Time to dig into the archives and post some unseen summer league photos.

John Wall, determined to get to the hoop.

What I like about Wall’s game is that you can pick up more elements of discipline than you can from most other young point guards. Again, I’ll reiterate that turnovers, more than his jump shot, is the foremost issue Wall will have to address. But most of his turnovers are not the result of him trying to be ‘cute’ (just sometimes, if not rarely), but rather from him getting used to how to handle his own speed, the increased pace of the game and competition, and where his teammates best want to receive the ball. But in the beginning and in the end, attack he must … with both discipline and instinct.

I feel like Trevor Booker is one of those giant flying sharks and is targeting an attack on his prey … the rim.

A John Wall pre-game throw down. Sue Yue looks impressed/guarding himself from harmful physical repercussions.

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[The Wizards may not win a lot of games in 2010-11, but it certainly will be less painful to watch than the last two campaigns of 19 and 26 wins respectively ... I hope.]

The experts have spoken, myself included amongst the ESPN panel of 93, and have cumulatively pegged the Wizards to finish with the ninth best record in the Eastern Conference in 2010-11 with 32 wins and 50 losses.

So, that puts the Wizards behind (in order of projection) the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Bobcats and New York Knicks; and ahead of the Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons, Cleveland Cavaliers, New Jersey Nets and Toronto Raptors (Damn, the Raps are last?).

Click here to check the full rankings on ESPN.com, along with write-ups for each team.

Then click here to vote in an ESPN.com poll where you can give your opinion on whether the 32-win projection for the Wizards is ‘Too High’, ‘Too Low’, or ‘On The Money’.

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[Skateboarder in Central Park, NYC, taken from pedicab, 2010 NBA Draft Weekend - K. Weidie]

Figured some pictures of Yi Jianlian would be apt.

{image via www.osports.cn/RealGM}

Not sure when this picture was taken, but damn that guy’s arms are ripped. Even the dude in the background looks pretty shocked.

{yaomingmania.com}

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[Intersecting paths, Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C. - taken by Kyle Weidie]

I recently wrote a piece for SB Nation DC about a Twitter interaction — a musical enlightenment — between the WizzNutzz and Mike James, while the former was in glorious Wheaton, Maryland and the latter was in Kenya, Africa. So go read that now … but there’s also more to the story (after you read) …

@WZZTNZZ further Tweets:

@Truth_About_It u like benga jams we gav @mikejames7? then u LUV @AlexMinoff Extra Golden, strait outta Nairobi NW, near Adams Morgan

Alex Minoff is local to the D.C. area, is most certainly a huge Wizards fan (actually, “rabid,” he tells me), and a member of the music group Extra Golden. You can learn more about Extra Golden in various locales on the web, such as their website or Wikipedia, but basically it’s a band formed by two Kenyans and two Americans — a hybrid of benga and rock.

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[Editor's note: While I was out in Las Vegas for the summer league, I caught up with David Thorpe to discuss Yi Jianlian, who Thorpe trained earlier this summer in Florida. Below is what I gathered from my initial discussion with him. Unfortunately, the second part of the discussion was nowhere to be found on my recorder, evidently replaced by around 42 minutes of summer league gym sounds instead. Oh well, I'll try to catch up with Coach Thorpe for a follow-up at some point, but I can't thank him enough for what he has already provided. -Kyle]

{image via bscup.tom.com}

His friends back in China call him “Lian,” says David Thorpe, NBA analyst for ESPN’s Scouts Inc. and executive director of the Pro Training Center in Clearwater, Florida. Thorpe has worked with countless NBA stars, college prospects and overseas basketball talents. And for five weeks earlier this summer, he worked with new Washington Wizard Yi Jianlian.

Back in February, when things were beginning to meltdown for Jianlian in New Jersey — his minutes per game stayed high at 30.8 over 13 games, but his averages dropped to 9.2 points on 34.1% shooting and 7.5 rebounds; this was down from 33.2 minutes, 15.4 points on 42.9% shooting and 6.7 rebounds per over 18 total games in December and January — the player’s group of advisers, including agency Lagardère and agent Dan Fegan, started talking with Thorpe.

