So we all knew it was coming... the bad road trip, yet we all were hoping to sneak out a win or two. Didn't happen. There was more playing time for the fringe players and more responsibilities for others. I know it sucked to watch, but was it good for the team to go through? What have we learned from it? Playoffs are coming fast... Bosh is back on Wednesday... What would you do at this point if you were Smitch?

Positives:
1. AP's overall play. His defence was even better than normal(how about that steal on Kobe and then break away dunk) and roughly 20 ppg. Excellent bang for your 4 million bucks.
2. Hump's return. Effort and shooting percentages were quite good.
3. Rasho!!! More points... more rebounds... smae great defence. I like that he should be in great game shape for playoffs.
4. Kapono. Working hard to get open and actually getting some shot attempts.


Negatives:
1. TJ...TJ and more TJ. Turnovers killing Raps. Defensive liability. Not running offence well. Taking time from Jose.
2. Jose not looking to attack. Sagging into the key, leaving his man too open.
3. Moon.. still not driving to hoop. Offensive flow killer? Teams letting him shoot?
4. Bargs. Many people were thinking that it was his time to step up and lead the team. Not even close.
5. Delfino's sudden lack of shooting touch. 3's not falling.
6. Primoz. Had hopes that he'd play more... seemed like a good signing. Stuck on bench... now injured.
7. Smitch. Content with effort? Sound like soccer mom attitude "good game kids... you tried hard" uggggh

Playoffs coming... what to do now?

1. Pray. Pray Bosh's knee will be fine. May need a few games to get back into the flow though.
2. Start Rasho... deserves it. Bargs at 3 or off the bench.
3. Sit Moon more. The league has figured him out. More time at 3 for Kapono... and maybe Bargs.
4. Make a decision on TJ... start him or seriously cut his PT. Current situation is not working.


Everything has been doom and gloom around here for the last while. My posts have been almost entirely negative, too. Maybe this last trip was good. Sure TJ is junk right now. Bargs, Jose and Delfino haven't been great. But AP, Rasho and Kapono are probably playing their best ball of the season now. Bring back Bosh and maybe we're not dead yet.

Go Raps... anything can happen come playoffs.

Looking at strength of schedule, the Wizards have a tough finish. Look at their next 10 games. Ideally, they stumble out west, Philly continues to roll, and we sneak into 6th place. The last 10 games are softies and even this team could go 8-2 in that stretch. At this point, that is our best hope.

I think we forget sometimes that this is primarily a young team that had more growing up to do this year. Hopefully this trip accelerated that process and we'll benefit in the end.

Now, if we lose to Miami tomorrow night...

Great post X_Man. Almost a blog dare I say.

And dont forget our sched, Mr_Cof. We have a much easier finish ahead of us.

How I wish Bargs could defend the 3. Rasho, Bosh, Bargs, Ap and Jose would be my preferred choice to start going into the playoffs.

i didnt see every minute of the trip, but i have a few thoughts:

--- i dont see barg's play as a negative. i think he's really holding his own down low and i think he shows a lot of confidence in his game. i loved watching him play big minutes. he did show that he's got a long way to go.. but he also restored my confidence that he will get there. and i just love the away crowd's reaction when bargs is swishing his 3's. its like hke sucks the air out of the building.


--- most people around here are overreacting to the TJ thing. i think we need to give him a break. we are stuck with him for a few more years and undercutting his confidence does nobody any good. the guy is coming off a MAJOR injury scare and its gonna take a while. plus, he is used to playing with the big fella on the floor. he's trying to 1) come off a big-time injury and 2) carry the team because after our initial offensive call breaks down, everybody reverts to "watch tj" mode. including kapono (who is getting props for findings space). TJ only looks to create for himself once he runs the play that Sam calls. After the play doesnt work, everyone literally stands there and watches him. somebody (Smitch) needs to say "Hey, Jamario, ever think of cutting to the hoop once of offense breaks down?" or "Hey, it we are in trouble out there, somebody set a screen for JK". its not TJ's fault that everyone esle has hands in pockets.

