twinz2gether

2 days ago we lost to the Celtics. I didn't watch the game but when i got home, my brother said we lost, but Gilbert was out. So i thought we probably didn't get enough offense going. Then after looking at the score i realized that we did score enough, Boston just scored 108 points. Is this an on going theme or what?

People complain about the big 3 getting to many shots, how we need to get it to Kwame more, or how our bench needs to contribute more. How bout we play some ****ing defense!!! Seriously, i thought Gil was weak on defense but Stevie Blake isn't an upgrade at all. And it seems that JJ can't play good defense either though he is "Defensive minded." If he is our best defender we seriously need an upgrade.

I am just frustrated because we score so well but we just can't seem to hold a team to less than 100 points no matter how bad they are.

So screw talk about The 3 taking too many shots, Kwame not getting the ball, bench scoring more. Lets play some Freaking defense!

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Kwame, how can you not love him?

MJG

Arenas and Jamison are awful defenders at their position. JJ is pretty average. Hughes can be good, but with the number of gambles he takes that don't pan out, I don't think he's much better than average most nights himself. Haywood is the only starter I'd say is actually good, though I don't think he'll be competing for any all-defensive team honors any time soon. Off the bench, Blake, Dixon, Ruffin, and Hayes are poor defenders. Peeler is average. Kwame is a very good one on one defender, but a below average team defender -- I'll call him average.

Our coach is clearly one who's mindset is focused on the perimeter first, offense second, and everything else a distant third. He obviously values steals so highly that he has no problem with people gambling for them, regardless of what the final result is. Hughes has never averaged more than 1.9 in his career, yet he's suddenly leading the league? Watch him closely on defense, and you'll see him go for a steal, miss, and be behind his man on the play at least as often as he gets the ball. I do blame Hughes a bit, but most of it goes to the coach. If he didn't think steals were the equivalent of good defense, or he reamed our players for gambling so much, or preferably both, perhaps the guys wouldn't do it so often.

Simply put, our team is made up of a large chunk of poor defenders, with a couple of average guys and in my opinion only one that can be called "good." We also have a coach that seems to care about the offensive side far, far more than the defensive side. The little bit he does care about defense is all wrong, with the focus seemingly on stealing the ball as opposed to playing real defense. Combine it all, and you have the makings of one of the worst defensive teams in the league. I think that's what we're stuck with unless we make personnel changes.

One slight "positive" though is that our defense will naturally give up more points simply because we play a fast paced game. Even if we suddenly become a lockdown team, it's not as though teams would be struggling to hit 90 a night.

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jazzy1

Part of the problem with the Big 3 is that because of the bad shots and the shots flying in from the perimeter it creates offense for the other team. Teams push it down our throats.

Kwame needs to start PERIOD. His post defense is needed Jamison is getting us killed. Adding another good defender to go with Haywood will be an upgrade. Plus having kwame gives us another good rebounder instead of the weak JJ.

Then give Kwame some post -ups and scores in the paint with his passing ability and it would allow the Big 3 to get some open looks.

It makes the game easier.

Jamison physically will never be a good defender. Arenas should be.

Arenas has bad defense body postioning. He never bends his knee's and gets in a defensive stance. His body is always up looking to jump a play for a steal. But this can be corrected with emphasis from coaches in practice.

BUT all EJ does is talk offense He never stresses the importance of defense.


Hughes is an average defender. He gambles so much now he's hurting the defense.

JJ needs to be benched because his only value to the team is pushing the ball up court as the 4th ball handler, he's below average on rebs, shooting, passing, and post defense.

One on One

I think we desperately need a backup PG. I get scared ****less every time Blake has to come into the game and we've seen Arenas come across health and foul problems the last few games so we have to be prepared. Dixon is not a very good ballhandler so we have nobody else to go to at PG.

I agree Kwame should definitely start. I don't see what Jefferies is really giving us. He doesn't do anything on offense, is overrated as a ballhandler, makes poor passes, and only occasionally comes up with those great hustle plays. I'm actually starting to like Ruffin at times because he won't make dumb plays. Granted, he can't be on the floor with a bunch of other guys who can't score, but he provides a good calming effect, which can be good for our at-times out of control team.

Our bench is extremely weak right now. We are getting nothing from it. I think we'll actually fare alright in the playoffs because we'll shorten the rotation and our bad defense won't be such an issue in a weak Eastern Conference.

Ideally, here's the lineup I've been vouching for since game 1 and I'd still like to see:

PG Arenas
SG Hughes
SF Jamison
PF Brown
C Haywood

And, do a better job of getting the ball inside to Kwame and Brendan. I still think we have to let Hughes and Arenas do their thing, but the inside touches have gotten a bit too infrequent. Off the bench, I think we have to sign a free agent who can handle the ball if anyone is available. Peeler should get the backup minutes at SG. We have to go to Hayes at SF even though he's not doing anything at the moment. Jefferies at PF and Etan at center when he gets back. I'd also give Dixon spot minutes to see if he can give us a spurt when we need one and Ruffin gets spot minutes when we need that calming effect.

Our bench is going to continue to be a problem, though, because we don't have anyone on the bench who can be counted on to create. Getting a backup PG who can penetrate from time to time would go a long way. The problem is that Blake can't get in the lane against NBA defenders so we just end up passing it around the perimeter and taking a bad shot. I don't blame EJ for this, though, because we don't have a talented enough bench to score. We were extremely luck that Dixon was hot against Atlanta today.

