GT #17: Hawks @ Wizards 7 PM CSN

[Illmatic21]

Rockets blew a huge (23pt) lead against San Antonio.. they're like a high-powered version of us

[daSwami]

What's the deal with Booker? He's not getting much PT, but seems like a guy who could be getting some minutes at the 3 or 4,w/o the huge production drop-off we get from our scrubstitutes (Maynor, Temple, Seraphin, Ves, et al.) And what's up with Harrington's knee? Is he done career-wise?

[payitforward]

Not going to happen

one can dream. [/quote
A.J. Price can shoot and do nothing else. He doesn't defend. Everybody bashed him last year and we bashed Mack, who looks quicker after he got in shape. Something has to happen there. Garrett Temple is not the answer at the 1, 2, or 3.

You think a criticism of Price means anything? He's better than Eric Maynor. That means that if we had him instead of Eric Maynor we'd be a better team. Duh. Oh, and he's also cheaper than Eric Maynor.

Everybody bashed Ernie for signing Price -- it would certainly have been possible to find a better choice -- but I don't recollect that people bashed him during the season very much. Iin fact Price had the best year of his career for us.

So... we sign a guy at veteran minimum, and he outplays his whole career -- and our GM's response is to let him walk for Eric Maynor.

A lot of people did bash Mack, however; you're right there. He's playing very well this season -- a lot better than Eric Maynor!!

[bjack18]

Good win...big win but man do we need a bench...Milwaukee is a team EG needs to call to see if they want to shed some salaries

Ilyasova, Mayo, Pachulia, Delfino, Ridnour, Neal are all on contracts with no more than 2yrs on them...any 2 of those guys would help tremendously...

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Unfortunately Ariza is the only asset we have that looks tradable that won't completely mess up what we're doing. I really like what Ariza has brought this year, but seeing that he's in the final year of his deal and that it's looking more and more likely it would be both costly and detrimental to our team to resign him, it seems that best case scenario would be for him to keep playing well and allow us to trade him and possibly some other assets to get some pieces to improve our bench. Coupled with that and which would make it easier would be to get some quality minutes out of Porter and Rice Jr. (maybe even Singleton) and continued help from Ves and maybe Harrington. This team is desperate enough for a legit third big and decent backup point that any loss of felt from dealing Ariza will be more than made up in areas we need improvement. Also with the expectation of Porter being a good player, we're more than set with him and Webster now and for the future.

[payitforward]

the minutes are too much but Witt is just as bad as the bench is. We have 5 legit starters out there right now so there is no reason why Witt shouldnt be able to stagger the lineup to get atleast 2 starters in with the 2nd unit but routinely it is always all 5 bench players on the floor together or just 1 starter at the most and that starter is always Webster or Ariza which would be the worst of the 5 to put in with that group because the other 3 guys can score and create on there own. Witt is just an idiot. His rotations are terrible

Wow.... Hard to know where to start w/ this. For one thing it's completely false: Temple played 1 minute, Seraphin 4 minutes, and Maynor 9 minutes. So... how many minutes did we have "5 bench players on the floor together"? 1 minute. How about 4 with "just 1 starter"? Maximum 4 minutes.

Aside from false, it's also an awful idea: when Maynor comes in, you'd rather have him with whom instead of e.g. Ariza/Webster? Maybe with Wall? Oh, ok, not that.

I guess you want him w/ Nene? He played 36 minutes tonight. You think he can play more than that? Or maybe you'd like to waste his time on the floor by not having him w/ Wall?

Gortat? He played 41 minutes tonight -- you want him to play more than 41 minutes? Or you think we'll get more production from him if he has minutes w/ Maynor instead of Wall?

Aside from false and awful, it's also presumptuous. Wittman played what a decade in the NBA? And has been a head coach for 2-3 teams? He's "just an idiot" but you know how the rotations should go? Come on....

The problem isn't who is on the floor w/ our bench players -- the problem is that they are on the floor at all in Wizards uniforms! Now if we had a coach who could swap back up point guards w/ our opponent each night -- even for just one quarter -- that would be great!

Put another way: Maynor, Temple, Singleton, Seraphin, Harrington and (most nights) Vesely aren't good NBA players. It's just awful the way the league absolutely forced Ernie to hand-pick that gang!

[Upper Decker]

Ariza is an extremely confident shooter from the corners. Losing him come the trade deadline is going to be tough, I'm not sure there is much out there to be had that would help this team as much as Ariza does. There really is no easy way of sorting out our glut at SF, all three guys have alot to offer.

