<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>By Ivan Carter Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, July 14, 2007; Page E01 LAS VEGAS, July 13 -- The Washington Wizards and unrestricted free agent shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson have agreed in principle on a four-year contract worth $15 million, according to a league source. Stevenson will hold a player option for the fourth year. Stevenson, who is entering his seventh NBA season, averaged 11.2 points on a career-best 46.1 percent shooting last season while starting all 82 games at shooting guard. Negotiations between the Wizards and Stevenson's agent, Mark Bartelstein, heated up Thursday and the sides came to an agreement late Friday night. The Wizards and DeShawn Stevenson agree in principle on a new contract worth $15 million over four years. "DeShawn is excited to be back," Bartelstein said. "He appreciated the way Ernie Grunfeld and the Wizards gave him an opportunity to come in and play last year and he's looking forward to the future." Once Stevenson signs, the Wizards will have 10 players under contract for the upcoming season. The team also is in the process of signing second-round pick Dominic McGuire and has the option of using its biannual exception (around $1.9 million). The team could use the exception to retain veteran center Calvin Booth, who was in Las Vegas following summer league play this week.</div> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7071302032.html I'm glad we were able to negotiate a reasonable 15 mil deal with Stevenson rather than over paying him or having to take the contingency plan and attempt to sign Devin Brown. DeShawn, despite a very weak playoff performance, was a great role-player through the regular season. He would knock down rythem jump-shots, play tough perimiter defense, and was great for the locker room. I'm excited to have him back, he'll likely start at the 2 when the season begins but eventually that role will go to Young. Now the Wizards can focus on the Navarro trade situation.
Good move by the Wizards re-signing him, they didn't have to use much money to get him, and it provides someone that can play some solid perimeter defense. I was really impressed by his ability to hit jump shots with the Wizards, because in Orlando he never showed that arsenal, which is why he was never even attempted to be brought back. As well as having a rotation of Stevenson and Young at the 2-gaurd will keep the Warriors with a solid option on the floor at all times.
Pretty reasonable deal for a pretty reasonable player. They got a guy that will be able to come off the bench and shut down the other teams offense a bit. Especially against a good 3 point shooting team. He doesn't have too bad of a jump shot either.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (valo35 @ Jul 14 2007, 02:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Good move by the Wizards re-signing him, they didn't have to use much money to get him, and it provides someone that can play some solid perimeter defense. I was really impressed by his ability to hit jump shots with the Wizards, because in Orlando he never showed that arsenal, which is why he was never even attempted to be brought back. As well as having a rotation of Stevenson and Young at the 2-gaurd will keep the Warriors with a solid option on the floor at all times.</div> I think the Magic offered him a three year 10$ million dollar contract which he denied last off-season. Also, I agree that the pleseant surprise with Stevenson was that he contributed to the offense by knocking down rythem jumpers and before Gilbert went down we would see him create his own jumpers. People think that he's not worth this money due to his horrible post-season but that was very likely a slump due to the fact that he was a key role player, would actually play defense, and was a great locker room presence during the regular season. :dribble:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (valo35 @ Jul 14 2007, 02:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Good move by the Wizards re-signing him, they didn't have to use much money to get him, and it provides someone that can play some solid perimeter defense. I was really impressed by his ability to hit jump shots with the Wizards, because in Orlando he never showed that arsenal, which is why he was never even attempted to be brought back. As well as having a rotation of Stevenson and Young at the 2-gaurd will keep the Warriors with a solid option on the floor at all times.</div> Actually, Stevenson did receive a pretty solid multi-year offer from Orlando, and he turned it down. But I like this. They needed the defensive presence at the 2, like valo said, and this also allows Young to come in at a steady pace, rather than being thrown the starting job with certain expectations in year one.
Hey Garenas, what's the deal on Blatche. Are the Wiz going to match any offer? Because this morning I read Mavs may offer him a contract today. Just wondering if we are wasting our time.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Rok @ Jul 14 2007, 01:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Hey Garenas, what's the deal on Blatche. Are the Wiz going to match any offer? Because this morning I read Mavs may offer him a contract today. Just wondering if we are wasting our time.</div> Wizards have the 'Arenas Rule' on their side. They can sign Blatche without touching the MLE because we were the team that has his draft rights. League sources have said that matching Blatche is one of Grunfield's top priorities. He'll likely be a Wizard next season.
