SB Nation User Blog: hotplate

"They're not going to talk young and old,"

hotplate — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:29:44 -0000

"They're not going to talk young and old,"

Editor's Note: One thing's clear about Flip; he's saying all the right things. It's uncanny even. Perhaps too uncanny. It's almost as if you wonder about his sincerity for a second. -Mike

From the Washington Examiner:
"They're not going to talk young and old," said Saunders of what he expects when practice begins. "They're going to talk team, and we're going to blend everybody together."

I like the sound of it.

BF Oral History Project: Webber and Howard Debut

hotplate — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:04:52 -0000

via www.washingtonpost.com

Editor's Note: And so it begins. Here's part one of our summer Bullets/Wizards oral history from the fan's perspective project, via hotplate. A description of the project, along with a list of landmark events in Bullets/Wizards' history, can be found here. There are still many, many openings left. -Mike

Our story begins in 1989. I was a big Bullets fan and along with a buddy and his brother had a 10 game ticket plan. That was a fun year to root for the Bullets. During the off season, we let Moses Malone go to free agency. I was ok with the move as he was clearly on the decline. But we had no one to replace him so it was difficult to imagine that the team could get better. But we did, especially at home. Led by Jeff Malone, Bernard King, and my namesake John "Hotplate" Williams the team played inspired ball for Coach Wes Unseld that year. The ended at 40-42 and barely missed the playoffs. At home, the team was almost a powerhouse. The record was 31-10 (I don’t even want to think about what that says about the road record) and included wins over all of the powerhouses including the Celtics and Lakers. Nothing thrilled me more than to watch my overmatched Bullets silence the opposing fans with a close well played victory. It was a great basketball watching year for me and the excitement carried over into the summer

I started dating my now wife during that summer. During that first blush of romance, she wanted to know and share all of the things I considered important. The Bullets were darn close to #1 and she gallantly made an effort to share my love of attending Bullets games, even joining in on our ticket plan Unfortunately, John Williams went down with a serious knee injury early in the 1989-1990 season. This started an instant transition for the Bullets from a mediocre 35 to 40 win team to a bad 20 to 30 win team. Crowds dwindled and the Capital Center was quiet. The most exciting day of each season became lottery day and we perpetually ended up with the worst possible draft position that we could receive. So we added ok players such as Tom Gugliotta and Calbert Cheney, but never had a chance to draft someone who could actually be a difference maker for a franchise. My wife failed to see what my enthusiasm had been all about and went so far as to bear a child just to have an excuse to get out of attending games with me.

Our luck looked to get a little better when we had the opportunity to draft Juwan Howard with the number 5 pick. I remember watching the list of underclassmen applying to the draft, hoping that enough would declare so that Howard might fall to us. I was thrilled when he did because he was a tough inside player with a good jump shot who looked ready to contribute immediately. But the Bullets, being the Bullets, decided to take a one team stand against escalating rookie salaries and refused to offer Howard a contract that matched his "slot". I have no idea why they felt the need to get tough. They’d done the same with Tom Gugliotta and barely got him signed before the season started. So Howard and his agent David Falk held out and the Bullets started the season without their top draft pick. As a fan, this was a slap in the face. They weren’t even making an effort to get better. I was still a plan holder, but quite an unhappy one. Fan discontent had never been higher. Things couldn't get much lower.

I work for the government and most agencies have some sort of recreation department that organizes activities and such. They also distribute a newpaper. I was glancing through it and saw an ad for sky box tickets to the Bullets games that some agency‘s rec department had available.. I thought that if we got sky box seats, we could bring my toddler son along to a game as there would be room for him to toddle around. So I consulted my buddies and wife and we decided to get these tickets for the next Saturday night game. Nothing special about the game or night, just that it was the most convenient for all of us.

