Posts tagged ‘kyle korver’

Martell Webster, in his first year as a member of the Wizards, has had an excellent season and a profound impact on the team. His 3-point shooting and unique style of play has been a great fit, especially with Wall at the helm and Beal with him on the wing. Compare Webster’s pertinent statistics on a month-by-month basis this season:

November: 12 games played, 257 total minutes, 103 total points, 43.8% FG, 41.7% 3P
December: 14 games played, 438 total minutes, 132 total points, 39.4% FG, 40.0% 3P
January: 16 games played, 445 total minutes, 195 total points, 46.3% FG, 41.4% 3P
February: 12 games played, 381 total minutes, 149 total points, 51.5% FG, 56.4% 3P
March: 15 games played, 506 total minutes, 224 total points, 43.7% FG, 39.0% 3P
April: 5 games played, 123 total minutes, 45 total points, 34.1% FG, 25.0% 3P

On the season? 29 minutes per game, 11.4 points per game, 3.9 rebounds per game, 1.9 assists per game, 44.4% FG, 42.2% 3P.

Let’s read between the lines a bit, because numbers enjoy the companionship of context. What is the mark for “excellent” NBA 3-point shooting? That’s debatable, but for argument’s sake, let’s say being one of the top 25 3-point shooters in the NBA. The current 25th best, OJ Mayo, hits 40.6 percent of the time. Webster has been above that mark in three out of the six available months (excluding that lonely October game). Two of those months, January and February 2013, came with heavy minutes from John Wall and Bradley Beal. While Wall’s ability to buttress his teammates’ shooting ability has been well-documented, the less publicized point about Webster’s career year has been how well he and Beal have played together.

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You’ve got this whole Wizards rebuilding project. Talk about angst. Are we in year three? Who knows. Has the can been kicked down a road of hope? Ted Leonsis has kept his kicking, and blogging, shoes on. In any case, the Wizards, clearly another lottery team, aren’t “rebuilt” just yet. Still on the schedule: another summer of, ‘Hey, we really mean it this time… playoffs.’

What about that draft lottery? An abundance of perpetual angst exists in Wizards Nation. And the Wizards and the draft lottery will tango once again; mark your calendars: Tuesday, May 21, 2013. In a supposed weak draft with somewhat of a core in place already, Ernie Grunfeld can probably leave his trusty gold coin at home. Winning the lottery is less relevant for the Wizards, especially considering how on Friday morning they had the third-worst record in the NBA. Now, they are eighth-worst and are less than 2.5 games out from 11th-worst (or 19th-best, depending on how you look at it). Nevertheless, there will be plenty of anxiety, perhaps some good, when the lottery balls drop in May while other teams are experiencing the post-season. [Worth mentioning: the Wizards currently have a 4.9% chance of winning the lottery.]

But what currently causes the most angst amongst Wizards fans? Martell Webster and the forthcoming decision — Webster’s free agency. The Wizards took a chance this summer by signing Webster to a one-year contract at the rate of $1.75 million. At the time, they had no clue it would end up like this. Now, Webster is one of the best 3-point shooters in the NBA. And so much more, especially to his teammates, as evidenced by the above video. On Saturday night, Webster tossed in 7-of-10 3-pointers and scored a career-high 34 points, also becoming the first Wizard with a 30-point game this season.

The question at hand: What will Webster be worth on the open market? And, as he continues to play up his value, can the Wizards afford to keep him?

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[Editor's note: This is Mohamed Abdihakim's debut for TAI. Mohamed blogs at TheHoopDoctors.com and is an editor at Hoops-Nation.com. He is currently working toward a multimedia journalism degree from Florida Atlantic University. —Kyle W.]

82games.com has made available a certain simplified metric.

Belying otherwise extensive research, “Simple Rating” (SR) provides a relatively digestible look into a player’s value on the court versus their positional counterpart. The values used in this rating are Production—”a variant of John Hollinger’s PER”—and a plus/minus unit.

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Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 16th game of the season against the Hawks in Atlanta are TAI’s Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) and guest Kris Willis (@Kris_Willis), who writes about the Hawks for the SB Nation blog Peachtree Hoops.

Wizards Starters (2-13):

A.J. Price, Bradley Beal, Martell Webster, Chris Singleton, Emeka Okafor
(Will Randy Wittman still start Chris Singleton? Who will fill-in for Trevor Ariza? What about Okafor? We will see…)

Hawks Starters (10-5):

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[Editor's Note: dedicated Wizards fan, TAI reader, and current Atlanta resident (but from Maryland), Conor Dirks, attended Wednesday's heart-breaking loss to the Hawks at the Philips Arena. Below is Conor's account from the experience. Follow him on Twitter: @ConorDDirks.
-Kyle W.]

