GT #50 Sacramento Kings @ Washington Wizards 6pm 02/09/14

[queridiculo]

Noel in my opinion was clearly the BPA, injury and all. Porter was a lukewarm consolation as the healthiest BPA. As hindsight gets sharper and sharper, acquiring all-star caliber youth in both the frontcourt and backcourt would have been the best option as opposed to filling up roster spots with spot-up shooters for Wall.

Doesn't really require hindsight to arrive at that conclusion.

Going into the draft the Wizards frontcourt consisted of two aging bigs with a history of injury problems that weren't going to be part of the teams future.

Projecting this team as a playoff candidate, the Wizards weren't very likely to get another high lottery selection, so you would think that any GM with a bit of foresight would jump on the opportunity to draft a big that was long considered the only blue chip prospect available that year.

[LyricalRico]

I'll take the W but that game was ugly. Up 17, you gotta put a terrible team away. That's a perfect "rest the starters" situation, especially with a back to back coming up.

As long as Witless is in charge we'll never be better than ~.500. Terrible coach is terrible.

I'm also not a Wittman fan, but beating a scrub team at home is actually progress for this group so I'll take it.

[queridiculo]

OP is still a good prospect. That could change but no one knows yet either.
Some folks here post like they have infallible crystal balls.

Both selections were crapshoots, but if you're going to take a chance why not at the position that's a glaring weakness and at the same time the hardest position to fill?

The logic of selecting Porter makes even less sense when you factor Webster being resigned. WTF?

[payitforward]

we don't know how Noel is going to turn out. There were reasonable reasons to
pass on him, an injured 205 lb C with little demonstrated offensive game being the
prime one(s).

He could turn out to be defensive gold. But we don't know that yet.

OP is still a good prospect. That could change but no one knows yet either.
Some folks here post like they have infallible crystal balls.

I agree. Otto wasn't a bad pick. We'd all like him to have come out of the chute and been good right away, so we're disappointed that he didn't. That's altogether different from saying that he is a disappointment.

Of course I wanted us to trade down to get MC-W, Adams, Giannis and Wolters. But, then, I'm a genius. Not only do I have crystal balls, but I piss Veuve Cliquot.

[jivelikenice]

I'll take the W but that game was ugly. Up 17, you gotta put a terrible team away. That's a perfect "rest the starters" situation, especially with a back to back coming up.

As long as Witless is in charge we'll never be better than ~.500. Terrible coach is terrible.

I'm also not a Wittman fan, but beating a scrub team at home is actually progress for this group so I'll take it.

My issue with how Wittman approached the second half was how Nene heavy they went. This seems to be a pattern when we get up big early. Nene was struggling in the 3rd and Gortat could have had his way with Acy. They should have gone to him repeatedly but Nene/Seraphin got more touches while Sacramento made their run.

[payitforward]

OP is still a good prospect. That could change but no one knows yet either.
Some folks here post like they have infallible crystal balls.

Both selections were crapshoots, but if you're going to take a chance why not at the position that's a glaring weakness and at the same time the hardest position to fill?

The logic of selecting Porter makes even less sense when you factor Webster being resigned. WTF?

Porter had a terrific, productive two years of top-level NCAA ball. His numbers were outstanding. I wouldn't call him a crapshoot.

Noel had one year of ball and had a significant injury. That's what I call a crapshoot.

Unless, of course, what you mean is that *all* draft picks are crapshoots -- which is true in some sense -- so why not swing for the fences. Most jumpers don't go in, so why not take an early 3 every time you have the ball?

Whether Porter works out, the pick was ok. Just as a player can be good but the trade you used to acquire him was awful, so too a player can be a good pick independent of whether he works out.

Now if you overpay for a guy who isn't even a good player! That's different; that's Ernie. And if you draft someone where there's little reason to think the guy will be worth the pick, like Vesely, that's Ernie too.

[jeffsays]

Maybe Ernie wanted Otto to learn from Ariza for a year. If we Otto could play 3/4's as good as Ariza then I'd say we made a good choice. Hopefully he can become a 3 and D type of player.

[dobrojim]

My issue with how Wittman approached the second half was how Nene heavy they went. This seems to be a pattern when we get up big early. Nene was struggling in the 3rd and Gortat could have had his way with Acy. They should have gone to him repeatedly but Nene/Seraphin got more touches while Sacramento made their run.

Bigger issue as raised by Glen Consor post and during the game was why Wall didn't attack the
rim with the puny Thomas on him. If a guy is scorching you. one approach to slowing him
down should always be to make them play defense.

It's been said before (and I was talking about driving to the rim^) but it would be great
if John developed a decent postup game since he does have a size advantage in many games.
Sometimes teams can hurt themselves by changing too much of what they do to exploit
matchups but it's still a useful skill. Gary Payton, where are you? Or heck, just get John
to go to big man camp. Having good to excellent footwork is probably important to a lot
of positions.

[payitforward]

Noel in my opinion was clearly the BPA, injury and all. Porter was a lukewarm consolation as the healthiest BPA. As hindsight gets sharper and sharper, acquiring all-star caliber youth in both the frontcourt and backcourt would have been the best option as opposed to filling up roster spots with spot-up shooters for Wall.

Doesn't really require hindsight to arrive at that conclusion.

Going into the draft the Wizards frontcourt consisted of two aging bigs with a history of injury problems that weren't going to be part of the teams future.

Projecting this team as a playoff candidate, the Wizards weren't very likely to get another high lottery selection, so you would think that any GM with a bit of foresight would jump on the opportunity to draft a big that was long considered the only blue chip prospect available that year.

You really think this?

I think you always take the BPA -- no exceptions. Players are assets; the higher value of your assets the more you can get for them. Seems pretty straightforward. If there just isn't any guy at all you can bring yourself to take then you trade down for two picks, which has the additional benefit of allowing you to spread that "crapshoot" risk.

