In February 2010, Ed Lover will be 47-years old. C’mon Son.

Andray Blatche has probably never even heard of Yo! MTV Raps, where Lover sewed his celebrity oats back in the early 90s. Now, Lover is staying relevant with the young generation via his “C’mon Son” internet shtick.

Hope I’m still relevant when I’m damn near a quinquagenarian. Of course, at age 29, a soon-to-be tricenarian (in about six months), I’m not sure how “relevant” I am now.

Prior to the December 12th game versus the Pacers, I tweeted my discovery of a “C’mon Son” cardboard sign that Andray Blatche had stowed away in his locker.

On Tuesday after the Sixers game, I stopped him for a question as he was making his way out of the locker room. At first, he joked, “I don’t want to talk to you!!”, but then gladly obliged and led a couple members of the media back to his locker to talk … after he had been told/asked to take off his beanie hat by Wizards game-night host Dolph Sand.

As Andray conspicuously pulled the sign out of his locker and tucked it next to him, I asked about the well-discussed ‘five men in, five men out’ hot-button topic. He answered. (See the video at the bottom of this post.)

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Matching up Wizards locker room quotes after the Sixers game with corresponding facial expressions.

Nick Young

When asked what the team needs to do to build on this one victory:

“We need to just not get too down on each other, not criticize each other. Everybody needs to be one as a team. When one player messes up, pat him on the back and tell them ‘do a good job next time’ instead of talking trash.”

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In the previous entry, I touched on the Wizards post-game locker room atmosphere after beating the Sixers. Thinking about the game again last night and this morning led me to pause … they were really, really close to losing another heart breaker. Momentum really could have shifted had Lou Williams hit that wide open corner three, which would have given the Sixers a 100-98 lead, potentially capping a 10-2 Philly run since Eddie Jordan called a timeout after Caron Butler’s big dunk.

But thankfully, Williams’ shot was off, the Wizards made their free-throws, and the Sixers made some mental errors (fouling down three with 34 seconds left? … what was that?). It could have been a much different locker room, one that wasn’t seemingly so naively content with a single win.

And that’s why I’m a tad excited for tonight’s game in Milwaukee, just another chance to see what the Wizards are made of. I’ll have more on the Philly game to come. But until then, below the video highlights are several links of interest.

{award nominations}

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Flip Saunders didn’t care about Tuesday night’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Well, not like he didn’t care, care. If you ask him, I’m sure he’ll tell you that he was damn glad to have a ‘W’ notched in the record book. The win wasn’t even one of those ‘whew, that was a close one, glad we came out on top’ victories of relief for the coach.

No, the Wizards’ 105-98 win over Eddie Jordan’s Sixers was more like a ‘Dammit, I’m still pissed that I had to sub all five of my starters out en masse with eight minutes left in the third quarter just to motivate this frickin’ 8-17 team’ type of night for Saunders.

After the game, I asked Saunders about that magic moment when he subbed Earl Boykins, Nick Young, Dominic McGuire, Andray Blatche and Fabricio Oberto all at once for Gilbert Arenas, Randy Foye, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison and Brendan Haywood after watching his starters commit three turnovers and three fouls on their way to getting outscored 12-5 four minutes into the second half.

Before Saunders even answered my question, he retorted, “What did you see?”

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5:24:36 PM: Heading to the Verizon Center with the hope that the Wizards will display some serious effort tonight. It’s going to be an adventure.

6:17:13 PM: Mike James is on the cover of the Wizards’ Game Time magazine/handout tonight. Wonder if it’s the last time we’ll see him in a Wiz uniform.

6:18:04 PM: Randy Foye will start tonight for the Wizards, Lou Williams will come off the bench for the 76ers.

6:20:29 PM: Tonight’s Wizards-76ers officials: #33 Sean Corbin, #39 Kevin Fehr, and #66, former Washington Bullet, Haywoode Workman.

6:24:36 PM: Like Flip has done, Eddie Jordan said he thought about giving up shoot-around 2 help his team, but values it too much as a teaching tool.

6:29:10 PM: I asked Eddie Jordan about defense, he jokingly interrupted “I don’t know anything about defense, from what I understand.”

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Flip Saunders and I may have different perceptions of the Wizards. And for good reason, we are different people. He’s a professional, experienced coach. He sees countless things  I don’t see when observing his team. But I’m stubborn in my opinion that derives from the things I see. Agree to disagree if you will. For instance, let’s look at the quote below from Michael Lee’s story in Monday’s Washington Post:

Despite their 1-3 record, the Wizards (8-17) still believe they made progress on the trip, with Coach Flip Saunders and several of his players commenting on how the team could’ve easily won two more games if a few more breaks had gone their way.

The Wizards have recently patted themselves on the back for not quitting and being in close contests. “Breaks” … sure, Michael Lee’s words, but the franchise has conveyed the ‘if only a couple of plays’ argument, as if some fate has intervened.

