GT #53: Raptors (28-24) @ Wizards (25-27) 7 PM CSN

[Nivek]

Lowry is not better than Wall. He has a better coach and things are going well for them. Was anyone saying Lowry was better than Wall last year or even this year before they traded Gay? You cant cherry pick things. That team has come together and the system fits. Ours doesnt. Thats going to allow a guy to play better but that doesnt mean he's better. Do you really think we would be better right now with Lowry? Hell NO. Would any team trade Wall for Lowry straight up? Hell NO

Had the question come up last season, I would have said Lowry was about as productive as Wall last season. Wall's PPA was 139; Lowry's 133.

I don't think anyone is saying Lowry is better than Wall for all time, end of discussion. The point is that Lowry is better this season.

[Dat2U]

Lowry is better than Wall. Lowry was more deserving of All Star than Wall, mainly because of the Raptors' record.

Lowry proved his point in the win.

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Lowry is 27 years old in his 7th season (after two years of college exp), and has always been a solid player. He's been fortunate to play under a LOT of good coaches his whole career: Jay Wright, Mike Fratello, Rick Adelman, Kevin McHale. Compared to Wall who has developed under Calipari, Flip, Wittman. There are little veteran things Lowry does better than Wall, but it's quite apparent that Wall is on a trajectory to be a much better player.

Lowry vs Wall was hardly the focal point of this game anyways. It was about Toronto as a team consistently executing on both ends better than we did. There was no point at which I was like "Man, this Wall vs Lowry matchup is costing us the game".. it was more about our interior defense doing nothing, and no one other than John being able to create on offense.

I actually agree with CCJ that Lowry has been better this year but it's just a career year for Lowry and I'm not sure it's something he'll maintain beyond this season.

However your right, yesterday's loss had nothing to do with Wall vs. Lowry and everything to do with everyone else in the starting lineup coming up way short. Nene didn't want to battle. Gortat was two steps slow on every rotation it seemed, Ariza & Beal couldn't hit the broad side of the barn. None of that is on Wall.

[stevemcqueen1]

Toronto played a zone defense last night where they camped a big in the lane and we couldn't make them pay. Our wings were pretty terrible and our bigs barely move and so the floor doesn't get spaced. They left our wings open. We've got wings shooting 40% from three and they were getting left open.

Plain and simple, we're easy to defend. You don't have to work to cover our guys the whole game. Aside from Gortat, our bigs don't set the kinds of picks our guards need to find space, especially the guys on the bench. We don't build any movement into our offense, it's all high screen and rolls, two man game on the wings, and drive and kick to guys parked beyond the three point line, or dump off for an ISO play in the post by Gortat or Nene. It's a rudimentary offense. Only two guys are usually moving and involved. And the cumulative result is we play farther from the basket than our opponents, no matter if our players are actually better than theirs. Want to know why Wall and Beal settle for jumpers so much? That's the heart of it. There's a big in the lane. And we play against a tighter whistle than the opponents. This team doesn't really trust that they're better and don't really expect to win the tough calls and games night in and night out.

That's an indictment of this staff. One of many anyway.

Toronto is well coached and scored in close and kept us from doing the same. Their team plays good defense. And they've got everyone contributing. The best team ALWAYS beats the worse team with more talented players. Our guys are not coming together as a team the way they should. I blame Wall and the other team leaders for some of that. But I blame the leadership in the FO and on the bench for most of it. We need a new coaching staff plain and simple.

[jeffsays]

Toronto played a zone defense last night where they camped a big in the lane and we couldn't make them pay. Our wings were pretty terrible and our bigs barely move and so the floor doesn't get spaced. They left our wings open. We've got wings shooting 40% from three and they were getting left open.

Plain and simple, we're easy to defend. You don't have to work to cover our guys the whole game. Aside from Gortat, our bigs don't set the kinds of picks our guards need to find space, especially the guys on the bench. We don't build any movement into our offense, it's all high screen and rolls, two man game on the wings, and drive and kick to guys parked beyond the three point line, or dump off for an ISO play in the post by Gortat or Nene. It's a rudimentary offense. Only two guys are usually moving and involved. And the cumulative result is we play farther from the basket than our opponents, no matter if our players are actually better than theirs. Want to know why Wall and Beal settle for jumpers so much? That's the heart of it. There's a big in the lane. And we play against a tighter whistle than the opponents. This team doesn't really trust that they're better and don't really expect to win the tough calls and games night in and night out.

That's an indictment of this staff. One of many anyway.

