When the New York Knicks signed 7″1′ Russian center Tomofey Mozgov to a 3-year, $9.7 million contract in early July, I, like many of you, gave a big ‘Huh?’ Part of that is the result of people, myself included, not being as aware of international prospects. The other part was that Donnie Walsh and the Knicks seemingly did it under the cover of darkness.

As was pointed out at The Painted Area, if other teams suspected Mozgov’s interest in playing in the NBA this season, as opposed to staying with his Russian club, BC Khimky Moscow, and getting more seasoning, there would have been more competition for his services. And especially curious when you consider that the Knicks signed Mozgov while the New Jersey Nets and their new Russian owner were licking their wounds from losing LeBron.

The Painted Area also called Mozgov the best free-agent candidate, factoring his youth of 24 years, behind Brendan Haywood and Darko Milicic, and described him as a “powerful finisher.” Well, not so much against Yi Jianlian (according to the visual eye, not necessarily a FIBA referee). For an explanation, let’s go to the GIF machine …

After a drive by Russian guard Dmitry Khvostov, on which Yi helps off of Mozogv, the ball is dished to TimoFey who has the baseline and an open path to the basket. But hold those Russian horses, the athletic Yi whips around and ain’t scared to meet young Timmy at the rim.

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A D.C. pic, commentary and some links …

[Adams Morgan community bulletin board, Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

Washington, D.C.’s mayoral primaries took place Tuesday, which is essentially ‘the’ race for mayor. Since D.C. home rule was established in 1975, all six of Washington’s mayors have been Democrats. It will continue to be that way via staunch city political demographics. And that’s why the primary decides the race for mayor.

This year, it’s been determined that former D.C. Council Chair, Vince Gray, will replace incumbent Adrian Fenty as the Democratic nomination, and ultimately mayor. I wasn’t particularly a fan of Mayor Fenty … his arrogance and increasing lack of transparency (after he practically ran on the ‘always available’/'Mayor BlackBerry’ platform in 2006) have been very off-putting, yet his aims, for the most part, forward-thinking. Now we have old-school Gray, who provides an unknown, but assumed threat to return to ancient ways. Not exactly fair, but he’s going to have to come out with a bang to fulfill promises and quell the skeptics already lining up. I think I would’ve rather had Fenty’s efforts continue, but am not that torn up about it.

And the picture above, I suppose, can be the icing on how Fenty lost this year’s race. He was in denial over his own obliviousness in addressing constituent needs in a reasonable manner, or pretty much anything in a reasonable manner (don’t get me started about the Nats ticket fiasco), rather opting to perch himself so high that he became convinced that his methods and actions needed no explanation. And so he toppled, got his goofy face plastered on the community bulletin board in Adams Morgan with the caption “Denial,” got that lady in the photo pointing in jest, and finally lost the mayor’s race. Godspeed D.C. — Life continues.

In many ways, the demise of Fenty, as the youngest mayor in Washington’s history, conveniently parallels, at least for this Wizards blogger, the fall of Gilbert Arenas, who previously basked in his own popularity, calling himself the “Black President” (but before Obama came on the scene). Arenas got caught in his own obliviousness. He couldn’t comprehend how the outside world, rational and irrational, dealt with his coping mechanism of ignoring/casting aside life’s uncomfortable moments with laughter, jokes and pranks. Maybe fine for when a teammate gets an STD … not exactly in the aftermath of guns being brought into the locker room.

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As described in a previous post, the Wizards held tryouts for the position of in-game public address announcer at the Verizon Center on Monday night. Prior, 220 applicants where whittled down to 50 invitees … around 31 showed up. That was narrowed done to 16 hopefuls who were further narrowed down to five. More due diligence was performed, but by the night’s end, the team still had not decided who would serve as pre-game hype man for Gilbert Arenas, John Wall, Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee & Co.

Shortly before 1 pm on Tuesday afternoon it was announced that Ralph Wesley will be the voice of Wizards games — Wesley was my personal favorite after the round of 16 (and the round of five). There were a lot of great voices, but the best, most unique one prevailed. Below you’ll find a recap of the night in photos, followed by video of Wesley’s winning performance at the bottom. Enjoy.

Senior Director of Game Operations Danny Zollars (splendid name BTW) calls out the audition numbers of the 16 who’ve made it to the next round.

Poof, be gone with the rest of you.

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So I was called out by Ted Leonsis this past weekend. I know, not good to be called out by a billionaire … oops, millionaire. But in reality, it was more of a challenge (or question) from Mr. Leonsis, i.e., it wasn’t anything like his emotional “Unemotional Response” or calling me “Simply Uninformed,” as he’s done with others. Different by far, let me explain.

