Wednesday: Caps close the gap

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Andrew Struckmeyer

Source: Greg Fiume/Getty Images

The Caps followed up their impressive win over the Devils with a nice shutout of Southeast division foe (and leader) Carolina, winning 3-0. The first star of the game was Braden Holtby, a no-brainer after he made 33 saves to keep the Hurricanes off the score sheet. Holtby’s first-period breakaway stop on Alexander Semin (off a terrible, terrible mistake from Mike Green on the power play in the neutral zone) was the momentum-turner for this game. You could see Semin got way too hyped up and skated too close to Holtby before making his move. The young goaltender, on the other hand, kept his cool and didn’t panic and try to poke-check Semin (like he did in the Tampa Bay game a couple weeks back). He let the play come to him, and easily thwarted Semin’s attempt. Great stuff from the Caps goalie.

This game also saw a resurgence of sorts for Nick Backstrom. I’ll say it again: for as much has been written about Alex Ovechkin “slumping,” Nick Backstrom has been practically invisible on the ice. It makes me wonder whether he was really healthy when he returned from the KHL. It probably doesn’t help matters that he’s playing on a line without one of the Alexes (Ovechkin and Semin) for the first time in a long time. While Troy Brouwer and Eric Fehr have both had outstanding starts to the season, they don’t possess the same jaw-dropping raw talent as Semin or Ovechkin.

Still, a world-class center, as Backstrom has been, should be able to play through that. Short of playing with Joey Crabb and John Erskine on a line, Backstrom should be putting up points.

Well, last night Backstrom had a goal and an assist and was the game’s second star. The goal was a little flukie, as Mike Ribeiro just flung the puck at Backstrom in front of the net and it took a weird bounce off Backstrom and past Cam Ward (who was spectacular last night in defeat).

However, Backstrom showed the strong puck possession skills that have made him such a weapon over the past few years in the NHL. He was setting up his teammates, creating opportunities and couldn’t be pushed off the puck in the corners. The Caps need THIS Backstrom to show up the rest of the season.

Recaps: RMNB, JapersRink
Next game: tonight @ Philadelphia 7:30 PM ET/ 6:30 PM CT. Will be interesting to see whether Adam Oates continues to ride the hot hand in Holtby, even though it’s a back-to-back set.
Standings Update: Caps still sit tied for last place in the Eastern Conference, but only four points back of first place in the dreadful Southeast division.

Nationals: The Nats lost to the Braves 9-5 yesterday. Some notes from the box score:

Bryce Harper was 3-3 and is now 6-8 to start the spring. Looks like he is picking up right where he left off last fall.
Anthony Rendon was 2-4 and continues to scorch the ball this spring. I’m sticking to my prediction from yesterday
Ryan Perry gave up 5 runs in 1 2/3 innings pitched. It’s only spring training, but that’s not so good.

Perhaps more importantly is the news this morning that Javier Vazquez is NOT going to try and pitch in the major leagues this year, instead opting to stay in retirement. This takes away another possible depth signing for the Nats. Vazquez would have represented a significant step-up from Chris Young, who is probably the Nats current “sixth starter.” It’s even more significant now that Young is in the fold. Hopefully the Nats can stash him and/or Ross Ohlendorf at AAA for a good chunk of this season.

Wizards: Game tonight, vs. Detroit 7 PM ET/ 6 PM CT. Another opportunity for the Wizards to prove they can beat the middling teams in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards currently sit two games back of the Pistons in the standings, so this provides a nice opportunity to gain ground as well.

Friday roundup: Caps beat Lightning

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Andrew Struckmeyer

Bruce Bennett/ Getty Images

Let’s start the day off with the Caps victory over the Lightning. The Lightning are a truly pesky team, that has been a thorn in the side of the Caps over the years (never more so than their second-round playoff sweep a couple years ago). The team has a ton of talented players, from Martin St. Louis to Vinny Lecavalier to Steven Stamkos. That talent hasn’t translated into a hot start yet, but this team did beat the Caps on opening night, and the level of competition was a clear upgrade from the ragged Panthers team the Caps had beaten the last two games.

With that in mind, it was a really good victory for the Caps. For fifty minutes, they played their best hockey of the season, in my mind. The action was end-to-end, Caps hockey, but the Caps got the better of the exchanges. Most of the Lightning advances were harmlessly defused and led to odd-man breaks for the Caps forwards (and Mike Green who really jumped into the attack last night). It looked like the counter-punching style that head coach Adam Oates wants to play.

Then the Caps took their foot off the gas (to use the most tired of cliches), and allowed the Lightning to get back in the game, scoring twice and cutting the deficit to 4-3. It took a mad scramble at the end to stave off a heartbreaking loss.

