i hope you mean "without" instead of playing "with" all those players....because if they do play, we might as well not show up

Yep, Buck and Phil just announced that Atlanta is missing their 6 best players. WE'RE IN TROUBLE. :))

Can Jarvis play in front of 50 of his friends and family every night?

DeShawn just walked up, touched my computer screen and said: "I can't feel my face."

ivan - you TOTALLY jinxed AD man. Totally.

Of interest - phil and buck were just saying we lost by 18 points total in last four games. Cle, NJ, NJ, and Mia is what is of interest - four pretty good teams that we played well against. Admittedly Shaq was out and NJ hasn't had a good season, but still - maybe things are as bad as they feel. BTW - what is up with NJ - I know they have had some injuries but still - with those three on the team they ought to be better. That's going to be a tough matchup for the 2nd seed.

Here's how much sympathy Riley has for Les BouleS:

""It's an absolute tragedy, it really is," Riley said before Wednesday's game. "That team has been very, very good all year. They've been leading the division. Then, they lose Caron and Gilbert. It's just bad luck. Been through it myself.""

Note his final sentence.....kinda funny...

Player ratings for tonight's game (minimum of 10 minutes played) Ratings from 10 (Jordan-esque) to 1 (Austin-esque): Jarvis 7, AJ 2, Poet 4, D-Steve 8, AD 7, D-Song 5, AB 5, Ruff 6.

Nice team effort against a depleted opponent. Good to see the ball moving around. Good inside play from AB and MR.

What a relief to see the Wizards win and without it being close either. Thank goodness.

A much needed win, but seriously George, does it do that much for you?

And by the way, Imus is still fired. I know it doesn't add anything here; I just like the sound of it.

Major sigh of relief when I got home this evening and saw we were blowing these guys out. Video tape revealed the following:

• The team showed sense of urgency...HEART! That's what we've been waiting to see.
• Good team defense and great ball movement, unselfishness and patience on offense. Very little one on one play.
• Jamison seemed to pull back when he saw he wasn't needed
• 98 points, only 4 from the big 3! Amazing!!!
• Blatche is back! He needs to start. We need him on offense and on defense. Playing time can only make him better.
• Hayes is sweet when he is hot.

Caution: this game was so easy that I am not sure it helps them in the grind it out playoff fourth quarters. We still need to prove we can play a tough team for 4 quarters and close the game with defense, wise coaching moves and a closer who won't let us lose. (Exhibit A: Dwayne Wade in fourth quarter against Pacers tonight.)

But definitely one of the most important wins of the season. Those tough Bulls are next but there is now hope.

Who was that tw@t that was trying to insinuate that DS had a problem with Gil earlier in the the year??!!

My gosh fellas - are we really supposed to get excited about this win? Were those the cleaning folks from the arena playing the Wiz? Are you excited George cuz it helped them mentally?

Get them a new coach..that will help tremendously.

Uh Deshawn, work on your 3 pt shooting - then we'll talk.

Since when is relief the same as excitement. It doesn't change much except that there is no longer an L-6 in the streak column. And that will do nicely for now.

Gosh, why did Haywood only get 9 minutes?!?! He had a stellar performance the game before and this just shows how terrible a job EJ is doing subbing his players in and out. Plus, Blatche needs to play more he shouldn't be getting 16 minutes he should get at least 25 minutes per game! This is ridiculous!!!

It's nice to get a win, but I won't get too excited about beating a team that was horrible BEFORE they started tanking on purpose.

I don't expect Hayes and Ruffin to have career games every night, nor do I expect Deshawn to shoot that well every night.

Why, oh why do we keep seeing Michael Ruffin?

I saw the game with the ATL broadcast team and former NBA guard Steve Smith was "ooohing and ahhing" over Blatche.

Why does everyone seem to see what Blatche brings EXCEPT for Eddie Jordan?

If we match up with Toronto in the first round and Blatche doesn't play at least 30 minutes every game then Eddie Jordan is brain dead. He's the only guy we have that can match up with Bosh.

I'd love to see what this team could do with Jamison at the 3 and Blatche at the 4 with an improved Hayes coming off the bench.

Uh, I thought it was a good win. Not sure why people still want to fire Eddie Jordan and bench Ruffin, even though Ruffin was a huge part of why we won.

Go Wizards!

