NBA Draft week is here, and there will be a lot going on with the Wizards … from the T’Wolves being very interested in acquiring the 5th, with shooter Mike Miller possibly coming to D.C., to some crazy goings-ons with the Knicks, to Gilbert Arenas’ former agent (Gil fired Dan Fegan so he could negotiate on his own), not wanting a couple of his top clients in the draft to be associated with the Wizards.

More on all of this to come ….

But, I wanted to take pause to remember Pete Maravich. June 22nd being his day of birth, The Pistol would have been 62 today had he not passed away in 1988 at the age of 40.

I’ve embedded a couple great YouTubes of Maravich below. Neither currently have sound, so I’m making some recommendations on what to listen to while watching the Pistol do his thing.

The first is from Maravich’s college days at Louisiana State, play Look Up by Zero 7 while watching.

Read more »

Manu over current Wizards coach Sam Cassell - flickr/eugene

Since writing the Manu Ginobili to the Wizards post, I’ve somewhat soured on acquiring him. Not that I’m now completely against it, given ideal circumstances. Manu is nice, but he doesn’t fit the two greatest team needs: a rugged big man who can defend and rebound (either in the form of starting PF or a significant bench role player), and a dead-eye three point shooter, who can also defend. Mike Prada of Bullets Forever has a good post on who that needed wing player might be: ‘Who is Gilbert Arenas’ ideal backcourt mate?‘

The veteran squad and expiring contracts the Wiz would get in the Ginobili trade scenario makes an interesting team while maintaining flexibility for the future. But as Prada pointed out on Bullets Forever, the Wizards would be giving up almost all of their attractive assets (Blatche, Young, the 5th, and the expiring contracts of Mike James and Etan Thomas) for a bunch of over the hill guys with unreliable health.

If I’m Ernie Grunfeld, I want to max out the value of those assets, or retain some for a 2010 trade deadline rainy day. In the end, I, along with most Spurs fans, can’t really imagine the trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Ginobili not being together next year anyway.

The Spurs want to prepare for the future, while remaining competitive. The best way to stay in the title picture might be to keep the veteran core on the books (Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, Kurt Thomas, Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto, Roger Mason, Matt Bonner, and Finley, assuming he takes his $2.5 million player option), along with George Hill (seemingly their only youthful prospect), fill in the gap with a MLE free-agent (which could mean heading into luxury tax territory), and pray for health.

Read more »

Following up on part one of Flip Saunders’ meet-n-greet session with fans, I present his top ten quotes of the night (plus one to grow on, so eleven):

#11

“Whether JaVale McGee plays the four of the five depends on who he can guard.”

#10

“I’ve notoriously been a guy who’s played big [lineups].”

Read more »

Like user ooba on Bullets Forever, I attended the Flip Saunders meet-n-greet with season ticket holders at the Verizon Center on Wednesday night. I didn’t intend on going (nor did I really know about it), but my boy Donte invited me that day, so big thanks to him.

Luckily, I had the room bugged beforehand so I could get some prime quotes from Flip … well, if ‘bugged’ means a small recorder I happened to have with me.

It’s kinda funny, I didn’t mean to be the sneaky blogger recording people’s conversations, or a coach talking to a practice court filled with 200-250 people (not sure if I’m a good crowd estimator or not), but like ooba, I just want to relay interesting team news, notes, and Et ceteras to those who weren’t able to attend.

Of course, one must wonder if Saunders was more candid speaking in front of fans, working under the assumption that no one was ‘covering’ the event, than he would have been with members of the main-stream-media.

Then again, unlike MSM types, I’m actually a fan of the team.

Read more »

flickr/art crimes

The rumors,  the possibilities … they must be tired because they’ve been running through my mind all night. It’s getting a little crazy leading up to the draft, but bloggers, MSM types, and the Internets wouldn’t have it any other way.

First of all, I’d like to remind the basketball world, despite the fact that 99% of it won’t see this post, that the Wizards are not “desperate“ to shed salary.

