On Monday, June 21, Bobby Maze (G, Tennessee, 6′3″, 195) worked out for the Washington Wizards along with Magnum Rolle (F/C, Louisiana Tech, 6’11, 225 lbs.), Samardo Samuels (F, Louisville, 6’9, 260 lbs.), A.J. Ogilvy (C, Vanderbilt, 6’11, 250 lbs.), Solomon Alabi (C, Florida State, 7’1, 251 lbs.) and Devan Downey (G, South Carolina, 5’9, 175 lbs.). Get the run-down on Maze and check out his workout videos below…

When Maze talks, you can really tell he’s from the DMV. Just listen to how he says “area” and “experience.”

Maze Run-Down:

• 6’3″ guard, 195 pounds.
• Bobby Maze was born in D.C. and went to Suitland High School.
• Played with Kevin Durant and Ty Lawson on the DC Blue Devils AAU squad.
• Maze says he’s been talking with Durant, Lawson and Michael Beasley about the pro process and intends to go back and give advice to Duke’s Nolan Smith, who is from Upper Marlboro, MD.
• As a H.S. senior, was named honorable mention 2004 All-Met by the Washington Post.
• In his post-Wizards workout interview (video below), Maze talks about the DMV’s basketball hotbed, saying a lot of guys will go up to Georgetown or Maryland to play and that, “sometimes you got NBA players that might not get to play the first game.”
• His nickname is the “Iceman.”
• After Suitland, went to the Patterson prep school in North Carolina.
• Signed with Oklahoma over Wake Forest, Cincinnati, Kansas State and Seton Hall; Maze was the first signing Sooners coach Jeff Capel made after getting the job.
• Was initially sidelined with a broken foot as a freshman, but eventually became the starting PG by the end of the year.
• But after the ’06-07 season, Maze and Capel came to an understanding that Maze would no longer be apart of the program.
• Reports indicate that attitude and practice habits contributed to Maze’s issues in Oklahoma.
• Moved on to Hutchinson Junior College in Kansas where he was a JUCO All-American.
• Was set to go to Maryland after a year at Hutchinson but ended up at the University of Tennessee.
• Maze used to have braids, drawing appearance comparisons to Allen Iverson. He doesn’t have the braids anymore.
• Played two seasons at Tennessee, averaged 9.4 points on 40.4% FG and 3.1 assists in 24.9 minutes per game his senior year.
• Knicks blog, Posting and Toasting, has a good profile on Maze.
• Bobby says teams are telling him to get the long distance, three-point shot down — “Get reps up, become a knock-down shooter.”
• Maze is likely to go undrafted, but could get a Vegas Summer League invite.
• So it seems, home will likely just be a temporary stop in Maze’s basketball career.

Read more »

On Thursday, June 17, Terrico White (G, Mississippi, 6’5, 213 lbs.) worked out for the Washington Wizards along with Chas McFarland (C, Wake Forest, 7’0, 245 lbs.), Kevin Palmer (G/F, Texas A&M-CC, 6’6, 205 lbs.), Dexter Pittman (C, Texas, 6’10, 290 lbs.), Andy Rautins (G, Syracuse, 6’4, 195 lbs.) and Darington Hobson (G/F, New Mexico, 6’7, 205 lbs.) (Note: Hobson actually did not work out for the Wizards because he tweaked his ankle). Get the quick run-down on White and check his post-workout interview video below…

Only one guy jumped higher than John Wall’s 39-inch max vert in Chicago. Well, two according to the DraftExpress database — some dude named Stefan Bircevic (a 6’10″ Serbian cat with a supposed 39.8-inch vert  … I don’t believe it, I demand a recount!) and Terrico White (40-inch max vert).

White is another one of those “combo” guards, or more like a mixed-bag between ‘maybe’ and ‘who knows’. The sophomore guard from Ole Miss has a 6’9″ wingspan to go along with his 6’3.75″ height without shoes. Plus, he has huge hands. Whatever that means to the pre-draft measurement junkies. Basically, he’s a great athlete.

