GT #10: T-Wolves @ Wizards 7 PM CSN

[JonathanJoseph]

Thinking about defense and Webster vs ariza... what if we let gortat walk and resign okafor?

Basically admitting that we gave up a 1st round pick for a handful of wins in a meaningless season? Zero chance Ted let's that happen, even under the next GM.

[80sballboy]

Great win, but they lucked out with Booker and Vesely playing together. If Seraphin wasn't so bad and Harrington hurt, Booker would never see the floor. It was nice to see Ves doing his Birdman impression. Hopefully he continues to play with more confidence and never touch the ball in the halfcourt. If he continues to play late in games and we have a decent-sized lead, teams are going to star doing a hack-a-ves.

[JonathanJoseph]

The Wizards offensive bread and butter really is Wall's ability to hit the open jump shooter, whether its in the corner or elsewhere.

No it isn't. It's Wall getting open shots for other people.

[WizarDynasty]

Swelled played like a wise..rd i men wiz..ard.

[Dat2U]

Walls assist to turnover ratio is staggering. He has put himself in the top 2-3 best distributors in the NBA right now.

Yeah, that last two games he's got 28 assists & 2 turnovers!

I hate the fact that our backcourt is built off the mid-range & long 2 pt shot though. Our backcourt is so low efficiency right now it isn't even funny. Wall's TS% is a woeful .460 and Beal has worked his up to .513. Both are significantly below average. I wish we'd adopt Houston philosophy of either shooting 3s or getting to the rim.

[fishercob]

i like when we win

[wizardry]

Absolutely it was about rotations. Are you kidding me. So what he didn't do exactly what I suggested. He played more of the energy bench of Ves, Booker and Temple. He mixed them in. Ves was even covering Love on the final shot.

Those long minutes from out starters are probably going to hurt tomorrow.

Once they get Trevor A back, that should help with that if mixing him in keeps the blend working. That would allow Webster to play some SG where Beal needs help/rest. Temple can score better then we have seen. He has only played a couple games. Lets see if he can find his rhythm and hit some open shots. He did last year in stretches.

AH is out so we don't have to worry about them mixing him in. Temple is getting more minutes than Maynor which they should stick with. Kevin need to sit for a while. He makes to many mental mistake. He can get hot scoring, but they can't risk that right now. Randy can ride this 8 man rotation for a few games. Wall and Beal are young. Webster isn't old. And Ves, Booker and Temple aren't even breaking a sweat. Nene is the only one you really have to worry about and I think winning will help him find his wind.

So Trevor A is added next and then they should get Otto added 2-3 weeks after that.

Ves and Temple are what are helping the most right now. More defense from the PG and another big that brings length, energy, rebounding, good hands, dunks and above all else, he plays with in himself.

Temple sucks more than Maynor. He cant shoot. And JJ still got 12 pts and 7 assists on us. Maynor outplayed Temple in 4 minutes

[noworriesinmd]

Wow, wiz won. I'm so mad...was on my way to the booth...late of course..heard love was going off. I saw a friend and decided to get dinner and drink instead going inside. Sucks I didn't see this win.

I'm really glad ves got some burn. He's always been an energy guy. I thought he played decently the last home game too. I hope he shows he can play in the NBA.

I'm really getting concerned about Beal's minutes. He's 20, but he's playing way too much this early in the season. I'm afraid he won't be around during the home stretch when we need him the most.

Sad thing, of all the years to try to make the playoffs......

[dandridge 10]

I think you are only looking at one side of the basketball court. Temple is 10x better than Maynor on defense.

[wizardry]

Nah I was watching Barea pick us apart. Temple is like a Thabo only he cant shoot and is not as good on D.

[queridiculo]

The Timberwolves scored 39 points in the 2nd half, I don't see how anything Barea did can be qualified as picking Washington apart.

This is the NBA, there are some really good players in this league. Barea is one of them, Maynor isn't. Neither is Temple for that matter but given the choice between the two, I prefer temple.

He can defend three positions, and generally has great instincts on defense. His offense is more miss than hit, but it's not like Maynor has been a revelation on that side of the court.

Maynor is $4 million mistake.

[wizardry]

The Timberwolves scored 39 points in the 2nd half, I don't see how anything Barea did can be qualified as picking Washington apart.

This is the NBA, there are some really good players in this league. Barea is one of them, Maynor isn't. Neither is Temple for that matter but given the choice between the two, I prefer temple.

He can defend three positions, and generally has great instincts on defense. His offense is more miss than hit, but it's not like Maynor has been a revelation on that side of the court.

Maynor is $4 million mistake.

12 pts. 7 assist from a bench PG. Means we played below average on D

[nate33]

The Timberwolves scored 39 points in the 2nd half, I don't see how anything Barea did can be qualified as picking Washington apart.

This is the NBA, there are some really good players in this league. Barea is one of them, Maynor isn't. Neither is Temple for that matter but given the choice between the two, I prefer temple.

He can defend three positions, and generally has great instincts on defense. His offense is more miss than hit, but it's not like Maynor has been a revelation on that side of the court.

Maynor is $4 million mistake.

