What is going on BF community? It has been a long time since I have posted on here. The past 10 months have been absolutely crazy for me (welcome to the real world I guess). In sum, given the shortened season, the lockout, and personal/professional issues going on with me, I have pretty much taken this season off. I try to keep up with Prada's twitter, and keep an eye on the standings, but I simply have not been able to follow the WIZ as much as I should. I have only watched 5 games (or so) this season. But the Wiz are still my true love, and cannot wait to hear Phil & Buck for 82 games next season.

Coming into this season, my goal for the Wiz was simple: 1) get significant improvement in the games of JWall, JCrawf, and Javale, 2) significant minutes for Vesely to see what he has to offer, AND 3) lose as many games as possible.

[I know this sounds like revisionist history, but I never cared for AB & NY, and never considered them building blocks. They had been a lost cause for years, and I wasn't expecting anything out of them. Ever.]

Well, Javale is gone, Flip is gone, NY is gone, we got Nene, everyone and their mother loves Trevor Booker, Cartier Martin is back, and Brian Cook once trended on twitter. SO, here are some thoughts regarding the Wiz that I am going to throw out there, and I'd like some feedback from people who have been much more in touch with the team this year.

1) The excessive losing is great. I don't want to start a huge debate on the subject (go to truehoop for that), but the Wiz were going no where this year, so the worst thing possible would be to just-barely miss (or, heaven forbid) actually make the playoffs. As I have been saying for years, if you look at the irrelevance of the Bobcats and Warriors over the past 8 years (save for 2007 Warriors, obviously), it can be directly linked to picking not-quite-high-enough in the lottery (and picking bad players). We currently have the 2nd-best odds at winning the lottery, and can pick no lower than 5th, in a stocked draft. Truehoop can endlessly debate the lottery system, the existence of a "losing culture," the "OKC strategy," and whether tanking actually works, but at the end of the day, I'd rather pick 5th than 12th. Math is math.

2) We can be an elite team with a JWall and JCrawf backcourt. I will need help from those of you more intertwined with the game-to-game development of these two, but I love what we have. Two intense players who care, get along, and want to win. There is no reason for them to not grow to be better than Billups/RipHamilton backcourt. They both still have major flaws, but the intangibles are what I like the most. My question to the community is, has JWall improved his ball-handling? My biggest complaint about him last season was that he dribbled too high and too far away from his body, which led to careless turnovers and really hurt his drives to the basket. Basically, his body moves faster than the ball, and it hurts his ability to finish.

3) The Vesely pick was a mistake. Disclosure, I have barely watched him. But, Prada's tweets the numbers give me an idea. First off, its never a good sign when a rookie begins the season on the DL. Blake Griffen aside, rookies who's bodies breakdown before their first NBA game is a sign of things to come. I get that he is young, unpolished, was never projected as Dirk Nowitzki, and was always viewed as a glue-guy, but we could have gotten better value with that pick. Biyombo, Brandon Knight and Klay Thompson would all have been much better picks (Brandon Knight especially; that locks us up at the guard position for the next 4 seasons).

4) The Nene acquisition was tremendous. Great passer, consistent, solid-D. I know the numbers, but the Wiz cannot be thinking of getting max free-agents at this point. Far too many holes to fill to be thinking of saving cap space at this point.

5) Trevor Booker and Kevin Seraphin are keepers.

(and I am tired, and wrote much more than I anticipated.) GReat to be back on this site.

Like many of you on here, I am fervently against drafting any of the European players. It is not because I am a racist xenophobe who hosts a late night television show on Fox News, or because I harbor a vendetta against the former Soviet-bloc. Rather, I prefer college players over foreign players simply because I have seen (most) college players play and can reasonably estimate what they can contribute. But with regards to foreign players, I have to rely on heavily edited youtube clips with unbearable background music. We need better draft intel.

All youth basketball camps start out the exact same way. Whether its ankle biters or 5th-year-seniors, the campers spend Monday morning scrimmaging and running through standard drills. This gives the camp coaches a chance to scout the players they will be coaching the rest of the week. Then, just before lunch, the coaches draft their team for the week. 

Why can't this work in the NBA? Say the NBA invites 96 players to a draft camp held the week before the draft. These 96 players are the ONLY players eligible to be drafted. So, if you want to get drafted, you have to 1) get invited to the camp, and 2) attend the camp. 