Run-down:

Read more »

[Editor's note: This is the second piece on TAI by John Townsend, check out his first one here.]

photo courtesy of K. Praslowicz (Sjixxxy)'s Flickr - www.kpraslowicz.com

“Just because you have money doesn’t mean you should overspend on someone that won’t be a part of your long-term future.  If the right opportunity comes along, I think you want to look at it, but I’ve said all along that we might save our powder for down the road, to see what the new CBA brings, to see if there’s a hard cap or a soft cap.  We don’t really know all the rules going forward, so just because you have the cap room doesn’t mean you should go out and spend it if it’s not for the right player.”[1]

These were wise words spoken by Wizards GM Ernie, a new herald for operational procedure and organizational preparedness, at a press conference on June 10.  As a long-time Green Bay Packer fan (my first memories of football were watching Packers games at 4am in New Delhi, India with my Wisconsin-born dad), I understand and fully endorse building a team through the draft.  There seem to be philosophical parallels between Grunfeld and Packers GM Ted Thompson, who firmly believes that the most effective way to build a winning football team is through the draft.  Thompson sees free agency as a complementary tool which can be used to add the types of players to a roster that may otherwise be difficult to find. In practice, this means that the Packers re-sign as many of their own players possible.  Rebuilding post-Mike Sherman, the Packers made 14 draft-day trades, all but one of them down, turning 31 picks into 44.  The Packers’ picks filled the roster with solid “glue guys” and have been able to add impact players including QB Aaron Rodgers, FS Nick Collins, OLB Clay Matthews, TE Jermichael Finley, WR Greg Jennings, and NT BJ Raji.  The result? The Packers are a team poised to make deep playoff runs every winter and are near the top of the NFL in just about every statistical category.[2]

Ted Leonsis, the Wizards new majority owner, made public his commitment to building a “generationally great team” that will ultimately win a championship.  Under new management, the Wizards will aim to hit their targets in the draft, spend prudently, create a competitive, cohesive team on the court that plays with an identity and within a system, and (most importantly) win games.[3] In an open note to Wizards fans, Leonsis also dismissed the generalized notion that the franchise was unwilling and averse to bringing in free agents.  Leonsis noted that that teams must consider using all of the tools at their disposal: the draft, free agency (small, medium, and large), rookie free agency, waiver wire pickups, developmental league players, and finding players in Europe.

All fans want to see that max contract free agent wear their team’s colors.  The addition of a superstar means that the team feels it is close to a winning a title and are prepared to kick down the doors of the championship fraternity. Read more »

On Monday, June 21, Devan Downey (G, South Carolina, 5’9, 175 lbs.) worked out for the Washington Wizards along with Magnum Rolle (F/C, Louisiana Tech, 6’11, 225 lbs.), Samardo Samuels (F, Louisville, 6’9, 260 lbs.), A.J. Ogilvy (C, Vanderbilt, 6’11, 250 lbs.), Solomon Alabi (C, Florida State, 7’1, 251 lbs.) and Bobby Maze (G, Tennessee, 6′3″, 195). Get the run-down on Downey and check out his workout videos below…

Okay, let’s get this straight first … the 30 points weren’t ‘on‘ John Wall. Wall didn’t guard Devan Downey the whole time, Eric Bledsoe and Deandre Liggins had their tries too. But the game sure was hyped as Downey v. Wall.

Devan Downey Run-Down:

• The point guard out of South Carolina measures 5’8.5″ without shoes. On DraftExpress, the column for height with shoes reads: ‘N/A’. Wonder if Downey was just like, ‘Eff it, I’ll just take five-eight and a half.’

Read more »

I wish I could be in New York today for all the pre-NBA Draft festivities … but alas, I’m not. I’ll be up there tomorrow.

Thankfully, my friend Mike Prada of Bullets Forever is in the Big Apple. Reporting for SB Nation DC, Prada brings us a sneak peak at John Wall’s new Reebok shoe commercial. Check it out:

But don’t think this campaign is unique to Mr. Wall or anything. Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin already has a Reebok ZigTech commercial using the same concept … except with more cartoon bears and no ‘John Wall Dance’ at the end. Check out this version adapted for the Russian market:

Look out world, D.C. is about to become a Reebok town … or so the shoe company hopes.