I’ll simply point to a Washington Times piece from late March highlighting that owner Abe Pollin would pay the luxury tax in order to win a championship. No, this doesn’t mean Ernie Grunfeld won’t be looking for creative ways to save money, he just won’t be making any wholesale giveaways in the process.

Pollin is 85 and another title is number one, two, three, four and five on his bucket list. Question the validity of Pollin’s edict if you want, but at least give it the respect it deserves. Some people don’t.

Read more »

Amare Stoudemire, Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, Manu Ginobili, Michael Redd, Josh Smith, Josh Howard, Kirk Hinrich and Andrei Kirilenko are just of the few of the tiny players jumping over a fence in the mind of the restless Ernie Grunfeld as he tries to fall into a slumber every night leading up to the draft on June 25.

But he can’t sleep. He sits up in bed, drenched in sweat. It’s 3:30 in the morning and he’s trying to plod through the day’s ninth showing of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. But the show doesn’t help take his thoughts away from the matter at hand. His mind is racing through Wizards trade scenarios instead. And if you don’t pay attention to those damned Law & Orders, especially the crime at the beginning, the show just becomes a scrambled mess.

The mess, parallel to the team Grunfeld commands, spills into the night and into the next day, all of which are becoming the same. The Wizards GM is on the verge of making the most important move during his tenure with the team.

[continue reading on NBC Washington.com]

Mike James - flickr/Keith Allison

Last week, I had a chance to interview Mike James over the phone from Houston as he was on his way to the gym. Why Mike James? Well, the guy was nice enough to respond to my email and subsequently agree to chat. Doubt many NBA players would do the same for a ‘blogger’.

In speaking with Mike, I came away with two main impressions; he absolutely loves the game of basketball and he’s very confident — two traits you’ll probably find in every player who sticks around in the best basketball league in the world for more than five seasons.

Acquired from New Orleans in mid-December, James’ presence on the court in a season inevitably filled with mounting losses was the cause of frustration for many Wizards fans who would have rather seen younger players developing on the court.

However, many times James was the only guard willing to penetrate into the paint, or at least try … an aspect of creation so desperately needed by a team simply trying to play together. Either that or James was the only veteran PG available, as young Javaris Crittenton, acquired in the same trade, tried to acclimate himself to his third team in two seasons, or as Juan Dixon fought through injury and the inability to lead an offense.

Read more »

Hey, Epic Vale just wants to be successful.

[via twitter/bigdaddywookie]

flickr/kris247

“How dare us (the Lakers) be complacent and lackadaisical in regular season game,” said Derek Fisher from the podium during his NBA championship winning press conference.

What regular season game was D-Fish speaking of in reference to the turning point of the Lakers’ season? Why, an early December ’08 meeting against the Washington Wizards in the Verizon Center of course.

[Continue reading on NBC Washington.com]

flickr/Keith Allison

flickr/kris247

When the San Antonio Spurs asked Ernie Grunfeld what it would take to get the 5th pick in June 25th’s draft, Grunfeld simply responded, “Manu Ginobili,” or so goes the purported story relayed by the Washington Post’s Michael Lee.

Despite Ginobili’s old age and injury issues, sounds like a pretty absurd counter request (assuming only expiring contracts/low value players would accompany the pick) for one of the top gamers in the NBA. Spurs brass certainly would not expect to give up one of their top three stars for a pick in what most are saying is a down draft.

Grunfeld is not ridiculous, nor is he stupid. He’s just playing hardball knowing the pick will only increase in value heading up to the draft. Case in point would be the hype surrounding Stephen Curry and interest from the Knicks to possibly trade up to get him (amongst Wizards’ threats to draft Curry themselves). Whether Grunfeld’s old team would deal with him might be another story.

Forget what you’ve heard about this being a down draft. Even the worst drafts produce hidden gems, and every GM, with their egos, confidence, and scouting reports think they can mine the next one. A pick’s value is in the size of the target on a slotted player’s back placed there by interested parties.

Read more »

When you have a blog, or whatever, you will eventually get on these “lists” of media/PR conglomerates who want to peddle their wares.

