Anon, I think Duhon would be a decent addition, depending on his salary demands. He plays defense, seems to have a high b-ball IQ and is a true PG. However, all these T(w)erps bandwagoners will cry foul, heheheh...

I don't think Eddie will be stopping in to see these stiffs.

I agree with the anon poster with the Duhon suggestion. He will be a lot cheaper than Mason and can give them some defensive juice off the bench. Even if he is a stinking Dukie.
And Deron Washington is no stiff simply for this reason
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HXNJQFi_R50

That is video that will never get old.

Duhon would be a nice pickup and could come cheap. But he won't come here to be third on the depth chart behind Arenas and Daniels. There are other teams that would happily have him as their primary backup.

Wiz working-out more scrubs, I don't get-it.

Further proof that the Association fixes games....

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3436401

Donaghy's singing like a canary.

Chris Duhon earned $3.2M last year. He did not sign an extension contract with Chicago. How is he going to be cheap?

Probably cause they didn't offer him an extension. If they can't tie up Deng and Gordon as two of their solid cores on the team, you'd think they'e gonna commit to a long term deal for their backup PG?

Not only the commitment in the long term extension but it'll also limit the cap space to sign Deng and Gordon whether for the team or for any sign and trades.

Further proof that the Association fixes games....

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3436401

Donaghy's singing like a canary.

Posted by: mark | June 11, 2008 7:17 AM

Did he personally witness these events? Or is he going on rumor and innuendo about league officials getting refs to influence the outcomes of certain games? Or is he just making this stuff up as he goes along in a desparate attempt to get a shorter jail sentence? Sorry, Donaghy has ZERO credibility with me.

The point is there are decent PGs out there that fit this team just as well as Lawson or maybe even better without having to use an 18th pick on him when he's going to be a 3rd PG. We only need a relatively young PG that can handle playing the small quick PGs Wiz have had trouble guarding the past few years.

This draft is deep enough to get a really solid 2nd stringer or even an eventual starter like a Rush or CDR.

I would love to pick up Robert Vaden in the 2nd round. Very underated the guy can flat out score

They need to grab Sean Singletary at 48. He is every bit as good as Ty Lawson, doesn't have a history of being a knucklehead like Lawson, and would be available at 48. Singletary already has NBA range too.

To whoever was hot on JaVale McGee, he's been stinking it up in the workouts per Chad Ford.

McGee is probably not ready yet for the league, but he has pedigree and some very good physical attributes to work with, all of that helps. Workouts should play a part in determining a prospects future but shouldn't outweigh other aspects of their career. Kwame did extremely well in workouts and we know his history all too well.

The sad thing about this draft (and all drafts for that matter) is that past the top 10, none of the guys seem to have the skills to really make any sort of a difference for any team.

It's incredible when you think about it with the hundreds of college teams and the multitude of foreign ball clubs. Then, you look at the NBA and you wonder how #'s 12 - 15 are even in the NBA.

Deron Washington is like a poor man's Joakim Noah - with less height but better hops.

The guy plays with raw emotion, which can be inspirting, but the dude acts like a real bozo when he loses his cool.

It'll be interesting to see how/if he translates/develops. I see 'How Acquired-Undrafted Free Agent'in his future

Ernie released a statement yetserday but no one has reported here....what gives?????

OK, how about a new rule, the Wizards can't take any player from college teams in the area. That way all the homers for Gist, Singletary, Washington, Ewing and Hibbert will have to actually learn about other players in the draft. Thus ending the string "I know his name, pick him!" comments.

The NBA chews up and spits out 100 Singletary's a year. He should try working out for some European 2nd leagues at best.

I don't need Tim Donaghy's information as given to the FBI to know the 2002 series was altered by officials. I watched it.

He has already cooperated with the FBI. That cooperation cannot be undone or given extra credit for by making these things public. Its his attempt to leverage the NBA which wants him to pay for their investigation into all of their referees. Like the ones going into casinos against league rules... What this letter contains is what he has already told the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Its only public because the league wants him to fork over $1 Million for their investigation. In these cases if he can't pay he gets a longer sentence. Now his lawyers want to see where that $1Million for 56 interviews went exactly. Meanwhile Dick Bavetta, Joey Crawford, Bob Delaney and Bennett Salvatore continue to work the Finals...

David Stern has had a great run, but should probably step down.

