Post by silverhawks on Sept 19, 2004 10:39:11 GMT -5
The Wizards Rolled
The Wizards tore through the first part of the season in the last few weeks. They are off to an unprecedented 17-0 start. According to the Owner it is because his star players have stepped up well. But when you actually talk to the coach and players they all have the same idea. Great Defense, very little turnovers and teamwork wins games.
The coach brought up some great points to back up the great defense, little turnovers and teamwork. He said that the Wizards are tied for the third least turnovers in the league, with only 10.9! I think thats great. Then he said the reason for this is because he has smart players and great ballhandlers on and off the bench. For the defense aspect you can see just by opening your local newspaper that the Wizards are 4th in the league in steals per game with 10.9, lead by Nash & Iverson with a combined of 5 spg and are also 4th in the league in Blocks per game with 7.8 bpg. Camby leads the way with 3.8 blocks; he is second in the league in that stat category. The coach has also said the rise of the Wizards this year has come along with the development of Peja Stojakovic who has really developed well this year. He went from basically having no effect to becoming a 19ppg scorer. Here is what the Owner had to say about Peja, "We were beginning to have our doubts about whether or not we needed to replace him or not, but he has really shown us we made the right decision by giving him playing time as a starter to develop."
Then you get to the scoring. With arguably the best core of scorers in the league the Wizards boast the threat of 4 great scorers who could all put up 20 or more points on any given night. Everybody is saying that it will be really hard to stop the Wizards because the fact that if one or even three players have an off night there are still more scorers to help them out. And then you say, well what if somebody gets injured? We have more depth stacked on the bench, starting with Sam Cassell who averages almost 5ppg in less than 10 minutes. Although he would like to play more minutes Sam seems happy in his role as the 6th man for now. When I met with Sam last night this is what he had to say, "I know I could play alot more for another team, but I am excited about the chance to win a championship here, and as long as we are this good I will stay and hopefully be part of one of the greatest dynasties of all time"
Although having one great year won't make the Wizards the best of all time, going 17-0 is a great start to what could be the best dynasty of all time. With the 1-2-3-4 punch of Allen Iverson (26.9ppg), Steve Nash (21.4ppg), Chris Webber (19.6ppg) and Peja Stojakovic (19.2ppg) the Wizards are on their way towards the playoffs. The only question is, Who will stand in their way? Especially with only one team in their division over .500 other than themselves.
The Wizards tore through the first part of the season in the last few weeks. They are off to an unprecedented 17-0 start. According to the Owner it is because his star players have stepped up well. But when you actually talk to the coach and players they all have the same idea. Great Defense, very little turnovers and teamwork wins games.
The coach brought up some great points to back up the great defense, little turnovers and teamwork. He said that the Wizards are tied for the third least turnovers in the league, with only 10.9! I think thats great. Then he said the reason for this is because he has smart players and great ballhandlers on and off the bench. For the defense aspect you can see just by opening your local newspaper that the Wizards are 4th in the league in steals per game with 10.9, lead by Nash & Iverson with a combined of 5 spg and are also 4th in the league in Blocks per game with 7.8 bpg. Camby leads the way with 3.8 blocks; he is second in the league in that stat category. The coach has also said the rise of the Wizards this year has come along with the development of Peja Stojakovic who has really developed well this year. He went from basically having no effect to becoming a 19ppg scorer. Here is what the Owner had to say about Peja, "We were beginning to have our doubts about whether or not we needed to replace him or not, but he has really shown us we made the right decision by giving him playing time as a starter to develop."
Then you get to the scoring. With arguably the best core of scorers in the league the Wizards boast the threat of 4 great scorers who could all put up 20 or more points on any given night. Everybody is saying that it will be really hard to stop the Wizards because the fact that if one or even three players have an off night there are still more scorers to help them out. And then you say, well what if somebody gets injured? We have more depth stacked on the bench, starting with Sam Cassell who averages almost 5ppg in less than 10 minutes. Although he would like to play more minutes Sam seems happy in his role as the 6th man for now. When I met with Sam last night this is what he had to say, "I know I could play alot more for another team, but I am excited about the chance to win a championship here, and as long as we are this good I will stay and hopefully be part of one of the greatest dynasties of all time"
Although having one great year won't make the Wizards the best of all time, going 17-0 is a great start to what could be the best dynasty of all time. With the 1-2-3-4 punch of Allen Iverson (26.9ppg), Steve Nash (21.4ppg), Chris Webber (19.6ppg) and Peja Stojakovic (19.2ppg) the Wizards are on their way towards the playoffs. The only question is, Who will stand in their way? Especially with only one team in their division over .500 other than themselves.