I’m under the impression that if the Wizards wanted it a little bit more, especially on defense, if they had just a bit more focus, determination, hustle, you know, all of those intangible sports clichés, then they could have notched a couple more wins.

The perception of the “breaks” not going the Wizards’ way seems odd to me. It’s like saying they lost due to reasons beyond their control … interference from the basketball gods I suppose.

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Why is Gilbert Arenas always so ready to give up a foul after he or his team commits a turnover?

Why is Caron Butler always shuffling/switching his pivot foot when he catches the ball, leading to a travel?

Why are the Wizards entrenched in bad communication, often running into each other on pick and roll defense?

This team is surrounded by a lot of questions, these are just some examples. The quandary of this bad Washington Wizards team won’t simply be resolved by ‘when Mike Miller becomes healthy’, ‘when Gilbert Arenas gets his mentality back’ or ‘when Flip Saunders is able to reign in his players to properly run his offense’.

Running the offense is one glaring problem because this team was supposed to be able to score. Screw the offense for this post, let’s talk defense.

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I seriously contemplated whether I should ever watch the Wizards-Suns game. It’s not like I didn’t know the 121-95 outcome or was unable to witness the Wizards constructing a Brick City that would make Redman proud. Instead of dedicating my Saturday night life to the Wizards at home, I ventured out in the D.C. snow to meet some friends at a bar for drinks, darts, and sports on TVs. Between the activities, I couldn’t concentrate on watching the Wizards much, but the futility was made crystal clear in the glances I was able to get.

This team has no moxie. With the persistent problem back-to-back games pose, there’s ever-increasing skepticism and little hope that they will ever change course for the better. There are a ton of excuses for why this team is falling way short of expectations, a lot of them seem to stem on more time and patience. But how do you get a team to play with energy and focus like they care?

So, I put my blues collection on shuffle and spent the better part of my Sunday watching the Wizards-Suns with focus … and boy did I learn a lot about this team. I was able to capture the essence of the game in the nine frames below, but I’ll have much more to come in the future about the less desirable aspects of the Flip Saunders’ team.

[Editor's Note: Andy Orfalea is a Wizards fan all the way out in California, but attended school back East where he majored in English at Boston College. He attended Friday night's Wizards game in Golden State, his account is below.]

I knew it. I knew the Wizards just needed my presence to turn this thing around. Watching from the top level at the Oracle, I didn’t like what I saw upon entering. Andray Blatche was f&%$ing around in warmups, something I’ve noticed about him since he was drafted. Javale Mcgee was chucking the bull off the backboard, Gilbert was throwing up brick after brick. As usual, the only two Wizards who appeared aware of their current six game losing streak were Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler. After Blatche botched a left hander in lay-up lines, Caron walked up and smacked him in the head. The leaders of the team won this game tonight. After the opening tip, the team played hard and with a sense of urgency. Two things that are all they really need.

Playing hard is something I attribute to one big man in the middle. Brendan Haywood has amazingly worked himself into a position where I was actually calling for him at the end of the game. Blatche was playing down the stretch and when the Warriors cut it to three, Flip finally decided this was an important game and inserted Haywood. B-Hay, the most recent blogosphere victim, provided much needed inside toughness for the Wizards. Almost before the fireworks of others, I really have to give him his props.

Now, an important point in recapping the game. Let me describe a little scene after the game in the halls of the Oracle. I walked out of our section with my Caron Butler Wizards #3 jersey, clapping it up. I also had my Redskins hat on, keep in mind they somehow beat the Raiders on Sunday. Anyways, as I clapped it up a Warriors fan said, “Hey man you got a lot of nerve wearing all that Washington sh*t.” I didn’t say anything back because I was so joyed over the victory, but it did pop into my mind to say “Hey man, you have a lot of nerve wearing that Warriors gear because that’s one of the worst teams I’ve ever seen play.”

One perspective that needs to be provided to fans who didn’t watch this game, I’ve never seen more inept defensive ball club than the Golden State Warriors. Gilbert tip-toed his way to 43 and 13. He had to do nothing more than beat his initial man and it was over, honestly. All other men in yellow just gaped at the defender who got beat, not thinking once about helping, fouling or really doing anything. I imagine Don Nelson holds team meetings with a bottle of gin and a loaded gun. When a team member raises his hand and asks about defense, Nelson picks up the loaded gun, gets a crazy look in his eye and says “back to the offense now…”

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Not long after the ‘Design an Inbounds Play For the Wizards’ contest hit the interwebs, there were reports of Flip Saunders doing a Capitol Hill two-step, back-pedaling away like a politician.

“They talked, and we haven’t totally committed on that. It wasn’t an end of the game thing when we talked about it. It was a – if we do it – a how about a first-timeout play of the game. … It was designed to be an interactive thing with the fans, a first quarter you run a play and see what they have. … We’re still playing with the idea of where it really goes.”

