Tapping Wizards' Potential
Good read.
Not that many discussions on BF forums don't tread around the same material.
8 months ago
lovebookershustle
27 comments
0 recs |
Email
PrintComments
Phil Jackson
made an important point. Trust. Players have to trust that another player will do his job. If players don’t trust each other then 2 players will go after the same loose ball because they don’t trust that any one else will. if you can’t trust a player to score, you have to do it. In a sense this causes distortions because players don’t operate efficiently as a team.
A lot of this comes through practice and experience of playing together in games. Communication builds trust and sometimes thats a problem for this team and a reason I get mad at McGee for going rogue when he does.
Wall must make sure that the team communicates.He is the 1 guard.
Blatche and McGee need to communicate.
So I hope communication improves this season.
That's a very incomplete and factually incorrect article
He clearly didn’t watch Nick Young on D last yr and doesn’t seem to recognize that flip made him a catch and shoot player. imo he’s a limited role player but one that fits JWall extremely well.
Furthermore he doesn’t seem to know that we’re locked in for 14 players next year as he says there’s only 7 on the roster, so there’s room for free agents…..
He doesn’t seem to know Chris Singleton and Ndiaye were with Blatche or that McGee and Young were in Vegas (albeit Young didn’t play) with Wall and he holds it against Javale and AB…..!?
I’m the first one to say that this team are no world leaders, mostly a bunch of role players, 1 good player and 2 or 3 with significant potential, but damn some are so negative.
"My logic fails all the time...especially when talking to females" Rook6980
The article mentioned Yi
so it is not up to date. The question is, how to improve the team?
by hambonejackson on Sep 20, 2011 6:30 AM EDT up reply actions
It talks about the lockout league and AB's team sessions so yes, its a recent article
The writer just doesnt know his stuff. Something that hapens quite often and it annoys me. If you get paid to write, why not do your job PROPERLY?
Anywho, yes, how to improve this team?
Imho we’ll take a look at the players that best fit Wall, trade the rest for some real help and draft a studd in the high lottery.
In general we atleast need a a point (Wall) a low post pressence (vacant) a 20ppg scorer (vacant) and then some comlimenting roleplayers (vacant) and as an overall note I’d like to add that ‘running’ should be on everybodies resume. We have players who could fill the vacancies but they still have to prove it imo.
"My logic fails all the time...especially when talking to females" Rook6980
by Dutch Hoopfan on Sep 20, 2011 7:43 AM EDT up reply actions
You left off rebounding...
In my mind, that’s the single biggest hole the Wizards have right now… and the one skill that may keep them from advancing further. And that’s the one skill that the Wizards don’t have, and are not likely to develop.
To run, you have to rebound the basketball. So I think the Wizards need a dominant rebounder to compliment either Blatche’s skills and scoring, or (preferably) McGee’s athleticism and blocked shots.
As for the rest -
I’m not convinced that you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO have a low post presence….. (I assume you mean on Offense)… Certainly, OKC doesn’t have anyone that consistently scores in the post… Neither does Dallas…. Chicago did OK. Even though Boozer had a terrible year, and missed 22 games; they still ended up with the best record in the League. So low post “presence”, at least offensively, is a “want” rather than a need. Don’t get me wrong; I’d LOVE the Wizards to get a strong low post scorer – but I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to be a contending team.
As for a 20 point scorer – The Wizards have three guys already that could be 20 ppg scorers… Nick Young could be that guy; and is the closest thing the Wizards have to an efficient outside threat…. But Blatche and Crawford need to significantly increase their efficiency before they should be allowed to take enough shots to produce 20 points per game… So I’d agree the Wizards need a 20 point scorer – but I’d also caveat that by saying that player should be an efficient 20-point scorer.
As for role players – the Wizards already have plenty. Young, if he’s not starting material, is certainly capable of being an electric scorer off the bench. You can say the exact same thing about Crawford. Singleton’s defense will certainly make him valuable. Seraphin is looking more and more line a legitimate NBA player (bench big man)… And even though I believe in Jan Vesely as a starter – his worst case is an energy bench guy.
I used to have super powers until my psychiatrist took them away.
I don't think the Wiz need a dominant rebounder
I think they need to improve their team rebounding. Blatche and McGee need to get more aggressive. I think both of them will improve there this season. Booker is in his 2nd season. Seraphin is improving. Singleton should help. Wall and Crawford have had 10 board games. Vesely tries. Maybe Young, with all the speed the team has added, can focus more on boards. If the Wiz can improve their fast break, they should have more rebounding opportunities. I think the Wiz just need to improve as a team.
by hambonejackson on Sep 20, 2011 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions
I don't think that the Wizards can become a good rebounding team
simply with improvements from within….