While relaying a good deed performed by Josh Howard (his past record of note has many bad deeds), I poked fun at his outfit, and loosely related something that Brendan Haywood (supposedly) said about Howard. It was joking. It was fun. And that’s what this “blog” thing is all about: writing, analysis, pictures, graphic design, stats, reporting, break-downs, video, opinions, links, and I’ll reiterate, fun.

But, considering Howard’s past bad news and how it’s nice to hear good news associated with him (and because they say the good things are never written about), was it fair for me to poke fun at his outfit (which honestly isn’t that bad, more silly)?

Well, I’m not answering that question. Too bad. Easy way out on my part? Maybe. But my poking fun at Howard’s outfit isn’t the point. Neither is the fact that Leonsis comes to the defense of his players, as their employer. I don’t necessarily see it as Leonsis being “too sensitive,” as I’ve heard others amongst my web social network imply. An employer goes to bat for his or her employees. That’s the way it should be, in most cases. It makes the employees feel appreciated. It creates unity from top down. More than understandable, in my book. (Although, I did giggle when my girlfriend called Mr. Leonsis their “Papa Bear” in a joking manner.)

Since Leonsis’ post was relatively short, I’ll just quote the whole thing: Read more »

The public address announcer sits in the background, yet courtside. He goes relatively unknown, but he’s kind of a big deal. He is what Ron Burgundy is to parties, bringing life to the arena. This is dedicated to the under-appreciated PA announcer guy.

When Ted Leonsis holds open tryouts for the voice that could be bellowing John Wall’s name for the next 10 years, cuing mad cheering and perhaps some tea-kettle dancing, it’s more than worth taking the stroll from work to the Verizon Center to check it out.

Over 200 applied but only 50 were invited to boom their pipes alongside the freshly painted (cured) Georgetown and Wizards basketball floors. As I arrived for the main event, that number had been narrowed done to 16. The mic was then cut on and the sound system turned up. The audition provided a good sample of general game announcements (fouls, scoring plays and PSAs), an ad-lib to Kiss Cam B-roll, and finally, lineup introductions.

The original plan was to pick a single winner from the 16 performances, but it was clearly much too hard to distinguish one voice from the crowd. Five stood out to Leonsis and his decision makers, so they were asked to do the lineup again … but with more energy, more uniqueness. Below you’ll find a brief profile of each, along with video of their final lineup announcement and an interview.

I’m refusing to compare this to American Idol, way too easy, but surely someone will. However, I am giving you, the reader, the option to vote on your favorite (which is also evidently what they do on that show). But this is in no way affiliated with the Wizards and their decision-making, it’s just for S&Gs (curse word that rhymes with mitt, and giggles). Also, as outlined, because this is potentially a very long-term gig, it’s likely requires more due diligence than simple public opinion.

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Sometimes you’ll hear people call D.C. a basketball hotbed. Or you’ll hear claims that Washington has deep basketball roots that are just waiting to blossom, especially after the takeover of the Ted Leonsis regime and the arrival of John Wall.

All good things to hear. But let’s be honest, Washington will be a Redskins town for as long as I live (unless somehow, at some point, the Wizards win four championships in 10 years, while the Skins flounder with a few insignificant playoff appearances, making the top team choice for next generation a little more difficult — a scenario that’s more of a long-distance daydream than reality, and even then …).

Nothing wrong with D.C. being a Redskins town. Football, after all, is America’s sport, even if baseball is America’s way to pass time, and basketball is more global. I’m of the opinion that all D.C. pro sports teams should be embraced together (I’m a hometown guy if you can’t tell).

Of course, in a transient city like Washington, that’s tough to accomplish. But one thing is clear, many Washingtonians take pride in their Redskins … and where better to observe that pride than at the Adams Morgan Day Festival held on Sunday afternoon? (BTW, for those outside of D.C., Adams Morgan is a popular area of the city with bars, restaurants, shops, etc.)

So, that’s exactly what I did, in lieu of watching the 1 pm NFL games or even the FIBA World Basketball Championship between the United States and Turkey live, and if favor of getting out and enjoying the outside world (and off the blogger’s couch/futon/actually, I have a standing desk now). Below I’ve captured some of the Redskins gear seen at Adams Morgan Day … and a smattering of Dallas Cowboys gear (after all, a recent poll of registered Democrats in D.C. shows that 48-percent are Redskins fans and six-percent are Dallas fans — disgusting, I know).

