Are People Sleeping on the Wizards?

[Erick Blasco]

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.

[Guest N4S]

No legit depth at point guard?

 

I think they have great depth at PG.

 

Most than most the teams in the east.

 

Foye

James

Crittenton

Arenas

[Erick Blasco]

No legit depth at point guard?

 

I think they have great depth at PG.

 

Most than most the teams in the east.

 

Foye

James

Crittenton

Arenas

 

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.

[deestillballin]

I reckon the Wizards will be able to either get the 4th, 5th or 6th seed this season.

 

 

Im going with5th, 4th at best. I dont seen them in the top three even with a healthy Gilbert

[Wall2Wall]

Erick, quit hating...god damn. Just because we have two PGs who can also play SG doesn't mean they're not PGs. GTFO with your basketball fundamentals and crap. In your opinion, basketball was at its finest in the 80s. We have a good damn team and they're going to perform well. We can finish as high as 1st, and as low as 7th...I'm predicting 4th.

[JWaLL]

Erick, quit hating...god damn. Just because we have two PGs who can also play SG doesn't mean they're not PGs. GTFO with your basketball fundamentals and crap. In your opinion, basketball was at its finest in the 80s. We have a good damn team and they're going to perform well. We can finish as high as 1st, and as low as 7th...I'm predicting 4th.

 

Exactly. Combo guard does not mean "incapable of playing the point", it means they are versatile guards who can be playmakers and score well. Foye and Arenas are both combo guards, not shooting guards in disguise. I can see us snagging the 4th seed easily.

[MainEv3nt]

Erick, quit hating...god damn. Just because we have two PGs who can also play SG doesn't mean they're not PGs. GTFO with your basketball fundamentals and crap. In your opinion, basketball was at its finest in the 80s. We have a good damn team and they're going to perform well. We can finish as high as 1st, and as low as 7th...I'm predicting 4th.

 

i was bout to type this. GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE GYULA

[KurbyFX]

ie' date='06 July 2009 - 01:18 AM' timestamp='1246857520' post='9932']

Obviously you've never seen Gilbert Arenas play.....or Caron Butler and Nick Young(work in progress) for that matter.

 

 

 

What are you talking about? Arenas has played with Butler and Jamison for 4 seasons now and Arenas' style of play has never been a problem for Butler or Jamison. If anything, Butler and Jamison are a lot better since they can shoot the 3 or drive to the rim off of Arenas' penetration and dish. The three of them together are almost unstoppable offensively and they only spread the defense out. Chemistry is not a problem whatsoever.

 

People tend to forget that the Wizards were first in the East for a little while in the 06-07 season when Gil dropping 50+ point games and buzzer beaters like it was nothing in December of 06 and January of 07. Matter fact, Eddie Jordan was named head coach of the Eastern Conference all-star team because they were first, but then injuries hit them. Jamison went down with a knee injury for a while, you guys know what happened to Gilbert and Butler was injured for the rest of the season because he hit his hand hard on the backboard going for the block. Since then, the Wizards have never really had a chance where they had a full season with their roster healthy. Plus with those injuries, it's only given more experience and playing time for guys like Dominic McGuire, Nick Young and Andray Blatche whose improved under gametime situations and they can really provide spark off the bench. Throw in proven veteran Mike Miller and the young Randy Foye and you EASILY have a top 4 seed.

 

The real question for the Wizards is whether or not they can play defense, at least when it really counts. That's been their problem every year and they can end up finishing on top of the Eastern Conference, but they won't get past the first round of the playoffs if they can't learn to play good, consistent defense. That's their real concern. Hopefully Flip Saunders will find a way to fix it.

 

I didn't realize you consider sitting on the bench/watching the game from the sidelines as 'playing with them'. The past 2 years, Arenas has been injured.

 

As you can see, Arenas only played 15 games the past 2 seasons:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/stats?playerId=974

 

Now let's look at Butler and Jamison's numbers:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/stats?playerId=385

Jamison has scored 21.4 PPG and 22.2 PPG the past 2 years. Both higher than the 2 years he played with Arenas. Yes, he struggled in terms of efficiency in 07-08 but that's because he needed time to gel without their oh so great 'play maker'. If you look at the numbers even closer, he actually took less shots than in 05-06. During that season, Jamison played in all 82 games and averaged 40 MPG.

