Remember how inexplicably awful Nick was in Vegas last month during the summer league?  Well, it looks like we may have just found out why he looked so out of sync.

Ben from Blazers Edge was in Vegas for the SL and recently wrote up a little report on his experiences for Hardwood Paroxysm, and in his report there's a little tidbit that helps clear up why Nick Young was so out of sorts that week:

On the court there is no harmony. There are players who have spots assured. They loaf. There are players who need their names on the back of their jerseys, othewise no one would know who they are. They grind. There is a young men, OJ Mayo, looking to make a highlight film; there is another, Nick Young, looking at the fly honeys. There is a mountain man, Steven Hill, whose beard inspires more cheers than his play; there is a play the game the right way plodder, Josh Davis, who has every white scout over 60 years old wishing him the best. Of course, the same scouts are hesitant to encourage their management to sign Davis, lest they be laughed out of the room.

But hey, look at the bright side, Andray was in Vegas too and he performed quite well.  Maybe next year we can petition the NBA to have the Summer League moved to Philadelphia.

Previously...JaVale McGee is a very undisciplined defender, and Dominic McGuire does all the unnoticed things.

It's unmistakably clear that this is a huge offseason for Nick Young.  As discussed in our player evaluation, he showed a lot of flashes in his rookie season, but demonstrated that he has a long way to go to be a bona-fide player in this league.  His non-scoring production was terrible, and even his scoring pop was mitigated by his struggles finishing close to the basket and his struggles playing off the ball in the Princeton ofense.  Still, managemet (and myself) believed he was close enough to a finished product for the team to elect not to re-sign Roger Mason, freeing up more backup minutes for Young. 

Then, Summer League arrived.  What began as a great chance for Young to carry over his improvement from the second half of the regular season instead turned into a disaster.  It began with Young dubbing himself a part of the "Little Three" and went downhill from there.  He was pretty erratic as a rookie in Summer League, but at least then he looked good, even if tons of shots were clanking off the iron.  This year, he was far worse.

My original plan was to look at Young's defense, assuming his scoring was hardly a problem, but his terrible Summer League performance changed my mind.  As such, I'm going to track Young during the game against Cleveland where he shot 1-9 and contributed very little to the team's first Summer League win.  Watching the game, it was mystifying to see someone that should have been in the dunk contest last year look so unathletic and out of it.  I don't know if Young was sick, tired from being out of shape, thinking too much on the court or hung over from partying too much in Vegas, but I couldn't believe how little he was doing out there.  Making matters worse, when he did do the right thing, he would mess something up at the end to prevent the play from being successful.  It was, in short, a pretty bad performance. 

Here goes:

First four and a half minutes: Young has literally been an invisible man in this game.  He's not making any cuts offensively, grabbing rebounds defensively or even handling the ball.  If the ball is swung to him within the offense, he's passing off and camping out beyond the three-point line on the weakside.  The Wizards haven't run any plays for him.

Already, I'm thinking, "Crap, he's not going to be able to do anything the rest of the game." 

5:33, first: One thing I noticed from Young is that, even when he does cut, it's not particularly crisp or hard.  He doesn't really set up his opponent well, and smarter defenders catch on to that.

Here, in his first real involvement in the game, he starts way beyond the three-point line on the right side and runs Clay Tucker right into a JaVale McGee backscreen.  Again, Young doesn't really set Tucker up to the middle but it works nonetheless.  He's wide open underneath the basket and gets the pass.  In order to put the ball up quickly (he's on the left side now), he flips a right-handed, blind reverse layup over his right shoulder that misses.

Not a bad idea, but he is clearly angry at himslf.  After he misses, he tapped the ball twice and it went out of bounds off the Cavaliers.  He then claps his hands, grimaces about missing and almost shakes his head  This is the bad body language we've discussed.  Normally, I don't care, but I can't shake the feelng that the missed layup will haunt him.

4:24, first: The way Young gets his only field goal of the game isn't exactly a confidence boost.  The Wizards are on a fast break and Andray Blatche, typically, has the ball.  He dribbles up the right wing and Young fades to the three-point line on the left side.  Blatche throws a cross-court pass and Young drains the three.

Interestingly, on the ensuing Cavaliers possession, Young skies to grab the rebound on a missed shot.  Concidence?

