Lets say someone comes out and offers NY $40M plus over 4 years and we decide he is not worth it. We can always start Crawford, and try and find a serviceable back up, along with Mason and Mack.

But what if we can get Michael Redd on a one year contract?

Continue reading this post »

I havent posted in a long time, mainly because watching / reading about the wizards these days just puts me in a bad mood.  The lack of consistent effort, understanding basic defensive rotations, and selfish offensive possessions drives me nuts.  This team needs a kick in the butt, show more dedication to rebounding and defense, and more discipline on offense.  The clear leader and future of our team, Mr. Wall, wants hard coaching and is probably harder on himself than anyone else.  Wall is trying to be a leader and wants to be a super star.  Blatche needs somebody on him constantly and if he will not put in the effort needed to take the next step then we cant win with him.  As talented as he is, without consistent effort, hustle, and dedication he will just put up solid numbers on bad teams.  McGee still doesnt understand what a how to play defense or play with any dicipline.

Isnt Jerry Sloan the exactly what this team needs?  We are extremely young and malleable, we have a leader who wants the hard coaching, and we have guys that need hard coaching.  Wall and Blatche on the pick and roll could be deadly, just deadly.  I think if nothing else, with Sloan we would know which of our young guys can be a part of a winner and who will not.  It will prevent Wall from developing bad habbits, even if we stink, and no matter what we will play a brand of basketball that we can be proud of.  I know its a long shot at best, but I would LOVE to have Sloan coach this team.

Thoughts?

There has been a ton of debate about how to blow this team up, how to get the most in return for our assets, how to make the rebuilding process as fast as possible but understanding it will be long and hard.  I think we have been making one big mistake in evaluating our assets.  I know many of you, including prada, have clearly laid out the importance of cap space to rebuilding.  Its essential to rebuilding.  But WHEN do we need cap space?  Do we need it this year?  I think we should be looking to TAKE ON money for next year, and look for expiring contracts in 2011.  Below is my plan

Continue reading this post »

I think that Flip should make the players wear long pink socks until they learn to play like men.  Not ankle socks, but at least half way up the leg, bright pink socks.

This team plays with the attitude of girls, they are soft and have been called soft by everyone.  After years of watching uncontested shots, a complete lack of effort on D, and free layups I think flip needs to treat them like the female dogs they play like.  I think he should turn to his players and hand out pink socks and say, not until everyone on this team plays with heart, plays will passions, and plays hard and smart on D will you get to take the pink socks.  If you don't want to wear them, fine, dont show up.

The result will be absolute embarrassment.  You know it will be all over sportscenter, sports radio, PTI etc.  I can't think of any better way to motivate a team then through complete embarrassment.  And at the level they are paid, they deserve it. 

How much worse could it make it?  Plus, flip just signed a new deal, so he has no chance of being fired.  If it does not work then the team was going to be blown up anyways, so he can star fresh next season.

On this blog we have all listed the excuses (injuries, new systems, new players, new roles, and tough schedule) nevertheless I think that everyone here believes that this team has had very disappointing start.  However I do not think anyone here is ready to hit the panic button or would call us the most disappointing team in the NBA thus far.  Yet that is what 3 out of 4 sports illustrated "experts" believe....thoughts?

Continue reading this post »

Not a lot of love for the wiz from the ESPN "Experts"

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/preview2009/news/story?page=Predictions0910-Wizards

1 vote for 4th in the conference 1 for 5th 5 for 6th 1 for 7 1 for 8 1 for 9 So more votes for 7-9 than 4-5....ouch. I never know how to feel about these things. Part of me thinks they are worthless. Part of me thinks its good nobody is picking us, the wiz never lacked confidence and need to stay humble. Part of me thinks I am too biased to objectively evaluate the Wiz and maybe they see something I don't and that the wiz are not as good as I thought.

either way, next Tuesday we will be watching real live basketball game that count...in HD.  GO WIZ!!

A lot more gil footage this time.  He looks healthy and his stroke looks money.  I would have liked to see more game footage and less highlights, but I am not complaining as long as he is healthy.  Lets just hope it stays that way, with him and the whole team.  Season is getting so close!!!

Predictions: Over under on 72 games for Gil?