“I think he was looking for more help in understanding the game,” Thorpe told me when I spoke with him during the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. “He’s almost been like a stray dog … no one’s really hugged him to say ‘you’re mine’,” he said, indicating that the instability of coaching and team changes has caused a lot of strife in Jianlian’s basketball career. He was drafted, relatively unwillingly on Yi’s part, by the Milwaukee Bucks with the sixth overall pick in 2007 and traded to the New Jersey Nets, along with Bobby Simmons, in exchange for Richard Jefferson after one season. After two uninspiring seasons in the New Jersey, Jianlian was traded to the Wizards in late June for essentially nothing (apologies to Quinton Ross).

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{picture from WNBA.com}

From 1999 to 2004, two different versions of Chamique Holdsclaw played in Washington D.C.

The first version was drafted by the Washington Mystics first overall in 1999 out of Tennessee and started in the inaugural WNBA All-Star game as a rookie.  Holdsclaw led the team to two playoff appearances, and averaged 18.4 points and 9.1 rebounds a game during her tenure.  She created so much buzz and excitement for women’s professional basketball in Washington D.C. that the Mystics led the league in attendance five out of her six years with the team, averaging well over 15,000 fans per game (close to what the Wizards averaged during that same span, until someone named Jordan came back and spiked the numbers).  Attendance banners were put up in the Verizon Center to recognize this achievement, and this was largely due to Holdsclaw.

But in 2004, another side of Holdsclaw began to emerge, and the positive press about her began to subside.  She missed a series of games down the stretch during the 2004 season, and rumors swirled about whether she was pregnant, suffering from some type of drug addiction, or just plain unhappy with playing in Washington.  Just a few months after the season ended, Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post, broke the story that Holdsclaw had been diagnosed with depression, and she had been too ashamed to speak up about it earlier.  She never wore a Mystics uniform again.

Since she left D.C., Holdsclaw has played for three WNBA different teams (Los Angeles Sparks, Atlanta Dream and her current team, the San Antonio Silver Stars), a Polish women’s basketball team called TS Wisla Can-Pack Krakow, and she also retired for two seasons.

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Recently, the two first-named Michelle Marie of YoungHollywood.com caught up with Antawn Jamison at some location in the world … and it wasn’t in a dark room featuring an old wooden table, an uncomfortable stool, and a solo Jamison sitting and sipping on some Jameson.

Marie asked ‘Twan how the Cleveland Cavaliers were going to transition without LeBron. The gist of his answer: “It’s going to be interesting.”

Indeed it is, Antawn, indeed it is. He also spit out some generic clichés such as, “It’s a business,” and “It’s not going to be easy.” I don’t think the Gentleman will ever change, and he shouldn’t. In any case, you can watch the video yourself via Yahoo! Sports.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>LINKS.

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[UPDATE: via Twitter, 1FreshHeir has covered over two of JMac's tracks, which will be made public shortly.]

JAVALE MCGEE: Double Pits to Chesty Dunk Champion, movie short star, music producer.

Since last summer, McGee has been building and posting instrumentals to Reverb Nation (a platform for independent musicians, producers, and venues to collaborate and communicate).  Big Daddy Wookie, known as JMAC on Reverb Nation, has produced over 25 Hip Hop and R&B tracks and attracted over 86,000 fans online.  He has favorited “Dumb It Down,” a JMac Produktion by the Co-Op.  (I believe he was featured in the song, but I have not been able to confirm.)

The result so far?

He’s sitting very comfortably at the top of the Hip Hop Chart … for Flint, Michigan.

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I know. You’ve seen a lot of John Wall highlights. So have I.

But the below video compilation of his highlights at Kentucky, which was uploaded to YouTube recently on July 25, seems worth watching … even if you’ve seen some of these amazing plays before.

And besides, it’s John Wall … I don’t need an excuse to post and you don’t need an excuse to watch. Enjoy.

And in celebration of Wale’s recent mixtape release, More About Nothing, here’s one of my favorite tracks featuring the Northeast Groovers … “The Get Away”

Not long after Washington Wizards fans started making preseason plans and deciding what they would do in their down time until training camp leading up to the October 5th 2010-11 preseason opener, the AP’s Brian Mahoney Tweeted that Brook Lopez of the New Jersey Nets would be pulling out of the FIBA World Championships as he continues to recover from mono. His replacement? JaVale McGee.

