Erick Blasco

I say it in jest. There are a lot of shot-happy guys on that team. Especially if Iverson comes aboard. The Grizzlies will get some wins because they'll have some talent. Hopefully Mayo, Conley, and Gay will learn to play more as a team now that they have some talent.

I think the Grizzlies are a sleeper team to average fewer than 3 assists as a team.

It's what foresight is for.

Varejao's not a good enough defender to warrant over 8 million for 6 years. The $42 million is about right though. He brings enough energy and defensive versatility to make slightly more than the MLE.

I'm also going with the Hornets. I thought they would blow in the playoffs because of how they played in the regular season, but going into last year, I thought they were the best in the West.

How was it supposed to work? Arenas and the rest of the guards broke it off to run isolations and simple screen rolls most of the time. The Wizards stayed truest to the Princeton two years ago when Arenas was out. Did I ever say his teammates hated playing for him? I said he restricts a team from having an efficient balanced offense. Stevenson needs to play because he's the only wing besides Butler who tries on defense. Being the best player on a mediocre team isn't a cause for celebration. Tracy McGrady, Stephon Marbury, Darius Miles, Zach Randolph, Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki, Stephen Jackson, Allen Iverson, and Steve Francis, for example, have done everything for their teams, put fans in seats, been the best player on their team, and been players opponents will double. Like Arenas, they're also shot-happy players who need the ball in their hands, can't do anything without the ball (okay, Nowitzki and Randolph will rebound, and Jackson once in a blue moon will defend) and don't defend. For the most part, thay also have various character flaws and insecurities, in Arenas' case, a massive ego which demands that he be the guy. Okay, Arenas has talent. Most NBA players do. Can he defend? Can he sacrifice for a team? Can he inspire others to play better? Can he run an offensive set where he doesn't end up with the ball in his hands? Does he make smart decisions? Is he mistake prone? Can he dominate a great team by himself? Will he attack or does he settle? What's his mindset? Is he a competitor or does he want to succeed for his own personal glory? Most of these characteristics describe Arenas. Is his talent good enough to compensate? He jacks up a lot of shots and doesn't shoot a high percentage. He plays outside-in. He's not a superb playmaker. In other words, he's a second tier star. But because a star is a star, he gets a free pass from fans because he puts up a lot of points. No, I'm not going to blame the Wizards. They weren't real good then, just like they aren't real good now. Tayshaun is a defensive standout and Stuckey and Hamilton are both solid. Who will guard Ben Gordon off the bench? Will Miller try to defend Hamilton and get abused, or will Caron be forced to pick him up. If so, Miller will be dominated by Prince in the post. Unlike Foye and Young, Gordon is a proven scorer off the bench. The Pistons have firepower in their arsenal. If Hamilton is traded (reports say for Carlos Boozer), then Gordon will torch Miller's lack of speed, while Boozer decimates Haywood in the high post. I'm not worried about Washington's office and trust they'd score a fair amount themselves. I doubt they'd be able to slow down Detroit's offense at all. Offensively, no. Johnson does everything better than Butler on offense. Finish, create, pass, shoot, and especially handle. Dwyane Wade has single handedly won games with his defense. You're right about Miami's porous perimeter defense, but they can funnel into O'Neal and Haslem and live to tell about it. Seeing as how I project them to be none lower than a 4 or 5 seed, that's totally irrelevant. I already stated that the Wizards would get killed by the the 3 seed and up. So if Michael Beasley starts showing people what made him a 2nd pick of the draft and Jermaine O'Neal stays healthy, what will you say considering they'll be as much stars as Butler and Jamison. Just because the Wizards didn't want to play defense doesn't mean Jordan doesn't preach defense. Now that he has a roster that will listen, he'll quickly change that false reputation. It's no guarantee that Miller is gone, and the Sixers team defense frustrates a lot of offenses. Lazy passes and dribbles turn into steals, and bad shots turn into long rebounds and fast breaks. That team will aggravate the Wizards to no end. If the Sixers still have Miller and Brand, they'd survive a loss to Iggy. Atlanta will still have scorers in Jamal Crawford, plus Josh smith's acrobatics. Detroit didn't need a star to win a Finals and get back to another one. The Wizards are just a run of the mill team, not some lock to be a 5th or 4th seed.

