5.15.2005

Farewell, Father, son, and



Not an altogether apt comparison to make on the night they get swept out of the playoffs, but it works surprisingly well for Jamison, Hughes, and Gilbert.

There are two school of thought when it comes to fandom in a losing cause: watch as a show of faith, or avert your eyes in the interest of dignity. Since I have other shit to do (and yes, it does in part involve watching the absolutely fucking awesome Alien Planet on the Discovery Channel, the rightful heir to the truly life-changing Future is Wild of a few years ago), I went with option the number two. From what I hear, Wade had yet another career game, the Wizards were close for a minute but were felled by the best player on the floor, the Trinity couldn't rise to the occasion, and at least getting swept by the Heat makes the one-sided victory neat, tidy and inevitable. For now, the Wizards remains a work-in-progress, one that, thankfully, knows it needs some serious work before it can contend. That's certainly better than a flawed team thinking they have a chance.

And before the Wade slurp-fest gets out of control in this world of ours, I still think McGrady's better. Kobe, too. I know, I know: what does Kobe do without Shaq? Didn't T-Mac lose with Yao?

It's four games against a team that plays no defense and exerts next to no presence in the paint. At least not on a regular basis--Haywood and Thomas are both players of great moments, special games, heads-up plays. The kind of players a non-stop dynamo like Wade runs right through. He broke their spirits the second he stepped on the court.

I'm saying, let's see what he does against the Pistons (fyi, shit is getting chippy. Reggie says "it's going to be a bloodbath"). Not saying he won't still be fantastic, but I've seen enough of the Wizards to know that, once you force Arenas and Hughes to settle in, that's the softest defense of any real team in the Association. I mean any team with a remotely complete roster and chance at finding their way out of the lottery any time soon.

So long Wizards, it's been a good one. Get started talking to Hughes. Hope Arenas does even more growing up before next season—who knows, maybe he'll be as good as Dwyane Wade some day.

1 Comments:

At 5/15/2005 11:12 PM, Blogger Bethlehem Shoals said...

to clarify, i was talking about two-guards when i brought up kobe and t-mac. this "wade is better than lebron" crap is total nonsense. . . despite what walton, in one of his worst tv moments ever, said today.

1. lebron was an mvp candidate on a non-functioning team that fired its coach mid-season

2. and oh yeah, they almost made the playoffs despite the rest of the roster being a disadvantage for them

3. wade may do a lot of things, but lebron is a better passer, a better rebounder, and a moer versatile defender. as i've said, doesn't have one "forget about it" move, but he can beat you many, many more ways than wade can.

4. even if they were the same size, lebron would be better. but he also happens to be the size of a power forward.

5. lebron is like three years younger than wade. i think wade has some room for improvement (hello, three-pointer) but lebron could conceivably have a this-year's-wade-like turn ahead of him yet. okay, that's a bit much

 

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