Read more »

This was a tough one.

Jarvis Varnado was on the board. Devin Ebanks was on the board. Greivis Vasquez, Stanley Robinson, Darrington Hobson, Trevor Booker, Gani Lawal, Tiny Gallon … all on the board … and obviously Magnum Rolle, Dexter Pittman, Samardo Samuels and Derrick Caracter too.

So who did I take?
(BTW, you can see who was already gone by checking the TrueHoop Network Mock Draft listed at the bottom of this linked post.)

Craig Brackins, the 6’10″ (6’8.5″ without shoes), 230 lbs. big man from Iowa State.

Truth About It.net’s Adam McGinnis covered Brackins with a profile when he worked out for the Wizards on June 15th.

Okay, so Brackins isn’t exactly what the Wizards need … a big man who can score both inside and out, but usually prefers to stay out (he’s got 3-point range), and isn’t known to be the best defender. The Wizards already have Andray Blatche, do they really need another stretch four?

Read more »

So what can one deduce from Ernie Grunfeld’s press conference on the eve of the 2010 NBA Draft?

Not much … as usual.

On John Wall

When asked about his impressions of John Wall, aside from the ‘are you going to take him/not allowed to discuss who we will take’ mystery, Grunfeld dodged the question by saying, “As you know, we can’t say who are number one pick is, obviously.”

Grunfeld went on to say that Wall is an “impressive young man,” that he “comes from a good program,” and is an “outstanding leader ” … yada, yada, yada.

On Workouts

When asked what he wants to see out of players during workouts:

“These workouts are a little bit overrated. They’re just a small part of the whole evaluation process. I think we put a lot more emphasis on the regular season, how players actually play in games, and their whole body of work.”

Read more »

On Thursday, June 17, Andy Rautins (G, Syracuse, 6’4, 195 lbs.) worked out for the Washington Wizards along with Chas McFarland (C, Wake Forest, 7’0, 245 lbs.), Kevin Palmer (G/F, Texas A&M-CC, 6’6, 205 lbs.), Dexter Pittman (C, Texas, 6’10, 290 lbs.), Terrico White (G, Mississippi, 6’5, 213 lbs.) and Darington Hobson (G/F, New Mexico, 6’7, 205 lbs.) (Note: Hobson actually did not work out for the Wizards because he tweaked his ankle). Get the run-down on Rautins and check his post-workout interview video below…

Another guy who also worked out on June 17th that I didn’t mention above is John Wall. But he was all by his lonesome for an 11 am session, Rautins started with the rest of those guys around noon.

By the time I arrived at the Verizon Center just after 11 to catch a glimpse of the end of Wall’s workout, Rautin’s name had already become a punchline several times over.

“You here to see Andy Rautins?,” came from several mouths in the press lounge packed with excited media members anxiously waiting to see Wall. A light chuckle with a side of ‘yucks’ usually followed.

Read more »

On Monday, June 21, Samardo Samuels (F, Louisville, 6’9, 260 lbs.) worked out for the Washington Wizards along with Magnum Rolle (F/C, Louisiana Tech, 6’11, 225 lbs.), Devan Downey (G, South Carolina, 5’9, 175 lbs.), A.J. Ogilvy (C, Vanderbilt, 6’11, 250 lbs.), Solomon Alabi (C, Florida State, 7’1, 251 lbs.) and Bobby Maze (G, Tennessee, 6′3″, 195). Get the run-down on Samuels and check his workout videos below…

I’ll let you finish laughing …

Yes. ‘Our’ Andray Blatche has an understudy.

Caught you snickering again, didn’t I?

Read more »

In Sunday’s edition of the Washington Post, Eric Prisbell wrote what likely is the most comprehensive profile on John Wall to date.

One part of the piece, where Prisbell revealed to an unaware Wall that his father served time in prison for murder before he was born, has struck a chord with many.

