Random wiz thoughts

[chawk]

Yo any washington wizards fans out there? I'm from baltimore and i'm all for the wiz (bmore needs a team). I've been following them since the glory days of Ghoerghe 'My Giant' Muresan so i'm loving the solid squad they have put together the past couple seasons. The one thing that sticks out in my mind about the wiz's season, particularly the playoffs, is how lebron james is allowed to take 3-4 steps and/or change his pivot foot on any possession, and the refs (even in washington) swallow their whistle. The no calls on Lebron's travels in the playoffs (i think there were 2 or 3 deciding plays during which Bron scored after traveling all over the court) single handedly proved to be the demise of the wiz' season. Get at me on that cuz yo... thats messed up

[ab40]

you are absolutely right the wizz got F'd in the A big time knawmean yeah but that's the nba these days star treatment, that ilegal defence, thos damn fines and suspensions (whatever happened to giving a hard foul) and that you can no more play physical defence  are the reasons why I dislike the officiating in the nba it sucks BIGTIME

[Hülse]

Hey Guys, I´m a big Wiz-Fan from Germany (although Captain Dirk is not playing there) since the days of C-Webb,Rod the hot and Juwan H. I´m very proud about the development of the team since. We have a really good team, we only need a strong PF (Blatche?) and an offensice C (Ramos?). I´m very excited, how we are going to pick in the draft. So, i have to go, the soccer world championships are going on and Germany is playing!!!!

[steve]

Okay, yeah, Wizards got hosed on one play in the playoffs and it was just something missed by the refs.  There were far worse blown calls throughout the course of the playoffs.  Jamison should get a lot more flak for not guarding the baseline against James.  Regardless of the Refs, the blame still squarely on the Wizards.  Don't give me any of this star treatment, Lebron carried his team and deserved the win against the Wizards.  And the reason physical defense isn't being played as much is because coaches like Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy almost destroyed the league with teams where that's all they did and it nearly ruined the game.

[sagaliba]

Wiz needs a power forward who can do the dirty work and face the basket, shoot short to mid range jump shot.

Wiz has too many centers, Haywood, Thomas, Booth and Ramos. However, most of them can only dunk the ball and no jum shot to speak off. The only one 6'9" and above who can shoot is Jamison. But he is not really a power forward.

As for their center, I think Haywood is adequate. Granted, he is never going to be a star, but his long arms and shot blocking do provide a presence down low. He could have score more if Wiz's guards are willing to feed him the ball after penetration; but he is not the kind of player you can just give him the ball and watch him work offensively, which Wiz seems to expect him to do some times. Sure, a good scoring center like that is great, but is hard to find and is going to be expensive. Besides, with the Big 3 shooting so much, a big name center is not going to get enough touches.

It's a shame that Etan Thomas could not be converted into a power forward (i.e., he does not have a jump shot to speak off). Playing as a backup center, he is overpaid. I think Wiz should trade him, and find a real power forward.

[steve]

I think you're right the Wizards need a power forward (or really just a low post player), but not one that really relies on a game that requires him to face the basket.  They need someone who can work with his back to the basket and takes up space on the block.  There a team full guys who face the basket and take jump shots, that's probably where 90% of their offense (and that number might be a little low).  Haywood could do this as he has some could offensive moves and a nice touch.  He could be a good a center (and an All Star with the way the center situation is in the NBA right now), but he won't because he's a world class pansy who backs off whenever there's physical contact.

[sagaliba]

How many centers/players in NBA today can "take up space on the block" and go to work offensively?

True, Haywood is often pushed out of the block (a little farther than he would have liked to be able to score), but so is Thomas who is more muscular and a little bit lower center of gravity. This is just what it is, calling Haywood pansy is not going to solve that, just making him more disgruntled, that's all. The "making him mad to play better" is way overblown in my humble opinion.

The best way to utilize Haywood is for guards to penetrate and dump off; with Haywood's long arms, that's almost a sure 2. Wiz did this in early last season (with Daniels passing) with great success. But as Daniels went to the bench, Haywood's offense dwindled. The season before, it was Hughes that was more willing to dump off than Gilbert. (Not to criticize Gilbert, he is the best player in the team without question, and he often either scored or got fouled driving to the basket. But he seldom passed off when he drove, so Haywood's scoring opportunity diminished.)

I think most people who criticized Haywood often fancy themselves that they got an all-star center on the team, and then complained that he did not perform to all-star level. To me, Haywood is not an all-star, he has many short-comings (slow being one). But just like you said, looking at centers in the NBA, I do not see many good ones anyway. So Haywood is a "serviceable" center, the one who is better than half of the centers on the league (that is to say "average"). Use him as he is, and not try to drive him away.

