A little bit of knowledge from Wizards practice ahead of tomorrow’s sole preseason home game.
“Nothing changes [from the first preseason game],” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “You just try to see more consistentcy. The more you play through preseason, the more consistency you want to see. You’re playing against definitely a different team, as far as Dallas compared to Memphis. Memphis is long, inside has a lot of length. Dallas has some length, but they’ve got some very skilled players when you look at [Dirk] Nowitzki and then you look at [Shawn] Marion, Jason [Terry], and Drew Gooden and those guys.”
Tidbit No. 1. Saunders said he’ll probably start DeShawn Stevenson at shooting guard, “make Nick [Young] go and chase Jason Terry around a little bit.”
A reminder of what Saunders said about Young after Tuesday’s preseason game: “If we don’t put him back in that [starting] spot, it’s not because he didn’t play well. It would just be to give somebody else some time.”
Tidbit No. 2. Saunders was pleased with the Wizards’ initial defensive sets and focused on improved effort reducing second-chance points and turnovers, which were responsible for about half of the Grizzlies’ points.
And, he had a message for his team about rebounding: “Get a [expletive] rebound, that’s what I told them to do. Get some contact on somebody and go after it. It’s hitting somebody and chasing the ball. Those are things that we’re going to have to do. We had rebounding drills the last couple days. Rebounding’s a mindset, and it’s a will, and I think sometimes what happens with us – and I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt – when you’ve thrown a lot of things at a team, as far as defensively and coverages and offensively, what happens sometimes is they’re thinking about what they’re supposed to do. If you think, and you don’t react right away to a rebound, you’re going to be dead. My hope is the more comfortable they get with everything we’re doing, they’re going to be able to react better and be able to rebound better. The main thing is you’ve got to be able to go after the ball, do whatever you have to do to get the ball. That’s pursuit of the ball.”
Tidbit No. 3. Just like in Las Vegas summer league action, Andray Blatche had to chuck his headband before getting himself together as the Memphis game wore on.
“I don’t know,” said Blatche. “It’s just my thing. I come out with it on. whenever I take it off, that’s when you know it’s time for business. I’m trying to get in that mindset the whole time, but the headband, I don’t know what it is. I just come out with it on, and then something goes wrong, I take it off, and that’s when I get more ‘Grrrr.’”
Ever thought of not wearing it or starting more consistently? “I need somebody to slap me before the game or something.”