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Recently I had a chance to interview Clark Kellogg over the phone. It was set up by a PR team in conjunction with promoting the Capital One Cup, which is a new award to be given out to the top men’s and women’s collegiate athletic programs (you’ve likely seen commercials about this on ESPN).

Points for the Cup will be accumulated according to how schools fare across 13 tiered men’s and women’s Division I sports programs (Men’s: Tier 1 – football, basketball, and baseball; T2 – soccer, swimming & diving, outdoor track & field, and lacrosse; T3 – cross country, wrestling, ice hockey, indoor track & field, golf, and tennis; Women’s: Tier 1: volleyball, basketball, and softball; T2; soccer, swimming & diving, outdoor track & field, and lacrosse; T3: cross country, field hockey, indoor track & field, golf, tennis, and rowing — Tier 1 sports are worth three times the points, Tier 2 sports are worth two times, and Tier 3 sports are worth their actual point number. Sports are tiered to “reward success in sports with the most student athlete participation and fan interest.”).

Schools with the most cumulative points across all men’s and women’s sports will each be presented with a trophy, $200,000 to fund student-athlete graduate-level scholarships, and will be honored at the ESPY Awards held in July. Top 10 finishers for men’s and women’s sports cumulative point totals will also each be recognized.

Kellogg was selected by Capital One to be an advisory board member for the award along with Doug Flutie, Brandi Chastain, Lisa Leslie, Robin Ventura and Rece Davis.

So, you’re probably asking yourself, ‘Why would a Wizards blogger want to interview Clark Kellogg?’

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“Midnight Madness” in the NBA? Unheard of … probably mostly because there aren’t staunch rules about when you can start practicing like there are in college. Although, like the Memphis Grizzlies owner, I haven’t read through the league’s current collective bargaining agreement.

In any case, via a team press release, your professional basketball Washington Wizards will be hosting “Midnight Madness” at the Patriot Center on the campus of George Mason on Tuesday, September 28th at 12 am … but make sure you get there before 11 pm on the evening of the 27th, because that’s when the doors will open.

All of the 2010-2011 season training camp will be held at the Patriot Center, the team has announced, the “Midnight Madness” event will just be the kickoff. Training camp will conclude on Sunday, October 3 with a “FanFest” at 11 am and a scrimmage at 12:30 pm.

All aforementioned events will be open to the public and free of charge. Wizards season ticket holders will be able to attend a “Rookie Class” event featuring a private session with Wizards’ rookies on September 29.

A complete schedule of training camp and media events will be released at a later date.

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{flickr/SneakinDeacon}

Last Thursday, it seems that Josh Howard was on hand for the Wake Forest football opener against Presbyterian. While there, Howard donated $100,000 from his foundation to endow the “Josh Howard Scholarship” at Wake. Good stuff to hear. However …

Via pictures graciously provided by Flickr user SneakinDeacon, we must wonder what the 30-year old Howard was wearing. Looks to be comfortable gear for a football game … or questionable gear for handing over big novelty checks. But I’m not one to judge.

What one really must wonder is if Brendan Haywood considers the outfit “Josh Howard Hood” … ahhh, the answers to the unknown questions of the universe.

Moving on … (links below the pic)

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Click here for part one of the TAI Basketball-Reference.com statistical research assignment, featuring a search for what opposing player has scored the most off the bench against the Wizards/Bullets since ’86-87 and the observations of Arish Narayen and Adam McGinnis. Part two, with my second search example and the findings of John Townsend and Rashad Mobley, is below.

[The Number Cruncher - Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

For my second quick example using BBR’s database, I selected the “Team Season Finder” and ran a simple search to see which Bullets/Wizards team averaged the most assists per game in the shot clock era (starting in 1954-55). (Click here for the full results.)

The ’89-90 Bullets averaged 27 assists per game. Darrell Walker led the team with 8.0 per game, John “Hot Plate” Williams was second with 4.7 per, and Bernard King was third with 4.6 assists per game. That year, the Bullets finished fourth in the NBA in total assists, and they were the only team in the top 11 in total assists that did not make the playoffs. The ’89-90 Bullets finished 31-51.

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[A John Wall t-shirt seen at the 2010 Columbia Heights Day Festival.]

There’s a reason the Sports-Reference.com family of sites was named one of Time Magazine’s 50 Best Websites for 2010. They have just about everything you’d want, sports fact and statistically speaking, and their search capabilities are always growing … well, if they only had NBA game logs that pre-dated the 1986-87 season.

Nevertheless, I recently gave an assignment to the staff of Truth About It.net, (Rashad Mobley, John Townsend, Arish Narayen and Adam McGinnis). I asked them to go to the Basketball-Reference.com database search page, come up with a creative query, and write something quick about it. I also came up with some quick example searches myself.

