should McGee, who's pretty much playing like a franchise center now, be let go because of it? Perspective, people.

[dobrojim]

The thing that really irritated me with McGee is how slow he was getting back on d. The Rockets had some easy fast breaks after dead balls because he was just walking back on d.

I did see some of that, not sure how many times. But there was also one time
when he fell, didn't get up immediately and Kareem Dalembert sprinted down
court and got an easy bucket. It happened to Booker too where Scola got an EZ
score where Booker hadn't even fallen.