Now, it’s unclear if this means that McGee has made the final roster of 12 players, or if he’s just replaced Lopez amongst the cut of 15 that now includes Chauncey Billups, Tyson Chandler, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay, Eric Gordon, Danny Granger, Jeff Green, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Love, Lamar Odom, Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook, in addition to McGee.

Common sense would say that, since Team USA was already thin at the center position, McGee will straight up replace Lopez. But what’s common sense worth anyway? Team director Jerry Colangelo has said that they might take a couple of extra players with them as they travel to Europe before the tournament. Team USA is scheduled to play exhibition matches against Lithuania on August 21 and against Spain on August 22 (both to be held in Madrid, Spain). They will play a final exhibition game against Greece in Athens on August 25 before arriving in Turkey, which is kinda in both Europe and Asia … Eurasia, for the FIBA tournament the next day, which is essentially when Colangelo will be required to submit an official roster of 12.

But first, McGee will report to New York City by next Tuesday, August 10, for continued training with the team, including an exhibition game against France on Sunday August 15 at 1 p.m. (EDT) at Madison Square Garden. Yi Jianlian and the Chinese team will take on Puerto Rico following the USA-France game.

So, it’s yet to be seen if McGee will be afforded the opportunity to play in for real, for real international competition … but in the least, we’re guaranteed to see several more scenes like the one below — McGee being mentored by a great NBA vet and training against some of the top talent in the world. In the basketball doldrums that’s usually the entire month of August, the bare minimum scenario is a pleasant surprise that’s more than Wizards fans could ask for.

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Wizards will play two preseason games at the Verizon Center, seven total

The Washington Wizards’ 2010-11 preseason schedule was announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Wall and the Wiz will start in Dallas on October 5th with a visit to Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson and the rest of the Mavericks. The team will then go to Cleveland for a game against the Cavaliers on October 7th … seems fitting to stop by the old rivalry stomping grounds and the site where Antawn Jamison injured his shoulder in last year’s preseason. The Gentleman Jamison is still a member of the Cavaliers by the way … and that’s still weird.

Then it’s on to Chicago for a game against the Bulls on the 8th, back to D.C. for a match against the Atlanta Hawks on the 12th (a Tuesday for those who like to plan ahead), a matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks will also come at the Verizon on the following Thursday, Wall will make his NBA debut at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks on the 17th, and the Wizards will round out their preseason slate in a game against the Detroit Pistons in Toledo, Ohio on October 19th. What’s with all the Ohio appearances?

The Wizards will open the 2010-11 NBA season in Orlando against the Magic on October 28th; the remainder of the regular season schedule will be announced next Tuesday.

Get ready for folks … it’s going to be Wall-Nuts. Read more »

Some recent Washington Wizards videos that you might have missed ….

Number ten on the Wizards’ top plays of the 2009-10 season is of particular interest … because one could argue it was the play of the year (or perhaps the play of the last five years), but it also could have been one of the worst bad luck plays imaginable. And it’s nothing more than a Cedric Jackson game-winning three-pointer that gave the Wizards a 98-97 victory over the Indiana Pacers in the last game of the season. So what significance is that?

It’s of John Wall-level significance.

Let me explain by quoting something I wrote on the night of May 18th when the Wizards won the NBA Draft Lottery:

Irene Pollin spoke before the fourth quarter of the last game of the season. The Wizards, down by six and looking everything like a 25-win team heading into the final 12, came back to beat the Indiana Pacers by one point. Flip Saunders played his most inexperienced, least talented squad down the stretch. But little-used Cedric Jackson bucked and scored the last five points of the game.

That win, much to the chagrin of tanking proponents at the time, tied the Wizards with the 26-56 Golden State Warriors and not the 25-57 Sacramento Kings. Who knows what would have happened if the Wizards had a tie-breaker with the Kings. Just know that the Wizards lost their tie-breaker with the Warriors and jumped both Golden State and Sac-Town on their way to No. 1.

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[Thinking on 14th Street south of Thomas Circle, Washington, D.C.]

Who do you leave off the roster? A poll.

After the signing of Josh Howard, the Wizards’ “officially signed” roster has been pushed to 12: John Wall, Gilbert Arenas, Kirk Hinrich, Nick Young, Howard, Al Thornton, Andray Blatche, Yi Jianlian, Trevor Booker, Kevin Seraphin, Hilton Armstrong and JaVale McGee. So, there are three spots left with at least four potential names to fill them (that is if Ernie Grunfeld decides to have a full roster of 15 right now).