Eric Fehr was the obvious star of this one, scoring two goals, one a grind-it-out goal and another a beautiful snipe-shot on a mini-breakaway. I think people forget that Fehr was once a first-round draft pick and top prospect for this organization. Obviously, he’s never going to be a superstar for a team. But it was another shrewd move by GMGM to pick up Fehr just before the season started. I don’t know if he’s ready for top-six playing time, as some have suggested, but he’s definitely a solid third-line option (seems like the Caps have a lot of those these days).

Alex Ovechkin was active offensively in the game, while being held without a goal. However, on Tampa Bay’s first goal, Ovechkin was lazy in his backcheck, allowing the Lightning to get a 3-on-2 advantage. He followed it up by standing around occupying space in front of the goalie, while the Lightning poked away at the puck and eventually scored. Great effort from the captain.

At this point my biggest concern for the Caps is that they’re going to be an average team. I think most can acknowledge that the worst position for franchise building is to continually be drafting in the 10-15 range. It’s the area right on the cusp of the playoffs, but good enough that you’re not acquiring top-notch talent to put you over the edge in the draft. Unfortunately, there is a legitimate possibility that both the Caps and the Wizards enter into this territory in 2013.

If the Caps turn it around this season and get in tune with Oates’ system, great. I’m all for winning. But, if not, let’s be real bad, ok? If the Caps go in that direction, here would be my plan of attack:

Trade Mike Ribeiro at the deadline.
Get a top-five pick in one of the best drafts in recent memory, according to experts. Draft Nathan MacKinnon or Seth Jones, if you can get one of the top two spots.
Bring Filip Forsberg over from Sweden at the start of the 2014 season
Bring Evgeny Kuznetsov over from Russia the INSTANT the 2014 Olympics are over
Allow Braden Holtby and Michal Neuvirth to work through their issues with playing time, and allow Philipp Grubauer to continue to develop at Hershey. Hopefully, one of these guys will seize the golden opportunity that has been placed in front of them.

At this point, you could have a forward lineup along the lines of:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Brouwer
Forsberg-MacKinnon-Kuznetsov
Ward-Laich-Chimera
Perrault-Beagle-Hendricks

That lineup looks a lot better to me, where you have third-line guys playing third-line roles, instead of first-line roles. This doesnt’t take into account potential return for Ribeiro, or possible (ok, doubftul) improvement from Marcus Johansson.

Hopefully, Dmitry Orlov will be helpful in 13 months, so your defense corps looks something like this:

Green-Alzner
Carlson-Orlov
Schilling-Kundratek

The goalie situation is basically the same, with one of Grubauer, Neuvirth and Holtby presumably saying, “Hey, I’d like to be a starting goalie in the NHL. That’d be cool, right?”

That looks like a pretty damn good team to me, and one that is sustainable for years to come. The only player who will be getting up there in age will be Joel Ward, who is 32 currently. But Joel Wards grow on trees (no, that’s NOT racist, you jerks). You can easily find someone to fill that role. Heck, maybe Tom Wilson is ready to take that spot. Everyone said he was going to be a project offensively when he was drafted, but Wilson has impressed so far this season, so much so that he earned an invite to Caps big-league camp this preseason.

And what did I do to get to this magical team? One year of tanking. That’s it! Again, that doesn’t even take into account potential return for Ribeiro. It’s just allowing GMGM’s smart draft moves to play out.

That’s one of the reasons that I think people who compare McPhee to Ernie Grunfeld are nuts. McPhee is constantly winning at the draft (Anton Gustafsson not withstanding). McPhee got Kuznetsov in the late first round, Holtby and Grubauer in the fourth round, Orlov in the second and the list goes on. Grunfeld is the opposite of that. The POLAR opposite of that.

(Another sneaky smart move of McPhee’s: acquiring Kundratek last year from the Rangers in exchange for Francois Bouchard. Kundratek is playing regularly for the Caps. Bouchard is in Europe somewhere. I’m telling you, this guy FLEECES other GMs when it comes to young prospects.)

Maybe none of this is even necessary and the Caps will keep playing like they have the past three games. But my point is that the Caps do have an extremely bright future if things don’t go their way this year. The only bad things that could happen to the Caps are:

They fall into the abyss of mediocre and finish like 9th in the East
GMGM, under pressure from Leonsis, under pressure from fans, is forced to blow up the team at the deadline
GMGM, under pressure from Leonsis, under pressure from fans, is forced to make a panic, buy-now move at the deadline, mortgaging the team’s future in the process.

But that probably won’t happen right?

Anyways, sorry for the rant.

Standings Update: the Caps (with 11 points) sit in a five-way tie (!!!) for last in the Eastern Conference. In the Southeast, they’re six points back of the first-place Hurricanes.

Other recaps of last night’s action from people better than I:

Wizards:

The Wizards are off for the all-star break, but that doesn’t mean that yesterday was uneventful day. Most of the action stemmed from agent David Falk slamming John Wall in comments made to the Post’s Mike Wise (troll harder, Mike).

My take: Falk’s comments were out of line to be said publicly, but not SO far from the truth. Don’t get me wrong, I love what John Wall has done for this team since his return. He’s a nice player to have, and certainly a monumental upgrade over A.J. Price.

