Author Topic: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season  (Read 24974 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline Tyler Durden

  • Posts: 7970
  • Leprechaun
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #300: December 18, 2012, 07:11:38 PM »
Not even close to Kwame.  Right now, it looks like he's a lot closer to Arenas.  Or going back a bit further, maybe like Pervis Ellison.

Kwame was consistently terrible.  Like should have been 2nd round pick terrible.  I think Jan Vesely is the new Kwame Brown.

Offline OldChelsea

  • Posts: 8160
  • Nats Supporter in Exile
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #301: December 19, 2012, 11:26:58 AM »
Looks like wall may miss the whole season- at what point is he on Kwame's level?

No comparison - Wall is limited by injuries, while Brown was as far as I can recall, healthy throughout...

...healthy, that is, except possibly in the dietary department - the story is told that, during at least part of his rookie season, he ate nothing but Popeye's chicken three meals a day because he didn't know how to make/obtain anything else.

Brown was just purely and simply a write-off.

Offline Tyler Durden

  • Posts: 7970
  • Leprechaun
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #302: December 19, 2012, 07:47:19 PM »
Wizards and Magic currently making my eyes bleed.  Just horrible basketball.

Offline Tyler Durden

  • Posts: 7970
  • Leprechaun
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #303: December 22, 2012, 03:59:10 PM »
Wizards outdid themselves last night.  Just a miserable performance.  As bad as I've seen in years.  Even Wittman was embarrassed.  Lost to the second worst team in basketball by 30+ points.  And they get to play them again tonight. 

Offline UMDNats

  • Posts: 18063
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #304: December 22, 2012, 04:22:41 PM »
Between the lockout he helped force in the NHL and this Wizards season, Ted is having a pretty wonderful winter.

Offline Tyler Durden

  • Posts: 7970
  • Leprechaun
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #305: December 22, 2012, 09:53:31 PM »
they made it respectable at the end but still lost again to the second-worst team in the league.  For much of the game, it looked like they were headed for another blowout loss.

Offline MarquisDeSade

  • Posts: 15101
  • Captain Sadness
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #306: December 23, 2012, 12:24:42 PM »
Between the lockout he helped force in the NHL and this Wizards season, Ted is having a pretty wonderful winter.

I hope I'm at the game when Randy Wittman finally has enough and sets himself on fire in front of Leonsis.

Offline Tyler Durden

  • Posts: 7970
  • Leprechaun
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #307: December 23, 2012, 04:51:01 PM »
lol.  I'm sure Ted will write about how that would still be a moral victory and part of the plan.  Us simple fans just don't understand the genius of the plan.

Offline OldChelsea

  • Posts: 8160
  • Nats Supporter in Exile
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #308: December 24, 2012, 12:19:06 PM »
Leonsis was at Saturday's match - sitting courtside next to the Wizards' bench as usual but not engaging with the people round him as usual - just staring straight ahead most of the time, amid an arena with maybe 12k actual attendance (whole 400-level sections sitting empty - on a Saturday night).

Two really dire pro basketball clubs, while his cash-cow hockey team is sidelined by lock-out...a very exciting sports venue is Verizon Centre in recent months.

Offline Tyler Durden

  • Posts: 7970
  • Leprechaun
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #309: December 27, 2012, 09:48:18 AM »
Anyone still watching?  They started a guy last night at point guard who was signed the day before.

Cut Mack, sign Pargo.  Pargo sucks.  Cut Pargo, sign Livingston.  Livingston sucks.  Cut Livingston, sign Mack and start him the next day.

Both recent lottery picks look like turds and the third is out indefinitely with an injury that has ended careers before.

In a break with basketball orthodoxy and the way in which substitutions are made and have been made for the past 30 years, the coach has decided to play every player on the roster for 12 minutes a game, broken up into 3 minute intervals.

There is an NBA team that has lost 16 games in a row and still has more than twice as many wins as the Wizards, thanks to the fact that they have beaten the Wizards twice already this year.

There is no plan.  There is only alternately flailing about wildly and then remaining flaccid as a dead fish might.  And the owner blathers on about continuity and the importance of staying positive.