Toronto is well coached and scored in close and kept us from doing the same. Their team plays good defense. And they've got everyone contributing. The best team ALWAYS beats the worse team with more talented players. Our guys are not coming together as a team the way they should. I blame Wall and the other team leaders for some of that. But I blame the leadership in the FO and on the bench for most of it. We need a new coaching staff plain and simple.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MrMichaelLee/status/436245256255070208[/tweet]

[dlts20]

Toronto played a zone defense last night where they camped a big in the lane and we couldn't make them pay. Our wings were pretty terrible and our bigs barely move and so the floor doesn't get spaced. They left our wings open. We've got wings shooting 40% from three and they were getting left open.

Plain and simple, we're easy to defend. You don't have to work to cover our guys the whole game. Aside from Gortat, our bigs don't set the kinds of picks our guards need to find space, especially the guys on the bench. We don't build any movement into our offense, it's all high screen and rolls, two man game on the wings, and drive and kick to guys parked beyond the three point line, or dump off for an ISO play in the post by Gortat or Nene. It's a rudimentary offense. Only two guys are usually moving and involved. And the cumulative result is we play farther from the basket than our opponents, no matter if our players are actually better than theirs. Want to know why Wall and Beal settle for jumpers so much? That's the heart of it. There's a big in the lane. And we play against a tighter whistle than the opponents. This team doesn't really trust that they're better and don't really expect to win the tough calls and games night in and night out.

That's an indictment of this staff. One of many anyway.

Toronto is well coached and scored in close and kept us from doing the same. Their team plays good defense. And they've got everyone contributing. The best team ALWAYS beats the worse team with more talented players. Our guys are not coming together as a team the way they should. I blame Wall and the other team leaders for some of that. But I blame the leadership in the FO and on the bench for most of it. We need a new coaching staff plain and simple.

this is my main point and people dont see it. Our O isnt designed for the bigs to free up Wall. Its actually designed for the D to stay with the PG and then he throws it back or takes a J. Its nearly impossible to get to the rim and if u do then the D will be waiting on you for a highly contested basket. It gives Wall no advantage.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Is Nene allergic to rebounding? He had only 5 rebounds....

At that size to rebound so poorly has to be about effort. He has to be my least favorite Wizard

Can't say I agree with any of your Nene posts. IMO Nene is the opposite of Gortat. Nene's a far more impactful player even if he doesnt fill the stat sheet. Gortat on the other hand will give you better numbers but is a ball stopper in the post, is consistently slow to rotate and is soft as butter on both ends of the floor.

My observation is that this team relies too heavily on Nene and John to create offense since they have no one else who can create for themselves. Maybe part of it is the scheme, but since Beal's funk, Wall and Nene seem to be pressing. Then there's the interior defense which is such an obvious problem, it's not even worth talking about.

I think just the opposite. The Wizards lose because roles are rigid. Hero shots are only taken by Wall. Beal is considered far more effective than Webster or Ariza at SG. Guys like Vesely and Seraphin are behind Booker because youth wait or play elsewhere. Seraphin with Booker seasons back were an effective defensive tandem in sparse minutes. Those lineups will never play together because Washington has to ride Nene all game even if his PER and WS/48 are in free fall. No rebounds from Nene. In 30 minutes is tolerated. However, Vesely can play 3 minutes and grab 4 rebounds but get yanked. He's not going to get the chance to succeed.

Washington is no longer Nene and Wall. Nene is declining rapidly while Wall is often playing shoot first ball.

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[TGW]

Nene is declining rapidly while

Wall is often playing shoot first ball.

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Not true. Wall has been passing the ball well...Ariza, Webster, and especially Beal miss a ton of shots. Last night, he should have had double-digit assists, but our wings shot 6-23.

I know you have an axe to grind with Wall, but sometimes your analysis is off (I'm thinking you probably don't watch the games, but instead look at the boxscores). Wall does his job on this team...everyone else doesn't except for Ariza. It's that simple.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

but thats the question. Is Witt the reason they dont know how to close? His horrible system and inept coaching. You can clearly see that even the Raps are a better coached team. I cant stand this system. It gives us no advantage on O at any time. None

We would would win more games with a better coach, there's no question there, but does it really matter? This team isn't very good on paper or otherwise -- Wittman just makes them even worse.

Agreed. Randy Wittman is not the problem, even if he's just a decent coach. EG and Ted are much more to blame. The players are collectively mediocre.

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[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

No shame in that. Lowry is a very good player.

Players like Lowry and Dragic (and Calderone) will never get the respect they deserve compared to the Walls and Westbrooks.