The NBA can get 12 people, be it former coaches, players, announcers, (basically, anyone impartial) to serve as camp coaches. These 12 coaches will then each draft an 8-person team. The teams would then spend the rest of the week playing games and running through the drills. On Thursday or Friday, the playoffs would start with all the regular rules associated with a camp tournament. The main goal is to expose players as much as possible. 

In my opinion, the benefits of such a system would be countless:

1) We would be able to compare players in a 5-on-5 context. Ricky Rubio never wanted to workout with Brandon Jennings or Jrue Holiday because he knew his skills would not translate to a 1-on-1 game. By playing 5-on-5, a player's intangibles are much easier to quantify. (Conversely, we would be able to tell that Rubio was overrated, while Jennings and Holiday were underrated.)

2) A player's body language, temperament and comprehension skills would be on display. It would be easier to tell if a player was thoroughly uncoachable, a bad teammate, a clown, a "fiery competitor," etc. 

3) A camp would limit the ability of the agents to micromanage the scouting process. Agents limit teams' ability to adequately scout players by setting terms and conditions on the player's workout routine. For example, Donald Fegan did not allow YI Jianlian to workout against anyone. Thus, we were left with the hilarious video of YI Jianlian posting up a chair. A mandatory predraft camp would eliminate agents from the scouting process, giving scouts/coaches/generalmanagers unfeathered access to raw basketball. 

4) Level of competition problems would be eliminated. Evaluators would no longer have to discount a player's ability for their level of competition. So, rather than estimating what Jimmer Fredette would have done in the Big East and what Kemba Walker would do in the WCC, we can just have Fredette and Walker play against each other in camp. 

5) Equalizing the level of information. By limiting the eligible players to only the 96 guys invited to camp, the league puts all teams on an even playing field regarding scouts. If Milwaukee had scouts in Germany as good as the Mavericks, I doubt they trade Robert Traylor for Dirk Nowitzki. (Although some people may counter that this only penalizes well-managed teams who do the work; the free-rider problem.)

6) Best of all, the camp can be televised on NBATV. Easy revenue for the league during the summer time. 

What do people think of this idea?

We all know who we are rooting against, but I am curious as to who people are rooting for and why.

I am pulling hard for the Thunder and Grizzlies out west. Although I am tired of reading articles suggesting that their is some kind of player conspiracy to kill small market franchises, I nevertheless think its important that smaller cities see winning NBA playoff basketball. The Thunder have lots of likable players (although Russell Westbrook is not nearly as good as ESPN wants you to think, and not half as good as he thinks he is). Serge Ibaka's improvement this season has been fun to watch. Their achilles' heal is their late game offense (Scott Brooks apparently thinks the NBA rules require him to run nothing but isolation plays in the last 5 minutes of games). 

The Grizzlies meanwhile have overcome the Hasheem Thabeet sucking debacle (shocking I'm sure to none of you), the Rudy Gay injury and the inevitable Zach Randolph entourage felony drug ring to play some of the most inspired ball in the league. I feel sorry for those of you who haven't seen Tony Allen play in the past 3 months. The Grizzlies' best offense down the stretch is to put Tony Allen on the opposing team's point guard since he gets a steal and breakaway dunk approximately 120% percent of the time. 

In the East, the 76ers are intriguing. Do people realize that their leading scorer only averages 15 ppg? Sorry for you Gilbert fans, but this season definitely answered the age-old question of who had a worse contract, Elton Brand or Arenas. With Jrue Holiday, Lou Williams, Thaddeous Young and (maybe) Evan Turner, this could be great experience for 76ers of the future. I would love to see the 76ers win a first round series. 

So anyway, who are you rooting for?

The Thunder just lost to the Toronto Raptors 95-93. These were the offensive sequences down the stretch for the Thunder, beginning at the 2:15 minute mark, coming out of a Thunder timeout, when the Thunder were up 1: 

-isolation for RW who turns it over (Russell Westbrook lost ball (Jose Calderon steals))

-isolation for KD who gets fouled, makes both, giving the Thunder a 93-90 lead at 1:31 mark

-isolation for KD who misses a contested 22 foot jumper

-tie game, isolation for RW who drives to the basket but misses a running shot

Now this is the play-by-play offensive possessions for the Thunder at the start of the 4th quarter. The Thunder began the quarter trailing by 10 at 76-66. With 

-James Harden fouled on a 3, makes all 3 free throws, cuts the lead to 76-69

-James Harden drives, gets fouled, makes 2 free throws

-James Harden drives, dishes to Ibaka, for a dunk

-James Harden drives, gets fouled, makes 2 free throws

-James Harden misses 18 foot jumper

-Eric Maynor misses 5 foot jumper

-James Harden drives, dishes to Ibaka, for a dunk. 

