GT #44: Wizards @ Blazers 10 PM (CSN/99.1 FM) [1/24/15]

[FAH1223]

YOUR Washington Bullets are 29-14! And they just let a golden opportunity slip away vs. the OKC Thunder in Overtime. The Wiz had no answer for DC's own son, Kevin Durant, and his electric side kick Russell Westbrook. The Wizards lost only their 2nd game of the season while leading after half time and the first came in OKC earlier this month. It's safe to say that the Wiz are glad to not have to play that team for the rest of the year!

Next, the Wizards begin a pivotal 4 game trip out west. The first stop is to Portland, OR for a Saturday night showdown vs. the short handed Blazers. Lamarcus Aldridge, the best player for Portland, injured his hand and has a thumb injury but in a sudden turn of events WILL PLAY and put off surgery . Brook.. I mean, Robin Lopez has been out for weeks and will miss this game. Chris Kaman is starting and the Blazers will most probably start small with Batum or Wright playing the PF spot.

wILL THE Wizards rebound? Will they let Portland jump all over them for threes?? Will Wall let another Western Conference PG in Lillard to cook him as Westbrook did in DC? Oh and will Bradley Beal stop sucking? Like Amazingly sucky with the dribble hand offs and getting trapped sucky?


HERE'S your lineups.





-------------------------AT-------------------------


Last game:
OKC Thunder vs. Wizards (L) 105-103 (OT)
Celtics vs. Trail Blazers - (L) 90-89


Lineups:











Bench:











Will Not Play:

[Illmatic12]

[Tricky_Kid]

please waive him ASAP

[Illmatic12]

please waive him ASAP

Or we can keep him around as a player/coach.. basically the Al Harrington role from last year.

But he shouldn't be seeing minutes.

I would actually rather have Harrington, he could stretch the floor.

[hands11]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-bas ... n-in-china

[dckingsfan]

please waive him ASAP

Or we can keep him around as a player/coach.. basically the Al Harrington role from last year.

But he shouldn't be seeing minutes.

I would actually rather have Harrington, he could stretch the floor.

I think as soon as Temple got major minutes, you would be ripping your hair out. Flaws with the team are exposed by good teams. Lack of a competent backup PG is one of the flaws on the team. And we need him to play minutes or we are going to see a run down (or injured) Wall come playoff time.

The good news is we are very good against the bad teams - and that will help our playoff seeding.

[Sonny Carson]

I come in peace.

Hopefully last game taught Wall that he needs to be more aggressive. I'm not sure Westbrook is more talented. He just goes for it more.

Expect Dame to go at Wall. He needs to do the same.

However, you win last game if Beal could make a shot. Surprised he's not playing better.

[FAH1223]

I come in peace.

Hopefully last game taught Wall that he needs to be more aggressive. I'm not sure Westbrook is more talented. He just goes for it more.

Expect Dame to go at Wall. He needs to do the same.

However, you win last game if Beal could make a shot. Surprised he's not playing better.

Beal sucks. I'm increasingly losing patience with his 4-20 shooting nights.

He does play good defense in general and rebounds well for a SG.

But man, I wish we had anyone who can coach an NBA offense.

[tontoz]

Portland is missing 2 starters. This should be a win.

Beal needs to get his head out of his ass and start producing to back up his "best backcourt" talk.

[Zonkerbl]

Sorry guys, will be rooting for Rip City on this one.

Haha, just kidding. I miss Clyde Drexler though.

[J-Ves]

I think Beal needs to overhaul his NBA game and become a more typical 3 and D SG. Efficiency needs to be the name of the game for him, eliminate the long twos as much as possible even if it means less scoring opportunities.

Also, Beal with the 2nd unit just doesn't work. I don't blame Randy for trying this as bringing the bench in wholesale can be a disaster, but bringing Beal in with this group doesn't fit his skill set. I would much rather they try pulling Gortat out early in the first and inserting him with the second unit, maybe he and Hump can crash the offensive glass.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[dlts20]

That is now I believe 13 of 15 games that Wall hasnt scored 20 and in most of them he hasnt gotten close. He's just lost all aggressiveness in that regard. Not only that but I think it has even taken off some of his passing aggression because his assist are also dropping. Seemingly, the only time he even tries to get aggressive is when the opposing pg is lighting him up but even that is starting to wane.

The 2 games he has scored 20 is our biggest wins in SA and at Chi. He looks like "chill mode" Lebron and he cant dont that when we are playing the elite teams. You can say he took 17 shots last night but they werent real shots. He passed up a ton of open looks and mostly only shot when forced and with no confidence until that one stretch. He got into the lane with ease yesterday and never even looked at the rim. Now they were good passes but you have to look to score sometimes.