However, a franchise player he is not. He has had trouble defending such offensive stalwarts as Isaiah Thomas and Will Bynum in the recent weeks. If the team gets in trouble, his go-to move is to dribble out-of-control and wildly throw up a shot in the lane, hoping he gets a foul call. That’s just not how franchise players get their teams out of a rut. If the Wizards are in trouble right now, Nene is the guy that the team looks to for the “run-stopping” basket.

I don’t think Falk fairly judged Ariza and Okafor. I think, being an agent, he fixated on their contract numbers and not their recent performance. Are these two living up to the massive amount of money owed to them? Of course not. But each has played a critical role in this team’s recent turnaround.

On Nene, how in the world does falk know he doesn’t want to be in Washington? Does he have some sort of wire-tap set-up in the locker room? That doesn’t seem to mesh with the guy who was sitting in the locker room after losses, taking the defeats personally.

Finally, it’s not earth-shattering that the rest of the roster (minus Bradley Beal) is a work in progress.

And now that I’ve finished evaluating the article, I’ve realized that the trolls won. Great. I guess I’m the troll-bait (something you would never want to be called in high school).

Standings Update: The Wizards are the third-worst team in the NBA, 11 games back of the eighth-place Bucks in the Eastern Conference.

Some relevant links:

Bullets Forever’s Jordan Crawford midseason report card ; Trevor Ariza

Nationals:

I love the beginning of spring training. I love the intimate access that players grant the media, and the pictures and videos that accompany this access. And if you want to get really fired up, read the first Boz column of the spring.

More interestingly, although along the same lines, was this column from Jon Paul Morosi about Strasburg wanting to be the lead donkey.

I think there is an important point, which was raised in last year’s divisional round, that this rotation just fits better personality-wise when Strasburg is at the top. He genuinely WANTS to be the lead dog. The guy that takes all of the pressure and then rises above and beyond the expectations (see, his Major League debut).

Gio is a happy-go-lucky guy, who didn’t quite fit the bulldog/ace mold last October. Similarly, I think Zimmermann and Detwiler fit better as No. 3 and 4, than 2 and 3. Hopefully, all will be right in the world (or at least the Nationals’ starting rotation, now that Strasburg is back at the top).

Wizards v. Sixers Recap

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Andrew Struckmeyer

Source: Brian Babineau/Getty Images

The Wizards got back to the business of losing last night, falling to the Philadelphia 76ers 92-84. This was the first time that they’ve lost two in a row since John Wall has returned. It also marked the first game that Bradley Beal has missed for his sore wrist. The Wizards committed far too many turnovers last night to expect to beat even a hapless team like the Sixers (of course, this is the pot calling the kettle black). A few observations from last night’s defeat:

John Wall’s lack of a three-point shot is debilitating for this offense. Many times last night, the ball was worked around effectively and led to an open shot, however, that shooter was Wall so all that work was effectively for naught. Wall has one of the ugliest three-point shots for a point guard in a recent memory and teams know it. Yes, his shooting percentage has improved appreciably over last season. I’m sure he spent a lot of time working on it in the offseason. But let’s not get carried away here: Wall has ONE shot he can consistently make, and that’s the move where he dribbles right, crosses over, stops and fades for a 20-footer. As Mr. Tony would say, That’s It. That’s the list.

He can’t hit a set shot. His mid-range runners and tear drops have been inept. And, as previously mentioned, his three-point shot inspires zero confidence. Add this on to the woeful defensive performance against the Kings Monday night, where little Isaiah Thomas dissected Wall to such a degree that Garrett Temple had to be called upon to guard Thomas in crunch-time, and it hasn’t been a particularly stellar week. I realize his mere presence on the basketball court makes this team better, opening up space for shooters like Beal (provided that he’s healthy) and Martell Webster (more on him in a bit), but the expectations for a franchise player should be higher.

Frankly, I don’t understand how someone can be in his third year in the league and still shoot so poorly. Shoot 1,000 jumpers a day in the off-season. If that doesn’t work, shoot 2,000. It worked for Jason Kidd. It worked for Derrick Rose. Why can’t it work for John Wall?

Martell Webster is the Wizards most consistent performer. Webster kept the team in the game last night with opportune three-pointers, just as it looked like the game was going to get out of reach. Webster has been shooting the lights out in January, knocking down three’s at a 41 percent clip this month. He’s also developed a great chemistry with fellow starters Nene and Emeka Okafor (and to a lesser extent Wall). He’s become more confident driving the ball to the basket, and most importantly he plays within himself more than the rest of this team. There aren’t very many times you can say this, but I’ll say it now: Great move, Ernie Grunfeld, getting Webster into D.C.

