In an attempt to come up with a similar way of hitting a few different topics in a look back at Wizards games this season, let’s call it Running the Weave. First up, last nights game against Atlanta:
Ballers
John Wall
The two early fouls and two early turnovers come with the territory for the rookie. Settling in from the opening tip may be the only thing he isn’t doing well right now, and it doesn’t mean he didn’t settle in at all. In fact, Wall’s performance was quite the opposite once he got his footing and finished with 19 points and 7 assists. He had 5 points, 5 assists, a jump ball win against Joe Johnson and was on the floor for every minute during the second period, in which the Wizards outscored the Hawks, 35-23.
“The second foul, I should have just let it go,” said Wall. “I should have let the play go on. I’m more valuable to the team than getting a cheap foul. Next time I have to learn. The preseason is good for learning certain things that will prepare me for the season. Hopefully in the season I won’t pick up that cheap foul.”
“Overall, I liked what he did,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “I like the way he competes. That’s the main thing, when you get your guards like him and Kirk [Hinrich] tonight, that compete like that, that’s the first line of defense. That carries things through to your baseline people.”
Nick Young
Even if Arenas’s means of paving the way for his teammate to start may have been questionable, the results were undeniable, as Young finished with 24 points on 10 for 14 shooting, including a quartet of 3-pointers.
“He took a couple bad shots,” said Saunders. “But overall he took good shots,. But part of that is we had guys setting screens, getting him open.”
Young needs to keep working on defense, but it’s the offense that gets his motor going. “I’ll just play anything to be out there on the court,” he said. “I know I got great point guards with Kirk and John Wall that’s going to find me out there so who wouldn’t want to be out there with two point guards that pass the ball?”
JaVale McGee
During last year’s rebuilding phase after the trade deadline, Saunders often took a hard line with Andray Blatche and McGee, simply because their performances weren’t necessarily going to make the difference between a win and loss – the Wizards were losing nearly all of the time anyway. But this season, the tone has shifted. Saunders needs both guys to buy in, even if things don’t always go their way. When this comes to McGee, both the player and the coach are in search of a way to get the most out of the athletic 7-footer, and that might not be as a starter. The fact is, 16 points and 11 rebounds off the bench showed how McGee might be most effective this season.
“He had some style,” said Saunders, who talked about McGee’s lack of substance again before last night’s game. “He’s always going to have some style. That’s who he is. But I liked his intensity. I liked his ability – he really went and showed some good rebounding range, going after it… JaVale’s an important part of who we are. He’s going to play a major role in what we do.”
Busts
Andray Blatche
Speaking of Saunders’s subtle shift, here’s how he responded to my question about Blatche trying to do too much at times, which led him to shoot 3 for 10 against Atlanta: “We can’t totally prohibit him from making some mistakes. Yeah, we have to correct them, and let him understand, as I said to him, some of his mistakes tonight are bad shots where they were mistakes that were more from being tired, conditioning mistakes because fatigue can make cowards of us all.”
Blatche himself was a little perturbed when I first asked him about there still being a process for him as he returns from injury and gets back into full playing shape.
“Ain’t no process for me,” said Blatche, who had a respectable 9 points, 6 boards and 4 assists. “People have bad shooting nights. That’s all it was. I can’t go out and be Superman every night. Just missing shots. We talking about preseason here. The whole point of preseason is getting ready for the season so I’m going out, I’m working on certain stuff so I can know what I’m going to use in the real season.”
But by the time his brief conversation with reporters ended, his stance softened. Again, a sign of growth.
“It’s just a process and I’ll keep on going,” said Blatche. “Anybody that don’t touch a ball or be able to do stuff for four months is going to be dragging. I wish I could be like Hancock, but I’m not. It’s going to be process, and I’m going to continue to work at it.”
Portrait Play
The obvious candidates are the fast break finishes from McGee and Wall, but I’ll stick with Young’s third 3-pointer of the night, which came in the third quarter and was created initially by his own steal. Young then trailed the play as Wall drove into the lane then kicked the ball out to Blatche, who was open but in turn passed the ball back to Young at the top of the arc. Bang.
“This year’s team is definitely not a team that doesn’t feel entitlement, is more I think receptive, more trusting right now,” said Saunders. “When you have a young team, and they’re going through it, and they’re learning, a lot of times you don’t’ have to break bad habits. You can teach them how it really has to be done, and I think we have a lot of young guys that are really like that, that are very committed to trying to be as good as they can be.”
So Trendy
27 assists, 13 turnovers – and nearly half (5) came from Wall. That’s pretty darn clean.
