Armchair Coaching, Scouting, etc thread.

[flash22]

Hello everyone,

I am a long time reader and a life long wizards fan. This seems to be the best place where I can post what I would do If I ran the team.

I think one move that could help this team is getting a scorer in the starting backcourt. To me there are two ways that the wizards can solve this problem.

A) They can trade for a gaurd. I really don't like this option mainly because there arn't alot of quality scoring guards on the market. Hinrick would be nice option because he can play both point guard and shooting guard. He would also be a nice complement to Arenas when he comes back and provide insurance for the often injured Arenas. The problem with Hinrich is his trade value. I would think that inorder to get Hinrick we would have to give up Blatche which I'm not ready to do. If Blatche continues to get in Jordan's doghouse and begins to regress as the season goes on I wouldn't mind seeing him involved in a trade for a more reliable player.

B) The wizards could premote Dixon or Young into the starting line up. This is the move that I would do. I think the wizards need a guard that the other team must atleast respect. Danials and Stevencen both can't create there own shots. I would bench one of them to put some extra kick into the linup. I think Dixon can run the offence well enough start and keep pressure on the defence. This way you still have young coming in later as a spark off the bench.

[doclinkin]

Welcome to your new home flash doubledeuce. Yeah as of today I want the JDix/Nick back court starting together, since the starting backcourt is absolute ass. I'm sour on the vets today.

[miller31time]

I third the Dixon/Young starting backcourt idea.

[flash22]

Honestly I don't think both of them should start. This team still needs some bence scoring and one of them must be a spark when coming into the game. I would happy with a Dixon/Deshawn backcourt but it appears more likely that we will see an AD/Young combo. Both options are better then what he have right now so we can only go up.

[nate33]

I worry about starting Dixon and Young because our bench would look like this:
AD, DS, DMac, DSong, Blatche

There is NO scoring in that lineup. It would be pathetic. Start Dixon, but keep Young on the 2nd unit. Young should be brought in with about 4 minutes left to go in the 1st and 3rd, and left in the game throughout the 2nd and 4th. Basically, he should get 30-32 minutes off the bench a la Manu Ginobili.

[doclinkin]

Utah game:

I loved the superbig line-up to finish the half:

DS2
N-One
Tawn
Dray
McGee

The Jazz had no idea what to do with it. Then it became:

DS2
CARON
Tawn
Dray
McGee

Huge, just really huge. I mentioned that when I bumped into bulletproof32 while waiting on a hotdog ('sup chris. Oh and thanx for tix forbes20). I dunno how often we'll see it, but nobody collapsed in the lane with all that size behind them. (Okay DeShawn did once but nobody made him pay).

NIck was much improved defensively he lost his man a few times on screens and motion inside the arc, but recovered well on a few potential open three pointers. Kid is long. With that much size out there the team doesn't have to work as hard to cover. Good to see that the team had success with it, a good glimpse of the future.

[bulletproof_32]

Hey, doc - Nice to meet you last night. I'm glad I got to finally put a face with the avatar. Sorry you didn't catch a 'rito and had to settle for one of the tasty 400 level dogs.

[pancakes3]

DS's vaunted defense is something that i have yet to see. He's screened off easily, not big enough to fight through the screen, not quick enough to go under. He also has a habit of doubling down on someone that doesn't warrant a double team. Statistically, in our games, the opposing 2-guard has been the leading scorer 4 out of the 7 times. The 3 times it wasn't the shooting guard was charlie bell (if michael redd wasn't injured he would've been a leading scorer for sure), pietrus (who had the 2nd most points behind Howard's triple double), and ronnie brewer - the one game we won. So I say DS brings little in the form of defense, at least defense good enough to warrant a starting position and offset given his less-than-stellar offensive output.

As of right now, 2 guards are outplaying DS - Dixon and Young. Dixon has made just as many threes as DS in half as many attempts - shooting a .467 from 3 land and also handing out 3.7 assists in 18 mpg. Good outside shooting and a willingness to give up the rock are key, and Dixon has the hot hand so why not feed it? We can bench him later if he can't sustain it for the time being, why not put biases aside and play him?

Nick Young, from the view point of a shooting guard is putting up 15 a game shooting 50% from the floor. That's efficient scoring. Putting up 15 a game on only 11 shots a game means he's getting to the line frequently, and also he's shooting at a fairly high clip. His outside shooting is suspect, but he doesn't force the shot and instead is playing to his strengths of slashing and pull-up jumpers.

