Wiz at Jazz 9:00pm! Going for a winning west coast trip lol

[NoVaO]

God I want to shoot myself listen to you TheBigThree, negative nancy.

Eh, you sound like one of those Caps fans that have thought Ovechkin should be immune from criticism for the past few years.

If you want to ignore the fact that Wall hasn't improved one iota since coming into the league, that's entirely up to you.

There is a difference between criticism and just making crap up.

The development of Wall's game is certainly subjective, but there is statistical evidence that he improved from his rookie season to his second season. And thus far into his third season, we need a bigger sample size to know whether he's improved from his second to third season. If you take the small sample of games so far, he's statistically better than he was last year.

Your comment reminds me of when people say a player is good or he sucks with no gray area in between. It's lazy analysis.

[AWIZZINGBULLET]

One game later and Wittman's bad at subbing/playcalling, Nene has no trade value, Trevor Booker is a bad/ awful player, and the organization is dumb from top to bottom. How anyone can blame this loss on anything but the players being unable to hit open shots is beyond me. The team shot under 36%, trailed by double digits for the majority of the game and still almost beat a better than .500 team in their home. This squad is still far from perfect offensively roster-wise and on a bad shooting night like this it becomes more evident, the Wizards are showing a lot of resolve so that's something positive that can be taken away from these tough losses. Need to be thinking of ways to improve on the team's growth vs. completely trashing the entire organization after a hard fought loss. It's something to learn from, as far as I'm concerned it's a brand new season since Wall's return. I expect the team to bounce back on Friday against Minnesota.

Can't agree....Wittman has been making questionable lineup decisions throughout and consistently sticks with lineups that are struggling for too long. I've been consistent with Néne being more valuable to us than he in on he trade block due to the contract. But even then, when he has nothing, you have to take him out or at minimum stop running the offense through him.

I can't blame lineups for this one, the team just couldn't hit open shots consistently and the referees wouldn't call fouls underneath the basket. I've been critical of Wittman as well, especially early on in the season, but last night's game I'm critical of the refs. Don't know if the Jazz are known for a physical brand of play and for that the refs didn't deem the contact Nene would initiate enough, but it was like Big East basketball last night the way the refs forced the Wizards to play through contact early on and the bad shooting only compounded problems. Nene should've been rewarded with more than just two trips to the free throw line last night. If i'm blaming anything for last night's loss it's poor shooting and bad reffing.

Bradley Beal was 2-6 from the free throw line, if he makes his free throws is it a different outcome?

[MDStar]

Our big men shot a combined 8/31 (25.8%). That's your ball game.

Nene - 3/14
Okafor - 3/10
Seraphin - 2/7

Not a good night for the fellas down low.

[jivelikenice]

^Which is why they should have played small ball and opened the floor. This one is squarely on his shoulders.

[hands11]

That was no fun to watch via coaching decisions. Neither was last game but at least we won that one.

Randy can be very frustrating.

Hopefully Wall starts next game so that makes it easier for Randy.

With everyone healthy, It doesn't feel to me like Randy knows how to maximize what he has. Now is when the real coaching skills matter. Before he didn't have many choices. Now he has to figure out how to get both units playing as a team and play to their strengths. He has to be able to see when a player is off and who best get them going or who to turn to next.

I don't see that. It looks more like those old "painting by the numbers" but this is coaching by the numbers.

That said. Amazing come back. Personally, I would not have put Nene back in. It was obvious he was ice cold after watching 2-3 quarters of him missing from all over the court.

17 rebounds from Okafor is amazing. When is the last time we had a player that could do that.

[nate33]

There's no way Vesely is a better player than Booker, that's just absurd. Vesely can't rebound, play defense, shoot, or do anything else a basketball player should be able to do. However, I do agree with you that we need James Singleton. I'm just frustrated that all we have to show for an awful 2010-2011 season is a couple bums riding pine.

Thank you.

This talk of Vesely being better than Booker is crazy. Booker had 7 boards and a steal in 16 minutes and finished with the second highest on/off differential on the team. Yes, his offense is really rusty right now, but he's doing the job on the defensive end. And Booker with his arms cut off is still a better offensive player than Vesely.

[JAR69]

There's no way Vesely is a better player than Booker, that's just absurd. Vesely can't rebound, play defense, shoot, or do anything else a basketball player should be able to do. However, I do agree with you that we need James Singleton. I'm just frustrated that all we have to show for an awful 2010-2011 season is a couple bums riding pine.

Thank you.

This talk of Vesely being better than Booker is crazy. Booker had 7 boards and a steal in 16 minutes and finished with the second highest on/off differential on the team. Yes, his offense is really rusty right now, but he's doing the job on the defensive end. And Booker with his arms cut off is still a better offensive player than Vesely.

It's just a flesh wound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKhEw7nD9C4

[Halcyon]

Horrendous substitution pattern.

http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gamef ... ame=WASUTH

I usually don't harp on Whitman too much, but last game really made it obvious he doesn't know what he's doing.

[nate33]

Horrendous substitution pattern.

http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gamef ... ame=WASUTH

I usually don't harp on Whitman too much, but last game really made it obvious he doesn't know what he's doing.

?

What's wrong with the substitution pattern? He has his a 5-man starting unit, and a 5-man 2nd unit (with the better players on the 2nd unit getting longer runs). In the 2nd half, he kept Wall in for the remainder of the quarter because he was playing so well.

All this Monday morning quarterbacking drives me crazy. Heck, the Utah game confirmed that most of you are wrong in your criticisms of Randy. Everybody was bitching early in the 2nd quarter about how poorly guys from the 2nd unit were playing. If it was up to you guys, everyone on the 2nd unit except Wall wouldn't have seen the court again for the rest of the game. As it turns out, the 2nd unit was the group that spearheaded the comeback.

