Posts for category ‘3-on-3’

Break out the Yakety-Sax, the slide-whistle and whatever other devices you need to comically convey a professional(ish) basketball match-up between the 12-44 Washington Wizards and the 7-47 Charlotte Bobcats … it’s time for the Lottery Toilet Bowl! Before you potentially watch basketball action that will likely later lead you to using an abrasive scrub on your retinas, John Pettice (@BobcatsPlanet) of BobcatsPlanet.com, along with TAI’s Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) and Ryan Gracia (@rgracia2378) are here to provide three answers to three questions. Let it begin, I think…

#1) How are the Wizards/ Bobcats actively trying to tank?

DIAMOND: Whether by intention or injuries, the Wiz are ramping up PT for the lackluster Jan Vesely (averaging 32 mpg in April) and the bench mob, while cutting back on John Wall’s minutes. Wall played less then 30 minutes in two of the past three games — that hasn’t happened since January. I had to recheck Charlotte’s depth chart — I love the Association but couldn’t come closing to naming the ‘Cats starting lineup off the top of my head. Apparently a guy named “Cory Higgins” is getting major minutes and just led them in scoring. That is all.

GRACIA: The season is effectively over for both teams. There’s a better chance that the players have already begun planning for their summer vacations (because, ya know, it’s either that or blow it in the club), than begun planning for an undefeated end to the season. These are two very young teams with little playoff experience between them. So with the playoffs already out of the picture, they may question the importance of continuing to play hard and therefore may not give their utmost effort for every play … to put it nicely.

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When the final obituary of the 2011-12 Washington Wizards season is written, the opening night collapse vs the New Jersey Nets must be highlighted for its symbolic importance. On the surface, it seems silly that first contest of a 66 game schedule would have such significance, but after the Wizards blew a 21 point lead to the Nets that evening, the self-proclaimed “Captain,” Andray Blatche, complained about his role in the offense. The blowout losses immediately piled up, the head coach was soon fired, two starters were shipped away, another (Blatche himself) was shut down for being out of shape, and now here we sit in early April and the Wizards have only 12 wins with 11 games remaining. Washington handled the Nets 108-89 easily in Nene’s debut, and Deron Williams was tossed for arguing with the refs. I doubt tonight’s match up will produce any of those interesting storylines from the previous two match ups, but it will be Washington’s last game in New Jersey ever with the Nets moving to Brooklyn next season. For tonight’s Wizards-Nets 3-on-3, we have Justin DeFeo (@justindefeo) and Chris Hooker (@chrishooker9) from the ESPN TrueHoop blog, Nets Are Scorching and Truth About It’s Adam McGinnis (@adammcginnis). Three questions, three answers starts now…

#1) Washington and New Jersey have cap room to make free agent splashes along with a potential high pick in a loaded NBA draft. What team would you rather be and why?

DEFEO:  I’d rather be the Wizards for the sole reason that their “cornerstone” franchise pieces are not going to be unrestricted free agents, as that’s the situation the Nets are facing. The Wiz also don’t have the pressure of moving to a brand new major media market, like the Nets have which I fear is making the Nets front office look for grand slams at every turn, instead of singles. 

HOOKER: As bleak as the future is for my team, I’d still rather be the Nets. We may have struck out on some big name superstars, proven we don’t have capable Plan B’s and been a headache to watch over the years, but there is still some hope. Brooklyn is coming for real this time, we have a top-tier point guard and, whether or not they fall flat on their face, ownership is definitely committed to winning. The possibilities are endless, regardless how likely I think they are.

