Posts for category ‘antonio daniels’

Who will be the main factor at point guard for the Washington Wizards?
While there are a number of candidates from various positions who can need to step up in the absence of Gilbert Arenas (Andray Blatche and Nick Young come to mind), the Wizards will need someone to be a factor at point guard and initiate Eddie Jordan’s offense.

photo from washingtonwizards.com

The Candidates: Antonio Daniels, Dee Brown, Juan Dixon, DeShawn Stevenson, Nick Young

Antonio Daniels: Hey, did you guys know that Antonio Daniels is getting older? Ok…so the fact that he turns 33 in March should go without saying. Last season, AD averaged the most minutes in his career, 30.4, because he had to step in as the starter for an absent Gilbert Arenas. This simply cannot continue. Not that Antonio isn’t up to the task. I’ll say it time and time again, the guy is a gamer. However, the fact that he puts his body on this line so much compounds the issue and highlights that he should receive less time on the court, if anything, to keep him healthy for the season. Antonio can’t help the way he plays. We know he’s not a shooter, he knows he’s not a shooter….but he’s got to make the defense aware of him offensively in some manner, and he does that with kamikaze drives to the hoop.

The problem for Eddie Jordan is that Antonio Daniels is his security blanket. He doesn’t turn the ball over much and is a game manager. At this point, how much AD sees the court depends on the other candidates. We must remember that health is key for the Wizards, especially in the backcourt. We’d all like the team to get out of the gates quickly in Gilbert’s absence, but the season is also a marathon, not a sprint.

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photo from nba.com/wizards

Silly, zany, wacky…..all terms used to describe Washington Wizards media day. Laptops are even blowing up because of it.

>> DeShawn Stevenson is swagger jacking Lil’ Wayne and claiming originality…..Lemme guess, Stevenson’s next wrist band will say, “Misunderstood ain’t gotta be explained,” or perhaps “Bling, Bling.” (Just go listen to ‘DontGetIt’ (some call it ‘Misunderstood’) on Lil’ Wayne’s Tha Carter III – or just check the lyrics here.)

>> The key part of the body is the wrist:

• DeShawn Stevenson is debuting his ‘Wristbands That Don’t Make Sense’ line (above link from the DC Sports Bog).
• Dee Brown has a superman wristband.
• Antonio Daniels did not have surgery on his troubled wrist, but it’s feeling okay….even though he will wear a light brace.

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When the Washington Wizards decided to pick up the third-year option on Coach Eddie Jordan’s current contract, extending him through the 2009-2010 season, I thought, “Well, that’s a little random.”

There have been questions about Jordan’s status from year to year…..whether it be general disapproval from fans, the fact that he wasn’t an ‘Ernie Grunfeld’ selection, or that Jordan’s hand-picked assistants were only renewed on a year-to-year basis.

I’ve been a staunch supporter of Jordan. Sure there are issues, as I outlined in his evaluation. But I factor in his DC resume, and an appreciation that for the last four years, I haven’t had to cross my fingers when ping-pong balls start mixing in late May.

But in terms of the timing, I was perplexed as Prada at Bullets Forever….why now? Perhaps my curiosity was more the result of surprise at the unexpectedness of the re-up. But after further pondering, it was a good move by GM Ernie Grunfeld and Owner Abe Pollin.

With the state of Gilbert Arenas’ knee, the team had to shift focus towards a more pragmatic approach. Sure, fans are ready for the team to advance past the 2nd round of the playoffs….statim. But now, a one-year plan for the desired playoff advancement is more realistically a two-year plan. Would the Wizards have exercised the option on Jordan had Arenas not gone under the knife for a third time? I’m not so sure.

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I’ve been working on a piece about Eddie Jordan and his rotation size, specifically in comparison to the rest of the league and how it may or may not relate to team success in the NBA. The research is taking longer than I thought, so….spawned by a Slam Online blog entry today, I wanted to assess the Wizards role players for the upcoming season first.

In “Know Your Role,” John Krolik highlights five types of role players (plus Robert Horry) that every team wants. How do the Wizards stack up? Well, let’s see.

