We talked last Tuesday about who we thought needed to step it up the most in the absence of Gilbert Arenas. The general consensus was that Nick and Andray would have to step it up the most to survive the latest injury setback, because Nick is the most capable of replacing Gilbert's scoring and Andray because of his playmaking ability and because it's about time for him to step it up.
One player that didn't get a lot of love in the vote was Dominic McGuire, but it's looking more and more like Taser just might be the one that ends up taking the biggest leap this season. Here's what some people have had to say about him in recent weeks.
"He is almost a different player. He understands what we are doing. He understands his role and he is playing at a very high level. You can see the seriousness in him. We saw his improvement in summer league and he has been on pace to improve from the end of the last season until summer league. We now see his improvement from summer league to the beginning of training camp."
SportsWiz on the Washington Wizards Blog:
I think I’ve made a comment about 10 times that Dominic McGuire has improved his jumper by leaps and bounds. Well the first thing that Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler said when I asked about Dominic’s overall improvement was his jumper and how offensively he’s a different player. Then I interviewed Dominic and when I asked about his jumper, he had a big smile and said that he’s been working really hard on it and he feels much better. His biggest goal this season is to crack the rotation and get some minutes. He thinks his knowledge of the offense, his improved jumper and his defensive presence will help with this.
I have been working hard. I started going to the gym to workout two times a day this summer. I have been focused and have been working on what the coaching staff told me to work on during our exit meetings last season. They told me I needed to work on my mid-range game and to be more professional. I think those are the biggest things that are showing now.
Good summer workouts + better mid-range shot + being more professional + understanding his role = Profits baby, profits.