Young is nowhere near ready to be a NBA starter. All he really has now is his aggression. he's got everything else to learn. This signing was a good step toward adding a middle class of talent to this team so we're not going from All-Star to street free agent when we sub in. Regardless of where Deshawn gets his minutes, his deal is not gonna be a burden.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jheiser @ Jul 16 2007, 11:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Young is nowhere near ready to be a NBA starter. All he really has now is his aggression. he's got everything else to learn. This signing was a good step toward adding a middle class of talent to this team so we're not going from All-Star to street free agent when we sub in. Regardless of where Deshawn gets his minutes, his deal is not gonna be a burden.</div> Young was inconsistent through the Summer League but so are many rookie's when they come into the NBA. I'm sure through training camp he'll learn to slash more than pull up for off-balance jumpers. I don't expect Young to start from the first game of the season but when he gets used to the Eddie Jordan's offense I could see him starting before the playoffs.
I think he'll challenge for a starting spot next year. His one on one game is fine. He has a ton to learn offensively though. He does little without the ball in his hands. Luckily we have to fill Jarvis' minutes and Mason's. So he and McGuire should get consistent time. I read how everyone likes his game (I do too) but few mention who he can defend. Thats a huge part of earning PT. The Wizards couldn't get away with starting him at the 2 because he couldn't defend opponents starters. Even as a bench player he's a liability defensively.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jheiser @ Jul 16 2007, 02:04 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I read how everyone likes his game (I do too) but few mention who he can defend. Thats a huge part of earning PT. The Wizards couldn't get away with starting him at the 2 because he couldn't defend opponents starters. Even as a bench player he's a liability defensively.</div> This logic is flawed, Gilbert can't defend his baby son yet there's no way we would even think about not starting him. As long as Young contributes offensively I don't care how weak his perimiter defense is. The Wizards will never be a lock down team with Eddie Jordan as our coach. Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas are both defensive liabilities yet we still play them 40 minutes a night because no one can stop their offense. Earning PT on the Wizards is all about contributing on offense and Young is much less of a defensive liability than Gilbert. Also, DeShawn's defense is gritty but nothing worth getting him the starting job over Young. He can split minutes with Young but probabely play more minutes if we're facing a Dwayne Wade or Kobe Bryant. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I think he'll challenge for a starting spot next year. His one on one game is fine. He has a ton to learn offensively though. He does little without the ball in his hands. Luckily we have to fill Jarvis' minutes and Mason's. So he and McGuire should get consistent time.</div> As long as he doesn't force bad jumpers, which I doubt he will when Arenas, Butler, and Jamison can create for him, Young will be a great contribution on offense. Nick Young moving without the ball isn't really a big problem for him. He had no one on the SL team who could set him up.
Flawed logic? The reason getting a 2 to play defense and teaming him with GA is SO important is BECAUSE Gilbert and AJ don't do much on that end. They team defensive players like Hughes, Jeffries, Daniels and now Stevenson with Gilbert on purpose not at random. Saying Gilbert doesn't play D so its no big deal if Young does make no sense in that context. they are clearly looking to balance that out by adding more defensive minded players. Get Gilbert's minutes down some and you'll see him improve defensively too, just look how he was for USA basketball. I know part of the problems on defense are at Eddie' feet. This team isn't going to get better defensively by ignoring defense altogether though. Thats not a plan. So they keep Deshawn and now add McGuire. Slowly but surely that side of the ball improves. OK: One is an all-star and your franchise player that you literally can't win without. The other is an untested rookie who has yet to earn a single minute. I'm sure he'll get time and it will be interesting to see his +/- ratio. But his defense won't matter as a rookie starter in the NBA? come on. We saw Blatche get pulled for missing rotations but Young can start regardless? riiight. In the meantime putting him up against Dwayne Wade, J-Rich, Ray Allen, Joe Johnson, Rip, Gordon, etc is a terrible idea. He'd get eaten alive on the defensive end and as it always does, hurt his offense. You're setting him up to fail. At least against second team wing players he might have a speed or agility advantage. Its likely he'll still be physically over matched to a degree though. btw, moving without the ball certainly is an issue in this offense. Its not that he didn't do it in SL so therefore he's bad at it. It that he's never been taught that part of the game. Its way down the list of things he has to worry about behind on-ball defense and off the ball defense (he looks like a child chasing a butteryfly sometimes)
