Caron Butler is out again (I guess this is the “tanking it” that many have been calling for — you know and I know that if this game meant something, Tuff Juice would be spilling himself on the court.) Q1
11:48: Andray v. Yao….Ming stars off with a fade away miss, Blatche played decent D on him the last time out.
11:00: Instead of staying with Battier,Young zones to Scola with the ball….Jamison is there, but could stand to be closer as Scola can shoot…..Who’s Your Daddy Battier is open in the corner for the swing pass…..three ball. 3-2 Houston.
10:46: Andray takes a college three (top of key) with 15 on the shot clock — don’t care if you’re open Andray — No, No, NO!!
So naturally, I wanted to categorize each Wizard in primary and secondary roles. But before I get to that, here’s a Rob’s chart with the archetypes the Wizards do not have grayed out (the Wiz obviously have neither an elite point guard nor a refined big man): And now, a fancy graphic representing Wizards players and their primary and secondary archetypes: If you don’t like graphics, here’s the listing:
Gilbert Arenas – Surreal Scorer; Megalomaniacal small guard
Andray Blatche – Question mark; Skilled, but flawed post
The Wizards ended their eight game losing streak and much of the credit goes to the effort of Dominic McGuire (although my game ball would still go to Antawn Jamison). You can check the Wizards-Thunder game blog over at Bullets Forever, but as far as Dominic McGuire aka The Taser, aka The Cleaner, is concerned, the highlight clip below speaks for itself.
Web Hits:
[Wizards Insider]
The more I see McGuire, the more he reminds of Ruben Patterson (on the court) except that he’s a better passer.
Definition of irony…TNT playing “Put On (I put on for my city)” by Young Jeezy during a nut sweating LeBron montage before the game. LeBron sure does “put on” for Cleveland, doesn’t he?….that’s why his favorite sports teams growing up were the DALLAS Cowboys, NEW YORK Yankees, and CHICAGO Bulls…..I have no respect for front running bammas.
Initial members of the ‘Please Stop Mean Mugging’ club: Kendrick Perkins and LeBron James.
Q1
The Wizards in white jerseys, for BS reasons, are throwing me off.
Ugh…..I only got to see the last 10 minutes of the Wizards-Bobcats game last night…..the exact segment I could have lived without ever watching. I may get a 4th quarter game blog posted at some point, I may not…..but in any case, the lead part of Mike Jones’ game story in the Washington Times struck me as a bit odd:
Remember the old Looney Tunes cartoon in which Bugs Bunny crawls out of a hole on a baseball diamond, summons spectacular powers as only Bugs can, plays every position on the field and single-handedly defeats a team of gorilla-looking opponents?
It almost seemed like the Washington Wizards got a similar performance out of Caron Butler Tuesday night at Time Warner Cable Arena. Only in this episode, the Wizards came up short and sank to an all-time low with an 80-72 loss to the host Charlotte Bobcats.
The Mavericks game is in the books, another L for the Wizards. There will be game blogs, recaps, etc. posted soon…..but until then, the guys at Dallas Dedicated, an all encompassing Dallas sports blog, agreed to be part of a Q&A session. Their answers about the Mavericks are below, I’ll update this post with a link once my answers about the Wizards are posted over there. 1) How’s the Rick Carlisle era going? Do you miss Avery Johnson? Do you think the Lil’ General would be a good fit for the Wizards?
The beginning of the season was more of an adjustment period; once the team got used to his system, the better performances came (13-4 in the last 17, including tonight). To be honest, Avery isn’t too missed. It didn’t make too much sense to us, though, that both Johnson and Devin Harris were gotten rid of. They couldn’t coexist with each other, but instead of getting rid of one and keeping the other, both were replaced. Avery would be a help to Washington, especially on the defensive side of the ball. He has an ability to relate to the players given his young age, yet still be able to coach and improve them.
2) Josh Howard, trade him or keep him?
We say keep, and we say that for two reasons. First, and more optimistically, we think Howard can still perform at an All-Star level–he needs to stay healthy. In last season’s playoffs he played poorly, which began the calls for him to be traded, but people forget that it was only an isolated time of bad play. Secondly, with all his off the court issues of late, his trade value has decreased below his value. If the Mavs wanted to trade him, they wouldn’t receive the compensation that a trading a player of his caliber deserves.
I’m seeing some progress, especially out of Andray Blatche. But without a W in the books, the frustration continues to mount regardless of trying hard.
What really baffles me is the inability to score down the stretch….the inability for the stars, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler, to will the team to a win by taking matters into their own hands and dropping the ball in the bucket.
As you may have read, and some of this is also covered in the web hits below, no one has a huge problem another Wizard taking an open shot when opposing defenses focus on Butler and Jamison…..it just shouldn’t become a habit.
Butler hits a tough falling shot to begin….Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier relate that Tapscott wants to get the star forwards (Butler/Jamison) off first…..but why?
Seems like those two should be able to get going at any time…it’s the scoring from the rest of the team which has been the concern.
Caron Butler is trying to do too much…..make, miss, gets caught in the air and has to pass to Blatche with one second on the shot clock — bad decision.
Caron Butler is out again (I guess this is the “tanking it” that many have been calling for — you know and I know that if this game meant something, Tuff Juice would be spilling himself on the court.)