The Thunder cut the lead to four. 

So why, at the end of the game, does Scott Brooks always call for isolation plays?? They are unimaginative, inefficient plays. The ball movement stops, and everyone stands around and watches KD and RW. It infuriates me. The Raptors ran real plays, involving screen & rolls, cutting, passing, etc. and they won. So why did the team with better players turn the game into a 1-on-1 contest?

This will kill them come playoff time. Also, lost in the Thunder winning streak, was the fact that RW has played pretty poorly as of late. Dribbling way too much, not enough passing, too many turnovers. 

As I write this, the Thunder just blew a home game against the Lakers. I saw "blew" because the Thunder are good enough that they should ALWAYS expect to win at home. But, the Thunders just flat out struggled to score in the 2nd half. 

Scott Brooks is the coach of the Thunder. He took over for an ineffective PJ Carlesimo. They have won many more games since he took over than they did before him. Brooks won Coach of the Year honors. He now ranks among other coaching legends such as Sam Mitchell, Mike Brown, and Del Harris. 

Seriously though, I am not here to knock Scott Brooks. The Thunder have been my 2nd favorite team for 2 years now. But, I just throw a fit in late game situations. Brook's plays are unimaginative. He just calls either a wing isolation for Durant, or top of the key isolations of RWestbrook.  It is the same thing Mike Brown used to do with LeBron. Except, the Thunder supporting players are a lot better than LeBron's old teammates. Just off the top of my head, the Thunder have lost to the Mavs, the Hornets, the Spurs, the Heat, the Grizzlies and now the Lakers by failing to score down the stretch. In all those games, the Thunder late-game offense was the exact same thing. 

As great as RWestbrook is, he has not developed into the type of playmaker that you would have hoped. In the Laker game today, when they were down 3 with 10 seconds left, he forced a drive inside, and rather than pass the ball, he just lowered his shoulder and got called for a charge. 

Why not run some late game pick&rolls with James Harden and Serge Ibaka? Opposing teams put all their focus into guarding Westbrook and Durant. Why not run some side screen & rolls with your 3rd and 4th best players? Harden has shown that he has a Steve Nash type feel for the game, plus, he has massive throw downs on his resume.

At worst, Harden and Ibaka gain some invaluable experience for the playoffs and the future. At best, you add a new dimension to your offense, and force teams to play Durant and Westbrook more honestly.

Rick Adelman, Doc Rivers, Stan Van Gundy and Nate McMillan have all shown that you can draw up late game plays that don't involve simple isolation plays for your best players. Scott Brooks needs to take a page from their book and do the same. 

Let me preface by saying that it would NEVER happen, so don't waste your comments telling me this. I know it.

Entering this season, I had only one goal for the season: Lose as many games as possible, without allowing JWall to develop bad habits. After the first 10 games, I tweaked it a little: Lose as many games as possible, without allowing JWall or McGee to develop bad habits. I know some people consider it blasphemy to root for the Wizards to lose, but I call it purely rational thinking. I know the NBA has a lottery, and I know that there are plenty of draft busts high in the lottery, and that there are plenty of great players drafted 6-13. I also know that the teams with the worst record rarely wins the lottery. Nevertheless, no one ever chooses to LOSE the lottery. So why not increase our odds? My ideal box score: Jwall puts up 25 pts, 5 rebs, 14 assists, and 4 steals, while McGee puts up 18 pts, 15 rebs, and 4 blocks, while the Wizards lose 100-99. 

I know its hard to root for the Wizards to lose, but as the old saying goes, when Yi Jianlian and Cartier Martin are in your 8-man rotation, YI JIANLIAN AND CARTIER MARTIN ARE IN YOUR 8-MAN ROTATION!!! The absolute best we could do this year is the 8 seed, and get humiliated by lEbron and friends. How did that work out for the Bobcats last year? Now is not the time to be making a playoff push. We need to lose, lose, and lose some more. The Cavaliers have locked up the worst record and the guaranteed Top-4 pick, what we need to do is make sure that our record is worse than Detroit, Toronto, New Jersey, Sacramento and Minnesota. 

