Game Thread: PHI @ WAS - 6:00 3/3/2013

[dobrojim]

Good game by Wall, hope he keeps it up and finishes the season strong.

Pray Beal is ok. I think it's the high ankle sprain, meaning he's probably done for the rest of this year.

One possible sign of hope about Wall is that he's been shooting his FTs
pretty well this year. 83% I believe I heard last night.

I kinda doubt Beal is out for the year. They said on the post-game that he was
walking around OK. I wouldn't be surprised if he played by Friday. That said,
none of us have that good an idea (unless more 411 has been released since last night).

[DCZards]

Good game by Wall, hope he keeps it up and finishes the season strong.

Pray Beal is ok. I think it's the high ankle sprain, meaning he's probably done for the rest of this year.

One possible sign of hope about Wall is that he's been shooting his FTs
pretty well this year. 83% I believe I heard last night.

I kinda doubt Beal is out for the year. They said on the post-game that he was
walking around OK. I wouldn't be surprised if he played by Friday. That said,
none of us have that good an idea (unless more 411 has been released since last night).

Walking around OK? I heard that Beal left the locker room on crutches. But it doesn't sound like the kind of injury that will keep him out more than a few games.

[dobrojim]

I thought I remembered them saying he was NOT on crutches.

It's possible I misheard.

[DCZards]

I think we all want Wall to succeed, we'd be crazy not to, it's just a matter of being realistic about the player that's out there.

I actually think John is pretty smart as far as basketball. Good court vision and passing. Good handle. The problem is that he at no point went against a superior athlete until he stepped foot in college, and you can't just unlearn what got you into the league--which was blowing past guys who couldn't stand in front of him.

So he's got to learn how to play half court basketball against similar talented athletes and far higher IQ players, and it's going to take time. It's just hard to swallow that fact when he could end up getting maxed in a couple of years.

At this point, I doubt that Wall gets a max contract from the Zards or anyone else. And since that's a decision that is down the road a bit I don't think we should spend too much time worrying about it.

Right now, I want to see JW work on his game (shooting, decision making, etc.) and continue to get better. He has a world of potential--to go with those awesome physical skills you mentioned--and I hope John gets a chance to fulfill that potential in a Zard uni.

[pancakes3]

If it's just an ankle sprain, he'll pop right back up. At 19, spraining an ankle is like skinning a knee.

[nate33]

If it's just an ankle sprain, he'll pop right back up. At 19, spraining an ankle is like skinning a knee.

Yup. Just lace those shoes up a bit tighter and get back on the court.

Ahh. I loved being young.

[dandridge 10]

BTW, I took my 6 year old to the game last night. Although I have taken him to games before, we always left at the end of the 3rd quarter because he was tired and bored. I convinced him to stay until the end last night since it was an earlier start. I have never seen him as excited as when Wall hit that last shot. He was screaming like crazy and jumping all over me. All he could talk about on the way home was how awesome John Wall is. I hope John becomes the star we need, because my son is now his biggest fan. I also have to thank John because that one play may have made my son a Wizards fan for life (well, I don't know if I should thank him or curse him on that point). Anyway, that was a great father moment for me last night.

Good stuff, dandridge. Can't have too many young Wizard fans-in-training. Nothing turns youngsters on like exciting endings where the crowd is going bonkers.

Have you told your son about the legend of Bobby D? Dandridge was one of my favs---great defender, team-first guy and could be depended on to stick the short jumper. He was a key piece to two NBA championships--Milwaukee and the Bullets. But you knew that already.

I have not told my son about Bobby D yet. I will later when he gets a little older and a little more into b-ball. Last night was a good start though BTW, as you probably can tell, Bobby D is my favorite Bullet/Wizards of all time. As you said, he was good all-around, a great guy, and clutch. My favorite NBA player of all time is John Stockton. I guess I like silent assassins, which both guys were.

[dobrojim]

Amazing that Stockton, arguably the greatest 'PURE' PG in history
was drafted when he was. Just looked it up on wiki, 16th overall.
UT had an amazing 2 year draft when they got Stockton & Malone,
neither in the top 10. Malone was 13th overall pick. 2 of the GoaT players.
Remarkable.

Great story about your son BTW.

[tontoz]

Amazing that Stockton, arguably the greatest 'PURE' PG in history
was drafted when he was. Just looked it up on wiki, 16th overall.
UT had an amazing 2 year draft when they got Stockton & Malone,
neither in the top 10. Malone was 13th overall pick. 2 of the GoaT players.
Remarkable.

Great story about your son BTW.

Did you have to bring that up? For those too young to remember....