For instance, I went to the “Player Game Finder” and ran a simple search selecting ‘Wizards/Bullets’ as the opponent, ‘did not start’ as the role, and sorted by points. (Click here for the full results.)

Did you know … (from the ’86-87 season to current, the extent of BBR’s game log database), the 37 points Al Harrington scored for the New York Knicks against the Wizards on February 26 of this year was the most points scored on Washington by a player off the opposing team’s bench?

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[Linas Kleiza hops past Yi Jianlian on his way to a game-high 30 points. Photo/FIBA]

On Tuesday, in their FIBA 2010 knock-out stage opener, Yi Jianlian and China took on Linas Kleiza and a strong, undefeated Lithuania team. In many ways, this contest followed the same script seen in the China-Puerto Rico game. China jumped out to a quick 16-5 lead with contributions from Wang ZhiZhi, Sun Yue, Liu Wei, Wang Shipeng, and Yi. China held a 22-17 lead at the end of the first quarter. That lead wouldn’t last much longer, however. With 4:52 left in the second quarter, Robertas “The Shark” Javtokas gave the Lithuanians a one-point advantage — one they wouldn’t surrender. China’s 11-3 run in the 4th quarter pulled them within five, but it was too little, too late. Final score: 78-67 Lithuania, who advanced to the FIBA quarterfinals to face Argentina, who edged Brazil 93-89 in Tuesday’s nightcap.

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A D.C. pic, links, and commentary …

[Mount Pleasant at night; Mt. Pleasant St. and Lamont St., NW, Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

As reported by Michael Lee of the Washington Post, James Singleton has decided to sign with the Xinjiang Gyang Hui Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association.

[James Singleton points to a place in the sky.]

Mike Prada at Bullets Forever bids farewell to ‘Big Game James’, observing: Read more »

Bob Donewald Jr. is a rolling stone, in basketball coaching terms. After getting a start as a student assistant at Western Michigan, Donewald has been an assistant at Morehead State, a head coach and general manager in the British Basketball League, working with three separate teams, a scout and assistant GM for the New Jersey Nets, an NBA assistant coach under Paul Silas with the Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets and Cleveland Cavaliers, a head coach of a couple professional teams in Brazil, an assistant coach at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, a coach in the ABA, a coach in the Ukraine, coach of the Shanghai Sharks and now, he’s the head coach of China’s national basketball team. What, you thought the ‘journeyman’ tag just applied to players?

After winning once and losing four times in group play, China is very lucky to be in the round of sixteen at the FIBA 2010 World Tournament. If you want to get technical, had it not been for a David Huertas last second three-pointer when his team, Puerto Rico, lost to the Ivory Coast, it would have been the African nation of 20 million instead of the Chinese country of 1.3 billion advancing to the knock-out stage. But China makes no apologies as they move on to face heavily-favored Lithuania on Tuesday. Donewald is now in the most recognizable position he’s ever been throughout his travels as a coach and the basketball-crazed millions in China have taken notice.

The coach inherited a young, inexperienced team, also coming off a sour loss to Iran in the China-hosted Asia Games in August 2009 — Hamad Haddadi and the Iranians gave the Chinese a beat down in the championship game, winning 70-52; Yi could only muster 11 points on 5-17 shooting. And to put himself even more behind the eight-ball, Donewald accepted the job in April 2010 fully knowing that Yao Ming would not be available for the FIBA Worlds, if not completely retired from international play.

But Donewald has taken the reigns and whipped new culture and fresh blood into the Chinese program, and it has shown with their competitiveness. In arguably the toughest group, Group C, China has lost by less than double digits in all games except against Turkey, when Yi and two other starters didn’t play. By the way, under Donewald, Yi and China got revenge on Iran with an 86-64 late-July win over them in the Stankovic Cup, a tune-up for the FIBA Worlds.

As his team prepares to face Lithuania in Istanbul, in the biggest game of Yi Jianlian’s international career, and perhaps for the coach himself, Donewald took the time to answer some of my questions over email. Here’s the transcript:

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A D.C. pic and some links for Sunday reading. Hope you’re having a good one …

[The National Building Museum, Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

LINKS.

A Western Conference executive thinks the Wizards could be in the playoff picture in the East, Ben Standig breaks it down.
[CSN Washington]

SLAM has an interview with Caron Butler. He says the time he spent working at Burger King as a kid was a “life-changing experience” (he now owns several BK franchises), and that he will also shadow Mark Cuban (going to board meetings and the what-not) later this summer.
[SLAM Online]

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