[sagaliba]

Change subject, what do u guys think about Wiz's draft pick?

Pecherov, a big guy who can shoot 3 and rebound. Looks like Grunfield is trying to make up for last year free agent get-away (Donnel Marshall).  He won't help on D, but I guess Wiz figure if they can score enough points, they won't care.

Jamison was erratic last season, and had long period of slump. I guess it would not be bad to have a big guy on the bench who can shoot like Jamison and can go in when Jamison is missing. Other additional bench strength, hopefully, Hayes can stay healthy and Blatche develops. I still like to see a "POWER" forward though.  :wink:

One choice Wiz could have was Alexander Johnson. Some critics ranked him quite high, and sounded like he is exactly what Wiz needs. But some ranked him as a second rounder, which he ended up got picked at #45, 3 places before Wiz's second round choice.

[frontline-sports.com]

Cavaliers fan here..great series in the first round..most entertaining one IMO.  Hope we can meet up again next year that was some fun stuff..

Arenas is a BALLER...won't get the all star snub this year..ought to be a starter over AI.

[steve]

True, Haywood is often pushed out of the block (a little farther than he would have liked to be able to score), but so is Thomas who is more muscular and a little bit lower center of gravity. This is just what it is, calling Haywood pansy is not going to solve that, just making him more disgruntled, that's all. The "making him mad to play better" is way overblown in my humble opinion.

Wouldn't that be assuming that he reads this board or I go following him around calling him a "pansy."  I'm calling him that because I've been watching him ever since he was a freshman at North Carolina and is absolutely terrified of creating contact with other players.  I know exactly what the Wizards have with Haywood, which a player that is going to find a starting job for most of career but it ultimately going to disappoint.  His chances aren't going to be diminished because Arenas isn't going to dish off to him, most of his points either come from put back or set plays that come early in the game for him.  If he's not willing to create his own shot in the paint, which he's capable of doing, then his teammates are going to stop looking for him, this is what's been happening since I started watching him play and it's also part of the reason why he doesn't get crunch time minutes.

[awill77]

This is awill77 from the big VA. Love them Zards. We really need some solid bigs, but we also need a backup 1 or 2. Hayes stays hurt too much. Taylor is young and thats about all the depth we have at the 1 and 2. We really need to address that issue. PLEASE DONT LET JEFFRIES GO!!!! He is the best defender on the team. Magloir would be a great fit. A big body who can score and defend. Haywood is a backup. Etans time is over. Ukrainian kid is lookin ok. Needs to bulk up abit but should be a contributor early. Im out but Ill be on here quite a bit, so go Wiz!!!!

[steve]

I guess I'm not really in touch with many Wizards fans, but does anyone seriously call them Zards?  And if they do, has anyone stopped to think how dumb that sounds (or did that person get beaten to death at the annual meeting).  Seriously, if people are going to start calling them the Zards I would've been happier if they had choosen the Sea Dogs as a name.  God I wished they'd never changed from the Bullets, life was so much simpler then.

[sagaliba]

Wouldn't that be assuming that he reads this board or I go following him around calling him a "pansy."

I wasn't talking about you per se. Haywood have received a lot of criticisms (from media that I believe he does read) last season, and I feel some of them are not completely fair. (Yeah like if he would know that I speak up for him!)

One thing interesting though, I noticed that Haywood has tried to develop a hookshot in 04-05; but he rarely did that last season, and tried the not-so-effective fade-away instead. I think if he can get the hookshot down, it can be a weapon for him. Otherwise, I do not see him effectively "create his own shot" in "set plays that come early in the game."

Haywood has long arms, but he is neither a quick jumper nor a leaper, and his shot can be easily blocked by leapers like Dalembert (happened numerous times). On the other hand, he lacks the quickness to go around them, or the strength to bully them. That is why I think developing a hookshot would help. Otherwise, dish-offs and put-backs are probably the only kind of offense can be reasonably expected out of him.

[sagaliba]

but we also need a backup 1 or 2. Hayes stays hurt too much. Taylor is young and thats about all the depth we have at the 1 and 2.

You forgot about Antonio Daniels.

Taylor is OK, I hope he can improve on his jump shot. Blatche is the guy I hope can blossom.

[awill77]

We have Daniels but then who plays 2. Caron can but then we dont have a true 3. We need sone depth at the 1,2, and 3. Yeah we need a big man but depth as well will kill us. And yes I call them the Zards and if you dont like it thats sounds like something you have to deal with buddy.