Wizards agree to terms with Eric Maynor

[dangermouse]

I would have preferred we just re-signed Price and Temple. Probably would have saved some money too.

Maynor is an OK backup. But so is Price..... So is Temple..... I don't get it.

[keynote]

I'm in favor of the signing[1]. The stats may not bear it out, but he passed my eyeball test as a solid backup PG during his tenure at OKC. I don't remember him being a defensive sieve while at OKC; then again, he was playing with a far better defensive unit than he was in POR. And, in POR, he was still on the mend from his knee injury.

So, in a solid defensive scheme in here in WAS (and one more year of physical therapy under his belt), I'm hoping that Maynor can settle into role as a decent backup. He won't be Bobby Jackson in his prime, but Webster is likely being groomed for the role of primary bench scorer anyway.



[1] provided that he passed some physical exam to confirm the structural integrity of his knee.

[DCZards]

Maynor can run an offense and is a good distributor which is what we would need if Wall goes down.

+1

OMG DCZards like this move? This caught me COMPLETELY by surprise.

Yup, just like I liked the nene move, the oakriza move, the beal move, the porter move, and the rice move. I happen to like the team the zards are building.

As Popper says, Maynor can run an offense and is a better distributor than Price--and that's a good thing in my, IMO. If his knee is sound, Maynor is an upgrade. I know some of you wanted the glitter of Nate Robinson. I didn't.

[bjack18]

You guys were expecting Chris Paul I guess.

No, we were excepting Nate Wolters or Pierre Jackson.

Or Beno.

Or Nate Robinson.

Or Price.

You guys were expecting Chris Paul I guess.

No, we were expecting a moderate upgrade to Price, not a lateral move/downgrade to Price. Maynor is not good. Neither was Price, but at least he's been in this system for a year, has some chemistry with the players, and defends. Maynor is a unreliable shooter at best, and a poor defender.

This signing screams rearranging the deck chairs. Where's Nivek when you need him.

Hopefully we're all eating crow during the season but man there were better options...where's Steve Colter when you need him

[keynote]

Hopefully we're all eating crow during the season but man there were better options...where's Steve Colter when you need him

Ah, I'm sure "The Activator" is letting his soul glow, no matter what he does in life.

[queridiculo]

This board is hilarious...easily the most pessimistic I've ever been on. Same was said of the Webster signing last season. Give the kid a chance! He's still young and could have a breakout season.

The Webster thread is on the front page, I suggest you re-read it.

[P'Oed]

You guys were expecting Chris Paul I guess.

No, we were expecting a moderate upgrade to Price, not a lateral move/downgrade to Price. Maynor is not good. Neither was Price, but at least he's been in this system for a year, has some chemistry with the players, and defends. Maynor is a unreliable shooter at best, and a poor defender.

This signing screams rearranging the deck chairs. Where's Nivek when you need him.

I mean, I don't claim to know nearly as much as you guys that come on here and write term paperish posts about stats I've never even heard of but do you really think Beno Udrih or Nate Rob is the difference between this team making the playoffs and missing them? I rag on Ernie too but signing a reasonably promising young backup point with experience just doesn't seem like that bad of a move to me. I'm sure Nate Rob would command a much higher salary and to be honest, I wouldn't be interested in seeing him shoot us right out of games like a bite-size Nick Young.

[Rafael122]

He's a backup. He's not expected to play that many minutes. It's fine for what it is. People are saying they'd rather have Beno Udrih. People are saying well if Wall goes down, we're screwed. Would Beno fare any better? In short, I'm indifferent. It doesn't move the needle and it didn't have to.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Hopefully we're all eating crow during the season but man there were better options...where's Steve Colter when you need him

Ah, I'm sure "The Activator" is letting his soul glow, no matter what he does in life.

Way back in the day I was working retail at Bradley's in the old New Carrolton Mall. One day, Steve Colter and Cliff Robinson (USC guy, not Uncle Cliffy) came in to look at some electronics.

If I had been selling jheri curl activator, I would have made a fortune that day.



(Edited to add, looked up the roster and it says they weren't on the roster at the same time but I think those were the two guys. Robinson was definitely one of the guys. I vividly recall seeing Danny Ferry in his Dematha jacket hanging out there a lot.)

[Rafael122]

BTW, another thing. He tore his ACL in January 2012. It takes a good year, year and a half to fully recover from that. I expect something like 6-7 pts, 3-4 assists per game from him.

[bjack18]

Hopefully we're all eating crow during the season but man there were better options...where's Steve Colter when you need him

Ah, I'm sure "The Activator" is letting his soul glow, no matter what he does in life.

LOL...just googled him, apparently he's in gov't admin as a rec coordinator in Phoenix...

PO'ED, if Wall stays healthy who the backup pg is moot however since he has missed time in each of his 3 yrs the position is important...Udrih, Calderon, Nate could fill if need be and get us to the postseason, Maynor not so much

[Deeptu McPullup]

Well, the good news here is that ________________.

Consider this as something of a placeholder post that we can come back to and flesh out with more substantive remarks after brainstorming with a damp washcloth fashioned across the brow.

[Ed Wood]

Evenin'. The pessimist in me wants to clarify that (speaking for myself) the disappointment that accompanies a move like this isn't a matter of believing that it torpedoed the team's future prospects or that an alternative could have elevated them, it's that these things so often seem to amount to the team making moves that don't have any real chance of making a difference nor demonstrating any apparent interest or flair in maximizing its return in marginal situations like this one.

I'm sure this isn't totally fair but the moves and the players that seem to annually fill out the roster makes me feel that the team adopts that same "back up point, does it matter all that much what we have there?" mentality and the result is players who make it very clear it doesn't.