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When the Wizards last faced the Pistons in D.C., via TAI’s Adam McGinnis:

This has been quite a week for Coach John Calipari.  On Monday night, his Kentucky Wildcats defeated the Kansas Jayhawks to win the NCAA championship.  Yesterday, he emphatically declared that Kentucky was the best job in basketball coaching, and he has no intentions of leaving.  Today, it was announced that his former All-American point guard (at Memphis), Derrick Rose, may finally play for the Chicago Bulls after nearly a month hiatus.  Best of all,  tonight Coach Cal can watch two more of his former point guards, John Wall and Brandon Knight, go head-to-head in the Palace of Auburn Hills.  Per NBA.com’s  David Aldridge, Coach Calipari could be watching his next team play in the Washington Wizards, but now we’re just getting ahead of ourselves.  For tonight’s Wizards-Pistons 3-on-3, we have Vincent Goodwill (@vgoodwill) from the Detroit News, Patrick Hayes (@patrick_hayes) from the ESPN True Hoop blog, Piston Powered and Truth About It’s Rashad Mobley (@rashad20). Three questions, three answers starts now…

#1) Kentucky Coach John Calipari has given no public indication that he’s interested in leaving Kentucky for the NBA, but it would be shocking if he didn’t at least privately consider it. On a related note, it seems as if Anthony Davis will leave and be the consensus No. 1 pick, and barring something historic, the Pistons and the Wizards seem bound for the NBA lottery. Which situation would tempt Coach Calipari more? John Wall, Anthony Davis and the Wizards, or Brandon Knight, Anthony Davis, and the Pistons?

GOODWILL:  I would think the Pistons because they seem closer to contention than the Wizards, along with Anthony Davis being the closest thing to a perfect complement to Greg Monroe that the Pistons could ever find. Knight, Monroe, Rodney Stuckey and Jonas Jerebko looks to be a solid foundation compared to Wall, Nene and…exactly.  Also, Calipari wasn’t a complete disaster at New Jersey, taking them to the playoffs in 1998 but with full organizational control it was too much to handle. That’s not the case in Detroit, where although Joe Dumars has had some blemishes, he knows how to put together a championship core. Can the same be said for Ernie Grunfeld in D.C.? If he wants personnel control, I’d assume the Wizards would be the better choice. But if it comes down to roster and how close each team is to contending if you add Davis, it’s the Pistons and it’s not close.

HAYES:  If we’re just limiting to those two players from each team, it’s definitely Wall-Davis. Knight has shown some flashes of good play, but nothing to suggest he has the franchise player ceiling Wall does. However, the fact that the Pistons have a potential All-Star big in Greg Monroe in the mix too and Cal’s guy, Worldwide Wes, has Detroit ties too, could maybe swing things in the Pistons’ favor. Fortunately, the Pistons seem pretty happy with Lawrence Frank, and they’ve become too cheap to pay coaches who would come with Calipari‘s asking price, so I don’t think they’ll have to worry about this scenario.

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The Wizards and Pacers face off tonight in Washington for the third time in about two weeks. Indiana is coming off an emotional 112-104 comeback victory over the New York Knicks in Indiana last night, and the Wizards are coming off an emotionless effort at home against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday. For tonight’s 3-on-3 we have Tim Donahue (@TimDonahue8p9s) from the ESPN TrueHoop Pacers blog 8 Points, 9 Seconds, along with TAI’s Rashad Mobley (@Rashad20) and Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It). Let it begin…

#1) What stat and what player will most determine the outcome of this game?

DONAHUE: Oscar Wilde says, “Talent borrows, genius steals,” so I’m going to shamelessly steal from Kyle Weidie’s response to a similar question from the last Pacers-Wiz 3-on-3: Offensive Rebounding. In the first matchup, the Pacers grabbed 11 of the 19 boards off their offensive glass in the second half, when they outscored Washington 54-32. In the second one, the Wiz stayed close by grabbing 38-percent of the rebounds on their offensive end. The player most likely to influence the outcome of this game is two of them: George Hill and Leandro Barbosa. They are the barometers of the Pacer bench.

MOBLEY: It sounds simple, but its all about rebounding. The final boxscore from the last Pacers/Wizards game shows the Pacers had the advantage 40-35. But in the second half of the game (when the Pacers outscored the Wizards 54-32), Indiana had a 26-11 rebounding advantage. Roy Hibbert had nine rebounds in the second half and David West had four — three of which were kept the Wizards from taking the lead in the last minute. With Nene and Booker likely to be out again, the Wizards will need collaborative rebounding effort, while the Pacers could (and should) exploit the Wizards’ replacement frontline.

