I get it. You’re just about tired of hearing about LeBron James. Blah, blah, blah.

Nonetheless, you’re still reading about him and the whole ordeal still makes for fun conversational fodder. So deal with it. And besides, this post isn’t about free agency and LeBron’s “decision.”

So there’s a report out there today (via TMZ, of course … but I first saw it on Ball Don’t Lie) about how some dude filed a suit in Federal Court against LeBron and his mother, Gloria James, claiming that he’s the father of LeBron. The guy, Leicester Bryce Stovell, is trying to sue for millions.

As the story goes, according to Stovell’s suit, Gloria, from Akron, Ohio, was visiting a cousin who lived in D.C. in 1984. At the time she was 15-years old, but going to the club and telling dudes she was in her early 20s … at least according to Stovell, who was 29 at the time.

The club where they allegedly met was called “D.C. Space” — more on that in a second — and on the March night in question, Stovell took Gloria back to his home in Annandale, Virginia where the magic was supposed to have been made. So, LeBron wasn’t conceived, conceived within the boundaries of the District of Columbia, again, allegedly, but you get the point.

Stovell claims he next ran into James, again at D.C. Space, in June of ’84 at which point (after the club at Stovell’s new apartment within D.C.) she informed him that she was pregnant. The suit claims: Read more »

Soon it will be official. The Wizards will have used up a decent chunk of their cap space by acquiring Yi Jianlian, 17th pick Kevin Seraphin, Kirk Hinrich and $6 million cash in exchange for Quinton Ross and a future second round pick.

If you’re looking at talent alone, Ernie Grunfeld got one over. But that’s not enough for some people. Those future-thinking couch GMs are concerned about the Summer of 2011, as Hinrich is owed $9 million in 2010-11 and $8 million in 2011-12.

Others feel the Wizards did okay, but failed because they didn’t do ‘enough’ — Daequan Cook had a 39.9% effective field-goal percentage last season for crying out loud, but he would’ve been damn special on the Wizards, right? … at a much cheaper price, I get it. I’m sure Mo Peterson would have been splendid as well.

And some are frustrated that cap space has been spent on basketball ne’er do wells instead of trying to get Boozer or Amar’e or Bosh or Johnson or any other unrealistic free-agent. None of those big names are worth paying before the foundation gets stronger (and the Wizards aren’t desperate or lacking players like the Knicks).

You can’t have it all ways. Grunfeld went after low-risk, high-reward talent that still allows for flexibility and perhaps some competitiveness. It’s actually not a terrible plan.

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[Florida Ave. & 6th St. NW, Washington, D.C.]

Good news kids. The salary cap is set at $58.044 million. By the time you read this post, it will be official. More to come….

On Wednesday John Wall, Trevor Booker and Hamady Ndiaye made an appearance at the Wizards basketball camp at Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn, Maryland. There was a ‘Media Advisory’ from the team alerting the press to this fact beforehand. Let media reports on Twitter about the media frenzy begin. The WaPost’s Gene Wang Tweeted: “Just got to Spalding HS. More media here than for most of the Wizards’ regular season games.” The Washington Examiner’s Craig Stouffer had: “More kids or media at #wizards camp? Running neck and neck,” and an accompanying picture.

Here’s a picture of “H” — Hamady N’diaye — with the kids via WashingtonWizards.com, credit to Ned Dishman.

John Wall and Hamady N’diaye workout together at 1 am. Thank you basketball gods.
[Washington Examiner]

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[Editor's note: Below is the debut guest post of Arish Narayen. Arish is 23-years old and is currently in his second year at the University of Maryland School of Law. Arish has always been a basketball fan, especially of the Terps, but became enamored with the Wizards around the time Gilbert Arenas was hitting game winning shots and stealing game five from the Bulls in Chicago in the 2005 NBA Playoffs. The Wizards have gone nowhere but downhill from since, but somehow Arish has stuck around ... and now he wants to write about the Wiz for Truth About It.net. Go figure.