3:37, first - Young, playing point guard, feeds to Blatche on the left wing and cuts through the lane.  He stops and eventually runs off a McGuire screen to take the handoff on the right side from JaVale McGee.  Standard Princeton play, nothing special, except Young has eluded Billy Thomas.  He gets into the lane and draws a foul on J.J. Hickson.

See, he's capable of moving well off the ball,.  He just has to do it consistently.

1:20, first: Let's talk about Nick's ball-handling for a second.  He had a pretty terrible turnover ratio last year, as he struggled adjusting to the NBA game.  Yet I was actually fairly impressed with Nick's dribbling ability in Summer League.  He had problems with his passing, but he always struck me as a very skilled dribbler, which explains why he's able to run screen and roll even though he can't pass (more on this later).

Anyway, he pushed the ball one-on-three on a fastbreak, stopped on a dime to go behind his back on Billy Thomas and fed Jonathan Wallace for a short jumper.  Nice handles.

55.2, second: Two minutes ago, Young, standing completely upright, let a rebound that was right in his zone go to Billy Thomas, who hit the easy jumper.  Now, he calls out Andray Blatche for a side pick and roll near half-court on the right wing. 

Blatche's screen isn't bad, but Cleveland defends it well.  Nick pulls back and eventually starts dribbling into the right corner.  Again, he's a good dribbler.  He manages to avoid getting trapped, and makes a nice inside-out move to give him a tiny bit of daylight on the right baseline.  Unfortunately, Tractor Traylor is right there to cut off the lane, so Young launches a terrible floater that misses long.

NBATV analyst Tim Capstraw calls Young out for dribbling too much. 

5 seconds, second: I only mention this play because it shows why Nick is so intriguing.  With five seconds left in the half, he gets the ball at the top of the key, the Wizards' possession long broken down.  He gives a beautiful little crossover to free himself, but Cleveland helps well and forces him into a missed pull-up.

Nick's ability to create a shot, any shot, for himself is both a blessing and a curse. 

7:42, third: The Wizards have already run two plays for Young, but neither results in an open shot (the second time because, instead of fading to the corner on a baseline screen, he curls right to where his man is).  Now, Young and Blatche run a high pick-and-roll.

As Darnell Jackson comes to cut Young off, Young splits the double-team beautifully and goes marching down the lane.  Cleveland converges, leaving Dominic McGuire and Dee Brown open in both corners.  Easy play, right?

Instead, Nick tries to hurl his body through two defenders, the last being J.J. Hickson.  The end result is, obviously, an offensive foul. 

Good ball-handler.  Terrible passer.  We know this, but this play drove it home.

6:49, third: Young's inability to finish at the rim may have been the most disappointing part of the Summer League.  If he can't do it here, why would he do it against the pros?

On this play, Dee Brown gives him a wide-open chance in the middle of the lane, but instead of exploding, he jumps sideways, lands right in Darnell Jackson's chest, flips up an awkward lefty scoop shot and misses.  No foul because Jackson was right there. 

Joel Meyers: "It's almost like he wasn't prepared."

The ball goes out of bounds to the Wiz.  On the ensuing possesson, Nick finally makes a nice cut, diving backdoor.  McGuire, posting up on the left side, whips a pass that Young catches underneath the hoop.  It'd have been tough, but Young could have pivoted and powered himself to the rim.  He could have even tried a reverse layup back to the right side of the rim, though a help defender stayed ready for the block. 

Instead, he show a fadeaway from the left baseline that predictably fell short. 

2:45, fourth: Let's set the stage.  With the game on the line, Young looks like he's more involved, though he wouldn't succeed.

The Wizards run Young off two baseline screens, similar to what they did early in the third quarter.  Again, the Cavs shoot the gap on the left side, and again Young comes to it.  With Billy Thomas all over him, Young drifts to the corner.  Instead of driving, he steps back and shoots an awful jumper inside the three-point line that air balls. 

Not so aggressive, to say the least.

1:15, fourth: What makes Young so frustrating is that he does something so right while doing something so wrong on the very same possession.

The good: Young has been playing the de facto point guard spot in the fourth, bringing the ball up and making the pass to the wing.  He'd done so admirably, with the offensive foul in the third quarter being his only turnover of the game. 

Here, he feeds Dominic McGuire out on the right wing and goes to get a return handoff.  McGuire smartly fakes it when Young's defender overplays and dribbles to the middle.  Meanwhile, Young is circling backdoor as McGuire occupies the defense.  It's a hard cut, seemingly the only one of the night.