Precisely, AFM.

Lowry was really good even on the Villanova Final Four team. Foye got more credit. Kyle Lowry is finally getting to be a star. He's not an all star only because of others being hyped more.

Dragic had stud numbers and IIRC once had like 20 plus points in a half of a playoff game. He was behind either Nash or on another team. Two years back I assessed Goran Dragic to be slightly better than Wall.
Others will disagree vehemently with me. My rationale: I view Wall as about as good as Caron Butler at Caron's best for the Wizards. Flawed but certainly all star offensively at his peak. John's defensive ability reminds me of peak Larry Hughes, when Hughes was putting up similar numbers to Gilbert Arenas. At the time, Eddie Jordan almost coached the all star game. IIRC Hughes led the league or was near thr top in steals. However, Hughes gambled for steals. He had no answer for Dwayne Wade. Larry Hughes made defensive team.. HOWEVER, his defensive ability was less than DeShawn Stevenson. DS really was a physical defender. He even trief to stay right in Lebron's grill. Called James overrated. That guy has huge ones. Later as a Dallas Maverick, DeShawn and Shawn Marion clowned on James as Dallas beat Miami. Wall's not like DeShawn defensively IMO. He's more like Hughes wss.

Wall's defense is overrated and his floor game at "ISO Balll Time" is generally more miss than hit. I rate Lowry or Dragic high because they're stronger in SOME AREAS than Wall.

If any of my haters are still reading, the Great News is that John Wall is a young buck. He's IMO a puppy thst if he gets tougher and smarter, keeps working hard, and stays humble; Wall's potential is sky freaking high!

He has been in the league three years and over a half. But then again, coaching and his GM and owner have been slowly surrounding Wall to be able to excel. Wall ain't a Magic Johnson or an MJ or a Kobe. He could be a Payton or Cassell or Kidd with extreme athleticism. Wall's got no Durant or Harden next to him like Russell Westbrook had his formative years.

So, despite my hard grade I remain hopeful. My only criticism might be I don't think next season Wsll will produce like a max deal player. I hope petulance or pride don't form to keep Wall from improving. He's still got a LOT to learn.

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Foye was the better player than Lowry at Villanova (which only made it to the elite 8). It was hard to determine really whether Lowry had good point guard skills back then given Villanova 4 guard lineup. Still Lowry was young at 20; he should have went higher than he did in the NBA draft.

Oops. Search engine better than my recall ... big time!

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[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Lowry is better than Wall. Lowry was more deserving of All Star than Wall, mainly because of the Raptors' record.

Lowry proved his point in the win.

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Lowry is 27 years old in his 7th season (after two years of college exp), and has always been a solid player. He's been fortunate to play under a LOT of good coaches his whole career: Jay Wright, Mike Fratello, Rick Adelman, Kevin McHale. Compared to Wall who has developed under Calipari, Flip, Wittman. There are little veteran things Lowry does better than Wall, but it's quite apparent that Wall is on a trajectory to be a much better player.

Lowry vs Wall was hardly the focal point of this game anyways. It was about Toronto as a team consistently executing on both ends better than we did. There was no point at which I was like "Man, this Wall vs Lowry matchup is costing us the game".. it was more about our interior defense doing nothing, and no one other than John being able to create on offense.

No argument on anything you said.

At 27 Lowry should feel slighted. I wish Wall might have been left off in favor of an older, right now better IMO player.

An angry Wall would have more motivation to prove doubters wrong.

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[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Nene is declining rapidly while

Wall is often playing shoot first ball.

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Not true. Wall has been passing the ball well...Ariza, Webster, and especially Beal miss a ton of shots. Last night, he should have had double-digit assists, but our wings shot 6-23.

I know you have an axe to grind with Wall, but sometimes your analysis is off (I'm thinking you probably don't watch the games, but instead look at the boxscores). Wall does his job on this team...everyone else doesn't except for Ariza. It's that simple.

I am watching the box score.

Of course I can be wrong.

I defy you to find a post where I say Wall isn't doing his job.

Wall moves the ball around is IMO too general. Specifically, when and to whom does the ball go? Are the Wizards better when Wall takes more shots or when he has more assists?

I just make inferences from splits, on/off, advanced box scores, etc. Yes, TGW, I make my share of mistaken analyses.

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[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Lowry is better than Wall. Lowry was more deserving of All Star than Wall, mainly because of the Raptors' record.

Lowry proved his point in the win.

