Reaction to John Hollinger's Wizards Team Forecast - ESPN.com

John Hollinger's Prediction for the Washington Wizards, NBA 2007-2008 season:
[click for the espn.com article]

33-49, 5th in Southeast, 13th in Eastern Conference

Might I say....NOPE!

Hollinger is a bean counter, a numbers cruncher. And while it's always good to use statistics to observe and predict, they are very, very far from the end-all, be-all that Hollinger sometimes makes them out to be. You know how people who actually played the game of basketball always talk about players who do all the intangibles...you know, the stuff that doesn't show up in the stat book. Take Caron Butler's toughness for instance. A calculator jockey will always have trouble understanding that 90% mental aspect of professional sports....regardless of passer-by mentions in columns.

As an alternative, let's look at how the Wizards have upgraded this year compared to last year.

1. AD (Antonio Daniels) is a gamer. He's had very slow starts to the past two seasons. This year, his leadership and playing level will be consistent throughout.


2. Nick Young is an immediate 20% upgrade (at least) over Jarvis Hayes. I loved Jarvis in college....hell, he may be awesome on the Pistons, but he just wasn't cutting it in so many aspects.


3. Pecherov and a full season Songaila will be an upgrade over half-season Songaila -- both will be able to extend the floor and will surprise people with improved team interior toughness, especially in the area of rebounding.


4. Yea, Blatche has had his problems. But if you follow the team, one of the main reasons that he coming into his own last year...and received playing time from Eddie Jordan, was that he was willing to get on the floor, and Hustle on defense. Look for him to contribute much more this year...especially with the uncertainty of Etan Thomas' heart condition.


5. And exactly as another comment poster to Hollinger's article put it, "You're a Damn Fool ! What about D Mac[?]" He will provide a Shawn Marion-esque defensive spark off the bench.


6. No one is picking the Wizards to do anything this year. We should actually be thanking you Hollinger. We all know how Agent Zero plays with a chip on his shoulder....well friend, it's going to rub off on the rest of the team.