12 pts. 7 assist from a bench PG. Means we played below average on D

Some of those points were on Wall. Barea didn't score in the 2nd half when Wall was out and Temple guarded him. As a matter of fact, looking at the game log, it appears that Barea never scored when Temple guarded him. He went off in the first half when Maynor was guarding him. And he scored a few on Wall.

[hands11]

Those long minutes from out starters are probably going to hurt tomorrow.

Once they get Trevor A back, that should help with that if mixing him in keeps the blend working. That would allow Webster to play some SG where Beal needs help/rest. Temple can score better then we have seen. He has only played a couple games. Lets see if he can find his rhythm and hit some open shots. He did last year in stretches.

AH is out so we don't have to worry about them mixing him in. Temple is getting more minutes than Maynor which they should stick with. Kevin need to sit for a while. He makes to many mental mistake. He can get hot scoring, but they can't risk that right now. Randy can ride this 8 man rotation for a few games. Wall and Beal are young. Webster isn't old. And Ves, Booker and Temple aren't even breaking a sweat. Nene is the only one you really have to worry about and I think winning will help him find his wind.

So Trevor A is added next and then they should get Otto added 2-3 weeks after that.

Ves and Temple are what are helping the most right now. More defense from the PG and another big that brings length, energy, rebounding, good hands, dunks and above all else, he plays with in himself.

Temple sucks more than Maynor. He cant shoot. And JJ still got 12 pts and 7 assists on us. Maynor outplayed Temple in 4 minutes

First off, 4 of those pts came back to back when they brought Maynor in to cover JJ
2nd, JJ played 29 minutes, Temple play 15 and a good chunk of it was at SG with either Wall or Maynor out there.

3rd, JJ is a pretty decent player. I would love to have him coming off our bench instead of Maynor.

Beal got in foul trouble early and came out after only 5 minutes in the first so Temple was playing with Wall.

Temple is a 6-6 guard who is more athletic than Maynor and more defensive minded. He actually did his job pretty well. He brought energy and made some good defensive plays. He also got some good looks but was just a little off. He hit pretty well on those open looks last year and I expect with a few more games under his belt he will hit them again. He was 1-4 but actually scored on another play but got a BS whistle for a travel that I didn't see him do. Should have been 2-5.

With Temple at the 2, all he has to do is play the role of DS ala Gil/DS but with Wall out there. Just has to hit a few open 3s as he did that last year, and play defense. He shot .429 from 3 in March on 1.6 attempts and .391 in April on 2.6 attempts.

Like Ves, Temple has skills that if used correctly they can mix him into the rotations with other starters to help this team.

I am not at the point that I have a lot of confidence in them putting lots of these role players out there all at once ala Maynor, Temple, Ves and Booker together. I thinks that's where you most likely get in trouble. Randy did that for 2:15 to start the 2nd yesterday and they were -5 . Instead, I think these players are used best if mixed in with the starters so they spread out the court time of the more skilled starter quality players and give them breaks to keep them more fresh. They are like breadcrumbs to meatloaf.

Once they get Trevor A back, that should be easier if Randy can figure it out.

One of Temple or Ves can be mixed in with 4 of Wall, Beal, Webster, Trevor A, Nene and Gortat with good effectiveness. That's a 7 man core rotation. Maybor and Booker should get filled in for spot minutes when it makes sense to give you an extended 8-9 man rotation. I think they can win games like that. Specially once Wall finds his mid range game again and Temple finds his 3 ball. I now have Glen and Kevin on the extended bench who need to prove they can be trusted in spot minutes. I have AH as inactive and shouldn't play until his knee is right and he shows he can play defense.

Anyway, Temple is a solid role player if used properly.

[wizardry]

Nah Temple is a Sefalosha type of player. Only not as good. And thats pretty bad

[wizardry]

Maynor is a past first PG only theres nobody to pass 2

[queridiculo]

If you replaced Maynor with the rejuvenated body of God Shammgod, there wouldn't be a drop off in production.

Maynor is absolutely terrible, jesus christ, you're just trying to get a rise out of us aren't you?

[DCZards]

Yeah, that last two games he's got 28 assists & 2 turnovers!

When I heard that stat last night my jaw dropped. That's how you have a positive impact even when your shot is not falling.

It was good to see Temple, Booker and Ves use their defense, athleticism and energy to contribute to last night's win. With his length and activity, Ves has the ability to create a lot of second and third offensive opportunities for the Zards.

[Higga]

Bradley "the real deal" Beal-Best SG in the East. Say it with me...

Good to see Ves contribute something although he also had some turnovers late that could have hurt. He's still way too limited for a #6 overall pick.

Wall has gotta start shooting better, but at least he's putting up 10 dimes a game. Helps to play with a lethal shooter.

[Ruzious]

Yeah, that last two games he's got 28 assists & 2 turnovers!

When I heard that stat last night my jaw dropped. That's how you have a positive impact even when your shot is not falling.

It's really not that the shots weren't falling; it was that the shot selection was terrible. On the positive side, it shows how good Wall can be if he simply improves his shot selection. To me, his shot selection improvement is more important than him developing a better shot.