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Once again the Wizards will understandably be without the services of Nene and Trevor Booker tonight against Milwaukee; the timing of their unavailability due to plantar fasciitis with the consideration of lottery balls in mind while Kentucky’s Anthony Davis squares off against Kansas’ Thomas Robinson in tonight’s men’s NCAA basketball championship game could not be more impeccable. Otherwise, the Wizards are playing for pride and the Bucks are playing for the playoffs (they are 2.5 games behind the Knicks for the eighth playoff spot in the East). For tonight’s 3-on-3 we have Jeremy Schmidt from the ESPN TrueHoop Milwaukee Bucks blog, Bucksketball, Michael Sykes from the hoops blog, What’s Left on The Floor, along with yours truly, TAI’s Kyle Weidie. Three questions, three answers starts now…

#1) Since Monta Ellis arrived in Milwaukee, the Bucks are 5-4 and averaging 105.2 points per game; before he arrived the Bucks were 19-24 and averaging 97 points per game. The Wizards, on the other end, have struggled to score as of late, especially without Nene in the lineup (they are likely to be without him again on Monday night). WIth guards like John Wall and Jordan Crawford perfectly willing, yet skillfully unable, to duel with the likes of Brandon Jennings and Ellis, how quickly could this game get out of hand for Washington?

SCHMIDT: Jennings and Ellis mean a lot less to the Bucks offense working well than guys like Ersan Ilyasova, Mike Dunleavy, Beno Udrih and Drew Gooden. Jennings and Ellis take a lot of shots and occasionally score a lot of points, but the offense works best when those other guys are leading the team and moving the ball. Ellis has cracked 20 points once since the trade. But Milwaukee has been putting the league’s bottom feeders out pretty quick lately, and they could do the same to the Wizards.

SYKES: The game could be out of Washington’s reach by the end of the first half. Ellis and Jennings are both guards who play their best when hot. If the Wizards’ backcourt tandem of Wall and Crawford allow this to happen, the game will almost certainly slip through the cracks. The Bucks are deadly in the first half, averaging 51.1 first half points throughout the season and 59.9 in their last three games according to Teamrankings.com. The Wizards must play defense without gambling to prevent open looks for Ellis and Jennings.

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The 12-39 Washington Wizards and the 17-35 Toronto Raptors face off for the fourth time this season, the Wizards winning two on their home court, one being their first win of the season and another going to overtime in early February, and the Raptors taking a Feb. 3 matchup in Canada (three days before the Wizards’ OT win). Per Michael Lee, both Trevor Booker and Nene will be out tonight, so the Wizards will have a true test — Toronto has started Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan, Linas Kleiza, Andrea Bargnani and Aaron Gray in the past two games and beat the Denver Nuggets, lost to the Miami Heat by 12. For tonight’s 3-on-3 we have Sam Holako (@RapsFan) of the ESPN TrueHoop blog Raptors Republic, along with TAI’s Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) and Rashad Mobley (@Rashad20). The Raptors are favored by seven points; Goodbye Sunday…

#1) I’m a big-time free agent in 2012 and it’s come down to D.C. or Toronto, both franchises are offering equal money. Which team do I choose and what most influences that?

DIAMOND: Neither team is exactly poised for near-term success. A few weeks ago, ESPN’s John Hollinger and Chad Ford issued their annual “future power rankings.” According to the forecast (via ESPN Insider), the Wiz are No. 22 in the league and the Raptors are No. 26. So if I’m looking at Toronto vs. Washington, it’s not because I care about winning now — I’m drawn by peripherals. And which city offers more TV exposure? Which one has a bigger (potential) fan base? Which one has less confusing tax rules? Gotta be DC.

