The Wizards big man situation is an embarrassment

[Kanyewest]

The fact that we are even debating the merits of Dejuan Blair just goes to show how anemic we are in the frontcourt.

Last year's acquisitions of Humphries and Blair were supposed to be band-aids...I honestly didn't think that they would actually play meaningful minutes. Now Humphries is starting...ridiculous.

I thought Blair would play better given how he performed in the 2014 NBA playoffs. He shot a 56 TS% with the Mavericks and shot a 60 TS% in the playoffs against Spurs, who were the eventual champions. However Blair is right now shooting a 20 TS%. Perhaps CCJ is right that he could be more effective with more and as a power forward although right now I can understand why many are frustrated with him

[Ruzious]

Wright played even better for Dallas. He and Blair both doubled their salaries moving on.

San Antonio did better with Splitter, who's also no longer a Spur.

Obviously, Diaw at stretch four improved the Spurs.

Ruzious, Carlisle DID use Blair to almost eliminate the Spurs in the playoffs right before he signed with the Wizards.

And then Blair signed with the Wiz for chump change - 2 million a year for 2 years and a team option. I think that tells you what the rest of the 29 teams with 15 roster spots thought of him - before he managed to get himself so out of shape and thereby sabotage his own career. There's no team he could have helped last season because of the shape he got himself into. Whether the coach was Popovich - who had NO USE FOR HIM his last season in SA - or Wittman - who was likely on board with acquiring him - he was going to be useless last season because of 1 thing - He wasn't in condition to play at an NBA level.

Now can he still be useful? I hope so and think there's a chance, but if he doesn't make it, It's absolutely ridiculous to blame it on anyone but him. If his confidence was shot, that's on him because he - as a professional and a grown man responsible for his own actions - let himself down. But... he is better than Blatche now.

The fact that Blair wasn't effective enough to earn many minutes on the Spurs doesn't mean he isn't effective enough to earn minutes here. Lots of minutes.

I have no idea how he'd perform if he got more time, but these are not the arguments against that. Right now, we suck. We are not a good team. We are also not in a position to make any meaningful trade -- though I'm counting on Ernie to make an awful move any day now -- so let Blair play 20-25 minutes a game.

Again, there are 29 other teams in the NBA. Why do you think nobody offered him more than 2 million dollars a year with a TEAM option of another 2 million? Does that tell you anything about what other NBA teams thought of him? Without looking at stats, what do you think that told you about his ability to defend and his limitations on offense?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

For five straight seasons he made between $900k and $1M. He made $4.75M even starting roughly half those games. He was accustomed to earning $950k.

What you call chump change, $2M, doubled his salary. Four million the next two seasons was a significant increase.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/blairde01.html

Per-36 he averages 14.7 points, 11.1 rebounds. His eFG% for his career is .526, including two outlier seasons which YOU are keying on, (his two non representative seasons as a Wizard, where he has been a backup C exclusively.)

If Wittman EVER plays the guy at PF next to Gortat you will see that I'm right about this. This isn't a reach. It's using YEARS of performance data and observing Blair to be physically fit now.

The Wizards have three young guys starting who run like deer, plus a very mobile C. Blair is a terrific rebounder. It's not rocket science to say let him rebound at both ends of the court. He can throw outlet passes. He can do what Humphries isn't doing--release the ball quickly. NO, he's not a pace and space player! He's a throwback. Fifteen minutes a game is probably all he can give.

Use the asset to a role which will bring value and his best performance to your team.

[dckingsfan]

The fact that we are even debating the merits of Dejuan Blair just goes to show how anemic we are in the frontcourt.

Last year's acquisitions of Humphries and Blair were supposed to be band-aids...I honestly didn't think that they would actually play meaningful minutes. Now Humphries is starting...ridiculous.

And then we come full circle back to our front office - which is more anemic than our frontcourt.

[Dark Faze]

Blair at PF? He won't be able to defend that position at all. Lmao.

[Dat2U]

For five straight seasons he made between $900k and $1M. He made $4.75M even starting roughly half those games. He was accustomed to earning $950k.

What you call chump change, $2M, doubled his salary. Four million the next two seasons was a significant increase.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/blairde01.html

Per-36 he averages 14.7 points, 11.1 rebounds. His eFG% for his career is .526, including two outlier seasons which YOU are keying on, (his two non representative seasons as a Wizard, where he has been a backup C exclusively.)

If Wittman EVER plays the guy at PF next to Gortat you will see that I'm right about this. This isn't a reach. It's using YEARS of performance data and observing Blair to be physically fit now.