Got to agree with B-rev's post, nice to see us get that monkey off of our back, now we need to win a close one and figure out who we can ride in the 4th.
And I've got to second George's opinion, I don't care if it was the cleaning staff we were playing and don't care how much Atlanta is tanking games, we needed a win and we got it.
And JJ, to thoose that think that we've been trying to "hide" Blatche that story is already out, so we may as well play the kid. I agree that he's our best chance against Bosh straight up, but I think we should "tag team him". Show him alot of different guys and alot of different looks, test his court IQ. Not everybody can be the man when the bright lights come on, and I'm not sure that the Rapters can beat us without him having a big series.
If this group could go out and steal a series after this up and down year. And it is possible, the Rapters are untested, with very few players that even have playoff experience. For this group we maybe getting our best matchup in the first round.
It was nice to see the bigs active and hustling. The Princeton really isn't that hard, you come off of your screener or make a backdoor cut and you run for the rim or go to an open spot on the floor where you can do something with the ball. If that doesn't work out you go set a screen for the next guy or space the floor.
Any way, too often this year our bigs have not continued to run the offense. It's probably one of those chicken or the egg things, which came first, the standing around or guys going one on one. But it was nice to see guys run the floor and continue to run the offense when the break wasn't there.
The teams that have thrived in this offense have reached the point where the guys begin to run the break and then just slide right into the offense seamlessly. Watch Kidd run the break, he'll pull up at the top of the key and let his wings go to the rim. If they don't get the break they run right to open spots on the floor and set the offense and sometimes score off the first cut before the defense sets.
When Webber was with the Kings, he'd come up the floor and be the "Key Man". they'd do it a different way but they tied running the break right into the Princeton. I think Pete Carrill calls it running the break with "Princeton Princibles".
I know they were doing it against a depleted roster, but it was great to see the guys run the floor and get right into the offense last night.

Screw you all of you Arvis haters.

I have to agree with Kevin's post. Blatche has shown enough to be a 25-30 minute per game player. They are going to need him to cover Deng that's for sure.

Looks like if the Wiz can win one of our last three we can secure 6th place and will face the Rapters. All and all maybe our best first round pairing we could hope for. Would be nice if we could build on last night's win and finish out strong.
I've got to feel for Gilbert, I'm been through tearing yourself up and wondering, why me? Can't imagine how it would feel when you're that competitive and driven to be the best and it's your livelyhood. He's still young and it isn't a serious injury, he'll balance back. Good to hear that his teammates are there for him. Hope he can get himself back out to the Phone Booth and let his fans show how much he's got them behind him too!
I think Jarvis Hayes has been putting together a solid string of games where he's played well going back to when EJ finally stopped using him at the 4. You can see his legs coming back to him. He's playing very solid basketball right now, you've got to feel good for the guy, battling back from two major injuries to his knee.

Anyone but Miami!!!

Congrats to Charles Jones or whoever made that big bet that the Wiz would win more than 39.5.

My younger son had also placed the over on that same bet. Must have been for alot cause he's been rather testy during some of these close loses.
Needless to say he was in a much better mood last night. If they win one more he stands to pickup another payday cause he had taken 41.
I don't bet on sports myself, this streak's been bad enough without money on it.

I want to offer congrats to Atlanta for the loss. Hopefully, they'll get into the top 3 and retain their lottery pick so that they'll have more flexibility in their roster and might let some of their young guys go via a trade.

They pretty much played no one last night. List of those out included:

Joe Johnson, Josh Childress, Speedy Claxton, Salim Stoudamire, Josh Smith, and Zaza Pachulia.

Marvin Williams had a decent game with 24 & 7
Shelden Williams had a decent game with 14 & 10 with 3 blocks.

Looking at the stats, I was surprised that AJ was largely ineffective with 4 pts. and 1-7 shooting in 33 minutes. Both Jarvis and Ruffin had good games, which gives EJ a warm and fuzzy in giving them more PT in the long haul.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270413001

Hibbert, Green, Oden, Durant, UF Juniors, etc. are all entering the draft, so it's a good year to be in the lottery. Since the East is much worse than the West this year, there will be a large representation from the East in the lottery. Oh well....

For some reason some of you are minimizing the importance of the win. How many times have we played undermanned teams this year and lost? We came out and took control of the game and won easily. Another loss would have phsychologically ended the season for sure. I mean we are talking goose eggs from here through the first round sweep. Now they have the monkey off their back and though they should not be giddy they can take a deep breath and imagine winning a few more games.