Check out Arish's debut below as he analyzes the Wizards' attempts to fill their potentially open small forward/wing position. Mike Prada has a quick breakdown of several wing candidates on Bullets Forever, but check out what Arish wrote too -- he worked on this post over the course of several days and goes in-depth statistically on a handful of players the Wizards are rumored to be interested in ... although Arish does use the much too vaunted 'Win Shares' stat that I recently went on a Twitter-rant against. I won't hold that against him. After all, the stat isn't good for nothing, it's just not all what it's cracked up to be. -Kyle]

The Wizards’ Small Forward Situation

by Arish Narayen

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{Bikers at Ben’s}

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

One of my favorite most addicting things to do is surf the web using Google Reader. I do it a bit too much, in fact. But I find it to be one of the most efficient ways to gather information from across the web (via RSS feeds) and that ShareBros (and ShareGals) also act as a network of great filters (via item sharing), bringing me the content I need to should see without too much fluff. If you’re on Google Reader, holler at me.

So, as both a connoisseur of the reader and a blogger, I plan to bring you some of the best daily links I come across using the G-Reader (disclaimer: these post won’t always happen daily). If it seems redundant, specifically for ShareBros, then I apologize. Other sites like to be linked and I like linking them. And sure, links will be mostly Wizards-related, but certainly won’t be limited by anything (aside from good taste).

ShareBullets, aptly named for the manner in which these links will be presented and the former name of the NBA franchise I cover, won’t be that much of a derivation from regular old link posts, aside from aiming for brevity (in terms of commentary on the links), and I’ll also always include a photograph I’ve taken (as you see above), because I like to go around Washington/places doing that too … and why not share what I see as well? Enjoy. Read more »

Sebastian Pruiti, founder and editor of NBAPlaybook.com and NetsAreScorching.com, has had the opportunity to watch Yi Jianlian for the past two seasons and in a conversation with Truth About It, said:

Yi is an incredibly inconsistent player.  There are days where he looks like he finally solved the puzzle and will turn into a pretty solid offensive player and then the next game he will go 2-15 from the field.  Something he has always been ripped for was [his] lack of aggression, and last year he tried really hard to dispel those thoughts…maybe too hard.  Most times he made the catch he wouldn’t even look for the shot and he’d put the ball on the floor, but teams started to pick up on it.  If he can find a happy medium he might do pretty well offensively.

On the defensive end though, he is absolutely lost.  That is part of the reason I think the Nets traded him besides the cap relief.  I don’t think he would have got much minutes this upcoming year, just because Avery wouldn’t allow his terrible defense to hurt the Nets.

That isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of the 22 (or is it 24?) year old stretch four.  To sort out any misconceptions and better determine Yi’s worth, it’s time for another installment of CHECK MY STATS, unofficially sponsored by Synergy Sports Technology.

OFFENSE

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D.C.-area rapper Wale has been covered quite a bit on this site. But he wouldn’t be if I didn’t think so highly of his music. I mean, Soulja Boy was flown in for a Wizards-Cavaliers playoff game in 2008 and I barely mentioned it … because it’s friggin’ Soulja Boy. He is absolutely terrible.

First Wale just wasn’t that into the Wizards, rather he rooted fo the Cleveland Cavaliers. Then his fandom for the Denver Nuggets, as well, came to surface. “I gotta be honest, I’m not the biggest Wizards fan,” Wale once said, putting his hometown team further away than the back seat, shutting them in the trunk instead. Of course, Andray Blatche cautioned us not to believe that Wale really wasn’t a Wizards fan. And maybe Blatche was right, Wale did show up for a decent share of games last season, in the on-the-house seats the team makes available for VIPs.

In late May when the Wizards’ draft lottery chances became a hot topic, Wale revealed that he was rooting for his hometown team to win. Clearly after they did, Wale’s attention deficit toward the Wiz came to a record-screeching halt. The bandwagon became heavier, and that’s okay.

The reality is also that the Wizards haven’t had anyone with huge star power for some time. Wale was unheard of on the music scene the last time Gilbert Arenas was relevant. Now the rapper is readily expressing his excitement that John Wall will be part of a new generation of stars in D.C., the “freshman class” (and Donovan McNabb). And the difference is that Wall’s hype is propelled by basketball talent, not by a $111 million contract. Fans loved Arenas when he was on top, but Wall is seen as one who will change the direction to the franchise, rather than someone putting up numbers in a high-octane offense.