--- as much of a TJ sympathizer as i am, last night was just plain ugly. everyone knew it was coming. even the swirsk saw it coming. price was dominating TJ and TJ was having trouble getting calls on the offensive end. we needed to get him out of there and (for some reason) Smitch hung TJ out to dry.

--- why the f*** is CB4 such a somber guy on the bench? last night. when TJ was about to boil over and the game was slipping away, he was just sitting there like he didnt care. where is the emotion? where is the leadership? that was a great example of a team without a leader. just because he's not in uniform doesnt mean that he cant be the leader. look at KG when he's in street clothes.. up off the bench, encouraging guys and playing a leadership role. Where is bosh? the whole tj situation and bosh's indifference makes it seem like the guys have quit on smitch.

--- is it just me or could we really have used a streaky shooter to spark to offense with bosh out. juan dixon anybody?

--- rasho can play a whole game and not get gassed because he doesnt run or jump. he just trots and lifts his arms up. he expends less energy than the average baseball player. very comical to watch.

I agree with every comment , but the TJ thing, its affecting everyones play. Bargs is showing signs. AP is unreal. Kapono is being used better. Jamario needs grow as a player, graham needs to be put in jamarios place so he can see why graham was getting benched. Rasho, is a great big man defender and has been solid all around during the road trip. Jose needs more minutes back to get comfortable.

And CB always gives us hope

Bargs...may not have been a total negative, but his offence was extremely disappointing. I was expecting 15ppg minimum while Bosh was out.

On the positive side:
Mitchell start learning that he need to create plays for different players than Bosh. Kapono is a good example.Hope that keep learning and fast with palys for other.

Bargs: He was a 4 last year. I was expecting more from him during his trip, but: we push this guy to play center as long as Bosh was playing. Then we change our mind, due to CB injury, and we would like him to play at 4. But with NO plays for him and without the freedom given by double teaming CB.
Isn't that we were expecting too much ? I feel he will be better when Cb comes back.

TJ. I thik that TJ will understand that's better for him, to live as a scond string in order to easily find option for next year, leaving us with Jose and Roko + 8 million to spend..

Much as the whole "blowing a close road game against a normally pretty good team" part of this totally sucked, I actually heartily approve of Sam leaving TJ in and "hanging him out to dry", as you put it. When someone gets it and is listening, you coach, but when someone doesn't get it and isn't listening, the best thing to do is to let them experience the consequences of their stupidity firsthand. I think Sam actually has half a chance of having TJ's full attention now. I think even TJ might realize that if he hasn't hit rock bottom now, he's come perilously close to doing so. (I'm not sure if he'd be man enough to admit it, however.)

If TJ still doesn't get it five games from now, the next step when TJ loses his head is mid-game is to run and keep running a called play where everyone stays back in defensive alignment and TJ goes one on five on the other end.

That would be the funniest thing I would've ever seen... but TJ would probably leave the court and the team at that moment, or at least I would.

Great OP. I gotta say I agree with everything there.

Hopefully AP and Kapono can keep it up when Bosh returns and Rasho gets more PT. And we do need Jose to get back on track and out of shooting slump. If those things happen and we manage to grab the sixth seed, the playoffs might be worthwhile to watch.

All I got watching this team without Bosh (besides dangerously high blood pressure) was the sense that there is no real playmaking on this team aside from high screen roll. Lots of standing around, lots of guys winding up in the same place. I think a large part of this is because Mitchell hasn't (hasn't been able to (injuries + inconsistent play), or just plain won't) settle on lineups - 5 starters, 5 bench players. Every game, every quarter, crap every 5 minutes there's a different five players on the court who don't know each other's tendencies or positions in plays. So frustrating (I'm sure for the players as well).

Oh . .and we seem to have mostly figured out how to pass out of a full-court press (though we still don't attack at the end while the defending team is still stretched), so can we put in some time busting zone defences in practice?