Songaila Suspended

by joshp on May 2, 2008 12:37 PM EDT Comment 29 comments

Editor's Note: eva.future was first to this story , but people had already been commenting here, and this had a link, so I bumped it to the front page.

I'm with everyone in saying the suspension is pretty silly. From what Ivan said, though, it sounds like Songaila just took the fall for DeShawn's so-called dirty flagrant in Game 1. Any little thing would have been a suspension.

It's a ridiculous decision, but instead of crying sour grapes, I'm curious to see what happens now to our frontcourt depth. Behind Haywood, all we have now is Andray Blatche, who has struggled in this series. We need Haywood to come up big tonight, otherwise, we're in big trouble.

http://www.nba.com/news/songaila_suspended_080502.html

for game 6.

this is going a little bit overboard. the flagrant was a so-so call, but this is too extreme, i think. i still cant determine whether or not the contact was intntional.

what should merit a suspension is lebron's reaction. that was a really bad acting job.

this series is just spiralling out of control, but thats what i love about it. hope it goes seven

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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uggh

this series has really just become a circus act. I suppose this is also punishment for Songaila “fouling” lebron on the last play of game 5. How many more times are they going to give us these types of calls? If DeShawn and Haywood weren’t suspended for their flagrants, why was Songaila suspended for his?

Andray Blatche > Lebron James

by blatcheallstar09 on May 2, 2008 1:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

How much will it hurt?

(Question goes for eva.future, too). Darius was giving some decent bench minutes—about 16 mpg, a +2 when on the floor. Does this mean some Pech or D-Mac?

by WRG on May 2, 2008 2:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Mike Brown

This ‘unusual’ development will finally show how good Mike Brown is once and for all. With Songaila out, Brown SHOULD go to big Z EVERY SINGLE FKN PLAY until Haywood is fouled out. Of course he won’t, and we’ll see iso Lebitch at the top of the key. Which is good. I’d like to see D-Mac and even Blatche thrown at Z early, so Haywood doesn’t have to worry about foul trouble. Then again this is moot if A: Z gets in foul trouble or B: Haywood has a monster game.

"[U]nless you hear something from the captains, which would be myself and Antawn, don't label that as the team. I'm the voice of this team and Antawn is the spiritual and emotional leader so unless you hear it from one of us, keep it moving."
Caron

by JasonGaines on May 2, 2008 2:17 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

D-Mac can't guard Z

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

by Mike Prada on May 2, 2008 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Truth, and

the only remedy for that is Haywood to have a monster game defensively and to make Z work on the other side of the court and try(?) to tire him out. What a ridiculous call by the NBA… Kobe gets suspended twice for elbows and LeBrat gives Blatche a root canal with no penalty?? David Stern is killing me

by JasonGaines on May 2, 2008 2:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Earlier thoughts....

I posted this as a comment under Jake’s previous breakdown of the “Incident.”

Darius Songaila suspended…how about that?

Let the David Stern conspiracy floodgates open! (just kidding)....or am I?

Suspend him, that’s fine. We’ll deal with that as I’m sure there will be a ton of further discussion.

I just wonder how you let KG get away with pushing a ref and Jason Kidd get away with wrapping his hand around Pargo’s neck.

I’m at a loss.

by Truth About It on May 2, 2008 2:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Posted in the other thread as well.

I’m so super furious. I don’t understand how they can make that call knowing the situation Darius and LeBron got themselves in. Flagrant 1 and 2 fouls won’t get you suspended. KG shoving and elbowing a ref won’t get you suspended. Horse collaring and throwing down Pargo won’t get you suspended.

However, a tech will? Good logic NBA.

"My only regret is that I have boneitis." - That Guy on Futurama

by Wizards on May 2, 2008 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why are we jinxed?

Oh hell. This is terrible news.

I’m not a stats guy, but it seems to me that Songaila (while he has missed a lot of easy shots down low this series after making the nice cut and getting the pass) has been key to the Wiz’s success. Every time he’s in, their offense seems to go on roll. (What’s his +/- in this series? I bet it’s hot.)

