The Wizards were missing two of their best players last night in John Wall and Andray Blatche. Flip Saunders started two rookies in their places, hoping that Trevor Booker and Kevin Seraphin would be able to provide some energy. According to Michael Lee of the Washington Post's Wizards Insider, they showed the bad parts of being rookies instead of the good.
With Wall sidelined for the seventh game, Gilbert Arenas and Kirk Hinrich ran the show, but they weren't in sync with rookie starters Kevin Seraphin and Trevor Booker, who were given the opportunity after providing some hustle and tenacity in the second half against the Lakers. Saunders wanted to reward them, but it often seemed like a punishment for Arenas and Hinrich, who combined for 10 turnovers and a bazillion eye rolls.
Arenas was visibly upset with the rookies and his frustration boiled over after the game.
"My frustrations was like, 'C'mon move, I see you open!' He's frustrated like, 'Why are you yelling at me?' It's just communication that we'll get later on down the line," Arenas said. "It just comes with experience. I'm used to playing with veteran players."
You might be able to chalk this all up to Arenas missing some time with injury, so he hasn't had the same amount of training camp and practice time with the rookies as he might have otherwise. But either way, proper rotations and general offensive wherewithal is something that the rookies need to work on if they want to stick on this level and get serious minutes.
Lee also mentions that Wall isn't sure about his availability for Friday's game against the Knicks, and it is entirely possible that he won't be playing.