Unfortunately, you can never instruct your players to lose. We want to give JWall as many meaningful minutes as possible to develop experience, while still losing games. This is my suggestion: Only play JWall the first quarter and the 4th quarter. Don't play him the middle two quarters. I would use a youth-leage style rotation, where players play by quarters, not by matchups, or fouls, or anything:

1st Quarter: JWall, NY, Lewis, Seraphin, McGee

2nd Quarter: Hinrich, Cartier Martin, Al Thornton, Blatche, and TRevor Booker

3rd Quater: Hinrich, Shakur, THornton, Blatche and Booker

4th Quarter: JWall, NY, Lewis, Seraphin and McGee. 

The goal here is to get John Wall as many quality minutes as possible. Notice, JWall will never be on the court at the same type as Martin, Thornton,  or Blatche. The three of them are inefficient, one-dimensional players, who lack the ability to adjust their games to JWall's talents. 

The hope is that the tiny 3rd quarter lineup will ensure at least a 10-point deficit starting the 4th quarter. This way, JWall can play every fourth quarter laying it all on the line. He won't be tired, since he hasn't played since the 1st quarter. He can go all-out on defense, pressure the guards, and still orchestrate the fast break against a more-tired opponent. Best of all, if JWall leads us to a comeback, and we win, then its great, because JWall has shown us flashes of brilliance. But if he doesn't and we lose, then thats great too! It allows for a win-win scenario. 

If we wind up with the 2nd worst record record, and still pick 5, then so be it, we did the best we could. If we get lucky, and somehow win the lottery, and make a Kwame/Darko/Thbeet level bust selection, then thats on us. 

All I know, its better to finish 18-64 than 28-54. We need to lose a lot. We need JohnWall to get meaningful minutes. Why not play him for the 24 most important minutes of the game, and nothing more?

Forgive me if this has been suggested before, but I have just been watching a lot of Thunder games recently, and I have been thinking about ways to improve your roster. I watched the Mavericks game two nights ago, where you guys blew a six point lead in the last few minutes. It was painful to watch. 

To me, the Thunder core consists of Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka. Although I very much like Jeff Green, love his basketball intelligence, and love the fact that he gives a da%n, I see him more as a role player, an athletic version of Shane Battier if you will. I thought it was wise of Presti NOT to extend Green last summer. I think he is not quick enough to matchup with the best 3's, and not big enough to matchup with best 4's, thus making him an awkward fit. Luckily, those position mismatches only matter when you are playing LBJ, Carmelo, Gasol, Kevin Love, KG, Millsap, Blake Griffen, and maybe David West. Green has no problems with Lamarcus Aldridge, Luis Scola, Hedo Turkoglu, or even Zach Randolph. My point is, although I don't think Jeff Green can be the 3rd best player on a team, it is still better to have him than not have him, so he should be untouchable in any trade discussion. 

However, after giving Nick Collison that goofy contract, the Thunder suddenly have a lot more to offer in trades. At $13.2 Million, he is now as good as an expiring contract. This would allow the Thunder to pursue some players with some high salaries: Elton Brand, Andre Iguodala, Gerald Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton, Anderson Varejau, Antawn Jamison, Josh Smith.  

Before the start of this season, I spent approximately 5 seconds analyzing the Chiefs. I watched you play once last year, against my beloved Redskins, and it was one of the worst football games I have ever seen. (You guys got your first win of the season). My AFC West focus this year was on the Raiders, and whether they could challenge the Chargers.

But then the Monday night game happened. Arrowhead. The Fans. Haley. I loved it all. 

Watching the defense play, I had so many questions. Who is this guy Gilberry that is involved in so many plays? What about Belcher? Or this Carr guy? So I start looking at the depth chart, and I was just blown away by how many players that I liked in college were on the Chiefs. I guess I knew it, but it just never fully registered with me. Glenn Dorsey, Tyson Jackson, Tamba Hali, Derrick Johnson, Eric Berry and Javier Arenas. Plus, I love VT football, so I am very familiar with Brandon Flowers. Then I looked at the ages of Belcher, Carr and Gilberry; 23, 24 and 25, respectively. That makes ten young, aggresive, legit playmakers on the defensive side of the ball. 

