<p align="center"><font color="#000080">(0-0) </font><font color="#0000ff"> <font color="#000000">@ </font></font><font color="#000080"> <font color="#800000">(0-0)</font></font></p> <p align="center"><font color="#000000">Date: 10/9/07</font></p> <p align="center"><font color="#000000">Time: 7:00 pm</font></p> <p align="center"><font color="#000000">TV: CSN</font></p> <p align="center"><font color="#000080"> <u><font color="#000000"><font size="7">Projected Starters</font></font></u></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="6" color="#000080">Wizards Starting Lineup</font></p> <p align="center"></p> <p align="center"> </p> <div align="center"></div> <p align="center"> </p> <div align="center"> <div align="center"></div> <p align="center"><font size="3">(G. Arenas, D. Stevenson, C. Butler, A. Jamison, B. Haywood)</font></p> <p align="left"><font color="blue">2006-07 Wizards Stats</font> Leading Scorer: Gilbert Arenas - 28.4 PPG Leading Rebounder: Antawn Jamison - 8.0 RPG Leading Assist Man: Gilbert Arenas - 6.0 APG Points Per Game: 104.3 Field Goal Percentage: 45.0% 3-Point Field Goal Percentage: 34.8% Rebounds Per Game: 41.2 Assists Per Game: 20.2</p> </div> <div align="center"> </p> <font color="#000080">PG - Gilbert Arenas - PPG: 28.4, APG: 6.0, RPG: 4.6</font></p> <font color="#000080">What To Look For: After suffering his season ending injury last season against the Bobcats, Gilbert Arenas has been preparing all summer for his bigger and better return for the Wizards. Gilbert was his usual gym-rat self over the off-season making over 50,000 shots, running with a parachute and reshaped his body to the point where he lost 15 pounds. This past week in training camp has gone smooth, learning to play with his new teammates and committing himself on defense with new assistant coach Randy Ayers. He missed Saturday's scrimmage, but he is expected to go against the Cavaliers.</font></p> </p> <font color="#000080">SG - Deshawn Stevenson - PPG: 11.2, APG: 2.7, RPG: 2.6</font></p> <font color="#000080">What To Look For: Coming fresh off his new 4 year extension, Deshawn Stevenson will be counted on to lead the defense, being the team's top perimeter defender. He has been quiet throughout training camp, but no question that he is working on expanding his shooting range to the 3 point line. For now, expect him to get back into shape and show off his athleticism on the offensive end.</font></p> </p> <font color="#000080">SF - Caron Butler - PPG: 19.1, RPG: 7.4, APG: 3.7</font></p> <font color="#000080">What To Look For: As Caron plays a game after another in a Wizards uniform, he becomes more of a leader for this team. He's set the bar high for himself to reach and he's done a lot in the off-season to improve his game. Caron's body is looking ripped than ever and he's been looking to improve his consistency with his jumper behind the perimeter. Going into the pre-season opener, he'll want to stay conservative and return to his normal offensive flow.</font></p> </p> </div> <div align="center"> </p> <font color="#000080">PF - Antawn Jamison - PPG: 19.8, RPG: 8.0, APG: 1.9</font></p> <font color="#000080">What To Look For: Wizards fans' worried quickly when they got the word that Antawn Jamison bruised his shin colliding with Roger Mason and that is nothing anybody wants thas o hear early on. He missed the training camp's last two practices, including Saturday's scrimmage, but he should be ready to return in the pre-season opener working with the starters.</font></p> </p> <font color="#000080">C - Brendan Haywood - PPG: 6.6, RPG: 6.2, APG: 0.6</font></p> <font color="#000080">What To Look For: Expect a lot of more production from the new version of Brendan Haywood. With Etan Thomas out, Brendan will have to step it up in the paint and do it consistently for 30+ minutes a game. From what we've heard since the start of training camp was anything but bad, as Brendan called truce with Eddie Jordan and the two men working each other the entire week. Another thing to look for is his free-throw shooting. Dave Hopla spotted Haywood's problems with his free-throw shot and it's now fixed, so look for more production from the line.