Today’s Washington Wizards News Fit For Photoshop Pixels
‘Wizards Shopping Blatche’
…Said ESPN’s Marc Stein on the Daily Dime last Friday. And look, everyone knows that when you shop an Andray Blatche, you shop him hard. We’re talking Costco free samples style. Because there’s no better way to get customers hooked than to give them a taste on the house. It also works in the hardcore drug dealing game as seen on television.
Meanwhile…
‘Flip Saunders On Steady Diet of Subway’
After Monday’s loss to the Houston Rockets, Flip Saunders had this to say:
“You can say it kills you to lose, but until it really kills you — I’ve been, for me, for three to four weeks I’ve been on a steady diet of Subway, which is 20 yards from my condo; into Subway and back up to my apartment. Like I said, you don’t feel good about yourself. As a team, that’s how it has to be. It has to hurt a lot.”
[quote via TAI's John Converse Townsend]
That explains why he was on the court all fourth quarter getting bent over Dalembert’s knee
I know that I am in the minority here, but I think the Wizards should consider trading Cook Book. I love him and what he does for our team. Every team needs a player like him. The problem is that the Wizards are full of players like him…limited offensively but a hustle guy, strong, a bit undersized for his position but willing to outwork everyone to get the rebound, loose ball ect…
I asked myself, “what is Booker’s ceiling? Who can we hope he becomes for us? The best we can hope for is a solid rotation player who adds value off the bench. If you can trade him to a team that has too many shooters and not enough hustlers, it might work out for both parties. I don’t know who that is, but while they are shopping Blatche (YAAY!) I think, they should consider quietly whispering Book’s name in the conversations
Subway still has too much sodium. not good for three times a day. sorry.
Trade Book?!
As I see it, the Wizards have four players playing above average at their positions
(1) Booker; (2) McGee; (3) Singleton; (4) Turiaf – who was playing well prior to his injury.
They also have a couple players playing below average at their positions, but worth hanging on to because they’re improving:
(5) Jan Vesely; (6) Shelvin Mack; and (7) John Wall.
Everyone else should be trade bait.
I agree with all of that, except I would say that Turiaf is playing well, but not above average at his position. The question that I asked that allowed me to come to this conclusion is, how much better can Book get? I think they can get more from him than he can give to the organization
Hahaha, those pictures are hilarious. You should be selling that Blatche one as a poster! :D
@szr- Nobody on this roster except McGee is playing “above average” at their position.
This team is 1-12. Only one guy on the roster has a PER above the league average (McGee).
Also, it needs to be stated that Blatche’s contract is not that awful. It’s obviously awful in the sense that they gave him an unnecessary extension. But when you look around the league and see what a lot of these big men are currently making, it could be a lot worse. If they are unable to trade him, it’s not the worse thing in the world cause it isn’t like Ted Leonsis wants to spend money anyways.
I’m not a huge fan of PER since it gets inflated by shots taken, but I take your point. I call Book, McGee, Singleton and Turiaf above average at their positions because they are, when you look at their production over 48 minutes.
Turiaf and McGee play Center – the average NBA center has the following stat line per 48 minutes so far this season:
49.3% FG percentage (50.1 from 2; 29.4 from 3)
66.3% FT percentage
13.2 rebounds
2.1 assists
2.8 turnovers
2.0 blocks
1.3 steals
Turiaf was shooting 100% (he has literally not missed a shot so far this year). Yes, obviously that won’t last, but for his career, Turiaf shoots 50.9%, so he is an above-average shooter. He is also averaging more than twice as many assist per 48 as the average C (4.3 compared to 2.1) and MANY more steals (5.1 compared to 1.3).
On the down side, Turiaf is less effective as a rebounder (10.3 compared to 13.2) and turns the ball over more too (5.1 compared to 2.8).
In any case, Turiaf is backing up McGee who shoots better than the average C (51.9%), rebounds better (16.3), and blocks a whole lot better (5.1 – best in the league).
We’re in good shape at Center!
Booker, who plays PF, is also putting up nice numbers compared to the league average for PFs.
FG% – 50.0 compared to 46.6
Rebounds – 12 compared to 11.3
Turnovers – 1.5 compared to 2.5
Blocks – 1.7 compared to 1.4
Steals – 2.3 compared to 1.4
The only thing Booker does worse than the average PF is assist – 1.4 compared to 2.5
Booker is one of those guys I love having on my team. He is effective and efficient.
Again, I’m not saying these guys are the foundation for a dynasty, but if I were the Wizard’s GM, I would be a lot more worried about the awful players at SG and SF right now.
Blatche has zero trade value, none.
First, everyone is hoarding cap space. The cost of Blatche is 3yr/24mil. Unless a team is dumping a similar contract, they can certainly get a better player for equal or lesser money.
Second, I don’t see any up-and-coming teams trading for him. Why would you willingly inject a known and proven cancer into your locker room? The best trading partner would be a veteran team with a strong culture, like SA, BOS, or LA. LA could take him into Odom’s TE, but they are not spending the money. BOS could swap JOneal for him, but Ainge wants his cap space. The Wiz can only hope that one of the incompetent GMs in the league make a mistake (NJ, SAC, MIN).
As for Booker, look, he’s a nice player, but his upside really limited. Maybe, maybe, he becomes Chuck Hayes. And you can’t use per 48 numbers to compare. Producing at 15-20 mpg is entirely different from producing at 30-35 mpg.
Bottomline, all of the leftovers from the Arenas era need to go. They are infected, as clearly evidenced by McGee and Young thinking the backboard dunk was kosher.
None of those numbers really prove he is an above average player. He seems basically at the average for every statistic except for FG%, turnovers and steals. And since he appears to be not much of an offensive threat, the field goal percentage and low turnovers don’t really pay off in any meaningful way. So all he has is steals.
With that said, I think most people would tell you that PER is the best statistic out there to give you an idea of how effective a player is. And Booker is at 15, which is the average. Plus, if you look at the past 5 games where Booker has been the starter, you can’t convince me he has even been average. In the last 5 games as a starter a quick glimpse of his stats – 15/35fg, 6.6ppg, 6.4rpg. I mean is that above average for a starting power forward in the NBA? Is that even average? I don’t think so. As far as I’m concerned, he’s been a failure in his quest to prove that he can start in this league.
And also on a side note, I can’t help but notice how you took that Turiaf statistic out of context. He is taken 3 shots all year! Who cares what his field goal percentage is with such a small sample size? Just saying.