He’s also been playing his heart out on both ends of the court.

This is just terrible.

Literally, (unaware that Songaila might get suspended) I sent the following excited text message to a fellow former Washingtonian here in Seattle yesterday: “Meanwhile, secret plus: Songaila.” To back up this statement, I was planning to post here and ask one of you stat heads to run the numbers on him to see if I was onto something.

Guess it doesn’t matter now. Sigh.

by Monroe71 on May 2, 2008 2:34 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

We'll work on it after the season

My guess is that Songaila’s good for the offense (because he’s a great passer), but bad for the defense (because he’s undersized, commits a lot of fouls, and isn’t a great rebounder), meaning he has close to an even impact on the game.

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

by Mike Prada on May 2, 2008 2:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

At least Stu Jackson is more curtious than Gilbert Arenas

He gave Eddie Jordan a whole 7 hours notice before knowing that he’d be -1 in the personnel column…Gilbert gave him what, 7 minutes?

by Truth About It on May 2, 2008 2:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Where "What what the NBA wants to happen will happen" Happens.

its funny, i wrote a long blog the other day about this and it jus keeps becoming more true and true..

anyways..

I’ll admit that in the past, I’ve definitely complained about Darius’ play, and that Andray should get more minutes.. etc. but the truth of the matter is that his play this series has been far more instrumental (is that even the right word? it sounds right) to our success than andray’s. more importantly, its one less bigger body we don’t have. plus his shot from 10-12 ft seems ALOT more reliable than AB.

im jus really upset that this is a makeup call for deshawn’s foul. so the NBA is saying they really shoulda suspended deshawn, but because they were too late on it, are now suspending darius?

then you might as well give us 2 free throws and the ball to start game 6 for the flagrant on lebron on AB. plus i aint never heard of a suspension for ONE TECHNICAL.

im really just blown rite now.. ive been reading the wizards insider comments about darius being suspended and how cavs fans are chiming in that he’s a role player and that if we’re so worried about him not playing, we have bigger problems than that, but come on man, he’s our first big man off the bench, thats like varejao or joe smith missing from the cavs..

i dont even wanna talk about it anymore, its jus frustrating.. its time go write another poster to bring with me to the game tonight….

evaflowin.blogspot.com

by eva.future on May 2, 2008 3:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree with your frustration

But just to be clear, this isn’t a makeup call on DeShawn, at least how I understood it. The way I read it, DeShawn’s play was a warning to the entire team, and Darius’ was the team not adhering to that warning. It’s like DeShawn was strikes one and two, and Darius just happened to be strike three.

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

by Mike Prada on May 2, 2008 3:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Poster at the game tonight

eva.future,

Let us know what you come up. We’ll be watching for it.

by Monroe71 on May 2, 2008 3:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

havent come up with it yet..

but ill be in section 102.. its behind the wiz bench to the left!

Go Wiz.

evaflowin.blogspot.com

by eva.future on May 2, 2008 4:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

bs

i’m so sick of the NBA bein a joke like this. They suspend the guys from phoenix but don’t do anything to the celtics or hawks. They come down on the wiz but don’t do anything to kidd, lebron, kg, or anybody else. I don’t even know what to compare this joke of a situation to. It pisses me off so much. And the worst part is there’s nothing I can do about it. Guess that means I shouldn’t worry bout it, huh? But still, I think it’s ridiculous that the refs have massive biases and so does the front office of the league. How can anybody justify this. And don’t say ratings/$ cause I would much rather have the integrity of the league in place to go along with competitiveness. I sound like I’m a bitter old grouch who longs for the good ‘ol days, but i’m only 23. I hate this league sometimes

by DC Pain on May 2, 2008 3:37 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Where is the Comcast Tape?

Do I need to contact Comcast to give the NBA their angle? A billion dollar enterprise better be making this decision based on all the evidence and camera angles.

Im so pissed right now. The Fix is IN.