The fact that it wasn't a close game helps them physchologically but doesn't help them lesrn how to win close games in this post-Gilbert portion of the season. To me that is the only negative about beating the Hawks as we did.

DC Man said:
"Since the East is much worse than the West this year, there will be a large representation from the East in the lottery."
Another brilliant point by DC Man. Keep those pearls of wisdom coming.

It will be nice to see if in these last three games we can grind out a playoff style win. Hope that EJ can find another play in his pocket besides an ISO in the final minutes.
I think we're going to have to run more of a play in those situations and not depend on a guy to go one on one. Hopefully EJ is gaining enough trust in Taylor to keep Daniels fresh for the 4th. He's the guy that we have right now that can create something off dribble penetration. Hopefully as he gets used to more minutes and EJ spells him more he'll have something in the tank going down the stretch.
Didn't see anything to write home about last night in Sheldon Williams protecting the rim. I'd agree that if they end up with both picks they might want to move a youngster for a Vet. Just don't see alot of an upgrade there for us.
I'm also not real convinced that we should have been rooting for the lottery. Other than just a couple of guys, I don't see an NBA ready defender and rebounder, which is what we really need.

This past Monday the Sports Law Blog asked the question: Why does tanking occur in the NBA but seemingly not in other leagues?

1. Do NBA teams actually engage in this behavior?
2. How do NBA teams improve on their ability to lose?

The way to do this is to do what the Clippers and Grizzlies did last year when each needed to lose to enhance their playoff positioning.

You don't ask your players not to try, you simply don't play your best players. And that action can be taken for supposedly legitimate reasons. Often coaches will say "We need to see how the young players perform so we can know what we are going to do for next season." Of course, a side benefit of letting the young players perform is more losses and a greater chance at securing a better draft choice but playoff positioning is key.

Hope we win next cuz 3 that's the same thing eddie kept saying past two wks.

"Didn't see anything to write home about last night in Sheldon Williams protecting the rim. I'd agree that if they end up with both picks they might want to move a youngster for a Vet. Just don't see alot of an upgrade there for us.
I'm also not real convinced that we should have been rooting for the lottery. Other than just a couple of guys, I don't see an NBA ready defender and rebounder, which is what we really need."

Certainly Shelden is not the second coming of Karl Malone, but as you may or may not know, the saying is that "big men taking longer to develop." I don't see a better solution out there with regard to potential/salary cost ratio. If you do, let me know.

Look at the roster of Les BouleS. Only BTH, Etan, and Song are comparable, and they all make a heckuva lot more money than Shelden does. Shelden had better #'s last night. Les BouleS had 1 block last night, by AB, Shelden had 3 blocks. Shelden had 10 boards total, our 3 had 9 boards combined.

With regard to the lottery, Les BouleS shooting for the lottery has two angles. Either a) you draft someone you need, or b) you trade the pick and/or package for a veteran. Obviously, the higher your pick, the more leverage you have. Those are the reasons to root for the lottery when you have a borderline team that's not going to go far.

With the East teams being much worse than the West teams, resulting in more East teams that will be in the lottery, that essentially means teams in the east have a chance of getting much better with this deep draft with their lottery pick. Scheduling says that you play your division team more than other or west teams.

It's obvious that we need players that are good defenders and good rebounders, but primarily, Les BouleS also needs players that are athletic. Once the "NBA ready" players are gone in the lottery, teams usually aim for the athletic players next. Hopefully, Les BouleS won't be left with draft fodder.

Although we won-still a sad feeling. I'll cheer for the rest of the way. Who knows D.C. maybe someone good will shake loose for free agency or trade. I just know, we need a better bench. Ernie has to have something up his sleeve. Who knows, maybe they stay as they are.

Hope we can end this season on some kind of a good note. Doesn't matter who we get in Playoffs - hopefully, they play w/brains and heart.

For the rest of the way, GM. Geo,,RobP Kalorama, Iceberg,Darnell,Mitch,Josh, Colin, DCman & all its been an interesting ride.

There would have been no point in the Wizards intentionally tanking. For one thing, at the point where Gilbert went down there was, for all intents and purposes, no way the Wizards could have not ended up in the playoffs, even if they lost the rest of their games. Recall that on the night they clinched a playoff spot, they also lost their fifth game in a row.

Second, even if they somehow did end up in the lottery, the position between where they'd pick in the lottery (the very bottom) and where they'll pick now (probably mid/late teens) wouldn't have been enough to make a significant difference in the quality of player available, esp. not enough to have a huge impact on any attempt to trade up, given how little they have to offer in terms of quality players to pacjage with a pick (assuming they aren't trading Arenas or Butler).