 

Now let's look at Butler's numbers:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/stats?playerId=385

Butler set career PPG highs back-to-back year's without Arenas. He was just as efficient, if not better/improved in terms of FG%.

 

During the 07-08 campaign, both of them had 20-10 averages and this was playing without Arenas for the majority of the year.

 

Please explain to me how great Arenas is?

 

Just keep on telling yourself Arenas is a god because I don't believe it.

[KurbyFX]

No legit depth at point guard?

 

I think they have great depth at PG.

 

Most than most the teams in the east.

 

Foye

James

Crittenton

Arenas

 

They have no legit playmaker that finds teammates ahead of himself. Thus causing a problem in terms of overall team play. Foye is an undersized 2-guard, James is trigger happy and Crittenton will barely find play time. And then we have the infamous Arenas who loves to find his shot first before others.

[JWaLL]

I didn't realize you consider sitting on the bench/watching the game from the sidelines as 'playing with them'. The past 2 years, Arenas has been injured.

 

As you can see, Arenas only played 15 games the past 2 seasons:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/stats?playerId=974

 

Now let's look at Butler and Jamison's numbers:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/stats?playerId=385

Jamison has scored 21.4 PPG and 22.2 PPG the past 2 years. Both higher than the 2 years he played with Arenas. Yes, he struggled in terms of efficiency in 07-08 but that's because he needed time to gel without their oh so great 'play maker'. If you look at the numbers even closer, he actually took less shots than in 05-06. During that season, Jamison played in all 82 games and averaged 40 MPG.

 

Now let's look at Butler's numbers:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/stats?playerId=385

Butler set career PPG highs back-to-back year's without Arenas. He was just as efficient, if not better/improved in terms of FG%.

 

During the 07-08 campaign, both of them had 20-10 averages and this was playing without Arenas for the majority of the year.

 

Please explain to me how great Arenas is?

 

Just keep on telling yourself Arenas is a god because I don't believe it.

 

It's not like Arenas makes them worse. When you have a 3rd superstar, the other 2 aren't going to get as many scoring opportunities. You can't blame the awful season on only Haywood's absence. Arenas is a huge part of the team, and clearly they suffered without his presence.

[AboveLegit]

It's almost laughable seeing all the hate and predictions some of you all have for the Wizards.

 

They really don't need a traditional point guard. As it stands now, they have four players who have averaged over 4 assists a game recently (Butler, Foye, and Miller all did last season, Arenas is good for at least 6) and then you have McGuire who averaged over 3 assists as a starter and Crittenton averaged nearly 5 assists per36 last season. The Wizards are not hurting for ball movement, in fact the only player not adept at creating shots for others among the swing players is Young and when you consider the way Saunders runs his offense (which is close to the way that Jordan ran the Wizards offense), it would actually be a detriment to those to make them more one dimensional by adding a traditional point guard.

 

Heres a list of Eastern conference teams that I think could beat or matchup with the Wizards in a 7 game series...

 

Teams that would kill the Wizards in a 7 game series

Boston - Defense would destroy them

Cleveland - Defense would destroy them

Magic - both offense and defense would destroy them

 

Teams that could beat them

Atlanta - too much firepower and better ballhandling and defense

Chicago - defense would frustrate them all day long, but still, a pretty equal match up

 

Teams that matchup well with Washington

Miami - It depends on what the front office does, Wade stated he wants to see the Heat make the first move before signing an extension. If they add a huge asset, the Wizards have no shot.

Toronto - They got Hedo, but I still wouldn't consider them better than the Wizards. Calderon can't guard Arenas, Hedo can't guard Caron.

 

Teams they can beat

76ers - Their youth keep getting better. However, Miller seems on his way out, leaving them with only Lou Williams as the PG.

Detroit - not the team they were before, Wizards have too much offense for them

Charlotte - pretty even matchup. Charlotte would need to define its defensive identity finally to have a shot.

