For the longest time the Miami Heat had the number of the Washington Wizards. Remember the Wizards when Gilbert Arenas was playing and the team was winning? Yea, those Wizards. Well, when it comes to last year….sorry suckers. SWEEP!
Game time soon….quick history from 07-08:
Game 22: Washington Wizards @ Miami Heat – Dec. 13, 2007
Missed the game, but the game blog was covered by AJ. Wiz came out in the first aggressive on D and running….got them to a 12-point lead after one. As the game would continue, the Wiz held control for the most part with Miami making a run every now and then. Caron Butler started out slow, but caught fire in the 3rd quarter. Ultimately, the final score made the game seem closer than it was; the Wizards had some chances to blow the Heat out of the water. This was also one of those “DeShawn Stevenson playing out his ass” games as he went 6-12 from three point range. Wizards 104 – Heat 91
Game 29: Washington Wizards vs. Miami Heat – Dec. 29, 2007
Missed this game too….wedding…thank god I have a DVR for this season (I know, I’m a laggard). All you really need to know about this one is that Ricky Davis led the Heat in scoring with 22 points and Luke Jackson was second with 14 — and Dwyane Wade did play (ouch for them). The Wizards also got 42 points from their bench. Wizards 96 – Heat 74
Game 68: Washington Wizards @ Miami Heat – March 21, 2008
What do you know….I missed this game too…my Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament took precedent. Didn’t miss much….let’s see, the Heat at one point had five former NBDL players on the court (not NBDL vets from a previous season….from that season). Nick Young didn’t play because of a bruised thigh, and Caron Butler led the Wizards with 25 point, perhaps taking out anger at the fact that UConn got upset by San Diego in the tournament. Wizards 103 – Heat 86
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Had on the Washington Wizards-Orlando Magic game as I was getting ready to go out on Saturday night. Thanks to my laggard adoption of DVR technology, I figured I could just watch it again later and hack out a game blog.
But as the walloping swelled, it became more and more evident that I’d never be watching the game again. And a game blog? You’ve got to be kidding, right?
I’m certainly distraught about the beginnings of this 09-09 season, but surprisingly, any anger I should have is subdued as if my drinks were being drugged.
Not many teams have a Dwight Howard to expose ineptness in the paint, but preseason optimistic expectations of a deep Wizards front-court is seeped in irony. Tell me, what low post “banger” (on offense and defense, but the former applies more) do the Wizards have? I’ll tell you who other teams have: Detroit has ‘Sheed and Maxiell, the Bucks have Bogut, Big Z, Benny Wallace, and the Brazilian Spaz are in LeBron’s court, Boston has a Big Ticket, a Big Baby, and a Perkins, the Sixers have Reggie Evans and Brand (and not to forget Sam Dalembert), Bosh & J.O. are in Toronto….even the Knicks have Z-Bo. And that’s just the East….I could go on.
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Jeff from CelticsBlog.com did the grunt work to put together a comprehensive NBA preview from bloggers ’round the ‘sphere. The order of appearance: Atlantic Division, the Southwest Division , the Central Division, the Northwest Division, the Southeast Division, and finally, the Pacific Division is out. Here are the highlights from the participating bloggers for each team, click on the blog links to see the full team preview:
Golden State Warriors
[Upside and Motor] (check the great picture too)
The Warriors jumped the shark. Two seasons ago they were a darling, last season they took a slight step back (but enough of a step to fall just short of the postseason), and now they’ll find themselves struggling to reach 11th place in the West. Welcome back, lottery balls; the Bay’s missed you. Predicted Record: 30-52
Los Angeles Clippers
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I meant to get this post up before last night’s loss against the Pistons…..oh well….here’s to remembering last year’s Wizards history against the Pistons.
Wizards vs. Pistons in DC – January 2, 2008
Richard Hamilton had a rare flirtation with a triple-double (20 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds). The Pistons won 106-93…the big statistical difference was that Detroit went 11-22 from long distance.
In other news: The Wizards tried to establish themselves inside early. Andray Blatche committed a flagrant foul on Jarvis Hayes in the 2nd. Overall, Blatche was listless.
Wizards vs. Pistons in DC – March 23, 2008
Antawn Jamison came through with one of his double-doubles (24-12), and the Wiz were scorching hot from the field (.528), while holding Detroit to .430 FG%. The Wizards won 95-83.