[doclinkin]

We've heard the call for less Etan and more McGee, less Stevenson and more Nick One.

Well, tonight's MIA game saw a puny 9 minutes for Etan vs 27 for McGee; and 30+ mins for Nick, to 25 for DeSteve. Before the season that might have been an optimum expected ratio for players from the most optimistic backbench line-up fiddlers.

Of course Etan managed a neg 12 (+/-) in his scant minutes on court. DeShawn scored a -11 (vs +4 and +5 for their counterpart teammates).

Now the answer may well be zero minutes for Etan, and that seems to be the trend, as McGee takes more and more of his minutes in the middle. With Brendan back I doubt it's even an issue. As of right now there are alternative players at his position, Andray Blatche managed a +5 in only 17 minutes, Darius Songaila earned 7 minutes with -3 effect out of position. I like the big line with Dray plus McGee even if they don't score much and Dray is still trying to do it all by himself. I think he'd look better next to Darius, tough for Dray to be shown up by the rookie, seems not to pass to the Big Kid.

BUt in the other weak starter position: We now hear DS2 is dealing with a nerve/ligament injury in his knee. This may be EJ paving the way for even less DeShawn. When he shots and 0-fer that can't please hte offesnive sensibilities of this coach. Problem is we have few options for his back-up. We saw Caron at 2-guard again, posting up down low, not bad.

So: is that the preferred answer:
--No Etan, more McGee + Dray, and allow Darius to take more minutes at 4 to use Blatche at 5?
--More Nick Young, more Caron at 2-guard?

Got to say I do dislike the starting line-up, seems a non-starter and we always fight behind from a deficit. That's got to change. On the plus side, this team is clearly missing two types of player: a take-over ballhandling scorer and a defensive captain solid starting center. We've got scorers and role-players in every position, learning and earning heavier minutes and responsibilities. And we all know DS2 plays better when Gil is around.

One missing slot: reliable outside shooting roleplayer. RMjr, we miss ya buddy.

[jimij]

We've heard the call for less Etan and more McGee, less Stevenson and more Nick One.



So: is that the preferred answer:
--No Etan, more McGee + Dray, and allow Darius to take more minutes at 4 to use Blatche at 5?
--More Nick Young, more Caron at 2-guard?

Absolutely. I don't mind seeing DSong on the court but never in combination with AJ as the PF/C combo. As long as he's out there with either Dray or JMac we'd still have at least one guy on court who can try to alter/block shots and defend the rim. With Song at center, its a layup line for the opposing team.

McGee's minutes seem to be fairly decent currently whether he's starting or coming off the bench so I really don't care if he starts or Blatche starts, I just don't want to see Etan on my TV screen with the warm ups off.

As far as the guards, I'm not sure what the answer because without a healthy AD or Gil, we don't have a PG. As much as I'd like to put NY in the starting lineup, I still like seeing him as our primary scorer on the bench especially given Eddie Jordan's penchant for wholesale subtitutions in the second quarter (i.e. taking out AJ and CB at the same time).

At this point, I think we seriously need to see if we could trade the Memphis pick and Pech for a young backup point guard (Crittendon, Lowry, etc.). Also, I'd be tempted to cut McGuire or Dee Brown and bring back DeMar Johnson.

[jimij]

One other coaching thought - is it just me or should the Wizards never, ever play a zone defense again?

We're bad enough in preventing the three when we're playing man-to-man but even worse in a zone and unfortunately, IMO, we seem to give up even more offensive rebounds when we play zone since our guys are rotating (late) so much and thus don't have position.

[LyricalRico]

One other coaching thought - is it just me or should the Wizards never, ever play a zone defense again?

We're bad enough in preventing the three when we're playing man-to-man but even worse in a zone and unfortunately, IMO, we seem to give up even more offensive rebounds when we play zone since our guys are rotating (late) so much and thus don't have position.

No, it's not just you. It's pretty obvious to everyone. Well, everyone except whoever is calling the defenses.

[MJG]

My minutes idea:

PG: Dixon (24), Brown (8), Stevenson (8), Daniels (8)
SG: Young (36), Caron (6), Stevenson (6)
SF: Caron (30), Jamison (14), OPec (4)
PF: Jamison (22), Songaila (14), Blatche (10), OPec (2)
C: McGee (34), Blatche (8), OPec (6)

Okay, it's a little bit weird. Mainly, because I'm using OPec in there. But you know what? In his tiny number of minutes this year, he's shown that he can do some rebounding, and hit some threes. Yes, that's all he can do, but considering the state of our team, I'd like to give him a shot for something a little more regular. If he blows for two weeks straight, well, then he was no worse than Etan, and at least we tried something new.