Anyway, that was a solid win tonight, the defense really came to play in the first half, hopefully that can continue.

Ariza means more to Washington than he does to whoever would acquire him. I don't see getting a better player back for Ariza if EG decides to trade him.

[dlts20]

the minutes are too much but Witt is just as bad as the bench is. We have 5 legit starters out there right now so there is no reason why Witt shouldnt be able to stagger the lineup to get atleast 2 starters in with the 2nd unit but routinely it is always all 5 bench players on the floor together or just 1 starter at the most and that starter is always Webster or Ariza which would be the worst of the 5 to put in with that group because the other 3 guys can score and create on there own. Witt is just an idiot. His rotations are terrible

Wow.... Hard to know where to start w/ this. For one thing it's completely false: Temple played 1 minute, Seraphin 4 minutes, and Maynor 9 minutes. So... how many minutes did we have "5 bench players on the floor together"? 1 minute. How about 4 with "just 1 starter"? Maximum 4 minutes.

Aside from false, it's also an awful idea: when Maynor comes in, you'd rather have him with whom instead of e.g. Ariza/Webster? Maybe with Wall? Oh, ok, not that.

I guess you want him w/ Nene? He played 36 minutes tonight. You think he can play more than that? Or maybe you'd like to waste his time on the floor by not having him w/ Wall?

Gortat? He played 41 minutes tonight -- you want him to play more than 41 minutes? Or you think we'll get more production from him if he has minutes w/ Maynor instead of Wall?

Aside from false and awful, it's also presumptuous. Wittman played what a decade in the NBA? And has been a head coach for 2-3 teams? He's "just an idiot" but you know how the rotations should go? Come on....

The problem isn't who is on the floor w/ our bench players -- the problem is that they are on the floor at all in Wizards uniforms! Now if we had a coach who could swap back up point guards w/ our opponent each night -- even for just one quarter -- that would be great!

Put another way: Maynor, Temple, Singleton, Seraphin, Harrington and (most nights) Vesely aren't good NBA players. It's just awful the way the league absolutely forced Ernie to hand-pick that gang!

oh, so another person who thinks that just because someone is an NBA player or coach, he must know all the right decisions? Everyone in the league thinks he's a joke and he's been fired before. I guess you think everyone in the NBA should keep there jobs since they know so much.

You cant just go by the minutes in black & white and you cant just go by the minutes in this game. He's had horrible rotations in every single game and everyone knows it. Furthermore tonight, those guys only played 4min together because they were so bad in that 4min that Witt immediatly had to rush the starters back in. Maybe if he doesnt bench those guys together then he wouldnt have to do that. In other cases in the past, he still didnt rush those guys back in until we got down by 10 but he was smarter tonight, just not smart enough not to do it in the 1st place.

I dont care what team in the NBA you look at. They all know who to play. You never saw Kobe & Shaq off teh floor together. You never see Lebron & Wade off the floor together. Its not nearly as hard as you think. You should always have atleast one of Wall, Nene, or Gortat on the court at all times. Simple but Witt doesnt get it and seems like some of you dont either. Yet its funny when Im watching games & reading the forums, I hear multiple people rip Witt's sub patterns and the horrible lineups he has in together while we on que blow leads. Start there.........

[J-Ves]

Via J. Michael's twitter after the game:

Nene is hurting. Doesn't wanna talk #WizardsTalk #NBA #WizHawks

[Induveca]

Watched the entire game. Really enjoying watching Gortat/Nene combo. They've overpowering together most of the time. Also, Ariza/Webster combo makes Beal look much more bench-fodder than starter. Don't get me wrong, huge potential but he's just not there yet beyond shooting threes.

[Jay81]

Via J. Michael's twitter after the game:

Nene is hurting. Doesn't wanna talk #WizardsTalk #NBA #WizHawks

Nene is going to be out for a month or so very soon. He cant stay healthy then we can start tanking again. No bench will catch up to us real soon

the bench was horrible tonight. When Vesley is your 6th man....you suck

[dlts20]

we arent good enough to book any wins but we have 2 softer teams coming up (even though Orlando's lineup does look pretty scary). I say we should rest him these next 2 games against Orlando & the Bucks. Hopefully we get those 2 wins and you can bring him back "next" Monday against his former team in the Nuggz. Maybe even stretch it out since we dont play again after that til Friday and bring him back then

[dlts20]

Via J. Michael's twitter after the game:

Nene is hurting. Doesn't wanna talk #WizardsTalk #NBA #WizHawks

Nene is going to be out for a month or so very soon. He cant stay healthy then we can start tanking again. No bench will catch up to us real soon

the bench was horrible tonight. When Vesley is your 6th man....you suck

I actually think we can win without Nene "if" Al is able to play. Nene is great and we definitely need him but I could see us being very high scoring, explosive, and Wall going off with a stretch 4 starting. Our D & rebounding may suck though.