McGuire's pass is right on the money.  And now the probems start.

The bad: Young should have a dunk or a layup.  At the very least, he should draw a foul.  Cleveland's help defenders get there quickly, but if Young simply jumps into them and tries to score, he'll get fouled. 

Instead, Young jumps, colliding with J.J. Hickson.  Young could try to score, but he can't get enough on the ball to do it.  He's so explosive in the lead-up to the dunk contest, but couldn't even release a shot over a late-arriving J.J. Hickson. 

Young eventually throws a wild pass around Hickson's face to Gary Forbes, who eventually finds Blatche for the dagger bucket, but Young could have had it himself.  He made the right read, but couldn't finish.

And I think that's what's so frustrating with Young.  He is capable of making good cuts sometimes, but too often stands around without trying.  I assume the coaching staff is trying to get him to learn from Reggie Miller and Rip Hamilton, but those guys never stopped moving.  It seems like Young never really starts moving unless it's a critical situation.  That has to change, because he's certainly capable of getting open looks even if his defender catches up to him.  His one-on-one ability remains his true strength.

Additionally, he still can't finish at the rim!  He had three chances in this game.  On the first, he drew a foul on Hickson, but missed the shot.  On the second, he threw up an awkward lefty scoop that missed.  On the third, he was forced to pass despite being right under the basket.  Then, there was the play when he settled for a fadeaway instead of pivoting and finishing. 

He has to get stronger, no doubt.  But otherwise, he has the skills. He just needs to be mentally sharp to use them.  I have no idea whether his problem is physical, whether it relates to struggling early in the game, whether he's thinking too much trying to process what he's supposed to do or whether his head is in the clouds.  I don't exacty have the credentials or the access to determine that.

But I know his problems are all mental in some way.  He'll need to get over that to take his game to the next level.

With the economy slumping and gas prices rising, it's getting harder and harder to travel by plane.  It wasn't a problem for the Wizards during the season as they traveled from city to city, but now that we're smack dab in the middle of the off-season and the team isn't chartering flights for everyone, at least one person in the organization is feeling the pinch. 

Shooting coach extraordinare Dave Hopla made it known on his blog that he's not at all thrilled with the how much it costs to fly:

It seems the airlines are charging for everything these days. I just paid two dollars for a coke on the flight from Portland, ME to Philadephia. The flight was delayed leaving ME, so I missed my connection and they want two dollars for a coke. At check in it now costs fifteen dollars for the first bag and $25 for the second. That is each way. So in addition to paying close to $1,800 for a ticket they nickel and dime you to death.

Not only is he angered at the added costs that come with flying nowadays, but he's also juuuust a little peeved about the customer service that's come with the new prices.

It seems to me nobody cares any longer. People are treated poorly and the airlines don’t care. Flying is a hassle and if I never fly again that would be alright with me. It seems like everyone has had their full of the airlines, but what do you do if you have to travel. My word to travelers is good luck. As I am blogging I hear people on their phones talking about their flying experiences and none of them are positive.

Yowza.  I mean, there's upset and then there's so upset that you would swear off an entire mode of transportation upset.  He also manages to go on a couple of rants about two airlines which I'm not going to post out of fear that they'll send their lawyers after us.

Let's just hope that fares and service on all airlines picks up for Dave's next flight.  If he has another flight delayed, the Wizards might just have to invest in a Madden Cruiser for him, which if nothing else, would be worth at least 3 posts on the Bog.

In the meantime, I think someone needs to tell Nick Young that he could take advantage of the slumping airline economy.  YoungAir anyone?

I'll be honest, I really don't how to preface this post, so let's jump past the thin candy shell and right into the ooey-gooey chocolate center of the post shall we?

WHAT THE WIZARDS WOULD BE IF THEY WERE CANDY

Gilbert Arenas = Pixy Stix: The complaints about both are the same: Very sweet, good for a quick thrill, not a whole lot of filling substance.  Yet you rarely see fans of either complain about feeling empty.

Andray Blatche = Twizzlers: Both could benefit from being a little thicker.

Dee Brown = Skittles: In the interest of full disclosure, nothing about Dee Brown's game reminds me of Skittles, but whenever I watch him, he reminds me of a hyper kid running around after eating a whole bag Skittles.

