The Washington Wizards are awful. You knew that. A record of 4-18 speaks for itself. After trouncing the Detroit Pistons [tonight's opponent] last week, the Bullets have lost their last 3 games, each by at least 15 points. The backcourt gets outscored every night and is composed of players who can’t shoot [Deshawn Stevenson, Mike James], are streaky shooters [Juan Dixon], and kids Head Coach Ed Tapscott just doesn’t trust [Nick Young, Javaris Crittenton]. The Washington backcourt is so bad that even when the starting front court accounts for 71 points [26 from Antawn Jamison, 26 from Caron Butler, 19 from Andray Blatche], the team still loses at home by 20 points to a medioce squad like the Indiana Pacers.
In other words, the back courts used by Eddie Jordan and now Ed Tapscott are not working. They are, in fact, a huge part of what is holding the team back. Certainly poor defense — much of it caused by the lack of C Brendan Haywood — is a real problem. Nevertheless, the backcourt is easily the weakest position on the team. Without Gilbert Arenas, the backcourt scores few points or assists — it just doesn’t generate offense.
Nick Young has been buried on the bench the last few games, apparently a victim of Tapscott’s dissatisfaction with his defense and decision-making. However, it now seems Tapscott realizes that Young is one of his few healthy guards with real talent and scoring ability and has decided to let the kid play through his growing pains.
“I’m going to take a little blame for Nick’s troubles,” Tapscott said. “I’ve had him thinking a little too much. Sometimes you can stress execution, execution, execution, and what that does is force a guy to start thinking about everything he does. Some guys are better just playing in the flow, so I gave him the release today. I said, ‘Look, I’m going to play you the full segment and leave you alone and let you play.’ “
It’s a message Young appreciated after playing a total of nine minutes in the last two games.
“He sat down and talked to me, and that was big, I needed that,” Young said. “Lately I’ve been getting three minutes, four minutes and that’s kind of hard coming from the minutes I played. . . . If I make a mistake, I won’t have to look to the bench knowing I’m coming out. Hopefully that will give me a little leeway out there.”
Young, who ranks third on the team in scoring (10 points per game) and is shooting a decent 44.3 percent, has been on a short leash recently after frustrating Tapscott with mistakes at both ends of the floor.
Playing Nick Young more is a no-brainer. It starts with Young’s undeniable physical talent. The kid can shoot from 3-point range and in. He’s fast and athletic. He can penetrate and score. He will occasionally take some bad shots and turn the ball over, but that’s common for a young player [Young played only 2 years at USC -- this would be his senior year in college]. Despite getting so few minutes lately, Young still outscores everyone on the team apart from Jamison and Butler, demonstrating that Young has offense that nobody else in the backcourt has.
Deshawn Stevenson is, frankly, a terrible offensive player. His shot, never good, has abandoned him completely. He is not only missing the vast majority of his shots, many of them aren’t even close. His 32% shooting percentage is so awful it can scarcely be believed? Is there another player in the NBA who is hits fewer than one in three of his shots and is in the starting lineup? He is spoken of constantly as the best wing defender on the team, but in order to justify playing someone who gives you so little offensively, Stevenson would have to be the best wing defender in history, not just the best wing defender currently on the Wizards roster. Stevenson should be benched immediately. Long-time readers of DC Pro Sports Report will recall that I opposed giving him that new contract after the 2006-07 season and nothing that has happened since has changed my opinion.
Mike James, believe it or not, is a worse shooter than Deshawn Stevenson. It’s hard to believe, but true. James is shooting 29% from the field and 26% since he joined Washington. Nevertheless, he’s getting most of the backup minutes at guard right now. Sure, James is the veteran and he’s played in a system similar to the one Washington runs, but he’s awful. As I wrote when the trade for James was completed, it is no exaggeration to say that James is one of the worst players in the NBA. He’s awful. What good is familiarity with the offense if he still can’t shoot worth a damn. James is an older player who is getting worse, not better. Washington should do with him what New Orleans did — bury him on the bench.
Juan Dixon is a guy I like a lot, due to his Maryland connections and generally high character. He can really score when he’s in a groove, but he’s a streaky shooter who gives the team little when he’s cold. He’s not a real point guard and shouldn’t be playing at that position. He’s small and suffers defensively against taller guards. Dixon is a guy who should be playing 8-12 minutes per night, giving the team some instant offense off the bench. He should not be starting, particularly at point guard.
So, who should start in the back court next to Nick Young? Javaris Crittenton. Sure, he’s young and inexperienced, having played about 60 games in the NBA. However, Crittenton is tall for a guard and teamed with Nick Young would give the Bullets a tall and very athletic back court. Crittenton is very coach-able, fast, quick, and unselfish. He’ll pass the ball and run the offense as soon as he learns it. Why not have him learn on the job? He doesn’t know the offensive system yet and he’s bound to make plenty of youthful errors. But the team is making a ton of errors and getting nothing from its more experienced guards. The back court with the experience is simply not talented enough to compete with the back court of virtually any other NBA team. That’s why Crittenton should be a starter until Gilbert Arenas is healthy. Is Crittenton ready? Of course not! What difference does it make? The team loses by 20 points at home to mediocre opponents even when the front court is scoring a ton of points. If Washington is going to lose, why not lose with the kids? How could Crittenton and Young really do worse than Dixon, Stevenson and James? They couldn’t.
So start Nick Young and Javaris Crittenton in the back court and leave it that way until Gilbert Arenas arrives. Then play Arenas, Young and Crittenton is a 3-guard rotation for the rest of the season. Let Dixon have a few minutes here and there, but otherwise, just play those three when Gil is back. Let Mike James and Deshawn Stevenson sit on the bench, which is where their nightly performances indicate they belong.
Be sure to check out the DC Pro Sports Report NBA Mock Draft Database — especially since the Wizards will probably have a place of prominence in the next NBA draft. The DC Pro Sports Report NBA Mock Draft Database is the biggest and best of its kind on the Internet. Check it out!
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