Anyway, sorry for not making much of a point. But I just thought you should know that the football world is taking notice of the Chiefs. People have been gushing over your defense. The offense needs work obviously, but the running backs are there, so no need to waste any picks/money on them. Keep developing your game plan around your defense. Run the ball, win the field position battle. 

Good luck. You guys have been the highlight of the young season. 

I am a Wizards fan, but I love the NBA, and I am just hoping someone can challenge the Heat. So why not the Knicks.

And with news today that Chris Paul wants to come to the Knicks, it really got me thinking about New York's roster. After studying it for about 2 minutes, and realizing that the Knicks cannot trade Anthony Randolph or Ronny Turiaf until December, it occured to me that Chris Paul may not be the way to go.

But what about Andre Iguodala? Do the Knicks have enough cap room to trade for Iggy and Elton Brand assuming they unload Eddy Curry and Wilson Chandler and/or Toney Douglas?

The deal I am imagining in my head would be Iguodala/EB ($28Million) for Curry/Chandley/Douglas and a pair future 1st round picks ($14.2Million).

That would leave the Knicks with Raymond Felton, Iguodala, Danilo, Elton Brand, and Amare Stoudamire, with all the Warriors castoffs as backups. I have watched Felton pretty closely the past couple of years, and I think you guys got him at a huge bargain. All he does his @ss off and D-up. That would give the Knicks three lock-down defenders in Felton, AI and EB (who is unbelievably good at showing on the pick&roll), to compliment sub-par defenders in Amare and Gallo.

What do you guys think? And again, I don't come here often, so sorry if you guys have already gone over this.  

Sorry, this is a self-serving post related to a side-venture I am working on with some friends. But, I figure BulletsForever-posters will give me better market research than anywhere else. So, here it goes.

 
Lets say John Wall did some research, and studied the career's of former point guards picked high in the draft. He sees Baron Davis, drafted #3 in 1999, earn $145 Million over his career. He also sees Antonio Daniels, drafted #4 in 1997, earn $49 Million over his career. He then sees Jay Williams, drafted #2 in 2002, make $8.7 Million (or the guaranteed portion of his rookie contract), in his one year in the league.

John Wall decides he would like some insurance. Even though he is confident he will have an even better career than Baron Davis, he wants to insure himself, just in case he turns out to suck (like Antonio Daniels), or has a freak accident (like Jay Williams). So John Wall and his advisers work out a plan where they will sell "shares" of John Wall.

In exchange for a one-time payment today, an investor would get 1% of all of John Wall's future salary. For example, if you paid Wall $20,000, and he winds up making as much as Baron Davis ($145Million), then you would get $1.45 Million (or 1% of $145M), and make a profit of $1.25 Million on your $20K John Wall investment. On the other hand, if John Wall crashes his motorcycle like Jay Williams and only makes his guaranteed rookie salary and nothing more, then you would only receive about $9,000, and lose $11,000 on the deal.

So, just out of curiousity, say John Wall came to you and tried to sell you 1% of all his future basketball salary, how much would you pay for it? What is 1% of John Wall worth to you right now?

(FYI: I am working on doing this exact thing with a couple buddies of mine. If you are interested, let me know. I would love to hear your opinions on this. We are trying to build a contracts exchange program that would act a lot like a commodity futures exchange.)

Assuming we draft Wall and keep Arenas, how does the rest of the roster shape up?

1) Do we pick up the team option on Josh Howard? All indications are that we will NOT pick up his option. If we don't, then we are about $19 Million under, as opposed to $8 Million if we do bring him back. From a basketball standpoint, we would only pick up Howard's option if we think that John Wall would develop more as a player playing with an experienced wing. From what little I saw of him, J-Ho is a pretty pedestrian player at this point. So, best to part ways. 

2) Do we give Randy Foye a QO? I see no reason to do so. Since we are not going for a championship, a backup PG might as well come from the D-League and get league minimum, or get a veteran where only part of his salary counts toward the cap (Steve Blake?). 

Assuming Quinton Ross picks up his option, that leaves us with John Wall, Gilbert Arenas, Andray Blatche, Javale McGee, Al Thornton, Nick Young, Ross, pick #30, and our 2nd round draft pick. Assuming we want 15 players, that leaves us with 6 open spots, and about $18 million in cap room. Who should we pursue?