[dlts20]

Watched the entire game. Really enjoying watching Gortat/Nene combo. They've overpowering together most of the time. Also, Ariza/Webster combo makes Beal look much more bench-fodder than starter. Don't get me wrong, huge potential but he's just not there yet beyond shooting threes.

Nah, I still trust Beal more then those guys. Like against Indy & the Bucks, I still feel like he would be able to produce more then those guys if Wall doesnt have it going.

With that being said, I always felt that this injury is good for Beal. Alot of times guys need to sit & watch. They get so caught up in scoring that they forget the other part of the game. Ariza & Webster are playing well without him and we are winning. I think that will lead him to wanting to expand his game more when he gets back

[nuposse04]

just rest nene until den. 8 days off are fine for him. Booker should be enough for the next 2.

[TheBabyMaker]

just rest nene until den. 8 days off are fine for him. Booker should be enough for the next 2.

Um no not really but if Nene can benefit from 8 days off im all for it. Gortat if going to have to have huge games. That Vucevic kid from Orlando is going to be a handful.

[hands11]

Happy Thanksgiving to the board members.

8-9 after a win against ATL with was a big game after a good division team. Not bad.

Plenty of days of rest between games coming up and the easier part of the schedule.

3 home games coming up. ORL, MIL, DEN

Seems like the team is has a golden opportunity to get over .500 and into 3rd. Crossing fingers.

Nice to see Singleton getting some productive minutes. Hopefully this time around he finds his grove. I think he still has some potential and can still find a role on the team just like Ves is carving out a spot. Key for board is to stay in the rotation so they can grow.

Going to be interesting to see what they look like when Beal returns in limited minutes (20) off the bench. And then Otto. If they can build that out, they can start to have some depth finally.

[Kanyewest]

Good game by the Wizards. I thought they played well except for the 3rd quarter when Atlanta cut into that 18 point deficit. Still, the Wizards got some timely 3s down the stretch and were able to close it out.

Still seems like the Wizards depth is razor thin. I still think Seraphin is more of problem as a backup center than Maynor. Singleton was able to hit a couple of shots in the first half but couldn't knock down his open looks in the 2nd half.

[dlts20]

this next stretch will give us all a clear view of where were at. Its not so much about the teams we play but were about to start having alot of time off in between games which mean we could possibly soon see Nene, Beal, Porter, & Al all together at some point. Then we can see if our bench is still weak.

Ive always been in the minority. Im like Coach Thibbs. I believe in a short bench. I like 8 core guys and maybe 9 at the most. If fully healthy then I would only play Web, Porter, & Al off the bench while sprinkling in Ves. That would be my full rotation. I think Beal, Web, & Ariza have earned there minutes while you have to see where Porter's potential. Therefore I would truly think about letting Beal start at the 2 but also be the backup PG. Forget Maynor. I think Temple sucks at the 2 but looked pretty solid at the 1 even though he hasnt played that much there. Still, those other guys deserve to play over him so I would see how Beal looks at the point and just go to more of a ball movement offense when he's at that spot

[20MexicanosIn1Van]

Ive always been in the minority. Im like Coach Thibbs. I believe in a short bench. I like 8 core guys and maybe 9 at the most. If fully healthy then I would only play Web, Porter, & Al off the bench while sprinkling in Ves. That would be my full rotation. I think Beal, Web, & Ariza have earned there minutes while you have to see where Porter's potential. Therefore I would truly think about letting Beal start at the 2 but also be the backup PG. Forget Maynor. I think Temple sucks at the 2 but looked pretty solid at the 1 even though he hasnt played that much there. Still, those other guys deserve to play over him so I would see how Beal looks at the point and just go to more of a ball movement offense when he's at that spot

It depends on the team. If you have 8 solid guys - then that's your rotation. If you only have 6 solid guys and a bunch of question marks (like we do) then you've got to see who of your question marks is clicking that night.