I don't agree with the criticism of Hughes defense, though. I don't think he gets burned that much and he creates so much during the course of the game that I think it benefits us. It's one thing to have a bunch of guys gambling, but it's just Hughes for the most part and he has a knack for creating something for us.

Shanghai Kid

Yeah how can you blame Hughes for steals when half the time they lead to easy baskets? I DO watch Hughes play and I don't usually see him make too many mistakes while trying to gamble. He's simply the best in the NBA in anticipating passes and alot of his steals come from one on one defense. We don't get many easy baskets so I welcome it when Hughes gets a steal that leads to a momentum changing fastbreak basket.

The problem with the big 3 is that it takes away from the overall team concept. BUT, the reason we have a big 3 is not because these 3 players are being selfish or taking too many shots, it's because we're flatout not getting enough from everyone else. I don't think the 'Big 3' care if Jarvis takes 10 shots a game, but the guy will only make 2 or 3 of them max. The real problem is defense and that our bench is horrible and we have no Kwame to go to in the low post. At this point I would rather the Big 3 keep taking shots than giving any looks to Jarvis Hayes.

I see Arenas/Hughes/Jamison all getting worn out. They have to carry too much of a load and if some other guys don't start stepping up and making shots than their just going to get burnt out.

The perfect solution is for Kwame to get healthy and to start and give us a low post game and take alot of pressure off the Big 3. That's what we need to continue to be successful.

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SCREWED like Bret Hart!

jazzy1

You're not watching Hughes carefully enough.

Earlier he was getting steals in the context of the defense. But lately he has been killing our already thin defense gambling for steals. He's done it in the last 4-5 games.

The Big 3 is selfish plain and simple.

Hughes said and I quote we're playing well just not getting wins. What kind of competitor says that I'll tell you a player that scores 30 in 2 games and is in the final year of his contract.

The big 3 have isolated the rest of the team from themselves. They don't truat anyone else which is flat wrong.

Earlier in the season we were playing best when we were getting prodution from everyone. The suspensions caused us to share the ball more and trust one another more.

Juan Dixon, Hayes, Peeler, and Haywood were all giving us something heck even Profit was.

Then the Big 3 got locked in on, the media picked up on the identity and suddenly Dixon's minutes started fading, Hayes started pressing and playing unsteady minutes, and Haywood started getting totally ignored.

In order for the team to continue to win there has to be more sharing of the ball.

I watch Hughes penetrate for shots all the time in the pick and roll and not pass it to players open under the basket. I don't see jamison ever pass it into the post and Arenas only drives and hardly ever drives and dishes.

So now we're left with 3 guys taking 60 shots and playing butter soft defense.

Jamison makes this comment that the playrs making the money need to take the shots or something to that effect.

Its still a team sport and the Wizards need to get back to the Princeton offense which when run effectively players share the ball.

It has turned into Areenas or Hughes going 1on1 and Jamison firing from the perimeter. Jamison's ignored his post game and gone strictly perimeter.

Hughes controls the ball way too often holding it and dribbling until he has to make a bail out pass when he can't shoot.

I'm not real mad at Arenas because of the 3, he's the only one who actually takes good shots. He's putting pressure on the defense by driving and drawing fouls plus his pull-up mid range shot is becoming a lethal weapon.

Kwame when healthy enough to play needs to start. We need his presence and defense.

Dixon needs to get consistent minutes with Hayes struggling and Samake Walker needs to play back-up minutes instead of Ruffin. Walker can get us 8-10 points, he has a short jumper and jump hook which could be valuable instead of Ruffin who brings nothing but hustle rebounds.

This team needs to take a more defensive approach to the game and the Big 3 have to trust someone other than each other.

Hayes is a 2 guard not 3 his insane post ups might work against the smaller sg's. The strength of his game is spot up shooting he needs to get on the move and use screens he can't shoot off the dribble .

We have got to stop leaning on players who can't score such as Ruffin, JJ and Blake.

You might not like Dixon and he's no favorite of mine but he can score given minutes. And we need buckets.

One on One

jazzy,

You're not being realistic about how incompetent the rest of the team is offensively. Hughes, Arenas, and Jamison is the offense. Like you, I'd like to see Kwame and Haywood get more touches, but they aren't consistent offensively. We're winning because of the Big 3, not in spite of them.

byrondarnell66

I think we need to make a trade for someone who can "accually" score in the post cause asking the big three to take less shots and throwing the ball down to Brendan (so he can turn it over or throw up some kind of junk) sure is hell not gonna help the cause.
I don't care what anybody says, Brendans offensive game is a joke, throwing the ball down to him is like forcing a shot or turning the ball over yourself. Kwame more touches yes, Brendan no!!!!! Who else should they get the ball to, Ruffin, JJ, Hayes?? Some people have to realize that there are not alot of good offensive players on this team (especially the PF's and C's) that you can rely on to get you a lot of post points, but yet they want to make them into something they aren't. I thought Jamison would help but it seems like he'd rather play on the perimeter than in the post. If you you want the fault the big three for something, fault them for defense not offense because if you didn't have their offense. this team wouldn't average 80 points a game). Just because you have 5 players on the court doesn't mean they all should take the same amout of shots. Like it or not they are your scorers (nothing more nothing less).

eYeKey

Nobody may realize this, but they have a 7'4" guy on the bench that has great inside touch. Could he provide some much needed inside scoring? Who knows...but we all know EJ is an idiot. Maybe it's time to get the teet out of that 19 year old giant's mouth and let him play already. Seriously....does Walker need a spot on the active roster??

byrondarnell66

Good question, you can't knock it til you try it.