HOLAKO: I’d have to say Toronto. Even though both teams are on a similar trajectory in terms of talent and cap space, the Raptors have a better core of young players to build a team around. John Wall is probably the best individual player on either team, but the Raptors seem more complete as currently constructed. Also, paying Nene $13.5 million-plus for 14 points and eight rebounds isn’t a good idea; that’s just me, though.

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The Wizards keep playing and they keep losing… Moral victories? Lottery losses? Who cares… just get the season over with already. Amirite or amirite? Sure, players are developing by playing, but who’s to say they wouldn’t benefit just as much by shutting the team down for the season and simply holding a training camp for the next couple of weeks? No, that won’t happen… but you’d be hard-pressed to convince me that anything good can come from the rest of this remaining schedule of 16 games. The Wizards are playing more like a team and now face the tough challenge of learning how to succeed in close games; but hopefully they don’t learn too much, because then it could hinder the future. How embarrassing would it be if the Wizards (11-39) put together a string of wins that pushes them away from Charlotte (7 wins) and New Orleans (13 wins) and more toward Cleveland, Sacramento, Toronto, and New Jersey (17 wins each). I’m analyzing this too much, aren’t I? Let’s just play basketball… For tonight’s 3-on-3 we have Matt Moore (@HPbasketball) of the TrueHoop blog Hardwood Paroxysm, CBS Sports and other locations on the Internet, along with TAI’s Rashad Mobley (@Rashad20) and Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It). Start it up…

#1) The Wizards have looked much better since trading JaVale McGee and Nick Young and benching Andray Blatche, but they haven’t exactly been able to reward themselves with wins. They’ve been competitive against quality teams, but what must change tonight versus the Sixers?

MOBLEY: It sounds simple enough, but the key to a Wizards victory lies in good ball movement. If John Wall is passing the ball into Nene or Trevor Booker, drawing attention inside, which leaves open shots and driving lanes for Jordan Crawford or Chris Singleton, scoring gets a hell of a lot easier. Sixers guard Lou Williams may be coming thru that Verizon Center door, but not to the Wizards locker room, and their current roster does not shoot well enough to rely on jumpers and contested shots to win games.  This may need to be a high assist night for Wall.

MOORE: Just keep it close. The Sixers are horrible in close games, and the Wizards have some guys who can hit shots. Grind it out, slow it down, keep it tight, and wait for the Sixers to implode.

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Short and Sweet: Tim Donahue (@TimDonahue8p9s) of the TrueHoop Pacers Blog 8 Points, 9 Seconds, along with TAI’s Adam McGinnis (@AdamMcGinnis) and Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) have three answers to three questions about tonight’s Wizards-Pacers game… Leggo.

#1) Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel is quoted as saying “coach coached teams don’t go very far, player-coached teams usually go on deep playoff runs.” But after a bad loss like the one Indiana had last night against short-handed New Jersey, should it be the head coach or one of the players who provides the motivation to keep that from happening against an equally short-handed Wizards team?

DONAHUE: The cure for what happened in New Jersey can only come from the players themselves. The loss in New Jersey had nothing to do with coaching or strategy, and everything to do with players simply not doing their jobs. They thought it would be easy. If you want one name, then it starts with Danny Granger, who was a microcosm of the whole team. But, everyone in a Pacer jersey was responsible for that failure last night.

McGINNIS: The average tenure of a NBA head coach is around three seasons, so with such a short leash granted to them, Vogel’s point has merit. Coaches have a major role in determining the offensive and defensive schemes along with dictating late game strategies and finding a productive rotation. However, the onus of pure motivation lies mostly on the players. Players respond better to their peers, who can lead vocally or by example. Coaches can put the players in the correct positions to succeed but it is the players who must execute and adapt quickly to game situations on the fly. The words of David West will be more poignant to his teammates than anything Coach Vogel will cook up to get them focused tonight for a bounce back performance against the Wizards.

