Roger Mason's Time to Shine

by jvflail on Nov 26, 2007 3:27 PM EST

I had intended this post to ask what free agent pgs are available, but then I found the Washington Post blurb written the other day about the roster being "set" despite Gilbert's injury. Since Abe's stingy salary cap stance won't let us go fish for a free agent, it appears now that our back-up PG is none other than Roger Mason Jr.

3 months is a long time to go with Antonio "the human spill" Daniels manning the point. I love the guy, but he falls harder than a parachute-less sky diver every time he drives the lane. If he gets hurt (knock on wood), or even tired, Roger's the only guy with a PG next to his name in the Wizard's media guide.

Now, we've all watched him for 2 years at least, and I think it's pretty safe to call his pg skills suspect. He does a lot of spot-up shooting, I can count on one hand the number of times he's driven the lane, and his defense won't make anyone forget Gary Payton.

This leads me to think about the decision the braintrust made in training camp to go with Roger over Donnell Taylor. Roger's shot is undoubtedly better, but I liked Donnell's handle, athleticism, and defense much better. At the time the decision was made, I didn't think it was a big deal seeming how it was the last spot on the roster. Now, we're an AD sprained ankle away from the Roger Mason show and that makes me nervous.

So, now that it's relevant, does anyone agree that we should have kept Donnell? Were there $$ implications I'm unaware of? Could the Wiz have brought in anyone, during training camp or at any other time, who might have helped more?

This represents the view of the user who wrote the FanPost, and not the entire Bullets Forever community. We're a place of many opinions, not just one.

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I'll probably be the only one on your side here...

...but I still would have taken Donell. All season I've been clamoring for Nick Young to take all of Mason's minutes, but that's just not going to happen.

Mason isn't a point at all - just look at how badly he's caved when opponents press us. He makes me REALLY nervous when he's in, and let's face it, EJ knows this. We've seen a Young/Stevenson backcourt on a number of occasions, and hopefully that will be passable for a time.

The PG situation is bad in DC right now (not that I don't love AD) and we're just gonna have to hope that Abe opens up his pockets sooner rather than later.

The Washington Wizards: providing career scoring nights for unknown opposing bench players since 2004.

by mamemimo on Nov 26, 2007 4:49 PM EST reply actions

Can't side with you on this one

For me to believe Donnell Taylor works as a point guard, I would have had to see him make a pass at least once during his tenure with the Wizards. Dude was quick, sure, but he jacked up questionable shots like they were going out of style. Shoot-first point guards are a lot more acceptable when they can, y'know, shoot.

I've said it once, I'll say it again: let's go out and get God Shamgod! We can even start up a collection to defray the costs for Abe Pollin. I hereby pledge $0.42 for every sweet cross-over dribble he pulls against the opposition. Who's with me?!?!

by sierradave on Nov 26, 2007 8:37 PM EST reply actions

Interesting lineup

If I'm not mistaken (and I may be), we went for a pretty long stretch last night w/ Stevenson and Young in the backcourt and a Jamison/Songaila/Blatche/Haywood rotation in the frontcourt. EJ obviously read my post, agreed with me, and has decided against using RMJR extensively. That's blog power, baby!

On a quick serious note, teams are most likely going to pressure the air out of the ball whenever AD rests. I think Dallas tried, but they don't have the team footspeed to play effective full court pressure. Actually, I don't think AD was in the game when Nick Young was doing his coast-to-coast heroics. Going forward (especially in the upcoming game against the Spurs), it'll be interesting to see if turnovers mount whenever AD goes out.

by jvflail on Nov 27, 2007 2:00 PM EST reply actions

Game flow isn't up yet

But I remember that as well. I'm not sure how well it'll work, but I agree that it's better than handing lots of time to Roger Mason.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Nov 27, 2007 2:43 PM EST up reply actions

i like roger

i always will since he carried uva in their ncaa game against gonzaga. he almost single-handedly won it for the cavs.

for the wiz, he needs to play better though. he looks like he brings nothing to the table for the team right now. roger plays conservative and doesn't try to do much on the court. i think that makes him tentative. he needs confidence, but i'm not sure he'll ever get it here, a la jarvis hayes. he could be much more of a specific role player in san antonio. he probably should have taken that offer.

i also like donnell (and ronnell) taylor because of the UAB-Kentucky upset and their run to the sweet 16. but donnell was never very good here. turning it over and jacking up bad shots is never a good way to stick in the nba.

by DarrellWalkerFan on Nov 28, 2007 3:53 PM EST reply actions