First, there is Cartier Martin, to whom the Wizards have extended a qualifying offer of $1,029,389, according to Sham Sports, making Martin a restricted free-agent.

Then there’s James Singleton, whose rights the Wizards had to renounce to sign Howard, but the Washington Post’s Michael Lee reports that the team is still interested in Singleton or Fabricio Oberto.

Next there’s a position that could potentially be filled by a point guard … Lester Hudson anyone? Hudson has reportedly been invited to training camp, but will Grunfeld rather have another combo guard or a more traditional point? (Delonte West is now available BTW)

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[L to R: Reggie Love, Ted Leonsis, President Obama, daugther Sasha & guest, Sheila Johnson.]

With the exception of a Josh Howard, Kirk Hinrich or a Kevin Seraphin signing here or there, from this blogger’s perspective, the Washington Wizards are basically closed for business until training camp.  Unfortunately for me, my basketball jones does not die that easily, so I decided to take my talents to the Washington Mystics of the WNBA.

When I initially looked at the Mystics schedule, there were certain games I had ear-marked as “must-sees”.  I wanted to see Chamique Holdsclaw and the San Antonio Silver Stars, I wanted to see Sue Bird and the Seattle Storm, and I definitely wanted to see former University of Maryland star, Kristi Tolliver and the Los Angeles Sparks. But above and beyond those match-ups, the team that intrigued me the most was the Tulsa Shock.

The Shock are led by former Arkansas Razorback head coach Nolan Richardson, who is the winningest coach in Arkansas history and is famous for the “40 Minutes of Hell” full-court press.  He also gave us such college and NBA players like Corliss Williamson, Todd Day, Lee Mayberry, Scotty Thurman, Oliver Miller and Joe Johnson.  Richardson is trying to bring that same frenetic style of play to the WNBA, and so far his team has struggled with a 4-22 record.

Also on the Shock roster is former world-class track athlete and gold medal winner Marion Jones.  Her past has been marred by legal issues ranging from check fraud to performance-enhancing drugs.  So recently, she found solace in basketball — a sport she hadn’t played since she was on North Carolina’s national championship team in 1997.  Jones only plays eight minutes a game for the Shock, and she averages just 2.7 points and a rebound a game.  On her transition to basketball, Coach Richardson said:

“Well, I like Marion’s work ethic. Marion is a hard-working young lady that’s getting 10 or 8, 9 minutes of playing time, working her way back into basketball. She was on a team that played for a national championship as a point guard, that North Carolina team for three years, went track, and had the love for the game. She’s worked so hard, she kept her body so strong. She’s 34, but she looks like and plays like an 18-, 19-year old simply because she doesn’t have a lot of basketball road mileage on her. I’m very happy with her, the way she comes to work everyday … one of the first to come in, one of the last to leave. She’s truly a professional.”

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{image via bscup.tom.com}

Reports have surfaced that Yi Jianlian injured his arm playing for China in an international competition, the Stankovic Cup, held in Liuzhou, China, while getting ready for the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey [hat tip to Matt Moore of ProBasketballTalk]. Initial reports only indicated that Jianlian suffered an “injury” to his right arm, and that forced him to sit out the second half of China’s loss to Slovenia. However, Jianlian came back and played in the next game against Iran.

In their first game on July 28th, China lost 64-63 to Australia. Jianlian led the Chinese with 17 points and 10 rebounds in just over 17 minutes of game time. But Australia’s David Andersen, who was recently traded from the Houston Rockets to the Toronto Raptors, scored a basket in the game’s final 10 seconds to give the Aussies a one point victory. Andersen finished with eight points and seven rebounds. Patty Mills led Australia with 13 points.

On July 29th the Chinese faced Iran and defeated them 86-64. Jianlian had 16 points (7-12 from two-point land, 0-1 from three, 2-2 from the free-throw line), 10 rebounds (two offensive), three blocks, one steal, two assists and three turnovers in 28 minutes of action.

Jianlian was injured in his third game on July 30th against Goran Dragic and Slovenia. Yi was limited to just 11 minutes and scored 11 points, grabbing only two rebounds. Dragic, a member of the Phoenix Suns, notched a triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. With Jianlian on the bench for the second half, Slovenia prevailed over China 75-71.

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