1985 DRAFT
*Choice awarded to Cleveland to replace draft choices traded by
previous ownership
First Round
1 NY Patrick Ewing Georgetown
2 Ind Wayman Tisdale Oklahoma
3 LAC Benoit Benjamin Creighton
4 Sea Xavier McDaniel Wichita State
5 Atl Jon Koncak Southern Methodist
6 Sac Joe Kleine Arkansas
7 GS Chris Mullin St. John's
8 Dall Detlef Schrempf Washington
9* Clev Charles Oakley Virginia Union
10 Phoe Ed PinckneyVillanova
11 Chi Keith Lee Memphis State
12 Wash Kenny GreenWake Forest
13 Utah Karl MaloneLouisiana Tech

[montestewart]

Amazing that Stockton, arguably the greatest 'PURE' PG in history
was drafted when he was. Just looked it up on wiki, 16th overall.
UT had an amazing 2 year draft when they got Stockton & Malone,
neither in the top 10. Malone was 13th overall pick. 2 of the GoaT players.
Remarkable.

And there are others. Clyde Drexler went 14th, Rodman in the 2nd round. Years ago, toward the end of Bob Ferry's tenure, I went through his drafts, and found he passed up on an all-star team every five years. His drafting was comparable to EG's drafting. He made some good moves, like signing Dandridge and drafting Ruland and Mahorn in the 2nd, but he inherited Hayes and Unseld. Like Unseld as coach and GM, Ferry's 17 years as GM seem more a product of an owner incapable of making changes than of Ferry's own worth as a GM.

Dandridge is my 2nd favorite Bullet/Wizard, after Unseld.

In addition to hitting his shots, Wall's 360 was pretty nifty.

[penbeast0]

Amazing that Stockton, arguably the greatest 'PURE' PG in history
was drafted when he was. Just looked it up on wiki, 16th overall.
UT had an amazing 2 year draft when they got Stockton & Malone,
neither in the top 10. Malone was 13th overall pick. 2 of the GoaT players.
Remarkable.

Great story about your son BTW.

Did you have to bring that up? For those too young to remember....

1985 DRAFT
*Choice awarded to Cleveland to replace draft choices traded by
previous ownership
First Round
1 NY Patrick Ewing Georgetown
2 Ind Wayman Tisdale Oklahoma
3 LAC Benoit Benjamin Creighton
4 Sea Xavier McDaniel Wichita State
5 Atl Jon Koncak Southern Methodist
6 Sac Joe Kleine Arkansas
7 GS Chris Mullin St. John's
8 Dall Detlef Schrempf Washington
9* Clev Charles Oakley Virginia Union
10 Phoe Ed PinckneyVillanova
11 Chi Keith Lee Memphis State
12 Wash Kenny GreenWake Forest
13 Utah Karl MaloneLouisiana Tech

And all of us there at the Cap Centre were screaming for the Mailman and booed the Kenny Green pick.

Of course, we also were screaming for Walt Williams over Tom Gugliotta but that's a minor difference compared to the one that got away.

[hands11]

Amazing that Stockton, arguably the greatest 'PURE' PG in history
was drafted when he was. Just looked it up on wiki, 16th overall.
UT had an amazing 2 year draft when they got Stockton & Malone,
neither in the top 10. Malone was 13th overall pick. 2 of the GoaT players.
Remarkable.

And there are others. Clyde Drexler went 14th, Rodman in the 2nd round. Years ago, toward the end of Bob Ferry's tenure, I went through his drafts, and found he passed up on an all-star team every five years. His drafting was comparable to EG's drafting. He made some good moves, like signing Dandridge and drafting Ruland and Mahorn in the 2nd, but he inherited Hayes and Unseld. Like Unseld as coach and GM, Ferry's 17 years as GM seem more a product of an owner incapable of making changes than of Ferry's own worth as a GM.

Dandridge is my 2nd favorite Bullet/Wizard, after Unseld.

In addition to hitting his shots, Wall's 360 was pretty nifty.

Bobby D was my favorite as well. I can remember as a kid driving down the lane emulating his moves. I also remember chucking them from the baseline falling out of bounds yelling CJ. Charles Johnson was fun to watch.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/WSB/1978.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... sch01.html

A rarely talking about hero from back in the day. I remember him hitting some big shots. Apparently he missed a big one as well. Funny. I remember Unseld going to the line and thinking. Oh no. But he made two. Unseld with the big rebounds and Bobby D for the break away dunk. So sweet.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilymLFx_Mf4[/youtube]


Wow, look at this one. Roundfield, Cliff Robinson and M Bol 7-7, Leon Wood. C Barkley and Dr J
Man those players were skinny back then.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7p1E7X929k[/youtube]

[dobrojim]

I believe Dudley Bradley hit the game winner in that playoff game!