Kevin Seraphin appears to have regressed. Seraphin has become a black hole offensively, the big-man equivalent to Jordan Crawford. As soon as he gets it, you can bet it’s going up. While Seraphin certainly has a soft touch around the rim, and a decent medium-range jumper, this doesn’t justify the amount of shots that he’s taking. Seraphin is still awful at grabbing rebounds, blocking shots, playing defense or, you know, doing other big man things. And, as documented above, he doesn’t have a huge affinity for passing the ball.

A couple months ago, I thought Seraphin was a real building block for this team, a guy who you should be able to pencil in as a starter for a while. Now, I think he’s just a guy. A guy who can come off the bench and score some points, but that’s about it. Glad we spent the 17th overall pick on a second-unit player, Ernie. Although, boy, looking at the rest of that draft, there were not many other glowing options. But I digress.

Wizards travel to Memphis next for a match-up with the Rudy Gay-less Grizzlies on Friday. Tip time is 8 ET, 7 CT.

Goodbye to the Beast

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Andrew Struckmeyer

Source: Brad Mills/USA Today

The Nats made an inevitable move last week, trading outfielder Michael Morse in a three-team deal that netted the team prospect A.J. Cole (the centerpiece of the team’s package for Gio Gonzalez last year) as part of a package from the Oakland A’s. There simply was no room for Morse on this roster, with the acquisition of Denard Span and the re-signing of Adam LaRoche. The Nats made a smart move trading Morse now, as his trade value would likely diminish while sitting on the bench. The Nats have a player with a comparable skill set in Tyler Moore, and the team needed to replenish its minor-league pitching stock, having traded away Brad Peacock, Cole and Tommy Milone last off-season and Alex Meyer this off-season.

Cole comes with his share of question-marks, chiefly that he posted an ERA over seven during his time at high-A this past season. However, he was able to get it turned around at low-A, and presumably he’ll benefit from getting back with Washington’s instructors. More encouraging to me is the report that his velocity has returned to his high-school level, sitting in 94-95 range. You can’t teach velocity, boys and girls.

Morse was a fan favorite, and his rise from minor acquisition to star formed an indelible connection with this area. Perhaps that’s why we choose to overlook his defensive shortcomings, or the fact that he is a below-average baserunner.

That being said, guys who can hit .300/.350/.500 don’t grow on trees. Putting aside the LaRoche resigning and the Rafael Soriano deal, this offseason for the Nats really comes down to Michael Morse and Alex Meyer for Denard Span and A.J. Cole. Meyer is clearly a better prospect than Cole, and Morse is clearly capable of putting up larger offensive numbers than Span.

This set of trades then comes down to how much value to put on the other things that Span brings to the table: his speed, his ability to get on base, his centerfield defense, his table-setting ability at the top of the lineup. Is that really worth losing a slugger like Morse AND down-grading your top pitching prospect? On the face of it, I’m inclined to say no, but hey, what do I know?

Maybe Mike Rizzo knows something about Morse that we don’t. This is a player who has been suspended twice for PEDs, and has a long history of injury problems. He was due to be a free agent at the end of this year as well. If you’re going to “sell high,” now is the time to do it. I’m just not sure I would have done it for Denard Span.

Some good recaps of the deal:

Assorted Weekend Thoughts

I thought the Caps looked rusty in their opener against the Lightning Saturday night. There were a lot of bad penalties on both sides, likely a result of poor conditioning. Alex Ovechkin got off to a hot start, unloading a few blasts from the point on the power play in the first period, but wasn’t much of a factor after that (well, except for this bone-jarring hit). While the Caps defense didn’t do him any favors, Braden Holtby looked shaky in net, not displaying the swagger and confidence that defined him in last season’s postseason run.

On the plus side, the grinders appeared to pick up right where they left off last year: Joel Ward scored “lunch-pail” goals and Wotjek Wolski looked like a nice addition, frequently parking himself in front of the net. Unfortunately, in a game so dominated by the special-teams units, the third- and fourth-line guys didn’t have as much ice time as normal.

It’s just one game, but not a particularly auspicious start for head coach Adam Oates.

The Wizards, on the other hand, continue to show marked improvement since John Wall has returned to the court. Wall missed a pair of free throws at the end of the Kings game last Wednesday that would have given the Wizards the lead, but otherwise played a solid game. If Wall really wants to be considered in that elite category of point guards (with players like Kyrie Irving and Ricky Rubio), he’ll need to make clutch shots like that.

Wall, however, responded with an even better effort Saturday night, keeping the team in a hotly-contested battle with the Clippers. Sure, the Wizards would like to come away with a few more “W’s” than they have so far on this road trip, but the team hasn’t been blown out yet, and that’s an encouraging sign. Honestly, the first thing that I check after a Wizards game is Bradley Beal and Wall’s box-score lines, anyways. At this point, those two’s development is more important than anything else that takes place the rest of the season.

