A couple weeks ago, Rob Mahoney of Upside and Motor released an NBA Archetype Hierarchy chart [click on the link to check out the full blog post and explanations]. Here is Rob’s actual chart:

[click here for a larger view]

So naturally, I wanted to categorize each Wizard in primary and secondary roles. But before I get to that, here’s a Rob’s chart with the archetypes the Wizards do not have grayed out (the Wiz obviously have neither an elite point guard nor a refined big man):
And now, a fancy graphic representing Wizards players and their primary and secondary archetypes:
If you don’t like graphics, here’s the listing:

1. Gilbert Arenas – Surreal Scorer; Megalomaniacal small guard
2. Andray Blatche – Question mark; Skilled, but flawed post
3. Caron Butler – Salad Bar; Renaissance man
4. Javaris Crittenton – Question mark; Scoring ‘combo guard’
5. Juan Dixon – Scoring ‘combo guard’; Chucker
6. Brendan Haywood – Interior defensive presence; Skilled, but flawed post
7. Mike James – Scoring ‘combo guard’; Chucker
8. Antawn Jamison – Renaissance Man; Locker room chemist
9. JaVale McGee – Raw, project center; Under construction
10. Dominic McGuire – Intangible role player; Wing stopper
11. Oleksiy Pecherov – Three-point shooting big; Under construction
12. Darius Songaila – Hustle Player; Intangible role player
13. DeShawn Stevenson – Chucker; wing stopper
14. Etan Thomas – Brute rebounder; Question mark
15. Nick Young – High talent, low IQ wing player; Chucker

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If you like John Hollinger’s vaunted PER rating, you might believe that 2007-08 was the best season of Brendan Haywood’s career, his 7th in the NBA. Haywood’s PER rating 0f 18.3 was 1.1 points higher than his previous career best of 17.2, achieved his third season in the league, and 23.6% higher than the average PER (14.8) in his first six seasons.

It’s been my opinion that last season was a “breakout” year for Haywood, not only statistically speaking, but also in terms of maturity level. He and Eddie Jordan, also aided by the diplomacy of Randy Ayers, were able to bury the hatchet of past disputes, and Haywood showed up ready to play.

It’s also been my opinion that in previous seasons, Haywood has been a big ol’ softie. He earned the moniker “Brenda” and many shared the same qualitative observation. Since, I’ve stopped referring to Haywood as “Brenda” and have blogged a letter of apology in my ’07-’08 player evaluation of him.

However, some have contested that Haywood, statistically speaking, was good the whole time, and that his production was seemingly low because he didn’t get enough minutes, and Eddie Jordan was being a big ol’ meanie. Sorry, I can’t help but be facetious here … reason being, I’ve been in a semi-spirited discussion at Bullets Forever with the Pradamaster and Rook6980 over this very subject. I’m of the opinion that a man, and not necessarily the coach, controls his own destiny. I’ve also always thought Eddie Jordan to be a fair individual, and compliant EEOC style.

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Remember that video of various Washington Wizards talking about who would make the best President? (It looks like it’s since been removed from the internet.) Joking aside, most who eventually gave a serious answer went with Etan Thomas. Well, now we know why.

Ehh….we really already knew why….Etan is the Huffington Post’s “rebounder with a cause”, a stumper for Barack Obama, and “totally against war”…..basically, the guy is involved. Plus, he has dreads, they make him a politically active statement maker by default.

Flash forward to Wednesday night’s game in Atlanta…….I’m not sure what Oleksiy Pecherov said to Etan. Big Oily, by all accounts, is a silly dude….either that or anything he says with his Ukrainian accent is funny. Who knows, maybe Pech gave his best rendition of “Ukraine is game to you!?” But whatever it was, the American and the Euro shared an international chuckle.

So what does Etan do to return the favor of Big Oily’s gift of laughter? “Yo, bartender!” He turns around and not only orders a cold beverage for himself, but gets his new international buddy a drinky-poo as well. That, my friends, is a true diplomat.

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[photo credit: flickr/Celia Hippie]

Q1

Playing in a high school gym atmosphere tonight….Miami is worse than LA when it comes to late arriving crowds….and much worse than DC (yes, we are bad too).

Etan Thomas missed his first shot…ok, there’s my 180, bench him (kidding).

Well….the Heat have three layups on their first four baskets: Wade in transition, Beasley drive on a gamble steal attempt by Wiz, Chalmers steal and sweet dunk on Dixon. 8-2 Heat.

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I hear the calling. It reminds me of around a quarter past eleven on Election Tuesday in my neck of DC…..the emissions of excitement I could hear out my apartment window coming from the buildings around me and the streets below. Ok…..well maybe I don’t hear it that much, but people really want JaVale McGee to start. From the distinguished Mike Wise, to the pragmatic Pradamaster at Bullets Forever, to the feigning rationality of Michael Wilbon, the call to get to the Choppa (JaVale McGee) is loud and clear.

With the movement among the blogosphere and MSMers full steam ahead, I’ve like to offer my alternative opinion. And not to say that I’m completely against inserting JaVale McGee into the starting lineup, it’s just doesn’t need to happen……yet. Here are five reasons for feeling the way I do:

Orlando Pulse, blurred vision for the Washington Wizards
[flickr/Kyle May]

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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