1. The Mistake-Free Backup Point
This one is easy….Antonio Daniels is even cited as an ideal example. AD is a leader who is willing to put his body on the line and the team first. In my player evaluation of Daniels, I cited negatives such as inability to shoot and defend. However, with Arenas back and Antonio going back to the bench, those inefficiencies will be somewhat masked in the bigger picture. The key theme is the steadying veteran presence Antonio provides as the point guard leader of a young second unit.

2. The Bona Fide Sniper
This is an big area of concern for me. Gilbert Arenas is the team sniper, but he’s no role player. Gone is last year’s sniper in Roger Mason, who will fill the role for the San Antonio Spurs. Sure, Nick Young will be expected to provide an offensive spark off the bench, but I’ve never been confident in his ability as a long distance threat. Are you telling me that the Wizards will look to Oleksiy Pecherov to be the unconscious jacker from deep? I sure hope not, and that’s assuming he’s not reporting for D-League duty during the upcoming season.

3. A “Three-and-D” Shooting Guard
Krolik cites DeShawn Stevenson as fitting this bill and I couldn’t agree more. This is where I really respect Stevenson for his personal player development in adding the three-point shot to his repetoire. It’s funny that at times, DeShawn seems to have a penchant to taking ill-advised shots (and perhaps this was accentuated last year with Gilbert’s offense absent), but at the same time, most of my observations tell me that DeShawn is a relatively selfless player on the offensive end and is well aware of his role on the team. Dominic McGuire, altough more of a SF and lacking trey-ball range, strikes me as a role-player-in-training in this area. Off the bench, I think McGuire will be able to defend multiple positions, and judging from his summer league progression, could bring a threatening mid-range offensive game.

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Part 8 of Washington Wizards Player Evaluations, head over to Bullets Forever to check the thoughts of the Pradamaster and JakeTheSnake on Antonio Daniels.

Previous Entries:
Etan Thomas | Oleksiy Pecherov | Dominic McGuire | Nick Young |
Andray Blatche | Roger Mason | Darius Songaila|

Antonio Daniels is my Catch-22. I love his steadying veteran presence. He fills in wherever needed and does whatever is asked of him without thinking twice. Daniels has been a model of consistency during his 11 year NBA career. This past season was no exception as Antonio Daniels was asked to sub for an injured Gilbert Arenas. In doing so, AD started 63 out of 71 played games for the Wizards. In his previous 10 seasons, Antonio started a total of 149 out of 722 games.

In Daniels’ 07-08 starts, he contributed about nine points, five assists, and three rebounds in just over 30 minutes a game while only turning the ball over 86 times total (a 1.36 average). So, I’ll throw around terms such as admirable and will give AD a big ‘thank you’ because without him, I highly doubt that the Wizards would have achieved 43 wins.

However, there’s a Sir Mix-a-Lot sized ‘but’……..Antonio Daniels can neither shoot nor defend. As his career 30.9% from 3-point land would indicate, AD is not one for distance buckets. Now, he is no where near Rajon Rondo bad, but throughout the season, opponents proved more times than not that they were willing to risk leaving Daniels open to protect the paint. And AD did not disappoint by hitting only 17 of 74 attempts from beyond the arc. My expectations of Daniels in this area have always been tempered, but I still have wishes that he could keep defenses honest. But alas, it is what it is…..if Antonio hasn’t improved his shot to date, then it’s probably never going to happen. Old dogs don’t learn new tricks.

Compounding AD’s conduciveness to the constrictive nature of the opposing defenses is his inability to on-ball defend. I suppose you could dub his quickness as adequate….for a 33 year old. AD won’t get you many steals, his one per game this past season was a career high. But he has the smarts and desire to limit gambles and to try staying in front of his man. However, in many cases those attempts end up futile.

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I got home from the Washington Nationals opener just in time to catch the last 8 minutes (incl. OT) of the Wizards-Lakers game. I know, I know…..I gotta get a DVR – all the kids are doing it. Nonetheless, what I saw of the Nick Young show was highly entertaining. I was probably more into that game [meaning yelling loud enough to make my neighbors wonder] than I have been for any other this year. I could be labeled as a Laker-hater, but at least the Wizards covered the 9.

The Wizards-Jazz game? Read the live game blog if you dare. [Wizards Game #74 @ Utah Jazz] Surfing around the blogosphere, the obliteration seemed to be expected, especially with the absence of Caron Butler and Antonio Daniels due to injury (not to mention Gilbert and Etan). Yea, well maybe I expected it too. But it would’ve been nice to see the Wizards take some pride and get scrappy. Oh well. At least the Wiz are at…..home sweet home?