Then it happened. Webber was unhappy in Golden State! He hated Don Nelson and wanted out! Amazingly, somehow Washington became the favored suitor. I have no idea how. The Bullets never made the news. They were simply an afterthought of a franchise. So I was stunned that they would even be mentioned in the story but didn’t believe that we could ever get Webber. A couple of days went by and the story became more credible. The Webber news also helped with the Howard contract talks. Things were happening on that front too. I drove downtown on my lunch hour to pick up the tickets I had ordered and the guy who gave them to said "Think they’re going to get him?" I think I replied that I wouldn’t believe it until it the deal was absolutely done.

And then the next day, it was done. Webber was coming here in a trade for Gugliotta and 3 future first round picks and as a bonus, Howard agreed to a contract. They would both play this coming Saturday against the Celtics. The one I had sky box tickets for! I was ecstatic as was the city. My wife and I, along with my toddler son, got to the game and the place was more electric than I had ever seen it. There was an amazing buzz in the air. The late ‘80s playoff games were nowhere near as loud or full. The seats were filled early and the crowd was as loud as I have ever heard it. Finally, my wife got to see an excited crowd. "See honey, this us what it is all about."

I don’t remember much of the actual game except for the incredibly loud crowd and the electric atmosphere. It was extremely close and the Bullets took the lead by 1 with about 5 seconds to go. Both teams must have been out of timeouts because Boston had to dribble the ball up court. Rex Chapman met the dribbler at halfcourt. Contact, whistle, "Oh No, how can you call that at this point in the game?". Also "Rex, what the hell are you doing out there?" A blocking foul was called on Chapman and Boston made both shots. 3 seconds remained for the Bullets but as I said, they must have been out of time outs because they inbounded the ball from underneath the Celtics basket. The next play typifies everything about the Bullets fans and the Chris Webber experience. The Bullets fired a long pass down court a la Grant Hill to Christian Laettner. Incredibly, Calbert Cheney was open! Alas, Webber was also down there unaware of Cheney’s presence. They didn’t make much of it in the papers the next day but I swear the following is true. Webber knocked the ball away from Cheney so that neither got it. Time expired without a shot. Bullets lose by 1. Had Webber stayed away, Cheney would have had a good shot to win it for us. But what a game anyway!

The ending typified Webber’s entire career. He was a very good player but could never finish. He always seemed to try to do a little too much and come up just short. And the Bullets always seemed to fight the good fight, but lose in the end. When I reminisce about Bullets seasons, the theme was always "an undermanned team played great before just missing the playoffs".

Well we didn’t know that on November 19, 1994. What we knew was that we had just seen a great game in front of a loud full house. And man were things going to be fun! In the words of a popular song of the time "The Future’s so Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades". Even my wife was impressed.

Bullets-Celtics, Nov. 19, 1994

Draft Expectations

hotplate — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:09:02 -0000

Every year, basketball fans approach the NBA draft like a child at Christmas. Just as a Christmas toy looks the best just after opening it, a player's reputation is never so shiny as it is on draft night. And just like our Christmas toys are shoved into storage within a month, most fans soon realize the limitations of their draft pick. This phenomenon made me curious as to what the real success rate is for each of the draft picks. So starting with the Lebron draft of 2003 through last year's Derrick Rose draft, I rated each first round draft pick on a scale of 0 to 6. The categories are:

6 - transcendent! Guys who can truly make a difference by themselves. Currently I rank only 6 players in the league as sixes. They are Lebron, Kobe, D Wade, Garnett, Duncan, and Dwight Howard. Shaq used to be a 6 but not anymore. Howard is borderline.

5- perennial all star.

4- borderline all star

3- solid starter

2- contributor/role player

1- journeyman

0- bust

I was interested in finding out what a realistic expectation is for a draft pick based on his relative draft position. I had the toughest time deciding between 2 and 3 and 3 and 4. For the 2003 and 2004 drafts, separating the 0's from 1's was easy. If you are no longer in the league, you're a 0. Otherwise, you're at least a 1. Internationals who have never come over are rated 0. Here is my summary of each of the last 5 drafts. If you want my rankings for each player, just send me an email.