The real good rebounding teams rely upon 2 or 3 guys ….
In Miami, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and D. Wade average over 24 rebounds per game.
Chicago’s Deng, Boozer and Noah average over 26
All by himself, Dwight Howard’s 15 per game makes the Magic a good rebounding team
McGee averaged 8 rebounds per game.. Blatche 8.2… Lewis was at a meager 5.0
No one else on the front line averaged even as little as 4 boards per game.
To become a good, the Wizards need another 2 or 2.5 defensive rebounds per game… and I just don’t see how the addition of Rookies Vesely (poor rebounder) , or Singleton will help much…. And I’m certainly NOT looking for a jump of 2.5 rebounds from Blatche or McGee….
I used to have super powers until my psychiatrist took them away.
Zone
Only the vertically-challenged Warriors were worse than we were at securing defensive rebounds. We were second worst in the league.
We were also terrible at forcing misses. Seventh worst in the league in opponent’s eFG%. We gave up a lot of point blank shots and a lot of open looks from the corners.
On the plus side, we were a pretty good offensive rebounding team. Ninth best in the league.
Add it all together, and you can see why Flip and Ernie would want to use the zone a lot more.
Flip’s zone should improve our ability to protect the paint and against the corner three.
The downside of the zone is that we will be giving up inside rebounding position. But our guys weren’t doing much with that position anyway, and they’re pretty good at using their length and quickness to grab boards when they don’t have that position.
By going zone, we might be able to force 3 or 4 extra misses per game, while only giving up 1 or 2 extra offensive rebounds.
You're right, I forgot rebounding....
In fact I forgot both rebounding ánd interior D…. excusemoi… You know I have been beating that drum for ever!
“low post presence”
I guess reality proves you don’t absolutely need a lowpost pressense, that’s true. I just feel that it could be a really efficient weapon, especially in a poor bigman-era so to speak.
“efficient 20-point scorer”
Totally agreed
“Role players”
Like I said, we have candidates for all vacancies. Its up to them to prove they belong.
"My logic fails all the time...especially when talking to females" Rook6980
crap, reply fail to Rook
"My logic fails all the time...especially when talking to females" Rook6980
by Dutch Hoopfan on Sep 20, 2011 11:30 AM EDT up reply actions
One of the reasons I liked Kanter
was the fact that he could have provided the answer to a very big NEED for the Wizards – with his aggressive rebounding…. AND he could have provided the nice added bonus of inside post scoring.
And while I think he will have trouble guarding quicker, more athletic or perimeter oriented big men (Bosh, Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire, Andrea Bargnani , etc…) he will be perfect guarding bigger, stronger interior players (Howard, Boozer, Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, Luis Scola, etc…).. You know, the ones that simply steam roll over Blatche and McGee !!??!!
I used to have super powers until my psychiatrist took them away.
hear hear
"My logic fails all the time...especially when talking to females" Rook6980
by Dutch Hoopfan on Sep 20, 2011 12:07 PM EDT up reply actions
Efficient 20 point scorer and inside scoring will come as Wall improves.
Inside defense comes from the zone and aggressive, hyperathletic perimeter D. We’ll give up a high percentage when the zone gets beat, but the plan is to limit the opponent’s attempts inside.
Rebounding is going to be a problem, but we can’t get much worse. If we can force turnovers and low opponent FG%, we’ll be OK.
No, I mean 20ppg next to Wall's near 20-10 that I already counted on
Plus you cant really play good perimeter D if you cant trust the bigs. If you know you can’t get beat because it would an automatic lay up you have to sag off to much and get J’d every time. If you do get in your dude’s grill you’l get beat evrey now and then. Interior defense helps the entire defense. I just don’t see a way to bring down the opposing overall fg% on a nightly basis without it.
Also, the stops we do get ABSOLUTELY need to be rebounded. If not there is not enough transition BBall to consistantly outscore our opponents…
I guess today’s NBA allows you to not have a low post threat, but one of our bigs need to be an offensive weapon. Jumpshooting, lowpost or otherwise
"My logic fails all the time...especially when talking to females" Rook6980
by Dutch Hoopfan on Sep 20, 2011 6:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Nick is close already. 17.4 ppg on moderate efficiency. As John Wall improves his playmaking abilities, it seems reasonable for Nick to reach 20 ppg on good efficiency.
