GT #17: Hawks @ Wizards 7 PM CSN

[dangermouse]

Can't believe Mack looked better than Maynor. Actually I can totally believe it. I just don;t want to.

[pancakes3]

I don't think there can be enough b*tching about how bad the Maynor signing was.

For me the signature play of the game was when Mack pressed Wall in the backcourt, stole the ball, and layed it in. I'm sure win or lose, Mack went to bed feeling pretty good about himself after that play.

[fishercob]

Mack looked good last night. I wish we had him instead of Maynor.

I disagree.

I'm fine that they moved away from Mack and Price for what they wanted as a back up PG. Mack will have some good games and can carve a spot out for himself as a bench player somewhere but I still think he will bounce around the league. Same with Price. They will find moments of being in the right place at the right time but mostly teams will always be looking to upgrade them and they won't stay regular rotation players.

Mack made some good plays last game that were aggressive. Good for him. That's what he should be doing. But he also made some costly turnovers down the stretch and had 6 fouls in 25 mins. He tried to bring it against his old team as did Martin, but neither as very good NBA players and they will likely always get pushing out for better vets or prospects.

These types of players are 3rd options for their position. As for the Wizards. Maynor is fine for now. I think we will start to see him get more efficient as the team gels. Back up PG can be tricky. What do you want ? Pts ? A floor general that is part of the locker room chemistry ? Can you fill that role with other ball handlers like a point forward so even a player like Temple would do. Can Thomas get done what you need ? We still do have him in the wings to bring over eventually.

For me, I'm not overly concerned with whats going on there. That's easier to get worked out then other decisions they need to make and with Thomas in the wings, theey have some options.

Would I like a Blake or Kirk as the back up PG right now, oh course. But they have some time to work that out.

I don't disagree that Mack and Price are both journeymen, hands.

I even agree on Washington looking to upgrade their playmaking, which neither Price nor Mack are good at. However, while Maynor is a pure PG and foremost a playmaker, I think the Wizards severely mishandled upgrading the bench. They had things totally right at drafting Nate Wolters. Trading his rights and those of Arsalan Kaszemi (sp?) was a bad move. They really screwed up offering the BAE for Maynor.

I think the fallacy in thought was the Wizards overestimating worth of veteran status versus them clearly evaluating and predicting future success of unproven talent.

The way they waived Kendall Marshall shows how closed and fixed their thinking is. That guy is every bit the playmaker Maynor is. But since they spent all available cap money on Maynor they had nothing but to look bad with Marshall possibly outplaying Maynor.

What Washington might have done after trading for Rice Jr. that IMO would have shown real faith in their scouting is sign Lorenzo Brown. I will double check but I think Lo Brown went undrafted. Brown at NC St played a bit like John Wall. Very fast, athletic, and a distributor with the ability to score; I would much prefer taking a shot on a potentially good rookie. OKC did that and have Reggie Jackson. If not Wolters I believe Lo Brown would have been good.

PS -- My access to a functional computer is limited at the moment. Lots of probs researching and being sure when posting that my facts totally right. I THINK Brown went undrafted. Sorry if I am wrong. Regardless, paying for Maynor as the Wizards did IMO was very wrong.


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The Maynor signing was a double whammy. Not only is he far worse than Price was last year, but using the BAE on him carried an astronomical opportunity cost that caused us to miss out on a host of helpful players -- Darren Collison, Nate RObinson, Dajuan Blair, Billups, DJ AUgustin CJ Watston, Bernard James, etc.

Particularly on a team with playoff aspirations and depth issues, the Maynor has been a spectacular failure thus far.

[wizardry]

I don't think there can be enough b*tching about how bad the Maynor signing was.

For me the signature play of the game was when Mack pressed Wall in the backcourt, stole the ball, and layed it in. I'm sure win or lose, Mack went to bed feeling pretty good about himself after that play.

Then he turned the ball over and messed up any chance of winning the game. Nightmare

[montestewart]

I don't think there can be enough b*tching about how bad the Maynor signing was.

For me the signature play of the game was when Mack pressed Wall in the backcourt, stole the ball, and layed it in. I'm sure win or lose, Mack went to bed feeling pretty good about himself after that play.

Then he turned the ball over and messed up any chance of winning the game. Nightmare

Yep, he sure did, his second TO of the game, just as many as Maynor. In triple the minutes. Mack's 2 TOs went with 6 assists, Maynor's 2 TOs went with one assist. Mack was +8 in a losing effort, Maynor was -9 in a winning effort. Mack made that final TO playing against Wall, not Maynor, who Mack had already thoroughly outplayed.

Maynor replaced Price, who replaced Mack, yet Maynor looks like he's two steps down from Mack.

[wizardry]

I don't think there can be enough b*tching about how bad the Maynor signing was.

For me the signature play of the game was when Mack pressed Wall in the backcourt, stole the ball, and layed it in. I'm sure win or lose, Mack went to bed feeling pretty good about himself after that play.

