Wiz at Cleveland 7:00 PM Tuesday Oct 30th

[nuposse04]

this is one of the few games in the first 30 days that I do find very winnable. Kyrie is the only guy they have that scares me. Double him and force another cavs player to make a play to beat us. I doubt Waiters is primetime yet. Whats the word on thompson, is he living up to his top 5 pick billing?

[closg00]

Nene, who was originally listed as "out" for the season opener on Wednesday, has been upgraded to a game-time decision.

Nene won't start, but it's a sign of encouragement that he's been upgraded as he's dealing with the dreaded plantar fasciitis. His foot problems will likely last throughout the year as he's been dealing with the plantar fasciitis since last season, and we'd recommend letting another owner draft Nene considering his uncertain long-term outlook.

Wsh. could give a look at Shaun Livingston to backup John Wall.

From a PR standpoint, it is better to list Nene as "game-time decision". I'd be very surprised if he played tonight, I don't believe Nene has even started full work-outs yet correct?

[MikeTheKid]

Hopefully since Ariza is starting its like what OKC did with Sefalosha and Harden and Ariza starts 5 mins and Webster plays a good chunk of mins

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

With 3 of our best 5 players out (Seraphin, Nene, Wall) this game to most looks like a rout, but I'm expecting a close game nonetheless. I expect Booker and Crawford to have a good nights, so if we can get decent contributions from a couple other players, maybe we can steal one. It would great to see some wins in the infancy of the season, this team needs to have the confidence to know they can win games early on. Cheers to a new season, an surpassing the boards macabre outlook on the season.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Just in, Wizards starters for tonight:

Price, Beal, Ariza, Booker, Okafor

Good Lord why is Ariza starting? I suspect it's for show and that he will be subbed-out early. Crawful will be 6th man.
I think I need to go-back and lop-off a few wins from my 33 win projection.

If the contracts were reversed, I'm certain Webster would be starting and Ariza, if he played, would be coming off the bench.

As things are, as I posted in the depth chart thread I see this as not the worst thing. Keep Ariza's minutes and stats up, and, hopefully, he becomes more tradeable. From a practical standpoint, Webster can supply energy and scoring off the bench, and he can finish games.

Two things I would love to see is Crawford start the season on a hot streak and Ariza to find enough of a stroke for both players to raise their trade value.

[TheBigThree]

Starting lineups are a formality. I'd be willing to bet we see a pretty even distribution tonight between Beal and JC and Ariza and Webster (foul issues permitting). I expect it to be this way at least for a while until these guys distinguish themselves.

[montestewart]

Starting lineups are a formality. I'd be willing to bet we see a pretty even distribution tonight between Beal and JC and Ariza and Webster (foul issues permitting). I expect it to be this way at least for a while until these guys distinguish themselves.

Singleton the odd man out, or does he just get more PF minutes for now?

[Halcyon]

I'm looking forward to Beal's first official game. Other than that, not sure what else we can look forward to...maybe Okafor + Ariza upping their trade value?

[bryanwithawhy]

I am playing in a daily fantasy basketball league, and I need to fill out a roster. Can you guys give me an idea on how the minutes will be distributed at each position?

I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

[SunsRback4Good]

Are you guys happy with Nene and will he be a huge contributor this season?

[payitforward]

Why is Ariza starting, you ask?

Because Ernie Grunfield traded for him and is paying him $7m+ this season.

If Webster, Booker, Singleton and Price were to play 30 minutes each tonight at the level they played in pre-season it would be almost impossible for us to lose (unless Crawford also played 30 minutes, and even then he might find this a harder game to throw away than usual).

Of course, we need to keep in mind that Price shot 52% from 3 point range (13-25). That's not sustainable. But still... for tonight... it would be nice.

[dandridge 10]

Starting lineups are a formality. I'd be willing to bet we see a pretty even distribution tonight between Beal and JC and Ariza and Webster (foul issues permitting). I expect it to be this way at least for a while until these guys distinguish themselves.

I typically think that starting lineups are a formality. However, I am irked by Ariza getting the starting nod here. Under Wittman, I expected more accountability and that the starting job would be rewarded to the person that won it. Here, Webster clearly won the starting position at the 3 spot. Giving Ariza the nod as a starter makes it appear as "same ol, same ol" Wizards. At least he made the right decision on the other positions.