3) Do we make a run at a JJ, Amare, Boozer, Bosh, Dirk, or Rudy Gay? I say no. The team should be built around Wall. Signing a mega FA makes us good, not great. Ask the Charlotte Bobcats how it feels to be good, not great. With John Wall, we have a chance to be the best in the NBA. Let's not sabotage it by surrounding him with overpaid, ego-driven veteran. We need to have patience. Get another good lottery pick next year. 

4) So, if we don't go after a mega free agent, who fills out the roster? Here is a list of players I like, that won't break the bank: Josh Powell, Shannon Brown, Deron Washington, JJ Redick (assuming Orlando makes him a QO, making him a RFA), Steve Blake, Travis Outlaw. 

5) Another option is to trade for Eddy Curry and Danilo Galinari. We would probably have to throw in the #30 pick. 

What players would you like to see the Wizards pursue this summer?

After watching the Bucks a fair amount the past two weeks, they are definitely the team I will be pulling for. They have a lot of very likable players in my opinion. Brandon Jennings appears to be the antithesis of Allen Iverson in that he takes constructive criticism and gets better. He reminds me so much of a young Gary Payton. Did you see the way he ball-hawked Randy Foye for 94 feet last night? Then you have Andrew Bogut who purchased season tickets for a couple hundred fans just so long as they came every night and cheered like crazy.

http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/bucks-fans-respond-to-boguts-incentive/

How great is that? I would love the Bucks to upset one of the teams in the first round.

Out West, I, along with thousands of others, have jumped on the Thunder bandwagon. 

So, who will you be rooting for? (I imagine 90% of you will be rooting for whoever plays the Cavaliers, but other than that). 

I have watched the Thunder play about ten times this year. Tonight (versus Phoenix) is the first time I have seen Serge Ibaka get extended minutes. He looked great. He more than held his own against Stoudemire. On offense he had a very nice turn-around jumper, and on defense he played great position defense, helping out on the pick and roll and just being an inside presence.

He looked a hell of a lot better than Greg Oden, Hasheem Thabeet, or Marc Gasol. He kind of reminded me of Emeka Okafor, except for not as stiff and a lot quicker off of his feet.

I am wondering why he doesn't play more. He obviously will make more mistakes than Collison, but at the same time, his upside is so much greater that if he develops between now and the playoffs, it could make a huge difference. Also, even though I like Jeff Green, no team will ever advance far in the playoffs with Jeff Green as their starting power forward.

For those of you watch all the games, what are your thoughts? (By the way, from the time I started writing this until now, the Thunder took out Ibaka and Maynor, inserted Jeff Green and Nick Collison, and the Suns went on a 16-4 run and won the game on a Jason Richardson floater. Correlation is not necessarily causation, but still, it happened).

For the past two months I have been in blow up the team, get whatever we can get, pray for John Wall, mode. 

Than, during the first half of last night's game, after wins against the Knicks and Nets, it occurred to me, that maybe, just maybe, making a run of at the playoffs is really what we should be striving for. Of course, the Wizards wound up playing dreadful in the 4th Quarter, so, it kind of knocked my enthusiasm down a peg. But, nevertheless, I have been thinking about it all day. 

What if we offered Mike James, Oberto and Stevenson expirings to New York in exchange for Danilo Galinari and Eddy Curry. 

And do nothing else. 

Instead of tanking, we make a run at getting the #8 seed in the playoffs. A chance at Lebron. A chance to crush that franchise. Pull the upset of all upsets. 

What would it take? 1) Foye would need to play better, 2) Butler would need to play better, 3) Jamison would need to regain his early-season form, 4) Haywood and Mike Miller would have to continue to play well, and 5) Blatche would need to be agressive. 

The worst case scenario is that we play hard, don't make any trades, and wind up in 9th place. 

Best case scenario is that we make the trade for Curry/Galinari, get the #8 seed, beat the Cavs, then lEbron signs with the Knicks in the offseason thanks to all the cap space we gave them, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are erased from existence. 

I hate to sound all William Wallace, but would you be willing to pass up all attempts to rebuild for just one more chance at lEbron James?

Here are mine: 

1) Wizards @ Suns, Dec. 22, 2006. A bit surprising, considering it was a regular season game, and in December no less. But after this game, I honestly thought the Wizards were the team to beat in the East. The game was on ESPN, on the road against the Phoenix Suns and Steve Nash, the darlings of the league at the time. But the Wizards beat them at their own game. The Suns were up nine with four minutes left if memory serves me right, and then up four with forty seconds. Then Jarvis Hayes hit is only memorable shot as a Wizard, a three to tie it. We then prevailed in Overtime. 

