<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Washington Wizards continue to remain optimistic they can come to terms on a contract with guard DeShawn Stevenson. But in the event they don't, the Wizards are working on a contingency plan that included talking with the representative of Devin Brown yesterday, according to a team source. The source reached yesterday said negotiations between the Wizards and Stevenson's agent are ongoing and that both sides believe an agreement could come soon. But if negotiations with Stevenson break down, the Wizards will consider Brown, a five-year pro. Last season Brown averaged 11.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists a game while appearing in 58 games for the Hornets, 49 as a starter.</div> Link I guess it's too late to withdraw the offer?
Brown was on my mind already, I think I mentioned it. He seems like a guy that could work in the system, he can shoot a little, he's a much better passer than Deshawn, but I haven't really seen his defense much, so I don't know about that. This is funny though, no one is offering Barnes any money, so who is offering Stevenson money? Nobody. Everyone saw that he was also a system guy when he totally broke down after Arenas and Caron were out and sucked in the playoffs. Stevenson is an okay player on Washington, but likely much worse everywhere else. I really hope the Wizards don't get too out of hand trying to make Gil happy.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">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. "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."</div> Link
Well, I'm pretty happy with this signing. It keeps the starting lineup chemistry the same with Arenas, Stevenson, Butler, and Jamison. You gotta be certain that the Wizards will be one of the best in the East, like they were a while back last season before all-star break. The word now is that EG won't sign Navarro, but instead trade him to the Grizzlies who Pau Gasol is highly interested in him. They would also be willing to take Brendan Haywood off our hands, and give us most likely Stromile Swift. I'm liking these rumors so far.
Stomile Swift sucks for this team, he'd be pretty useless, he has two more years, with one year being a player option that I see no reason for him to decline. He makes more money than Haywood and is not as useful a player. I don't care how much EJ doesn't like to play Haywood, I'd keep Brendan and ship out Etan, without Etan, EJ has no choice anyways. If it's to Memphis I would try and get Kyle Lowry. The Wizards can't give up a big man, and an asset to get a player that won't help the team, and doesn't help the 2008 cap situation. Just to add, I'm not too happy with what EG did. He should've taken care of Blatche and Navarro before Stevenson. Right now if a team offers Blatche too much, the Wizards will be in danger of luxury tax. Also teams now know that the Wizards have to trade Navarro, and that lowers his value.
Despite DeShawn Stevenson falling apart in the playoffs, he's actually a very resourceful role player. He's a great on the ball defender, can knock down open jumpshots, and is a positive lockerroom prescence. I agree that we did in fact overpay DeShawn but many teams have over-payed to get the talent they want. Hopefully Young can improve his on-the-ball defense under Stevenson. DeShawn will likely continue to start for another season but I think that he'll be under Young come the 08-09 regular season. Hopefully with Arenas back, Stevenson will improve upon last season and won't have another post-season melt down.
Deshawn won't have a meltdown along as the big three are healthy. He's a 4th option and that's all he is, of course his value went down a lot when everyone saw he couldn't propel himself to be more than that. I wouldn't call Deshawn a "great" on ball defender, he's an average one, the best perimeter defender at the guard position on the team, but not great.
<div class="quote_poster">og15 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Deshawn won't have a meltdown along as the big three are healthy. He's a 4th option and that's all he is, of course his value went down a lot when everyone saw he couldn't propel himself to be more than that. I wouldn't call Deshawn a "great" on ball defender, he's an average one, the best perimeter defender at the guard position on the team, but not great.</div> By no means can you come close to comparing him with guys like Shawn Marion or Ron Artest, but I would still put his defensive abilities higher than just average. I guess we can settle with the word "good". Also, no one really expected DeShawn to be more than just a 4th option. People may have gotten excited when he stepped up in February while Antawn was injured but Caron and Gilbert are the two players who attract the most attention from the defense thus allowing better looks for guys like DeShawn Stevenson.