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The last time Washington and Detroit faced each other in mid-February, two young centers led the way (JaVale McGee had 22 points and 11 rebounds, Greg Monroe had 27 points and six rebounds), but Washington held Detroit to a season-low 32.6-percent shooting and stole a win on the road, 98-77. McGee is now in Denver and the Wizards will start both Nene and Kevin Seraphin (Trevor Booker is out with knee tendinitis)… Wonder what changes now. To answer you Wizards-Pistons questions, we have Dan Feldman of the ESPN TrueHoop Pistons blog, Piston Powered, along with TAI’s Rashad Mobley and Kyle Weidie. Let’s do it…

#1) Ben Gordon is averaging just 12.6 points per game this year, which is a far cry from 20.6 he averaged in his final year in Chicago, and definitely not what the Pistons had in mind when they signed him to a 5-year, $55 million contract in 2009. Andray Blatche has started only 13 of the 26 games he played, he only averaged 8.5 points and 5.8 rebounds in those games, and he’s currently not playing because of “conditioning” (aka the Dirk Nowitzki system). The Wizards surely did not have this in mind when they gave him a 5-year, $35 million contract extension in 2010. Which team regrets their contract more?

FELDMAN: From a purely basketball standpoint, it has to be the Pistons, just because $55 million is greater than $35 million. But Gordon’s downfall has been due to, I think, never mentally recovering from an injury his first year in Detroit and a surprisingly sudden physical aging. Gordon has continued to act professionally and play hard, and that might make it more palatable to pay him $11 million per year rather than paying Blatche $7 million per year.

MOBLEY: The Wizards regret Blatche’s extension, but I do believe in dark, media-free rooms where Ernie Grunfeld and Ted Leonsis have cliché free discussions, they will admit that re-upping Andray was risky. Blatche’s stretches of excellence were limited, at best, at that time. Ben Gordon was coming off a 2008-09 season that saw him average 20.7 points during the regular season and 24.3 in the Bulls’ tightly-contested playoff lost to the Celtics. Gordon was expected to carry the Detroit franchise, and instead he’s been inconsistent, hesitant and without a playoff appearance.

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Night No. 2, Game No. 2 — this time the Wizards are in Boston to take on the Celtics. To the point: we have three questions about this evening’s game. TAI’s Dan Diamond, Arish Narayen and Kyle Weidie have the answers to those questions. 3-on-3 starts now… [UPDATE: as noted below, Ray Allen is out for the Celtics; Nene is also out for the Wizards with back spasms.]

#1) Seems like the Wizards of the Nick Young/Andray Blatche/JaVale McGee era always got up to play against these olde tymey Celtics, and likewise with Kevin Garnett often making Andray, who’s currently “NWT-Conditioning,” the target of his ire. Boston is back home after a 4-4 eight-game road trip; Washington is in the second night of their first 3-game, 3-night set of the season, and they are coming off two tough, blown-lead losses against Indiana and Atlanta. Do either of these teams play with energy? If at all, which one has more? And which player gives which team the advantage in this department?

DIAMOND:  Boston has the edge here. Wizards may be hoping to catch them sleeping–but after two weeks away from home, at least the Celtics finally got to snooze in their own beds last night. I like Greg Stiemsma to be the energy guy for Boston off the bench; he’s been a solid banger for the Celtics in recent weeks.

NARAYEN: On January 2nd, in Boston, the Wizards were on the second night of a home-and-home versus the Celtics. Washington lost that game 100-92. Interestingly enough, the total in tonight’s game is 192. My sense is that there will be more offense than crisp defensive rotations in this game. I anticipate both teams playing with energy: Boston, because of an uneven road trip that saw them lose to playoff-bound teams (and get embarrassed in Sacramento); Washington, because of trying to forge a new team identity in the midst of two gutwrenching losses. I give Boston the edge, as the home crowd will likely rejuvenate those road weary legs. As for a specific player that will boost their team’s energy the most, it has to be Paul Pierce. Boston was already thin on reserves, and with the likely absence of Pietrus, Pierce will have to play major minutes.

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