EJ won't be "smart' enough to assign Blatche to cover Bosh. He'll give that to Jarvis and AJ. Then he'll realize that isn't working after Bosh eats them alive, so he'll put Ruffin on him.
God help us.

"EJ won't be "smart' enough to assign Blatche to cover Bosh. He'll give that to Jarvis and AJ. Then he'll realize that isn't working after Bosh eats them alive, so he'll put Ruffin on him.
God help us."

Honestly, you say that as if it's a joke but I fear that's what will happen. And if so is there any defense left for Eddie Jordan?

Is there any high school quality coach in the country that wouldn't be starting Blatche in general much less be making him the primary defender against a 6'11'' forward?

In a way it doesn't really matter. The way things go for the Wiz on defense, even if they shut Bosh down some unknown guy will go off for 40 points or something.

I do agree with you guys though that AB figures to have the best chance of stopping Bosh. I think they'll try to show him different "looks" to confuse him. Of course, usually the only ones getting confused are the Wiz defenders themselves. :((

Just noticed that today's game is on ABC. Cover your eyes, guys! The Wiz usually get tighter than drums when playing on network TV.

According to the TV listings there'll be no local telecast either. I don't know if I can handle a game without hearing "BACKBREAKER," "HOW DO YA LIKE THAT," and the famous "[insert name of opposing player having a career game against the Wiz defense] IS UNBELIEVABLE."

Just saw Wiz$ever's post. It all makes sense now.

If this is correct then Eddie Jordan is smarter than we think. Think about it!!

Wiz HAD to lose a certain no. of games in order to position themselves for the least threat in playoffs. That would be Cleveland or Toronto.

This way they avoid MIAMI & BULLS. Had they kept winning up & down..they'd be facing MIAMI or BULLS. Most likely MIAMI.
They would have been a one & done 1st But!!
now They have a chance against Toronto & Cleveland. Doesn't matter NOW if they lose today to Bulls cuz they won't have to meet unless something catastrophic happens.

I don't think any of you can argue with that. Sorry Kalorama - I think they did for just this reason. Its nothing the players are aware of but its to give the team a chance in playoffs.

I'm sure once you think about it..it'll all make sense.

Here's a counter argument. If EJ is so smart that he intentionally tanked these last few games so that he can avoid Miami and Chicago, then is he resigned to the fact that he can't beat those teams anyway? If so, then why not just tank all your games and get into the lottery, if you know you won't get far into the playoffs?

What does getting to second round do for you if you know you're going to get smashed? A worse position in the draft.

Its pretty bad that the Bulls are shooting 35 percent and lead by 19! Yuck.

where's Haywood?????? And the saga continutes........

EJ has just inserted Ruffin again...?? Haywood can now count this as a DNP again. Ruffin again.

I wonder what Haywood did this time to warrent this DNP??? Man, that is messed up.....

I stand corrected. EJ just put him in. Wow 4th quarter. Again, go figure????

damn i wish we could just forfeit our playoff spot and just chill, cause if this is what we're gonna do in the playoffs..........damn

They say that bad exposure is better than no exposure.

What they say is not always true. :(

Listened to game on radio sports talk 980.

Half-time - Ivan was on. radio announcer asked what he thought about Wiz.
He was very frank but uncomplimentary.
Announcer asked him: "If you're EGrunfeld what do you do now?

Ivan: They're gonna make some changes.

Jarvis - gone
Thomas - contract too large - nobody wiil take thru 2014? can't rem.
Haywood - 26yr old 7footer coach problems..who knows? they'll shop - prob gone
Stevenson - not really interested in keeping - he'd only get mid level -wait and see what market bares
Blatche - restrict free agent-they already plan to resign - no problem there.
Said another name - can't remember.

sounds like quite a few will be gone.

Also not complimentary of GA and his lack of interest in his team. Arenas is obviously very ambulatory but chooses not to visit the team. Made 1 appearance today.
gave pep talk then left. They both spoke very negatively & fairly sarcastic about Arenas disinterest his team and teammates?

"so what's he doing while his team's out there struggling?"

Whatever it is its not about this team.
I don't know, Maybe he's rehabing? oh yeah or doin his addidas commercial." Its about Gilbert. etc. But ya got Caron Butler on the bench with the team every game home & away. Something to be said about that.
Gilbert ugh..well lets move on.