I don’t mind so much, makes me feels ‘special’ — even when I get emails that are so far beyond the realm of basketball, or Washington, D.C.  … such as some sort of promotion about the “World’s Most Expensive Chocolate Golf Ball” (something to do with the U.S. Open), or even something from the Staten Island Neighborhood Association. Random shyte.

But really, I’m no different. We all get SPAM email … most of which I find so goddamn bizarre. I once saw a Dateline special on MSNBC about how a lot of unwanted internet stuff comes from Nigeria (or Aryan gangs), so I always root against their soccer team … of both sets just to be on the safe side.

Recently I got an email peddling this Serge Devant cat … after a couple internet searches and watching some stupid club head video on YouTube for about as long as it takes for Luke Perry to fall off a bull, I’m still not convinced this Serge dood is not Bruno.

But sometimes you get sports stuff, and the latest is something I would not buy in a million years, as the kids would say.

OneSneaker.com has this “gem” below for sale for $65. SIXTY-FIVE DOLLARS!

Read more »

Wizards player evaluations for ‘08-09 continue, up fifth is JaVale McGee. My thoughts are below, you can check on the full report on Bullets Forever.

[Previously: Oleksiy Pecherov | Juan Dixon | Etan Thomas | Javaris Crittenton]

I’ve long thought that it was Ernie Grunfeld who made me eat crow after NBA Draft night 2008. But really, it was JaVale McGee. Ok, Grunfeld had big hand in serving what was fed to me. That’s why he’s the general manager with a team of trusted scouts and we are the blogger/fan people. But it was JaVale McGee who made the meal, proving us all wrong.

On that June 26 evening, positive comments about McGee were virtually non-existent. I was immediately calling him Patrick O’Bryant Part Deux, but later calmed down, thinking that I’d found some sort of positive in his bloodline.

Read more »

[video h/t to  The Plain Dealer]

Remember that Damon Jones dude? I sure do. The guy ripped my heart out in game six of the 2006 playoffs, hitting a two-pointer from the corner with less than five seconds left, giving Cleveland the 4-2 series victory and LeBron James his first playoff series win ever … and I was at that damn game.

Ever since, I’ve been a Damon Jones hater. He’s always just been way too into himself and his fashionista ways. A lot of flash and little substance. Basically anyone can spend a ton of money on clothes, wear something outlandish every once in a while, and dub themselves a ‘fashion expert’. “Yay.”

The video above could be a perfect example of Jones being a prick. For one, he’s not on a list … but he’s thinks people MUST recognize him because he hasn’t “waited in line for 10 years” — good for Damon. That surely means he’s better than the rest of us.

And not to defend doormen from clubs, most of them are pricks too … but the place Jones is trying to get into looks to be the Park at 14th. I’ve been there a couple of times and have never experienced a problem with the staff. Unlike some other places (like Josephine’s), the Park seems more customer service oriented. (BTW … don’t worry folks, I’m not a ‘club head’ — just a very diverse bar hopper).

Read more »

Caron Butler had a pretty busy Monday, jetting around the city of Racine in his ‘Day of Service’ — that Tuff Juice is a stand-up guy.

Yesterday I took a moment to recognize Caron over at NBC Washington.

The Racine Journal Times had a full run-down of the events, which you can see charted on the map below or by clicking here.

Read more »

Everyone is talking about Courtney Lee’s missed ‘layup’ that would have won the game for Orlando. Some even compared it to Nick Anderson missing four late free-throws  in game one of the 1995 NBA Finals, also played on June 7th  [via Slam].

Mentioning Nick Anderson sounds very “woe is us” from Orlando. Thing is, true fans aren’t making the association, rather some professional MSMers.  These hacks need to be called out:

1) D-bag from the AP [via Sports Illustrated]:

A shot that couldn’t have been much easier.

Uh … no, a-hole. If you’ve played basketball before, you know how difficult Lee’s shot was — to time his jump, catch the pass, be concerned about an oncoming Pau Gasol, while slowing down uncontrollable momentum to lay the ball softly off the glass … exactly.

Read more »