• First reported yesterday, today the Wizards officially announced the signing of guard Cedric Jackson from the Erie Bayhawks of the D-League to a 10-day contract.
• Jackson is listed at 6’3″, 190 pounds.
• He attended Northern Burlington High in Columbus, New Jersey, which is just off the Jersey Turnpike, not far from Philadelphia.
• He started at St. John’s, but after two seasons he transferred to Cleveland State in 2006.
• He might have signed to play for Gary Waters and Rutgers out of high school, but Waters gave his last scholarship to Quincy Douby. Evidently, Jackson took his SATs late and Waters, who had been recruiting him since he was a high school sophomore, had to turn his attention elsewhere.
• When Waters was showed the door at Rutgers, Jackson, his high school coach, and his father approached Waters and told him that he would go where he went. Cleveland State became their destination.
• In his senior year, Jackson was the Horizon League defensive player of the year.
• Last March, Jackson and Cleveland State upset Butler in the Horizon League Tournament final to lock up an automatic bid in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
• In the first round, 13-seed Cleveland State smacked 4-seed Wake Forest 84-69. Jackson had 19 points, seven assists and eight rebounds. After the game, he was so dehydrated that he needed an IV.
• In the second round, Cleveland State lost to 12-seed Arizona 71-57.
• Undrafted out of college, Jackson signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this year (late Jan./early Feb.) and appeared in five total games. Cavs coach Mike Brown didn’t always know who Jackson was, even after putting him in his first NBA game ever. Of course, Brown is the same NBA head coach who sometimes stands on the outside of his team’s huddle while someone else draws up plays.
• Jackson also signed one 10-day contract with the Spurs at the beginning of March and appeared in five games.
• The basic scouting report on Jackson is that he’s lightening quick, a good defender, but doesn’t have much of a jump shot … for more, check out Ridiculous Upside.
• Matt Hubert of Blog Talk Bayhawk (which covers Jackson’s D-League team) once told Michael A. De Leon of the blog Project Spurs that Jackson’s game is, “very similar to Tony Parker’s in that he uses his speed to drive to the basket and finish over bigger defenders.”
• His NBA game-highs are: 14:41 minutes (3/13 with Spurs), six points (3/12 with Spurs), and four assists (3/13 with Spurs) — I imagine he will soon be setting new career highs.
• Jackson will be in uniform against the Hornets in New Orleans tonight and will wear #9, which is also the number he wore with the Cavaliers. He wore #11 with the Spurs.
• The last Wizard to wear #9 was Paul Davis earlier this season and before that, Darius Songaila in his three years with the team.
• “Officially,” Jackson is the 26th Wizard this season, but neither Drew Gooden nor Zydrunas Ilgauskas suited up for the team. It’s safe to assume that Jackson with be the 24th player to suit up in a Wizards uniform. Cartier Martin set the franchise record by being #23.
• Update: Jackson actually has ties to Maryland, via Michael Lee, Wizards Insider.
• In December 2008 with Cleveland State, Jackson famously hit a 60-foot shot to beat previously undefeated Syracuse, ranked 11th at the time. Here are some videos of Jackson’s shot:

Jackson interview prior to the 2009 NBA Draft

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Sixteen losses in a row and counting. The Wizards showed some bright spots in Tuesday night’s loss to Houston, such as JaVale McGee. Actually, he was pretty much the only bright spot. Well, James Singleton played okay.

Andray Blatche’s 31 points, 10 rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocks you say? Well, when you play 41 minutes and receive the ball ALL. THE. TIME. (he took 23 shots) you are supposed to put up those numbers. He still has too much Tin Man in him … no heart … especially when it comes to rebounding toughness.

The Wizards mostly showed that they did not deserve to win. I’m sure some are saying, ‘Hey, those guys competed without Foye, Thornton, Gee, etc.’ But the Rockets also competed without Kevin Martin, Shane Battier and Jared Jeffries. Plus, the Wizards were beaten by Chase Budinger. Enough said.

Nonetheless, below are the notes and observations I took/made as I watched the game on delay at my leisure.

Note: Starters: Livingston, Young, Miller, Blatche & Oberto — 25th different starting lineup, 21 wins … something to be said about that ratio.

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Okay. It’s not worth playing the “what if” game with Jermaine Taylor. You do remember Jermaine Taylor, right?

