Posts in month: July, 2009

flickr/Christopher Chan

Checked out the Wizards’ foray into the summer league last night. They won, almost blew an 18 point lead to Cleveland. Andray Blatche came out shaky. His version, via the DC Sports Bog recap, “I came out real hyper, real real hyper.”

Yep, in the beginning he looked like the same ol’ Blatche … ill-advised long jumpers early in the shot clock, turnovers while trying to carelessly push the ball on the break instead of passing to a guard, etc..

Eventually, after a talking-to by Dominic McGuire and assistant coach Don Zierden, he settled down, started hitting the boards hard, and played like a summer league veteran.

Question is, why is a guy with 238 ‘real’ NBA games under his belt nervous-in-the-service when it comes to a summer league game?

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flickr/Roadsidepictures

Well, by the time I posted ‘Knowing The Wizards ‘09 Summer League Team: Part 1‘ on Sunday, covering James Lang, Alex Ruoff, Jimmy Baron and John Edwards, Lang was cut (this made the DC Sports Bog especially sad). On Monday, both Ruoff and Baron were cut.

Sorry guys, guess it wasn’t in the cards or blogs.

Last night after the practice, the team began their journey to Vegas, and will play Cleveland’s summer league squad today at 6:30 pm EST. For a reminder on summer league rules, check out the Washington Wizards Blog.

Both Bullets Forever and Ridiculous Upside previously posted some quick facts about the players on the summer league roster, but I wanted to dive a bit deeper, not only to find out what type of player each is, but also what composes their background.

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With the Wizards set to being summer league play in Las Vegas on Tuesday, the team has been holding a mini-camp in D.C. for the players on the team. The camp began on Saturday and will finish on Monday. Both the Washington Post and Washington Times have first day wrap-ups posted on their respective Wizards blogs, but with limited media access (essentially being able to watch the players shoot), there wasn’t much to report.

Both Bullets Forever and Ridiculous Upside previously posted some quick facts about the players on the summer league roster, but I wanted to dive a bit deeper, not only to find out what type of player each is, but also what composes their background.

Part one will focus on James Lang, John Edwards, Alex Ruoff, and Jimmy Baron. Lang, who previously spent time with the Wizards, gets a more formal write up. The rest of them get a short-cut … bullet points.

James Lang (A ‘Should’ve Gone To College’ Case)

[6'10" power forward/center - second round draft pick out of high school, pro basketball vagabond]

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Maybe Caron Butler was just born a travelin’ man, or perhaps he’s a rollin’ stone … but without the negative connotations that come with those terms.

So for this off-season, Tuff Juice has hung with Orpah at an awards banquet in D.C., chewed straws with with NBC 4’s Lindsay Czarniak at the Cheesecake Factory, performed a day of community service for Caron Butler Day in Racine, WI, thrown the first pitch at a Nats game, coached at Big Tigger’s Celebrity Basketball Classic and celebrated at Lux Lounge, attended the Marcus Johnson album release party at the Ritz Carlton in Georgetown, sat ringside at the Pacquiao-Hatton fight in Vegas, has been the topic of a rap song courtesy of Mr. Wicked, chilled with Kobe in L.A., and checked Venus Williams and the Washington Kastles while telling the departed Oleksiy Pecherov that he’s just a phone call or text away.

And I’m sure that isn’t the half of it.

Tonight, Butler, along with Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Delonte West, and Michael Beasley (all dubbed as Caron’s “friends” as he is the headliner), will be hosting, depending on which flier you look at, a Worldwide Tour or National Tour at Bed Nightclub in South Beach Miami.

If I didn’t know better, Mr. Butler might be angling for a future career in politics.

Do what you do Tuff Juice.

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flickr/Roadsidepictures

On June 16, the DC Sports Bog posted odds to win the 2010 NBA championship from Bodog. The Wizards were in a three way tie with the Knicks and Nets with the 18th best odds to get a ring at 75-1.

On June 24th, the Wizards made the trade for Mike Miller and Randy Foye. Increased team depth, Grunfeld is “comfortable” with what he has … better odds to win it all, right? Not exactly.

(For the record, overall I’m very optimistic about the potential of this Wizards team … there are just some holes that need filling, and I’m not talking about some gross porno you probably just watched online.)