2003 2 sixes, 2 fives, 1 four, 4 threes, 8 twos, 6 ones, and 6 zeros. average player rank: 2.34
2004 1 six, 0 fives, 2 fours,10 threes,5 twos,3 ones, and 8 zeros. average player rank: 1.97
2005 0 sixes ,2 fives,1 four, 7 threes, 9 twos, 5 ones, 6 zeros average player rank: 1.93
2006 0 sixes ,1 fives,0 four, 5 threes, 3 twos, 13 ones, 8 zeros average player rank: 1.3
2007 0 sixes ,1 fives,0 four, 7 threes, 10 twos, 8 ones, 4 zeros average player rank: 1.8
2008 0 sixes ,1 fives,2 four, 4 threes, 10 twos, 9 ones, 4 zeros average player rank: 1.93
Now by draft position:

Top 10: 3 sixes ,7 fives,3 fours, 25 threes, 8 twos, 8 ones, 6 zeros average player rank: 2.73

11-20: 0 sixes ,0 fives,3 fours, 4 threes, 18 twos, 24 ones, 11 zeros average player rank: 1.4

21-30: 0 sixes ,0 fives,0 fours, 8 threes, 19 twos, 12 ones, 19 zeros average player rank: 1.28

All told, there have been 178 first round picks between 2003 and 2008. 3 sixes, 7 fives, 6 fours, 37 threes, 45 twos, 44 ones, 36 zeros

2003 was far and away the best draft class of the last 6 and 2006 was awful.

The top players selected have been:

6's Lebron, Wade, Howard

5's Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Brandon Roy, Carmelo, Bosh, Kevin Durant,Derrick Rose (projected)

4's David West, Danny Granger, Al Jefferson,Michael Beasley (projected), O J Mayo (projected),Devin Harris,

The 6 top ten zeros are: Mike Sweetney, Shaun Livingston,Rafael Araujo, Luke Jackson, Patrick O'Bryant, Saer Sene

Of the 16 all star or better selections: all but 4 (Roy #6, Granger #17, West #18, Jefferson #14) have been top 5 selections.

So the lesson is most picks are going to be just so-so at best. If you want an all star, get a top 5 selection. And get it in the right year.

For any player selected after that, be happy if he becomes a regular rotation guy. Do not plan on him being in any all star games.

Wizards picks: 2003 Jarvis Hayes 1 (probably should be a 2 but I've got some lingering bitterness), 2004 Peter John Ramos (second round): 0, 2005 Andray Blatche(second round) 2, 2006 Pecherov 0, 2007 Nick Young 2, Taser (second round) 2, 2008 Javale McGee 2

Washington, D.C.: Should the Wizards trade their lottery pick to Phoenix for the Suns medical...

hotplate — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:18:47 -0000

Washington, D.C.: Should the Wizards trade their lottery pick to Phoenix for the Suns medical staff?

Michael Wilbon: Ha! Very funny. But this isn't a Shaq case. The Wizards medical staff is fabulous. The problem their primary player had, Gil Arenas, was of his own doing...ignoring the prescribed rehab to conduct his own wildcat rehab...which led to additional surgery.

The Chat House with Michael Wilbon

Insert Rookie Center's Name Here From Indy Cornrows game summary: Roy Hibbert on the other...

hotplate — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:22:07 -0000

Insert Rookie Center's Name Here
From Indy Cornrows game summary:

Roy Hibbert on the other hand only played 3:54 in the first half and didn't return. Within two minutes, Hibbert had four points and two fouls. One foul looked like a pretty good block, but I think Hibbert's reputation precedes him these days. Why didn't Roy return to the game? I don't want to hear about the best chance to win. The Pacers could not stop the Wiz. Maybe Roy's presence changes things on defense a little. If he fouls out, so be it.

Sounds like our blog!