Gilbert apologists and lovers -Before you get your drawers in a knot - this was public radio.

rob - I also think Gil should be a little bit more involved. But the man has a knee injury, not a broken hand. Anyone who has had knee surgery knows you have to keep that knee elavated so that it can heal, so that might have something to do with it.

With Caron's broken hand, it is a whole lot easier for him to visit and sit on the bench, that is not a knee. Plus Caron has been injured before so he knows how to deal with injuries.

If I am not sure, this is Gilbert's first major injury (other then the torn rib tissue he had the first year). Cut the dude some slack. As with the other things that Gilbert does, he just has some "growing up" to do.

He is only 25, give him a little time. If he is not coming out by playoff time, then maybe something should be said then.

listened to game on sportstalk 980.

interesting half-time Ivan was on

announcer asked him if he were Ernie G what would he do?

Hayes - gone
Stevenson - uh prob gone - only good for mid range - see what offers may come.
Blatche - restricted free agent - already plan to sign. done deal
Haywood - coach problems - what do you do with 26yr old 7 footer...problems there -
thomas - contract too big..nobody will take

couple of other names - can't remember.
But sounds like few - gone.

They also spoke negatively and rather sarcastically about Arenas & his 1 visit today to give pep talk to team then left.
Showed poor leadership - all about self.
Apparently, Mr. Arenas is & has been very ambulatory.

comments were: "Oh he's prob rehabbing or his addidas commercial..whatever its about Gilbert. Clearly not a leader
He said he's no team leader his behavior clearly shows that. But you got Caron Butler on the bench with his teammates every game home & away. That says a lot right there."

Gilbert lovers and apologists - its public radio.

Rob, that's a good report. At first, while I was reading your comment, I wondered why you didn't watch the game on ABC. Had I known that Ivan was going to do some chit chat during the half, I would have tuned in.

One thing that I noticed is that all of the reporters and commentators out there are stuck on the excuse that Les BouleS are spiraling downward because they lost their two guys. It's an easy excuse, but if people did some research, they would note that Les BouleS have been on a downward spiral since just before All Star Weekend.

ABC had a special Arenas' Favorite Five clip during the half, where Gilby talks about his 5 alltime favorite clutch shooting guys. He named himself 5, Horry 4, Kobe 3, Bird 2, and MJ 1. Since when do you name yourself on a list if you're not an egomaniac? I'd have to put Tim Hardaway up there before I put Gilby up there.

There was an interesting tidbit on Deron Williams today in the Post. A good read. If you put Gilby in place of Deron in the article, the person whom Gilby would seek out for advice is his mirror.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401133.html

Also, for those who've poo poo'd my suggestion about Shelden Williams as trade bait if Atlanta gets 2 lottery picks, here's something that's come up that might be more palatable. He makes 1/2 of what Shelden makes, but is clearly more athletic:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401129.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3834

Oh yeah, and in case nobody saw the game, Les BouleS got thrashed by their "arch rival" Les Bulls. It wasn't a long time ago when they were our arch rival which culminated in a brawl between BTH and Antonio Davis. Now, they have clearly surpassed Les BouleS due to better management, better coaching, and better players.

It was a clinic and a no contest thrashing this afternoon on the home court of Les BouleS. I think the players have given up, and our so called "silent leader" was MIA for the second consecutive game. IF this "new team" sucks, and our "old team" also sucked towards the latter 2/3 of the season, then how about blowing up the team?

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270415027

Rob and Mikie, I have no doubt that if Caron had the knee injury he would be on the bench supporting his team and not at home blogging and complaining that he was "bored," as ABC quoted GA as saying on his blog.

I'm sure people around the league know who is who; and people around the league and Wiz fans in particular know and respect Caron for the great competitor and teammate he is.

Sobering facts:

2-8 in last 10 (.200) games

4-12 in last 16 (.250) games since the ill fated "critical" west coast trip

9-19 in last 28 (.321) games

Gilby has only been out for past 7 games.

Yay, we made the playoffs!!!!!!!!

To borrow a quote for the infamous Derrick Coleman:

"Whoooop de damn doooooooo......"

MJ news:

http://www.nbc4.com/entertainment/11967746/detail.html

Wow...that was deadly.....deadly depressing. I believe if we drop to the 7th seed (which appears extremely likely) we will play the Bulls. Horrors!