On July 2nd, Ball Don’t Lie posted updated odds from Bodog (which ‘should have’ included the Wizards trade among others such as Shaq to Cleveland, Richard Jefferson to San Antonio, and Vince Carter to Orlando).

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We already know JaVale McGee is handy with the video editing software … but producing music? Seems like he’s got a hold on that too.

Via his Twitter account, McGee aka Big Daddy Wookie, has been posting new songs on Reverb Nation, a web platform for musicians/producers to upload tracks and possibly collaborate with others.

One can only assume that the artist to whom JaVale is linking, “JMac” from Flint, MI, is young Epic Vale himself (oh, and the fact that the picture above is also posted there … and he’s also confirmed it’s him via Twitter).

But don’t take my word for it, go listen for yourself …
(there is a music player of his tracks below, but you might not see it if you are using a reader/aggregator.)

via photobucket/d_julien

It first started with a report from Gary Parrish of CBS Sports. Then it spread like wildfire: True Hoop, Slam, Deadspin, The DC Sports Bog, The Sporting Blog, The Hoop Doctors, Mouthpiece Sports, Dime Magazine, The Dagger, Waiting For Next Year, NBC, Cleveland.com, Zoner Sports, The Same Intensity, and surely many more to come …

Yes, the dunk of Xavier’s Jordan Crawford on LeBron James, a video of which was confiscated by Nike officials, has seemingly caused more of an uproar than if it were posted on YouTube with a press conference held by the “Chosen One” himself,presenting the clip for all to see.

The worst part is that according to reports, it was actually LeBron who whispered into the ears of said officials right before they accosted various videographers around the gym.

There are a couple inevitable results from this occurrence: Read more »

From the going-ons of Dinner Bells, Transformers, bidding adieus, and locker room clowin’ on this site, below are your hump day links from the Wizards world wide web in the past week or so.

• As of right now, the Wizards will be paying $6 million in luxury taxes.
  [Wizards Insider]
• Caron Butler grew up with a rapper named ‘Mr. Wicked’ who used to say “NBA” to him every day in the hallways of high school.
  [Hoop Doctors]
• Is Antawn Jamison the next Alex English?
  [The Secret Weapon]
• Is Nick Young a goner?
  [Bullets Forever]
• Ernie Grunfeld went on the radio with some junkies.
  [Krem's Sports Blog]
• ‘How To Make A Dagger’ by Steve Buckhantz.
  [DC Sports Bog]
• What did the Wizards sell for $2.5 million?
  [The Secret Weapon]
• Are the Wizards jogging in place?
  [Stet Sports]
• Andray Blatche has a new nickname: “Summer League”
  [We're Off To See The Willards]
• Tom Hammonds scores 24 points in a game? This has to be some sort of fantasy.
  [Bullets Forever]
• It’s a landslide, the Wizards should go back to wearing Amercia’s colors.
  [Mr. Irrelevant]
• The Wizards radio will be moving from the Danny Snyder controlled WTEM 980 to the CBS controlled 106.7 WJFK — not sure what this means, but it’s probably a good thing.
  [DC Sports Bog]
• “Mission Accomplished” for the Washington Wizards?
  [WashingtonWizardsBlog;  mission accomplished comedy via @matthartwig]

Finally, Brendan Haywood is blogging again … this time bidding farewell to Michael Jackson. He writes:

He came along at a time when African-Americans weren’t accepted in the main stream media and forced society to look at us differently. Without Michael Jackson, there may not have been a Michael Jordan. He, along with guys like Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali are true pioneers who broke down racial barriers and allowed young African-American entertainers to be as successful as they are today.

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I swear I saw this video before … especially since it was filmed in the Wizards locker room when March Madness ’09 was about to commence. But then again, maybe not since the YouTube date says June 22, 2009.

In any case, the highlights include:

• Andray Blatche saying: “I don’t care about no ‘Match Mardness’, okay? I ain’t go to college. I don’t know nothin’ about college, okay?”
• Nick Young wearing a hat you’d usually see on an old lady going to church.
• Caron Butler bagging on Nick Young and USC: “I think Nick the only guy from USC in the league … and he on his way out. Message!”

[video shot by Elie Sechbach for NBA FanHouse]

[h/t: theuconnhuskies.blogspot]

What do you get when you combine a 7’1″ NBA player with time on his hands, who is born in ’88, entrenched in Gen Y, and thus tech/software savvy, with an obvious affection for Transformers, and an Optimus Prime mask?

