The Wizards have zero chance of landing the fourth overall pick in tonight’s draft lottery. But the last time the team did have the fourth was in 1995 when they used it to select Rasheed Wallace out of North Carolina.
Those were the days when dreams were big and aims were high — ‘Sheed, Juwan Howard and Chris Webber, a murder’s row of bigs. But instead of success on the court, we are left cherishing the video clip below when Webber (not playing and suited) put a “I’m a rookie, kick me!” sign on Wallace’s back during a game (also not playing and suited). Ahh, the memories. Gheorghe Muresan is also shown not playing and suited.
Butler hits a tough falling shot to begin….Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier relate that Tapscott wants to get the star forwards (Butler/Jamison) off first…..but why?
Seems like those two should be able to get going at any time…it’s the scoring from the rest of the team which has been the concern.
Caron Butler is trying to do too much…..make, miss, gets caught in the air and has to pass to Blatche with one second on the shot clock — bad decision.
Tapscott says that Mike James is the type of player who “needs” minutes and that’s why he is starting….whatever that means on a 4-18 team.
In anticipation of tonight’s match-up between the Wizards and Pistons, the third on the season, Jessie from the Pistons Nation agreed to answer a couple questions I had about his team. Read on….
1) The Pistons have gone 9-9 since Iverson has taken the court…..meanwhile, Mr. Big Shot and the Nuggets are 16-4….care to offer any hindsight on the trade?
Did you like it in the first place?
Would you do it differently?
Prior to trading Chauncey, did you seriously think that Detroit had championship material?
Personally I’m not a huge fan of the trade on the hardwood. Chaunce was my favorite Piston, and I’ve never been a big fan of AI’s improv stylings. I don’t believe he fits the team, and it shows on the floor.
Hey…..did you guys know that the Wizards beat the Pistons [game blog on Bullets Forever]? In the midst of yesterday’s trade frenzy, I was unable to get down any thoughts on the game.
Once again, the Wiz had to claw their way back. In the first meeting with Detroit, they had to fight back just to be down 10, 31-21, at the end of the first quarter (the Wiz had been down 17 at the 3:30 mark). So, after putting themselves in a 29-14 hole after one quarter on Tuesday, you’ll have to excuse me if I wasn’t exactly confident in the ability to get a win.
But the team kept fighting, and that’s the main reason why people are saying that the Wizards are a much better team than their 4-15 record.
The Washington Post’s Ivan Carter especially noted Darius Songaila’s bucket to put the Wiz up 6 with 2:08 in the 4th as the turning point. I guess timeouts work because it wasn’t 20 seconds prior that the Pistons got three chances at the hoop, converting on the third, capping a quick 8-2 run in 2:15 to bring the Pistons within two points. But Tapscott halted play, Wes Unseld Jr. drew it up, and D-Song came to the rescue.
To withstand a final push from the Pistons and live to tell about it was huge for the psyche of the team.
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.
If the Wizards would’ve shot better that 37% against New Jersey, they would have won, right? Yea…..who knows. When it comes to winning and basketball, no two areas are preached more about than defense and rebounding, no matter what pulpit the message is coming from. So against the Pistons, for game blog purposes, I’m going to ignore the offense and concentrate on defense and rebounding. Not all boards are attainable, and you can play great defense and not stop a bulk of an opponent’s shots from going in. That being said, I’m going to attempt to selectively focus on the particularly great or horrendous occurrences in those areas. Q1
10:48: Ron Thompson mentioned that transition D would be key in the pregame show…here, Billups brings it down the middle in off a Wizards turnover (Etan had great position in the lane, just lost the ball). Amir Johnson comes to screen Antonio Daniels just inside the three point line. Jamison is laying back a little to protect the basket, but there’s just too much space, AJ needs to be closer to help on Chauncey. Billups takes one dribble off the screen and gets an easy jumper on the left elbow. Johnson’s screen was semi-illegal….but this is the NBA. 4-0 Detroit.
10:23: Next time down, Amir Johnson gets called for an illegal screen…..laid his butt into DeShawn.
9:35: Wiz get caught standing and confusing assignments for boxing out….can’t see whose fault it is because of the camera angle, but Prince sneaks for an offensive board and the Pistons get 2nd chance points. 6-3 Detroit.
In anticipation of tonight’s game between the Washington Wizards and the Detroit Pistons, I present a quick Q&A with Matt from the excellent Pistons blog, Detroit Bad Boys.
1) Over the summer, Joe Dumars said that no one was ‘untouchable’ and then did not make any major moves. How satisfied were you with what the Pistons did in the off-season coming into this year?
At first I was disappointed, but once it became apparent that Amir Johnson was going to start and Rodney Stuckey was expected to average 25-30 minutes, I got excited. Not a lot of team can undergo a youth movement while staying in contention, but I think the Pistons have a chance to pull it off. I’ve been dying to see Johnson get a fair shake the last two years and Stuckey looked like a future All-Star at times in the playoffs, so if all the pieces come together, it’ll be like the Pistons added two impact players to their rotation without giving anything up.
Plus, I’m not completely convinced the roster will look the same come playoff time. With Rasheed Wallace on the verge of free agency and Rip Hamilton potentially opting-out, Dumars will be taking a lot of calls at the trade deadline. Maybe something falls in his lap, or maybe he looks at the team and decides it’s a little younger and a little deeper than last year and sits tight. Anything can happen.
Sometimes these game blogs get way too long. At times, it becomes difficult to temper my enthusiasm. When the Wizards do well, I’m just typing away as a result of the abundant offense (usually). If they are playing poorly, I got words too. Tonight, I’m really going to concentrate on selectivity. D’oh! Forgot this is a Triple Play…..Wizards on the main feed, Caps playoff game #1 on the left. The strugglin’ Nats on the right. Oh well, we will see.
I got a preview/run-down of all (some) things Wizards here.Laters.
Me? Right Now: Mo Cheeks 1, Eddie Jordan 2 – but there’s a lot of important games left.
To the West Coast Swang with the Pradamaster from Bullets Forever: My guess is that if the trip is a microcosm of the entire season, like it was last year, we’re in good shape. This year’s team doesn’t have nearly as much talent, but they’re more organized, play better defense, and have better coaching.
First game of ’08 and I’m liking that the Wizards have a chance to show what they’re made of in a match-up against ESPN’s #1 Power Ranked team. Bullets Forever thinks this ranking is silly in their extensive run-down of tonight’s game….in which a good point is also made about the defensive ability of Tayshaun Prince and what Caron Butler will be able to do against him. Tonight will be a good measure of the growth for Tuff Juice.
The Pistons are the model of consistency and balance for which the Wizards should strive. Chauncey Billups is the ultimate game manager…but he’s also known as Mr. Big Shot. You just don’t find this combo in an NBA point guard too often.
Now, Gilbert Arenas will never be the point guard that Billups is, and the Wizards will never win in the manner that the Pistons do. However, that’s not to say that Washington doesn’t have the potential to win as much in a balanced and consistent manner. Gilbert has proven that two all-stars, two big-time scorers, can successfully play alongside him — but now, he needs to up that to a team scale level. But that’s down the road — not to mention, remaining to be seen when he does come back.
The key is tonight is the fact that the General, Antonio Daniels, is back in the lineup. Now let’s start the show…..
