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According to the post game show, Ernie Grunfeld addressed the team after the game tonight.

And here…we…go.

With 68 games left on the schedule, it’s still going to be a long time until the Wizards will be able to defend the 3-point shot during the season.

On defense, we can’t defend my grandmother if she was standing outside the 3-point line.

On offense, we can’t defend the 3-point shots, when we get high percentage shot attempts in the paint.

And as the record clearly shows, we just can’t defend 3-point shots during games.

And yet all we do is give him open threes!

I gave Eddie Tapscott way too much credit for the defensive improvements against Golden State. It’s very clear that the Wizards are still the same bad defensive team that they were before, especially with regard to 3-point defense. I still think that better coaching can help this team to improve, but probably not enough for them to get to the next level. (I’m talking about the next level from the last four seasons; the next level from this terrible start would be to actually win 30 games).

I’ve had it with this red carpet defense. Trade anybody, I don’t care. As far as I’m concerned, no player should be off the table. Antawn will never be a competent defender, Caron has turned into Stephon Marbury all of a sudden, and Gilbert is eternally injured (will he ever play healthy again?). If any other team wants these clowns, let them have ‘em. They’ll probably be alright as long as they’re not the primary option on another team, or are expected to play good defense. This team will have a new coach and a lottery pick next season, which is a great opportunity to rebuild. I think we’ve finally closed the door on the current makeup of this team. 2004-05 was the best it was ever going to get. Blame Karma for all the injuries, if you will. But it’s time to break this team up. There’s a chance I’ll regret writing this, but oh well.

I feel like beating my head against a wall. After four promising seasons, the Wizards are back to square one.

I addressed this in the game thread, but a few people brought this up here, which is why I didn’t respond to any one post specifically.

I don’t think the problem with the defense is the players. I think it’s the system.

Look, I know the Wizards don’t have any world-beaters on the defensive side, not even Stevenson. But what they’re being asked to do is killing any chance the team has of winning. The first step, as I see it, is that in the zone scheme, they play way off the ball, as many as three feet inside the three-point line. So already it takes them a couple of extra steps to challenge outside shots. Then, they’re basically required to double anyone who penetrates the lane, which brings the defender even closer to the basket. If a team is good at swinging the ball around and has good outside shooters (let’s use Orlando as exhibit A), the Wizards basically have no chance.

A few examples from tonight’s game, and pardon me if my memory isn’t quite exact. But there was one play in the second half where Butler’s man had the ball, then passed it to the corner. The other three Hawks were on the other side of the court, so Butler had to both double the guy with the ball, and not leave his man wide open. He compensated by kind of standing in between them, right at the foul line. Which is fine if there’s dribble penetration, but his original assignment was standing wiiiiiide open from the top of the three point line. He didn’t get the ball back, but if he did there’s no way Butler was in position to challenge the shot. One other note about this: because of all the doubling, a lot of times when the ball is swing around there are as many as 4 Wizards in/around the paint. If the shooter misses and it’s a long rebound, the opposing players are pretty much the only ones in position. I have a hunch the scheme is why so many teams have good offensive rebounding nights against us.

Later in the 4th, as the Wizards were closing the gap, it appeared Tapscott abandoned the zone scheme and went with a man defense. Stevenson in particular was able to get right up on the ball handler and make passing more difficult. True, a lot of times the ball made it’s way to the rim anyway, where Jamison is ill-equipped to guard Horford man-to-man, but to paraphrase what someone said in the game thread, I’ll take a contested shot in the paint over an open three any day.

I don’t know for a fact that the new defensive scheme is what’s been the problem, but I have a sneaking suspicion it’s a large part of it.