New Jersey - Not sure where they'll be, but I like Harris and Lopez together going forward. Its once again going to be a matter of defense for this team, and if they find an identity.

Indiana - Believe it or not, Hansbrough can really help this team get better, much like Battier did for Houston. If he can instill that psycho attitude in the minds of his teammates, and Granger gets even better, this team will continue to rise. That should scare Washington.

Milwaukee - This team has no chance against the Eastern conference squads.

New York - ditto, even if they do somehow land Rubio.

 

Overall it's going to be a very unpredictable season for us, though I see us being the fourth seed this year, anything can happen, and God forbid, if history repeats us, we will end up in the lottery again.

 

Of course, neither does the speculative "they play defense, so the Wizards are automatically doomed" theories. Cleveland's defense last season didn't seem to kill a broken down Wizards team that split the season series 2-2 (and almost won the first game in Cleveland). The Celtics vaunted defense when it was in top form two years ago couldn't best another hurt Wizards team as the Wizards took that series 3-1. So, it's not like the Wizards (with a number of players who have been together for several seasons now) haven't fared well against teams that people deem would "kill them."

Edited July 7, 2009 by Eastcoast Assassin

[KurbyFX]

You play 82 games. Not against matchable or unmatchable teams but the whole [expletive]ing league. Your post was irrelevant. No one is sleeping on something that isn't there. They are not the 4th best team in the East.

Edited July 8, 2009 by JediSkyWalker

[JWaLL]

You play 82 games. Not against matchable or unmatchable teams but the whole [expletive]ing league. Your post was irrelevant. No one is sleeping on something that isn't there. They are not the 4th best team in the East.

 

Well how would you rank the top 8 teams in the East? I see the Wizards as at least the 5th seeds.

[The Artesticle]

IMO Washington will finish 4th behind the big 3.

 

They also hired Flip Saunders, who isn't a slouch offensively.

Edited July 8, 2009 by phiLA

[Erick Blasco]

Erick, quit hating...god damn. Just because we have two PGs who can also play SG doesn't mean they're not PGs. GTFO with your basketball fundamentals and crap. In your opinion, basketball was at its finest in the 80s. We have a good damn team and they're going to perform well. We can finish as high as 1st, and as low as 7th...I'm predicting 4th.

 

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.

[AboveLegit]

You don't have two point guards capable of playing shooting guard, you have two shooting guards playing out of position at point guard.

Gibert's has been playing the Point Guard role since he entered the league, I don't see how you consider him a shooting guard right now. Gilbert has averaged 6 assists over his career, for someone averaging 25+ppg, that is damn good. He's played in the Princeton Offense since he came to D.C. obviously his assist total wouldn't be up to your standards, it's not a New Orleans Hornets type offense where Chris is the primary ball handler throughout the game, the Princeton Offense is all about screens, Arenas doesn't get the assists everytime down the court.

 

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?

Because Arenas has lead us past the first round before, with less talent? You overlook quite a few things here, your focusing the whole team around Gilbert, and totally neglecting Caron and Antawn, your argument lost all its credibility. The Lakers are over the salary cap as well, don't bring that up in the argument. They have a very good chance at winning a playoff series, what are you talking about? We are projected a 4th seed in the East, the likely hood of winning a playoff series is relatively high as compared to previous years. We have a chance at playing the Hawks, Bulls, etc, teams we match up to very nicely, and teams that we can beat. We won't be facing the upper echelon of Eastern Conference Teams, so I don't see how our playoff chances are low.

 

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.

Notice how you say past 4 years, and not the past 5 years where we actually made the playoffs and won a playoff series, with a less talented team. Now we are healthy, loaded with talent, and still obtain the chemistry we have had the past 5 years. So we lost to the Cavs, three travels, a few missed calls in their favor, and 3 playoff dismissals, two of which we didn't have our best player. Yeah...ok.

 

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.

It's obvious you didn't read my post, so I will repost it.

 

Teams that could beat them

Atlanta - too much firepower and better ballhandling and defense

Chicago - defense would frustrate them all day long, but still, a pretty equal match up

 

Teams that matchup well with Washington

Miami - It depends on what the front office does, Wade stated he wants to see the Heat make the first move before signing an extension. If they add a huge asset, the Wizards have no shot.