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His name is not Viggy, it’s Mark. And his last name is not Viggy, but it does start with a ‘V’ and is hard to pronounce (no one ever knows how to pronounce my last name either). Viggy used to throw down on another blog, Ibodera (a very entertaining hodgepodge of posts), but for some reason the Ibodera gang disbanded back in April and started ignoring the internets.
Viggy still makes some great observations on the NBA and needs an outlet (aside from email) to express those thoughts. So here we are….maybe this will be a one-time thing, maybe it will be semi-regular, but in any case, I present Viggy On The NBA (my only contribution is the Pharcyde reference in the post title….as if you didn’t already know).
So I watched a little of every game last night and here are my observations. (Thank you free League Pass)
The Thunder are going to be terrible, very terrible….they looked awful against the Bucks at home. Jeff Green doesn’t seem to be as good as he should be, and Kevin Durant still doesn’t seem ready to consistently take over.
(This is where I got interrupted for two hours to work on something . . .)
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In anticipation of tonight’s Washington Wizards opener against the New Jersey Nets, Mike at JoeNetsfan.com was kind enough to answer a couple questions about their team. Enjoy.
1) Vince Carter is much maligned around the league….how confident are you in his ability to lead the team? Is he more interested in being an All-Star, or getting wins?
Here’s the deal on Vince – he means well. He’s not necessarily interested in being an All Star per se, and I think he recognizes the fact that he can’t do what he once did. Having said that, Vince is a great team player, but he really doesn’t want to be “the man” and because of that, the Nets will suffer from having all the pressure on Vince. As far as leading the team, well, he always deferred to perhaps the greatest leader in the NBA today – Jason Kidd. So we really don’t know what sort of leader he’ll be. He appears to be happy to work with the youngsters, he appears to relish the role of team leader, but I don’t think it will translate into anything more than his being a great cheerleader for the rookies. When the pressure’s on, Vince’s track record is only so-so. Let me clear up one thing for the record, though – he does play hurt, and he does try much harder than his rep would lead you to believe. I’ve watched him enough to feel confident saying that.
2) Will Devin Harris make the Mavs really kick themselves? Where does (or will) he rank among the Eastern Conference point guards?
Harris will make the Mavs kick themselves, if only because he’s about 100 years younger than Kidd, and he’ll be floating in the paint long after Kidd is gone. As far as a rank among E.C. PG’s, he’s a scoring point who needs to learn how to make his teammates better by passing the rock, so he’s probably right up there in the top 7 PG’s (let’s say Chauncey, Andre Miller, Gilbert Arenas, Jose Calderon, Mike Bibby, TJ Ford, Devin Harris, Rajon Rondo for the sake of argument. Harris might be better than Bibby or Ford at this point, but it’s too early to tell).
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I’ve looked up all the online previews of the Washington Wizards that I care to look up and the results are below. For those that predicted the actual 2008-2009 record for the Wizards (17 instances), the average is 39.12 wins and 42.88 losses, which unfortunately sounds just about right (if you round).
Will that be good enough to get Washington into the playoffs? Who knows….people claim that the Eastern Conference is much improved. In the past 20 seasons, only 11 sub-.500 teams have made the playoffs in the East, with four of those instances coming in the past three seasons, and three of them coming in ’91-92.
Other Previews (without predicted records):
- Dime Magazine: Another first-round exit
- Gilbertology: He probably won’t be able to play at the same level that he did before he was injured right off the bat, but even an 85% effective Gilbert Arenas can go a long way in getting the Wizards in the playoff hunt and possibly back into the second round for the first time since 2005.
- Hardwood Paroxysm: I still envision them making it to the playoffs, but could they beat the Celtics, Pistons, Magic, Cavaliers, Raptors, or 76ers in a first round matchup, even if completely healthy? No.
- Hoops World: Four pick the Wizards to finish 2nd in the Southeast, one first.
- Recliner GM: One guy: 3rd place, Southeast division/8th place, Eastern conference/16th place, NBA; Another guy: 2nd place, Southeast division/7th place, Eastern conference/16th place, NBA
- The Scores Report: If all goes well, the Wizards will be safely in the playoffs.
- The Sporting News: Three knee surgeries since April 2007? Arenas sure looks to be awfully susceptible to injury. He is pushing for an early December return. Put him down for late January, though.
