The NBA may as well make that a division. Include the Wiz, Knicks, Clippers, Mavericks - heck, even my Magic - and you're most of the way there.
Finley a good defender, what does that really mean, he can push around a few of the leagues crappy 2 guards. But put him against the the better players, such as Wells and Pierce, he'd get burned so bad, and last year he wasn't even the best defender on his team, it was between Najera or Buckner. You can use stats to your advantage but bottom line, Finley is as good as he's going to get and he's not that good.
They're not as bad as you make out! In his rookie season Haywood averaged 5.2 rpg in just 20 minutes (also 1.5 bpg) and Jahidi went one better with 6.3rpg in just 19 minutes (also 1bpg). They both have a high FG% and don't turn the ball over. You can't deny that Russell is a great one on one defender at either SG or SF! Surely he'll be starting at SF with Stack at SG. Hughes will be off the bench as PG/SG and Jordan as SG/SF. Hughes, Jordan and Stackhouse all average good assist numbers over their careers (although none are known as great 'unselfish' players!). And if Hughes doesn't play a minute for the Wizards, they are no worse off at PG than last season. See the stats above, White and Haywood averaged 11.5 rpg last season (and that's not even filling the 48 minutes up) and they also averaged over 10ppg. The frontcourt isn't that soft! Etan Thomas is a good solid banger and if Laettner goes down then surely it'll be time for Kwame to play! Even if the Wizards do end up being only a .500 team, that's still a minor imporvement over last season and should be just about enough to get them into the playoffs. Personally I think they've built well and with another year of experience under their fledgling suqads respective belts and the addition of some playoff-seasoned vets they should make a run at being central division champs (who else will??)
I am absolutely stunned. As the other guys said, Stackhouse had finally become a leader. I read a story how he had all the other players at his house last season...team bonding...and that Pistons morale was sky high. He had a great season...forget the play off's where he didn't get much offensive support. They should have added a piece to go alongside him. Rip Hamilton just takes them back to a non play off team. Ben Wallace won't be too happy grabbing 20 rebounds a game for a 26 win team.
Well, the Wizards are in the Atlantic division for one. I don't disagree that they can be a .500 team. I just disagree with the assumption that they can be a 50 win team. The Wizards, though, lack direction. First, it was build around the young guys with MJ around to tutor them. Now, having traded away both of their young swingmen for older veterans, they are left with a mixture of peaking/past their prime swingmen, project guards and forwards, and a weak frontcourt. They look to me to be one of those teams that can be .500 every year, but never get anywhere, kinda like the Suns over the past few season with Jason Kidd. That's never a good position to leave your team in.
mfclark, I'm confused by your assumption that the Wizards have changed directions... I don't see things as having changed hardly at all. The trade for Stack, the only trade where we got older by 3 years, was really two-fold, first to improve the Wizards this year, and second to give them a greater flexibility of options in the comming off-season with regard to free agents. He'll opt out at the end of this season and give the Wizards another choice of where to spend their money. The Larry Hughes signing gets us younger and not older, Huges is 23 where Rip and Alexander were 24 and 25 respectively. So he's a differently equipped player than the other two but no older. The trade of Alexander for Dixon gets them younger as well and removes a problematic player who wasn't content in Washington. While also filling the role of a bigger defensively able point guard for the Wiz. The Bryon Russell signing is nothing more than a stop-gap measure for the comming season or so in order to not put too much pressure on Jefferies or Grizzard to have to step up immediately. Russell was cheap at 1.4 mill and worth the cost for a short term contract. All the Wizards have done is bring veterans around their young guys to help mentor them while working towards their development, while making no long term commitments to any of the older players. They'll have a ton of cap space to lure in free agents and should be able to demonstrate a young developing team with a good deal of talent. I'm not going to say things are perfect but they've managed to put themselves in a very good position to allow the team to grow into a contender. They've got youth at most every position and some experianced vets that can help them develop. The focus is still on the young players, and that's where it should be.