The Reach Quotes from Cali to Utah…….

Dig of the Week
“This is where Abe Pollin’s insistence on not paying the luxury tax combined with the injury issues have really hurt this team……..From my seat, this team has needed a quick, defensive-minded point guard type coming off that bench all season and simply hasn’t had one. [Ivan Carter]
– Of course, criticism of Abe Pollin has been around the block and then some….including making several stops on my street.

Who Does # Two Work For?
“Well the trip didn’t end on the best of notes, but the team still went out west and held their own and cameback home still holding down the 5 spot in the east. [WashingtonWizardsBlog.com]
– Way to tow the company line guys. In the least, let’s go ahead and add a ‘barely’ in front of ‘held’……unless the the goal of the Wizards was to play from behind in every game.

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No, this is not Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy. This is:

Just to set the record is straight, okay? The other guy? Oh c’mon, acting like you’ve never seen Ron Jeremy in a Mario outfit.

ON TAP:
A HUGE Wizards Insider post tonight.

1st: Gilbert gives some straight talk — the East should be scared of the Wizards [essentially].
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Watch out for this guy….
just ask Tang Hamilton (not pictured guarding Joe Johnson).
picture from flickr/vedia

>> After the 0-5 start, the Wizards got their first win of this 2007-2008 season against the Atlanta Hawks back on November 11th…..thanks to some guts and 15 rebounds from Antawn Jamison. Unfortunately, that game coincided with a 33-25 Redskins loss to the hated Philadelphia Eagles.

>> In game 25, a 97-92 Wizards loss to the Hawks, Washington survived a slow start to make the match really close down the stretch. Nick Young and DeShawn Stevenson both gave solid efforts, however the Wiz were unable to overcome a 32 point night from Joe Johnson and a +16 rebound margin for Atlanta.

>> Game 34: Wizards vs. Hawks in Atlanta. This one was even more exciting as the game went into overtime; Washington prevailed 102-98 thanks to Antonio Daniels with his game sealing bucket and 7 assists with 0 turnovers.

>> Tonight’s game is a big one for both teams….playoff implications. As I read on the Bullets Forever game 66 preview, the Hawks are tied with the New Jersey Nets for the 8th spot in the NBA Eastern Conference playoff race. Currently, the teams share a 28-38 record….disgusting.

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Headed down to the Verizon Center in Chinatown last Saturday night to see my Washington Wizards look uninterested in a loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. It wasn’t the end of the world, but I was disappointed nonetheless.

Attending the game in person, I had my ears listening for react quotes (Wire reference alert):

“The only bad thing about St. Patrick’s Day is that one year I took river-dance lessons…..” The quote by a mid-twenties girl, who surprisingly spent more time paying attention to the game than talking, then blurred into something about being drunk and dancing in bars. My head was buried into my hands upon hearing ‘river’ and ‘dance’ in the same sentence. I should’ve tried to set her up with my friend Chris.

“Awww he shook him…ohhh he shook him.” Middle-aged white man in his middle-aged white man voice in reference to Raymond Felton toying with Antonio Daniels.

“That brotha is in the zone.” This was repeated about nine times in 30 seconds as some guy expressed his expert analysis of Jason Richardson’s 34 point game.

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Being in Argentina since early Sunday morning, Wednesday was my first chance to catch up with the internet world. I’m not going to even think about checking my blog roll on Google Reader. The unread count could be in the thousands by now. Nope, I’m sticking to the basics: ESPN.com, the Washington Post and Bullets Forever.

Upon seeing the score of the Wizards-Knicks game via ESPN Deportes on Tuesday night, my palm may have smacked against my forehead, but my head did not shake in disbelief….. especially after not seeing Caron Butler’s name among the leading scorers in the bottom line. He sat out again? He should have had plenty of rest by now. Crap. That hip must be worse than we thought. Setback…whatev.