Toronto - They got Hedo, but I still wouldn't consider them better than the Wizards. Calderon can't guard Arenas, Hedo can't guard Caron.

 

Teams they can beat

76ers - Their youth keep getting better. However, Miller seems on his way out, leaving them with only Lou Williams as the PG.

Detroit - not the team they were before, Wizards have too much offense for them

[xx.]

They will be the 3rd or 4th seed in the east.

Lets relax now, don't go too far.

[KurbyFX]

Well how would you rank the top 8 teams in the East? I see the Wizards as at least the 5th seeds.

 

5th seed is fine. How is that even sleeping on them? You never know what Wade is going to do next season and Beasley and Chalmers will probably get better. They'll have O'Neal for a full season so that may affect the Wizards position as well.

 

The Hawks are probably the one to fall from the top just because of issues involving Smith and Woodson. You never know when these 2 are going to square off again and Hawks were trying to push hard for Amare.

[Erick Blasco]

Gibert's has been playing the Point Guard role since he entered the league, I don't see how you consider him a shooting guard right now. Gilbert has averaged 6 assists over his career, for someone averaging 25+ppg, that is damn good. He's played in the Princeton Offense since he came to D.C. obviously his assist total wouldn't be up to your standards, it's not a New Orleans Hornets type offense where Chris is the primary ball handler throughout the game, the Princeton Offense is all about screens, Arenas doesn't get the assists everytime down the court.

 

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.

 

Because Arenas has lead us past the first round before, with less talent? You overlook quite a few things here, your focusing the whole team around Gilbert, and totally neglecting Caron and Antawn, your argument lost all its credibility. The Lakers are over the salary cap as well, don't bring that up in the argument. They have a very good chance at winning a playoff series, what are you talking about? We are projected a 4th seed in the East, the likely hood of winning a playoff series is relatively high as compared to previous years. We have a chance at playing the Hawks, Bulls, etc, teams we match up to very nicely, and teams that we can beat. We won't be facing the upper echelon of Eastern Conference Teams, so I don't see how our playoff chances are low.

 

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.

 

Notice how you say past 4 years, and not the past 5 years where we actually made the playoffs and won a playoff series, with a less talented team. Now we are healthy, loaded with talent, and still obtain the chemistry we have had the past 5 years. So we lost to the Cavs, three travels, a few missed calls in their favor, and 3 playoff dismissals, two of which we didn't have our best player. Yeah...ok.

 

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.

 

It's obvious you didn't read my post, so I will repost it.

 

Teams that could beat them

Atlanta - too much firepower and better ballhandling and defense

Chicago - defense would frustrate them all day long, but still, a pretty equal match up

 

Teams that matchup well with Washington

Miami - It depends on what the front office does, Wade stated he wants to see the Heat make the first move before signing an extension. If they add a huge asset, the Wizards have no shot.

Toronto - They got Hedo, but I still wouldn't consider them better than the Wizards. Calderon can't guard Arenas, Hedo can't guard Caron.

 

Teams they can beat

76ers - Their youth keep getting better. However, Miller seems on his way out, leaving them with only Lou Williams as the PG.

Detroit - not the team they were before, Wizards have too much offense for them

 

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.

[AboveLegit]

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.

And your going to put that on Gilbert? How about setting the blame on the coach that got fired, Eddie Jordan and his offensive scheme, which didn't seem to pan out as planned in D.C. Arenas is our franchise player regardless, I don't understand the hatred you have for him. He's productive, averaged almost 30ppg only two years ago. He has had over a year in rehab, and now is resting over the summer. By next year, I'm sure he will be fine.

 

Do you have any evidence to back that up or are you going with the ignorant "well, he doesn't pass the ball so everyone must hate playing with him" route, which in and of itself is cliched and wrong? Also, Mike James isn't playing a minute for the Wizards (he's certainly not anywhere close to being a back up guard) and won't even be on the roster by the start of the season and I'd doubt that Stevenson gets much playing time over McGuire (who was effective as a starter last season), Young, and Crittenton. Although it's questionable if all five them are going to be on the roster at the start of the season, so it's hard to judge exactly where they likely finish up.