Jump back to June 25, 2009, the night of the NBA Draft and “this guy’s” (me) birthday. Oh yea, Michael Jackson died that day too.

Draft night was a bit anti-climactic for Wizards fans. They were already having paper goodness dreams of Randy Foye and Mike Miller teaming up with the Big Three, et al., also knowing that there was no way fan draft darling Ricky Rubio could slip to the departed fifth pick. Oh, wait …

In any case, pick #32 was worth paying attention to. Would the crafty Ernie Grunfeld, a man seemingly able to load his team with win-in-the-now veterans and promising youth (now with fleeting promise), find another second round gem a la Michael Redd?

“Anything is possible!!” Grunfeld screamed from the draft war room. “Loading up the pump, I’m loading up the Uzis, I’ve got a couple of M-16s, couple of nines, couple of joints with some silencers on them, couple of grenades, got a missile launcher. I’m ready for war,” said Grunfeld, quoting Kevin Garnett under the tutelage of Flip Saunders. [Note: Grunfeld did not say any of this.]

And as the picks passed, DeJuan Blair became that “OMG HE’S SLIPPING!!” possibility. After the Sacramento Kings selected Jeff Pendergraph, Wizards fans began to lick their chops, rub their hands together, pat each other on the back, and light celebratory cigars. Time to emerge triumphantly from the bunker boys, one of the best rebounders in the history of college basketball, an area where the Wizards so desperately needed help, was right there for the taking.

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Be mad that Alonzo Gee is no longer a Washington Wizard. The justification is there. Once again, the brain-trust of franchise has failed its fan base by putting dollars over sense. Or rather, considering the meager amount the team would’ve had to pay to equal the more tempting offer of the San Antonio Spurs, perhaps leading Gee to decide to stay in Washington, call it cents over sense.

Fingers are pointing directly at team president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld. And they should be. But don’t forget, you have more fingers that can point at more people. I can’t profess to know how various transactions during this current state of ownership limbo affects the remaining 66-percent transition from the Abe Pollin Estate to Ted Leonsis and Lincoln Holdings, but I also can’t forget that until it is complete, Grunfeld still reports only to the Pollins. He won’t let us forget either, reminding us in his press conference this past Saturday, just as he did in mid-February.

Maybe Leonsis would’ve granted approval for the same move of non-retention. And maybe Grunfeld is operating without the need to seek formal approval from those to whom he currently reports. Perhaps he’s working under a general edict where his actions are determined by a word that has been associated with the Pollin legacy before. Yes, that’s right. Cheap.

Now, there might be other variables in place aside from cost. But when the team’s reason, or excuse, for not retaining Gee revolves around saving cap space for next season while the San Antonio Spurs, a championship organization vastly unmatched by the Washington Wizards, sees enough value in Gee to further go into luxury tax territory, something is amiss. And that something should be called out.

Of course, calling the Pollins cheap, throwing out accusations of them looking out for their own agenda and not that of the fans during this transition does not necessarily paint an accurate picture. But if true, the idea still doesn’t absolve Grunfeld from shouldering most of the responsibility for the current laughing-stock state of the team. But compartmentalizing recent transactions since the team fell into the depths of the gutter, one must empathize with Grunfeld and how the controlling ownership puppeteer has caused him to ball his fists so tight that he could squeeze blood from a stone. Ernie is recycling dental floss these days. He’s washing paper towels in the Verizon Center sink and hanging them to dry for later reuse. Anything to save a buck.

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I could have taken a number of quotes from the above video of locker room interviews after Saturday night’s loss to the Jazz and turned it into the title of a post.

“Obviously it’s not any fun, you know it’s frustrating.” -Mike Miller

“Well obviously you have fun playing basketball, but you play to win.” -Mike Miller again

“We all have jobs, you know. My job is to play my game and to do my job.” -Andray Blatche

“I don’t feel like the freedom is there to … if I get physical, I don’t get to be able to be physical back, offensively at least.” -JaVale McGee

But none of those quotes are as “fun” as Nick Young’s. The SoCal product is right. No one wants to be like the New Jersey Nets, the absolute worst team in the NBA.

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Quinton Ross has a player option for $1,146,337 million next season. I’m sure some Wizards fan out there don’t want him to take it. Get over it. He probably will.

But yea, Ross is bad … well, at least his stats are, which certainly serve as a partial reflection of his abilities as a player, but are incapable of telling the whole story … such as his reputation for being a good defensive player, which can certainly be debated.