He showed a lot of loyalty with the deal. Denver gave him a chance, and he repaid them by not walking away after he proved himself.

I agree with you on both fronts.

Because he has the ball in his hands so much. How can they run any semblance of a balanced offense when the ball is always in the same person's hands. Look at how many assists they averaged as a team. In 05-06 they averaged less than 19 a game. In 06-07 they averaged a tick over 20. That's one sign that an offense is inefficient, there isn't a lot of assist passing. And since the team is locked into Arenas, they never sign a true point guard except Antonio Daniel, who's little more than a backup. Arenas is also turnover prone. Also in 06-07, Arenas averaged over 20 points a game. Point guards shouldn't take that many shots. Yet Arenas only shot 42% and had less than a 2-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. I'm not overlooking Jamison. He's a total softee and one of the worst defenders in the league. He's another disappointment. Caron is an outstanding two-way player who defends as well as he scores, and can post and score in the paint. And that team you beat in the playoffs were the baby Bulls, four of their top players were rookies, Tyson Chandler wasn't the defender he is today, and Eddy Curry got minutes. That wasn't an impressive team. Plus, the Wizards had a different team with Larry Hughes in and Caron Butler out. When you faced a real playoff team, you got swept right out. Who is projecting the Wizards as a 4th or 5th seed outside of Washington's fans? Forget even those three teams, how are you going to stop Detroit? Villanueva might go for 30 a game with Jamison on him, and the Wizards don't have the coordination to stop the screen game of Hamilton and Gordon. Joe Johnson and Dwyane Wade control offenses better than Arenas does. The Heat have a better interior defense than Washington has an offense, and Atlanta has more firepower. And the only chance Washington has of winning more than a single playoff game revolves around getting a four or five seed. Against the big boys, the Wizards will almost assuredly get swept. And the difference between the Lakers and the Wizards is that the Lakers can obviously contend for titles with their salary. Give me a percentage on what chance the Wizards have of winning the championship next year. If the number you give is more than 0.75% you're lying. You're excited about a series win against a team that had rookie Luol Deng and Ben Gordon as its best players? It's like Cleveland hyping up their series win over the Pistons this year. You use the words "could" instead of probably will for the first part, and any team with a healthy Dwyane Wade is a force. The kids should improve, they have a tough defender in Haslem, and Jermaine O'Neal is more forceful than Jamison. Toronto's still a nothing team. Turkoglu doesn't put them in the playoffs by himself. Even without Miller, the Sixers have talent. Who's guarding Brand and Speights? And Detroit might have too much firepower for Washington. And of those teams, Atlanta, Philly, and Detroit can survive injuries. What happens if Butler goes down? What happens if Arenas or Jamison go down. And even more damning, what happens if Haywood goes down. If Brandon Haywood goes down, the Wizards are screwed. That's not a smart way to build a roster.

Typical Spurs-quality, battle-hardened role player.

Morey is a very clever GM.

He doesn't bench Odom so much as he brings him off the bench. Odom dominates second-tier players, but if you play him with Gasol and Bynum, he becomes a small-forward, something he really isn't. Also, he's not a great defender at the three. I'd probably take Odom though because of his offensive versatility, athleticism his length, though I really like Artest's game.

I think they'd start Brewer at the three and use Kirilenko as a sixth man. You can do a lot in the halfcourt with that Jazz lineup, Sloan would love Hamilton's shooting. Rip has a bit of an ego though, I wonder how he and Sloan would coexist.

I wonder why he signed with Chicago. I don't think he'd get many minutes behind Rose and Hinrich. Even Lindsey Hunter has his uses in spot defense situations.

