[local_sportsfan]

Im tellin you BCH....Etan Thomas is a goner. Tonight would have been a perfect night for him to get some PT, because the Wiz were lacking in "interior toughness" as Collins put it in the postgame conference. However instead of Etan, he opts for that ol dirty ******* Charles Oakley (who surprisingly came up big).

As for this game, I take nothing from it. Our young players played badly, and our offense is still pathetic. Someone needs to teach Haywood and Kwame how to set screens...it makes me realize how important Pop was, because he did the little things well like setting screens.

[BCH]

I am sure Haywood is so gunshy from averaging one offensive foul a game from setting a screen. WHat gets me is that on one play tonight stockton goes across the lane with forearms raised, grabbing the defender as he makes contact, allowing Malone to get an easy basket.

I wouldn't write off Etan just yet. Jeffries is going to move to SF eventually and Etan will be needed to play. Maybe crap Laettner is getting featured so we can trade him. I don't think the best way to trade Etan would be to have him ride pine.

[MikeDC]

As usual, I totally missed the game, but on the way home from class I heard Coach positively slobbering over Oak.

I must admit to thinking almost exactly what BCH said.... wow, Oak won one for us.

I don't know that Etan's gone, but his lack of burn is kind of puzzling.

[NorthEast Wiz]

Boy, Collins seems to be always a step or two late with his substitutions. When I saw that line-up with Jeffries at center I knew we were going to get killed. Lue played well but he took Hughes out very early in the first quarter when he was playing great and handling Stock.

Anyway it was a good win and this is how I see Oak helping us. The crowd knew we needed Oak because they went crazy when he got off the bench.

L8's 5 million did nothing.

[Wizards1]

Originally posted by Wizards1!
Well I hope Washington wins One thing I've noticed is, I think they need a defensive specialist or someone who is in the line up strictly for defense. It seems when the Wizards give up some points they give it up very quickly and then have to play catch up like last night Charles Oakly is good at defense but he is getting old. Anyway I hope the Wiz take out Utah. I think they're on TNT with EJ, Kenny, and Charles thursday night

Well I said they needed defensive help and Oakley delivered

[LAWizards]

I totally agree with BCH. Collins should relax a little and play Haywood and Brown. I don't know why Collins is always in a rush to sit Haywood and go to a small lineup. I thought Haywood played real well last night- he has an impact on the defensive end. Also, it would be nice if they ran an offense as opposed to just letting Stackhouse, Jordan, and Lue work for jump shots. Did you notice how many times the Jazz scored on cuts to the basket? I wish Stack and Jordan would try to get the big guys involved; I also wish Kwame wasn't afraid of taking contested jump shots in the paint. He's so afraid of getting blocked and throws up outrageous-looking shots. You're 6'11"- just rise up and shoot the jumper if you get the ball in the paint.

[jazzy1]

Originally posted by NorthEast Wiz!
Boy, Collins seems to be always a step or two late with his substitutions. When I saw that line-up with Jeffries at center I knew we were going to get killed. Lue played well but he took Hughes out very early in the first quarter when he was playing great and handling Stock.

Anyway it was a good win and this is how I see Oak helping us. The crowd knew we needed Oak because they went crazy when he got off the bench.

L8's 5 million did nothing.

Boy do I agree with this Good Game only gonna be a couple like this all season the Jazz's experience was too much for our young guys tonight, when you play a team that passes and hits the boards like that the younger guys will struggle.

Kwame Brown- I've seen this coming for the last few games he's playing with no intensity and needs to step it up, Collins doesn't need to bench him though he needs to play him, he needs to play through bad play sometimes, Collins can't ride this kid he needs to back off, take his focus off of Kwame something he said he was going to do they can win despite the occasional laspes Brown suffers.

JJ- Game was too damn physical for him this worries me, he needs to either play sf or sit the pine he can't play the better pf's because of his lack of strength. He doesn't need to play Center either that is just silly.

Stack-I thought got the cheapest 25 points Ive ever seen he played bad he was hiding on the floor ofensively fortunate for him MJ got a couple lay-ups late because Stack had nothing, MEMO TO STACK THROW A DAMN PUMP FAKE SOMETIMES, He always just tries to either outquick or strength an opponent he needs to take a que from mJ's book. When people are running at you fake them and drive by them don't force a shot over flying defenders.

Oak- OAKLEY PLAYING LAST NIGHT WASN'T A GOOD THING, this gives Collins the perfect security blanket so anytime Kwame or the young guys struggle he'll play the Oakley at center small ball line-up, this doesn't work against younger more athletic teams, Popeye last year played under the assortment losing several games at the end because there was no shot blocking on the floor and teams got too many lay-ups outrunning the slower Jones in transition, I like it better when the young guys are forced to play and figure things out not when they're overly scrutininzed by Collins and readily subbed by Oakley TRUST ME THIS ISN'T A GOOD THING.

[JoeF]

I dont know if Collins chose the right personnel but the reason he went small was to matchup with the Jazz smaller lineup better. The Jazz' centers were completely ineffective and only played 32 minutes but the forwards played a combined 129 minutes. That means the Jazz went with three of Malone, AK, Harpring and Padgett up front for extended minutes.