Predictions: Over under on 2500 minutes (72 games, ~35 mins a game)?

http://www.nba.com/wizards/multimedia/arenas_090915.html

I think a trade with Orlando might make a lot of sense for both teams.  Here’s the trade.

Orlando Gets:

Brendan Haywood

Nick Young

For

Washington Gets:

Marcin Gartot

Why the Wiz do it:

Wizards get a young talented potentially starting center at a cheap mid level exemption.  His PER the last two seasons were 20 and 17.  He is everything the Wiz need, rebounds, blocks shots, shoots a high FG% an FT%, and is a big strong presence that can bang with anyone.  I am not sure he is an upgrade over haywood, but he definitely has the potential to be, but more importantly he has a very very reasonable contract and is signed for the next 5 years.  Gortat is only 25, and he would be signed for his prime.  It also guarantees the wiz having a talented center locked up, and provides the financial flexibility  to keep Foye or Miller.  If the wiz could complete a second trade and dump Stevenson, we could have enough for both.

Why Orlando does it:

Provides a young talented 2 guard where you need immediate depth and a possible replacement for Vince yCarter.  You also keep an extremely talented back up center, but the contract expires after the season helps get you under the luxury tax.  So essentially a one year rental of the best back up center in the league and a talented low risk high reward potential replacement for Vince, and definite quality reserve.  Nick young is a bigger body to put in the game when Courtney lee gets pushed around.  Could easily end up being better than Courtney lee.

Why the wizards don’t do it:

They are not worried about being able to re-sign haywood and foye/miller and think nick young will be a future star and don’t want to give up on him.  Gortat has had minimal playing time, and may not turn out to be as good as some people think.  They think that haywood is a better player.

Why Orlando doesn’t do it:

Think haywood might pout like Gortat is doing now.  Don’t think highly of nick young, or that he would provide quality depth. Want a more established/long term player in a trade for gortat.

Thoughts?

According to this ESPN article by Eric Neel, International players are the slowest group of players to develop (other groups are High School, Freshman in College, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors).  The complete opposite or what the Wiz need, which are players who are ready to contribute right now.

The reason for the post is that I believe way too much value is being given to Ricky Rubio.  The Kid is 18, and the average international player takes 5 years to develop.  That is the end of the Gil contract and most likely this current team.  This also assumes that he will develop into a good player, when there is just a likely chance he will be out of the league in 5 years as him being the next Pete Maravich.  The biggest knock on Rubio is that he is not athletic, don’t you think it is possible that Rubio dominates Spain the same way that Reddick and Hansbrough dominate College hoops, only when they make the next step to a significantly more competitive and athletic league that they are marginal players.  To me this is by far the most likely outcome for Rubio.  Now, I have not seen him play (outside of youtube clips) and many scouts seem to disagree and believe that Rubio will be a franchise PG.  While very possible it is still more likely that Rubio will be a bust than a first team nba player. And even if he does develop, it will not be helping this team win.

Instead we got two players who will help us win now, who address some of our major needs (3 point shooting), and provides extra financially flexibility to sign Haywood next offseason.  Miller and Foye are known NBA assets, and right away become our 5th and 6th best players.  Miller was a great player on a 49 win team, Foye has improved each season, and now can be a role player instead of leading back court player. 

Overall, I like this trade a lot. I think it makes the wizards better now and in the future.

Now I just start saying my prayers everynight that the Rubio doenst become Pistol Peter…

Let me start by saying, that I love Caron, that guy is a stud, does everything you want on and off the court.

But, how does he fit into the team.  Many people here have a lot of love for McGuire (not that he is half the player Caron is) but he brings something the team needs, desperately, defense.  Guy plays hard every night, rebounds well, Ds up multiple positions, has a solid and improving game, but most importantly, brings things to the table that we need in D, hustles plays, rebounds and length. 

Caron does have the range to stretch the court (like we desperately need) he is an OK defender, but not great.  A good rebounder, but not great.  Can score, but we don’t need more scoring.  In a lot of ways, Caron does not fit into our team, at least not with Jamison playing the 4 (and I don’t think he is tradable, at least if you expect to get something of equal value back)

Clearly, the biggest weakness on our team currently is the 2 guard.  Does opening up minutes for McGuire and trading Caron for an All-Star SG, for example Joe Johnson, make sense? Joe Johnson gives us a 3 point shooter that will make Gil impossible to guard, plays solid D, can create for himself (similar to Caron) and plays hard.  Caron give Atlanta leader, a 3 (where right now Maurice Evan currently is the starter), and a nasty front court. 