Jaybird... The Wizards still confuse me on their lack of direction. 1. Stack will opt-out after the season, yes, but he is looking for max money. The Wizards will, with about $15m in cap room, have two options: re-sign him or find someone else. If they don't resign him, where's the SG depth? That leads into #2... 2. Larry Hughes isn't a point guard. The Wizards have no point guards who can tutor him; Whitney is their best and even he's not that good. Hughes should be developed as a shooting guard, his natural position, so that the Wizards CAN let go of Stackhouse next season. But, right now, that appears unlikely. 3. Alexander for Dixon may have gotten them younger, but definately not better. Alexander is a scorer and athletic player at the swing positions who proved his worth when he got the time on the court. Dixon is a tweener combo guard who will likely struggle to play either point or shooting guard in the pros. On top of that, the Wiz already have 2 point guards (Whitney, Lue) and a multitude of shooting guards (Jordan, Stackhouse, Hughes) - one of whom they are trying to do the same thing with as they are with Dixon. Makes little sense. 4. Bryon Russell came cheaply, yes, but he's no long-term solution. His signing came only out of necessity from all of the other moves made during the offseason; otherwise, Alexander or Hamilton would've started at SF while Jeffries learned from them. The Wizards bring in all of these veterans to win now, yet then trade their young players who can contribute either for those aforementioned veterans or younger players who can't contribute now. Long-term, the Wizards need a LOT of help - specifically, one of Dixon or Hughes to learn how to play the point, Jeffries to develop into a star SF, and Kwame Brown to develop into a star PF. My view? The best long-term strategy would have been to keep the young players, liquidate bad contracts for 2nd round picks or mere cap space, and build via the draft and free agency. The only qualm? I really can't see anyone going to play for the Wizards in 03-04, especially if MJ has retired.
Hughes could play SG, and resigning Stack is a very reasonable option. You're right that the 2 position is a question mark next season, but it would have been with Rip there as well. Regardless of what contract we would have signed Hamilton to he would have cost the Wizards at least 8 million on the cap. That's really not an attractive proposition for a player who may or may not be worth that much. If Stack opts out and we don't resign him, we'll have to go looking because there really isn't another option other than Hughes on the team and they're trying to make him a PG But we would be in the exact same boat with Rip if we didn't make the trade but without quite as much cap space. (Due to getting rid of Hubert Davis' contract) That's my worry for this comming season, and a reassurance for next season. If the PG experiment fails, next year he can easily find time at SG. But the other factor is that the Wizards don't exactly need the stereotypical PG to run Collins' version of the Triangle offense. The hope is that that will ease the burdon on Hughes playing out of position. Alexander's a scorer and is very athletic but adds little more than that to the team. He doesn't play D, doesn't share the ball, and doesn't contribute in the offense aside from his making shots. He's a 2, and had trouble especially defensively while playing the 3. He never fit into the team oriented concept Collins tried to bring and didn't do very well. I hope he does better in New Orleans. As for Dixon, he's a better shooter and defender and works harder than Alexander did. He was the best choice for the Wizards compared to the PGs they had their choice of. He's like Whitney but with better quickness and a willingness to play tough D. Between Dixon and Hughes, I'd say it's more likely that Dixon can learn to play the point. While Dixon shoots a lot, he's always been a lot more willing to work within a team concept and sacrifice his numbers for the good of the team. Alexander and Hamilton both played much worse at the 3 than the 2. Neither had the strength nor quickness to get the job done. If Alexander had been able to do well at the 3, than Nesby wouldn't have gotten nearly the minutes he did last season for the Wizards. Neither one of them could have taught Jefferies and Grizzard much. I guess I still don't see where the Wizards have screwed up going by your own long term strategy. They've gotten rid of all their bad contracts, except for L8 and White who aren't really too bad of a cap hit and should be able to be moved. They're also a trade away from getting 20 million below the cap and being able to sign close to 2 Max contracts. They've got youth at every position but 2 guard, and Hughes could easily step in there. 1: Dixon 2: Hughes 3: Jeffries / Grizzard 4: Brown / Thomas 5: Haywood That's a solid core of young players that they can start with, and with a lot of cap space this next offseason they have a lot of options to move on to. I agree that getting players to come to Washington could be a problem. But I can say I don't think having Jordan around the team, even if not as a player, will hurt the Wizards chances of signing free agents, and it may even help. The only issue I see is that they will more than likely not have a good draft pick this year because they'll be looking legitimately to make the playoffs. All they've done is exchange youth for youth, with the idea they're getting more talented players or players that fit the system better. I can't say I fault their Front Office for that.
