Player of the Game - Wiz at Raptors (2/27/14)

[Soup's Uncle]

I'm gonna go with Gor-Swat (4 blocks).

[Soup's Uncle]

BTW, anybody know what Gortat's numbers were last season compared to this season. You'd think he'd dig playing with a guy like Wall.

Sign for cheap sign for cheap sign for cheap

[pancakes3]

BTW, anybody know what Gortat's numbers were last season compared to this season. You'd think he'd dig playing with a guy like Wall.

Sign for cheap sign for cheap sign for cheap

He's pretty much putting up identical numbers, on identical percentages, in similar minutes. DC is more expensive to live in than Phoenix though so it might warrant a COLA pay bump?

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

It took me a couple overtimes to get over the fact Gortat missed a few late free throws that would have sealed the game and prevented all the extra time. Combined with the massive amounts of clutch Wall showed on D, as well as his late bucket on Psycho T, I'd go Wall… barely… (and man am I developing a love for Gortat on and off the court. Love having a guy like that on the team.)

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

A great article in the Washington Post complete with vines and GIFs of Wall's highlights:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2014/02/28/five-john-wall-highlights-in-wizards-win-over-raptors/


So great to see him play clutch like that on both ends… and flying out of bounds.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

It took me a couple overtimes to get over the fact Gortat missed a few late free throws that would have sealed the game and prevented all the extra time. Combined with the massive amounts of clutch Wall showed on D, as well as his late bucket on Psycho T, I'd go Wall… barely… (and man am I developing a love for Gortat on and off the court. Love having a guy like that on the team.)

That's the beauty about Wall's game that you can make an argument of him being better than Arenas. While Arenas in his prime was a much better scorer, he didn't have the ability for the most part to make the big plays on defense. Wall is among, if not the best, shoot blocking guards in the league, is top five in steals, and when he puts his mind to it can be a dog on defense. Arenas was only clutch on one side of the ball, while John can do it on both ends (although Wall still needs to do a lot to catch up on the offensive end).

[stevemcqueen1]

Wall already does more to make his team better than Gil ever did. He's going to be a much better and more successful player than Gil was. The Wizards were a mediocre .500 team with or without Gil back then.

Wall's team should win 45 games this season. Really, if they win the rest of the games that they should, they'd win 48 this year. This is mostly the same group that went 5-28 without him last season and drops to the league's worst offense by far the moment he steps off the court.

Gil was a far better shooter and scorer in his prime than Wall is, but Wall is already a better basketball player than he was.

[AFM]

Nah
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... 01&y2=2014

Still think Prime Gil was better.

[GhostsOfGil]

Nah
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... 01&y2=2014

Still think Prime Gil was better.

It's not even close. Imagine this team with Gil instead of Wall. Gil was getting to the line 10 times per game in his prime with an oRTG of 115.

Proof:
http://www.bulletsforever.com/2014/2/28 ... price-hoop

[ozthegandp]

Wall. Gortat couldn't have got most of his without wall. Wall would of got most of his anyway. Plus The block. and steals in final ot.

[GhostsOfGil]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB0jivL5hg8[/youtube]

[nate33]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB0jivL5hg8[/youtube]

Interesting.

Barkley argues that the Wizards should be pretty good because nobody else in the East outside of Indiana and Miami has 4 guys as good as Wall, Nene, Gortat and Beal. I think he's got it right except that he should insert Ariza in place of Beal.

Talentwise, I think it's safe to say that the Wizards have the 3rd best top 4 in the East. If Beal can figure things out down the stretch and actually become the top 10(ish) SG he is touted to be, things could get interesting.

[pancakes3]

I think everyone knew that more or less going into this season that the starters were talented. The problem came in depth, fit, and growth.

Depth: I still don't think we have it. Andre Miller is a good short term fix but I'd still put backup pg as a top priority going into next season. On top of that, backup C is tissue thin as well. Seraphin is ok but underwhelming. Nene would actually be a dream backup but that means we have a huge hole at starting PF.

Fit: Nene and Gortat are space-eaters. The pnr with Gortat worked MUCH better without Nene clogging things up. I always thought Nene with his injury risk and age would be better as a stabilizing factor on the 2nd unit. The problem is that we had to sacrifice fit because we lack talent.

Growth: Beal turned the ball over twice last night in 3OT. Will he develop even mediocre handles so that he's not completely useless in crunch time? Wall definitely looked like he has turned another corner but it wasn't that much long ago we were still chastising him for taking too many long 2's. He took a long two at the end of 2OT instead of driving to the rim. Will Seraphin develop? Will Singleton? These are all questions that relate to the first two.

So I guess give EG his props. He's assembled (as Barkley says) on paper some nice pieces. That doesn't excuse his blunders though - especially the more glaring ones like Porter over Noel, our lack of draft picks, and whiffing on Ves.

[stevemcqueen1]

Nah
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... 01&y2=2014

Still think Prime Gil was better.

What was our record that year though? 41-41. That team backslid into the postseason then got swept in the first round by Cleveland.

Wall has a serious chance to blow by those results as early as this season.

Would you really want to argue that Wall's supporting cast this season is better than Gil's was back then? Or that the league and the East was so much tougher back then?

Again, your comparison shows that Gil was a better shooter and scorer than Wall. But that's it. It's a restatement of the same argument of Wall vs. Kyrie Irving, although prime Gil was better than Kyrie. There is so much more to consider when you're talking about a basketball player as a whole. Leadership, playmaking--getting the winning plays done and uplifting teammates, defense, etc. Wall already has peak Gil soundly beat in each of those areas. And that's the biggest reason why Wall is going to have so much more success than Gil did because those qualities together are the most essential concerns of basketball.

[stevemcqueen1]

Nah
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... 01&y2=2014

Still think Prime Gil was better.

It's not even close. Imagine this team with Gil instead of Wall. Gil was getting to the line 10 times per game in his prime with an oRTG of 115.

Proof:
http://www.bulletsforever.com/2014/2/28 ... price-hoop

This team would be WORSE with Gil than Wall because Gil didn't have nearly the ability to lead and make his teammates better that Wall does.

Do you really think this team could go .500 if Wall missed a season like Gil's did?

Also, check out that defensive rating that Gil paired with his ORtg.

[dangermouse]

Fit: Nene and Gortat are space-eaters. The pnr with Gortat worked MUCH better without Nene clogging things up.

This is so true. Wall and The Polish Machine (he earned his preferred nickname last night) carved them up.

If we could somehow move Nene for a decent stretch 4 who rebounds well, we'd be laughin'.

[WallToWall]

Fit: Nene and Gortat are space-eaters. The pnr with Gortat worked MUCH better without Nene clogging things up.

This is so true. Wall and The Polish Machine (he earned his preferred nickname last night) carved them up.

If we could somehow move Nene for a decent stretch 4 who rebounds well, we'd be laughin'.

We need a poor man's version of Dirk Nowitzki... who's available on the cheap?

[pineappleheadindc]

The Indian couple in the front row of baseline seats after John Wall steps over Lowry.