WaPoLiveFan16-Deron washington is a very interesting prospect. I would call him more of a very poor man's Josh Smith.....He kind of reminds me of a renaldo balkman type with more hops. He is more of a SF in the league thats why I dont think noah was the best example.

Monte-I agree with you on Hibbert and Gist but I wouldn't be disappointed if we got washington, ewing, or singletary in the 2nd round. Its possible ewing and singletary might not even get drafted then I definitely want to pick them up. Ewing just like washington is unbelievably athletic...neither all that skilled but ewing has progressed every year since his freshman year at indiana and could eventually be an ok bench guy and he just has the NBA in his blood. Singletary is underated and was probably the best PG in the ACC last year....he lit up a bunch of good teams and almost beat UNC all by himself.

True that Donaghy has a reason to sing (immunity or a lighter sentence perhaps) but the circumstantial evidence is too great to ignore it all. Just cuz McNamee is untrustworthy doesn't mean Clemens wasn't a roid user, for example.
I really believe that the games are 'influenced'. The announcers asked Jerry West last night what went through his mind when he found out it would be Lakers vs. Celtics in the finals. He said "I'm sure the league was very happy about it". No sh&t, Jerry. The league orchestrated it.
I'm an admitted homer but this lack of credibility and increasing mountain of evidence suggests that there was no way we'd win those games against Cleveland no matter what we did. There's a reason big Z is able to push guys in the back and travel at will. There's a reason LeBron is able to take 3-4 steps whenever he wants to and AJ can't get a foul call when he gets hacked. Gilbert's injury was a convenient excuse for the Wizards not winning this year. Two years ago, LeBron traveled on that last winning basket. Until Gil is healthy and can fill seats in 'away' arenas and bring fans to the tv to watch, we're not gonna advance. He's the only guy we have that might make the casual observer watch us. Without him, the Association has no reason to allow us to continue deep into the playoffs. More money is made by letting LeBron advance.

For the record, I'm not really a conspiracy theorist. I know JFK was shot by someone other than Oswald, the Association put Patrick Ewing in NY, there are alien remains somewhere in a vault,the cops know who shot Tupac and Biggie and the NBA fixes games. Besides that, everything else is on the up and up.

OK, how about a new rule, the Wizards can't take any player from college teams in the area. That way all the homers for Gist, Singletary, Washington, Ewing and Hibbert will have to actually learn about other players in the draft. Thus ending the string "I know his name, pick him!" comments.

The NBA chews up and spits out 100 Singletary's a year. He should try working out for some European 2nd leagues at best.

Posted by: Monte | June 11, 2008 10:05 AM

The opposite is also true, lets not eliminate players from consideration, just because they are "homers" Gist & Singletary are both legit 2nd rounders on their own merits as evidenced by their workouts for several NBA teams, and glowing write-ups in the press. Gist was named one of the top-ten players coming out of Orlando FWIW.

Gist having a great workout and camp by no means indicate that he's draft worthy. I'd rather go by what he's done in college, which isn't much. As I said before, nothing that Gist brings to the table is any better than what we have already with DMac.

Last season was a forgettable one for the Terps, and it may continue into the future as they lost 2 recruits recently.

1. You can't be a second rounder on your own merits before the draft happens. Another hometown favorite Zabian Dowdell was in this same category last year only to go undrafted. He is currently playing with Sluc Nancy in France. Maybe Singletary took French at UVa.

2. The press doesn't get to choose who gets drafted. Glowing write ups by hometown papers or websites don't get you drafted either. I decided to check out impartial sites to see what they said about the Orlando camp. Neither Gist nor Singletary was picked for the First or Second All-Camp Team by Draftexpress.com. Also important when taking this into account is that the top players in the draft were not playing. The top players were likely second round picks but neither guy was in the top 10 of that group either.

According to that site both had a good Day 3 of the camp, after looking not so hot early on. In other words, still more likely to go undrafted once Intl players are factored into the second round.

Judge them on their ability, not their ability x locality x fanboy factor.

Ahhh...the players invited to the Orlando camp were invited there because they were deemed draft-worthy by NBA scouts, how well players did in the work-outs is just icying.

I am not for drafting Gist, but you could say that Gist and D-Mac are similiar players with Gist perhaps getting the edge because his offensive game is more developed. If Gist weighed 20lbs more, he'd be further up the 2nd round depth chart.

Duh!, good point. I'm all for getting a backup to CB3 who also can score.

