GT: Irving at Wall an The Return Of The Great One 3/3 7pm

[McGully Culkin]

I love Wall's game, but the fastest player in NBA HISTORY????? What? It's debatable that he's even the fastest guy out of current NBA players (Rose, Lawson, Barbosa, and pre-injury TJ Ford come to mind). Chill. LOL.

rose does not have the pure end to end speed wall has. barbosa in his prime is the only one of the names you listed comparable to wall.

If this is what you honestly think, you need to watch more Bulls/Nuggets games. You're a prisoner of the moment. Wall is dumb fast, but I don't see how you can put him over any of the names I mentioned.

[7-Day Dray]

Wall is faster than Rose by a hint. He has a longer stride. But him and Lawson are neck-&-neck.

[hands11]

Props to Randy for starting to turn this thing around. I can see the difference. They are starting to learn how to run this screen offense a lot tighter.

Now it helps that Wall is finally truly arriving. He is now hitting outside shots, changing speeds, finishing better and trusting his teammates more. Since that is happening under Randy, maybe he deserves some credit.

And getting Mo and Mason in is really helping a lot. On a team that desperately lacked smarts and experience, these two are what the doctor ordered. I am kind of shocked that Mason magically found his game. He looked finished.

Think about what Randy has done in his short time.

He got Nick out of the starting line up for Crawford. A little late in doing it but ok.
He had Dray coming off the bench. Then he was injured.
He got Booker into the starting line up. He even put him at center some.
He put Ves at center several times.
He move Singleton to PF some.
He benched McGee for a game even though KS was his only option. I guess he could have went Ves
He simplified the offense and started running a more PnRs

Randy has not sucked as a HC.

Next move is on EG. Nick has to go. I would take a 2nd round pick at this point. Just get him out of here.

[closg00]

Obviously Dray has been reading these boards, or got the message from Witt to stop hoisting shots. Dray only attempted 3 shots last night.

[sashae]

Confetti??? Just when you thought the franchise couldn't get any more embarassing..

[closg00]

Confetti??? Just when you thought the franchise couldn't get any more embarassing..

+1 More loserdom

[tontoz]

Strange to see Blatche in a game clearly not looking to score. I don't remember him dribbling between his legs once. That has to be a first.

Plus he got 9 rebounds and 5 assists in 21 minutes. If he can continue to avoid shot jacking then he might actually be tradeable.

Booker was clearly frustrated on both ends. I think this is probably his first time going extended minutes against Jamison. AJ was beasting. Plus Booker missed some easy looks inside.

In the second half Irving seemed like he was getting in the lane too easily and some of his shots inside weren't even being contested.

Crawford is a mindless chucker no doubt but he is starting to make spot up 3s. If he can do that his value goes up a lot. On the season he is shooting 31.4% from 3 which is weak but when you consider how bad he started the season and how many of his shots are chucks there may be reason for optimism. He is shooting 42% for the season on long 2s.

[pancakes3]

I love Wall's game, but the fastest player in NBA HISTORY????? What? It's debatable that he's even the fastest guy out of current NBA players (Rose, Lawson, Barbosa, and pre-injury TJ Ford come to mind). Chill. LOL.

rose does not have the pure end to end speed wall has. barbosa in his prime is the only one of the names you listed comparable to wall.

If this is what you honestly think, you need to watch more Bulls/Nuggets games. You're a prisoner of the moment. Wall is dumb fast, but I don't see how you can put him over any of the names I mentioned.

the differences between the fastest guys in the league would be measured in hundredth of seconds. even at a dead sprint over 90 feet that would work out to be ~3-4 inches per hundredth of a second. with a ball, that gets knocked down to 2-3 inches. a full tenth of a second slower would only result in one guy being 2-3 feet behind. for someone to be a full stride behind, they'd have to be 2-3 tenths of a second slower - the average human reaction time. i could watch a million bulls/nuggets games and still not know if lawson/rose is faster than wall or vice versa.

[DCZards]

Crawford is a mindless chucker no doubt but he is starting to make spot up 3s. If he can do that his value goes up a lot. On the season he is shooting 31.4% from 3 which is weak but when you consider how bad he started the season and how many of his shots are chucks there may be reason for optimism. He is shooting 42% for the season on long 2s.

We on this board spend a lot of time bashing Crawford (and rightfully so), calling his recent play "fool's gold". But the kid has indeed been playing and shooting well the last couple of weeks and deserves some props for that.

Over the last five games, Jordan is shootng 56% from the field, 47% from 3-pt. range, and averaging 24 pts. Not bad for a chucker.

I agree with those who say that Jordan is too often a mindless chucker, but I disagree with those who don't think he can be an important piece of the Zards future. While maybe not your ideal starting SG, I think Crawford is a keeper...if only as instant offense off the pine.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

^Said the exact same thing a couple weeks ago, he's also an underated passer.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Crawford is a mindless chucker no doubt but he is starting to make spot up 3s. If he can do that his value goes up a lot. On the season he is shooting 31.4% from 3 which is weak but when you consider how bad he started the season and how many of his shots are chucks there may be reason for optimism. He is shooting 42% for the season on long 2s.

We on this board spend a lot of time bashing Crawford (and rightfully so), calling his recent play "fool's gold". But the kid has indeed been playing and shooting well the last couple of weeks and deserves some props for that.

I agree with those who say that Jordan is too often a mindless chucker, but I disagree with those who don't think he can be an important piece of the Zards future. While maybe not your ideal starting SG, I think Crawford is a keeper...if only as instant offense off the pine.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... lits/2012/

As a starter 4 games, here is Jordan's line: 16.3 points per game (.466FG), 2.5 assists, 2.8 rebounds in 28.1 minutes. That is getting it done in a big way.