</font></p> </div> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <p align="center"><font color="#800000"><font size="6">Cavaliers Starting Lineup</font></font></p> <p align="center"></p> <p align="center"> </p> <div align="center"></div> <p align="center"> </p> <div align="center"> <div align="right"></div> <p align="center"><font size="3">(L. Hughes, S. Brown, L. James, D. Gooden, Z. Ilgauskas)</font></p> <p align="left"><font color="#800000">2006-07 Cavaliers Stats</font> Leading Scorer: LeBron James - 27.3 PPG Leading Rebounder: Drew Gooden - 8.5 RPG Leading Assist Man: LeBron James - 6.0 APG Points Per Game: 96.8 Field Goal Percentage: 44.7 3-Point Field Goal Percentage: 35.2% Rebounds Per Game: 43.5 Assists Per Game: 20.8</p> </div> <div align="center"> </p> <font color="#800000">PG - Larry Hughes - PPG: 14.9, APG: 3.7, RPG: 3.8</font></p> <font color="#800000">What To Look For: Larry Hughes will handle point guard duties this season, but it's very important that he stays healthy this season. The Cavaliers are bound to reach the Finals once again this season and its Larry's job that he's able to produce and contribute better at the 1 spot than Snow and Gibson had last season. </font></p> </p> <font color="#800000">SG - Shannon Brown - PPG: 3.2, RPG: 0.9, APG: 0.4</font></p> <font color="#800000">What To Look For: Assuming that Sasha Pavlovic has not resigned yet, you can expect Shannon Brown's whose got loads of athletic talent to take over. Even though he only played 23 games last season, he showed lots of promise scoring double figures in three games and taking advantage of the competition in the Summer League. Watch for this kid to make highlight plays. </font></p> </p> <font color="#800000">SF - LeBron James - PPG: 27.6 PPG, RPG: 6.7, APG: 6.0</font></p> <font color="#800000">What To Look For: By this time, the average joe should know what LeBron James is all about since his rookie season. Crushing the Wizards score after score in the last 2 playoff series, there is no wondering where LeBron's talent stops. LeBron James will be aiming for the NBA Finals again this season, but the road this year will be a lot harder having teams such as the Celtics, Bulls and Pistons stand in the way. </font></p> </p> </div> <div align="center"> </p> <font color="#800000">PF - Drew Gooden - PPG: 11.1, RPG: 8.5, APG: 1.1</font></p> <font color="#800000">What To Look For: Assuming that Anderson Varejao will not play for the Cavaliers this season, Mike Brown will have to rely on Donyell Marshall to share minutes with Drew Gooden. Drew in the 2006-2007 season did not look like he improved from the season before comparing the statistics, but he has gained another year of experience playing alongside of LeBron James. Drew will need to make sure he helps out around the boards and keep his shooting percentage high. </font></p> </p> <font color="#800000">C - Zydrunas Ilgauskas - </font><font color="#800000">PPG: 11.9, RPG: 7.9, APG: 1.6</font></p> <font color="#800000">What To Look For: It is no question that Zydrunas has suffered a scoring setback last season. going from 15.6 PPG, to 11.9 PPG. As another year goes by, Zydrunas will slow down and start declining, but for now you can still expect the same player as you saw last season including blocking shots, rebounding and scoring in the low post.</font></p> <font color="#800000">------------------------</font></p> <font color="#800000"><u><font color="#000000"><font size="6">Keys to the Game</font></font></u></font></p> <div align="left"> </p> <font color="#000080">Rookie Production - There's not many rookie tandems in the league that have a trio with Oleksiy Pecherov, Nick Young and Dominic McGuire. This will be an important season for the Wizards to aim far in the post-season, but they cannot do so if these guys struggle in their first seasons in the NBA. These guys seemed to have stepped up in training camp taking no for an answer, so it's great that they are mentally tough, but how fast can they fit in?</font></p> <font color="#000080">Stay Healthy - This is pretty much a no-brainer for every player in the NBA that's involved in a non-decisive game. Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler were sidelined for the rest of the season, for the most unnessecary accidents such as Gilbert boxing out Walter Hermann and Caron hustling for a block shot. We already saw Antawn Jamison go down in training camp, so the mind focus going into these preseason games need to be safe and convserative.