The funny thing was that the fans seemed to stick around to the bitter end. I guess the alternative was walking in the rain or jumping into a river. GM, did you or your loved ones make the game? What was the vibe in the gym?

someday one of you will have to explain to me why so many teams have potential starters coming off the bench, while the wizards only have maybe 3 guys all the time deserving of being in this league. meanwhile, some guy they drafted nearly 3 years ago out of barcelona is the mvp in europe and doesn't seem to be making his way to the wizards anytime soon. then just recently the wizards drafted a couple of eastern europeans who again aren't making their ways on the team. if you are not planing on having these guys on the team anytime soon, then why not trade those picks to put guys on the bench who can actually help the team when any of your 3 stars are down? i swear people in dc, from politicians on to joe gibbs 2 have lost their minds.

dcman, I went to church. After leaving, listened to game on way to lunch w/family afterwards. Tuned in just before at the half. nothing suspect nor deceitful. had lunch at Tysons Corner - if thats ok.

I often listen to the game - due to work.

Was surprised when Winters introduced Ivan and more surprised when Winters bought up the fact that Arenas was actually walking around, etc. very ambulatory.rehabbing. chose not to come to verizon. Ivan was not a happy camper - sounded very disturbed with Wiz. Did say - as he had in one of his articles - that it was best they keep 6 seed to avoid Bulls or Miami.

why they don't try for lottery? I don't profess to be an expert.

Ugh, they face Dwight Howard Tuesday.

Sorry, just saw Mikie's post. Mike - lets be clear. I'm only writing what was said on public radio. It came as a surprise.
Understand, I don't have a dog in this hunt. Nothing personal.

Winter was clear. The guy is walkin around just fine. Visiting ESPN & other places. Read into it whatever you like.

He said himself - his injury was not serious. just a cleaning up.

nobody - including Ivan & Michael are happy about Wiz poor play but there's nothing we can do about it.

Hubie Brown and the other guy did mention that Arenas was walking around. Based on that, I assumed they saw him at Verizon. They did say that Arenas left because he said he can't be at Verizon because he wants to play everytime he sees the game going on, and that "he will go home and play with his kids as his baby is just like him, can't walk either....." Didn't think much of the incident until it was mentioned that Ivan expressed his displeasure about it.

My only hope is that Zards management realizes that our supporting cast is completely inadequate to compete with the good teams in the league. Obviously, you're not going to improve when you lose your 2 best players. That said, this stretch sans Gilbert and Caron has exposed our other players for what they are.

What's frustrating is that a lot of us were saying this last year around this time. At a certain point, you've got to get consistent production on both ends from someone other than the big 3. We haven't and we get abused by any team not trying to get a better draft pick.

Antonio Daniels is the only bench guy that would get minutes on a top 4 team.

Last, always remember that Jarvis Hayes is a liar. He lies. He only has a game like the other night in Atlanta to make you think that he'll hit that open look to put us up 2 with 3 minutes left. So when he shoots a laser beam of the back iron, everyone who believed is sad.

No arguments about the deficiencies of the support staff, Bernard. But seeing in stark black and white how woeful they are casts a pretty harsh light on the criticisms about Gilbert's failure to make his teammates better. If he wasn't making them better, how do you account for this motley collection having, at one point in the season, the best record in the conference?

Kalorama,the south east conf was woeful at best early on. Shaq was out first part of yr. NJ still can't make it to 500. NY? nuff there. Charlotte ???need I say more? The stats are there. The south east was very poor conference.

Easy.......by scoring in bunches and drawing double teams. Doesn't make his teammates better, just takes pressure off them by hiding the team's and his weaknesses. When he lost his mojo, he couldn't step up other areas of his game (ie. playing better D, setting up other players, etc.).

I've said it many times already, the team was on a downward spiral since right before the all star break. This point was hammered through in Ivan's recent article. Look again at the data I posted above:

Sobering facts:

2-8 in last 10 (.200) games

4-12 in last 16 (.250) games since the ill fated "critical" west coast trip

9-19 in last 28 (.321) games

Gilby has only been out for past 7 games.

Yeah Bernard. The first name Ivan mentioned to go today was Jarvis.

Curious what he really thinks about the coaching.

It sounds like because of $$ they bought in a bunch of D League rejects for the bench.

"just takes pressure off them by hiding the team's and his weaknesses."

That's exactly what making teammates better is about ... making the game easier for them by his presence on the floor.