The Wizards wound up having the best record in the East at the All-Star Break, with two representatives (Arenas and Butler) and the coach. I have never been more optimistic as a Wizards fan than after this game.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200612220PHO.html

2) Wizards @ Chicago, game 5, 2005 Playoffs. The Gilbert Arenas shot. 

3) Wizards @ Celtics, January 14, 2008. The Wizards, led by Caron Butler, sweep Boston in a home-and-home in dramatic fashion. Tough Juice was incredible in this game. If I remember correctly, the Wiz were down ten with 4 minutes left. 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200801140BOS.html

4) Wizards @ Cavs, game 5, 2008 Playoffs. Caron Butler takes it to lEbron and the Cavaliers. I have never seen a player go at lEbron the way Tough Juice did in this game. 

Funny, Gilbert Arenas' didn't even play in games 3 and 4 on this list. 

Brian Robison, backup DE, Vikings: 3rd year player with a great attitude and athleticism. In a 3-4 scheme, he is quick enough to cover RBs out of the backfield and drop into pass coverage. He has played behind Jared Allen for 2 seasons, and resembles a poor-mans Allen. Robison would be perfect as an outside linebacker or a DE playing alongside Haynesworth. 6-3, 259 lbs, 10 tackles and 4.5 sacks. 

Matt Jones, former WR, Jaguars: out of the league for a year for cocaine problem, but Jones is not a locker room cancer. Just a mellow, laid back, southern hippie. He obviously was not worthy of a 1st round pick, nor will he ever make the pro bowl, or ever be a teams deep threat. But the man can run a seven yard slant. Assuming we keep Moss, Kelly, and Thomas, Matt Jones would be perfect as a change of pace receiver to work the weak-side of the field. Think Ed McCaffrey back in the day for the Broncos (and not just because they are both white).

Shawn Merriman, OLB, Chargers: at this point, he is only a role player. But, he will only be 26 at the start of next year, and always, always, plays hard. Why not bring him home? The Chargers will be looking for more impact at that position, so he may be expendable. It is worth the Redskins at least pursuing. He will never be a star on a great team, but again, playing alongside Haynesworth, he can help take the pressure off Orakpo and Macintosh. 

Marcus Stroud, DT, Buffalo Bills: the veteran will almost certainly be cut by the Bills, and the Redskins should pounce on him. Stroud is 31, so we could only rely on him for 10 plays a game tops, but from my eyes the man can still eat up blocks. Jay Ratliff had such a great year this year because of Igor Olshanky. In the 3-4, we need to find a large DT who can play alongside or sub in for Haynesworth just as Olshanky did for Ratliff.

Davon Bess, WR, Dolphins: will cost more than the other players I am guessing, since he played so well down the stretch for them, and the Dolphins have Bill Parcells running the team, not Vinny Cerato. But, he is a Restricted FA, so, he may be worth splurging a little. He is already more accomplished (and probably better) than Devin Thomas or Malcolm Kelley. 

Jared Gaither/Donald Penn/Marcus McNeal: I know its a stretch, but I would advise using Snyder's money to sign 2 of these 3, and then draft Russell Okung, and allow Okung to develop behind them. With Shanahan's system, technique/veteran tricks are almost as important as size/strength. Gaither has looked great this season for the Ravens. I have not seen much of Penn, but people seem to think of very highly of him. I did not watch Marcus McNeal close enough as a rookie to be able to say (just like everyone else has) that he has regressed the past two years, but he just turned 26, and has started 62 out of a possible 64 games over his career. I think he is worth taking a chance on.

Ken Lucas, DB, Seahawks: again, I did not see him play last year, but over the course of his career he's been one of my favorite corners. He is tall, durable, and loves to tackle, making him a perfect nickle. 

Graig Cooper, RB, Miami Hurricanes: he has yet to declare, and in fact just town his ACL, so he will likely miss most of 2010 anyway, which means the Redskins can nab him in the 5th rounds. When he is healthy, he has "getaway" speed. Screen passes were invented for players like Cooper. 

Feel free to add to the list. As I am sure you can tell, I tried to limit this to players that won't break the bank. We don't need Brandon Marshall or Julius Peppers. We need depth. And patience.