Leading up to Saturday’s game against the Jazz, in Ross’ 19 games and 193 minutes with the Wizards he had a PER of -0.3.

On Saturday, taking and making one shot, along with committing a single foul in five minutes of action pushed his PER with the Wizards into positive territory at 0.1.

Bless his heart. But I’d definitely rather Ross than Stevenson. He’s easier to tolerate, if you will … and kinda less hideous to look at.

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The Wizards never really had a chance against the Utah Jazz Saturday night. The hope for victory was akin to a 15-seed wanting to beat a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament, especially since both Al Thornton and Randy Foye didn’t play because of injury.

This team just doesn’t have the talent to compete right now. They are not tanking. They are out there with the desire to work together to win. That is, I don’t get the impression that guys are playing for themselves so much, unlike before the big trades.

The players are just trying to learn and Flip Saunders is just trying to teach. Speaking of, before the game Saunders said that he put in a new offense a couple days ago; an offense with the intent to get more cutting opportunities for perimeter players and to get the big men working closer to the basket.

“The offense we ran, the first unit we had out there played pretty well with it. We had a lot of open shots and moved the ball well, had a lot of assists,” said Saunders after his team went down 103-87 to Utah, dropping their record to 21-51. “We turned to our second unit, we have too many role players playing. Now some of those role players have to be thrust where they have to become main scorers and they’re not comfortable as far as doing that.”

Although the Wizards got expectantly man-handled by the Jazz, the game also represented just the thirteenth time in 72 games that Washington totaled over 20 assists while having 12 or less turnovers.

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Before tonight’s Wizards-Jazz game, Flip Saunders came out to talk to the media reminiscent of Johnny Cash.  The coach was dressed to the nines in all black, well, until he put on his contrasting gray sport coat on for the game. One thing you can say, this season has certainly been a Ring of Fire for Saunders.

New Offense

Since the last Wizards home game against Charlotte, and the Andray Blatche affair, Blatche, to the extent that I’ve noticed, has made more of an effort to operate closer to the basket on offense, something Coach Saunders has implored him to do since early January, at least. I asked Flip about this before the game.

“We instituted/kinda put in a new offense that would make it more conducive for some of our bigger players to stay more around the basket and try to give our perimeter people more cutting opportunities, taking pressure off Andray around the basket where there wouldn’t be as many trap type situations,” said the coach, also mentioning that this new(ish) offense was instituted two days ago.

Flip on Alonzo Gee aka ‘Nuthin’ But a Gee Thang’

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{Ernie Grunfeld in his playing days as a Knick}

Wizards president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld spoke for just under 20 minutes prior to tonight’s game against the Utah Jazz. The obvious topic, Gilbert Arenas. And one of the main questions surrounding the embattled guard has been asked and answered.

Grunfeld has previously said that he would welcome Arenas back to the Wizards and that if he wants to play basketball, he will be with the team. Tonight he reaffirmed that by saying, “Gilbert’s part of this organization, he’s part of our team and he’s going to be with us next year. We plan to have him back and we plan to have him in uniform.”

When I specifically asked if that meant that in no way will the team try to void Arenas’ contact, Grunfeld said, “We’re not going to void his contract and I’ve said all along, he’s going to be with us. And I think I’ve said that for the last two months.”

Grunfeld still hasn’t spoken directly with Arenas, but said that he has spoken with his father, Gilbert Arenas, Sr., and his representatives. Grunfeld said that in the near future he expects to sit down and have a meeting with Arenas.

Of course, none of this definitely means that Arenas will be in a Wizards uniform next season. There is the unlikely chance that the team might find a trading partner. However, the possibility that Arenas will play on the court of the Verizon Center again is now stronger than ever, especially with any consideration to void his contract off the table.

[Editor's Note: Wizards games aren't just about basketball, they're about the whole fan experience. And Truth About It.nets bring you that experience from up close. Here's the debut edition of 'Under The Hoop' -- pictures and commentary by TAI photographer Adam Douglas from last Tuesday's match-up against the Charlotte Bobcats.]

7-Day Dray decided to play only seven minutes because he did not hustle back on defense after this shot.

“Who You Got?”

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Gazo the Prankster just never made it to the big screen, or internet screen, or any screen. But you could certainly tell that the cartoon rendition of “Gazo” was modeled off the same blueprint as Gilbert Arenas.

