Overall, I was impressed by the Wizards’ performance in Philadelphia on Tuesday night (aside from the ending), especially in response to Flip Saunders openly calling the team out on a disappointing performance in Atlanta on Monday. But …

The Wizards need to improve on defense, right? From watching Tuesday’s game, I was able to make some observations on focus and technique in areas where some individuals can stand to improve. I’ve illustrated these observation in screen shots below.

Caron Butler’s on Defensive Focus

Caron wants to be a better defender? Well, there are some simple things he could be doing that he’s not doing. Let’s illustrate … Read more »

[via Richmond, VA]

Everyone’s heard past talk from Andray Blatche about improving with results showing very little. Last Wednesday on Bullets Forever, Mike Prada reported that the 2009 development of Blatche was “so far so good.” Through training camp this weekend, Blatche has continued to display glimmers of hope that this season will finally be his.

In Sunday’s Washington Post, Michael Lee related a story about a Saturday scrimmage battle between Antawn Jamison and a defending Andray Blatche:

Coach Flip Saunders hopped up, chased down Andray Blatche and gave him a high-five. DeShawn Stevenson patted Blatche on the back, and several of the Washington Wizards’ players and coaches hooted and applauded. Blatche hadn’t completed a nifty fast-break dunk or finger roll; he simply wouldn’t give Antawn Jamison any room to get off a shot in the low block. The swarming help defense behind Blatche wouldn’t give Jamison a passing lane, which allowed Blatche to later slap away the ball.

During that scrimmage, it appeared Blatche wanted to prove himself a little bit more in going against Jamison, who, as a veteran locker room leader, has probably come down the hardest on Andray in the past. Blatche was almost muscling up on Jamison, fighting him for post position, like he stole something from him.

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NBAE/Getty Images – from nba.com/wizards

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.

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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)……

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Avidly watching (and blogging) the Wizards this past season, I came to the conclusion that while meaningfully improved, team defense still had a long way to go, especially in terms of guarding the perimeter. Since the end of the 07-08 season, there have been differing opinions on whether the Wizards defense had really improved from 06-07.

First came the Washington Times Wizards beat writer, Mike Jones, citing a “dramatic transformation” resulting from the debut of Randy Ayers’ defensive philosophy. Jones’ main statistical argument was that the Wizards went from allowing a league worst 104.9 points per game in 06-07 to 99.2 ppg in 07-08, 12th in the NBA. Mike Jones also pointed out that the Wizards went from getting out-rebounded by 1.8 boards per game to having the edge over opponents by 0.4 rpg.

Kevin Broom, in a polite counter-point on RealGM.com, concluded that the theory of Wizards defensive improvement was a fallacy. Broom was correct to write that per game statistics should not be used as a true indicator of improvement as game pace (the average offensive and defensive possessions) helps to tell the true story. In 06-07, the Wizards played at the 5th fastest pace in the NBA. In 07-08, Washington was the 4th slowest. As Kevin Broom puts it:

What happens if this season’s Wizards played at the same pace as last season’s? Their points allowed per game would rise from 99.2 to 104.3. In other words, this “improved” defense that Jones and mainstream media are celebrating is in reality an “improvement” of just 0.6 points per game.

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