Clearly you would get exactly what’s in the YouTube below:

Mike Jones of the Washington Times reports that, according the league sources, Ernie Grunfeld has four players targeted near the center of his dart board: Rasho Nesterovic, Channing Frye, Jason Collins and Jamaal Magloire.

While none of these big men are the ‘sexy’ pick fans desire, each might be serviceable for the current amount of minutes Grunfeld is pigeon-holing the potential addition into. And each, according to Jones, might have to settle for the veteran’s minimum in the current economic environment.

Of course, with whispers of Nesterovic returning to Europe, I would not be surprised if he spurned the NBA to play for more money overseas. Nonetheless, Jones is usually spot-on with his reporting, so there’s a fair chance one of these guys will be joining the Wizards in the future. Let’s learn a little bit about each:

Rasho Nesterovic

See that fella above? That’s “Dinner Bell” Mel Turpin, a member of the cursed Washington Bullets/Wizards draft history … sorta.

Turpin was taken by the Bullets with the 6th overall pick in the famed 1984 NBA Draft … the Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and of course, Sam Bowie draft. Bowie was a teammate of Turpin’s at Kentucky, and while both are known as busts, it’s Bowie’s name that most often gets mentioned amongst NBA basketball infamy.

With Rick Mahorn and Jeff Ruland already holding down the paint, Turpin was immediately traded by then GM Bob Ferry to a team currently generally managed by his son Danny, the Cleveland Cavaliers. In exchange, the Bullets received Cliff Robinson and Tim McCormick, who was promptly sent to the Seattle Sonics, along with Ricky Sobers, for Gus Williams.

Williams lead the ’84-85 Bullets in scoring (20.0) and assists (7.7), while Robinson was fourth on the team in scoring (16.7) and second in rebounding (9.1). That Bullets team improved by five wins over the previous season’s mark to finish 40-42, but still lost to Barkley, Julius Erving, and Moses Malone in the first round of the playoffs.

Williams only played one more year with the team before signing with Atlanta, spending a single season there before retiring. Robinson also spent just one more season in Washington before being traded to Philadelphia, along with Ruland (who would only play 18 games for the Sixers over two seasons), for Moses Malone, Terry Catledge and two first round picks.

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I mentioned the Bullets Forever idea of trading Mike James and Javaris Crittenton to Indiana for Travis Diener and Jeff Foster in the previous post, ‘Finding A Big Man For The Washington Wizards’ … which could quite possibly the first ‘two white men for two black men trade’ in the NBA in decades, if not ever.

Naturally, I wanted to get the opinion of a Pacers fan-blogger on the potential deal. Tom Lewis of Indy Cornrows was kind enough to weigh-in via email:

[The] proposed trade definitely makes sense from an emotionless nuts and bolts perspective. I do think the Pacers are willing to move Foster and with Mike James involved the team could have additional cap room next summer. Plus, as an added bonus, assuming Jarrett Jack does not re-sign and the team keeps A.J. Price in play, James may be a good mentor for the rook since both hail from Amityville, NY.

The Diener/Crittenton parts appear to be a wash. Diener is in the last year of his deal and Crittenton has a team option next summer. Crittenton has some known flaws, namely his ability to shoot the three and too many turnovers which are two areas Jim O’Brien values highly which he proved last season by moving T.J. Ford out of the starting lineup. The physical upside to Crittenton’s game would be worth the gamble though since the team could let him go after the season, not a bad worst-case scenario.

Diener has been pretty efficient running the Pacers offense when healthy which he wasn’t for much of last year. Plus, he can knock down perimeter shots which would probably be the determining factor between the two if Jim O’Brien has a say.

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I was on a break outside the other day, catching some fresh Penn Quarter air, taking a stroll around Freedom Plaza, when this little kid came up to me, and said, “Hey Mister … don’t you know that the Wizards need another big man? Haywood, Jamison, Blatche, McGee, and McGuire aren’t going to cut it.”

“Easy lil’ fella,” I told him. “We’ll keep looking around to see if we can add someone else, but we feel comfortable about what we have currently and the depth of our ballclub.”

The kid then kicked me in the shin and ran away.

I suddenly woke up from my slumber and realized those weren’t my words, those were Ernie Grunfeld’s words. I had a mission …

can big gheorghe muresan get on the horn and find the wizards a big man?

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