Indy Cornrows

Smashed Windshield Team

hotplate — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:03:34 -0000

I'm a Wizards season ticket holder. I keep my ticket book in the backpack that I use in lieu of a briefcase. I also drive a 1999 Toyota Corolla that's about to hit 150000 miles on it. Most of the time, I just leave the backpack in the car. Recently, I stopped locking my car when I park it because its old , dirty, and I don't keep anything of value in it. Well, except for my tickets.
Which brings to mind the late Newsweek columnist Pete Axthelm. In addition to his column, Ax served as the prognosticator/tout for the NBC NFL pre-game show in the early '80s hosted, then as now, by Bob Costas. He was NBC's answer to Jimmy the Greek. Axthelm had a strange term for those meaningless late season match ups between 2 dog teams. He called them "Smashed Windshield games" because if you left 2 tickets visible on the dashboard, you were likely to return to your car to find your windshield smashed...and 2 more tickets left on the dash.
Sadly, the Wizards are now a smashed windshield team. And I live in terror of returning to my car one evening and finding even more Wizards tickets.

Start Nick Young?

hotplate — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:04:07 -0000

OK, Its early to start stirring the pot, but how long should we wait? Slow starts have been a problem thus far during the season and preseason. Without Gilbert and Haywood, there's been a lack of firepower starting off games thus far. The one player who has exceeded expectations has been Nick Young. He's shown the ability to create and hit his own shot and seems to be playing in control for the most part. Is it time to move him to the starting lineup? Its tough playing most of the game 10 down and having Nick in the lineup could open things up for Caron and Antawn from the opening tip.

The reason that I'm bringing this up so early in the year is that Comcast Sportsnet showed an interesting graphic last night. Currently, Tayshaun Prince has a streak of over 300 consecutive games started. This leads all active players. Number 2 is Deshawn Stevenson who has STARTED 243 (or so) consecutive games. So making this change will involve much more drama for Eddie Jordan than the usual lineup switch. Does Eddie have a plan for moving Nick Young into the starting lineup? Would Deshawn accept the demotion in a non-disruptive manner? Is it the right move? Too soon to tell?

My own feeling is that if the streak weren't involved, I would give it a try. But since the streak is involved, I don't know how I would handle it. There's potential for drama and pouting which could hurt the team. So I'm glad I'm not a coach. But Eddie needs to do something to get us more than 18 first quarter points.

Wizards Season Ticket Deal

hotplate — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:39:37 -0000

I apologize that this will read like a Wizards press release. Its not. It just a deal that I don't think many people are aware of.

Just want to make sure that all in the DC area are aware that the Wizards have a season ticket deal for $16 a ticket for an upper deck seat this year. I've been buying them for 5 years now and its the best deal around. I'm not a Wizards sales person, but I'd love to see more true Wizards fans at the game. The total price comes out to about $650 and at that price they are easy to sell (if you can only go to a few of the games). Face value on them is $48 (I think). The best part is that once you're a season ticket holder, they treat you like a vip even though you bought the cheap seats. You have your own account rep and get invitations to pre-game happy hours, an open practice, and things like that.

Here's the link:

Season Tickets

Deshawn, I apologize

hotplate — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:10:59 -0000

Its not quite year end report card time for our roster but I want to clear my conscience as soon as possible. I was against resigning Deshawn Stephenson. While I wasn't a Juan Carlos Navarro backer, I felt that we could replace Deshawn with a better shooting journeyman for cheaper. I was disappointed in the cost and length of Deshawn's new contract.

I WAS WRONG.

Deshawn is a good player who fits in well with this team. His 3 point shooting has been a revelation to me. And his play has been the key factor in turning a possible loss into a win in at least 5 or 6 games this year, with his 3 point shooting and/or defense.
Most importantly, the guy is a Professional. Like AD, Antawn, and Caron, he appears to take the game and his craft seriously. I love the toughness that he and AD bring to the court. Spraining his ankle yet not missing a game is macho. I love that he's challenging Lebron and Ray Allen. Its the kind of toughness that we've lacked in previous years. And his beard is twice as good as Drew Gooden's.
Deshawn, you're earning your money. Your contract is completely appropriate. Your contributions to this year's team have been huge.
I apologize and promise to sing your praises loudly in all future Wizards discussions.