Don't ever take anything Mitch Lawrence writes at face value. The guy is the biggest tool and the dullest basketball writer in the country, and he believes the first rumor he hears.

You don't have two point guards capable of playing shooting guard, you have two shooting guards playing out of position at point guard. You have a good damn team because of shot-happy Arenas, or because Miller and Foye are superstars who elevated the T-Wolves to elite status? The Wizards have a good shot at earning a playoff spot. With their overall salary, who cares. What chance do they have of winning a playoff series? The Wizards essentially have the same team they've had the past four years. How's that worked out? A sweep, two six-game losses, and a 19-win season. And discounting the big three, the Hawks have more firepower, the Bulls and Heat are led by better stars, the Pistons should rebound after the Iverson disaster, and the Sixers play harder and smarter. At least two of those teams will be better than the Wizards, depending on what free agency brings. I predicted the Wizards would finish fourth in their division last year before it was announced that Arenas was miss the season. I wouldn't be surprised if they remain in 4th in the Southeast this year.

Arenas is a two-guard in disguise, Foye's a two-guard, James is a selfish, shot-happy loser, and Crittenton's a project. Just because you have a lot of players that can play the position doesn't mean you really have point guard depth.

The Wizards have absolutely no toughness and no defense outside of Butler and Haywood, and Haywood is a marginal player. They have no legit depth at point guard or center. They have a ton of flawed shooting guards, including one masquerading as a point guard (Arenas). All of their offense comes outside the paint. They're injury prone, they have a high payroll, and if they do score a lot of points, what's keeping other teams from returning the favor? They have enough firepower to make the playoffs as a low seed before losing in 5 games or so. Big deal. The team has a veteran core and the 3rd highest payroll in the league. Their ceiling is the first round. Let that sink in. You say people are sleeping on the Wizards. Yeah, for good reason. They're just money being pumped into mediocrity.

1) Darius Miles 2) Stephon Marbury 3) Allen Iverson Basically for taking the game for granted and for gearing their mindset towards showing off their talents instead of trying to get the most out of themselves in a team setting.

Give me a chance to get a new article in. Beer pong takes a toll on a person's motivation to write.

Very good find

Battier's a stud defender. You simply don't get layups against him and you have to hope tha tyou can hit contested jump shots off the dribble with your off hand because he's not going to let you step in rhythm. He'll push you out of the post, fight around screens, and overplay you to off hands and help spots. And he's not going to beat himself by taking plays off or gambling unnecesarrily. And he's a very smart help defender who's always in the right position, and he'll block some shots, draw a few charges and deflect a ton of balls. He also has a much quicker defensive first step than people think, which gives him the edge over someone like Artest who's a half step slower and misses out on gambles at times. There are some other very good defenders in the league from Andre Iguodala to Tayshaun Prince to Ronnie Brewer, but Battier's easily the premier wing defender and the best, most complete defender all around. Kendrick Perkins is the best one-on-one big defender in the game, especially when defending the post. Dwight Howard is the best shot-blocking intimidator. Tim Duncan is the best helping big defender in the game. You can sucker in Howard to the ball, but Duncan trusts his ability to wait until the last possible moment to contest shots, giving him an edge in defending the basket.

Oh, here's a good thing about Zach Randolph though. You just NEVER know who's going to get punched in the face! http://dantheman85x....11_archive.html http://allhiphopsports.blogspot.com/2009/02/zach-randolph-punches-louis-amundson.html

I wonder where the veterans go. What future do Battier and Scola have in Houston? They aren't guys you rebuild around, especially if you have a thin talent base.

and about Ariza, someone mentioned that he got owned by Turkoglu, towards the end of the series, I think Ariza did a great job of being athletic enough to beat Turkoglu to screens and vaporize Orlando's screen/roll game. His defense the last two games of the series, especially Game 5, was exceptional.