Couldn't aqree more with you on this one! And so what if Stack wants to opt out after next season? Washington will be his default location to return to (having played there) and it's possible that MJ will be having words in his ear about making it his long term home! I guess it all depends on how good you think Rip is; he's not as big a guard as Stack is (physcially) and I don't think he'll ever score 29ppg (like Stack did), yet they're probably going to be worth similar amounts of money.... I believe that given a few years, Larry Hughes may work out as a point, and he has time to develop behind Whitney (not too bad...) and Lue (good defender if nothing else...). But if he doesn't work out, cut him and go with Dixon (who also may pan out). At least one of the 4 young PG's has gotta work out! And Russell is a full-sized SF who knows how to defend, has afew good years left in him, has WC championship experience and will be able to teach the younger guys how to move their feet! The Wizards won't be worse than last year, but it's true, they might not be a 50 win team (although that is possible in the East!)
The problem with dealing Rip for Stack, though, is that Stackhouse ties up all of the Wizards' cap space next year unless he is re-signed (which effectively ends free agent shopping) or is renounced (which likely marks his departure). For a marginal upgrade at shooting guard over the long haul, that's too much to give up. Hamilton - whether a free agent or not next year - would have a much lower cap hit and would've allowed the Wizards to, with one of the deals you all have discussed, sign a max free agent PLUS keep Rip. That's out of the question with Stackhouse in the fold. There are very few free agents out there likely to consider Washington when choosing a new team, especially considering some of the other squads out there; most that would are of lesser quality than Stackhouse. Hughes has talent, but he and Dixon are both really shooting guards. Many have tried, but few have succeeded in making the conversion - Chauncey Billups is the only one who has succeeded thus far, though Antonio Daniels has tried and met with some degree of success. Whitney's not exactly young - he'll be 31 when the season starts - and Lue is no better than a baclup or third stringer at this point. A lot of question marks down the road - and, with all of the players there, how is time going to be divided? Russell may have a couple of years left, yes, but he does nothing for the long term benefit of the Wizards except perhaps mentor Jeffries for a year or two - and I've already made my feelings felt that Jeffries should be starting immediately. Again, until they prove something out on the court, I still feel the Wizards have the makeup of a team destined to be at the bottom end of the playoffs every year - never falling out but never advancing either - for many years to come. That could be a good thing, based on where the franchise has been, but in the grand scheme of things, it's no situation to be stuck in.
This has been the point I've been trying to make. Even if the Wizards were to resign Stackhouse, they'll have around 5.8 million in cap space. If they were able to move White or L8 that number goes up to around 10 million and that's very close to Max money. Hamilton would have had a huge cap hit next year if we resigned him, regardless of the deal we would have been able to make with him. Even if he's extended on his 3.6 Qualifying offer, the cap hit of that year would be just over 8 million. That's because he's a Bird rights free agent comming off his rookie contract and making less than the league average. He would have actually hurt the Wizards cap space more than Stackhouse would have. Simply because it would have meant we had kept hubert davis, and his contract. The point is that if the Wizards play their cards right they can sign Stackhouse and also sign a max free agent, True, and that's why there's no sure thing in free agency. But if they were able to keep stackhouse and sign a max contract that certainly helps things. Just as being able to sign 2 max contracts would be incentive to free agents looking to play with another good player. There are a lot of question marks, but ther's also a lot of potential. Honestly, I can't say I'm confident that Hughes or Dixon will ever become a very good point guard. I do think, however, that one of them will have a reasonable ammount of success at the position, enough to not be a detriment to the team at the position. As for Whitney and Lue, I'd expect one of them to be tradedor possibly released. The wizards still could be trying to find a roster spot for Popeye if he is willing to come back.A team like Cleavland has a severe lack of PGs with Bimbo Coles and Mateen Cleaves as their 2 point guards under contract. They also have expiring contracts that could help the Wizards out come next season. As for the time division, I'd expect Hughes to start, with Lue or Whitney (whoever they decide to keep) backing him up. Dixon will probably be brought along slowly and eat into the backup PG minutes as the season progresses. Lue and Whitney aren't in any future plans so limiting their time isn't a real concern. I don't know I think your claim that they'll languish at the bottom end of the playoffs may be a viable opinion at the end of next season after they've gone and done their FA moves. I think there's too much uncertainty in what the makeup of the team will be next year to truly make any lasting claim about the future of the franchise. All I know is that they're in a lot better shape than I've seen them in a long long time. There's a light at the end of the tunnel and that brings a little bit of hope
According to the Washington Post, the Wizards are offering the Raptors Chris Whitney for Eric Montross. Washington Tarheels in full effect
Even if they get Montross as a backup for Haywood while White recovers from surgery they won't be much better off at the center spot. Trading Whitney would probably lead to Hughes being a starter at the PG spot with Lue and Dixon as the backups.None of the three are good enough to be quality point guards.
