Posts in month: October, 2009

{There’s the Wizards home floor … transported all the way from D.C. to VCU’s Siegel Center in Richmond, Virginia}

Currently en route to Richmond for the Wizards’ preseason opener, I’m not exactly sure how I’ll be covering games this season. But for tonight I’m going to update the goings-ons of the game via Twitter, which will also update live in a post on this site (hopefully).

The game will not be televised, but can be heard over the radio on 107.6 The Fan.

So, follow me on Twitter and check back here to see anything you may have missed.

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Tonight’s match against Memphis at the Siegel Center on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA might provide the most packed crowd I’ve ever seen for an NBA preseason game.

Sure, the excitement of Gilbert Arenas’ comeback tour and the new-look Wizards are probably enough to fill the 7,500 seat arena … I mean, pictures of the Wizards are literally on the side of the building (see below).

But the main draw might be Allen Iverson, the prodigal son returning to his home state of Virginia (as a Memphis Grizzly of all things). Iverson grew up in Hampton, VA, about 80 miles away from Richmond.

I kind of heard a secondhand joke about Iverson this weekend, stating that he hasn’t been in Richmond since … [insert item from troubled past]

• … since he must have been thanking then VA Governor Doug Wilder profusely for giving him clemency and detention instead of jail time due to charges related to a 1993 bowling alley brawl (which was in Hampton, but Richmond is the state capital).

  or
  

• … since 1997 when Iverson was arrested and spent the night in a Richmond jail. Police found weed and a gun in his car after pulling it over for going 90 mph in a 65; Iverson was a passenger, not a driver.
  
  or
  
• … since 2006 when Iverson bought his mom an ABA franchise that was supposed to be called the Richmond Warriors. The team became the Ballerz before playing briefly in 06-07. They then moved to the Hampton Roads/Norfolk area, but haven’t really been heard from since.

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I spent the days beginning with ‘S’ milling around Wizards training camp this past weekend. Media is only given access at the very end of practice. I basically got to see the team shoot free-throws on Saturday, and the end of situational scrimmaging on Sunday. Once practice is over, we’re allowed down on the floor for interviews. On each day, Flip Saunders was the first to come over and was very personable and gracious in answering whatever question was thrown his way. After that, we just try to catch the players as they emerge from the training room … most glad to stop and talk for several minutes, and a few opting to talk on the move as the media guys tried to keep up. No one dare approach Gilbert Arenas on either of those days lest he run away screaming, “No media, NO!,” possibly hurting himself in the process.

Unfortunately, because of some personal travel between the days, I wasn’t able to post as much as I would have liked. Below are some of my notes/observations/comments/quotes from those two days.

Previous Training Camp Posts:

• Andray Blatche Continues Down The Development Path
• The Competitive Nature of Javaris Crittenton’s Injury

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[via Richmond, VA]

Everyone’s heard past talk from Andray Blatche about improving with results showing very little. Last Wednesday on Bullets Forever, Mike Prada reported that the 2009 development of Blatche was “so far so good.” Through training camp this weekend, Blatche has continued to display glimmers of hope that this season will finally be his.

In Sunday’s Washington Post, Michael Lee related a story about a Saturday scrimmage battle between Antawn Jamison and a defending Andray Blatche:

Coach Flip Saunders hopped up, chased down Andray Blatche and gave him a high-five. DeShawn Stevenson patted Blatche on the back, and several of the Washington Wizards’ players and coaches hooted and applauded. Blatche hadn’t completed a nifty fast-break dunk or finger roll; he simply wouldn’t give Antawn Jamison any room to get off a shot in the low block. The swarming help defense behind Blatche wouldn’t give Jamison a passing lane, which allowed Blatche to later slap away the ball.

During that scrimmage, it appeared Blatche wanted to prove himself a little bit more in going against Jamison, who, as a veteran locker room leader, has probably come down the hardest on Andray in the past. Blatche was almost muscling up on Jamison, fighting him for post position, like he stole something from him.

Communication, especially from the likes of Blatche, will play a main role, if not the leading role, in team defensive improvement. There’s a piece about defensive communication being the key posted on Wizards Insider, and I’ll have more to come in the future.

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[via Richmond, VA]

You really have to feel bad for the guy. It seems he’s always been on teams where, especially at his position, the competition is high and the chances are low (well, with the exception of last year). Now he’s forced to wear a boot, his third time donning one this summer, and sit out the next couple of weeks, watching the competition pass him by. Wizards Insider and Wizards Outlet both have some additional details on Crittenton’s injury to his left foot, a double bone bruise and a strained tendon.