[Flip Saunders via Wizards Outlet]

It only took a couple more days for ESPN’s Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy to get to it. During Friday’s Wizards-Warriors broadcast, Jackson started by bringing up the contest and calling it a “joke.” Van Gundy followed with:

“My problem with it is this. People would say, ‘What’s the problem, it’s only one possession’, but they’ve lost six straight one possession games. Every possession matters in the NBA. And I would not be willing, as a team, to give away any possessions.”

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I guess the pressure of a $111 million contract can hang over one’s head when they are injured or aren’t performing well. Must be nice … most would love to be called “Mister $111 Million.”

The idea of contract money being a burden to Arenas seems silly to the common man, and such silliness unfortunately led to Gil putting undue pressure on himself. Can anyone blame him for signing? Can anyone blame him for being injured? Not at all. But I suppose it’s a valid concern when blowhards like Tony Kornheiser spit their ignorant rhetoric. Kornheiser doesn’t go to Wizards games (maybe he watches him), and he doesn’t talk to Gilbert Arenas.

Not to turn Arenas’ 45 into a rant against Kornheiser and those alike. They are entitled to their opinion. But when their imbalanced analysis lacks compassion, patience and reason, it’s hard to take their thoughts on the matter seriously … and that’s why I don’t.

I’ve been hard on/disappointed with Arenas myself in the past. And the patience of Wizards’ fans has been tested for years. But what’s a little more in this holiday season? Gilbert Arenas is not a bad actor and he doesn’t want to let people down … not reasons to pepper him with “worst person in the world” comments as if he were Latrell Sprewell.

At basketball value, 45 points is just a small, but desperately needed, bonus. Some are calling it a breakout, but it doesn’t mean much unless part of a sustained run. But hey, it’s a start, and the beggars of Wizards Nation are in no position to be choosers.

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Time for a win folks. I’ll be on ESPN’s Daily Dime Live around game time to discuss. Got a good feeling about this one.

The Wizards don’t want to be number one with seven

If the Wiz lose by four points or less again, they’ll surpass the 76-77 Suns with the most consecutive losses within that margin. The spread is Golden State by 2.5.

The Suns’ first loss in their streak came against the Cleveland Cavaliers on February 19th, 1977. Their seventh game on March 4th came, ironically enough, against the Warriors. The Suns didn’t lose to Golden State by four or less, they lost to them by five, 101-87. In fact, the Suns ended up losing 12 total before winning again.

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Caron Butler is not all bad and he’s no scapegoat, but he’s also having the worst season of his career (aside from his second year in the league).

Sure, a new system is tough. But Butler sells himself as a pro’s pro, a vet’s vet. And not to say he doesn’t possess those qualities, but he still has a big step to take to be a ‘next-level’ player and not some flash-in-the-pan two time All-Star.

Flip Saunders has implored Gilbert Arenas to push the ball and attack the basket. With that, offense should be created. Caron shifting his role back to number two, where he’s rightly supposed to sit in the team’s pecking order, shouldn’t involve him fading into the background, nor should it involve him forcing it.

This season, Caron’s game has been everywhere on the spectrum except balanced. He needs to adjust his offensive approach to create for the team, and not just for himself. The him-first approach is why he is averaging a career low 1.7 assists/36 minutes and why he has a 41.4 FG% that’s only better than his sophomore slump season in Miami, Dwyane Wade’s rookie year.

Sure Arenas cools down many buildings in which he plays with 40.2% from the field, and sure the Wizards have 99 problems … but Caron Butler is one.

Simply put, the way Butler plays offense is hurting his team. A sample of the good and bad, mostly bad, was on display against Sacramento.

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Ok, the look on Gilbert Arenas’ face is etched in my mind too … but I’m also getting used to it.

Arenas had one of his better offensive games of the season against Sacramento on Wednesday night. It was just his fifth game getting to double figures in field-goals made (10), tied for his second most free-throws attempted (12) and third most made (10), only the fourth time he took more than three three-pointers and shot fifty-percent or better (3-6), and his sixth time shooting 45% or better when taking 10 or more shots (.455).

All signs of progress for Gilbert.

Of course, the team is pretty much the same. Last night was the fourteenth time the Wizards have shot below 45% this season (43.2%). They are 1-13 when that happens. It was also the thirteenth time the Wizards have tallied less than 20 assists (13). They are 1-12 when that happens.

Coincidentally, the Wizards are 0-11 when they have less than 20 assists and shoot less than 45%. The are 5-3 when they have 20 or more assists and shoot better than 45%.

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Despite what anyone might say, the game wasn’t on one man. It hasn’t been on one man all season. Not Caron Butler. Not Antawn Jamison. Not Gilbert Arenas. Not Flip Saunders. Not, etc.

The Wizards win and lose as a team.

[via @MikeJonesTWT]

{links}

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