I doubt Gist gets drafted, although he'll probably get some camp invites and might even make a roster as an undrafted FA. Physically, he doesn't fit neatly into a position and skill-wise, he doesn't really do any one thing will enough to overcome that.

i've said it before...

draft CDR or darrell arthur if available.

no to hibbert.
no to gist.
no to singletary.

hibbert = bryant reeves

gist = nate james, dante jones, or chris porter (just a little taller)

singletary = any college guard that was decent to good and amounted to nothing in the NBA.

ooops make that deron williams = chris porter

"hibbert = bryant reeves",/i>

Big Country was a pretty good player before weight(which isn't an issue for Hibbert) and injuries did him in.

Blast from the past. Bryant 'Big Country' Reeves? He was one of the best players on an average team so it appeared that he was better than he really was (kinda like Juwan Howard here). He was a homeless man's Jeff Ruland. I'd say that comparing Hibbert to him is fair. Hibbert would probably be happy to average 12 and 7 over his career like Reeves. As a comparison, BTH averaged 11 and 7 this season and everyone considered it to be a breakout year.

"He was one of the best players on an average team so it appeared that he was better than he really was (kinda like Juwan Howard here)."

Or Brendan Haywood. To wit:

"As a comparison, BTH averaged 11 and 7 this season and everyone considered it to be a breakout year."

That's because it's his 7th year in the NBA and, before this year, he routinely stunk. On his career he's averaged 7 and 6 (and that's including his "breakout year"), which is nothing to write home about. If Haywood's career numbers were 12 and 7, there wouldn't be a reason to complain about him. If Hibbert is capable of averaging that over the course of a career (as you suggest) then all the more reason to draft him, I say.

(Oh, and Reeves' first three years in the NBA (before injuries started to take their toll) he averaged about 15 and 8.)

gist will definitely get camp invites. as for being drafted, the second round is always a crap-shoot as far as who teams will pick, but he has been projected to go in the second round on multiple mock drafts....take that for what its worth.

like most guys in his position (athletic, tweener, inconsistent) it'll all come down to workouts.

Ye of little faith. Hibbert can do a decent job... he is a WAY better 18 than Opec (big Stewie)... an if he attains Big Country numbers all the better (Big Country was a very high pick too).

1. You can't be a second rounder on your own merits before the draft happens. Another hometown favorite Zabian Dowdell was in this same category last year only to go undrafted. He is currently playing with Sluc Nancy in France. Maybe Singletary took French at UVa.

2. The press doesn't get to choose who gets drafted. Glowing write ups by hometown papers or websites don't get you drafted either. I decided to check out impartial sites to see what they said about the Orlando camp. Neither Gist nor Singletary was picked for the First or Second All-Camp Team by Draftexpress.com. Also important when taking this into account is that the top players in the draft were not playing. The top players were likely second round picks but neither guy was in the top 10 of that group either.

According to that site both had a good Day 3 of the camp, after looking not so hot early on. In other words, still more likely to go undrafted once Intl players are factored into the second round.

Judge them on their ability, not their ability x locality x fanboy factor.

Posted by: Monte | June 11, 2008 1:40 PM

If you want to play cute with semantics then fine. This is a PRE-DRAFT discussion Gist & Singletary are both worthy of CONSIDERATION to be drafted as 2nd rounders on their own merits, and they are being considered as potential picks by NBA teams. What happened to Zabian Dowdell or any other player is completely irrelavant.

You stated the obvious that "the press doesn't get to choose who gets drafted" NO DUH!! But it's their job as sports writers to evaluate what took place at the Orlando camp and give their opinions. Fox Sports listed Gist in their top-10 of camp participants, deal with it, get therapy.

James Gist, 6-8, 223, SF/PF, Maryland, Sr.: Gist started off like gangbusters with 16 points in his first game on 5-of-8 from the floor and 6-of-6 from the line. Unfortunately, he hit a major cold spell from the field, going a combined 5-for-18 in the final two, averaging just 5.5 in those games. He's a freakish athlete and is the type of specimen that should be able to find a role in the league even if his offensive game never vastly improves (a poor man's Rodman).
http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/8206802/Forbes-shines-again-at-NBA-pre-draft-camp-

....and I'm not for drafting Gist btw

Gist may be a freakish athlete, but the goal of basketball is to defend the basket, and score the basket. Gist has absolutely no handles or quickness, so he can't be a 3. Also, he's too small to be a 4.

Gist's role would essentially be to get on the court, scrap, dive, and outhustle. Guys like that don't need to be drafted.