The bench? what about Jamison's 1 for 8 friday and same today? whats happening?
Is he tired or knee bothering him?

when he had knee surg. he was on the bench every game. The cameras would always focus on him if the Wiz weren't doing well. He would usually look sad & uncomfortable. He and Butler same.

ESPN announced we are in exact same place we were last year 42-40? is that correct

People seem to have short memories around here. It was only 4 years ago when the Wiz were on the tail end of a long streak of futility. Going from where they were to true contenders is a long process that they're just starting. It'll take time to rebuild the whole team. They've done the toughest part and gotten legit go-to options in Arenas and Butler. Remaking the supportting staff is just going to take more work and time.

Look the supporting staff isn't great but before tonight they had four games in their grasp that they let slip and maybe should have won. Just remember help (Navarro, Pecherov) is on the way. And Grunfeld is a good enough GM that someone else might be coming here.

I didn't make the game and most likely won't go Tues as I continue to have a back problem. From what my sons are telling me, most of the fans have been subdued but supportive.
I think that someone posted here that they had attended their first game at Verizon when Cleveland came to town, and they thought there was no Buzz in the place. I'd say that is the one thing that Gilbert brought to this roster, an energy, an electricity, the ability to elevate his game and his teammates with him.
I personally love Caron and really respect what he brings to the floor. In some ways losing his toughness and board work were bigger blows to this team than Gilbert's loss. If you go back and look at the record and overlay the games that Jamison and Caron missed, our problems started with injuries plain and simple.
Having had the same surgery that Gilbert had, I'd like to add something to this conversation about him being up and around but not at Verizon. And that he came to see his teammates but didn't stay for the game. It's true with a meniscus tear you can start to hobble around within a few days after surgery, but you're supposed to keep it elevated multiple hrs. a day.
So basiclly they want you off your feet as much as possible. I thought when I had mine, no problem to drive to work sit at a desk, I'll just keep it propped up under the desk and I'll be fine. When they say elevated "they mean above your heart", mine started to fill with fluid. When it does that they take a syringe with a really big gauge needle and they drain your knee. Trouble is once it starts it fills up again and again until it heals.
Not the most pleasant experience of my life, they don't give you a local when they do it. Gilbert, please keep that thing up and ice it like they tell you, don't feel the pressure to sit on the bench right now, it's not worth it. Concentrate on healing and next year.

"That's exactly what making teammates better is about ... making the game easier for them by his presence on the floor.

Posted by: kalorama | April 15, 2007 11:43 PM"

Not really. It's an indirect and unintentional result. If you have a ballhog who scores a lot, how does that help each individual player on the team? Did they learn positioning and passing more? How do you get better if you never get the ball and your "superstar" acts like a crutch to the team?

Steve Nash, Magic, Bird, Kidd, etc. directly made their teams better. These guys are leaders. Gilby, AI, etc. aren't because they are not leaders or team players. They are great individual players.

I'm willing to bet that even though Gilby went down, if tough juice didn't go down also, they would have won these last few games. As I've said many times, the Post reported that before the injury, Les BouleS are 3-1 without Gilby, and 2-7 without Caron.

Look at the data once again. Les BouleS went 1-4 (sub.500 lottery teams without their all stars) in their west coast trip WITH Gilby and AJ in the lineup, and Caron out. Then they came back to the east and lost to Toronto at home (Gilby went 0-4 in OT), beat Milwaukee that was missing its stars, and then got blown out by Charlotte, a lottery team ranked 29 in power rankings. So, don't attribute the team's success solely to Gilby. He lost his mojo right before All Star Weekend.

"People seem to have short memories around here. It was only 4 years ago when the Wiz were on the tail end of a long streak of futility. Going from where they were to true contenders is a long process that they're just starting. It'll take time to rebuild the whole team. They've done the toughest part and gotten legit go-to options in Arenas and Butler. Remaking the supportting staff is just going to take more work and time.

Posted by: kalorama | April 15, 2007 11:46 PM "

That and $2 might get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. As the wise Charles Barkley once said, you have championship CONTENDERS and you have playoff teams. Les BouleS are a playoff team, not "true contendes" as you put it, and Gilby choked last year at the free throw line.

Thanks GM. That's all I was trying to say about Gil's injury, in earlier posts yesterday after the game, and him not being there.

This is not a broken finger. The longer you keep "walking around on it" and sitting on a bench where it is not elevated for "x" amount of hours, the longer it is going to take to get better.