 

You're throwing out stats at me that mean absolutely nothing. I have watched the Wizards all 82 games the past 4 years, if anything is the problem, its the management and our history of coaches. Gilbert does everything for this team when healthy, he puts people in seats, he hits clutch shots, and most importantly, he is the best player on the team with the most talent, and the player opposing teams will double.

 

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.

And your going to blame us for getting swept? We played a healthy Miami Heat team that would lose in 7 games to the Pistons in the ECF. That is a Finals caliber team, with many of their pieces returning two years later to win a championship. Shaq averaged 22ppg and Wade averaged 24ppg, us losing to them in 4 games isn't strengthening your argument.

 

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.

Hamilton is being shopped, he is as good as done in Detroit. You're looking at one side of the court. Look on our side please. The Pistons just brought in the Cavaliers assistant coach as their new head coach, another offensive minded player. Who will guard Caron? Gilbert? Foye? Jamison? Jamison will drop 30 on Charlie V, he is much more skilled than Charlie is, even at this age. The Bad Boys are done, Detroit has made the transition to a more offensive oriented team.

 

We're the 4th best team in the East, not the Hawks whose best player JJ is marginally better than our 2nd-3rd option in Caron.

 

The Heat have horrible defense on the perimeter, Washington (with the amount of perimeter players and offensive firepower), would torch them on any given night, only another acquisition for a star player would change my mind about them.

 

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.

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.

 

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.

"The kids should improve" will have no effect on this match up, the Wizards have far more star power and depth than the heat, in a 7 game series, the Wizards will be too strong to overtake.

 

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.

Philly lost Andre Miller, and have not made any good acquisitions in the off season. They brought in a new head coach, who has no defensive mentality in Eddie Jordan, so who knows how this affects their game play. Iggy and butler cancel eachother out on both ends. Brand is coming off an injury as well, I hate to use injuries as a factor in my debate so I won't, but he is going up against Jamison, who in my opinion, will be hard to stop.

 

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.

If JJ goes down, the Hawks are a 30 win team at best. Take Iguodala off the Sixers, and they're lottery bound, same goes to Detroit, although I cannot clearly state who their star is, seeing as how their best player doesn't even fairly match up to the Wizards third best.

[His Greatness]

Philly lost Andre Miller, and have not made any good acquisitions in the off season. They brought in a new head coach, who has no defensive mentality in Eddie Jordan, so who knows how this affects their game play. Iggy and butler cancel eachother out on both ends. Brand is coming off an injury as well, I hate to use injuries as a factor in my debate so I won't, but he is going up against Jamison, who in my opinion, will be hard to stop.

First, there is no guarantee that Miller is gone, but if he is, we're assuredly getting some compensation for it through a sign-and-trade. We brought in Jason Kapono, Jrue Holiday, and Elton Brand—who thoroughly dominated you guys when he was healthy—is back.

[AboveLegit]

First, there is no guarantee that Miller is gone, but if he is, we're assuredly getting some compensation for it through a sign-and-trade. We brought in Jason Kapono, Jrue Holiday, and Elton Brand—who thoroughly dominated you guys when he was healthy—is back.

Well since everyone is using Gil's injured past as facts against him, I might as well do the same. Elton Brand is coming off an injury as well, there are no guarantees he will come back as his former self. Not to mention your best players is a little better than our second/third option, Caron Butler, so I don't see how you the Sixers are in favor from a match ups perspective.

[Warren2ThaG]

I'll sleep on them until they start McGee. He can be play like Amare'.

Edited July 9, 2009 by Warren2ThaG

[Flight]

I'm sleeping with Nick Young.

[His Greatness]

Well since everyone is using Gil's injured past as facts against him, I might as well do the same. Elton Brand is coming off an injury as well, there are no guarantees he will come back as his former self. Not to mention your best players is a little better than our second/third option, Caron Butler, so I don't see how you the Sixers are in favor from a match ups perspective.

We play defense.