GT #28 Wizards @Nets 12/26 4:00PM EST (CSN/YES)

[payitforward]

PIF you still think this season is over? It ain't over when you have Jarell "GOAT" Eddie launching threes like a trebuchet

Not since the chronicles of Mardi ibn Ali al-Tarsusi, has any greater set of Trebuchet feats been recorded: Jarell "Saladin" Eddie, he's my man!

"Season over" -- I wrote imprecisely. I meant both more and less. Of course, it was still and is still possible the Wizards make the playoffs. But, what no longer looks possible to me -- or at least it looks hugely unlikely -- is that we equal our results of last year or the year before, either in regular season record or (if we get into the playoffs and face the 1st, 2d or 3d seed) in getting to the 2d round and even looking like we have a shot to win that series. Hey, if Jarell Eddie is for real and sticks I could be wrong about that too -- he could be our Rasual Butler style difference maker.

But really, as I say, I meant "more" -- I meant that this generation of the Wizards has peaked. No title-contending Wizards in the John Wall generation. Now... K2DC would change that, of course, but I am not counting on that. I mean that with an astonishing set of assets at his disposal, Ernie built an average team over 5 years. No huge upside.

Am I wrong about that? Maybe. But... I see Detroit, Orlando and Boston all having rebuilt better and quicker than we have -- and with fewer resources at their disposal. That's more teams in front of us, and looking likely to stay there, in the East to go along w/ Cleveland, Miami, Atlanta & Chicago.

This squad reminds me of the one Ernie built around Gilbert, which also peaked quickly and fell. That's where I think we are and what I meant by using the word "over."

[Earth2Ted]

Nice work by the wiz pulling away on the road in the 4th quarter, even if the Nets are having a rough year. Gortat looks way better than a year ago- he's had some good games against some quality centers.

Nets announcers were duly impressed with Jarell Eddie lighting it up in his first nba game. That quick release and confident stroke stands out for sure. Hopefully he can be like this years big game James singleton or Shaun Livingston.

As much as we all beat up on Ernie, gotta admit he'll get you an impact player seemingly out of nowhere from time to time.

[WallToWall]

That said, we still need to get our defense figured out to start climbing up the standings for real. The perimeter defense has been dreadful. Wall, Beal, Porter, Oubre, and Dudley are way better defenders than they've been for the most part. Have to figure out how to get them dialed in and playing a truly disruptive switch and recover defense that forces the amount of mistakes on the perimeter to trigger our offense.

The defense has picked up lately. During the 4 game win streak, we yielded 101 to Charlotte, and then next three teams were held to less than 100. The real issue is defensive rebounding, which is going to be a consistent problem with small ball.

Our rebounding is pretty bad. However, I think its our offensive rebounding that is lacking. We have very few second chance points. We are in the bottom 5 (depending on how you slice and dice the stats) for rebounds.

[nate33]

That said, we still need to get our defense figured out to start climbing up the standings for real. The perimeter defense has been dreadful. Wall, Beal, Porter, Oubre, and Dudley are way better defenders than they've been for the most part. Have to figure out how to get them dialed in and playing a truly disruptive switch and recover defense that forces the amount of mistakes on the perimeter to trigger our offense.

The defense has picked up lately. During the 4 game win streak, we yielded 101 to Charlotte, and then next three teams were held to less than 100. The real issue is defensive rebounding, which is going to be a consistent problem with small ball.

Our rebounding is pretty bad. However, I think its our offensive rebounding that is lacking. We have very few second chance points. We are in the bottom 5 (depending on how you slice and dice the stats) for rebounds.

Interesting.

We rank 26th in offensive rebounding and 17th in defensive rebounding. I was hoping that our lack of offensive rebounding was due to a strategy of getting back on D, but I note we are only 17th in fast break points allowed.

[tontoz]

They have obviously made some changes to the offense this month. It really looks like they are trying to get Gortat more involved and it is working. He is averaging 17/10 this month with a TS of 59%.

Pretty impressive that Eddie comes in raining 3s in his first game. His only miss was a half court heave at the end of the clock.

Wall has made 25 3s this month, shooting 41% from 3. This is the 2nd best month of his career shooting 3s.

[WallToWall]

The defense has picked up lately. During the 4 game win streak, we yielded 101 to Charlotte, and then next three teams were held to less than 100. The real issue is defensive rebounding, which is going to be a consistent problem with small ball.

Our rebounding is pretty bad. However, I think its our offensive rebounding that is lacking. We have very few second chance points. We are in the bottom 5 (depending on how you slice and dice the stats) for rebounds.

Interesting.