I think he got into this mode where he passes non stop and then tries to turn it on in the 2nd half but he's not a great enough scorer to do that. He has to be locked in from the tip. No matter what you think of him in terms of being a scorer, he is not this bad. He is much more likely to get 10 now then he is 20 and something is wrong with that. Maybe it wouldnt be so bad if her were still getting 13apg like he was doing in that one stretch. 14 or 15pts isnt that bad then but now he's getting 8 or 9 in alot of games with just 11-14pts. Its not enough.

I want to see the aggressive Wall come back. You cant rely on an injuried Nene, and old Pierce, and inconsistent Beal, and old Butler, a basically rookie Porter, KS, and an injuried Webster. You cant keep counting on them. YOu have to lead the way. At this point in his career he should be "trying" to be a Superstar. All the other pg's are and he's not. That doesnt mean he should try to go for 30 but he's capable of being a 20 & 10 game or darn near it and he's not trying it. He gets in these modes. His J has been more consistent, he's finishing better then earlier in the year, he can post up, and he has a floater. He's added more to his game and is now doing less with it. He has to be more aggressive, bottom line

[Higga]

Hopefully Wall brings it vs. Lillard after Westbrook buried us last night.

Will be a tough game for sure but we did win there last year and on our last road trip we won the opener in Houston.

[hands11]

I come in peace.

Hopefully last game taught Wall that he needs to be more aggressive. I'm not sure Westbrook is more talented. He just goes for it more.

Expect Dame to go at Wall. He needs to do the same.

However, you win last game if Beal could make a shot. Surprised he's not playing better.

Beal sucks. I'm increasingly losing patience with his 4-20 shooting nights.

He does play good defense in general and rebounds well for a SG.

But man, I wish we had anyone who can coach an NBA offense.

Right. All two of them he has had this season.

One 4-18 on 12/7
One 5-21 last night.

Over 34 games

Just for comparison. Westbrook has had
3-19
5-21
6-23

In just 28 games

[dckingsfan]

Please don't invite a Westbrook/Beal comparison - it would be very ugly.

Edit: I would take a Westbrook/Wall front court with Witt as the coach any day. Can you imagine how good our backcourt D would be? Second unit, not a problem.

[FAH1223]

Right. All two of them he has had this season.

One 4-18 on 12/7
One 5-21 last night.

Over 34 games

Just for comparison. Westbrook has had
3-19
5-21
6-23

In just 28 games

Atleast Russ is aggressive.

Beal and Wall are way too passive.

[dlts20]

Right. All two of them he has had this season.

One 4-18 on 12/7
One 5-21 last night.

Over 34 games

Just for comparison. Westbrook has had
3-19
5-21
6-23

In just 28 games

Atleast Russ is aggressive.

Beal and Wall are way too passive.

and that has alot to do with coaching and this sucky system.

[Illmatic12]

please waive him ASAP

Or we can keep him around as a player/coach.. basically the Al Harrington role from last year.

But he shouldn't be seeing minutes.

I would actually rather have Harrington, he could stretch the floor.

I think as soon as Temple got major minutes, you would be ripping your hair out. Flaws with the team are exposed by good teams. Lack of a competent backup PG is one of the flaws on the team. And we need him to play minutes or we are going to see a run down (or injured) Wall come playoff time.

The good news is we are very good against the bad teams - and that will help our playoff seeding.

If you didn't catch what I was implying, I don't think we should be playing Temple. I think we should make a move for a proper backup PG asap.. like the one in my avatar for example

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Right. All two of them he has had this season.

One 4-18 on 12/7
One 5-21 last night.

Over 34 games

Just for comparison. Westbrook has had
3-19
5-21
6-23

In just 28 games

Atleast Russ is aggressive.

Beal and Wall are way too passive.

and that has alot to do with coaching and this sucky system.

Every now and then I take a look at team stats. http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/WAS/2015.html

How's each player doing in terms of PER, ORtg, WS, WS/48, VORP, etc. These are actual performance metrics. Not opinions. Instead of trying to convince anyone of anything I will ask how does Beal rate?

Consider his age and his numbers relative to other teammates, and relative to other SGs.

Another comparative tool is the NBA True Plus Minus for SG. http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_ ... position/2

How does Beal rate? Better or worse than average (also considering his age)?


I KNOW I FEEL ENLIGHTENED. ANYONE ELSE?

[AFM]

Atleast Russ is aggressive.

Beal and Wall are way too passive.

and that has alot to do with coaching and this sucky system.

Every now and then I take a look at team stats. http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/WAS/2015.html

How's each player doing in terms of PER, ORtg, WS, WS/48, VORP, etc. These are actual performance metrics. Not opinions. Instead of trying to convince anyone of anything I will ask how does Beal rate?

Consider his age and his numbers relative to other teammates, and relative to other SGs.

Another comparative tool is the NBA True Plus Minus for SG. http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_ ... position/2

How does Beal rate? Better or worse than average (also considering his age)?


I KNOW I FEEL ENLIGHTENED. ANYONE ELSE?

Wow, thanks for the second link