Wizards v. Magic recap

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Andrew Struckmeyer

Source: John McDonnell/ Washington Post

Fire up the bandwagon, the Wizards have won three in a row! The team continued its strong play of late, again sparked by the presence of John Wall in the line-up and beat the Magic thoroughly and convincingly last night. While it’s easy to say the Wizards “winning streak” is so small that’s insignificant and that the Magic are one of the worst teams in the league, any type of win means something for the Wizards right now. The team really does look so much better now that Wall is back, even though he is playing around 20 minutes a night. Some thoughts from last night’s game (I was able to catch the second half. One half of basketball is plenty of Wizards basketball right now):

Jan Vesely looked like a real NBA player- The confidence alone that Vesely played with last night was an encouraging sign. Vesely made several nice passes with the ball in the paint, and did a good job boxing-out and grabbing defensive boards. He also had an impressive alley-oop and just missed on another. It looked like he was trying to take out all the anger he had boiled up from early-season criticism on the basket. I don’t think Vesely will live up to his status as the No. 6 overall pick in the draft, but last night makes you think that he will at least be able to stick in the league as an eighth man or so off the bench. He can play 15-20 minutes a night, grab some rebounds, hustle, play intelligently and throw down some highlight-reel dunks. Not what Wizards fans were hoping for, but certainly better than what Vesely looked like a couple weeks ago. Can it really be that simple that John Wall alone has somehow resurrected Vesely from the grave? I think increased minutes over the past few weeks has had a big impact as well, helping to instill some confidence in Vesely (although coming at the expense of Chris Singleton who is now firmly in Randy Wittman’s doghouse). I’d like to see Wittman set Vesely into a specific role and let him get used to playing for certain amounts of time each night.
Bradley Beal continuing his hot January- Another Wizard who has really turned it around lately is Bradley Beal. Beal looks infinitely more confident now than the did at the start of the season, and it shows in his statistics. Not only are his points per game up, but his shooting percentages are rising as well. He’s rebounding the ball well (which was one of his strong points in college) and he’s playing within himself. The Wizards are running more plays for Beal, but he didn’t rush anything last night, taking open shots when the opportunity presented itself, but also content to find an open teammate when he attracted defenders (which he is starting to do more and more often). Beal is also a tremendous player in the open-court, although maybe not when he’s the one responsible for bringing the ball down the floor.The last few games are just more evidence that the Wiz should not include him in a deal for Rudy Gay.
John Wall works best as a facilitator- I think sometimes people forget that during Wall’s only year at Kentucky, he had a lot of great options around him: DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson and Eric Bledsoe to name a few. Wall thrived as just one of the focal points of the offense. He got his 16 points per game, but more importantly he got over six assists per game. I think this is the role that suits Wall best. When he doesn’t have to do it all, and can either set-up his teammates or take an open-jumper if the defense gives it to him, he’s operating at his best (and his jumper hasn’t looked terrible so far!). Of course, this is easier said than done when you’re playing with the complementary talent supplied by the Wizards, but for one night at least, Wall seemed to slip into the perfect role.

I realize this is a little-bit rosy-colored for a team that has the worst record in the league, but hey, gotta enjoy every victory. For those of you looking for more doom and gloom, the Wizards head out west now, so it’s a good bet that I’ll be back to ripping them soon!

Ramifications from John Wall’s return

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Andrew Struckmeyer

Source: Brian Babineau/Getty Images

It seems likely that Saturday will be the season debut for the Wizards’ best player, John Wall. Wall has missed the entire season so far with a knee injury, one factor in the Wizards holding the league’s worst record. While no one is expecting the Wiz to suddenly become a good team, there are reasonable hopes that the Wiz can at least be respectable with Wall in the lineup. After all, if that’s NOT the case, doesn’t everything Ernie Grunfeld did this off-season (shipping out Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee, Rashard Lewis and bring in Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor) qualify as a failure? This team was supposed to be built to be able to contend for a playoff spot, when healthy. If the Wizards can’t play, say, .450 basketball with their completely healthy lineup (which is a LOW bar), then Grunfeld has failed.

There’s another issue in my mind: do we, as Wizards fans, WANT this team to rally to mediocrity or even league-average play? If the Wiz go on a winning streak now, they will ruin their chances at getting the No. 1 overall pick (admittedly, this is a weak NBA draft class, but you’d still rather be picking 1 than 7!). Ted Leonsis can justify Grunfeld’s moves and chalk the Wizards’ failures so far up to nothing more than injuries, and nothing will change in D.C.

I’m not suggesting that this team start tanking. I’m just saying that there are more important results now than wins and losses. I want to see how Bradley Beal and Wall co-exist in the backcourt for the first time. Beal has turned it on lately, shooting over 50 percent on three-pointers in the month of January. Presumably, having a lightning-quick point guard who can break down defenses (as opposed to, you know, Shelvin Mack and A.J. Price) will only help Beal in getting open looks. This time should be an important evaluation period to see just how good of a knock-down shooter Beal can be.