Offline OldChelsea

  • Posts: 8160
  • Nats Supporter in Exile
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #310: December 27, 2012, 10:02:05 AM »
Anyone still watching?[...]

I didn't go last night (after 8 1/2 hours in an unheated office I really had no desire to wait for a Metrobus on a wet cold evening to watch our local NBA side mess up again); announced attendance was 13,846 which means the place was probably slightly over half full at best. And yesterday (like Wednesdays and Fridays generally) was a Student Rush night (discounted tickets for university students at rather attractive prices, which have drawn fair numbers in the past).

Combine that with this past Saturday vs Detroit ('Family Fun' promo for kids, again with vast banks of seats empty) and the supporter base is starting to dry up...even the college kids and young families are staying away now.

Offline Tyler Durden

  • Posts: 7970
  • Leprechaun
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #311: December 27, 2012, 10:49:54 AM »
Here is Leonsis on last night - he again misses the point completely and thinks it is matter of just hitting a few shots late in games rather than a complete overhaul of the way things are done and have been for the past several years. 

He notes that with Nene in the game, they were much better than the opposing team (that was without its best post player in Varejao).  How does he not note that without Nene, they were nearly 30 points worse in the 20 or so minutes that Nene did not play?  That is remarkably bad and should be an idictment of this (his)miserable roster of players.  But he clings to just 'hitting a few shots in crunch time.' 

http://www.tedstake.com/2012/12/27/not-knowing-how-to-win-close-ones/

-----------
NOT knowing how to win close ones
Posted on December 27, 2012 by Ted

Take a look at the box score from last night’s game.

The Wizards shot the ball well; and we rebounded well. And we had more assists, too.

With two call ups from the D league as our point guards – we moved the ball well and we ran much more; we were able to get some easy buckets. And with Nene in the game – we were a plus 25.

But we had twice the turn overs as the other team, 20 to 10 – and we were out shot at the free throw line by 5 points; and we lose by 3 points in another disheartening loss.

At crunch time – we don’t hit big shots – or we miss one of two free throws, or we make a turnover. Lots of little things add up to another game that was winnable; and turns into a loss.

We must turn close losses into close wins, to gain confidence.

The only sliver of good news is we seem to be on the mend with many of our injured players looking like they may be back in uniform and playing in January.

Offline HalfSmokes

  • Posts: 21606
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #312: December 27, 2012, 11:52:44 AM »
:lmao: they are the worst team in the league,  yes they're better with Nene in the game,  but the only reason that he's a wizard is his inability to stay healthy.  The last three lottery picks are giving the team nothing,  compare that to golden state- an equally young team that's actually competitive because they didn't Draft a shooting guard who can't shoot or a guy who vaguely reminded our gm of dirk (minus the skill) or a number 1 overall whose greatest attribute is speed (in a sport where speed barely matters). 

Offline Tyler Durden

  • Posts: 7970
  • Leprechaun
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #313: December 27, 2012, 12:04:37 PM »
Seriously - they are relying on an injury-prone Nene to keep them from being outscored by 50 points a game.  If Nene goes down, I don't think they will actually be outscored by 50 every game but consistently losing by 20 or more points is definitely a strong possibility.  All that stands between the Wizards and that kind of nightly embarrassment is the old and injury-prone Nene. 

Get real, Ted Leonsis.  Stop lying to yourself and stop lying to whatever fans remain of this team.  It's not a matter of confidence or getting a few breaks here and there.  This team is made up of terrible, terrible basketball players.  That is the problem.

Offline MarquisDeSade

  • Posts: 15101
  • Captain Sadness
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #314: December 27, 2012, 12:31:09 PM »
If Wall is out for the season (looking very likely) they won't win 10 games, probably not six if Nene goes down (also likely). That said, I still don't think this is the worst Wizards team, talent-wise, that title belongs to the 2010-11 team. 