</font></p> <font color="#000080">Work on Defense - The focus of this training camp has been improving on defense being led by assistant coach Randy Ayers. The Cavaliers are a team the Wizards will be seeing a lot of this season, so they will have to find solutions for LeBron James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Larry Hughes if they want to go farther than the first round of the playoffs.</font></p> <font color="#800000">Managing Minutes Between Starters and Benchwarmers - If the Cavaliers will be playing without Anderson Varejao or Sasha Pavlovic, they better make sure they have enough guys on the bench that can replace their productivity. Look for Shannon Brown and Daniel Gibson get used to making the plays while they're on the floor. Mike Brown already knows what he has with Ilgauskas, Gooden and James, but he still needs to figure out where Larry Hughes fits in.</font></p> <font color="#800000">No Different Than the Wizards, Stay Healthy - This may be targetted at some of the veterans Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Donyell Marshall and David Wesley. All three guys should be playing an important role for the team if this is the roster and they have to stay fresh and healthy the entire season if they want to stay productive. Larry Hughes has also been injury proned player in his entire career, and getting the start at the point guard, he knows he needs to move on forward and put the Cavs to the next step.</font></p> <font color="#800000">Chemistry - The Cavaliers have added some new guys and looks as if they will be losing a couple of key players in Varejao and Pavlovic. Guys like Shannon Brown and David Wesley will need to mesh in quickly with the roster they have the entire pre-season to do so.</font></p> </div> </p> </div> <p align="center"></p> <p align="center"><font color="#000080"> </font></p> <p align="left"></p>
Nicely written, Wizards need to try to win the rebounding battle. The Cavaliers get most of their points off of offensive rebounds and struggle scoring the ball in set plays. I think Andray Blatche will be the man to watch this game after a 'very impressive' training camp.</p>
That was surely a great game and start for our Wizards team, especially when you want to prepare the rookies and the bench. Guys like AD, Songalia, McGuire and Blatche came out in the second quarter and made a huge difference, rotating on defense, creating numerous turnovers and making nice plays on offense. Dominic looks as if he was prepared for competition in the NBA. He had no problem making some nice acrobatic plays on offense. His key goal for the season is to play solid defense and help out on the boards and blocks. Andray Blatche looks like he's improved a load over the off-season and you have to be excited for him this season. He's expanded his potential, showing off his skills above the rim and on the fastbreak. For AD, he's going to have a lot more fun playing with this bench as the season begins. They've looked as if they've been playing for years, but with AD's skills, you really have to keep the eye the rest of his teammates, as he shows he's one of the best distributors in the league. He's also shot nice, after he's worked on his jumper over the summer, so that just adds to his arsenal. For the starters, I was really impressed with Brendan Haywood, since he had to pick up the slack and set the tone on defense in the paint. He finished with a nice number of rebounds, he had lots of great plays on the defensive end and it just seems that he's a lot more comfortable with what he has to accomplish as the starter. I'm not gonna worry much about the Big Three because we know they can score and we know they have great chemistry with each other. What does matter is how often these guys should play in the pre-season because there's no need to burn them out or risk them in injuries. Randy Ayers looked like he's already made a great impact on this team's defense already. Throughout the game, the Wizards showed no signs of laziness on defense, they rotated on their players on every pass and they've done a great job in being alert and disrupting passes. The Wizards are a great team when it comes to the fastbreak and if they're able to create more opportunities off the turnovers, then boy will they take advantage of it.</p>