Randy - 1
RealGM Experts - 0

[AFM]

nate, he didn't play Wall with Beal. He put Wall in with booker, craw, ariza, okafor if I remember correctly. That's terrible.

[nate33]

nate, he didn't play Wall with Beal. He put Wall in with booker, craw, ariza, okafor if I remember correctly. That's terrible.

It was Seraphin/Nene, not Okafor. At no time did Ariza, Booker and Okafor share the court together.

I agree that it's time to start Wall. I'm not sure why he is waiting so long to do so. I can only guess that Wittman has received instructions not to start Wall for medical reasons. Starting Wall will address any lineup combination issues. I note that Wittman has been trying to extend Webster's stints well into the 2nd unit group to try and keep at least one spot-up shooter alongside Wall. If Wittman does indeed have a reason not to start Wall, then I think Wittman is doing fine making the best of a bad situation (i.e. a general lack of catch-and-shoot players other than Webster and Beal).

[jivelikenice]

There's no way Vesely is a better player than Booker, that's just absurd. Vesely can't rebound, play defense, shoot, or do anything else a basketball player should be able to do. However, I do agree with you that we need James Singleton. I'm just frustrated that all we have to show for an awful 2010-2011 season is a couple bums riding pine.

Thank you.

This talk of Vesely being better than Booker is crazy. Booker had 7 boards and a steal in 16 minutes and finished with the second highest on/off differential on the team. Yes, his offense is really rusty right now, but he's doing the job on the defensive end. And Booker with his arms cut off is still a better offensive player than Vesely.

Vesely is not better than Booker, but that's not to say Booker is any good. Its like saying a D student is better than a F student. What Vesely does do those is move better without the ball instead of getting in the way and looking always out of position, which Booker seems to do. Frankly they both should be benched & Singleton should be brought out of the dog house or the rotation should be tightened and Ariza should get some minutes at the 4.

[nate33]

I don't know what you are expecting from Booker. Since coming back from injury, he is averaging 6.5 points, 12.5 boards, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per 36 while shooting 50% from the floor. I'm disappointed in his anemic point totals, but at least he isn't taking a lot of shots (just 6 attempts per 36).

I'm baffled as to why you would think Vesely would be better. Or that you would think Ariza would do better having to guard the likes of Millsap, Aldridge and Griffin.

[Nivek]

Vesely is definitely an F student. So is Singleton. Booker is more like a C- student. And yeah, C- is better than F.

Singleton and Vesely are among the least productive players in the league.

[tontoz]

The 2011 draft alone was a good reason not to resign EG. That plus the Okariza trade are going to make it very tough to build a winning team.

[jivelikenice]

Vesely is definitely an F student. So is Singleton. Booker is more like a C- student. And yeah, C- is better than F.

Singleton and Vesely are among the least productive players in the league.

Is Book really that much better than Vesely and Singleton? I guess thats a different topic and nothing worth arguing over since they all stink....

Nate, I don't think Ariza is a fixture at the 4, but in yesterday's game I think he could have given you some minutes there in a small ball lineup as we continued the run. In regards to Vesely, his lack of looking for his own shot is comical, but at least he's always moving and cutting....whereas Booker either isn't ready for the pass or is just taking up space in the lane. I just think he has regressed bigtime, and I observed signs of it prior to his injury. Last thing, I hate his one handed rebounds. I think he lost another one in the 4th yesterday cause he didn't go up with two hands...

[Nivek]

Yes, Booker really is that much better than Vesely and Singleton. I know that's a low bar, but still. Booker doesn't stink, actually. He's not great, but he at least contributes something.

[DCZards]

Vesely is not better than Booker, but that's not to say Booker is any good. Its like saying a D student is better than a F student. What Vesely does do those is move better without the ball instead of getting in the way and looking always out of position, which Booker seems to do. Frankly they both should be benched & Singleton should be brought out of the dog house or the rotation should be tightened and Ariza should get some minutes at the 4.

I have to agree with jive. No Ves is not better than Booker but, imo, because of his size and skillset he does more than Trevor to help this team win, including keeping rebounds/loose balls alive, finding the open man with nifty passes and running the court for alley oops from Wall and the other guards.

Maybe you can blame Witt's sub patterns for the loss to Utah, but I'm more inclined to blame the absolutely horrific shooting night that Nene had. The big Brazilian missed a ton of layups and easy putbacks. I don't expect Nene to have a game like that very often.

BTW, I'd also like to see more C. Singleton.

Also, someone please tell Emeka to stop taking those 15 foot jumpers that he rarely makes...open or not. Love Okafor's board work though. No Zard in recent memory has rebounded as well as Emeka has the last few weeks.

[jivelikenice]

The shooting definitely was the biggest culprit, but that goes back to Wittman. Why did he have to put Nene back in near the end and why did he call for the offense to run through him when he was obviously having an off night and his legs weren't there? Okafor should have been brought back in instead becasue he could have at least attacked the boards while we played small ball. Nene had nothing.

[nate33]

I have to agree with jive. No Ves is not better than Booker but, imo, because of his size and skillset he does more than Trevor to help this team win, including keeping rebounds/loose balls alive, finding the open man with nifty passes and running the court for alley oops from Wall and the other guards.

I can't believe how short memories are on this board. Just because you have seen a guy in a while, doesn't mean that he is better than the guys already in the game. Vesely would have been destroyed by Millsap. He's just not strong enough to hold his position defensively. Vesely would have had 4 fouls in about 6 minutes. There may be some situations when Vesely might make sense, like when the opponent has a stretch 4 in the game, but last night was not one of them. It was a brawl in the paint - no place for a weakling like Vesely.

And if Vesely did get put in, and he got abused defensively, everyone on the board would be screaming that Wittman is an idiot.