[tontoz]

And all of us there at the Cap Centre were screaming for the Mailman and booed the Kenny Green pick.

Of course, we also were screaming for Walt Williams over Tom Gugliotta but that's a minor difference compared to the one that got away.

My dad never got over Malone. He was griping for years. I didn't watch as much NBA then as i do now so it didn't bother me as much.

Googs was pretty good but he never did develop a 3 point shot which was a pretty big hole in his game. He did everything else well.

[hands11]

And all of us there at the Cap Centre were screaming for the Mailman and booed the Kenny Green pick.

Of course, we also were screaming for Walt Williams over Tom Gugliotta but that's a minor difference compared to the one that got away.

My dad never got over Malone. He was griping for years. I didn't watch as much NBA then as i do now so it didn't bother me as much.

Googs was pretty good but he never did develop a 3 point shot which was a pretty big hole in his game. He did everything else well.

Yeah. Googs was a good player. Solid build. Good off hands. Nice moves around the basket. If I remember correctly he got injured and then traded. Once he recovered he had a few good years.

What was it with him ? His back ?

[GhostsOfGil]

[tontoz]

And all of us there at the Cap Centre were screaming for the Mailman and booed the Kenny Green pick.

Of course, we also were screaming for Walt Williams over Tom Gugliotta but that's a minor difference compared to the one that got away.

My dad never got over Malone. He was griping for years. I didn't watch as much NBA then as i do now so it didn't bother me as much.

Googs was pretty good but he never did develop a 3 point shot which was a pretty big hole in his game. He did everything else well.

Yeah. Googs was a good player. Solid build. Good off hands. Nice moves around the basket. If I remember correctly he got injured and then traded. Once he recovered he had a few good years.

What was it with him ? His back ?

Dont remember. I moved to Atlanta after his rookie year and didn't follow the team much after that.

[penbeast0]

Wow, look at this one. Roundfield, Cliff Robinson and M Bol 7-7, Leon Wood. C Barkley and Dr J
Man those players were skinny back then.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7p1E7X929k[/youtube]

Got to admit, you are the first one I've ever heard Barkley called skinny. Compared to today, the players from the 60a/70s don't have those weight room (steroid?) bodies, in the 60s coaches actively discouraged weight work for fear it would make players "musclebound."

On the other hand, I can remember being a little 10 year old kid and getting to see this undersized rookie center for the Bullets named Wes Unseld and thinking . . . "That's not a man, that's a walking mountain."

[Ruzious]

And all of us there at the Cap Centre were screaming for the Mailman and booed the Kenny Green pick.

Of course, we also were screaming for Walt Williams over Tom Gugliotta but that's a minor difference compared to the one that got away.

My dad never got over Malone. He was griping for years. I didn't watch as much NBA then as i do now so it didn't bother me as much.

Googs was pretty good but he never did develop a 3 point shot which was a pretty big hole in his game. He did everything else well.

Word was that the Bullets GM - Bob Ferry - was convinced Mailman was going to be a star, but he let Coach Gene Shue overrule him, because Shue insisted Green fit their need. Btw, one of the greatest college battles I ever saw was Mailman vs Waymon Tisdale. Tisdale was the much more heralded player at the time.

I was equally upset when Ferry chose Jeff Malone over Clyde Drexler. He said he passed on Drexler because he had no jump shot, and he didn't at the time, but he was uberspectacular.

[montestewart]

And all of us there at the Cap Centre were screaming for the Mailman and booed the Kenny Green pick.

Of course, we also were screaming for Walt Williams over Tom Gugliotta but that's a minor difference compared to the one that got away.

My dad never got over Malone. He was griping for years. I didn't watch as much NBA then as i do now so it didn't bother me as much.

Googs was pretty good but he never did develop a 3 point shot which was a pretty big hole in his game. He did everything else well.

Word was that the Bullets GM - Bob Ferry - was convinced Mailman was going to be a star, but he let Coach Gene Shue overrule him, because Shue insisted Green fit their need. Btw, one of the greatest college battles I ever saw was Mailman vs Waymon Tisdale. Tisdale was the much more heralded player at the time.

I was equally upset when Ferry chose Jeff Malone over Clyde Drexler. He said he passed on Drexler because he had no jump shot, and he didn't at the time, but he was uberspectacular.

Ferry's drafting was frequently fairly Grunfeldian, as were his survival skills. I don't recall that story about Shue overruling Ferry, but I'll bet he loved to tell it after it became apparent what a mistake that choice was. The Jeff Malone pick wasn't quite as bad. At least he had some good years. I think I remember rumors about trying to deal Jeff Malone to get Reggie Miller in 1987, but I forget the particulars.