ESPN the Magazine recently released its 8th annual edition of ‘Ultimate Standings’ for pro sports franchises, ranking them “according to how much they give back to fans for all of the time, money and emotion they invest in them.” The results employ financial analysis, team research and fan surveys. Out of 122 total MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA franchises, the Wizards ranked 120. That’s bad. Worst than I ever imagined, although it seems foolhardy for me to think such a low ranking wasn’t possible.

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Okay, I feel a little creepy for speculating why Gilbert Arenas chose to wear uniform No. 9, as relayed by the Bog’s Dan Steinberg and the Tweet of Michael Lee, over No. 6 or No. 0 for next season, which will undoubtedly be his most trying as a basketball player … all things considered.

I was told his new number could have something to do with this mother, who passed away on March 13. So, I speculated that Gilbert might wear No. 13. But in hindsight, that was too easy. Nothing is ever easy with Mr. Arenas.

I really don’t care to guess much more about why No. 9, but I will leave you with this paragraph from Mike Wise’s excellent, excellent profile on Arenas which appeared in the Washington Post in late October 2006:
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A lot of people were disappointed when the Wizards traded for Kirk Hinrich.  Mike Prada of SB Nation alone gave the move a “Nay”, a “Feh”, and a “D-”.

There is no question that “Kurt” is overpaid, but salary cap space only gets you so far.  Even if the Wizards had upwards of $25 million to spend, it wouldn’t get them any closer to signing a “max” contract player.  Let’s be serious.  None of the league’s top players ever really considered coming to D.C., even with John Wall.  The Wizards will be a work in progress for a couple of years, and when we are honestly competitive, Hinrich will no longer be under contract.

So is he worth it for this Wizards team?  I turned to Synergy Sports Technology to find out.

OFFENSE

Where is Hinrich most effective (at least 60 attempts)?

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Sure, you’re inundated with free-agency speculation right now. From those throwing noodles against the wall trying to see what sticks to those outraged by the hype … it’s all in good fun, I suppose. Now take a break from all that and check out the must-read links and quotes below (with some commentary) — okay, a couple do pertain to the free-agency bonanza, but not most of them.

{flickr/Pete Lambert}

Local Baltimore kid Rudy Gay was Thursday’s winner, signing a 5-year, $82 million contract and returning to the Memphis Grizzlies, while crushing the hopes of those wanting him to make it back to the DMV area. Tom Haberstroh Tweets:

“Only one active player has scored more points through their 4th season while having a career ORtg as poor as Gay (104) … And that inefficient scorer was Juwan Howard”

Yikes. Seems like a good omen that Rudy didn’t come home.

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[UPDATE: Gilbert will wear No. 9]

Arenas could wear lucky No. 13 next season, who knows, but he certainly won’t be wearing No. 6.

Today a league source indicated that Gilbert Arenas decided to change his jersey number, again, evidently, and filed the necessary paperwork with the NBA prior to the March deadline.

According to initial reports, confirmed by league spokesman Tim Frank to the AP in mid-March, Arenas submitted paperwork to change from jersey No. 0 to No. 6 for the 2010-11 season.

However, this afternoon a Wizards team spokesperson indicated that original reports of Arenas switching to No. 6 were premature and also confirms that the embattled guard will not be wearing No. 6 next season (or zero or double-zero for that matter).

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[UPDATE: An update on this topic has been posted here.]

[UPDATE #2: Arenas has chosen a number.]

{image via DC Sports Bog}

You gotta love the interaction between Ted Leonsis and “bloggers” … specifically, Dan Steinberg and his DC Sports Bog.

On June 14th, Leonsis, the open and candid one, blogged about his first impressions of emails from Wizards fans and included a listed synopsis of the concerns brought to him.

Steinberg then provided a blog-worthy highlight of the synopsis with a subtle bit of snark in a post titled, “Wizards fans want ketchup, mustard, draft picks.”

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