I also jack up Young's and McGee's minutes to what is probably near there ceiling for the time being. I can't really think of any reason not to do this, unless you're worried that they'll hit a wall by the all-star break. Considering the way our season looks to be headed though, I'm not exactly concerned about keeping everyone fresh for the big playoff run.

The three-headed backup point is just my way of saying that we should throw one out there, and if he can't get the job done, then we'll try someone else later in the game.

This is also a big team generally, with no more Songaila at center, Jamison getting a good chunk of SF time, etc. Hopefully OPec getting a few minutes at center will fill EJ's interest in small ball; while he may not be that small, he does like to shoot from the outside, so that counts, right?

Rotation cuts include Etan (completely), Stevenson (minutes slice in half, give or take), and Daniels (downgraded to bit player, who could see DNP-CDs if one of the other points is having a decent game).

[pancakes3]

http://www.82games.com/0809/0809WAS1.HTM
trade blatche - songaila's our backup pf next season.

http://www.82games.com/0809/08WAS7.HTM
butler is capable of playing 2 guard*.

http://www.82games.com/0809/08WAS4.HTM
DS shoots 88% jumpshots, with 4% of them blocked at an anemic sub 400 eFG.

*i'm not too trusting of how they decide the "position" someone plays when they're on the floor.

[doclinkin]

I like the role that DMac has been playing these past two games as a starter. The Cavs jobbery overshadowed the McGuire stat line. Almost a double-double the hard way: 11 boards, 7 dimes. Like Rodman as a point forward. With a bit of perimeter defense.

That combined with a productive one-game output from our back court gave a really interesting glimpse at a possible future. CCJ/Hands will remember my resolute refusal to consider Caron at the 2-guard spot (okay especially before he slimmed up and quit the mountain dew) and my stubborn line drawn against an Etan+Haywood front court.

But I allowed as how the equation changes if we have Dray in the front court playing to his potential: passing, rebounding, hitting an occasional jumper. The passing being key to preserving the offensive skillset of a guy like Caron (2 dribble midrange game and power, but not creative off the dribble from above the elbow.) Caron can make hard cuts off the top of the key (the UCLA cut in the Princeton offense) and not have to bring the ball with him.

Dom adds the same sort of versatility. No big deal that he's not a scorer. Like I said when drafted, he brings everything Nick Young doesn't. This was what I was looking at in Dom's statistics coming out of college. Two quick key stats I look for in evaluating a player's 'game IQ' are assists and defensive boards. Assists show that in a critical split-second you know where your team is on court; similarly, defensive boards show that you know where the opponent is. Dom McGuire consistently ranked high in both.

On court with Caron, Tawn and eventually Gilbert (in the Mike James role) there's hardly enough offensive touches to go around. A glue guy like DMac as a double-double rebound-assist threat is a critical player, especially if he can give trouble on defense to opposing offensive talents. If he hits an occasional open jumper, fine-- or an outside three, great-- or if he can finish inside, perfect. But he can add that over the years, and until then he's still useful here like he wouldn't be on any other team.

Give him an alley oop threat like a fully developed JaVale McGee, and we've really got something special here.

[Pass_The_Sticks]

Crittenton/James
Butler/Young
Jamison/McGuire
Blatche/Songaila
McGee/Thomas

This season is over and we need to start playing our young guys.

[closg00]

I've been waiting for this type of lineup all-season, you would think a guy with as-much "experience: as Tap would have at-least tried it for at-least 10 minutes.

IBTL

[80sballboy]

I don't care if McGee starts. He hasn't earned it. Just play him 20 minutes off the bench. He ain't going to learn from all the DNP's and 3 mpg.

[JWizmentality]

I don't care if McGee starts. He hasn't earned it. Just play him 20 minutes off the bench. He ain't going to learn from all the DNP's and 3 mpg.

He didn't get 20mins as a starter. What makes you think he'll get that much from the bench?

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

I've been waiting for this type of lineup all-season, you would think a guy with as-much "experience: as Tap would have at-least tried it for at-least 10 minutes.

IBTL

And not only "experience". Experience in "player development".