Proposed trade: Caron and Mike James (to make salaries work) for Joe Johnson

Wiz starting 5:

Gil

Joe Johnson

McGuire

Jamison

Haywood

I think that is a better defensive unit, better shooting, and how do you guard that backcourt??

Atlanta

Bibby

RonaldMury/ Mike James

Caron Butler

Josh Smith

Al Hortford

I think that is a better team, dominant front court, and check out the expiring contracts in 2010 – Bibby $15M, James 6M, Pachulia 4M - $25M to build around a team of Caron, Smith, Hortford…that makes them a serious team)

Thoughts?  Maybe this is not the best possible trade, what about the concept of trading Caron for an All-Star SG to play next to Gil, stretch the court, and let McGuire start?

Maybe I am just bored, and need to talk about the Wiz

The NBA lottery is so stressful.  I find myself constantly checking the NBA standings, other bottom feeders’ schedules, and Hollinger’s “playoff odds” trying to guess what draft pick the Wiz will get.  Last night I went to Wikipedia and looked up NBA Lottery.  Due to the table below, I am now more stressed out and depressed.  If the Wizards finish with the 2nd worst record, they have a 19.9% of the 1st pick.  Here is the depressing part though; the team with the 2nd worst record only has a 38.7% of having the first or second pick and only a 55.8% chance of a top 3 pick.  That means 44.2% of the time the team with the 2nd pick ends up with the 4th or 5th pick.  A nearly 50/50 chance of moving out of the top 3, and a much higher probability of moving down than staying the same or moving up.  As you can see the odds only get worse if we end up with the 3rd worst record.  While I will be saying my Blake Griffin prayers every night, the odds are very stacked against us.

I  have been reading Bulletsfovever, well forever, but this is my first fan post.  Like most of you, I am extremely disappointed/frustrated/want to storm the court and kick Gilbert in the balls angry with this team.  I was fully expecting us to have a strong season and to really start hitting our stride come playoff time, and I could not wait to see the Cavs again (ok, they terrified me, but I was looking forward to the challenge).  Now, I believe that we have to make a big move this off-season.  Not because I don’t think this team can win, but because season after season it seems that we are just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and we need a fresh start, we need a spark.  This team has become complacent, and without big changes, I just don’t think they can put it together.  ESPN is reporting that the sun are shopping Amare Stoudemire. I propose this trade:

Suns Get:

Antwan Jamison

Andre Blatche

Wiz 1 Rd pick

Wiz Get:

Amare Stoudemire

Why the Suns do it, they get a vet in Jamison who wants to win now, plays a style that would work well with Nash, and is a role model and vet leader that will not make waves, and help develop young guys.  They get an athletic 7 footer, how has a high ceiling, and a low salary to build around.  A top 5 pick, another young guy to develop and build for the future.  They do not get the expiring contract they want, but I am sure the wiz would be willing to send any of etan/darious/james pu-pu platter (and maybe even some cash to help negotiate a buy out so the Suns get the cap space this summer).  The suns get younger, improve their locker room, and position themselves for short and long term success

Why the wiz do it: Amare is a huge talent, a starting 4 of Gil/butler/amare/haywood is definitely a group you can win with.  The 5th starter/bench would be Stevenson/crit/young/mcgee/pesh and what ever is left over from the pu-pu platter above. Here is why I think it makes so much sense.  Amare is a big risk, with reported attitude problems and injury history.  If he plays well and works out, great, amazing, offer him a huge contract and I am sure he would want to stay, with three guys, Gil, Caron, and Him all all-stars, all in their prime, and ready to compete for the next 3-4 years. However, if it does no work out, if they don’t mesh, Amare becomes a problem, whatever, let him walk.  Yes, let him walk.  We would then have money to re-sign haywood, and have expiring contracts of Amare/ etan/darious/james which would put us WAY under the cap.  We would then have an attractive core of Gil and Caron to sell to the HUGE potential free agent class of 2010.  You don’t think that would interest Bosh? Either way, we would have huge cap space to add a big time free agent and/or sign our young guys.  I think it gives us the flexibility and spark this team needs in the short and long term. 

Am I crazy?