The Wizards have three young guys starting who run like deer, plus a very mobile C. Blair is a terrific rebounder. It's not rocket science to say let him rebound at both ends of the court. He can throw outlet passes. He can do what Humphries isn't doing--release the ball quickly. NO, he's not a pace and space player! He's a throwback. Fifteen minutes a game is probably all he can give.

Use the asset to a role which will bring value and his best performance to your team.

So screw what's beneficial to Wall, Beal & Gortat and focus on what's beneficial for DeJuan Blair???? Are you serious? The fact he's a throwback is the reason he should have never been signed in the first place. There is a very good reason he got $4 mil guaranteed on his last contract and it had nothing to do with his previous salary.

[nate33]

For five straight seasons he made between $900k and $1M. He made $4.75M even starting roughly half those games. He was accustomed to earning $950k.

What you call chump change, $2M, doubled his salary. Four million the next two seasons was a significant increase.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/blairde01.html

Per-36 he averages 14.7 points, 11.1 rebounds. His eFG% for his career is .526, including two outlier seasons which YOU are keying on, (his two non representative seasons as a Wizard, where he has been a backup C exclusively.)

If Wittman EVER plays the guy at PF next to Gortat you will see that I'm right about this. This isn't a reach. It's using YEARS of performance data and observing Blair to be physically fit now.

The Wizards have three young guys starting who run like deer, plus a very mobile C. Blair is a terrific rebounder. It's not rocket science to say let him rebound at both ends of the court. He can throw outlet passes. He can do what Humphries isn't doing--release the ball quickly. NO, he's not a pace and space player! He's a throwback. Fifteen minutes a game is probably all he can give.

Use the asset to a role which will bring value and his best performance to your team.

So screw what's beneficial to Wall, Beal & Gortat and focus on what's beneficial for DeJuan Blair???? Are you serious? The fact he's a throwback is the reason he should have never been signed in the first place. There is a very good reason he got $4 mil guaranteed on his last contract and it had nothing to do with his previous salary.

Yeah, CCJ made a similar argument with Vesely. He felt that if we put the right players around him so that Vesely didn't have to bang with big man nor have to shoot from the perimeter like a normal SF, then Vesely would play well. Unfortunately, finding those types of teammates is very difficult and expensive, and even if we did, we'd still be better off with a player other than Vesely at the SF position.

Likewise, I agree with CCJ that Blair's numbers would likely look better if he got to play PF and bang against smaller opponents. But the offense would suffer as Wall and Gortat lose their space to operate. The advantages for Blair would be more than offset by the disadvantages to everyone else.

[bgroban]

Scrap KD2DC. Let's get Boogie here.

[Dark Faze]

oubre at the 3, porter at the 4, i keep saying it

Wall/Beal/Oubre/Porter/Gortat

You are left with a super vet group off the bench--Sessions/Neal(or Temp)/Dudley/Hump/Nene.

If that second group can't play well, then dump them in a river. That first unit is the only group we can put together that can both defend and run hard. Forget about Oubre's youth. He'll make some mistakes, but he'll improve.

[nate33]

oubre at the 3, porter at the 4, i keep saying it

Wall/Beal/Oubre/Porter/Gortat

You are left with a super vet group off the bench--Sessions/Neal(or Temp)/Dudley/Hump/Nene.

If that second group can't play well, then dump them in a river. That first unit is the only group we can put together that can both defend and run hard. Forget about Oubre's youth. He'll make some mistakes, but he'll improve.

I think we're not yet at the point where we can expect the 19-year-old Oubre to start. At the very least, he's going to have to play better as a reserve before he's inserted into the starting lineup.

I think that general concept of a starting lineup was definitely on EG's mind when he added Dudley and Anderson. But we'll see it with Dudley or Anderson alongside Wall/Beal/Porter/Gortat.

If Oubre plays effectively as a reserve for a month or so, I might be inclined to give you idea a chance. But let's not put the cart before the horse. Oubre has been pretty bad so far, except he was half decent in the last game.

[Dark Faze]

if things continue as they are for a month, then we'll be in lottery territory

i'm not as much of a stickler for oubre starting as I am for one of Porter or Dudley at PF.

[closg00]

oubre at the 3, porter at the 4, i keep saying it

Wall/Beal/Oubre/Porter/Gortat

You are left with a super vet group off the bench--Sessions/Neal(or Temp)/Dudley/Hump/Nene.

