A couple site-related items

by Mike Prada on Oct 18, 2007 11:37 PM EDT in Site News

Apologies for no posting today. I need the season to recharge me, and frankly, I'm tired of waiting for it to start. We're now less than two weeks away from the opener, and I'm positive it will be a near repeat of this.

Anyway, before we really get going with season previews, a couple quick site notes:

First, I'm not much of a fantasy basketball guy, but I'd love to create a Bullets Forever league if you all are interested. Post a comment here saying you'd play, and depending on how many, we'll go from there. If anyone wants to create the league too, by the way, say so.

Secondly, we're going to start our series of community projections tomorrow with Gilbert Arenas. In the case of Gil and Antawn Jamison, those will double as 2006/07 evaluations, since I haven't gotten to them yet. For all those relatively new here (which is everyone, because we last did community evaluations on the old site), you basically predict the players' individual statistics. Eventually, we'll make an average for everyone, and when the season ends, we'll look back and see how right we were. Sound good.

Finally, a reminder that our turn in the NBA Blog Previews is coming shortly. For the record, here are the five questions to consider, so if you feel so inclined, post answers in diaries or comments.

1. What significant moves were made in the offseason?

2. What are the team's biggest strengths?

3. What are the team's biggest weaknesses?

4. What are the goals for this team?

5. (Insert your own question here)?

Predicted Record:

Be back later.

Tweet Comment 6 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Answering your questions.

The most significant move in the offseason was signing Blatche to that five-year deal, especially since it was a pretty cheap deal. If he plays in the regular season like he did in the preseason, this was a steal. Does anyone know the specifics on this contract? Like when he can opt out? I'm pretty sure its five years, fifteen mil.
Obviously - offense. The Wizards are definitely an offensive force with three 20-point scorers.
Obviously - defense. This is, what our third straight year "concentrating" on defense? The big question is will we actually play any. Health is another issue, with Gil coming off the knee injury? Will he just jack up shots from the outside or will he start taking it to the hole again?
I think this team has the talent for 50 wins, but I don't think they will do it - but it should be one of their goals. You need to set the bar high. The Wizards should also at least make (and make noise in) the second round of the playoffs.
Yeah, I'm definitely interested in a Bullets Forever fantasy basketball league. I've never done any fantasy stuff yet, it sounds like fun.

by mamemimo on Oct 19, 2007 10:35 AM EDT reply actions

fantasy league

Never played fantasy sports before, but I'd be psyched for a BF league. Count me in.

by sierradave on Oct 19, 2007 10:53 AM EDT reply actions

Questions and Answers

I'm pretty sure that the most significant move we made was locking Blatche down for a realtively cheap amount for an extended portion of time. He has looked great so far in preseason and hopefully this will continue into the regular season. Also, drafting Dominic McGuire seems to be a major move. Hes a HUGE upgrade athletically and defensively over Ruffin. Honestly, I don't see Young being much more than a minor role player for the beginning of the year and we need him to step up (especially if Gil/Caron/Stevenson get hurt).
Our biggest strength has to be our backcourt with Gilbert, Daniels, Stevenson, Caron and hopefully Nick Young all are very good players and should help our team make a strong playoff run.
Our biggest weakness in my opinion has to be the frontcourt depth. Since Etan is now out for an extended period of time, we have one true center on the roster. This may actually be a blessing because Jordan will be forced to play Blatche and O-Pec more. Simply though, they are not proven and while they are loaded with potential, there is nothing that guarantees that they reach that potential. If they don't contribute both offensively and defensively, it could be a long year.
I think that the goal has to be to make it to the conference finals. Gilbert is in what will be a contract year and we need to make a strong run to prove to him that he can win a championship here because that is definately something that is important to him and if he leaves, were pretty much out of the playoff picture for all intensive purposes.
I would love to do fantasy basketball.

I could optimistically see (assuming the big 3 stay healthy and we have strong seasons out of Blatche, Haywood and O-Pec) 50+ wins, however I do not think that all of those things are going to happen and we will end up at about 45-37.

by finkad01 on Oct 19, 2007 11:46 AM EDT reply actions

Questions

!. Blatche

Confidence/Swag. They know that they can beat any team on any night. They still think they are the best team in the east when healthy.
Inconsistent shooting and loss of concentration will cost them winnable games.
Reach the playoffs and play competitively in each round.
How much will the bench contribute? A lot, and they may surprise some people.

Record: 43-39

by AL on Oct 19, 2007 1:35 PM EDT reply actions

questions

ill play fantasy basketball. maybe itll help me forget about having my heart broken by lee evans in football.

getting O-pec over here and getting two steals in the draft.
offense. durrrrrrrr!
defense. durrrrrrrrrrrrr! but i think we may actually see that improve now that haywood will be getting more minutes
realistically, eastern conference finals
is gilbert ok? i wanna just shake off his struggles so far, its just the preseason after all, but its hard to ignore the fact that he hasnt seemed like himself coming off of major surgery

by joshp on Oct 19, 2007 3:33 PM EDT reply actions

Hopefully it's safe to post this

If not, my opinions keep changing constantly so it won't matter hopefully.

Adding a good, young core to this team. When you think about we have 2 first rounders that are coming to the team in Pecherov and Young, than we have McGuire who probably should've been a first rounder and Andray Blatche who definitely would've been a first rounder had he entered the draft this year and not two years ago. In essence, we added 4 first rounders this season, not bad.
Scoring, shooting the ball, scoring, chemistry, and scoring.
Defense, defending, stopping the other team from scoring, having a defensive mentality, defense.
Get out of the first round. I'd like to say ECF, but if the Wizards can be competitive in the 2nd round, I (and hopefully Gil) will take that as moving forward.
How many more DeShawn Stevenson Myspace stories will we hear this year? Why are all you hatin' a** b****s asking stupid questions? I'll give out 10,000 grand to whoever tells me who started all these stupid questions.

Predicted Record: 47-35

Bullets Forever: Your place for the very latest in Wizards news and PhD-level analysis.

by Jake Whitacre on Oct 20, 2007 12:51 AM EDT reply actions