Wizards get blown out by Magic in season opener

From @Hoopdata:

Magic a ridiculous 18-for-21 at rim and 10-for-15 inside 10 feet with 32 FTA for good measure. Wizards interior D was atrocious.

Getting Arenas and Howard back will make all the losing respectable, but right now I can only think of Barkley’s reaction to Wall mentioning the 8th seed and nodding.

This is the sort of thing you have to live with in a rebuilding effort, I suppose. I just hope that in the coming games we see that a gutless, skill-less performance like this isn’t indicative of the state of the team. It would be hard to find another starting frontcourt over the season.

I think the Eastern Conference Finalists will come down to the Celtics and the Magic. The Heat are a distant third, maybe even fourth.

Can’t wait til tomorrow night when the Magic destory Lebron and the Heat.

Seriously though, this just kind of comes with the whole rebuilding concept.

-coming into fruition. He is the designated 3/D guy on the squad. With his size, he is needed to start with the 2 guard rotation being so small. he also does all the little things. There was just no room to operate when Thornton was in. That also goes towards Blatche, as he was bracketed basically all game.

-Nick Young, disappointment.

-I’d like to see more Trevor Booker, but not at the expense of Martin. This wasn’t a game for Booker to make a major impact anyway because he’s hesitant to shoot and too undersized for Orlando.

-Then there is McGee who I’d rather not talk about.

I had 1,000% more fun cheering for the post-trade Wizards from last season. That team played defense, moved the ball, and played with ENERGY. This team just looks like a YMCA pickup team going through the (slow) motions.

Wall looked like a deer in the headlights; he never seemed to get comfortable. I agree with what Kenny Smith said at halftime – Wall needs to do more with the space the defense gives him instead of settling for 18 foot set shots. He should also make a conscience effort to keep the ball moving until the clock is almost completely wound down. Wall took too many shots with 10+ seconds left on the clock.

The Andray Blatche from the 2nd half of last season was nowhere to be found. He looks flabby and out-of-shape. And he made very little effort attacking the rim, instead settling for long 2 pointers, just like Wall.

Come to think of it, the entire team settled for long 2s and 3 pointers. In addition to getting out-rebounded 5,732-3, they got outscored in the paint 1,234-2. They had zero post presence. I really miss Brendan Haywood.

JaVale McGee continues to make his claim as the worst defender in the history of the NBA. I think his defense has actually gotten worse since last season. Flip most have called at least 3 timeouts just so he could yell at JaVale for his terrible defense. Thank God Flip benched him for most of the game, otherwise it wouldn’t have been so close. I really think JaVale shouldn’t be allowed to start anymore. His sorry ass should be glued to the end of the bench until he can demonstrate at least passable defense during practice consistently.

Nick Young shouldn’t be in the NBA. I think it’s time for him to start making a living playing in Europe.

Cartier Martin put in a solid performance and deserves to start at small forward.

Al Thornton gave good effort, but he needs to make those outside shots. He also should have attacked the basket more.

Kirk Hinrich was meh. I’m hoping it was just a bad game, probably because all the suckiness of his teammates was rubbing off on him. I anticipate that he will get much better.

Hilton Armstrong was unimpressive. He was about as effective as Oberto was last season, without the passing.

Flip had this team completely unprepared to play. I’m really disappointed with him and expect more from him. He brags about making the most of his players and references his time in the CBA, but this NBA team he’s coaching looked like they never played together before. Did he even call any plays? If he did, then he must have a lot of plays that end with a player taking a contested 18 foot shot.

Ernie Grunfeld needs to be fired. I’ve officially soured on him. How could he have assembled this mess? Why didn’t he get a decent post player during the off-season? I’m sorry, but I disagree with those who say this is part of the process. There is never a good reason to be this bad. You can rebuild without being this feeble, this useless. EG built a team with no front-court toughness, after talking about getting more toughness. He is a failure.

Can we please get some shooters?
Trade Nick Young?
Teach Yi Jianlian different post moves than a fadeaway???

1. I didn’t really consider this before but Andray’s foot injury probably was a big contributor to his awful performance tonight. I’m sure he isn’t all the way in game shape and he kind of just got thrown into the fire tonight against a good team defense, a great defender in Dwight, and constant double teams. I expect MAJOR improvement over this next month or so.

2.Flip Saunders does NOT need to over think Wall’s matchups. He is going to do what he does. His speed is going to standout whether he is guarding the slowest SG or the quickest PG. There is no need to complicate things for him or this mess of a defense.

3. Al Thornton is not really a good fit on the court with Wall. I thought this, even before this game. Although, I liked what he did offensively tonight. He was aggressive and attacked the rim when nobody else was. But start Martin, his hustle is contagious and his jumpshot can change the game completely for Wall.

