MVN - Most Valuable Network

A Differing Opinion

Regarding my partner’s last post, I was not as encouraged as he was with parts of the Wizards loss in Chicago earlier this week.  But some of our young guys did show something on Friday night against Zalgiris.  First though, let’s go back to the Chicago game.

Sure, they played without Caron Butler and lost Antawn Jamison early in the game with an ankle injury (he says he’s fine now by the way, whew!), but for most of the game they looked too much like last year’s team late in the year, especially defensively.  As the game wore on, they gave up wide open looks time and time again.

The young guys looked good at times.  Nick Young showed some nice skills and hit some impressive shots, but he also struggled on defense and made some really bad decisions on the offensive end.  Pecherov looked good at times as well, but he also has a lot to learn and the first half of the season will likely be a struggle for him.  Blatche showed me a lot of heart by returning to the game after rolling his ankle and also played well, but disappeared at times and looked unsure of himself at other times.  Dominic McGuire looked good on the defensive end though, with a ton of blocked shots.  He blocked 4 shots and had 5 assists on Friday night against Zalgiris.

We are going to have to live with some mistakes from these guys during this season, but as long as they improve and get more and more comfortable with the system and their teammates, by the end of the season I think they have a great chance to contribute in the playoffs and give the team the depth it’s wished it had since the 2005 playoffs.  (Remember Juan Dixon and Steve Blake). 

Okay, now to Friday’s game.  What a performance by Andray Blatche.  He made 8 of 9 shots with 8 boards, 3 steals, and 4 assists.  That’s a line.  But that proves my point. These young guys are going to have good games and bad games.  By April, here’s hoping they have more good ones than bad ones.

Oh, and Brenda Haywood looked like his usual horrible self for most of the game in Chicago.  He did have a decent game on Friday, but remember the opponent.  Even without Etan Thomas, here’s hoping Haywood’s days are numbered in the starting lineup.  Or, he can actually play hard for an entire game and be the player that we see flashes of.  Then again, Joey Harrington could turn into a pro bowl quarterback.   

This entry was posted on Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 10:51 pm and is filed under Les Bullez. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.