It seems like the downside of high competition (if you’re really trying hard to find a negative) has reared it’s head. With so much pressure, Crittenton likely pushed his injury, first experienced in an Atlanta ProAm game in July, more than he would have otherwise. “We tried to speed up the progress of it healing,” he said in reference to each time he’s put on a boot (in Atlanta, in DC before training camp and now), but was never able to get it back to one hundred percent.

He said he’s been able to make it through every practice despite the soreness and pain he was feeling. But on Friday his foot reached its limit and he had to take himself out of practice. The Wizards staff suggested that he get an MRI.

“The MRI came out worse than before,” said Javaris, indicating that it’s one of those injuries that just takes time to heal. He said that continuing to play on the tender ankle would only make it a nagging injury and could possibly lead to surgery.

Crittenton seems a bit down about the set-back, saying “It makes me sick to think about it,” referencing the situation in which the injury occurred (he felt he shouldn’t have been in the game in Atlanta with his team up 12 points in the waning seconds). Hopefully now, he will take the time to heal properly, keep his spirits high, and stay focused. With his length, Flip could turn to him off the bench as a nice change of pace defensively down the road. And in the NBA, another opportunity is always around the corner.

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Last Monday’s Washington Wizards media day seems like such a long time ago.

In addition to me being there, blogging about DeShawn Stevenson’s new tats, the musings of Gilbert Arenas, and the ‘consistent’ goals of Andray Blatche, there was a ton of great coverage from Hoops Addict, Wizards Insider, Wizards Outlet, and Bullets Forever.

Now, after transcribing all of my interview recordings, I wanted to share some of the quotes/pictures that have been relatively unheard/unseen.

{Note: I will be in Richmond for training camp on Saturday and Sunday. There’s limited media access, but I’ll be updating some of the goings-ons via Twitter}

{via WashingtonWizards.com}

It started sometime in the hour of three o’clock pm on Thursday when Mike Jones of the Washington Times (@sptswrtrjones) tweeted, “Arenas watched two scrimmages this afternoon. Jogging with a slight hint of a limp.”

Uh oh.

My first intuition was to not push the panic button. If Wizards fans are approaching the 2009-10 season as a whole with guarded optimism, then they’re probably guarding optimism surrounding Arenas’ knee more than Avon Barksdale’s crew guards the stash house.

Including reports that Arenas sat out of Wednesday evening’s scrimmages to “rest,” Flip Saunders has maintained that his absence is because he recently aggravated a dislocated finger on his left hand that initially occurred about two weeks ago.

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flickr/Keith Allison

After being unveiled in October 2006, the Wizards’ alternate gold jerseys were laid to rest this past April. Personally, I never had anything against them. Actually, I liked them … the contrasting gold tops to the black shorts … were they really that ugly?

Well, a ton of people I ran into would answer with a resounding ‘yes’. Yahoo!’s Ball Don’t Lie even ranked the gold unis the fifth worst NBA jersey in the last decade.

Then again, the goldies did have their fans. Gilbert Arenas liked them better than the current colors. Caron Butler and Wiz radio man Dave Johnson didn’t seem to mind them. Even 60% of the voters in an August 2008 Bullets Forever reader poll said, ‘They should definitely stick around.’

But alas, the Golds are dead to the hardwood … and are now rolling over in their grave.

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I won’t be down in Richmond to cover training camp until this weekend, but there’s plenty of output from those in the mix on the campus of VCU. Here’s the run-down …

(and yes, still jealous that I’m not down there … still making “livin’ money” during the day instead)

Flip Saunders, master teacher [via WashingtonWizards.com]

Project Comeback

Gilbert Arenas hasn’t spoken yet this week, but according to Saunders and some of his teammates, he is rolling right along.

“I thought he looked good. If you look at how his team does [in scrimmages], I think that’s the most important thing,” Saunders said. “One of the main comments that came out from our meeting afterwards with the coaches was they didn’t realize how well he can really see the floor, push the ball and create. He’s gone three practices in 24 hours and Idon’t see any ill effects. He exploded when he needed to explode and got where he wanted to go. He’s trying to understand his role and what we want him to do, and trying to be that leader.”

[Wizards training camp: Day 2 - Mike Jones | Wizards Outlet, Washington Times]

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