What? They don't have TV in the D-League? Don't watch me, watch TV.

by Mac G on May 2, 2008 3:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

92%

I didnt realize he was shooting that kind of percentage from the line. I dont think I am as big of a fan as Songaila as everyone else but having that on the floor during the penalty is huge. Hopefully it wont matter, time to see if Blatche can step up.

by Romans12 on May 2, 2008 3:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Songaila

Having Songaila be the person the NBA chooses to suspend and for that alleged “hit” sure gives us Wizards fans a reason to feel persecuted. After all, he is the most quiet player on the team, hasn’t said a word this series, without any sort of reputation of being a dirty or even physical player and his alleged misdeed was so minor, that its laughable. Its like arresting the next door neighbor of the guy who robbed the bank.
A complete joke.

by hotplate on May 2, 2008 3:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i think

we can definitely win without Songalia if we go hard on the boards all night, but it’s the principle of the thing. Lebron and Z never get called for anything. KG and Lewhiner throw elbows and zippy happens to them. I hope we play hard and win out, just go hard all night baby

by DC Pain on May 2, 2008 3:52 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I’m a CAVS fan and I am furious with this decision. Kid does not get suspended for a very dangerous take down. Haywood does not get suspended for a dangerous play. Stevenson does not get suspended for a questionable play. Garnet does not get suspended for pushing an official. All of the above were worse than Songalia. To me it looked like Songalia delivered a good foul intended to prevent the 3 pt play. The two players got tangled up and one got poked in the chin. No harm done.

I think David Stern is adding fuel to the fire. If there is a brawl in tonights game it is on him. Turning the NBA into the WWF.

by cavsfan on May 2, 2008 4:05 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree Cavs Fan

Kidd should have been suspended as his foul was the worst one of the bunch.

What? They don't have TV in the D-League? Don't watch me, watch TV.

by Mac G on May 2, 2008 4:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Kidd’s flagrant was definately the most dangerous of all the fouls mentioned above.

Don’t worry Wiz fans. The Devil, I mean David Stern has spoken. He wants this to go seven games so it will. Cavs won’t get a call tonight. Game seven might be a different story.

by cavsfan on May 2, 2008 4:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

That makes no sense

If Stern wanted a Game 7, wouldn’t he keep the Wiz at full strength?

by RockKing on May 2, 2008 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It was not meant to be serious. It was basically just a comment about how the officiating seems to control the outcome of games.

Anyway, hope tonight it is a clean game without any crying.

by cavsfan on May 2, 2008 5:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Songaila's +10 for the series

So just +2 per game—but that’s meaningful, considering the Cavs avg. 93.6 ppg and the Wiz avg. 93 ppg.

by WRG on May 2, 2008 5:18 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Plus, he's playing very few minutes

He’s +2 in about 15 minutes per game, which is like being +6 in 48 minutes.

That’s pretty solid.

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

by Mike Prada on May 2, 2008 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree

I don’t think anyone should play down what a disservice the NBA did to Washington. Especially without a lot of depth on the front line, losing Songalia is a key loss. Very unfortunate.

by RockKing on May 2, 2008 6:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also note

Songaila is the guy Eddie feels comfortable with at the end of the game (savvy vet who can hit free throws). That’s where the suspension hurts us the most – who do we play during crunchtime instead? BTH may be in foul trouble plus he tends to disappear at the end, DMac is a rookie with no playoff experience or offense, and Andray, well, let’s just say that AB scares the poo-poo out of me when he starts hurtling towards the rim on a 3-1 fastbreak. A blowout would be nice…but unlikely.

AB has stepped up before though and hopefully he can do it when we need him the most. This game will go a long way towards telling me if he will ever live up to his solid potential.

Getting buckets since 2003.

by Icantfeelmyface on May 2, 2008 5:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Lebron

I like the wizards and stuff but like what exactly is the point of making fun of Lebron? He’s one of the top players in the league…look where he took his team last year? I don’t think stevenson should continue to make fun of him because Lebron keeps showin him up…i dont love or hate lebron but i agree he’s good…and i dont know why we make fools of ourselves by making fun of him scoring 35 points a game?

by Lebronfan11 on May 6, 2008 5:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs