Posts for category ‘etan thomas’

Walter Herrmann on Fire – flickr/Vedia

Flickr tells me that the above picture is none other than Walter Herrmann….and I have to believe it. Something tells me that old school Walter Herrmann would totally have a hair-doo like Guile from Street Fighter only to go with the ‘Fabio’ look we’re graced with today.

So a guy with a pony-tail goes off on the Wizards and everyone becomes a drama queen. I mean just look at the picture….the guy is about to dunk with a ball on f-ing fire! It’s no wonder that Herrmann was hitting trey balls and finger rolls on the Wiz. For all we know, he could be the Argentinian Chuck Norris.

Plus, the dude has been through a TON in his life that not many can imagine. In July 2003, Herrmann lost his mother, younger sister, and girlfriend all in the same car crash. Exactly a year later, he had one of the best games of his career, 38 points and 11 rebounds, in leading Argentina in the South American Championships. After the game, he found out that his father had died of a heart-attack.

So, from a guy who almost quit the game of basketball, but was encouraged not to by his older sister, to starring in the NBA today. If such a game had to happen against the Wizards, then so be it.

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I won’t get into the absolutely ugly preseason loss against the New Orleans Hornets in Berlin. Just digest this: the Wizards “won” the second half 56-35 and still lost the game by 16 points.

Instead, I’ll cover the best of internet Wizards….first, a couple previews:

> Yahoo’s ‘Ball Don’t Lie’ (Kelly Dwyer and J.E. Skeets) have put together a preview using Dan Steinberg’s head for graphic enhancement.

Dwyer: There are so many ways to, as the kids say, not feel the Washington Wizards. And that’s a shame, because more than just about any other NBA team, there are so many ways to appreciate this team and there are just as many reasons to want it to succeed. But at some point, things are going to catch up to the Wizards, and I have a feeling that this is the year of le comeuppance.

I must say that Dwyer, as usual, displays excellent NBA knowledge…..of “my” team. And BDL gives a 34-48 prediction, which is unfortunately probably closer to reality than not.

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The Washington Wizards, as proven last season, can manage to survive without Gilbert Arenas. They obviously had enough talent and depth, along with a coach who is able to make the necessary adjustments, to be a playoff caliber team in the Eastern Conference.

So, when the news of losing Arenas until 2009 hit, some where frustrated, but for the most part, Wizards fans did not press the panic button. However, now that Brendan Haywood is out, the absence of Arenas is compounded and the team outlook for ’08-’09 appears very bleak.

Not all is lost for the Wizards to possibly keep their head above water and hope for a timely recovery in the health department for a playoff push. But subtracting Haywood from the remainder sans Gilbert Arenas hurts the team more than losing Arenas by himself.

As I wrote in Haywood’s evaluation, during the course of last season, BTH displayed significant and noticeable improvement in the areas of maturity, hand strength, shooting ability, concentration and leadership. Aside from shooting percentage, it’s hard to measure those other intangibles. So, we much turn to stats to assist with the story of Brendan Haywood’s value to the Washington Wizards.

A new site, Basketball-Statistics.com, and blog, attempts to compile an all encompassing stat which incorporates a player’s value on offense and defense. You can read the explanation of ‘Composite Score’ here…..essentially, it combines a number of statistical measurements from other statisticians, along with various tweaks from the site’s creator, Jon Nichols. Nichols is the first to admit that Composite Score is a work in progress, as one can always find ways to tinker with a system. However, in its current version, the results pertaining to the Wizards, specifically Brendan Haywood, are interesting nonetheless.

Brendan Haywood 5-Year Composite Score

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photo from washingtonwizards.com

I certainly have my thoughts about John Hollinger’s latest outlook for the Wizards, they’ll come later. For a good read on fairly assessing Hollinger from the perspective of a Wizards fan, check out Pradamaster’s post, “Half-baked Hollinger thoughts,” on Bullets Forever.

One good point Hollinger made was in regard to the Wizards three-point defense:

Washington’s D still had some severe problems, though — most notably in defending the 3-point line. Washington was last in the league in both 3-point percentage (38.6) and in conceding 3-point attempts (.270)……

If you’re looking for reasons why the Wizards gave up so many threes, they’re not hard to find. For starters, Eddie Jordan has always been fond of traps and zones, which tend to create openings for weakside shooters. Second, Washington often had no choice but to double-team post players given the mismatches that presented themselves when the likes of Blatche and Darius Songaila were guarding the post. Finally, dribble penetration on the perimeter was another problem, creating easy kick-outs for triples.

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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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The 2007-2008 season Washington Wizards player evaluations have begun on Bullets Forever. First up to bat, Etan Thomas. My thoughts are below…..be sure and check out those of Prada and Jake the Snake as well.


Etan Thomas’ future is about as unpredictable as tagging along with Pac Man Jones for a night out on the town. The big question mark surrounds The Poet’s heart….and in this case, no news is not necessarily good news. He tried to come back in mid-February, sported a chest protector, got hit in practice……and the next thing we know, the season is over and the word from Grunfeld is that Etan will make a full recovery by training camp. Not so says CBS Sportsline where Etan is listed as “questionable” for the 08-09 training camp (of course, that was last updated on 5/3). Basketball-Reference.com has taken the liberty of un-bolding Etan’s name (even Penny Hardaway’s name is bolded…ok, he played 14 games in Nov. and two in Dec.). What does this all mean? It means that Thomas coming back healthy is one thing, coming back as a contributor is another.

Etan Thomas does not first come to mind when you think of painted area defensive stopper, but maybe he doesn’t have to be. Memory serves me that Etan is more agile than Brendan Haywood. Thus, in the Wizards match-up zone, Thomas has the potential to better play the passing lanes and defend the pick and roll. Etan is not going to match Haywood’s output when the Wizards have the ball, as his Usage% has dropped in recent years…..(while his D-rating has increased ). If all systems are go in Europe in October , the Wizards would most importantly need Etan Thomas to be dominant on the defensive boards (which is easier to do in a match-up zone than a regular zone), contend for offensive boards, and keep track of his assignments on D.

Outlook: I’d rather Etan be the throw-in on an ingenious Ernie Grunfeld trade than depend on him to fill championship needs in 08-09.

Up Next: Oleksiy Pecherov

There’s been a couple comments on this blog and on Bullets Forever pertaining to the Wizards attempting to acquire Elton Brand, who has the choice to opt of the last year of his contract just like Gilbert Arenas. Well, let’s explore some hypothetical scenarios.

The first question you must ask is will Elton Brand even opt-out. He’s been quoted in the papers that he is thinking “more and more about his future,” and that “if negotiations go right between the team and David Falk, his agent, that he will return. If so, it will probably be under a new contract.”

Brand knows another injury could be just around the corner and wants to secure his financial future. He also knows that at the age of 29, he’s still a hot commodity. Sounds like a guy who wants to opt-out and get a fat 6-year contract to me. If Brand decides not to opt-out, he stays with the Clippers for 1-year at $16,440,000 million.

It’s also worth mentioning Corey Maggette, as he could also come into play. He’s more likely to opt-out as he’s desperate to get paid and feels he’s worth more than the $7 milli he would get next year. Maggette has also had issues with Mike Dunleavy, citing lack of defense. But Dunleavy has gone on record saying that he wants Maggette back.

It seemingly all depends on the checkbook of Clippers owner Donald Sterling. True, he’s recently become a little more free spending, but might not find Maggette to be a smart investment, leading Brand to question commitment to winning.

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