Not every move has to dazzle, but I don't want the team to feel that way. Frankly, when Hilton Armstrong and Darius Songaila are players you slot into your rotation you have failed to convince me that you don't just not give a ****.

[Knighthonor]

Would have signed a big to come off the bench

[hands11]

Evenin'. The pessimist in me wants to clarify that (speaking for myself) the disappointment that accompanies a move like this isn't a matter of believing that it torpedoed the team's future prospects or that an alternative could have elevated them, it's that these things so often seem to amount to the team making moves that don't have any real chance of making a difference nor demonstrating any apparent interest or flair in maximizing its return in marginal situations like this one.

I'm sure this isn't totally fair but the moves and the players that seem to annually fill out the roster makes me feel that the team adopts that same "back up point, does it matter all that much what we have there?" mentality and the result is players who make it very clear it doesn't.

Not every move has to dazzle, but I don't want the team to feel that way. Frankly, when Hilton Armstrong and Darius Songaila are players you slot into your rotation you have failed to convince me that you don't just not give a ****.

Had to plus 1 that. And I liked DSong when healthy.

[Liverbird]

Evenin'. The pessimist in me wants to clarify that (speaking for myself) the disappointment that accompanies a move like this isn't a matter of believing that it torpedoed the team's future prospects or that an alternative could have elevated them, it's that these things so often seem to amount to the team making moves that don't have any real chance of making a difference nor demonstrating any apparent interest or flair in maximizing its return in marginal situations like this one.

I'm sure this isn't totally fair but the moves and the players that seem to annually fill out the roster makes me feel that the team adopts that same "back up point, does it matter all that much what we have there?" mentality and the result is players who make it very clear it doesn't.

Not every move has to dazzle, but I don't want the team to feel that way. Frankly, when Hilton Armstrong and Darius Songaila are players you slot into your rotation you have failed to convince me that you don't just not give a ****.

/Thread. Excellent reading as always.

[FAH1223]

Temple would probably run PG better

[doclinkin]

Well, the good news here is that ________________.

Consider this as something of a placeholder post that we can come back to and flesh out with more substantive remarks after brainstorming with a damp washcloth fashioned across the brow.

Check the happy happy thread. Same thing applies here but I'll re-cap.

If John Wall is healthy, we're good, we play well we win more. If he is not healthy we have a plausible tank in place. Casual fans saw 4-28 with AJ Price and did not renew tickets, but casual fans recall Eric Maynor as a tough poised smooth PG from a local school, and might like the devil you don't know a little better. And the offense figures to be a little more proficient with him on the squad compared to Price (even if the defense is worse). Offense sells tickets, and makes Bradley Beal and Otto Porter (and GRjr) look better. He may turn the ball over a little more, but he tries to pass more than wait make the safe play, unlike AJPrice. May be less efficient, but looks better, less frustrating to the fan, who paid to see some action.

Fun teams selling tickets get more airplay and sell more adspace. More revenue means slightly deeper pockets, better mustard at the 'dress your dawg' fixin's bar, whatever. But you don't care about that. You care about championships.

But not even the X-time future all-star Ramon Sessions, I mean Scott Machado, I mean Nate Wolters will bring this team a championship. In fact it could be argued, by me for instance, that our best hope of a championship is for us to suck our way to a 2nd supastar, this time in the front court. Problem is people rarely sell that supastar, so the best way to get one is to get lucky and land one in the draft.

So: If John Wall goes down (pray mercy and hope he doesn't) well then we're screwed and YAYY!!! we get a good lotto pick in a deep year. If John Wall plays well then YAYYY!!! we get to watch playoff games in DC.

The tricky thing with a circuit breaker boobytrap engineered tank is that it cannot look like the same old skidmark. You have to at least look like you are trying something different. With quotes and old highlights and "well obviously"s to back it up.

HOWEVER! If we do suck, regardless of the design, we get a twofer I think: a high draft pick, and quite possibly the ouster of this mustachioed bandito that so many of you hope to make go away. Because at that point I think the ticket sales indelibly suffer, depending on how well DCs other teams are doing. Can't sell suites and luxury boxes at the same rate to a constantly losing team. Especially when lobbying firms have been getting their clients more reliably liquored up and cheerful watching RG3, or Big Headed Presidents and their athletic antics, or that Russian Machine and their higher percentage of spunky female fans (chicks dig hockey, so strange). So a final suck year from GMEG probably pulls the bombbay door lever there, even if it nets us a nice compensation prize in a competent 2-way big via draft.

Though Ernie will probably flip a midseason trade for Cousins and give away that draft pick after he melts down again and demands a trade. Then we'll be the ones who have to overpay to keep him. And in theory keep Jphn Wall happy.

[Dat2U]

You guys were expecting Chris Paul I guess.

Damn **** right I was!

[MJG]

Evenin'. The pessimist in me wants to clarify that (speaking for myself) the disappointment that accompanies a move like this isn't a matter of believing that it torpedoed the team's future prospects or that an alternative could have elevated them, it's that these things so often seem to amount to the team making moves that don't have any real chance of making a difference nor demonstrating any apparent interest or flair in maximizing its return in marginal situations like this one.

I'm sure this isn't totally fair but the moves and the players that seem to annually fill out the roster makes me feel that the team adopts that same "back up point, does it matter all that much what we have there?" mentality and the result is players who make it very clear it doesn't.

Not every move has to dazzle, but I don't want the team to feel that way. Frankly, when Hilton Armstrong and Darius Songaila are players you slot into your rotation you have failed to convince me that you don't just not give a ****.

Strongly agree. Something about signing someone like Maynor to a multiyear, non-minimum deal on the first day of free agency just makes me feel like I'm rooting for a second class organization. Not that I wasn't aware I was doing so already, but still.