A number of other young players on the roster have been supposedly put on this roster for the sole purpose of playing off of Wall. Guys like Jan Vesely and Trevor Booker, in theory, should see their performance dramatically increase with the return of Wall because it should allow them to get out in transition and run the floor. Chris Singleton probably falls into this category, as well, if he can ever find his way out of Randy Wittman’s doghouse.

And then, of course, there is the man himself. While it would be wonderful for Wall to make all of the other average (that’s being kind) players around him better, most importantly is seeing what kind of Wall is coming back. First and foremost, has he truly recovered from the knee injury? Does he have the explosion and burst that he came into the league with? Is he in basketball shape, or has he just been eating pizzas and getting fat all off-season as it appears?

And then there’s the question of what has he done to improve his game? Has he watched film and realized that he can’t always go a million miles an hour? That someone like Chris Paul is so effective not because of his straight-line speed but because of how he is able to change speeds? Has he worked on his jumper to the point where defenses have to respect it?

The Wizards are fast approaching the time when they’ll need to make a decision on whether Wall is a max contract player. How he responds from this injury will tell us a lot. A franchise player wouldn’t allow himself to get fat and out of shape during an injury. A franchise player would take advantage of the time off to find another way to better his game. A franchise player would learn more about his teammates during the time away from the floor, and be able to get more out of them upon his return, based on this knowledge.

In many ways, the rest of this season is going to be a judgment on John Wall. This is supposedly his team. Let’s see it now. For all the eye-rolling and head-shaking Wall did during his time on the bench, now it’s his turn to step up to the plate. Let’s see what you got.

Wizards botch potential Harden trade

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Andrew Struckmeyer

This could have been the Wizards shooting guard this year. Could being the key word.

Instructions: Read this article. Let fury build. Good? Now let’s talk.

As you can probably tell, I’m not happy about this story. It’s not shocking though, because there were rumors around draft-time about how much the Thunder wanted Beal and about how Harden might be the bait. It’s also not shocking the Wizards turned the deal down. That’s because Ted Leonsis keeps running this team like it’s a hockey team. Like he can cobble together ANY collection of young players and they’ll develop together and grow into a super-team. Well, basketball just doesn’t work that way. In basketball, it’s whoever has the best player. The collection of surrounding talent doesn’t matter nearly as much. Depth doesn’t matter nearly as much, considering your star players can play 90-95 percent of the game. Contrast that to hockey where in an extreme situation, a star player can play 50 percent of the game. So, if Leonsis is approaching this whole “Wizards thing” from the perspective of a hockey owner, it makes sense why he would want to hold onto two young, affordable pieces (Beal and Singleton) over one great piece (Harden).

I’m astonished, though, that Ernie Grunfeld wasn’t screaming, pounding on a desk that making the trade was the right thing to do. Maybe it’s because he had sufficiently handicapped the team already with the bad contracts of Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor that he didn’t want to suggest to Leonsis paying the luxury tax next season.

I don’t know what the reasoning or explanation is, but I’m sick of it. If this failed trade illustrates one thing, it’s that there ARE legitimate opportunities out there for teams in the bottom of the NBA to improve. That’s what the lottery can do for you. But the Wizards continue to swat these opportunities at improvement away!

If Grunfeld didn’t like this trade on basketball reasons alone, that’s even more damning. Beal has a chance to be a pretty good player in this league. Probably not a star, but a good player nonetheless. Singleton is a nice rotational player. Harden, conservatively, is a top-15 player right NOW in the league! And he’s young. And he’s a reason John Wall might want to stick around past 2014 (Quick side-note: Cut it out with the eye-rolling and general apathy on the bench, John. We know this team isn’t any good, but it’s not like your God’s gift to basketball either. Keep it to yourself until you can get back out there and actually justify being the No. 1 overall pick in the draft).

If you haven’t picked up on it by now, there’s not a great direction to this post, other than directing anger at the Wizards front office for making the fans continue to watch a wretched product on the court and for continuing to set the franchise back. What’s the Wizards motto? New Traditions? How about Continuous Rebuilding? I think that one seems more apt. This is just another example. The sad thing is when I read this story, I didn’t throw a chair and shout and scream. Nope, I reserve that for teams that I actually expect something out of. I just sighed and went on watching the Wiz beat the Hornets (woooo!). Another day in the life of a Wizards fan.

Wizards v. Hornets Recap

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Andrew Struckmeyer

The Wizards new starting point guard

The Wizards won a road game last night for the first time this season, beating the New Orleans Hornets 77-70. This was a brutal rockfight of a game, as the score indicates. The Wizards trailed for most of the game, but kept the deficit relatively close. I assumed they would employ Wizards Standard Operating Procedure and fold sometime in the second half, but this team continued to battle and was the stronger team in the fourth quarter.

Here are a few of my takeaways, with my ever-present caveat that these are probably generalizations based on one game, because if I had to watch every second of every Wizards game, I’d be on suicide watch (sorry Buck and Phil, you guys SHOULD be getting hazard pay).

