There wasn't any significant news coming from the media availability prior to Tuesday morning's shoot-around. However there were a couple bits of information around how often we may see the three guard lineup during the regular season and when we may see the Wizards use its big front line.
Kirk Hinrich:
- Hinrich sees his role on the team to be a veteran leader and to "help people along as much as [he] can."
- With tonight being the first Wizards home pre-season game, he is looking for the team to have a "good effort and to "build the chemistry" that they will need for the season. He believes that the Wizards have "talent" and "potential," they just "need to put it together."
- When asked if the Wizards will continue to use the three guard set into the regular season and if it would be effective, Kirk Hinrich indicated that it was a bit of an experiment that has been used as often as it has due in part to some injuries. Hinrich believes that the Wizards will likely only use the 3 guard lineup "in spurts" and most likely not for long periods of time.
Flip Saunders:
- Flip Saunders' biggest expectation is that what the team has worked on in practice will "carry over" to the game. He said that they "had a couple of hard practices" and that he is "anxious to see what [their] legs are like." He also said that tonight the will "look at some other people." That he will "let a lot of different people play" and begin to focus "more on rotations the last couple of games. We have these last two games at home to play with a bit."
- During training camp, Saunders was asked what he learned about his team. Well as a follow up, he was asked what the pre-season through three games has taught him about his team. He said that the team has "energy" and that they are a "young team that will make some mistakes." But that the team's "energy has to make up for [its] mistakes." He went on to say that "Chicago was a team that matched our intensity and [we] struggled sometimes against them. We have to become a better execution team. We have to trust [what] we do and base our attack on our ability to execute." He believes that this team needs to learn how to live "off [its] ability to execute and not just [on its] athletic ability."
- He also provided some hints to his starting lineup and rotation. He said that "Cartier [will get] some good time tonight." He also said that Yi, who will also receive significant playing time tonight, will play "a little with [the] first group, with Andray and the guys." Saunders said that he wants to see how Yi "fits in in that situation." It sounds like we may get our first opportunity to see the big front line of Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee and Yi Jianlian in pre-season... stay tuned.