Midweek Musings: Throwin’ Up the W!
January 29, 2009 by Evil E
What in the World does this Woman have to do With my Midweek Musings?
In this week’s musings I look at the ailing Bobcats and Wizards, while channeling my inner Tim Kurkjian.
That’s why he’s called “Crash”
In one of the more serious injuries of the season, Gerald Wallace suffered a fractured rib and partially collapsed lung on Tuesday after being elbowed by Andrew Bynum. In case you missed the play, here it is (Bynum was called for a flagrant one).
It was an unfortunate injury for Wallace, and let’s hope that his recovery goes well. Not to make light of the situation, but is there a more fitting nickname in the NBA? Charlotte’s lack of depth is going to be exposed now more than ever. Adam Morrison started in Gerald’s place on Wednesday, but the former college star clearly isn’t ready to play 30+ minutes every night. If DJ Augustin were healthy I’d expect him to play big minutes, but the Charlotte Observer is reporting that Augustin is going to miss another week to 10 days with his abdominal injury.
As a result, the unproven Shannon Brown and the aging Juwan Howard are going to be asked to step up. Charlotte is also going to sign small forward Cartier Martin, who was averaging 20.6 points, 5.4 boards, and 2.2 treys per game on a respectable 47.7% FG and 39% 3P shooting in the D-League. If Larry Brown was Don Nelson, Martin could fill-in and put up big numbers a la Azubuike, CJ Watson, and Anthony Morrow. But Larry Brown is the anti-Nellie, so don’t expect anyone besides Boris Diaw to get a huge fantasy boost.
The ailing Wizards
The Washington Wizards are really hurting right now. Andray Blatche is out 2-to-4 weeks after running into the brick wall known as Shaquille O’Neal, and veteran big man Etan Thomas is out indefinitely after tearing his MCL. With a 9-35 record, the Wizards are on pace to win just 17 games this season. That would be their worst year EVER, which is pretty bad considering that the franchise has missed the playoffs in 15 of the past 20 years. Remember when Gilbert Arenas said that he was going to be back by January 1st? Well it didn’t happen, and now it seems very likely that he’s going to sit out the entire season.
It’s been a miserable season all around for Washington, but perhaps some good can come out of this. Darius Songaila started Wednesday’s game at center, but now we’ll get another good look at rookie phenom JaVale McGee. He might not be a reliable fantasy option yet, but it will be interesting to see what he can do. Caron Butler has also been somewhat disappointing this season, and now there’s even more pressure on him to produce. His stats are up recently, so maybe he’s ready to start carrying fantasy teams.
I’d also like to point out that DeShawn Stevenson is planning to return on Friday (he’s missed the entire month of January due to a bad back).
No, I’m not expecting him to be a fantasy force, and I’m not going to make fun of the fact that he’s missed more than twice as many shots (152) as he’s made (71) this season.
I simply want to point you to this excellent Washington Post article written by Mike Wise about DeShawn and his troubled father. It’s a great read, albeit a sad one.
Speaking of the 23rd Letter…
Last Monday, the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the New Jersey Nets 94-85. Glancing at the boxscore, there were 2 things that stood out to me:
1) Oklahoma City was up 82-54 after the 3rd quarter.
2) The Thunder played Russell Westbrook, Earl Watson, Chris Wilcox, Kyle Weaver, and Damien Wilkins all in the same game. Throw up those W’s!
Being the curious stat cat that I am, I decided to look up the play-by-play summary in hopes of seeing that all 5 guys were on the floor at the same time. Since Wilkins played the fewest number of minutes, I did a search for his name. Sure enough, he first entered the game in the 4th quarter for Kevin Durant, when Weaver, Wilcox, and Watson were already in the game. Unfortunately, Westbook was already done for the night.
Believe it or not, it’s NOT the first time this season that one team has played 5 guys whose last names start with the letter “W” in the same game. On December 17th, Cleveland played Delonte West, Mo Williams, Ben Wallace, Lorenzen Wright, and Jawad Williams in a blowout win over Minnesota (Wright and J. Williams didn’t get in until the final 2 minutes, so all 5 didn’t play together in that one either).
However, OKC has Cleveland beat, because they also have rookie forward D.J. White on their roster. White has been sidelined since October due to a serious jaw surgery, but there’s an outside chance that he could play sometime this season. Since the Thunder are actively involved in trade talks, how about sending Joe Smith & Mouhamed Sene to New Jersey for Sean Williams & Stromile Swift?
Believe it or not their salaries match, and I think it’s a win-win for both teams. The Nets get rid of 2 big men they’re not using (and don’t need due to Brook Lopez) and replace them with a steady veteran (Smith can fill-in while Yi is out) and 2 expiring contracts. The Thunder get rid of a bust (Sene) and a veteran they don’t need and replace them with an expiring contract (Swift) and an incredibly raw but extremely athletic big man in Sean Williams.
New Jersey hasn’t given Williams much of a chance this season, but he’s blocked 31 shots in 8 D-League games and has nice potential if he could get his head straight. OKC already has a super-athletic, exciting, and talented young trio in Westbrook, Durant, and Green, and if Williams blossomed, his ability to run the floor and block shots would give them a huge boost (not to mention he’d be everything that Krstic isn’t). Oh yeah, and he’s another “W” to add to their squad.
*After quickly perusing every NBA team’s roster, I’d say that Utah’s relationship with players whose last names start with the letter “K” is even more impressive. Currently there are only 12 players in the league whose surnames start with K, but a whopping 4 of them play for the Jazz: Andrei Kirilenko, Kyle Korver, Kosta Koufos, and Brevin Knight. And that concludes my Tim Kurkjian “Did-you-know?” moment of the month.
Related posts:
- Midweek Musings: Millsap and GMs What does Paul Millsap have to do with these general managers? I’m introducing...
- Midweek Musings: All-Stars and NO on Joe This week I unveil my All-Star picks and explain why you shouldn’t vote...
E, the Bynum foul was actually upgraded to an F2 today, and it’s tough to blame G-Force himself or his style of play for the injury. Bynum basically threw a shoulder into Wallace’s torso as Wallace drove to the basket, making no effort at the ball whatsoever. Malicious or not, Bynum’s irresponsible action is probably going to tank whatever slim chance the Bobbies had at the playoffs.
You know, the first few times I saw the play I didn’t think that it was a dirty foul. I thought that Bynum simply tried to rotate over to help and saw that he was too late and Wallace had a full steam to the hoop already, so instead of keeping his body facing Gerald where he was likely to get run over, at the last second he decided to turn around and take the foul with his hip. That way he would make sure he got the foul called while protecting himself from a possible knee to the chest and being posterized.
Even watching it now for the 10th time or so, when I see the first couple camera angles I still kinda feel that way. But watch the very last replay where they use the baseline camera shot (around the :49 second mark). Now forget Bynum’s upper body cracking his ribs for a second and look at his feet. Before Gerald goes up in the air, Andrew pivots all the way around like he’s gonna box him out and plants his foot in the perfect spot to trip him and ensure that he’ll go crashing to the ground. In my opinion, it’s that lower body move that makes it a solid flagrant 2.
is there any time frame for his return?? someone one offered me ron artest for crash, but that seems like a wash at this point
The lung might be fully healthy in 7-10 days, but the rib probably won’t be good enough to play for at least a couple weeks, and maybe even up to a month.
What do you think on Ellis for Harrington? Thanks E