Offline HalfSmokes

  • Posts: 21606
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #315: December 27, 2012, 12:41:36 PM »
I think Jan's presence bumps this team over the top

Offline OldChelsea

  • Posts: 8160
  • Nats Supporter in Exile
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #316: December 27, 2012, 12:47:49 PM »
Wizards are currently 3-23 (.115)...the records to watch:

Worst NBA record ever, any club - 9-73 by Philadelphia 76ers in 1972-73
Wizards worst record ever (82-fixture season) - 19-63 (.232) in 2000-01 and 2008-09
Wizards worst winning percentage ever - .225 (18-62) in 1961-62 debut season when they were the Chicago Packers
Wizards fewest wins ever - 18, in aforementioned 1961-62 season, also 1998-99 when they won 18 in a lock-out-shortened 50-fixture season

Offline Tyler Durden

  • Posts: 7970
  • Leprechaun
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #317: December 27, 2012, 12:52:02 PM »
What is also hilarious is that Ernie Grunfeld is still GM and, in theory, free to continue to make personnel decisions.  What if he decides he needs to shake things up further and makes another miserable trade?  Next year's first round draft pick for another solid veteran like Okafor or Ariza?  After all, this team is just a few breaks away and good health from fighting for a playoff spot if we are to take Ted's words at face value.

Offline HalfSmokes

  • Posts: 21606
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #318: December 27, 2012, 01:01:07 PM »
Aside from picks,  does this team have anything any other team would want?

Offline Tyler Durden

  • Posts: 7970
  • Leprechaun
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #319: December 27, 2012, 01:22:48 PM »
Nene would be useful on another team.  Okafor and Ariza could contribute to other teams.  Maybe Webster or Crawford. 

Grunfeld thought he was doing a good thing when he traded Rashard Lewis for two guys who could contribute in Okafor and Ariza even though they had longer contracts. 

Okafor and Ariza are decent players but adding decent players to a team full of crap players only gets you from 8 wins to 10 wins.  Doing that at the cost of removing any flexibility under the salary cap was a disastrously bad decision for a team full of crap players like the Wizards are.

If Ted really thinks that it's injuries or bad breaks that are the reasons for this mess, then there is every reason to think Grunfeld might have the lattitude to go out and make another trade.  Something useful (like an expiring contract - Rashart Lewis) for something marginally useful (Okafor) to add another win or two.  Another win or two does nothing to help the Wizards.  If the marginally useful piece has a long contract that takes up cap space, that actually hurts them.

Offline HalfSmokes

  • Posts: 21606
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #320: December 27, 2012, 01:26:14 PM »
Okafor and Ariza couldn't contribute to a good team with those contracts

Offline Tyler Durden

  • Posts: 7970
  • Leprechaun
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #321: December 27, 2012, 01:36:57 PM »
Sure they could - they could help the Spurs or Heat or Thunder win an extra game or two.  That might actually matter in the standings or in the playoffs to those teams and it would be worth the cost to them, both in terms of money and in flexibility under the salary cap.

Offline HalfSmokes

  • Posts: 21606
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #322: December 27, 2012, 01:43:25 PM »
Execpt the acquiring team would be on the hook for 21 million between the two of them for next year- most contending teams don't have that flexibility -  the heat certain don't

Offline Tyler Durden

  • Posts: 7970
  • Leprechaun
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #323: December 27, 2012, 01:50:00 PM »
I don't know who has that kind of flexibility or not.  Just throwing out examples of teams they could help.  Knicks, Hawks, Bulls, Nets, Lakers - any team where adding another win or two actually might matter in either getting them into the playoffs or advancing in the playoffs. 

The Wizards used their cap space and flexibility to go from 8 wins to 10, or 14 to 16, or whatever it will end up being.  It is something beyond poor decision making - it's almost like actively trying to make this team bad for multiple years. 

Offline HalfSmokes

  • Posts: 21606
Re: NBA Washington Wizards 2012-2013 Season
« Reply #324: December 27, 2012, 01:54:16 PM »
Isn't that the plan,  suck and get lottery balls?  Sure wall will be gone eventually and Jan is a whiff,  and Beal looks bad,  but eventually they have to pan out,  right?