Raptors Vs. Wizards: Flip Saunders, Others Discuss Lineup Change

This is exactly what we all have wanted to see. Play-Wise, Energy-Wise, Quote-Wise…its beautiful. I can sleep soundly tonight my BF family. Believe that.

“You know, this could be a sign of things to come. You win all your cases, but with somebody else’s help, right? you win case after case, and then afterwards you have to go up to somebody and you have to say, “thank you.”
[pause]
Oh my God, what a f***ing nightmare!"

…this line-up (and minutes for Vesely) makes sense. Let the potential prospects play. At worst, Singleton, Booker and Vesely will end up being decent bench players. At best, they may attract attention around the league and become part of a mega trade. It seems so painful to get to this point. Jeez.

now i’ll have to find a new place to dump all my irrational anger.

great game book!

All we ask for is effort and put the right starters out. We better bring the same effort tommorrow! I’m not expecting to win but if we do, I might pour champaign on myself! Ballin!

this is the kind of game that we should expect to win — beating what is at best an average team, on the second night of a back-to-back at home. Overall, there were plenty of positives in terms of energy and defensive hustle. It’s nice to see that Vessely is shaping up to be another high IQ player to complement Booker, Singleton and the veterans. Mack appears to fit in that category as well.

On offense, however, the ball still got stuck in a man-to-man game — Crawford in particular gets locked in on a man-to-man game. He doesn’t seem to see the floor very well and his shot selection is consistently bad. It’s much better that the minutes go to Mack, as he is the closest thing that we have to a back-up PG. I don’t think it’s a coincidence, that the Wizards best performance this year have happened when Crawford’s minutes were limited to closer to 10 to 15 instead of 20-25.

Agree with DCrez regarding the usage.

Part of the frustrating part this season is that the Wizards have taken a big step back after games where they appeared to turn the corner (e.g. following the Boston series, and then following the Knicks game). The next stretch of games is going to be a hard test for the team. Hopefully some of the energy from tonight carries over in Chicago. No one expects a win, but it would still be a step forward for this team if we see some consistent effort and solid execution tomorrow night.

Pyschologically, it was fun and a real moral-booster, but face-it, Toronto came to town running on fumes. I support the new line-up, but this same group is gonna look real ugly when trying to score against well-rested teams or even average teams.

We no doubt played our best game of the season and by no means do I want to diminish that. And I know Toronto was on the 2nd night of a back to back and probably arrived in DC very very late the night before…. But talk about an uninspiring roster. We’ve received plenty of criticism lately for having the “worst” roster in the league. What about Toronto? DeRozan can play a little and Bargnani has a lot of offensive skill, but other than them, is there a player on the roster you would really want? Ernie has taken a lot of heat in DC lately, but what is the plan in Toronto? I would not want to trade places with their fans.

http://www.nbadraft.net/players/arnett-moultrie

he is very solid

I love how Blatche places more of the burden on the current starters than he did on himself when the team had the 8-game losing streak. I certainly didn’t hear him lobbying for a bench role the first eight games.

But those groups will play together, because those groups played well together.

I think we’ve found some subunits that play well together.

JaVale’s gambling/wild play doesn’t work with Blatche or Lewis. Until JaVale becomes more of a grizzled vet, we’re better off surrounding him with teammates with the necessary athleticism to adjust to him.

Blatche and Lewis are much headier, steadier players. Playing them together makes sense. They can’t cover for their teammates very much, but they don’t require help from their teammates as much, either.

I think Booker, Singleton, Vesely, and Turiaf (when he gets back) can complement either style. They have the athleticism to adjust to JaVale’s chaotic play and also have the discipline to play well with Lewis/Blatche.

Seraphin probably needs to be used as a sub for JaVale. He’s too raw to play with JaVale or with Lewis/Blatche. Like JaVale, he probably needs to be in there with two of Booker/Singleton/Vesely/Turiaf.

In the back court, Nick and Crawford don’t mesh at all. Wall, Mack, and Mason are much more adaptable, but the pairings I like best are Wall-Young and Mack-Crawford.

he doesn’t seem to buy any of it other than everyone involved had more of a spirit of cooperation. and shaed the ball/

LMAO at Blatche’s comments. so basically he’s saying the next loss and I’m calling bs on this bench thing. so how long before the winning streak ends and there’s a problem what less than 10-11 hours LOL.

the way Flip is handiling this whole thing is cowardly. Just bench the guys ad say this is how it is. All this conversation and rationalizing this crap is silly as hell.

You don’t have to justify your actions with a 1 win team come on coach man up.

Last nights win to me is a by product of the opponent not of the Wizards figuring things out. more trouble ahead.