Month: February 2017

4 Down Territory – What the Redskins need to do before Free Agency

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Now that the superbowl is over, and the 2016-2017 season is officially behind us, we can begin to look forward to the offseason. The Washington Redskins were titled the offseason champions for about the first 16 seasons of Dan Snyder’s ownership tenure. Since then Scot McCloughan has taken over and the Redskins have changed course a bit. There was a sprinkling of superstar brought in with the Josh Norman signing, but the Redskins have been building from within and building through the draft.

In this new blog series titled 4 down territory we will go quick hitters on 4 things I would like to see the Redskins do BEFORE the start of free agency.

First down – No surprise here, SIGN KIRK COUSINS TO A LONG TERM DEAL. I don’t even want to see a Franchise Tag placed on Kirk (Not Kurt Bruce, not Kurt). Kirk wants to be here in DC. Bruce, Jay, and hopefully Scot want Kirk here so let’s just make it happen! The Redskins have over 60 million dollars in cap space, what’s the 22-24 million that it will take to sign Kirk? He is clearly deserving, end of story, period, no ifs ands or buts. UPDATE: Kory Lichtenstiger decided to make his retirement official today so the redskins actually have about 65 million in cap space.

Second down – Allow Scot McCloughan to speak to the media. Actually, don’t allow Scot to speak to the media. It was reported by the Washington post that Bruce Allen won’t let Scot McCloughan talk to media because his job is to focus on talent evaluation. What’s wrong with that? As long as Scot is ok with that why should we care? Scot is a great talent evaluator, so let him be the talent evaluator! Let Bruce do the political talking, after all that’s probably what he’s best suited for.

Third down – Decide to keep Pierre Garcon or Desean Jackson for continuity of the offense. In my opinion it’s a no brainer, you have to keep Pierre. He is a vital part of this offense and shows up to play down in and down out. He is a known quantity and is consistent at it. Not to even mention all the great things he does off the field and in the community. The Redskins lost their offensive coordinator this offseason but the best way to overcome that is to keep continuity of the offense. After all, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

Fourth down – Prioritize which positions on defense need immediate upgrade and which players can still be stop gap solutions for some positions. With 65 million in cap space the Redskins can add some serious player upgrades on defense, but they need to prioritize which positions are worth spending high dollar on and which positions can be upgraded in later rounds of the draft or some cheaper options in free agency. In my opinion it goes, ILB, DL, S.

Welcome to the Bandwagon

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Welcome to all the new fans and spectators of the Washington Wizards. We’ve been waiting for you. The Washington Wizards took the defending champs down to the wire on Monday in what was easily the most exciting game this season for the NBA. This game had it all, from lead changes to 3 point exchanges, and a shot at the end of regulation that to tie then ultimately lose. THAT is why a blog with this name even exists.

The Wizards win streak may have ended, but this is just the beginning. Monday was proof that the goal isn’t just to make it to the playoffs, its to make it deep into the playoffs.

Lebron James is good, he is also extremely lucky. Usually I would talk about how Monday night’s game is more proof that DC is cursed. Nobody should have been able to make that shot. Its inconceivable that we let Lebron score three times from long range within a 97 second span. On top of that was everything that went down in overtime. Lebron fouls out after 1 minute, DC fans celebrate…then Kyrie Irving decides to remind us all he exists. Kyrie scored 11 points in OT, the second-most for any player in an overtime this season, second only to Russell Westbrook, who scored 14 against Washington back in November. Despite those reasons, I’m not upset. I don’t think the curse played a part in the game on Monday.

The Wizards needed that game, and that outcome. Would a win have been preferred? Yes. I’m not an idiot. A win would have been huge. What I am saying now though, is that a loss can be used as fuel. The hunger will now be there after the all-star break. A win that big, this early, in this town….THAT is how the curse would strike. We can’t handle national attention. Not yet. Knowing this city, and our teams, a win Monday night would have quenched this teams thirst. If only for a little bit. I don’t want us to stumble a few games then fight our way back up the ranks before the playoffs.

The Wizards have something brewing and you’re all welcome to enjoy the show and cheer at the phone booth. Monday was your sneak peak. Buy your tickets, put your jerseys on, and rock your throwback Bullets snap backs. The Wizards are getting ready to make a statement. We’re coming for you Lebron…and next time that shot won’t fall.

Wizards have a very important few weeks ahead

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The Washington Wizards are in the middle of a 15-game home win streak. John Wall was recently rewarded with an all-star appearance and won player of the month (December). The Wizards have the BEST record in the east since December 1st 2016. Scott Brooks was named coach of the Month in January. All this and I say the Wizards have a very important few weeks ahead of them. Why? Well 2 reasons, we will hopefully find out if Ian Mahinmi was worth the 64 million he was paid in the offseason, and the Wizards have some critical east match ups. Where if all goes well the Wizards can put themselves in a good spot in the East.

First, I will briefly touch on Ian Mahinmi. Ian is reportedly close to returning and it has been reported that he will play again before the all-star break. Can Ian be the Wizards bench player that can help the team excel deep into the playoffs? Or will the Wizards be forced into making a trade before the trade deadline on Thursday February 23rd? Personally, I don’t need to see Ian come out and crush it, be the rim protector that the Wizards need, but I need to see potential and hope that he will improve over the last few months. With Jason Smith playing the way he has been we really need Ian to come in and compliment Jason with his defense.

Next the Wizards have the next 5 of 7 games before the all-star break at home. If the Wizards can come out on top for the majority of these games it will put them substantially ahead of teams in places 5-8 and solidify them as a contender in the east. The Wizards are currently sitting in the fourth spot in the east. They are currently 1 game out of third place, 2.5 games out of second place and 5 games out of the top spot. One of these seven games are a nationally televised game against the top seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. Why is it important to make up ground in the east right now? Because it looks like some of the teams are going to get better via trade. Rumors have it that Melo may be joining the Boston Celtics, which will make them significantly better. Rumors also have it that Lebron James isn’t happy with only having 2 other all stars on the team and wants more. Wait what????

(Just a small note on Lebron James, I promise) Lebron pretty much hand-picked his team, brought in the guys he wanted to play with and is now making a case about additional players he wants to bring in. Is he a player or a GM? That’s not leadership! That’s not knowing you are in the conversation of being an all-time great and putting your team on your shoulders and winning a title. That’s the cheap way out! That’s a loser’s mentality! I will equate this to when I was a kid playing Madden. I would be down in the fourth quarter, where I would pause the game, switch teams, and punt the ball.

(Just a small note on how unfair the NBA is structured, I don’t promise this) In my opinion the NBA should do something to increase parity in the league. There are too many superstar teams and with players like Lebron recruiting mid-season and like the Warriors did this offseason in recruiting KD. Teams aren’t rewarded for building through the draft like it is say in the NFL. The NBA should really consider having a hard cap, where teams cannot spend more than the cap, and get rid of this luxury tax garbage. The NFL does many things wrong, but I think they control parity the way it should be. There’s almost at least 1 new team in the Super bowl every year, where in the NBA it’s the same teams over and over again. The Cavs basically went from one of the worst team in the league to playing in the finals by using their $$$ and drafting no players.

Rant(s) finished, now let’s just hope the Wizards prove the NBA wrong and prove that drafting the right players, adding in free agency (responsibly) can work.