Official Trade Thread XIV: 6/14/10 - 12/22/10

[Ruzious]

Ruz if it wasn't obvious to you McGee is benched/in Saunders doghouse......he made that crystal clear to everyone.

And yet he's still playing 27 minutes a game and will likely to continue playing 27 minutes a game. Right?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Gil has gave everything to this franchise, if it wasnt for his injuries/biopolar incidents , he still could have been one of the best players in the nba, i love gil, but its just not working, he wants to win , we want to rebuild , we need to trade him.

Gil has also taken everything from this franchise. I love Gil as much as the next guy...favorite Wiz of all time and I can't tell you how much I wanted to watch his revival tour this season with Wall, a developed McGee, and continued development of Blatche. However, Wall is Larry Hughes part two, Blatche regressed terribly, and McGee is an airhead. It really is a shame but this era must end. Some how, and surpisingly, the last man standing is EG, the architect of this mess.

Wall has tremendous potential but in truth he hasn't been as effective as Hughes was alongside Gil that 2005 season. Larry was edged out at all star time after an injury and after Grant Hill got a lot of votes for his comeback. Hughes was much better that season than Wall has been as the rookie has struggled letting the game come to him but more with injuries.

I really did not want Wall drafted but I think he's potentially great and just very young. I am worried that like Larry the kid might be very injury-prone.

[Kanyewest]

Just to play devil's advocate for a bit here, with the gun incident, Arenas destroyed/changed the course of this team. Maybe a lot of us don't realize that, but it was his incident that led to Eddie Jordan being fired, and 4 of his teammates being traded. While it sucks that we're gonna trade him (to a division foe no less) because he did so much to bring basketball back to DC, it needs to happen. He's the last man standing from the previous regime/Wizards teams, and the only way to truly start over is to trade him.

Our team will be downright horrible. I'm not even sure Carter will suit up in a Wizards uniform. But, we're gonna get another lottery pick, and we're gonna have a lot of cap space the next 2 years or so. Ted has to pull something out of his ass to get any major free agent to come here.

Eddie Jordan was fired before the guns incident...

[willbcocks]

Ruzious: You're crazy, what, you gonna tell me next that Flip ISN'T trying to disrupt Nick Young's flow?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Ruz if it wasn't obvious to you McGee is benched/in Saunders doghouse......he made that crystal clear to everyone.

And yet he's still playing 27 minutes a game and will likely to continue playing 27 minutes a game. Right?

Not if Flip can get by with Armstrong and others playing the way he prefers.

[Ruzious]

I'm not a fan of the tanking strategy. The Wiz and Clippers have been doing it for most of 20 years with no success.

This is hugely inaccurate. The Bullets/Wizards problem was always that they kept trying to put together vaguely competitive teams with no real eye to the future. It's beyond clear that a new strategy is in place.

Exactly. When EG traded the 5th pick in the draft for Foye and Miller, that was the polar opposite of tanking. EG's insistance on keeping the big 3 dream alive year after year was the polar opposite of tanking.

[Ruzious]

Ruzious: You're crazy, what, you gonna tell me next that Flip ISN'T trying to disrupt Nick Young's flow?

At this very moment, Flip is lobbying EG to reacquire DeShawn Stevenson (for McGee) - just so he won't have to give any minutes to young Nick!!!

[Wizards2Lottery]

Is Rashard Lewis really that bad? I don't think a guy can forget how to shoot and play offense in just one year.

Defensively yeah he sucks but who doesn't on our team? At least with him we'll have a guy who stretches out the defense for Wall and gives Blatche a reliable outside to kick out to from the post.

Wall/Young/Lewis/Blatche/McGee

We have two good defenders at the guard spot and two potentially good defenders at the PF/C spot. Lewis being the only weakness but hardly any team has five good defensive players.

But outside shooting from Young and Lewis will really open up the offense for Wall and Blatche. Even if Lewis doesn't start, we can insert Young into the starting lineup and use Lewis and Hinrich as the bench go to guys.

[Induveca]

Ruz if it wasn't obvious to you McGee is benched/in Saunders doghouse......he made that crystal clear to everyone.

And yet he's still playing 27 minutes a game and will likely to continue playing 27 minutes a game. Right?

I'm just going to assume that was purely for the sake of argument.

[Benjammin]

The Bullets had a long history of band-aid basketball in the 80s to achieve mediocrity, consistently making trades to bring in veterans in order to barely make the playoffs. Coupled with injuries and very poor luck in the lottery and lack of skill drafting made the 90s painful as well. This team does not have a long history of tanking or intentionally being bad. Anyone paying attention to the Redskins has seen the object lesson that band-aid solutions don't work and it takes the willingness to build from a solid base and take some lumps in order to have more lasting success.

[Wizards2Lottery]

The Bullets had a long history of band-aid basketball in the 80s to achieve mediocrity, consistently making trades to bring in veterans in order to barely make the playoffs. Coupled with injuries and very poor luck in the lottery and lack of skill drafting made the 90s painful as well. This team does not have a long history of tanking or intentionally being bad. Anyone paying attention to the Redskins has seen the object lesson that band-aid solutions don't work and it takes the willingness to build from a solid base and take some lumps in order to have more lasting success.