If that second group can't play well, then dump them in a river. That first unit is the only group we can put together that can both defend and run hard. Forget about Oubre's youth. He'll make some mistakes, but he'll improve.

Randy should try this line-up, but like Ernie, Randy isn't the greatest tactician.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

For five straight seasons he made between $900k and $1M. He made $4.75M even starting roughly half those games. He was accustomed to earning $950k.

What you call chump change, $2M, doubled his salary. Four million the next two seasons was a significant increase.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/blairde01.html

Per-36 he averages 14.7 points, 11.1 rebounds. His eFG% for his career is .526, including two outlier seasons which YOU are keying on, (his two non representative seasons as a Wizard, where he has been a backup C exclusively.)

If Wittman EVER plays the guy at PF next to Gortat you will see that I'm right about this. This isn't a reach. It's using YEARS of performance data and observing Blair to be physically fit now.

The Wizards have three young guys starting who run like deer, plus a very mobile C. Blair is a terrific rebounder. It's not rocket science to say let him rebound at both ends of the court. He can throw outlet passes. He can do what Humphries isn't doing--release the ball quickly. NO, he's not a pace and space player! He's a throwback. Fifteen minutes a game is probably all he can give.

Use the asset to a role which will bring value and his best performance to your team.

So screw what's beneficial to Wall, Beal & Gortat and focus on what's beneficial for DeJuan Blair???? Are you serious? The fact he's a throwback is the reason he should have never been signed in the first place. There is a very good reason he got $4 mil guaranteed on his last contract and it had nothing to do with his previous salary.

Yeah, CCJ made a similar argument with Vesely. He felt that if we put the right players around him so that Vesely didn't have to bang with big man nor have to shoot from the perimeter like a normal SF, then Vesely would play well. Unfortunately, finding those types of teammates is very difficult and expensive, and even if we did, we'd still be better off with a player other than Vesely at the SF position.

Likewise, I agree with CCJ that Blair's numbers would likely look better if he got to play PF and bang against smaller opponents. But the offense would suffer as Wall and Gortat lose their space to operate. The advantages for Blair would be more than offset by the disadvantages to everyone else.

A lot of people just think they know.

Vesely would IMO be more effective at PF particularly in this offense than Humphries.

DarkFaze, you can "lmao" about Blair not "being able to defend PF" and I will ask you what position did he START 179 games out of 380 or so before becoming a Wizard?

PF

Laugh at your lack of knowledge.

As for making the game worse for Wall and Beal, I invite everyone to look at Kris Humphries' career per-36 numbers. Blair scores MORE at a higher percentage. He has fouled more but has had a higher PER before being made exclusively a C for the Wizards.

Has Humphries been played at C? Hell no. Is his defense at PF effective right now? What makes you think Blair is considerably worse? I dare ever criticize Ernie Grunfeld ever again in this forum, but I will voice the same thing I said before. Why sign Blair after Humphries with the 2014-2015 personnel already on board? It's like intentionally buying two left shoes. Much redundant!

Blair carried a team to the Final Four and he started over 100 games for the Spurs. Run him with the Wizards starters, particularly slumping Gortat, and see what happens.

Blair will get back into the flow of what made him a good NBA reserve. Confidence and a role is all the guy needs. Nine rebounds in 17 minutes with his body of work is all you should need to make inferences like I have made. Officials call the game very subjectively. Right now, Blair is getting fouls like Bullets Rick Mahorn. He's capable like Bullets Ben Wallace. A change of venue in this case is simply to let him run with Wall, Beal, Porter, and Gortat. Refs will call him like Pistons Rick Mahorn and Pistons Ben Wallace. The passion Blair plays with will actually improve the SORRY defense they are playing.

Drew Gooden when healthy is a MUCH BETTER starting PF option for what the team wants to do. Get Blair completely untracked just so you have good energy coming from him. Then adjust accordingly.

I never said keep Blair starting.

My ideas are different. Pros ought to be open to having one spot rotate and to run any number of lineups. What I want to do is play Blair to get his value up and if he's better off traded trade him value high.

[Dat2U]

Strawman argument CCJ...nearly anyone would be more effective than Hump. But I've been alone in saying that for a while now, others appear to be just realizing Hump doesn't really help. Do I think Blair would be an upgrade? No. He might rebound well but he'll kill offensive spacing and driving lanes for Wall/Beal will disappear. Gortat would be even more miserable. At least Nene had a developed mid-range game and you could run the offense through him on occasion, can't say the same for Blair. That's not even to mention the defensive concerns. Blair chasing guys around the 3pt line at PF? Yeah, I don't see that going to well.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Scrap KD2DC. Let's get Boogie here.

