Keys To The Palace: Where The Wizards Aren't Mature Enough To Win On The Road

by Jake Whitacre on Jan 10, 2011 12:00 PM EST in Keys To The Palace

It's hard to put a positive spin on an 0-18 record on the road, but if you're trying to find a way to avoid thinking about the team's road woes, focus on their success at home. Right now, they've got a winning record at the Verizon Center, and most of their losses have been narrow losses to some good teams, including Miami, Orlando, Chicago and New York. Their home record is better than eleven other teams in the NBA, including Phoenix, Indiana and Milwaukee. If nothing else, the Wizards' solid home record is a sign the team has some talent that can succeed in the right environment.

But if the team's success at home is a sign of the team's talent, the team's road struggles show the team's dire need for maturity. Learning how to overcome obstacles without help is a big part of growing up, and right now, the Wizards still haven't matured enough to learn how to win without crowd support. The Wizards are at the stage where they're riding really, really well with training wheels. They've got a good feel for how the bike operates and they know how to get that thing to move really, really fast. But no matter how fast they gets that bike to move, they're never going to get to the Tour de France on training wheels.

Winning on the road is just one of the many obstacles on the Wizards' road to maturity, but until they clear this hurdle, they won't be able to move on to the bigger challenges that lie ahead of them. After the jump, we'll take a look back at each player's week and identify who is trying to help push the Wizards in the right direction, and who still needs some extra help.

Keys to the Palace

Player	Week 11 PER	Week 10 PER	Difference	Comment
Rashard Lewis	15.5	14	1.5	I guess Rashard has just been saving those rebounds and assists he wasn't getting in Orlando for his time in Washington. This week he averaged 10 rebounds a game (he only had one double-digit rebounding game this season coming into tonight) and had nearly four assists per game this week. On a team with plenty of unbalanced players, Lewis' transition from a strict role player in Orlando to a jack of all trades with the Wizards provides a great model for the team's young players to follow.
Nick Young	14.8	15.3	-0.5	Still think Nick Young is freelancing? Against the Sixers, Young went 9-16 from the field. All nine of his made shots were assisted. His defense was even better as he helped keep Evan Turner to two points. The rest of his week wasn't quite as spectacular, but for all of you who were hoping one day that he would learn to be an effective defender and play within the offense, your wishes have been granted. Don't forget that.

Guest Passes

Player	Week 11 PER	Week 10 PER	Difference	Comment
Kevin Seraphin	8.7	7.1	1.6	Seraphin's offensive game continues to grow. This week, he 4-6 from the field and grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds in his twenty minutes of action. He still has a ways to go when it comes to avoiding foul trouble. He picked up seven fouls in those twenty minutes of action this week.
Al Thornton	11.8	11.2	0.6	Thornton is starting to get more comfortable in the offense again, and it's showing in how he gets to the line. After a tentative start to the week against the Sixers, he got to the line three times against the Nets and took seven shots at the charity stripe against the Bobcats. Now that the team has better depth at small forward, Thornton is going to have to continue to find ways to get to free throw line to carve out a larger role on offense.
Kirk Hinrich	13.7	13.4	0.3	Hinrich said after Saturday's loss at Charlotte that the team was "not very mentally tough." I think he may have tried a little too hard to bring some toughness, taking an uncharacteristically high number of shots against the Sixers and Bobcats. On the whole, he performed well, but he has to learn to resist the temptation to do too much to help the Wizards get over the
JaVale McGee	18.2	18.6	-0.4	Do you think McGee had a little extra motivation to prove himself against Brook Lopez on Friday? Not only did he outscore, outrebound, and outblock Lopez, but he's now 2-0 against the player he was originally cut for on Team USA this summer. Now if only we could get him to work on the rebounding. Kirk Hinrich only had 3 less rebounds this week than McGee did.
John Wall	16.1	16.5	-0.4	Wall's three-point shot, which many thought would be a major issue, has been better than expected for most of the season. For the season, he's shooting 30.3 percent from deep (eFG% 45.3) which isn't great, but it's encouraging. This week, however, he had his struggles, only going 1-11. He's still racking up crazy assist numbers (34 in 3 games this week) but he needs to keep working on that shot, or those assist opportunities are going to dwindle.
Yi Jianlian	9.3	N/A	N/A	Yi was a little slow defensively, which is really saying something considering how slow he already is on defense, but he took care of business on the other end of the floor, knocking down open shots in his return to the lineup this week.