The Jordan Crawford point guard experience- With A.J. Price joining John Wall on the inactive list, the Wizards have turned to Jordan Crawford as their starting point guard. This is an interesting decision, considering that Crawford doens’t like to pass the ball. However, the Wiz don’t really have any other option at this point, and it’s better than stunting Bradley Beal’s development by forcing him to play that role. Crawford, as we all know can hit shots from anywhere on the court, often in ridiculous fashion. However, playing Crawford over 40 minutes (as they did last night), makes him even more of a liability on the defensive end. On one particular play, Crawford made a great shot at the offensive end, then the camera followed him as he jogged back on defense. Meanwhile, the guy he was guarding didn’t even have to race down the floor, but move at a steady tempo, and he dribbled by Crawford for an easy layup. It’s this kind of play why Crawford isn’t a complete player at the NBA level. While he may be a terrific scorer, that’s about all he brings to the table. Another consequence of Crawford playing the point (and no one else on the Wizards being able to hit a shot) was the fourth quarter offense became Crawford chucking ridiculous shots (some of which went in and were the reason the Wizards won the game). The team wasn’t able to run any offensive sets, and Crawford didn’t seem particularly interested in setting anyone else up. Long-term, that’s just not the way teams win a lot of game.
Vesely Clueless on Defense- I don’t want to spend too much time on this because, well, Jan Vesely doesn’t spend too much time in the game, but considering Vesely actually made an appearance last night, it warrants saying: Vesely defense may have regressed since last year. While he is still tall, lanky and has good mobility, he didn’t play with a lot of basketball acumen last night (a player with a low basketball IQ on the Wizards? NO, that’s impossible!). Vesely was matched-up with Hornets sharpshooter Ryan Anderson, who, while he isn’t your stereotypical white guy who can ONLY shoot threes, certainly makes most of his money from beyond the arc. So of course Vesely played off of Anderson and allowed him to rain threes down on the Wizards. Of course Vesely didn’t play to his strengths (lateral quickness and athleticism). And, just to complete the night, Vesely did airball another free throw. The No. 6 overall pick, ladies and gentleman
The Seraphin and Nene combo was stellar- It’s really a joy to watch these guys play together. Both are skilled big men who can pass and finish around the rim, and they’re starting to learn how to coexist on the court. On multiple occasions last night, the two ran great high-low action resulting in an easy basket. It would be really encouraging to see this sort of thing continue. Seraphin still has to figure out how to deal with a double-team, but with Nene on the floor at the same time, it makes this team significantly more dangerous on the offensive end. Quick sidenote, I thought Nene was a beast on the glass last night as well (he finished with 10 rebounds in just 20 minutes). Having not seen a TON of Nene playing, I didn’t realize what a bull he can be down low. I thought his game was more perimeter-based, but he can really go down low and muscle people out when he needs to. It was impressive stuff last night.

Another game tonight against the Rockets and James Harden (who the Wizards could have had?! More on that upcoming). One last note: Anthony Davis is a beast. But you already knew that didn’t you?

Wizards v. Mavs Recap

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Andrew Struckmeyer

I put the ball in the basket

Wednesday night provided yet another opportunity to for the Wizards to record a win (apparently, there are 82 of said opportunities on the schedule). Not surprisingly, the Wizards failed in their bid to make a dent in the ole Win column, making them the lone winless team in the NBA. The Wiz played the Mavericks even in the first quarter, struggled and fell behind by 20 points and then rallied to make it a game in the closing minutes before, of course, folding. Jordan Crawford led the team in scoring in one of his better games so far this season. On to a few thoughts from the game:

The Wizards offense should run through Kevin Seraphin- When Seraphin is in the game (remember, Randy Wittman still has Seraphin playing second-fiddle to Emeka Okafor), the offense should start with a dump-down to Seraphin in the post. Or maybe a pick-and-roll with Seraphin in the high post. The point is, Seraphin is proven so far this season that he is someone opposing defenses actually have to respect. The same can be said for exactly ZERO other Wizards players. Heck, the mighty Boston Celtics defense had to throw a double-team Seraphin’s way to slow him down. Not only are Seraphin’s shots from the low-post a high-percentage play for the Wizards, they should serve to spread the floor. In theory, if the Wizards possessed any knock-shooters on their roster, this would allow open looks and good chances to make some uncontested threes. Baby steps.
Another side effect of the Jordan Crawford offense- We all know that JCraw hasn’t met a shot he doesn’t like. We all know that he will heave a shot at a moment’s notice, without any semblance of running “offense.” But I’m not here to complain about that, because Crawford has a remarkable ability to make those awful shots and, quite frankly, the Wizards don’t have any BETTER options. However, what I would like to complain about is how much time Crawford spends dribbling on a given possession. If given the ball at the top of the arc, Crawford will proceed to dribble half of the shot clock away, forcing either him or one of his teammates into a low-percentage opportunity. It’s frustrating to watch as a fan, and I have to imagine it’s even more frustrating to watch as a teammates/coach. The idea that Crawford could ever play even one minute as a point guard in this league is thus ridiculous. It sounds simple and like something that should be fixable, but I don’t think Crawford has the DRIBBLING ability to play the point. How many times have we seen him get his pocket picked on one of his dribbling exhibitions? It’s maddening. I like Crawford’s work off of the bench and his instant offense, but it would be great if he could not suck the life out of everyone’e game in the process.
Jannero Pargo took the most important shot in this game- That’s right. Jannero Pargo. The guy the Wizards picked up about, oh, two days before the start of training camp. The guy who has been DREADFUL through this first stretch of the season. The guy who is now no longer on the Wizards. The Wizards are down three with about a minute to play, they finally get a defensive stop AND a defensive rebound (who knew you were allowed to do both at the same time) and they get the ball downcourt. The ball swings to Pargo who instead of continuing to swing the ball or really, just do anything else, takes a contested fall-away three-pointer. You have GOT to be kidding me. If I were Randy Wittman, it would have taken every ounce of self-control in my body to avoid leaping off the bench then and there and physically removing Pargo from the game. On a related note, how bad was Shelvin Mack that he lost his job to THIS guy? Let’s get ready for Shaun Livingston!