And the more painful the process. And when you've had an injury with lingering pain it takes much longer to restore normal muscle memory to regain your shot, swing or what ever it is you do.
The muscles and nerves around the injured area train theirselves to protect the injury and minimize pain. So often with atheletes that try to gut their way through rehab and prove to the world what a fast healer they are, or that they can play through pain, set theirselves back because they try and do things too soon. Some people act like it's a mental thing that a guy won't,"cut loose after an injury". In reality, his nerves and muscles won't let him until muscle memory is restored. The more pain, the longer that process will take.
Another thing about Arenas's injury, most guys simply go home(they live in another city) when they get hurt and don't come back until they're released for rehab. It is not uncommon at all in the NBA for guys with knee injuries not to be on benches. In fact I watch alot of games can't remember the last guy that I've saw on the bench with his knee in an inmobilizer, which is what I saw that Gil is in.
I think it says something about Gil that he has chosen to live where he plays. Carping about a guy out for THE YEAR with a knee not being on the bench, somebody in the press needs to get a life. Caron is a completely different situation, as he said yesterday he hopes to be out of the cast in 8 to 10 days and has been working out in hopes of playing again this year.

Two points/questions:

1) Arenas supposedly has a meniscus tear. He was on the radio and said it was merely a strain. Nobody knows the real story. Given that, isn't it true that man players play without a meniscus? That if it's torn, it's usually not repaired? I thought I read somewhere that the meniscus would be the least important ligament in your knee, but of course, that's relatively speaking.

2) As much of a ham and camera/PR hog that Arenas is, I'm surprised he didn't wheel himself onto the bench in a wheelchair anyway! I'm surprised he was glad handing all fans, giving out popcorn, and/or throwing jerseys with GWiz while in a custom made Ferrari wheelchair. He's clearly slipping, because if he was true to form, he'd use the injury in a marketing campaign.

My understanding was that he had ligament(or tendon) strains and a meniscus tear. The Meniscus is cartlidge which provides the lubrication in your knee that keeps the bones from rubbing.
Can't be repaired or replaced, when it is torn they go in and smooth off the edges and take the loose material out so it doesn't act like sandpaper and grind the rest away. Some tears will have pc. that tears partly away holds back on it's self and locks your knee.
Someone posted here that you could play on one in a few weeks. I think over time doctors have realized that once torn, it should be allowed a longer time to heal and toughen up before resuming play on it. There's a whole generation of guys that have had their knees scoped and went back to playing and have worn their knees out prematurely. So I think they're wise to be conservative with Gil right now.
Playing without meniscus could be done if you could stand the pain. Gus Johnson was said to take Novicane injections in his knees to play and must of ended up hooked on Morphine.
I'm sure that considering the degree of pain, especially since this is his first major injury. Gil isn't thinking about playful little attention getting pranks right now.
I also suspect that if Jamison doesn't have a ligament problem, that his knee needs cleaned out at the very least. Some guys have their knees cleaned out almost every off season to keep small pcs. floating in the knee from wearing out their remaining good cartlidge. Those little floaters are strange, one day they don't bother you at all the next they can really hinder you.

Nice analysis GM. I can not remember seeing anyone on the bench either when they just had a knee operation. I think people in the media and everywhere else are making "way" to much of this.

Guys in football are able to come to games sometimes with their knee injuries only because there is "way more room" on the sidelines to stand with your crutches and also to sit down. There is no room on a NBA bench to do either, so that needs to be taken into account also.

So lets see Gilbert is terrible because if he shows up and terrible when he doesn't. Some of you Gilbert haters are irrational.

No, some of you groupies(old ones too)are too gullible.

There's an ocean in the middle of the Mohave desert Gilbert could sell you. You'd probably pay over the asking price.

Eubie Brown, reporters & the announcers saw Gilbert "walking" around. Ice? wheel chair? Not!

Dan Steinberg had a few words to say about your so not injured star.

"Oh, and he completely sells out his teammates, in public. Like this:

I try to watch the good parts [of Wiz games] ... so I won't watch the last four or five minutes. I'll watch the good part of the game.
Not to make too much of this, but Caron Butler is visibly wrenching his body in misery, courtside, exhorting his teammates on while the Wizards are losing these games, and Gil can't even bother to watch the end on TV? Because he's gotta watch another X-Men movie? I've supported this goof through virtually everything, on the theory that sports are entertainment and all entertainment is better than no entertainment, but that kinda turns even my stomach.

By Dan Steinberg | April 13, 2007; 12:02 PM ET