We rank 26th in offensive rebounding and 17th in defensive rebounding. I was hoping that our lack of offensive rebounding was due to a strategy of getting back on D, but I note we are only 17th in fast break points allowed.

As of today:
we are 28th in RPG at 40.4, while the Bucks are the lowest at 39.9 per game.
we are 27th in DRPG at 31.6, with the Jazz, Griz, and Bucks below us.
we are 28 in ORPG at 8.8, with the Pelicans and Hawks behind us.
The Hawks are 5th in FG%, so they can suck at ORPG and survive just fine. We are 10th in FG% at .452, and the Pelicans are 14th at .447.

we are 26th in "Def Rebound Percent Allowed", with the Mavs, Hornets, Hawks, and Pelicans rounding out the bottom.
we are 26th in "Off Rebound Percent", with Mavs, Hornets, Hawks, and Pelicans once again rounding out the bottom.
we are 24th in "PPG Allowed", with 76ers, Rockets, Suns, Kings, Pelicans, and Lakers behind us.
we are last in "second chance points" at 268 total. The next closest is the Pelicans at 299 pts total.

If we could just get 2 more offensive rebound per game that translated to points (and 2 less defensive rebounds for the opponent), it would make a world of difference.

[stevemcqueen1]

Wall is also a streaky player, whose streaks happen to last about a month. Reminds me of baseball. He was due for a big month after that bad November, and just needed to the calendar to say December 1st to get right.

He did something similar in 2013 when he came back from stress fracture. His February was lousy and then his March was MVP level, culminating in that game where he dropped 47 on Memphis.

Now that he and Gortat are in a groove, it'd be nice to get Beal back and have Otto find his range. Once that happens, we'll be able to beat the good teams and sustain win streaks and start climbing the standings.

What's interesting about Wall's latest streak is that he isn't doing it by hitting the midrange jumper. I don't feel like he's shooting particularly well at all. He's getting it done by forcing the tempo and getting to the rim.

Looking at his game log, I see that he did have a real nice hot streak for the first two weeks of December, but during this 4-game win streak, his shooting has been fairly bad.

He shot 47% from the field, 41% from three, and 85% from the FT line in December. All three numbers are way above his career averages. He's been shooting unsustainably well and it has opened up the PnR for Gortat.

[Kanyewest]

Wall is also a streaky player, whose streaks happen to last about a month. Reminds me of baseball. He was due for a big month after that bad November, and just needed to the calendar to say December 1st to get right.

He did something similar in 2013 when he came back from stress fracture. His February was lousy and then his March was MVP level, culminating in that game where he dropped 47 on Memphis.

Now that he and Gortat are in a groove, it'd be nice to get Beal back and have Otto find his range. Once that happens, we'll be able to beat the good teams and sustain win streaks and start climbing the standings.

What's interesting about Wall's latest streak is that he isn't doing it by hitting the midrange jumper. I don't feel like he's shooting particularly well at all. He's getting it done by forcing the tempo and getting to the rim.

Looking at his game log, I see that he did have a real nice hot streak for the first two weeks of December, but during this 4-game win streak, his shooting has been fairly bad.

You have to wonder if Wall's shooting percentage will go up once Beal returns to the lineup.

[nate33]

Wall is also a streaky player, whose streaks happen to last about a month. Reminds me of baseball. He was due for a big month after that bad November, and just needed to the calendar to say December 1st to get right.

He did something similar in 2013 when he came back from stress fracture. His February was lousy and then his March was MVP level, culminating in that game where he dropped 47 on Memphis.

Now that he and Gortat are in a groove, it'd be nice to get Beal back and have Otto find his range. Once that happens, we'll be able to beat the good teams and sustain win streaks and start climbing the standings.

What's interesting about Wall's latest streak is that he isn't doing it by hitting the midrange jumper. I don't feel like he's shooting particularly well at all. He's getting it done by forcing the tempo and getting to the rim.

Looking at his game log, I see that he did have a real nice hot streak for the first two weeks of December, but during this 4-game win streak, his shooting has been fairly bad.

He shot 47% from the field, 41% from three, and 85% from the FT line in December. All three numbers are way above his career averages. He's been shooting unsustainably well and it has opened up the PnR for Gortat.

Yes. I understand that. I said that I felt like he wasn't shooting all that well, but upon further inspection, I saw that he did indeed shoot real well during the first half of December. It is notable that he has not shot particularly well during the recent 4-game win streak.

[Kanyewest]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JMichaelCSN/status/680910787804807168[/tweet]

Wall isn't lying- he had an offensive rating of 99 for the first 16 games of the season. I'm glad he owned up to it at least and he's worked through it and really improved his play.