Impressions from section 417 vs. Zalgiris

hotplate — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 03:14:00 -0000

[editor's note, by Pradamaster] Seeing as how I wasn't there, this will act as the postgame thread. Thanks to hotplate for sending in his thoughts. -PM

General impressions of the game from my vantage point in the upper deck:

Evidently there are Black people in Lithuania, although they all seem to have shortened their names. The starting guards were named Dujuan Collins and Marcus Brown. And a key substitute was named Tanaka Beard. Collins in particular, had a good game.

Andre Blatche is the MAN. I am amazed at how mature his overall game seems to be. He seems like he can be one of the rare players whose very appearance on the floor leads the entire team to play better. He shot well, made several nice passes, made a couple of nice defensive plays, and started a couple of nice fast breaks after taking down the defensive rebound. But more than that, he seems to have great court awareness and to be a genuine presence on the floor. I heard radio man Glenn Consor compare him to Danny Manning, but I'd like to go back further for a comparison. He reminded me a bit of my namesake, John Williams (later nicknamed "Hot Plate"). Taller and thankfully much skinnier. Williams did everything well except perhaps shoot. He could influence the game without scoring. When Williams was on the court, the team's offensive spacing and ball movement was much better than when he was off. I think that Blatche could have similar impact and it may be as soon as this year.

Dominic McGuire had at least 4 assists. These were all excellent passes that led directly to an easy layup or dunk. He really sees the court well. In 2 years, he and Blatche could be an amazing tandem with their all around skillz.

Pecherov is too enamored with his jump shot. He shoots every single time that he has an open look from the 3 point line. He missed them all tonight. He needs to realize that one reason he has that open shot is that the opponent doesn't particularly mind him taking it.
Butler played a solid game including a dunk in which he sent a Lithuanian defender into the goal post.
Haywood also was solid and showed a lot of hustle.

I hate myself for it, but I find myself doing a "Donnell Taylor watch" as soon as he comes on the floor. I check the score in order to track his plus/minus which I know is going to be a minus. I start counting the number of missed shots and turnovers. I see how quickly he can pick up fouls. He had a rough start during the first half although he settled down when AD came into the game. His second half showing was uneventful, but I think the potential is there for him to become wildly unpopular with the fans.

The Wizards promotion staff led by the annoying man at the mike Chris Stiles and mascot G-Wiz/GMan seemed genuinely annoyed by the presence of a large contingent of very enthusiastic Lithuanian fans. The fans were seated in 2 lower level sections behind their team's bench and were all clad in green. They cheered and chanted throughout and didn't appear concerned that their team was losing. From my distant vantage point they seemed very good natured and looked like they would be fun to hang out with. But during 1 time out, G-Wiz went over and got one of the green Lithuanian t-shirts. He then tossed it on the ground, stomped on it, picked it up and pretended to use it as toilet paper, and then tossed it back down on the ground and stomped on it about a dozen more times. He continued this for about 30 seconds after the game resumed. I thought that he might be doing this in fun, but once he was finished, he simply walked off the other side of the court rather than return to the Lithuanian section and hanging out. It seemed mean spirited, humorless, and almost offensive. Had he engaged in a t-shirt exchange and sat amongst the fans clowning around, he would could have gained new fans for the 'zards. Similarly, Stiles and the promotions crew carefully avoided those 2 sections during the t-shirt tosses and the give aways. During one t-shirt toss, Stiles said into the mike "Don't make me go there" referring the the Lithuanian sections. Honestly why not act like HOSTS and practice sportsmanship? These fans were cheering for their national team. They don't play in our league and don't directly compete with the Wizards. Its not like they were rooting for the Cavaliers. They knew their team was going to lose but stayed cheerful throughout. Instead of ignoring them, the promotions group should have lavished special attention on them. Give them extra t-shirts. It seems like it would be good business and kind of cool to have people in Vilnius wearing Wizards t-shirts. Why not have G-Wiz sit among the fans and party with them for a time out? Why not have a brief interview with one of the fans? Just petty and short sited. I was very surprised as the Wizards public relations seemed to have really improved over the years.