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Lowry is 27 years old in his 7th season (after two years of college exp), and has always been a solid player. He's been fortunate to play under a LOT of good coaches his whole career: Jay Wright, Mike Fratello, Rick Adelman, Kevin McHale. Compared to Wall who has developed under Calipari, Flip, Wittman. There are little veteran things Lowry does better than Wall, but it's quite apparent that Wall is on a trajectory to be a much better player.

Lowry vs Wall was hardly the focal point of this game anyways. It was about Toronto as a team consistently executing on both ends better than we did. There was no point at which I was like "Man, this Wall vs Lowry matchup is costing us the game".. it was more about our interior defense doing nothing, and no one other than John being able to create on offense.

I actually agree with CCJ that Lowry has been better this year but it's just a career year for Lowry and I'm not sure it's something he'll maintain beyond this season.

However your right, yesterday's loss had nothing to do with Wall vs. Lowry and everything to do with everyone else in the starting lineup coming up way short. Nene didn't want to battle. Gortat was two steps slow on every rotation it seemed, Ariza & Beal couldn't hit the broad side of the barn. None of that is on Wall.

Rev up the tank. I am down with losing, too.

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[dckingsfan]

And just who is going to do the selling in that model ?

It to late for that.

Best they can do it let EG make some small trade. Ted needs to just override anything other then that.
Fire Randy and put Newman in charge. Something they should have already done.

Then let EG go at the end of the year when his contract expires.

That's more realistic.

EG shouldn't be able to survive another coaching change... if they make a change, make a 2 fer

Just trying to be realistic. I know it feels good to say what you are saying but....

They are shooting for the playoffs. I doubt they fire the EG and the HC. It would be to disruptive.
They aren't selling off everything and tanking. Wouldn't fit that plan and if they did, you are talking about EG doing that in the next 2 days. Not happening. They will add someone.

But what would be reasonable to expect they could do is what I wrote. If you think of something else that is with in reasonable expectations at this stage, then by all means, let me know.

Cuz...

There is what feels good to write.
There is what we would have wanted them to do
There is what we think is realistic that we want them to do now, soon and in the future.
And there is what is realistic that we can project they would do now, soon and in the future.

I was chiming in regarding what I think they would do soon.

I just don't see them going down 4, 5, certainly not 6 games, and Randy surviving that.

And like it or not, they aren't firing EG before the trade deadline. Firing him after doesn't really matter that much so you may as well keep him and keep things looking stable as you go into the playoffs. You can fire him after the season is over.

Agreed, hence why neither EG or Witt will be fired before the end of the season. And if we somehow manage to win a playoff series - both will be extended.

[dckingsfan]

but thats the question. Is Witt the reason they dont know how to close? His horrible system and inept coaching. You can clearly see that even the Raps are a better coached team. I cant stand this system. It gives us no advantage on O at any time. None

We would would win more games with a better coach, there's no question there, but does it really matter? This team isn't very good on paper or otherwise -- Wittman just makes them even worse.

Agreed. Randy Wittman is not the problem, even if he's just a decent coach. EG and Ted are much more to blame. The players are collectively mediocre.

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ding, ding, ding

[dckingsfan]

At this point, you just throw your hands up. Right as this team looked like they were about to turn the corner, they fell smack on there face. You look at the past loses (before tonight's game) and you have a double OT lose against SA, a 2 point loss to CLEV, a 3 point loss against MEM, and that 1 point robbery in HOU. Go back even further to the next three loses and you have a 3 point loss to LAC, at 3 point loss to, and a 2 point loss to BOS.
We've lost 6 of the last 7 be less than 3 points and another by 7 in double OT. Than you through in all of those horrible home loses against crappy road teams.

Losing a ton of close games, losing to bad road teams at home, and players going from crap to great games one game to the next is on Wittman. You guys can say what you want about EG, Wittman, Ted. They all suck, I'll give you that, but I know this team is better than our record, we could easily be on pace for 50 wins even with a few of those bad loses still tagged onto us. Not trying to be optimistic here, but I don't think the roster is anywhere near the biggest problem with this team, the head honchos are.

You lost me at 50 win team... this team doesn't know how to close YET - Wall/Beal. This is a young maybe .500 team. Even though they have the vets - Wall/Beal are the drivers - and they just aren't there yet.

but thats the question. Is Witt the reason they dont know how to close? His horrible system and inept coaching. You can clearly see that even the Raps are a better coached team. I cant stand this system. It gives us no advantage on O at any time. None

Really good coach and we might be 2 or 3 games above .500... below average coach like Witt and we are a couple of games below .500. 5 game swing is a lot of influence by a coach - but we are still just a mediocre team...