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Jeff from CelticsBlog.com is doing the grunt work to put together a comprehensive NBA preview from bloggers ’round the ‘sphere. The Atlantic Division Preview was first, the Southwest Division was second, the Central Division was third, the Northwest Division was fourth, and now the Southeast Division is out. Here are the highlights from the participating bloggers for each team, click on the blog links to see the full team preview:
Atlanta Hawks
[Basketbawful]
We’ve all seen it before. A team gets hot at the end of the regular season, sneaks into the playoffs, makes some noise, and so everybody expects them to take The Next Big Step next season. But when said team is flawed — as the Hawks are — this often leads to overconfidence and failed expectations. The most recent example of this is the Golden State Warriors. The 2007-08 Warriors may have won a few more games than the 2006-07 Warriors, but they failed to recapture the magic of that ’07 playoff run. I think we’re going to see the same thing happen to the Hawks this season. Prediction: 40-42
[Peachtree Hoops]
The franchise’s goal is to make the playoffs. I wish I could say the franchise’s goal was to make the playoffs and win a series (or even a road game) but I don’t think their off-season activity suggests they’re trying to accomplish anything grander than to finish within a handful of games of .500 and hope that that again is good enough for a playoff spot in the East. Prediction: 34-48
Charlotte Bobcats
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NBA.com has a series of GM surveys posted, and Eddie Jordan received 8% of the votes on the question: ‘what head-coach makes the best in-game adjustments?’. That puts him behind Popovich, Larry Brown, and Carlisle, and tied with three others for 4th.
A couple other Wizards were recognized:
Caron Butler
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I suppose people, myself included, can’t exactly help themselves when a team jettisons two guys named ‘Johnson’ from its roster. The official Washington Wizards blog treated the happening as if naming a law firm (or health care products/pharmaceuticals company) with the title, “Wiz Waive Johnson and Johnson.” Wizards Insider, usually run by the Washington Post’s Ivan Carter and Michael Lee, went the safe route with, “Wizards Release Two.” Someone named Alexa Steele filled in for Carter and Lee on this specific post….I guess when you have what sounds like a porn name already, you might want to avoid sexual innuendos by spitting out Johnson, the word. But alas, Mike Jones of the Washington Times ‘went there’ with his title, “Wizards Cut Johnsons.” C’mon Mike….don’t you know that Johnsons would rather be released than cut?
Ok…enough of that, back to the point at hand. Two positions of need assumed by Wizards fans this past offseason, before Gilbert Arenas went down, were a small forward to backup Caron Butler, and a third string point guard. After Dee Brown was signed, along with the summer league developments of Dominic McGuire’s mid-range jumper, the school of thought was that the former player would fill the latter position of need and vice versa. Working off these assumptions, Ernie Grunfeld would hold the 15th roster spot in a glass encased box to be broken in case of emergency.
Then Gilbert Arenas happened…..then Brendan Haywood happened….Haywood’s wrist surgery not having a greater influence over roster moves, as the Wizards seemingly had a logjam at the post position (Etan, Oily, ‘Dray, JaVale and Jamison — hey, that sounds like a MotheringHut t-shirt…..just remember where you heard it first).
Personally, even with Arenas in the lineup, I was worried about perimeter scoring off the bench, specifically wanting a three-point threat considering the loss of Roger Mason, Jr. to the Spurs. Sure, I was concerned with the ability to spell and save Caron Butler from playing too many minutes….but if The Cleaner could swing down there, all would be kosher.
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Preseason statistics and results should never be a reason to punch the panic button. Coaches are just tinkering in the lab, trying different lineups, offensive sets, etc., in an effort towards establishing refinement once the real games begin.
On the other hand, one could reasonably expect to draw a realistic indication of the future by observing a team’s preseason defense. Granted, zone defense is difficult to master, even when playing Randy Ayers’ simplified match-up zone system. But a team should not have a “cold” night on defense as they might when it comes to shooting the rock. If the D is failing, then signs tend to point to lacking desire and mental game slippage.
So, after allowing 66 total points between the first quarters of the last two games, is it at least worth flipping open the plastic cover protecting the panic button? It is worth nothing that the Wizards have looked their absolute worst in two consecutive games against a very good New Orleans Hornets team, which features a young point guard like no other. However, I would prefer to use performance against the best as a barometer rather than gaining a false sense of hope from seeing the Wizards shut down a mediocre team.