Caron Butler = Snickers: With a Snickers bar, you're getting a nice, diverse package of chocolate, nougat, peanuts, and caramel.  Caron also gives you a little bit of everything and puts it into a sweet package that everyone can enjoy.  (Not to mention, that every so often you see both wrapped in gold.  But let's not talk about the alternate jerseys right now.)

Antonio Daniels = Hershey's: Sure, there's stuff out there that might taste a little better, or have some fancier packaging, but these two give you what you're looking for every single time.

Brendan Haywood = Peanut Brittle: At first look, they both look kind of clumsy.  Brendan isn't exactly Pete Maravich and peanut brittle looks like a rejected batch of semi-processed peanut butter.  But when you get down to it, you realize that both are pretty doggone good.

Antawn Jamison = M&M's: A timeless classic.  And like Jamison's shot, you can find M&M's in just about every variety imaginable.

JaVale McGee = Bacon Bar: At first, they both sound kind of gross (Chocolate flavored bacon?  An athletic 7-footer that has 3 pt. range but struggles with rebounding?) but they're both intriguing enough to make you want to try it out at least once.

Dominic McGuire = Shock Tarts: Need I say more?

Oleksiy Pecherov = Laffy Taffy: They give you some flavor, and they're good for a chuckle.  What more could you ask for?

Darius Songaila = Twix: What? He likes things dipped in chocolate.

DeShawn Stevenson = Everlasting Gobstopper: You can try to wear them down, but you know at the end of the day that they're too durable to let something like saliva or a knee injury keep them from playing.

Etan Thomas = Gourmet Chocolate: It's a decent product, just a little more pricey than it should be.

Nick Young = Airheads: Being the youthful player that he is, Nick Young makes some decisions on the court that make you wonder what's going on in his mind.  But then you remember that one day the maturity will come and then we can stop wondering about his head and we can devote all of our focus to his air.

Because brevity is the key to good writing...

Andray Blatche: Looks stronger.  Played inside more.  Still struggles finishing.

Dominic McGuire: Displayed mid-range game.  Still a tiger on the glass.

Nick Young: Very concerning performance.  Lacked explosion to change speeds and finish.

Dee Brown: Pushes the ball well.  Was a bit erratic.

JaVale McGee: Very raw, but when he looks good, he looks good.

Gary Forbes: Shot poorly.  Strong defender.  Good finisher.  Bad handles.

Vladimir Veremeeko: Knows how to play.  Too small and slow for NBA.

Jonathan Wallace: Good shooter.  Deceptively quick.  More of a combo guard.

Dontaye Draper: Erratic, poor shot selection, not a Princeton PG.

Frank Elegar: Athletic, plays extremely hard.  Should have received more minutes.

Taj McCullough: Barely noticed him.

Oleksiy Pecherov: Injury meant no buckets.

39-43 - The team's expected win-loss record based on point differential if the summer league had been 82 games long.

3 - Number of Wizards that shot 50% or higher from the field (Dee Brown, Frank Elegar, Dominic McGuire).

2.4 - The average number of assists per game by Dee Brown, tying him for the highest average on the team.  Who does he share that honor with?  Andray Blatche.

44.2% - Field goal percentage for the Wizards as a team.

40.5% - Field goal percentage of the Wizards' opponents.  Even though the Wizards shot nearly 4% better than their opponents, they ended up averaging six less points than their opponents.

35.2% - Nick Young's field goal percentage. it was the second the second lowest on the team.

28.0% - Gary Forbes' field goal percentage.

70.0% - Frank Elegar's field goal percentage.  Despite the large shooting percentage discrepancy, Elegar averaged 7.8 minutes less per game than Forbes.

0 - Number of shots made by Elegar in the second, third, and fourth game of the Summer League.  During that three game stretch, Elegar attempted only 2 shots in 21 minutes.

8 - Blocks recorded by JaVale McGee, tying him with Dominic McGuire for the most on the team.  McGee matched McGuire's mark despite playing 32 less minutes.

6 - Number of fouls picked up by Andray Blatche per game during the Summer League.

7:5 - Dontaye Draper's assist to turnover ratio.  Draper had the highest ratio on the team and was the only player to have more assists than turnovers.

1:9 - JaVale McGee's assist to turnover ratio.

42.9% - Nick Young's 3 point percentage, tying him with Dee Brown for the highest shooting percentage from beyond the arc.

1 - Double-double recorded by a Wizards player during the Summer League (Dominic McGuire vs. the Rockets).