[BCH]

Last night was the first sign to me that Collins is pulling in the reins a little on this team. Minutes for Kwame, Jeffries, and Hughes relatively low while Laettner gets a good amount of run while the Jazz are pushing back, and Oakley gets run to end the game. I thought Haywood was providing some stability on the boards and in the paint, yet Collins went away from it. There was mention that Kwame was told to get a hand up on Malone and his turnaround, which he did. When he was in the game he was active on defense and had a couple sequences when he altered or blocked a shot. Kwame right now is one of the only guys on our team that is doing that. Haywood can, but seems to be a step late on most occassions.

Collins needs to stick with something. Jordan had a lot of minutes last night, and maybe both he and Collins felt that it was a statement game. I sort of felt that way, after Utah made the comeback. There was a lot of emotion in that game for a regular season meeting.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but I think it speaks toward the future with how Collins handles certain situations. If he is unable to let go a little bit, then something needs to be done.

[BCH]

Originally posted by JoeF!
I dont know if Collins chose the right personnel but the reason he went small was to matchup with the Jazz smaller lineup better. The Jazz' centers were completely ineffective and only played 32 minutes but the forwards played a combined 129 minutes. That means the Jazz went with three of Malone, AK, Harpring and Padgett up front for extended minutes.

Malone is a true PF and the Wizards tried to stick Russell on him for some minutes in the end. Padgett went crazy on the boards last night in the fourth when we went small. AK47 is a very good rebounder as well. I can understand maybe taking out a Center at that point and going with two PFs, but just playing Oak in the middle is not the answer to that. Kwame should have been an answer, but by the time the 4th quarter rolled around Collins had take Kwame out of the potential mix, I don;t know if Kwame could have been out there, but we won and we won't know until the next time this situation arises.

[jazzy1]

Originally posted by BCH!
Last night was the first sign to me that Collins is pulling in the reins a little on this team. Minutes for Kwame, Jeffries, and Hughes relatively low while Laettner gets a good amount of run while the Jazz are pushing back, and Oakley gets run to end the game. I thought Haywood was providing some stability on the boards and in the paint, yet Collins went away from it. There was mention that Kwame was told to get a hand up on Malone and his turnaround, which he did. When he was in the game he was active on defense and had a couple sequences when he altered or blocked a shot. Kwame right now is one of the only guys on our team that is doing that. Haywood can, but seems to be a step late on most occassions.

Collins needs to stick with something. Jordan had a lot of minutes last night, and maybe both he and Collins felt that it was a statement game. I sort of felt that way, after Utah made the comeback. There was a lot of emotion in that game for a regular season meeting.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but I think it speaks toward the future with how Collins handles certain situations. If he is unable to let go a little bit, then something needs to be done.

I agree with this BCH I just think you have to let the young guys play through mistakes, I didn't mind what happened last night in him playing Oakley but Collins coaches in patterns and pulling the reins back on the young guys prematurly isn't a good pattern to form the mix of the team works with the youth and vets mixed but won't do anything for the future if they aren't allowed to grow.

AK47 is amazing this guys length and foot speed wreaked havoc all night he harrassed Stack into poor shooting ,they have quite a player in that kid he was my favorite rookie to watch last year.

[BCH]

I forgot to mention it, but Stackhouse played god awful last night for the most part. He hit his FTs but everywhere else, he just did not have it. He made Cheaney look good, and that is extremely hard to do.

I also love AK47. He is on my monitor closely list for this season.

[JoeF]

Originally posted by BCH!


Malone is a true PF and the Wizards tried to stick Russell on him for some minutes in the end. Padgett went crazy on the boards last night in the fourth when we went small. AK47 is a very good rebounder as well. I can understand maybe taking out a Center at that point and going with two PFs, but just playing Oak in the middle is not the answer to that. Kwame should have been an answer, but by the time the 4th quarter rolled around Collins had take Kwame out of the potential mix, I don;t know if Kwame could have been out there, but we won and we won't know until the next time this situation arises.

I don't think I would want to see Russell guard Malone or any other strong physical PF much if I were a Wiz fan but keep in mind Russell was a post player in college. He also guarded the PF occassionally when Utah went small and can do it for brief minutes. The one that sticks out in my mind is when he guarded Webber in the playoffs. I think it was in 99 when San Antonio won it all. He actually did a pretty good job in that case.

[MightyReds2020]

Originally posted by jazzy1!

Oak- OAKLEY PLAYING LAST NIGHT WASN'T A GOOD THING, this gives Collins the perfect security blanket so anytime Kwame or the young guys struggle he'll play the Oakley at center small ball line-up, this doesn't work against younger more athletic teams, Popeye last year played under the assortment losing several games at the end because there was no shot blocking on the floor and teams got too many lay-ups outrunning the slower Jones in transition, I like it better when the young guys are forced to play and figure things out not when they're overly scrutininzed by Collins and readily subbed by Oakley TRUST ME THIS ISN'T A GOOD THING.

Collins just went for a more sure-handed player to help to win last night by using Oakley at closing minutes. Remember the goal of this Wiz team is to make the playoffs as deep as possible, that means you have to take each and every game seriously. Whether this move will delay the developments of young players or not, that's another debate. The team went for a win yesterday. It was in the expense of Brown's, Haywood's, and JJ's playing time but a win is a win. You can always develop the players later.