BTW, I was getting real worried I was going to miss tonights game. Power was out all night and most of the day today. I told my wife that I was going to find a bar to watch the game and she freaked out that I was going to leave her and my son alone in the dark. I was even ready to get us a hotel for tonight just so I could watch the game, but luckily the power just came back on about an hour ago!

[dobrojim]

+1 Bobby

our power just came back a half hour ago and I was really in a pickle with today
being my older daughter's BD and her probably not interested in going to a sports
bar/restaurant and my wife clearly not interested in that. Now I can go out and
the DVR will handle things.

+1 on your Ariza comments as well. I'm hoping he'll be on a short leash and
not see the floor much if he sucks as bad as he did thru the preseason.
I liked much of what I saw out of CSing in preseason.

[dobrojim]

Starting lineups are a formality. I'd be willing to bet we see a pretty even distribution tonight between Beal and JC and Ariza and Webster (foul issues permitting). I expect it to be this way at least for a while until these guys distinguish themselves.

Singleton the odd man out, or does he just get more PF minutes for now?

good question

the answer may be that Webster plays more at the 2 opening minutes up at 3
for Singleton. And it's not clear to me that CLE has any 4s that would generate
the level of fear that would preclude Singleton playing some there.

[dobrojim]

I am playing in a daily fantasy basketball league, and I need to fill out a roster. Can you guys give me an idea on how the minutes will be distributed at each position?

I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

I don't think we have a very good idea ourselves. We'll know more in a
month. Does that help? Didn't think so. Sorry.

[hands11]

I would too if I were a Cleveland fan. But who knows...it's so early now. I have been happy with Beal's player overall and think he will turn out great, but maybe Waiters will be better.

Anyway, prediction time:

Wizards 115, Cleveland 45

Wiz show off the new defense. Nene makes a Cameo in the fourth quarter uses his jiujitsu prowess to earn a submission victory over Varejao. Beal drops the nice guy act, calls Waiters a fat F%#$ and dunks on him all night long.

The junkyard wizards are born tomorrow.

LET GET READY TO RUMMBBBLLLEEEE

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvufFwdqMzg[/youtube]

[montestewart]

Starting lineups are a formality. I'd be willing to bet we see a pretty even distribution tonight between Beal and JC and Ariza and Webster (foul issues permitting). I expect it to be this way at least for a while until these guys distinguish themselves.

Singleton the odd man out, or does he just get more PF minutes for now?

good question

the answer may be that Webster plays more at the 2 opening minutes up at 3
for Singleton. And it's not clear to me that CLE has any 4s that would generate
the level of fear that would preclude Singleton playing some there.

Don't recall how much they were directly against each other in the past, but it seems like Singleton might match up pretty well with Thompson.

[hands11]

Starting lineups are a formality. I'd be willing to bet we see a pretty even distribution tonight between Beal and JC and Ariza and Webster (foul issues permitting). I expect it to be this way at least for a while until these guys distinguish themselves.

That seems to be Randy's MO. But if he needs to play curtain players extra minutes tonight to get the win, I think he goes for it. Opening night win and Boston on a back to back up next. Go for the winnable win.

As for those who worry we can't take this one, the Wizard beat them last time playing Barron, Randolf, Mack and Cook about 20 minutes each with no Singleton, Okafor or Booker.

http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400400498

So there is hope even without Nene, Wall and Kevin.

[hands11]

+1 Bobby

our power just came back a half hour ago and I was really in a pickle with today
being my older daughter's BD and her probably not interested in going to a sports
bar/restaurant and my wife clearly not interested in that. Now I can go out and
the DVR will handle things.

+1 on your Ariza comments as well. I'm hoping he'll be on a short leash and
not see the floor much if he sucks as bad as he did thru the preseason.
I liked much of what I saw out of CSing in preseason.

Hopefully you are right. But as it is, not a big deal. Both will get 20 something minutes the first game. Singleton is going to get his at PF and SF until they get Kevin or Nene back.

Who starts matters but it not everything. Its the in game adjustment and total minutes to end the game that will matter more. Its just the first game. I'm not worried. Now if he continues to suck and he stay out there, then I will worry. But I doubt that happens.

As is, Web will run with

Pargo
Crawford
Webster
Singleton
Ves

or

Crawford
Webster
Singleton
Ves
Barron

We will see soon enough how Randy plans on lining them up.

[montestewart]

That seems to be Randy's MO. But if he needs to play curtain players extra minutes tonight to get the win, I think he goes for it.

I Call That Bold Talk For A One-Eyed Fat Man