On Friday, in the aftermath of the mythical Gazo the Prankster serving as a character witness for Arenas (via The Washington City Paper), the mold for the cartoon appeared in cartoon form … well actually, “illustrated” with some sort of art medium.

It’s not exactly the Gazo the Prankster kids might watch, but the courtroom sketches of Gilbert may be the closest we ever come to seeing him in cartoon form. Here they go.

Here, Arenas seems to be shrugging his shoulders, with a tinge of Alfred E. Neuman. The cartoon version of Judge Robert Morin seems to be an elder Keith Olbermann-looking kind of fellow, with perhaps a little bit of a perm up front.

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The Wizards are about to play the team, and the player, against whom Gilbert Arenas injured his knee.

This same team, the Charlotte Bobcats, and their home court, is where Antawn Jamison took, and missed, his last shot as a Washington Wizard, which also happened to occur in Jamison’s home state.  Had he made the shot, the game would have gone into overtime. Instead, the Wizards lost.

Tonight, those Bobcats play the Wizards with a chance to give them their worst losing streak in franchise history … 14 games.

Ain’t life grand? But hey, Gilbert Arenas is free.

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Call me surprised. Call me a little bit excited. Call me surprised again.

And call a bunch of other people pissed off because the sentence was too light. Oh well, they’ll get over it.

The sentencing has come down and Gilbert Arenas will receive two years probation, 30 days in a halfway house and must perform 400 hours of community service. He also must donate $5,000 to the victims of violence fund and must register as a gun offender.

The start of today didn’t have a particularly odd feel to it … at least for me in terms of it being sentencing day for Arenas. I suppose some will call “poetic” the fact that it happened to be rainy/cloudy/gloomy weather here in D.C. to start the morning. But now for Gilbert, the sun is shining.

It’s also my mom’s birthday, so I’ve often thought how lucky I am to have her … and that I certainly need to call her more often … especially in contrast to the relationship Gilbert had with his now deceased mother. Or rather, the one that he didn’t.

I did feel a little off today earlier today. Probably mostly a result of sleep deprivation, a prevalent and seemingly perpetual theme as a blogger who also has a busy day job. But the ‘off’ feeling also probably had something to do with nerves for Arenas, a good guy who means well deep down, but also one who deserves the decision handed down upon him … well, actually, probably more.

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{Immediately after giving him pre-game a fist-bump, Flip Saunders gave his embattled 23-year old forward a pat on the backside.}

How about we talk about some basketball for a change? I mean, that is why we all are here, right? Seems like nothing but bad, non-basketball court related Wizards news to talk about lately. Well, aside from the impending Ted Leonsis takeover. But let’s get back on the court and talk some roundball!

Oh wait … the Wizards are in the midst of a 13-game losing streak, the worst in franchise history and the third time such a streak has occurred.

Dan Steinberg put out a great account of the previous 13-game losing streak on the DC Sports Bog, my favorite is loss number five,  which involved a personal 11-2 run by the Miami Heat’s Khalid Reeves. My favorite loss from this current 13-game losing streak would have to be loss number three against the Celtics in Boston … you know, the JaVale McGee ‘Fish Out of Water’ game.

I took some notes on Wizards lucky loss #13 against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, here they go …

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Ok, enough of this Andray Blatche drama … and before we get to the Gilbert Arenas sentencing drama tomorrow … how about a more fun post surrounding the Washington Wizards? Well, the television duo of Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier who bring the Wizards into your homes, or wherever, each and every game.

Buck and Phil are some of the best. I’ve watched a fair bit of the NBA League Pass, but I can’t even come close to professing knowledge about each team’s TV guys. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t trade the Wizards’ pair, whom the WizzNutzz once called the Basketball Brothers Grimm, for anyone. And this, perhaps, includes one of my favs, Grandpa Hubie Brown.

As an aside, I don’t completely mind the grim nature of Buck and Phil, at least to the past extent outlined by the WizzNutzz … I call it “tastefully snarky.” But whatever, to the matter at hand …

GIMME BACK THAT FILET-O-FISH!

Catchy song, can’t knock it. I imagine the ad exec who came up with it is like the ‘Pet Rock‘ guy of the ad exec world. Dude (or lady) is probably Don Draper-ing it up somewhere right now.

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