Before getting into the game, thanks to my boy Chris for his coverage, albeit a bit tardy. I’ve been wanting to negotiate a boxing post with him for a while. And since the initial intention of this blog was coverage of DC in general, some exposure to the Caps is more than welcome. Sad to say, I have yet to attend a game this year. I’m long overdue. I can’t see my self watching too many hockey games on TV….although, at times when not much else is on, I’ll give the men in skates a little time on my 3rd, smaller TV. It’s always been my belief that hockey is the sport with the most discrepancy between watching it on TV and watching it live…..meaning, that live is exciting, fun, and intense while on TV is boarderline intolerable. Sorry Chris, but I’m willing to be convinced otherwise.

OK, enough of that…..on to the Wiz.

Too much of this is going on:

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Wizards Insider reported that Caron Butler will probably sit out the NBA All-Star game. And Comcast SportsNite did, indeed, just report that Caron won’t play in the NOLA. Good. For selfish reasons, I’d rather him not play because I’ll be on a plane during the NBA All-Star game and I want to be able to see Tuff Juice play when he really shows out on the big stage…..after all, he was 1-7 with 2 points last year. But really, the rest will be good for him. He will be revitalized and motivated for the post-break. Plus, snub amends can be made with a replacement. It should be Hedo Turkoglu.

Onto tonight’s game, I’m excited about it. This team, despite 6, 7 game losing streaks, did come out to play in the last two games against two very good Western Conference teams. Yea, it didn’t turn out how we would like. The Wiz made some bonehead mistakes, but I recognize the effort. I’d say about 20 other NBA teams, if faced with a similar situation, would have folded.

Should the Wizards get mad and pick a fight? [SVP Style]

ME: Of course I would like someone to bust Stephen Jackson straight in the jaw, especially for something like this. But I like this Wizards team not trying to act like the Warriors; their bitching and moaning during that game was a little too much.

Did Eddie have nothin’ left or was his team not listening? [My Swog Is Phenomenal]
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Well, the Wizards are in the midst of a brutal February where they’ve lost their first 5 games of the month, 6 losses in a row overall, as well as in 8 of the last 10 games. And while their early season play without Gilbert Arenas has surprised everyone, for some to the point of questioning the value of Arenas, this latest futility is no surprise. What has become evident is that no squad can overcome the level of injuries felt by the Wizards, and that dangerous NBA teams need a guy who is able to command points in the hoop.

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About That Nuggets Game [live blog]

With 5:41 left in the 4th quarter, as Linas Kleiza was hitting two FTs to push the Denver lead to 12 at 96-84, Carmelo Anthony, who at the time had 40 points, checked back into the game.

Normally, I would not blame a team for bringing their superstar back to the court with a 12 point lead. Five minutes and forty-one seconds is a lot of time….we know this is the NBA. But, it’s the manner in which the Nuggets carried out the remainder of the game that makes me object. Denver’s intent was not so much to put away the game as a team, rather so ‘Melo My Man could put on an individual show and go for an individual achievement.

Eddie Jordan has his opinion on the subject: “The end part of that game I felt was a little bit on the classless side,” Coach Eddie Jordan said after his team’s sixth straight defeat. “But we all have our ways and when you get your butt kicked, the other team can do whatever it wants to do. But I thought it was very classless to close a game out like that. I have my opinion; I can say what I want to say. That’s what I thought it was.”

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Ok, so Mr. Irrelevant hasn’t exactly announced the “official” results of the Nick Young nickname vote as of yet. But sources inform Truth About It that most of the precincts have reported, so it’s only a matter of time until Bean Burrito is officially declared the winner.

Why Bean Burrito? Well, it’s what Nick, himself, wanted. Maybe we can call him “BB” or “BBNY” for short. In any case, the timing could not be better (or worse) depending on how you look at it.

Finding out that Antonio Daniels would be out for 2-4 weeks this morning did not sit well on my stomach. His play while Gilbert Arenas is on the sidelines has been vastly unheralded. And unfortunately, I think his being out will lead us all to realize this.

Of course, all over Wizards Insider...they’re hitting the panic button (they being those on the comment board). Thing is, look how this team has dealt with adversity so far. I see no reason as to why the players would get down about the injury to AD. Is it ideal? Well, what do you think? But the Wizards are a tough team and they will continue to be tough.

But anyway….back to Nick Young. His minutes are going to increase and he will need to step it up in all aspects, not just scoring. And as far as I’m concerned, he can’t do all this without a nickname. So Nick, from Truth About It to you……welcome.

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