Big Country Reeves was known more as a scorer and not a defensive player as Hibbert and/or BTH.

BTH's breakout was more of EJ giving him more PT, if you can call 25-28 mins. a lot. Thanks to Etan's injury, EJ has no choice but to play BTH.

By the way, if the Suns, Pistons and Bulls got an unproven rookie head coaches. Why can't the Wizards replace their coach? Hmmm?

HELP! IS V YOUNG POTENTIALLY AS GOOD AS THE CELTICS RAMBO[?]?? OR THE ROOKIE GUARD FROM DETROIT?
IS ROY HIBBERT A LOTTERY PICK?

"By the way, if the Suns, Pistons and Bulls got an unproven rookie head coaches. Why can't the Wizards replace their coach? Hmmm?"

They can, but why should they fire the best coach the team's had in 20 years? Change for change's sake isn't necessarily a good idea. It still remains to be seen whether the Suns, Bulls, or Pistons will be any better.

I really wonder if Tom Thibodeaux (sp) would have transformed us as much as he's done w/ the Celtics. Obviously picking up a guy like Garnett help TT a lot, and now, he is (was) getting serious head coaching consideration.

Avery Johnson transformed the run-n-gun Mavs to a defensive-minded team, but that did include an overhaul of the roster. Can't wait for the draft & July 1 and the flurry of player meetings and signings around the league...

"Change for change's sake isn't necessarily a good idea"

Okay, so you're satisfied with having 40-42 wins in the regular season and a one and out team in the playoffs. I'm not....I want the team to excel. Sometimes you just have to roll the dice.
The team has a lot of potential....I just wish I can say the same to the coach.

"Sometimes you just have to roll the dice."

Sometimes when you roll the dice you get snake eyes.

Coaching is the least of this team's problems.

"Coaching is the least of this team's problems"

Coaching is one of the MAIN issues this team has. And that is my opinion.

"Sometimes when you roll the dice you get snake eyes"

And sometimes you hit the jackpot!

If the Wiz can get Aaron Miles out of his contract overseas, I would bring him back as the 3rd PG. The Wiz dragged their feet on signing him last year, causing him to go with the guaranteed money. IMO, I thought he did a very good job running the team in the summer league.

"Coaching is one of the MAIN issues this team has."

It's somewhere way behind: recurring injury problems, a poorly balanced roster, lack of size, lack of athleticism, lack of low post offense, questionable depth, bench scoring. Will a new coach fix any of those? Not likely.

"And sometimes you hit the jackpot!"

And which happens more often?

I agree about Aaron Miles

"It's somewhere way behind: recurring injury problems, a poorly balanced roster, lack of size, lack of athleticism, lack of low post offense, questionable depth, bench scoring"

That can all change with some luck with health and few tweaks in the roster. But would you see a change in the coaching with the same man who's been with the team for the past few years....I doubt it. That my friend you will call NOT likely.

"And which happens more often?"

I say 50-50, either you go up or you go down. With EJ, you know what you're getting.....poor coaching.

"That can all change with some luck with health and few tweaks in the roster."

And if that changes so would the results on the court. Jordan is the first coach in 25 years to get the team to 4 straight playoffs, and he did it every year with an injury-riddled, undermanned squad. Give him a chance to compete with a full team and then judge him. Otherwise you're blaming him for things over which he has no control.

If Jordan was as bad a coach as you seem determined to believe, the Wizards would have ended up in the lottery this season. I guarantee that one of those "unproven rookie head coaches" you seem to love so much wouldn't have gotten better results out if this undermanned, injury-hit, talent-shallow squad.

"I say 50-50, either you go up or you go down. "

Anyone who spends any time at a craps table will tell you that those odds are wishful thinking.

"Give him a chance to compete with a full team and then judge him."

Yes, hopefully with a healthy team next season you will be enlighten on what it really the problem with the team. Same mistake, year in and year out. Oh and there will be another issue coming on who'll be the starting center. Duh!

"I guarantee that one of those "unproven rookie head coaches" you seem to love so much wouldn't have gotten better results out if this undermanned, injury-hit, talent-shallow squad."

So what did you use, a Taro card or a crystal ball? Or maybe you just use look at their faces and see a loser on their forehead.

EJ is such a great coach that he quit on BTH. Gave up on him. Good thing BTH stuck around to make EJ look silly.

BTH had a heckuva season, and it was EG who disregarded EJ and picked BTH. Great move!