As to pancakes saying that Noel was the BPA "injury and all" that amounts to no more than declaring that he won't weigh the injury in the decision. Moreover, he is most certainly factoring in Otto's own injury and minimal playing time, as you are. But there was no reason to expect this problem with Porter.

Neither of these guys has played; we don't know whether either of them will be any good. I'm no fan of Ernie, let me tell you -- he's an incompetent bozo and on top of that he's full of self-satisfaction. I wish he'd forget the way in to work. But, picking Otto Porter ain't a nail in the grave of his GM-dom in my book. Though what's the difference? It's all nailed shut.

[queridiculo]

I'm not factoring Porter's playing time at all, I thought Noel was the better prospect all along, and voiced my displeasure about Otto's selection that same day, for precisely those reasons.

I absolutely hated the pick, not because of Porter, but because we passed on the better prospect at a position that was of far greater need.

[pancakes3]

I had Noel pegged as the #1 overall even after his injury. I think most on this board had him as a consensus #1. I was floored that he fell the way he did. I won't deny that I'm fairly optimistic about Noel's recovery especially after the recent success of ligament injuries of other athletes. Plus I think what made Noel a stud defender wasn't his athleticism (doesn't hurt) but rather his instincts. He had quick hands, good anticipation, and the hustle/desire to scrap. He doesn't rely on his athleticism like say... Josh Smith does. He's more of a Marion-esque defender.

[jivelikenice]

I won't deny that I'm fairly optimistic about Noel's recovery especially after the recent success of ligament injuries of other athletes.

In the NBA or other sports?

[pancakes3]

I'm sure you're alluding to Peterson and RG3 but honestly I was optimistic because a couple of my friends in med school (one of which observed James Andrews for a few weeks) keep telling me that the knee ligament recovery process has really come a LONG way in the 2000's. It's really not a matter of IF but WHEN regarding comebacks now. Feet are a different issue.

That, and also this very encouraging WSJ article that features our own ACL-recovered Center Nene:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... mod%3De2tw

[Upper Decker]

Wizards fans........ were winning a game and finding everything to bitch about is commonplace. If your gonna be mad, be mad about the two previous games. Yeah this game was lackluster, but we got a relatively easy W. And, oh my, oh my, the Porter hate is getting ridiculous. The kid is in a lose-lose-lose situation and people here are acting like he's the worst player ever.

He's not the worst play ever. He's just the 3rd worst player who has played at least 20 games and at least 9 MPG this season. Marquis Teague has a PER of 2.3, Anthony Bennett has a PER of 4.1, Porter's is 4.2.

[Nivek]

Wizards fans........ were winning a game and finding everything to bitch about is commonplace. If your gonna be mad, be mad about the two previous games. Yeah this game was lackluster, but we got a relatively easy W. And, oh my, oh my, the Porter hate is getting ridiculous. The kid is in a lose-lose-lose situation and people here are acting like he's the worst player ever.

He's not the worst play ever. He's just the 3rd worst player who has played at least 20 games and at least 9 MPG this season. Marquis Teague has a PER of 2.3, Anthony Bennett has a PER of 4.1, Porter's is 4.2.

Yeah, but PER has serious issues. If you go by my stat, 10 players have been less productive per minute than Porter this season (minimum 200 minutes).

[hands11]

Given the Webster signing and how good Ariza looks now, I'd rather have Noel now. And at the time I would've been ecstatic getting Noel.

Now you're in a bad situation -- you can't keep all three of Ariza, Webster, and Porter on the roster, that's just bad asset management. But you can't trade Porter and Webster is overpaid (not by much, but still). The idea all along has been to trade Ariza to a contending team for assets and the cap space to attract a good free agent, but that logic fails if we're in the playoff race.

You know what? Screw the playoffs. Trade Ariza. For once follow through on the logical course of action. Of the three assets we have at SF he's the most valuable. Trade him!

One thing they didn't count on was Otto getting injured in preseason and staying out so long. I think they expected him to be contributing so they could either trade TA or trade him for value. Add Randy not playing him now that he is healthy and that pretty much the worst case scenario.

[hands11]

I like Webster but i am not convinced that signing him was the right use of the MLE. I would have rather used at least part of the MLE to sign Nate/Collison. I think the next priority should have been a big man. We could have always signed Cartier to be our 3rd small forward.

Trading our #3 pick and taking Olynyk to stretch 4 or Adams as the big while keeping Wolters and maybe Reggie Bullock would've dramatically helped. Wolters 7/2/3 in 21 mins at the backup PG spot could really help

Lots of scenarios would have worked. Specially on a trade back. We could have even done well if we didn't land the #3 and stayed back in the #9/10 range.

But the safe bet at #3 was Burke or Len and Len made the most sense. On a trade back, CJM or Adams were the safe bets. Noel may end up being productive but that growth plate and ACL injuries worries me to much.

[drstone22]

Something is telling me Cousins and Wall went out partying together last night. Both of them are playing poorly.

Exactly my thoughts.

[drstone22]

Bottom line pulled out a hungover game over a crap team other years this would would be an L for sure.

How about over under on drinks.

Wall six
Beal zero no ID
Ariza six
Gort four
Nene. Zero
Book seven
Webster four
Ves seven
Kevin three

[montestewart]

Bottom line pulled out a hungover game over a crap team other years this would would be an L for sure.

How about over under on drinks.

Wall six
Beal zero no ID
Ariza six
Gort four
Nene. Zero
Book seven
Webster four
Ves seven
Kevin three

Vesely's drink is a White Czech: vodka, Jagermeister, peppermint schnapps, and cream. After seven of those, he starts yelling "I'M THE MAN!"