[quote name='Jheiser' post='415343' date='Jul 16 2007, 06:07 PM']Flawed logic? The reason getting a 2 to play defense and teaming him with GA is SO important is BECAUSE Gilbert and AJ don't do much on that end. They team defensive players like Hughes, Jeffries, Daniels and now Stevenson with Gilbert on purpose not at random. Saying Gilbert doesn't play D so its no big deal if Young does make no sense in that context. they are clearly looking to balance that out by adding more defensive minded players. Get Gilbert's minutes down some and you'll see him improve defensively too, just look how he was for USA basketball. I know part of the problems on defense are at Eddie' feet. This team isn't going to get better defensively by ignoring defense altogether though. Thats not a plan. So they keep Deshawn and now add McGuire. Slowly but surely that side of the ball improves.[/quote] We added DeShawn Stevenson last season but we still are the second worse team at defending the perimiter and we also let up the second most PPG. That is Stevenson's specialty but it's clear that he had little effect on our teams defense as a whole. As long as we are following Eddie Jordan's defensive scheme's any team will be able to knock down perimiter shots against the Wizards. Sure it's great to have Stevenson off the bench and Posey potentially joining him, but we need a solid defensive coach. Adding Thibodeau was supposed to improve our defense tremendousely, sadly things didn't work out with him. As I said, it depends on how he contributes offensively. Haywood was always a pretty good post prescence yet him not contributing on offense got him pulled from the rotation and it started the fight between him and Eddie. If what Wizards fans and management expect from him is what we get then I can see him starting by the playoffs when his confidence level is a bit higher. In case you haven't noticed yet, the Wizards can't defend a superstar no matter who's guarding him. Moving without the ball is a part of his game that I'm sure will improve when he starts getting minutes. Many players enter the NBA with a certain weak aspect to their game.
GArenas, I've never seen someone buy into the idea of giving up as much as you do. Stevenson was signed but we still struggled so lets top trying to play D. We also lost Jeffries who is a better on-ball defender. Compare Jeffries contract and production versus Deshawn and we'd make that swap every day though. I agree on Thibodeau. I was away when that went down and only opened the paper to see that he was leaving. That was a huge dent in any defensive improvement. So if Young scores he can start? You're wrong and I'm not even sure you get it. So the Wiz "can't defend a superstar" so we shouldn't try? or it doesn't matter? Again, starting with defeat never works. its about putting guys in a position to succeed. Starting Young when he can't defend his position and has yet to get his offense going puts him in a position to fail. Playing him backup minutes against second teamers give him a chance to learn the game without being destroyed in the process.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jheiser @ Jul 17 2007, 12:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>GArenas, I've never seen someone buy into the idea of giving up as much as you do. Stevenson was signed but we still struggled so lets top trying to play D. We also lost Jeffries who is a better on-ball defender. Compare Jeffries contract and production versus Deshawn and we'd make that swap every day though.</div> I never said lets stop playing defense. What I said was wether DeShawn or Nick Young is on the floor doesn't make a huge difference. Of course the Wizards should try their hardest to play defense but we know that our team defense is still very weak, Jamison isn't strong enough to defend the bigger PF's in the NBA, and Arenas refuses to try on defense. We should try our hardest but wether we start Young or Stevenson won't change our team defense at all. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>So if Young scores he can start? You're wrong and I'm not even sure you get it. So the Wiz "can't defend a superstar" so we shouldn't try? or it doesn't matter? Again, starting with defeat never works.</div> I said that if he can contribute on offense he will start. I'm not saying that Young should just let his man walk past him, he should still try his hardest to play his man tough. But as I said before, DeShawn doesn't make a huge difference on our team defense. If we're facing a lights out scoring guard like Dwayne Wade or Kobe it would be neccesary for DeShawn to play big minutes as he is clearly our best on the ball defender. However, our team won't get stopped because we have no solid defensive scheme. DeShawn may be able to play lock-down on one guy but that won't completely shut down the perimiter. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>its about putting guys in a position to succeed. Starting Young when he can't defend his position and has yet to get his offense going puts him in a position to fail. Playing him backup minutes against second teamers give him a chance to learn the game without being destroyed in the process.</div> I've said multiple times that starting Young at the beggining of the season is a mistake. If Young develops like Grunfield and Wizards fans expect him to he could potentially start by the playoffs or his sophomore season. It would be a mistake to start him before he's had any exposure to the NBA.