Agreed.

Collusion rules prevent management from mentioning players who are other team property. That said I would love to hear management say in a roundabout way they are not thinking of anybody else's star player. Quit kissing KDs arse.

(It's quite obvious how badly they want him but I think they need to put up a front and to work plan B, C and D very actively. Deal with what's reality right now.)

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Strawman argument CCJ...nearly anyone would be more effective than Hump. But I've been alone in saying that for a while now, others appear to be just realizing Hump doesn't really help. Do I think Blair would be an upgrade? No. He might rebound well but he'll kill offensive spacing and driving lanes for Wall/Beal will disappear. Gortat would be even more miserable. At least Nene had a developed mid-range game and you could run the offense through him on occasion, can't say the same for Blair. That's not even to mention the defensive concerns. Blair chasing guys around the 3pt line at PF? Yeah, I don't see that going to well.

I agree with you on Hump being essentially the worst pairing with Gortat.

You've been right so many times in the past, I know to heed your caution that you think Blair would be worse, spacing would be off, Gortat would be miserable.

Perhaps. (I'm proud of myself, straw man I can do!)

I say give this Blair starting PF about 75 minutes. Five games, 15 minutes each, and analyze. Scientific method. Kevin Bloom numbers too deep for mere mortals to understand method. Heat cameras method. Heck, military FLIR for all I care. Objectively try it.

This is why: Blair's gonna kick someone's ass. He almost killed some guard on a pick. That stuff is game changing. He's a guy who intimidates in a nasty way. If my theory is correct, Oubre has this in his DNA. Both Gortat and Humphries like to mix it up. John Wall? Beal? Nasty young bastards in a good way. Use Blair like one of those fire starting charcoal briquettes. Get the team playing physical, passionate ball.

The Wizards don't have many athletes. They need guile and gamesmanship like Pierce provided. The move I would make is to turn the team chippy. Once they do this THEIR three ball pace and space will end games well.

Your point is well taken that Blair can't chase guys at the three point line. Sub him out, but not until he's gotten his. Bust the other team's you know what old school. Layups, dunks, physical play makes softer teams miss threes. Everyone is not Golden State.

The Knicks beat the Wizards because they were quicker and tougher that night. Humphries and Gortat are too nice/soft while they're busy learning the new offense. Blair is oblivious and too fixed on what he is to change. When he plays just play conventional ball utilizing PnR and big-2-big interior passing. Use added rebounds to key fast breaks. On defense, make every foul count. Hard, not flagrant fouls get rewarded. The Detroit Pistons won two championships this way.

I'm stubborn enough to think wrecking ball still has some utility.

[Dark Faze]

I'm for trying anything out for a couple of games--to me the Hump experiment needs to be over. Heck, moving him for a decent C might be in the cards by the deadline.

But yea, not buying into Blair being any kind of an answer though. He'd have carved out a bench role by now if so.

[manifested]

With Anderson out and Oubre still finding his way in the league, there just aren't enough quality SFs on the team to max out the minutes with Porter and Dudley at PF. Which means we're seeing a lot more of Gooden and Humphries than anyone likes.

Neither of those players can really operate out on the perimeter. I think Wittman is asking too much of them out there. They're setting screens and catching the ball on the wing or at the top of the key far too often.

Here's Humphries shot chart. Look at all the above the break shots versus the corner. (Disclaimer: I went searching for a shot chart and this is what came up. I haven't really used this site before so I can't vouch for it's accuracy) http://vorped.com/1-nba/2015-2016/player/952/kris-humphries/shotchart/

It'd be interesting to see a heat map. It's probably not too different from this shot chart.

It'd probably be better, if Wittman just told them to stand in the corner. Either shoot or pass, and rush to the lane for rebounds when the shot goes up. Set a baseline screen for Beal, and go to the opposite corner. Repeat. I don't want to see any more dribbling from either one of them.

[dangermouse]

Kinda wishin we kept Booker....

better than anyone else on the roster at PF, barring a non injured Nene

[J-Ves]

Kinda wishin we kept Booker....

better than anyone else on the roster at PF, barring a non injured Nene

Book was a nice player to come off the bench. He could score and rebound well, but he was a poor defender who was undersized. I would say his impact on the court is very similar to Hump's, so we would still lack a starting PF even with him back.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums