Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season Thread - Thanks for a great year!

[airblaster503]

Little man really crumbled it up Man I have no idea how the Wizards are so bad. They really went down hill and have made some terrible moves and draft picks. Portland will win if we play the starters 38 min +, which is a good chance since Terry Stotts apparently went to the Mike Brown school of rotation.

 

[jesusshuttlesworth34]

Little man really crumbled it up Man I have no idea how the Wizards are so bad. They really went down hill and have made some terrible moves and draft picks. Portland will win if we play the starters 38 min +, which is a good chance since Terry Stotts apparently went to the Mike Brown school of rotation.

Yeah, little 16/17 year old and his homies looked at me like those cats who beat down Jodie for his Alize in Baby Boy. I was like damn.....I must be getting old.


I was planning on giving Wizards tickets as a gift for a child's birthday......now I don't think I should, because I don't want it to be insulting. His birthday celebration would be on the Pistons game in December. I don't want their blood on my hands.

 

[extraordinary swag]

I hate that he of all people can even slander us right now

 

[mrtarheel]

Anyone catch this article in the Times?   http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/26/wizards-jan-vesely-failing-progress-live-first-rou/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

Can someone explain why we haven't just sent this bum to the d-league yet?  Why is he STARTING!?  If you have guys in the lineup who haven't earned their playing time, it sends a terrible message to the rest of the squad.  That's just basic.  

Vesley hasn't done anything to earn his base scale rookie contract, much less the starting job.  Right now, this guy is NOT an NBA player.  I wouldn't select him fifth in a pick up game.  

I initially came out against both the Okafor AND the Nene deals for financial reasons.  I just didn't think those contracts made any sense and my chief concern at the time was that we'd be locking ourself into a very expensive and inflexible state of mediocrity.  We weren't stockpiling the type of assets required to make GOOD trades and build a winning team.  

In hindsight, perhaps I was too optimistic.  

Outside of John Wall, there isn't one player on this team who ANYONE would trade for - and even if you include John Wall there's nobody on this team whom we could exchange for a franchise-caliber player.  That leaves us reliant on the draft, and goodness knows that hasn't been kind to us. 

Say what you want about how it's too early to judge Beal - and that's fair - but it's hard to look at the impact Lillard, Waiters, and even Barnes have had and not feel a little jealous.  

Seriously, 32% from the floor?  And this is your shooter?  

I know they drafted the guy because he supposedly has such great mechanics, but what good have they done him?  If you had a prospect who shot 45% with poor mechanics, you then say to yourself, "wow, I wonder how good he'd be if he worked with our coaching staff.  The guy clearly has a great, instinctive feel for the ball, but he just needs to be taught."  Where does Beal go from here?  What does he fix?  He shot a poor percentage in college, too, so this isn't an anomaly.   

Reggie Miller had an ugly looking shot.  It seemed to find the basket.  I think we'd all rather have a guy who makes ugly than misses pretty.   

He's putting up 11 points per game, but only because we're giving him a ton of shots.  Give 80% of the players in the D-league 20 shots a game and they'll put up a dozen points.  Some of them might actually get to the line, too.

Beal's also playing small, and that's making him a real liability at the 2.  If and when Wall gets back, I can see them trying to match him up against opposing SGs to prevent Beal from being abused in the post.  

I know the draft is more luck than science sometimes and most teams would've made the same call at #3, but we're beyond the law of averages here in DC.  Seraphin seems to be the only guy who's actually improving from year to year, and he's still very much a project player.

This is tough to watch.  The team desperately needs to dump Wittman and hire Nate McMillan.  Randy's in over his head.  We need someone to come in and steady the ship, someone the players will respect. 

We're beyond blaming injuries.  This is a results-oriented business and management must be held accountable for the product they've placed on the floor.

They have to stop drafting on that potential BS. They should have traded that 3rd pick for James Harden. Harden is a a legit 6'6 a real SG. Beal is a good kid its not his fault he got drafted # 3 but he is just too small and does not have the handles to to really do anything. I mean in the Bobcats game on Saturday he had BJ MULLINS checking him and could not get around him.  Three years in a row in the lottery and we are now 0-12??? Again I say let Ernie go or sell the team Ted

 

[mrtarheel]

When the trade was made, I defended it. I thought both Ariza and Okafor would have shown better. Goes to show what having faith in this organization will do to you. I try not to be all doom and gloom all the time because i keep hoping that one day they will turn things around. I was bamboozled. Completely. The saving grace is that these two will be gone in two years...however, 43 mil is a lot of money to eat for a player looking old (Okafor) and a player looking aloof (Ariza). As the days go by, you cant help to think about how different this roster could have looked had they just been smarter as far as going about their business.
No, this is not some Fireman Ed swan song or something along those lines...I'm going to stick with this team regardless, however, we are now 3 years into the "rebuild" and have seemingly gone nowhere - or arguably gotten WORSE. Something has to give.
The construction of the roster begins/ends with Ernie. Think about it. I can't fathom another profession in this world that would let you keep your job after 10 years of mediocrity. Grunfeld IS the Teflon Don. There is no rhyme or reason why he's still employed by this team.
Ted, and the powers that be, can in fact do something right in lieu of this 0-11 start. Dump Ernie ASAP. Get a new pair of eyes to oversee the roster and the future of this team. What did Einstein say? "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." That's the Wizards in a nutshell.

I had faith but when Ted gave Ernie another 2 years I knew he was not serious.

 

[joe cool23]

I hate that he of all people can even slander us right now

The straw that broke the camel's back...

Seeing that pos tweets has me steaming right now.

@$#%@#

 

[quell]

Yeah that James Harden trade really has to hurt in hindsight

This years draft isn't shaping up to be too pretty either. Nerlens Noel would probably be the best get possible for you guys and who knows there

 

[born illa]

:\



Went to the game tonight with 3 of my cousins for $1.50 a pop....

This is getting ridiculous

 

[powerballin]

Blatche is a clown man.

 

[antidope]

I hate that he of all people can even slander us right now

Wow, classless if I've ever seen it. Good Game Wizards fans, I had to go to sleep to get up early so I missed a good chunk of the second half, but honestly you guys have my respect for putting up with this nonsense.

 

[jking0821]

I hate that he of all people can even slander us right now

The straw that broke the camel's back...

Seeing that pos tweets has me steaming right now.

@$#%@#

This.

Get out of here Dre. No one in the organization wanted to help you??? You are a professional Athlete!! you have the best job in the world....what motivation do you need. Stop going out in DC and getting in fist fights with Javale Mcgee and maybe run some more sprints and eat a little better. No one would help you.....**** with that BS. Help your self fatty

Anywayyyy watched most of the spurs game last night....aka watched the first 3 quarters. At this point I have no clue what will make us better....at all....it just seems for us to get our first win we will have to hope Jordan Crawford shoots 70% from the field. Webster looked serviceable out there so did Seraphin....but that was about it. Nene prob sat out with his foot injury because he knew we would get crushed. Might as well rest up for the Portland game or wait until the New Orleans game to try to get win #1.

 

[jjs07]

Anyone catch this article in the Times?  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/26/wizards-jan-vesely-failing-progress-live-first-rou/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS





Can someone explain why we haven't just sent this bum to the d-league yet?  Why is he STARTING!?  If you have guys in the lineup who haven't earned their playing time, it sends a terrible message to the rest of the squad.  That's just basic.  

Vesley hasn't done anything to earn his base scale rookie contract, much less the starting job.  Right now, this guy is NOT an NBA player.  I wouldn't select him fifth in a pick up game.  
I initially came out against both the Okafor AND the Nene deals for financial reasons.  I just didn't think those contracts made any sense and my chief concern at the time was that we'd be locking ourself into a very expensive and inflexible state of mediocrity.  We weren't stockpiling the type of assets required to make GOOD trades and build a winning team.  

In hindsight, perhaps I was too optimistic.  

Outside of John Wall, there isn't one player on this team who ANYONE would trade for - and even if you include John Wall there's nobody on this team whom we could exchange for a franchise-caliber player.  That leaves us reliant on the draft, and goodness knows that hasn't been kind to us. 


Say what you want about how it's too early to judge Beal - and that's fair - but it's hard to look at the impact Lillard, Waiters, and even Barnes have had and not feel a little jealous.  

Seriously, 32% from the floor?  And this is your shooter?  

I know they drafted the guy because he supposedly has such great mechanics, but what good have they done him?  If you had a prospect who shot 45% with poor mechanics, you then say to yourself, "wow, I wonder how good he'd be if he worked with our coaching staff.  The guy clearly has a great, instinctive feel for the ball, but he just needs to be taught."  Where does Beal go from here?  What does he fix?  He shot a poor percentage in college, too, so this isn't an anomaly.   

Reggie Miller had an ugly looking shot.  It seemed to find the basket.  I think we'd all rather have a guy who makes ugly than misses pretty.   

He's putting up 11 points per game, but only because we're giving him a ton of shots.  Give 80% of the players in the D-league 20 shots a game and they'll put up a dozen points.  Some of them might actually get to the line, too.

Beal's also playing small, and that's making him a real liability at the 2.  If and when Wall gets back, I can see them trying to match him up against opposing SGs to prevent Beal from being abused in the post.  

I know the draft is more luck than science sometimes and most teams would've made the same call at #3, but we're beyond the law of averages here in DC.  Seraphin seems to be the only guy who's actually improving from year to year, and he's still very much a project player.



This is tough to watch.  The team desperately needs to dump Wittman and hire Nate McMillan.  Randy's in over his head.  We need someone to come in and steady the ship, someone the players will respect. 

We're beyond blaming injuries.  This is a results-oriented business and management must be held accountable for the product they've placed on the floor.

I agree with just about everything you said (except SOME of the stuff about Beal).

Your last line is what sticks out to me the most. Management HAS to be held accountable for the roster that was constructed. This is Ernie's doing. He's been in the drivers seat for the better part of 10 years and this has been a bumpy ride to say the least. Ted needs to do the right thing and clean house ASAP. He (Leonsis) was not part of the losing culture - he inherited it. However, his loyalty is getting the best of him and it is doing the team and the fanbase no favors.

Grunfeld MAY have been handcuffed by Pollin in that he was forced to give Gil that horrendous 2nd contract after having 3 major knee surgeries. THAT I'll give him somewhat of a pass for b/c we don't know what was going on behind closed doors. He did the right thing in trading Arenas for Shard because the Wizards did come out with the better end of the bad contracts that were swapped. However, his history of making questionable decisions through the draft and through other roster acquisitions was more than enough of a reason to get a new person in at the helm as the GM. The 43 million accrued in salary after trading Shard to N.O. was questionable at the time the deal was made but is now looking worse and worse as the days go on. It doesn't help when blogs like BF have a list of all the alternatives that could have happened had that trade never gone down. This team with any combo of Brand/Scola/Wright/Korver would have been SO much better off and not hurt the short-term flexibility of this team. I don't pretend to know it all and I could NEVER do EG's job in a million years, but it's telling that there are guys on RealGM, BF, or even here on NT who I think could have done a better job with building a roster for this team than Grunfeld did over the past 2 years. This is another reason why Grunfeld needs to go.

This is where Ted's loyalty comes in to play. When is enough, enough?

Moving on to Beal. He's green. 19 years old. However, A LOT was expected of him as the 3rd pick. How much better would he have been to have come off the bench behind an established vet? Imagine if we had Kyle Korver. Korver knows how to shoot, find a spot, slip screens, etc. All of those aspects of his game could have helped Beal. There's a reason why he looks lost on the floor. Look at who we have on the roster to mentor the kid. YES, KID. I'm not worried about the long-term potential for Beal because I think he'll be fine (whether that's here or elsewhere). One encouraging stat was his FG% in finishing by the rim. That being said, MKG would have been a better fit because he's a dude who thrives off of broken plays and has the aggressivness in his game to overcompensate for many areas that he's deficient in. However, we have Beal. It's on Grunfeld (at the moment) to do something to help him out.

*Also...if the rumors were true about OKC dangling harden for the 3rd pick and we did pass it up, Grunfeld is an idiot for not pulling the trigger on the deal. Having Harden alone would have at least brought in a couple of wins.

A quick remedy is firing Grunfeld and Wittman ASAP and starting the rebuild the right way. We've gone in circles for the better part of 2 1/2 seasons now....this has to stop.

 

[RyGuy45]

Randy WIttman :x

Coaching Record
99-00 - 32-50
00-01 - 20-52
06-07 - 12-30
07-08 - 22-60
08-09 - 4-15
11-12 - 18-31
12-13 - 0-12

Absurd.

And this statue will continue to be employed as a top assistant after he is fired in a few weeks continuing the country club culture of NBA coaching

Feel for you Wizards fans even though Wittman is obviously only but one of many problems.

 

[jjs07]

From a poster on RealGM

My seats are diagonally from where Ted Leonsis sits. I don't think I have ever seen Ted look as disgusted as he did tonight. At one point, he threw a piece of paper on the ground and mouthed the word "f***". I sense a change is coming. Although I hope it will be Grunfeld, my guess is Wittman will be a goner by the end of the week.

 

[jesusshuttlesworth34]

I would say wait until Dray comes back to D.C. and see the shower of boos that rain down upon him.......but we all know that 2,000 people can't make a lot of noise and probably only 50 of those care enough to boo this fool.



I don't know what it will take to change the culture in D.C. New owner? New front office? Everything needs to be blown up.




As much as I enjoyed working for the Wizards 4 years ago, I am glad I didn't take the position they offered me. That would have been a huge set back to my personal/professional career. I wouldn't mind taking one more elevator ride with Ernie on the day he gets fired though.

 

[extraordinary swag]

here's the Andray Blatche interview with his attempt at trying to explain the Tweets and the rest of his history with the Wizards, it's HILARIOUS

http://washington.cbslocal.com/?pod...ue&config_file=config.xml&dcid=CBS.WASHINGTON

 

[hypebeast5]

Man it's tough looking at the lottery this early in the year

 

[jesusshuttlesworth34]

Man it's tough looking at the lottery this early in the year

The Wizards have a table reserved at the Draft Lottery for the next 5 years. Might as well make accomodations in advance when you know you are destined to be there for quite some time.

 

[frshstunna]

I would say wait until Dray comes back to D.C. and see the shower of boos that rain down upon him.......but we all know that 2,000 people can't make a lot of noise and probably only 50 of those care enough to boo this fool.



I don't know what it will take to change the culture in D.C. New owner? New front office? Everything needs to be blown up.




As much as I enjoyed working for the Wizards 4 years ago, I am glad I didn't take the position they offered me. That would have been a huge set back to my personal/professional career. I wouldn't mind taking one more elevator ride with Ernie on the day he gets fired though.

been saying this for the longest..its just something about the wizards franchise that just can't get anything right smh...u right everything needs to start over, get another new name, arena or **** just change back to the bullets or something

 

[dman14]

they need to add some veteran leadership on that team and pray that john wall can stay healthy and become a legit all star.

 

[jesusshuttlesworth34]

they need to add some veteran leadership on that team and pray that john wall can stay healthy and become a legit all star.

Okafor and Ariza were supposed to be that "veteran leadership"


Those dudes are underwhelming to say the least. Marginal players with no real intangibles. I've seen Ariza airball more layups this year than the crappy *** And-1 mixtape players that would come through the Verizon Center years ago.




The last intense quality/skilled guy (one of the few in the last decade probably) was Caron. Tuff Juice played with some fire/intensity that a team needs. Dude played with a broken hand in the playoffs last year for the Clippers. We don't have a guy who would play with a broken thumbnail right now.

 

[jjs07]

Ok,

Let me throw some things out there that would work as a quick fix

1. Start evaluating potential candidates to take over for Grunfeld IMMEDIATELY. Don't go w/ someone to be an interim GM or anything along those lines, get someone in here who has a good vision of where they'd like for this franchise to go and also how to get them out of this rut.