The pre-game scene in the ATL.

The process that I undertake in order to watch each Washington Wizards game here in Atlanta is a complicated one, and often mirrored in its tedium and futility by the game itself. But when the team comes to town, streaming the game on my television through a laptop propped upside down to keep it from overheating and having to get up every fifteen minutes in order to keep the screen saver from interrupting the crushing defeat just isn’t enough. So on Wednesday night, I ventured to Philips Arena to see my hometown team play a better team in a town I’ve lived in for the past three years.

But not before listening to some pre-game music: “Unhappy” by Atlanta’s own Outkast.

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[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Game No. 10, Washington Wizards at Atlanta Hawks; contributors: Adam McGinnis, Rashad Mobley and Kyle Weidie from behind the T.V.]

Flabbergasted. Read more »

Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 10th game of the season against the Hawks in Atlanta are TAI’s Sean Fagan (@McCarrick) and guest Daniel Christian (@DChris_Hawks), who writes about the Hawks for the ESPN TrueHoop blog HawksHoop.com.

Wizards Starters (0-9):

Who knows? Randy Wittman indicated that he will change his starters, but will he have the balls to bench Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor? Can’t hurt at this point.

WHUT!?! UPDATED Starters:

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Chicago Bulls in town, not the Charlotte Bobcats. Derrick Rose and Richard Hamilton? Back for Chicago. Luol Deng? Out for a bit. Andray Blatche? Questionable. President Obama? Nope. The last time people expected Washington to lose this much (aside from pretty much all the time) was the Oklahoma City Thunder game. The Wizards somehow won that one. Chicago is favored by nine points on the road this evening. Should you get any ideas? Probably not. Chicago has the second best Defensive Rating in the NBA (97.4 points allowed per 100 possessions)… the Philadelphia 76ers are best (94.6 DRtg), and we all know how games against the Sixers work out for Washington. Nonetheless, let’s do the 3-on-3 drill… featuring Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak.com along with TAI’s John Converse Townsend and Kyle Weidie. Three questions, three answers starts now…

#1) Derrick Rose will be walking into the Verizon Center with the weight of Sunday night’s loss to the Miami Heat (partly due to his missed free throws) squarely on his shoulders. Not only will John Wall have to face off against a motivated Rose, but he’ll most likely have to face off again John Lucas, who had a career game against him on January 11 (25 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds — although backup Bulls PG CJ Watson, unavailable in the previous meeting between these two teams like Rose, is also back).  Who has a better game tonight, Wall or Rose?

MASON: Rose has the better game because he’s the better player playing on the better team. Especially troubling for Wall, who struggles with turnovers in pick and roll sets, is that the Bulls play awesome, suffocating pick and roll defense. I think the only way Wall has the better game is if it becomes a real up-and-down contest.

TOWNSEND: John Wall has flirted with triple-doubles for the past month; the numbers might convince you that Wall will get lucky tonight. But then you remember that Wall’s career averages against Chicago are, well, average — 13.3 points and 4.3 turnovers. Reality sets in: It’s Derrick Rose, not Wall, with the No. 1 stitched on the back of his jersey, and it’s Rose who has learned to bend the laws of physics, and it’s Rose who wins the game.

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[Mr. Versatility]

During Hinrich’s introductory presser at the Verizon Center this past Monday, Chris Marks of Prince George’s Community Television asked him what position he thought would best fit him in DC.  Hinrich responded with a laugh:

Well we’re going to figure that out. I don’t know exactly.  I probably feel more comfortable playing the one, it’s a little easier.  But I feel I’m very capable of playing both positions and I think starting in training camp that’s going to be a challenge, trying to figure out exactly where I fit in and what I need to do to help the team.

This of course begs the question: Where does the Wizards’ factotum fit? (And is he a better PG than a SG?)

I headed over to 82games to find out.

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[Editor's Note: Truth About It.net photographer Adam Douglas once again brings you an excellent edition of "Under The Hoop" -- because Wizards games aren't just about basketball, they're about the whole fan experience, and Adam brings you that experience from up close with pictures and commentary. The below post is from last Saturday's game against the Utah Jazz.]

Andray Blatche knows who might butter his bread at the free throw line.

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