Thomas Goes Under

Wizards center Etan Thomas is undergoing heart surgery today and will miss the season. One's heart goes out to one of the NBA's real good guys, but as a Wizards fan I also hope this will help Eddie Jordan get over his irrational dislike of Brendan Haywood.

As everyone knows, the Wizards are very good offensively on very bad on defense. To improve as a team, the best thing to do is to pick the low-hanging fruit and try to get the defense up to "below average" rather than "incredibly awful." And the easiest way to do that is to give Haywood more minutes. As you can see from the on court / off court numbers, the team is very slightly better on offense with Haywood in but substantially better on defense. Big Brendan's no great defender, but that's precisely the point -- the team's in a position where merely having an average interior defensive presence on the floor makes a big difference.

Comments

His dislike of Heywood is perfectly rational. BH SUCKS. The fact that Thomas might have been even worse doesn't change this fact.

Posted by Pooh | October 11, 2007 1:54 PM

It really is shocking - if you had told me that one of the Wizards' centers had a heart defect, I would have been certain that it was Haywood.

Posted by Gabriel | October 11, 2007 1:58 PM

Really sucks to lose Etan for the season. I hope it doesn't really hurt the team. I guess he'll get to spend some more time in the community, which he'll probably get some enjoyment out of. At least no chance of Haywood/Thomas IV this year.

Posted by James | October 11, 2007 2:46 PM

One's heart goes out

Ow.

Posted by md 20/400 | October 11, 2007 3:15 PM

Gabriel is funny...

In any case, won't anyone ever go after Anderson Verejao? No way the Wiz could do it?

Posted by Al | October 11, 2007 3:18 PM

I'd imagine that Arenas impending season long NBA suspension for cheating would be bigger news.

Posted by Petey | October 11, 2007 3:39 PM

"In any case, won't anyone ever go after Anderson Verejao? No way the Wiz could do it?"

No one will go after Varajao. Fegan wants considerably more than the MLE, and no one but the Cavs can pay more than the MLE.

Posted by Petey | October 11, 2007 3:42 PM

I think Matthew misses the point here. With Thomas gone for the season, Haywood won't be able to get his normal boxing training done, which will result in him not being in shape to even play average interior defense.

Posted by Petey | October 11, 2007 3:50 PM

Petey wins.

Posted by Pooh | October 11, 2007 4:31 PM

Where's my parade, Pooh? I want a parade.

Posted by Petey | October 11, 2007 4:37 PM