Since the all star break (3 games): 22.7 points (.510 FG. .476 3PT), 3.0 assists, 3.3 rebounds in 30.6 minutes. (Call him prime Joe Dumars, only shooting better.)

Around the very same time Wall got it going, so did Crawford. Again, I have to think Coach Wittman's emphasis and plays are helping. Crawford went from 10 points a game and crappy shooting in January, to 15 points a game and passable shooting in February. He's trending toward way better and better.

DCZ, he's chucking and that's why I call him fool's gold. However, if he keeps this up all March (or something better than 43%FG) I'm going to have to recant and reevaluate, just as I have with Wall. Crawford is another second-year player who can certainly be improving, just like John Wall. I just will believe Jordan can keep this up when I see it. One thing he is, is an underrated passer, as noted above. Crawford is so much better passing the ball than Nick that I don't foresee Nick ever starting at SG again unless Jordan's shot goes stone cold.

By all means he can be a quality sub. Right now, Jordan Crawford is playing like a starting SG and a good one at that. JC is the hottest player add in fantasy waiver wires right now. That is what I think is fool's gold, for now.

[tontoz]

The ability to make jumpers is a key issue for a shooting guard, especially one playing next to Wall. Last year Crawford's jumper sucked even when he had big games.

So far this season he is shooting 43.6% from 10-15 feet and 42% from 16-23 feet. Those are decent numbers.

[hands11]

opps

[hands11]

Confetti??? Just when you thought the franchise couldn't get any more embarassing..

I fail to see the problem with this. Actually, I like the idea.

Why not make winning a celebration. Make it fun for the players and the fans.

I like it. Good move. Start to change the atmosphere. That said, it will be a little weird if they can't win at least every 1 in 3 games. It would seems a little weird if they keep it up and only win every
1 in 6.

[fishercob]

i went last night. Fun game, but yeah, WTF with the streamers.

I'm pretty much done with McGee. Maybe there's an alternate universe where he could have been successful here -- if he had joined a team with strong-willed veterans with great habits who would held him accountable. But I doubt it. The 12 boards and 4 blocks are fools gold IMO. Of much greater impact was his (continued) terrible pick and roll defense and his refusal to value possessions on offense. dandridge and others are right, though. His biggest failing is his inabilty/refusal to see himself for what he really is. If he just understood his limitations and played within himself, he'd be so much more useful.

Vesely on the other hand is fun to watch. That one dunk was insane. The alley oop was shocking. Both were "I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT" moments. Historical comparisons would seem to indicate that he's never going to amount to much. But man, if that guy takes a coulpe of weeks off after the season, and then comes back to DC and spends all day every day eating, lifting, training, and shooting, maybe just maybe he can turn into a player. It's really all about his desire. If he's maniacal about his traning, there's a chance for him. Hell, if he can just improve his strength (in his hands so he can hold on to all those rebounds that get stripped) and so he can hold better position down low, he'll probably end up a better defensive center than Vale.

I loved the Wall-Irving matchup. Those guys are going to be great ones for the next decade. They should have some great battles. Kyrie is the truth. You can see how he's benefited playing with shooters (and how much they missed Varajeo, who is both a great defender and a solid dive man in the pick and roll game).

Booker really struggled, but again he fought through it. I really appreciated that. The guy has no give up in him.

Great shooting night by Crawford, and a great many bad shots. Just goes to show that this Wizards team as constructed usually needs an uncharacteristically hot night from Young or Crawford to win. We just get so little from the front line.

Anyhow, nice to win.

[MD's Finest]

I have seen the confettie thing at a few NBA games this year and thought it was weird. It definitely threw me off when I saw it happen in the highlihgts yesterday. I am whatever on this for the most part unless its gets any negative national pub but since I can distinctly remeber this happenign at other NBA arenas it might just be things some teams are doing now. It does make me a bit uneasy though.

My opinion on Crawford goes up and down so often I cant tell how I really feel about the guy. In his current form he definitely is showing the ability, I do think his best role is a bench scorer they need to start reighning him in and dont give him the green light so often and get him to scale down his overdriblling moments but I think the ability to be a shooter/scorer of the bench is there. If he can maintain a decent level the rest of the season i would like to see what he can do in year 3, hopefully backing up a true starting SG.

[fishercob]

Couple quick things. On the streamers: I now seem to remember that Phoenix shot them off after they beat our lowly Wizards a couple of weeks ago, so it may be some stupid league wide thing.

Also, it struck me as somewhat conspicuous that there was no formal acknowledgement of Jamison. I had heard that things were somewhat icy between he and Ted when Jamison asked out. Ted also seems to make policy of only talking about his own guys and once you're no longer a Cap/Wizard you're not worth the pixels. I'm not passing judgement on this (but am glad Jamison didn't get treated as some conquering hero returning home). It just stuck out to me a bit.

[DCZards]

Also, it struck me as somewhat conspicuous that there was no formal acknowledgement of Jamison. I had heard that things were somewhat icy between he and Ted when Jamison asked out. Ted also seems to make policy of only talking about his own guys and once you're no longer a Cap/Wizard you're not worth the pixels. I'm not passing judgement on this (but am glad Jamison didn't get treated as some conquering hero returning home). It just stuck out to me a bit.

I went to the Cavs game (my first Zards game of the season) for two reasons: to see the Wall-Irving matchup and to salute Jamison. I really wasn't expecting any formal acknowledgement of Jamison, only a decent round of applause when he was introduced, which is what he got.