Mike Prada covers this aspect in an interview with Prisbell on Bullets Forever. I also touch on the subject in my weekly media column for SB Nation DC, “Media Sensitivities in a Sports Celebrity World: The Handling of John Wall’s Story.” Check it out.

John Wall can cut as fast as a cheetah’s single top-speed stride.

Read more »

[Editor's note: After his initial profile of him, TAI's Adam McGinnis (also known as Adam Douglas) has become the unofficial Emir Preldzic/Turkish League correspondent. Who is Emir Preldzic? Well, he's the overseas prospect the Wizards got from Cleveland as part of the Antawn Jamison deal. Read Adam's follow-up piece on Preldzic below.]

With John Wall mania at fever pitch levels, and only going to crescendo even higher as this Thursday’s draft approaches, it’s a good time to check in on one of the Wizards’ own Euro-stash prospects,  Bosniak Hero, Emir Preldzic. The 22-year old, 6’9″ point-forward’s rights were acquired from Cleveland in the Antwan Jamison deadline deal. The last time we left Emir, his team, Fenerbahce Ulkler, had failed to qualify for the Euroleague playoffs but was still competing for the crown of the top tier Turkish Basketball League (TBL), where Preldzic was a key performer.

Fenerbahce finished the TBL regular season in second place with a 23-7 record. Emir averaged 11.8 pts, 5.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists in 29 games. He tallied up the 13th most assists in the league and had a single game high of 23 points. He was selected Honorable Mention All Turkey League by Eurobasket.com.

Read more »

On Monday, June 21, Solomon Alabi (C, Florida State, 7’1, 251 lbs.) worked out for the Washington Wizards along with Magnum Rolle (F/C, Louisiana Tech, 6’11, 225 lbs.), Devan Downey (G, South Carolina, 5’9, 175 lbs.), A.J. Ogilvy (C, Vanderbilt, 6’11, 250 lbs.), Samardo Samuels (F, Louisville, 6’9, 260 lbs.) and Bobby Maze (G, Tennessee, 6′3″, 195). Read about Alabi below…

Florida State’s Solomon Alabi has an NBA body, no question. Measuring 6’11.5″ without shoes and 237 lbs. with a 7’5″ wingspan, a 9’5″ standing reach and 5-percent body fat (tied for the 7th lowest measure in Chicago), it’s easy to see why Alabi has been present in the first round of most mock drafts (#26 – Slam, #19 – DraftExpress, #19 – ESPN/Chad Ford), despite being a relative newbie when it comes to the game of basketball.

Solomon tried playing soccer as a young boy in his home country of Nigeria, but says that his friends would make fun of him trying to play at his height. Among the other sports he grew up playing, tennis, volleyball, table-tennis, field hockey and handball, basketball became the obvious choice, especially when NBA scouts discovered Solomon and told him that he could potentially earn a scholarship playing college ball in the United States.

And that’s just what he did. Being exposed to competitive basketball for the first time at Montverde Academy in Florida, Alabi impressed enough to earn a scholarship to Florida State. But in his first season, he suffered from a stress fracture and was limited to just 10 games, forcing him to take a medical redshirt for the rest of the year.

Read more »

On Monday, June 21, Magnum Rolle (F/C, Louisiana Tech, 6’11, 225 lbs.) worked out for the Washington Wizards along with Solomon Alabi (C, Florida State, 7’1, 251 lbs.), Devan Downey (G, South Carolina, 5’9, 175 lbs.), A.J. Ogilvy (C, Vanderbilt, 6’11, 250 lbs.), Samardo Samuels (F, Louisville, 6’9, 260 lbs.) and Bobby Maze (G, Tennessee, 6’3″, 195). Read about Magnum below …

Magnum Rolle, a 6’10″ big with high athleticism and perimeter skills but with a thin frame, first worked out for the Washington Wizards on June 2nd with Jerome Dyson, Devin Ebanks and Devin Sweetney. I subsequently wrote an in-depth piece on the Bahamian’s basketball career and his prospects for the draft.

Today, he was back in Washington for a second workout, also hoping to provide a better showing for the coaching staff since his last workout with the team was hindered by a hip flexor strain.