For the players that had a good showing last week, I'd tell to keep building on what they've done so they can make an impact when the real season comes around.  For those that haven't had the best week of their life, just remember, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Tonight, the Wizards' Summer League season comes to an end with a game against the Suns.  Other than seeing Darius Songaila playing for Lithuania in the Olympics next month, this will be the last chance that you'll get to see any Wizards in action until October.

I'm doubting that we'll see any dramatic revelations from Nick or JaVale tonight, but I'm still hopeful that I'm wrong.  If nothing else, we get to see more of Andray and Dominic doing their thing and we'll get a look at some of the players that have come through the college ranks in the local area with Jonathan Wallace, DJ Strawberry and Ekene Ibekwe all playing tonight.

This is an open thread, so discuss if a golden opportunity was missed by not using the headline "Tree gets the axe" for this article here.

Go (Summer)WIZARDS!

If you're not planning on watching the game, and you want the game summed up in 3 minutes, hit up the video:

(via Odenized)

You gotta love when the point guard is tipping in the center's missed 3 pointer at the buzzer.  The Summer League: Where reversing conventional basketball wisdom happens.  My thoughts from this especially strange game are pretty disorganized, so enjoy some bullet point thoughts.

• If you've never understood why we have such a man-crush on Dominic McGuire, just watch the tape from tonight.  Taser was all over the place, crashing the boards, getting putbacks, and doing all the other things that make us love him so.  His statline tonight: 18 points (9-13 from the field), 11 rebounds (6 offensive), 3 assists, 2 blocks.
  
• Nick talked with Ivan before the game about forcing things too much in the first three games.  Tonight, I think he went a little too far to the other end and seemed too tentative for most of the game, but he came through nicely in the closing minutes.
• JaVale didn't do a whole lot offensively tonight, but I like that he pulled in 6 boards in 15 minutes of work.  Granted, the Rockets were a little short up front with Joey Dorsey sitting this one out, but I'll take it.
• While I'm thinking of it, I just want to give a shout out to Joey for all his help in this one.  Couldn't have done it without you Goliath!
• I don't know if Dominic has been working with Caron or not this summer, but I've noticed that he's been using that mid-range pull up jumper that Caron relies on a lot this week.  If he can get that to be half as automatic as Caron has, he'll be getting a lot more playing time this season.
• I know that some of you are starting to panic about the Dee Brown signing.  He hasn't done a whole lot so far and tonight he was replaced by Dontaye Draper in the starting lineup.  I wouldn't get too upset just yet.  Let's not forget that he's still learning the offense and he's primarily just trying to leave the playmaking to the guys who know the system.  He'll have the rest of the summer to catch up.  I'll take his six rebound performance (including the tip!) in the meantime.
• There hasn't been a lot to quibble with in regards to Andray's play in Vegas, he's been playing at the level you would expect from a fourth year player.  I'm slightly disappointed that he's not averaging more than 7.3 boards per game, but that's my only quibble.  He's still isn't there quite yet, but he's still coming along and it's clear that he hasn't plateaued.  I'll take it.
  

Over the last few years, lots of new ways have been developed to analyze and express statistics in a lot of different ways.  What's can be lost in all of this is how all of this newfound information translates to the game being played on the court.  Sadly, I haven't been able to find a way to bridge that information gap, but I have managed to find a new, highly scientifical way to chart the mentality of players when they have the ball in the half court.  As you'll see, the courts are color-coded for each mentality shift, so I'll provide a little legend to explain each mentality after the jump.

Of course, this is still a work in progress so I've only been able to test this with our Summer League players.  You may be shocked at what you discover...

Continue reading this post »

Philly outrebounded the Wiz 41-29.  They grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and scored a ton of second-chance points.  That pretty much sums it all up.

On the bright side, Andray Blatche and Dominic McGuire looked pretty good out there, and Gary Forbes played pretty good defense on Thaddeus Young.  JaVale McGee looked a lot more active, even if he still looks very raw. 

On the down side, Nick Young looked absolutely awful and Dee Brown continues to commit too many turnovers offensively and surrender too many blow-bys defensively.  I like how he pushes the ball offensively and at least tries to pick up full-court defensively, but there really doesn't seem to be much there in terms of production.  He needs to learn how to be more under control.

Also, Frank Elegar needs more than 8 minutes in the next game.

Marreese Speights sure looks nice, doesn't he?