Assorted Wizards Thoughts

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Andrew Struckmeyer

Your starting point guard for the foreseeable future

Friday night, I sat down to watch my first full Wizards game of the season, against the Milwaukee Bucks. I thought this was an interesting match-up because, entering the season, the optimistic Wizards fan would say that this Bucks team is the type of team that the Wizards would compete with for one of the last playoff spots. The two teams would slot somewhere in the 7-10 range in the Eastern Conference. Of course, this was before we learned that Nene and John Wall would be out indefinitely, but it was still an interesting match-up in my mind. That being said, I had a few take-aways from this game, as the Wizards continue their search for their first win of the season.

This team plays hard- I know this is something of a cop-out: they’re a professional basketball team, they SHOULD play hard. That should be a given. Well, it certainly wasn’t last year. I know this is the baby step of all baby steps, but, as a fan, it’s an important one. The Wizards of last year would have completely fallen apart after they blew their early lead in the first quarter. This Wizards team continued to fight and try to chip away at the Bucks lead throughout the game. Even in the final two minutes, the Wizards staged a mini-rally when it appeared that hope was lost. And when hope WAS finally lost, the Wizards still battled: Bradley Beal committed a hard foul on Monta Ellis, preventing an easy lay-up. Brandon Jennings flipped out afterwards and a small melee ensued, but I couldn’t be happier about that foul. That says that, no matter what, this team is going to continue to scratch and claw. I really like that attitude from Beal and the entire team.
A.J. Price doesn’t seem like a great fit for this team- I know that Price had a solid game the next night in Indiana, but I couldn’t help but think that Price was a square peg in a round hole Friday night. This team was built to play up-tempo, fast-break basketball with John Wall. Price is a shoot-first, half-court point guard. He doesn’t do a tremendous job of creating off the pick-and-roll and getting his teammates open looks. He has this floating tear-drop shot that is passable. He is a decent long-distance shooter. None of these things are what the Wizards need. Trevor Booker’s ability to beat everyone down the court is wasted if your point is guard is sauntering up the court. Please get back John Wall. Quick sub-point: I don’t want to spend too much time on this, BUT, it has to be addressed. Jannero Pargo was absolutely AWFUL in relief of Price. He couldn’t run the offense (turnovers galore), couldn’t shoot and couldn’t play defense on the opposing point guard because he’s just too small (and it’s not like Milwaukee has the biggest guards in the league by any stretch). To repeat: Please get back John Wall.
Emeka Okafor is a dainty center offensively- Okafor had his best game as a Wizard Friday night, which isn’t really saying much. He was force at the defensive end, and accumulated some points at the offensive end as well. However, I couldn’t help but notice that Okafor’s offensive game resembles something like that of Christian Laettner’s. He can pop out and hit a 15-footer, which is nice. But anytime the ball was dumped down to him on the block or underneath the hoop, Okafor’s shot was either errant or rejected. This is our starting center. It looks to me that Okafor doesn’t have the height/elevation to really be a force in the paint, which is disappointing.

Lightning-round thoughts:

Jan Vesely is still very much a work in progress (that’s the kindest way I could think of to say it. I should get a Christmas card from Vesely for that phrasing). Great work on that pick Ernie
Bradley Beal has been inconsistent this year, but when he has turned it on, he has been exciting. Remember that he is VERY young for a rookie.
Chris Singleton is a lot more active this year. He’s playing with more confidence and it shows in the results. He’s improving.
I wasn’t actively offended by Trevor Ariza’s game Friday night. From what I’ve read about the other Wizards games this season, that’s an improvement.

I don’t want to draw too many more conclusions based on just one real game, but those were the things that jumped out to me. Let me know what you guys think.

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