Although he’s not currently listed in any mock drafts (wait until they get a hold of the fact that he’s worked out with the Wizards twice … which, of course, doesn’t mean much in reality), Rolle says he has “pretty high” expectations for draft night, telling the media today, “I think I’ll be gone before 45.” The Minnesota Timberwolves have the 45th pick.

Read more »

The 2010 ESPN TrueHoop Network NBA Mock Draft is here and I’m more than glad to represent the Wizards with the first pick. Each selection will be made available on network sites (picks and links at the bottom of this post), will cover just the first round, and will be made according to prediction, not some blogger preference. Enjoy.

The hype surrounding John Wall’s appearance on the cover of ESPN The Magazine has come and gone. But what about the feature that went along with the pretty picture of him in all white?

There’s not much revealing information in the quick hitting piece of paragraphed facts … Wall can call LeBron anytime, people called him ‘Jimmy’ growing up, but he now likes ‘Great Wall’, and he grew up on Magic Johnson’s point guard skills, and somehow remembers a big shot Magic hit in the ’87 NBA Finals, despite being born in September 1990. Thank you ESPN Classic.

But did you know that Wall has an “interesting” pre-game meal (one that he calls “weird”)? Wall tell’s ESPN The Magazine’s Elena Bergeron: Read more »

Dexter Pittman is a big body with soft hands. The Wizards could certainly use a post man who can take up space and Pittman, along with Derrick Caracter, might be options … perhaps not necessarily at 30 or 35, but a possibility should the Wizards acquire a late second round pick. Pittman worked out for the Wizards last Thursday, June 17th. Here’s a bullet point run-down on Dexter along with his post-workout media interview video:

• Pittman says he left high school for Texas weighing 388, dropped that to 366 before enrolling in June 2006, and got his weight down to a listed 290 by his senior year.
• Below I’ve embedded a video of a good ESPN feature that chronicles the transformation Pittman went through at UT, a school with a renowned strength and conditioning program.
• Pittman weighed in at 303 in Chicago, said he was “probably around 300″ on his day working out with the Wizards, and that his ideal playing weight is around 270-280.
• He had the highest percentage of body fat, 20.8%, of those measured in Chicago. DeMarcus Cousins was second at 16.4%.
• The website of Pittman’s foundation, DexterPittman.org, says that he once weight 402 pounds.
• His foundation sponsors the ‘Get Fit With Big Pitt Challenge‘ to help fight youth obesity.
• He had to unfortunately leave the Chicago pre-draft combine early because his younger brother was murdered.
• NBADraft.net compares him to Stanley Roberts.
• Pittman measures 6’9.5″ without shoes with a 7’6″ wingspan, almost six inches longer than Caracter’s wingspan.
• Pittman also had the biggest hands of the Chicago measurements with a length of 10.5 inches. Sure, these are just measurements, but I’m loving the new hand measurement stat. Some of the greatest players, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Rajon Rondo, and many that I’m surely missing, have had some of the biggest, strongest hands. Kwame Brown was said to have small hands. Enough said.
• Pittman made Academic All-Big 12 his sophomore and junior years.
• In an interview, he said one of his nicknames is “Sexy Dexy,” given to him by the Texas women’s basketball team his freshman year.
• He also said that he “loves phones like women love shoes” and that he’s a big fan of Wal-mart.
• His Twitter account is @Big_Pitt.
• Charles Barkley has noticed Pittman’s work ethic.
• He had an impressive workout with the Timberwolves, where he compared himself to DeJuan Blair and Big Baby Davis, but with 3 or 4 more inches in height, says T-Wolves GM David Khan.
• In the scouting report video embedded below, I was impressed by Pittman’s footwork/agility when guarding the pick-and-roll on the perimeter.
• Says he would’ve been disappointed if Texas went to the Pac-10 because the Big 12 stands for being “big and physical” while the Pac-10 is known for “premature point guards” who don’t want to get hit in the paint.

Post Wizards Workout Interview:

[video courtesy of Adam Douglas, Truth About It.net]

Read more »