Expectations

These three are in three very different places.

McGee is both young and raw. He needs time and absolutely will get better. The question is how much. If he doesn’t start playing smarter, he’ll just become an exciting bench player. If he can learn a little bit and avoid injury while his body matures and he gets used to the NBA game, he could be very good. We just have to wait and see — this year should give us some idea whether he’s going to learn anything, but he’ll have a couple more years of improvement after it either way.

Blatche is already good. The only question is how much better he’ll get. He showed last year that he can match his per minute stats over starter minutes. It kind of baffles me how everyone last summer was talking about “giving up” on him and how now people are still down on him. He was a 2nd round pick out of high school that has improved at least one aspect of his game every year. He should improve again this year unless his injury holds him back. He’s not KG, so let’s just stop those comparisons. KG is one of the greatest to ever play the game — when he was Blatche’s age he was in MVP discussions, and he was still improving. Blatche will improve too, but we should be hoping for a 3-5 time all star, not an NBA first-teamer. At 23, he was already a pretty good starter though, and 18/9/3 is very good production to go along with decent defense. He needs to play smarter still, but his game has been trending that way.

Mostly Young is what he is, but he did change his game a bit last year, so there’s a possibility that we’ll see improvement this season. If he keeps getting better on defense then he may still become a valuable role player. I wouldn’t bet on it though. Whatever his improvement, he’s going to have a hard time getting meaningful minutes to prove it if Howard is healthy to start the season. And he needs to prove it this year for his career — I could see him being a very unhappy camper this season.

I never meant to insinuate these three fellas can’t be very good players…I’m just saying chances are they won’t.

To get back to a couple of counter-arguments made:

1. I think Javale will get injured due to the Curse, the seeming lack of muscle to support those rubber band tendons, and his inexperience.

2. I doubt 3-Day-Dray will average more than 8 boards a game this year. This is where my comparison to KG comes into effect. I never have believed Dray could be as good as KG, but I believe it is his job to have his mentality. I think the team would be better off if Dray averaged 14-12-4 and played All-Star defense. He has all the tools, but let’s be honest, he will never care as much about winning as he does about scoring buckets. KG attacks his opponent every time down the court, he gets in their heads (like Andray this year). To me that is far more valuable to a young team looking for identity than a 7-footer looking to make 14 foot fadeaways.

3. Nick Young is a clown. I just want him to sit down and watch Ray Allen film for a week straight. That is who he could be, but he never will be. I think he is a funny guy, a kind soul, and may have a learning disability…but he needs to develop a true identity. His identity now is a inconsistent knucklehead.

Nick Young is as good as gone in DC. You can go ahead and trade his reasonable contract to San Antonio or Utah, somewhere a coach with authority can teach the young man the game. He would be decent learning from Pops or Sloan.

JaVale’s body type just doesn’t seem ready to handle the rigors of an 82+ game regular season. Maybe three years from now his knees will be fine, but I doubt it.

Andray is my biggest contention with your counter-argument. It is a player’s job to have a certain mentality to make the team better. From 1999 until now you have 5 teams win the title (Lakers, Heat, Spurs, Celtics, and Pistons). Each one of those squads had a 4 or a 5 with an intense disposition, played stellar D, or had a reputation for hard fouls. Shaq, Duncan, Garnett, Perkins, and B. Wallace all had the “stones” to get in there and mix it up. Who else has the ability to do that for the Wizards? JaVale? Seraphin? Booker? None of those guys has the talent and ability that Blatche does.

So in short, yes it is Blatche’s obligation to play with a nasty streak and attack. Even Pau Gasol realized that in order to be a champion he would have to make hard fouls and attack the rim. He shows way more intensity than Blatche does and he is not nearly as athletic.

Blatche will always be a headache.

knows whats up. I am by most standards a “homer”, but even I can see that Dray is a sub-par defender.

Back to Prada’s point, we need to work up to half a season for Blatche. Last year he played 30 decent games on offense but with poor defense, all after he refused to go back into a game. So you got 3/8ths of a season with decent offense, really good passing, and poor defense.

You can’t expect to build an athlete physically then mentally, it has to be the other way around. He just doesn’t have the right mindset yet, but he could if someone was there to mold him. Flip isn’t going to do it, Dray is what he is. This is the same guy who may have broken his foot playing a pick-up game and has yet to tell the truth about. This is the same guy who doesn’t have an ounce of respect for Flip. The same guy who got shot years back. The same guy who tried to pick up a prostitute while looking for a new contract. The same guy who had to develop a moniker to dispell the rumors that he could only find the gym if it was inside the club, according to Wilbon.

You really think he is on the right track? Doubtful.

• y comparison for McGee is Tyson Chandler w/more offensive potential. I also think he is slightly more athletic then Tyson Chandler. He’s not as raw offensively as people think he is. He showed in the summer league that he has some good post moves and has offensive touch. He worked his but off in the summer too. He’s gained a lot of weight, has grew an inch and a 1/4, and has taken up boxing to improve his conditioning. He finally has a true point guard now(Mr. Wall), and I think he will flourish with John their. He has loads of potential. Just watch, he going to become a star.

• If Blatche can just get his head together and learn how to always play hard, He can become an all-star. The question is if he has the desire. Before he broke his foot this summer, he was working his but off, do that’s a good sign. And even though he is injured, he said he is determined to stay in shape. So if he improves his defense, gains more maturity, and shows the desire to play great, I think he will breakout.

• Nick Young has the potential to be a very good player, but he takes all of his abilities for granted. People say the he was stuck on the bench, but they’re wrong because he got some starts last season. While he did good in some, he played bad in others and his PT dipped late in the season. Nick Young is a great shooter and great athlete, but has low basketball I.Q., takes bad shots, and is very inconsistent. I think this is his make-or-break year for Washington. If he doesn’t impress the coaching staff this season, I think he may be on his way out of D.C..