Locked Out

Player	Week 11 PER	Week 10 PER	Difference	Comment
Andray Blatche	13.2	13.6	-0.4	The good news? Andray was a perfect 10 for 10 at the charity stripe this week. The bad news? He only made 38 percent of 42 field goal attempts this week, continuing a bad trend. This season, 47 players have attempted 450 field goal attempts or more. Tyreke Evans is the only player shooting worse than Blatche.
Trevor Booker	12.8	12.8	0	It's hard to get in a rhythm when you only get 13 minutes spread out over 3 games, but Booker has to find a way to make a bigger impact even in small doses. One rebound in 13 minutes won't cut it.

NOTE: Josh Howard, Cartier Martin and Hilton Armstrong were left off this week's Keys to the Palace because they did not receive enough playing time this week for a fair evaluation.

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Comments

In this rebuilding season, we need to find a way to get Booker more PT

Benching Dray is not an option though. He’s either in our future plans or he’s trade bait. Either way, we have to continue to build his value. With Lewis, Thornton, Howard, Blatche, Yi, etc., how does Booker get his minutes? He’s a first rounder who needs to develop this season.

by PhenomenalSwag on Jan 10, 2011 12:29 PM EST reply actions

Re Booker as a "first rounder"

I have seen nothing from Booker this year that would make me think he was a worthy first round pick — as we all know, most pundits and teams had him somewhere in the second round. Maybe he can be an energy guy, 15 minutes off the bench banging with the second unit, scoring in transition and doing everything but providing consistent offense, but that’s best case scenario.

I guess what I’m saying is: Why spend much effort trying to find time to develop the guy? I mean, if he earns it, great, but I wouldn’t get concerned that he’s not getting minutes — I just don’t see him as talented enough to play a significant role on a good team. This team sucks and he can barely crack the rotation. He’s a little better than Taser (Dominic McGuire) and that’s it. That said, Booker should definitely be getting minutes before Yi (and maybe before Thorton). I’d play him over Shart too, but that’s just because I hate having him on my team.

Getting buckets since 2003.

by Icantfeelmyface on Jan 10, 2011 4:49 PM EST up reply actions

Shard is a positive here...

I think that Shard has given the Wizards a lot more value than they were getting from Gilbert, and whether he plays out his contract in DC as a top Wall assist target, or is quickly flipped to a contender, EG “done good” to trade Gil for him.

As far as Booker goes, I was lucky enough to have a courtside seat (well, three rows back) to watch the Wizards play against the Lakers in early December. By chance this was Booker’s best game of the season, a game that I recollect Blatche missed (he was replaced as starting PF by Yi).

Booker got in early and played good minutes, particulalry in a very competitive third and early fourth quarter. From what I saw, the man has strength and desire. He went after offensive rebounds with a vengeance and scored a number of second chance points. He is the kind of guy you like to have on your team. Maybe he will never be a starter, but he can be valuable, and I would lay money that his minutes vs LA at Staples were about the most effective stretch of play from a WIzards 4 this season. What more can you expect out of a 23rd pick?

I would like to see Flip give him (and Seraphin) some good burn off the bench against Sacto and the Wolves as these teams will otherwise be at an advantage due to their active and productive big men.

by khrabb on Jan 11, 2011 11:15 AM EST up reply actions

Let's say for the sake of argument we've been playing Dray to "build his value"

How’s that been working out for us? Most people on here agree that he needs to see less minutes in favor of Booker and Seraphin. I think it may help the team and Dray.

by Unselds on Jan 10, 2011 12:38 PM EST reply actions

You could use that picture at the end of every away game.

by Pryme on Jan 10, 2011 1:10 PM EST reply actions

Lumping Wall and Hinrich

with Yi, Seraphin, Thorton, and Mr. McGee, is absurd. Wall and Hinrich have their own key cards.
They are the reason this team is even competitive. I also add that Mcgees name has popped up in trade talks concerning the Knicks just so people know how seriously to take trade rumors.

by hambonejackson on Jan 10, 2011 2:05 PM EST reply actions