The other big potential offensive weapon is the pick and roll. I still have high hopes for the Wall-McGee PnR game. If Wall’s J gets good, look out.
If your perimeter D is good enough, you can compensate for even mediocre defensive bigs.
Swarming perimeter D allowed Team USA to win gold last year with Odom and Kevin Love at C and Iguodala at PF.
The Heat are an elite defensive team, even though they’re either small, old, or fat at C.
The championship Bulls teams were soft inside, but swarming D from MJ and Pippen made them elite, even against the likes of Olajuwon, Ewing, and Robinson. And it was even harder to help inside from the perimeter back then because of the illegal defense rule.
Well, we don't have Lebron, Jordan or even Iguadala type defensive talent do we?
You’re talking about the best of the best and those guys get beat less often than the normal ‘super humans’ in the NBA.
Now, I know you’re just gonna reply stuff till the end of time like you always do but the key is this: The roster as currently constructed sucks at interior defense and defensive rebounding.
"My logic fails all the time...especially when talking to females" Rook6980
by Dutch Hoopfan on Sep 21, 2011 8:19 AM EDT up reply actions
Wall has that kind of talent.
Nick and Vesely aren’t at that level, but they are very athletic and have elite length.
Singleton could be very, very good.
And hopefully we won’t need to be that elite on the perimeter. If JaVale doesn’t get a heck of a lot better than what the Bulls threw out there back in the ‘90s and what the Heat used this year, we’ll all be very, very disappointed.
Wall has that kind of talent
False. Wall’s defense has always been questionable dispite his fysical abilities. They say he can be/should be great because of his quickness, athletic ability and long arms, but it has been an issue in HS, College and in the NBA last yr. He has quick hands but he is nothing like Jordan at all in terms of defense.
"My logic fails all the time...especially when talking to females" Rook6980
by Dutch Hoopfan on Sep 21, 2011 9:27 AM EDT up reply actions
DX says the following about John Wall’s D:
Another area in which Wall has been better than advertised is with his play on the defensive end. Not only does he have the physical attributes required to be a lockdown defender with his terrific size, wingspan and lateral quickness, but (unlike Derrick Rose) he also shows the type of aggressiveness and intensity to take advantage of his tools.
The huge number of blocks and steals he generates immediately jumps off the page at you, but seeing the way he absolutely smothers his opponents on the perimeter with his length and his ability to cover ground and contest countless shots around the basket each game is far more impressive.
Wall himself has commented on this recently. He said that he couldn’t keep up defensively last year because his injuries slowed him down, but that he is and will be much better, now that he’s healthy.
his blocks and steals are great but I was talking about his on ball D
"My logic fails all the time...especially when talking to females" Rook6980
by Dutch Hoopfan on Sep 21, 2011 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions
the way he absolutely smothers his opponents on the perimeter with his length and his ability to cover ground
actually - I'm with Dutch Hoopfan here...
We rarely saw John “smother” his opponent last year… Possibly because he was injured most of the year and played at most at 85%…. but still – Dutch’s point is valid… John Wall shows flashes.. he has the mentality… he has the skills.. and he has the physical tools – but he has YET to play at an elite level defensively for any significant stretch of games.
Your original statement: “Wall has that kind of talent.” – is absolutely correct… but having the talent, and using that talent on the court (for a prolonged period) are two different things.
I used to have super powers until my psychiatrist took them away.
OK, we're agreed.
John Wall has all-time great talent defensively, but he’s been pretty ordinary so far. So what’s your best guess as to how good he’ll end up being, defensively?
Personally, I expect him to be one of the best in the NBA. I’m hoping he’ll be one of the best in the history of the NBA.
I think he'll be a decent NBA defender...
With the offensive responsibilities he has, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him take the occasional defensive play off… or put forth less effort on the Defensive side of the ball…
But he’ll be great in the last 5 minutes of games.
I used to have super powers until my psychiatrist took them away.
I want more
A combination of Kidd, Rondo, Payton, and Stockton would be nice.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
NBA Playoffs Content Module
Related FanPosts on Bullets Forever
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sport
- David West hilariously denies each and every one of his young fans a high-five (VIDEO)
- Behind the Box Score, where the Miami Heat are moving on to the conference finals
- Kevin Durant is tired of hearing about the Spurs
- The 10-man rotation, starring your Indiana Pacers
- Blake Griffin highlights, ‘NBA Jam’-style (VIDEO)