2. While EG is here, have him work the phones to see if some sort of potential deal can be made either as the main swapping partner for the Lakers to bring in Pau Gasol OR as the 3rd team in that deal. For the former, I have ZERO clue as to what it would take to get this deal done, but I would offer any combination of Okafor, Ariza, Crawford, Booker, Seraphin, Ves, Singleton, or a future 1st round pick to sweeten the deal. Yes, Gasol is long in the tooth at 32, but he's off the books by the end of the 13-14 season. He's a guy who could come in an IMMEDIATELY help this team by way of his b-ball IQ. This would be a good short term fix, IMO.

*I didn't mention Nene in the trade scenario b/c of his durability issues and contract. However, a nucleus of Nene/Pau/Wall would be a good stopgap until the 2014 season. This would be our best trio since Gil/Caron/Jamison were getting all-star nods. If these guys can play 90+% of the games on the schedule, the team would be in much better shape than it is right now. Of course that is all contingent on who is coaching and also who is in the FO.

Anyways, for the latter (if we're the 3rd team in a deal), offer up any combo of those players I mentioned to do something like this:

So, why not deal Gasol to the Timberwolves, as part of a three-team trade that would also include the Wizards?

Again: I have no information -- none -- that the Lakers are contemplating trading Gasol, or are entertaining or seeking offers for Gasol. This is pure speculation, not information or even rumor. This is me thinking out loud.

In this (imaginary) deal, Washington would send second-year forward Chris Singleton and former Laker Trevor Ariza to the Lakers, who would also get guards Luke Ridnour and J.J. Barea from Minnesota. The Wizards and Wolves would, essentially, swap 2011 Lottery picks about which both are quite uncertain, with Washington's Jan Vesely going to Minnesota and Minnesota's Derrick Williams going to Washington, along with center Nikola Pekovic. Guard Chris Duhon would go from the Lakers to Wizards to make the trade work cap-wise.

Link

You bring on an unknown in Williams, but you get a good big in Pek while dumping Ariza, Singleton, and Ves.

That would be a start of an actual rebuild.

3. If you plan on keeping Ves around, send his *** to the d-league to figure out how to actually hoop.

4. Can Wittman as long as you have another guy on deck who you could envision teaching the young guys the finer points of basketball and potentially leading this team out of the basement BACK to some sort of respectability. I absolutely will not stand for Wittman being fired JUST to bring in guy like Ed Tapscott (again). HAVE A DAMN PLAN. Meth alluded to Nate McMillian - who would be great, and so would SVG. I like Nate a little better because I'm not sure if SVG would want to be here or if he has the patience to deal with the current players on the roster.

5. If Okafor/Ariza/Grunfeld/Wittman are magically traded/fired, have the gall to admit that mistakes were made. I think this would go a long way with the fanbase. Take ownership of the failure that is this whole "rebuilding" plan. There is nothing wrong with admitting mistakes. Everyone can see that, but show that you're committed to bringing in good b-ball minds to help this team.

6. Do what it takes to bring in a vet SG to mentor Beal.

7. Stop jerking around Seraphin and let him start. If you're going to let Beal take his lumps while getting quality minutes, do the same for Seraphin.

8. Don't be afraid to give out DNP-CDs to vets *cough* Okariza *cough*

9. Keep Nene/Wall shelved until they are at least 90-95% ready to play.

10. Did I mention apologizing for mistakes made?


This is my team...I'll never jump ship regardless of how bad things get. I'm done being optimistic about the future of this team (for the time being) until some changes are made that signal that there is a serious effort to make things right. The Wizards are an embarrassment of epic proportions. You even got fools like Blatche taking shots. It was never supposed to be like this

[Ed Reed] I'm hurt, dawg. [/Ed Reed]

 

[jesusshuttlesworth34]

There is no ship to jump to. DC Sports is blood in blood out.



You've been rooting for something/devoting time/energy too for 20+ years. One does not just walk away.



I would like to think whenever the Wizards, O's, Skins or Caps win that next championship......whether I am still living around this area (hopefully) or another area code, I will feel some sense of euphoric civic pride and it will have been worth the wait.








Or I could just die a sad lonely unfilled death and look back at all the time and false hope wasted and laugh at myself.

 

[jesusshuttlesworth34]

How many Powerball tickets do you think Chris Singleton bought this year? $50,000 worth?

 

[chrispcb15]

Ill say about 100,000