Then he turned the ball over and messed up any chance of winning the game. Nightmare

Yep, he sure did, his second TO of the game, just as many as Maynor. In triple the minutes. Mack's 2 TOs went with 6 assists, Maynor's 2 TOs went with one assist. Mack was +8 in a losing effort, Maynor was -9 in a winning effort. Mack made that final TO playing against Wall, not Maynor, who Mack had already thoroughly outplayed.

Maynor replaced Price, who replaced Mack, yet Maynor looks like he's two steps down from Mack.

Yet we are 8-9 instead of 1-16. Go figure

[Zonkerbl]

Hey, where's the Orlando game thread?

[TGW]

Need more proof Maynor sucks? Well here ya go:



It's downright scary just how much this team sucks when Wall sits and Maynor checks in.

[montestewart]

^
I figured we'd have a 44-38 record this year. I figured Maynor would make no significant positive contribution to that record. So far, it looks like I figured right. Go figure.

[nuposse04]

Then he turned the ball over and messed up any chance of winning the game. Nightmare

Yep, he sure did, his second TO of the game, just as many as Maynor. In triple the minutes. Mack's 2 TOs went with 6 assists, Maynor's 2 TOs went with one assist. Mack was +8 in a losing effort, Maynor was -9 in a winning effort. Mack made that final TO playing against Wall, not Maynor, who Mack had already thoroughly outplayed.

Maynor replaced Price, who replaced Mack, yet Maynor looks like he's two steps down from Mack.

Yet we are 8-9 instead of 1-16. Go figure

Are you Maynor's significant other? It is the only explanation in how you can defend this travesty of a "NBA player"

[closg00]

Those guys didn't join us over the last year. Nene has not been a bargain, and Gortat is an expensive rental.

Webster = "even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while."

Gortat may be an expensive rental or he may resign at the right price and be a long-term contributor. That verdict is still out. And say what you want about the signing of Webster, he's a better player and better bargain than Landry Fields, the player you wanted the Zards to sign.

You forget DCZ

Nothing is until it is. The team is not good until it is turned into wins. And once it is turned into win, it isn't good because the wins aren't real win because the conference is weak or the players that people never wanted aren't signed long enough. Or they might get injured. Or because we didn't pick one of 50 player one of us or most of us felt they should have picked. And if we do have them signed, we don't have enough cap space to dream about the players we could want coming up.

Yet some how, they are getting better. Wall is growing. So is Beal. Webster is legit and worth what we paid him. Gortat has helped a ton. Wall is now making amazing bounce passes I never saw him make before Gortat got here. And we still might keep him. Hell we might keep Trevor A and trade Otto. We don't know what they will do moving forward. We only know where they were and where they are now. And where they are now is a good team and getting better.

Where is Cleveland who drafted so much better then us.
Where is BRK and NY who spent a butt ton of money.

There are a handful of top level teams. Indy, Miami, OKC, SA. I'm not even counting Portland until they start knocking off teams on that list.

After that, you have a large group of playoff teams that won't beat any of those top 4 in a 7 game series.

After that you have the rest. Tankers. Blown projects like NY and BRK look to be. Team that are in stage one or stage two of rebuilding. Thats the league.

We are not in this first group. We are in the 2nd group that are the playoff worthy teams. There is no shame in that for a team that did a total rebuild that is going into the 4th year. Specially when you have some young rising stars and some cap space. And extra specially if they end up 3rd of 4th in the conference with home court in a playoff series they can win.

Just imagine how far-long we would be in this now 2nd or 3rd? rebuild if Ernie Grunfeld wasn't responsible for:

* Talent evaluation
* Making draft choices/selections
* Signing FA's
* Negotiating player contracts
* Player Development

[mohammed10]

Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but...

Over our next 10 games, we have 5 “should” wins (ORL, MIL, @NYK, @BKN *Pierce Out, @BOS), 4 “can” wins (DEN, @ATL, @MIN, DET) , and 1 “improbable” win (LAC). So, realistically we could come out of that 7-3, giving us a 15-12 record, which I think would be good enough to get a playoff spot even in the vaunted in West (and if the playoffs started today).

[nate33]

In general, I think very few road games are "should" wins. @BKN and @BOS are "cans" in my book. That said, I would also rank the home game against LAC as "can" rather than "improbable". I think we are good enough to give any team in the league except San Antonio and Indy a run for their money at our home court.

Gotta watch out for Detroit though. I won't expect a win against them until it actually happens. They own us.

[mohammed10]

In general, I think very few road games are "should" wins. @BKN and @BOS are "cans" in my book. That said, I would also rank the home game against LAC as "can" rather than "improbable". I think we are good enough to give any team in the league except San Antonio and Indy a run for their money at our home court.

Gotta watch out for Detroit though. I won't expect a win against them until it actually happens. They own us.

Thanks for raining on my new positivity campaign, nate. JK