Going off what I suggested about preseason numbers, I’m not really worried that the Wizards are shooting 37.1% from the field and turning the ball over more than 20 times per game. I also won’t take too much stock in the Wizards holding opponents to 26.1% from three-point land (after giving up a league worst 38.6% from deep last year). Although, I am more impressed by the existence of the latter, as opponent 3-point shooting is a key area of needed improvement, than I’m concerned about not being able to correct the former. Bad offense will obviously give the opposition more chances to score. So once the Wizards gel offensively, I’ll assume that the defense will improve.
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Jeff from CelticsBlog.com is doing the grunt work to put together a comprehensive NBA preview from bloggers ’round the ‘sphere. The Atlantic Division Preview was first, the Southwest Division was second, and now the Central Division is out. Here are the highlights from the participating bloggers for each team, click on the blog links to see the full team preview:
Chicago Bulls
[Give Me The Rock]
Non-player goals would be to try to trade some expendable players to get help at the SG position. Yes, I know that Ben Gordon is on the team, but, while I can’t deny his scoring ability, at 6′ 3″ (and apparently a smaller 6′ 3″ than Derrick Rose) I’ve always felt his height was a liability and that the Bulls would have a very hard time making it through the playoffs with him as the go-to guy. Prediction: 42-40
[Blog-A-Bull]
One major goal is to get the team’s defense back to what it before last season, a top-5 unit that thrived on hassling opponents into bad shots and turnovers. With the personnel mostly constant from those happier times, the onus is on Del Negro to get the team motivated on that end of the floor. Likely years away from being a great offense, the return to a top defensive team is imperative if they hope to challenge for a playoff spot, which is the ultimate aspiration for the team this season. Prediction: 43-39
Cleveland Cavaliers
[Waiting For Next Year]
LeBron got a taste of winning a title at the highest level when he helped lead Team USA to the gold in Beijing. If LeBron looks to carry over the intensity he played with in the Olympics, this could be a big year for the Cavaliers. Mo Williams give the Cavaliers their first legit PG probably since they let Andre Miller walk away. With Daniel Gibson providing steady outside shooting, Delonte West and Anderson Varejao providing the intangibles, Ben Wallace clinging to whatever he has left in his tank to play as solid defense as he can, and with Zydrunas Ilgauskas still playing at an above average level, this is probably the strongest team LeBron has had around him since he entered the NBA. Prediction: 50-32
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Jeff from CelticsBlog.com is doing the grunt work to put together a comprehensive NBA preview from bloggers ’round the ‘sphere. The Atlantic Division Preview was first, and now the Southwest Division is out. Here are the highlights from the participating bloggers for each team:
Dallas Mavericks
[Mavs Moneyball]
The single biggest move made in the offseason was the dismissal of head coach Avery Johnson and the hiring of Rick Carlisle. The Mavs have the luxury (or curse) of having their core team signed for some time. This continuity will certainly help the team transition under a new coach, as they only need to adapt to him rather than a bunch of new faces.
Prediction: 55-27
Houston Rockets
[Dream Shake]
The Artest trade will go down as one of the biggest steals in NBA history if you ask me, and since you did, that’s my stance. Even if Greene turns out to be a solid player, we got a top 30 player for a rookie, an old PG and a future very late round pick (I can only assume). That’s a steal as long as Ron Ron can play more like No Lay-ups and less like Crazy Pills. I believe he can.
Prediction: 63-19
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Jeff from CelticsBlog.com is doing the grunt work to put together a comprehensive NBA preview from bloggers ’round the ‘sphere. The complete Atlantic Division Preview is out. Here are the highlights from the participating bloggers for each team:
Boston Celtics
[Celtics Blog]
The East is getting better, so I feel like the bad teams will lose less and the good teams will win less, but the Celtics should still be good for the best record in the East. Prediction: 59-23
[Green Bandwagon]
Last year I laughably predicted the Celtics would win 49 games. Translation: I’m not too good at this. Meanwhile, Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, and the Eastern Conference in general should be better. Factor in James Posey’s departure, the question marks on Boston’s bench, and concerns about whether or not the Celtics will have the same fire and drive, and it is reasonable to expect fewer wins. Prediction: 58 – 24
[Loy's Place]
The goal is obviously to repeat as champions. Nothing less will be considered a success. They may not be as dominant in the regular season this year because a lot of teams have improved with the goal of beating the Celtics. And everyone will be gunning for the champions and seeking to unseat them. But, I believe it will all come together in the playoffs and that they will meet their goal to repeat as champions.Prediction: 60-22
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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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