However, you failed to mention that EG needs to lose his job and remind people to pray for Flip Saunders. So here it is… People, please do not forget to pray that Flip Saunders does not hurt himself, Nick Young, Andray Blatche, Javale Mcgee, or any combination of the four. Because I don’t know if he can see any other options right now.

Yeah, that was about as bad as you would fear. But what did you expect? The playoffs? Then the fault is not with the young, undermanned, start near the bottom, blow up the team last year Wizards but with you and your expectations.

Youth does not win in the NBA. Get used to it. They all won’t be as hard as playing one of the top 4 teams on opening night of their new arena, but they aren’t going to be easy either.

Without Arenas we are one of the 5 worst teams in the league. Sorry if you were expecting Wall to make the D better. Or to be an all star. Ain’t going to happen. Not this year.

We’re going to have to be patient. Firing the Coach, GM,and trading everybody isn’t patient. It’s Snyder-esque.

This game may be a good indication of how teams will defend the Wizards, at least until Gilbert and Josh Howard return. Give Wall space and let him shoot the open jumper, because he’ll miss it. Double Blatche immediately off the block, make him pass the ball out to the perimeter. Pay no heed to McGee, his game will implode. Let Yi shoot the shots he likes, because they’re low-percentage. Get the Wizards to play half-court offense, because they don’t know their plays yet, and don’t yet understand how to move the ball (or move without the ball, for that matter). Offensively, take it inside over & over & over again. You’ll win on rebounds by default, and that will translate into second chance points. After building a comfortable lead, wait for the Wizards to double and triple-team on the block, then kick the ball to wide-open shooters, and watch your lead double.

And I hope your so call team lose against the Hawk’s. I am about to do like you guy’s John Wall suck and his boy’s not Gill and YOUNG they are the best player on the team.

and is as disinterested as he was tonight, then the wiz have by far the worst front court i’ve seen in a while. they players are who they are at this point.
booker should be given regular time.

I just joking…but I think we are overreacting even though this is a pretty embarrassing way to start the season.

Start Hamady, because he’s the only big man dedicated to defense. No, he doesn’t know what he’s doing at this level yet. but he’s a worker. JaVale McGee is going to drive Flip crazy. Jump shots?? Seriously? And Armstrong looks like a 3rd-stringer out there.

Start Yi at SF. He’s more effective than Thornton, spreads the floor more, runs well, sets good screens, and generally seems to know what he’s doing.

Until Gil gets back, play Nick Young more. His game wasn’t good tonight, but his movement was better than others out there. Insist that he move without the ball, though. There were plenty of guys to stand around and eventually jack up ill-advised shots, Nick is at his best when he’s moving, forcing opponents to follow him off screens, opening lanes for himself & others.

Al Thornton dunked on DH12
but since we were getting blown out…nobody cared

Remember that autistic kid that drained a bunch of threes in a high school game? Yup..smarter than JaVale. Seriously, he must have some kind of issue. It frustrates me so I know for all of his coaches it must be 10x more frustrating. Is he not willing to learn? I know I just said this, but their are honestly high school basketball players who understand the game better than he does. How did Pam raise such a basketball retarded son??

It’s time for him and Young to go. If there us ANY hope for Blatche, he needs to be surrounded by professionals. Any chance we can package McGee and Young with Gilbert for ‘Melo? Maybe if we take back Ely or Kenyon’s awful contract they’d do it.

I can’t believe the knee-jerk overreactions here. Remember the opener against Dallas last year? People were talking about the Wiz winning 50 games and home-court for the first round of the playoffs. This is an incredibly young team, playing an incredibly veteran-laden team that’s a big threat to win it all this year.

Our two most veteran guys were out. Orlando’s been playing together for years. John Wall’s FIRST NBA game. Mike mentioned yesterday that this was about the worst possible matchup and circumstances. He was right.

Sure, I would’ve liked to have seen them play better. But it’s one out of 82. They are rebuilding from the ground up. It’s a process.

Take a breath. Go on a bike ride. Get a teeny little bit of perspective.

I was never really was convinced that this was a quality team ….Yi, are you kidding me, Javale starting,Oh Boy, Blatche taking the next step,probably not, Gil playing the 2,will his head be right, J.Wall coming in as a rookie point guard is the most settling part of this mess and that is scary!!!!! I’m not sounding any alarms that anyone else didn’t already hear, but this will be a long season! There will be some bright moments to tease us of the potential of Wall in particular but if we play any team with a High IQ we will get smacked!!!

This team will require a lot of patience!!! Hang in there guys!!!

We liked watching the end of last season because the guys played with energy. Flip will reward those players this year too, but it’s going to take a few games to find them. One of those won’t be Hilton Armstrong though…very unimpressed with him. I think Booker and Hudson will creep into the rotation before Young, Armstrong, and maybe even Thornton. Martin will definitely be in the rotation if not starting.