Yup and Leonsis stuck with this same formula with the Capitals after he got his key piece in Ovechkin. Now granted Wall in terms of talent won't have the impact Ovechkin did but the strategy is the same. It wasn't until Ovechkin had his side kick in Backstrom that the Capitals eventually took off. Leonsis knows that he knows another sidekick for Wall. I thought Blatche could be that guy but I have my doubts now.

The Wizards will let the young guys grow up together. I have no problem with this at all. The thing is that they at least have a sense of direction. With the Redskins, everyone expected that a new coaching regime would rebuild and they did nothing but follow in Cerrato's footsteps.

[Kanyewest]

Rashard Lewis's downward spiral has coincided with him taking steroids; since that point (after the Magic's NBA Finals run), Lewis hasn't been the same player. And while he's only 31, he's been in the league just about as long as Antawn Jamison.

[Induveca]

I'm not a fan of the tanking strategy. The Wiz and Clippers have been doing it for most of 20 years with no success.

This is hugely inaccurate. The Bullets/Wizards problem was always that they kept trying to put together vaguely competitive teams with no real eye to the future. It's beyond clear that a new strategy is in place.

Exactly. When EG traded the 5th pick in the draft for Foye and Miller, that was the polar opposite of tanking. EG's insistance on keeping the big 3 dream alive year after year was the polar opposite of tanking.

From a fan watching this team closely since 94, 2005-2007 was my equivalent of getting to the NBA Finals. It's been far from our yearly competition for lottery balls. Purposeful or not, we've been in the lottery business for 90% of the past 30 years.

I hope it all works out obviously, I'm just not cheering for a commitment to being a bottom dweller for 2 more years. Especially while Grunfeld and Saunders still roam the front office and sidelines. A lot of blame falls on those guys. If we're going this route I can be made a believer when Grunfeld is gone.

[Ruzious]

This is hugely inaccurate. The Bullets/Wizards problem was always that they kept trying to put together vaguely competitive teams with no real eye to the future. It's beyond clear that a new strategy is in place.

Exactly. When EG traded the 5th pick in the draft for Foye and Miller, that was the polar opposite of tanking. EG's insistance on keeping the big 3 dream alive year after year was the polar opposite of tanking.

From a fan watching this team closely since 94, 2005-2007 was my equivalent of getting to the NBA Finals. It's been far from our yearly competition for lottery balls. Purposeful or not, we've been in the lottery business for 90% of the past 30 years.

I hope it all works out obviously, I'm just not cheering for a commitment to being a bottom dweller for 2 more years. Especially while Grunfeld and Saunders still roam the front office and sidelines. A lot of blame falls on those guys. If we're going this route I can be made a believer when Grunfeld is gone.

Ok, now it's established that the reality you live in is not reality.

[Ruzious]

Ruz if it wasn't obvious to you McGee is benched/in Saunders doghouse......he made that crystal clear to everyone.

And yet he's still playing 27 minutes a game and will likely to continue playing 27 minutes a game. Right?

I'm just going to assume that was purely for the sake of argument.

And yet he's still playing 27 minutes a game and will likely to continue playing 27 minutes a game. Right?

[Induveca]

Is Rashard Lewis really that bad? I don't think a guy can forget how to shoot and play offense in just one year.

Defensively yeah he sucks but who doesn't on our team? At least with him we'll have a guy who stretches out the defense for Wall and gives Blatche a reliable outside to kick out to from the post.

Wall/Young/Lewis/Blatche/McGee

We have two good defenders at the guard spot and two potentially good defenders at the PF/C spot. Lewis being the only weakness but hardly any team has five good defensive players.

But outside shooting from Young and Lewis will really open up the offense for Wall and Blatche. Even if Lewis doesn't start, we can insert Young into the starting lineup and use Lewis and Hinrich as the bench go to guys.

But from what has been made painfully clear from Saunders, McGee isn't in that lineup. Neither will Young. From Saunders' bizarre perspective this trade likely just solved the Hinrich/Arenas starting debate.

I pray the trade is for Carter and buy him out. If not we just got Flip another vet that can push Young down the bench. The sudden arrival of Howard/Lewis will not be good for Young.

[Induveca]

And yet he's still playing 27 minutes a game and will likely to continue playing 27 minutes a game. Right?

Thanks for the confirmation.

[Benjammin]

Rashard Lewis's downward spiral has coincided with him taking steroids; since that point (after the Magic's NBA Finals run), Lewis hasn't been the same player. And while he's only 31, he's been in the league just about as long as Antawn Jamison.

Those are both good points. He definitely hasn't been the same since the juice was taken away. I'm afraid that if a Gil trade occurs that we'll get back Lewis.

[willbcocks]

Hopefully he starts secretly juicing again if he joins us. Aside from shooting teammates in the ass, I can't think of a single negative that could come from that.

[AceDegenerate]

Trading Gilbert Arenas is a sound business decision. I expect no less of Ted Leonsis, both now and in the future.

As far as how it plays out on the court, no matter what anybody says here - only time will tell.