The subtle occurrence, about to be slightly magnified by this blog’s humble reach, doesn’t mean much … unless you’re a fan of basketball nuance. And I’m assuming that you’re already a fan of John Wall, who recently made a small display that he would not be intimidated by Amar’e Stoudemire, ironically nicknamed “STAT” (standing tall and talented), even though he’s below average in a main big man stat category, rebounding.

It’s late in the first quarter in the Wizards’ October 17 preseason game against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden. Raymond Felton, foolishly, according to the television analysis of Walt “Clyde” Frazier on the MSG Network, thinks he can play big boy veteran and pressure Wall far away from the basket.

Foolish indeed. Wall can’t shoot and Raymond Felton is Raymond Felton. His 6’1″, 205 lbs. physique, while stout, simply cannot keep up with the size and speed of Wall.

Felton goes to pressure Wall out near the Knicks mid-court logo, perhaps partially to avoid a sensed screen from Yi Jianlian. Wall counters by going away from the screen and attacking Felton by trying to get by him. The ref blows the whistle, much to the chagrin of Felton — rookies ain’t supposed to get calls. Sorry buddy, this is John Wall. Felton goes to take issue with the ref nonetheless.

But the foul and resulting opinions aren’t the issue here. It’s what’s happens afterward. Wall, like many NBA players are wont to do, goes to shoot a post-whistle fadeaway, more meaningless than the meaningless preseason game in which it takes place.

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The atmosphere around the Verizon Center practice court was light and playful for once, and the Wizards players and coaching staff looked completely at ease.  John Wall and Gilbert Arenas shared jokes while shooting free throws. Kevin Seraphin worked on his post moves with Gene Banks, trading jokes at the same time. Even the normally stoic Yi Jianlian could be seen cracking a smile while shooting free throws with JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche.

There was no talk about Arenas, his beard, his smile or his behavior, no visible residual sadness regarding the departures of Sean Marks and Adam Morrison, and no lingering effects from the loss in Detroit two nights earlier.

Earlier in the day, John Wall, Andray Blatche, Josh Howard, Nick Young,  Hamady Ndiaye, Trevor Booker, members of the Wizards coaching staff as well as front office personnel, hosted a “Salute to the Stars” in honor of NBA Cares Week of Service.  The Wizards staff served 200 combat veterans as well as wounded men and woman from various branches of the military.  Josh Howard commented on how the event went:

“Soldiers give back to us all the time, so its nice to see the Wizards along with Morton’s [Steakhouse] come together and NBA Cares as well. It’s a great organization…”

In terms of how practice went, what the preparation will be for the next week until the opener against the Orlando Magic, and why Morrison and Marks fell short of making the team, Flip Saunders handled that.

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ESPN Insider has a pretty cool feature … Marvel comic book covers for each NBA team. John Wall is naturally featured for the Wizards. It kinda looks like him, but mostly doesn’t. What I’m most curious about is what that shadowy figure in the background is supposed to represent. Gilbert Arenas? Other point guard opponents? I like to think it’s John Calipari. Click here to check out the comic book covers for other teams (again, you must have an ESPN Insider account … sorry) — the cover for the Cavaliers has to be especially annoying to Cleveland fans … and no, it’s not a rendering of Antawn Jamison playing Mr. Glass.

LINKS.

A panel of six NBA scouts are cumulatively picking the Wizards to finish tied with the 76ers for 8th in the East. Evidently one scout believes the Wizards will be 6th in the East, two others think the Wiz will finish 12th.
[Sports Illustrated]

Hamady N’diaye is as positive as punch as he tries to fight his way onto the Wizards’ roster. With Sean Marks and Adam Morrison being cut today, his chances, along with those of Lester Hudson and Cartier Martin, just got a good deal better. It might all come down to what Ernie Grunfeld values more: the 56th pick or an open 15th roster spot.
[Washington Post]

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The Washington Post’s Michael Lee reported this afternoon that the Washington Wizards have cut Adam “AdMo” Morrison and Sean Marks, the Kiwi. This is a tribute to each of them.

Sean.

Sean, we hardly knew ya … mainly because you didn’t play in any of the preseason games and sat out a good chunk of training camp with hamstring injury (and don’t worry, I know you weren’t faking). You kinda/sorta played in the Wizards’ Midnight Madness event … well, at least I have a picture where you appear to be on the court. Here’s you observing John Wall in transition …

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[Shaw Rec. Center - Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

In mid-September, ESPN.com contributor Tom Haberstroh made an attempt to determine the five worst players in the franchise history of each NBA team [ESPN Insider]. The requirements, along with the implementation of John Hollinger’s PER, were:

“… a player needed to have played at least 10 minutes per contest over the course of at least 100 career games with the franchise. Furthermore, we’ve added the “Bruce Bowen Corollary” to exempt players who started for championship teams.”

And the list of distinguished gentlemen for the Bullets/Wizards franchise:

And while a standard qualification is necessary to measure across all teams, it’s still subjective. Any of us could find other players just as bad, or worse, using the database of Basketball-Reference.com. Today, I’ll focus on bad shooting players in franchise history.

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A D.C. pic, links and commentary …

[Looking at the McKinley Tech football field - Lincoln Rd. & T St. NE - K. Weidie]

The preseason is officially over for the Washington Wizards (more on that in the links below), and the window to get in those preseason previews and predictions is closing. In fact, the crew from TAI totally forgot to include their crystal ball visions of the Wizards’ regular season record for 2010-11 … so here they are:

• Kyle Weidie – 34 wins
• Rashad Mobley – 30 wins
• Adam McGinnis – 40 wins
• John Townsend – 40 wins
• Arish Narayen – 41 wins
• Beckley Mason – 36 wins
• Stephen Riley – 35 wins

A couple other sites have also recently written their previews on the Wiz via the massive NBA Blog Preview by Bloggers (links to those also below). I’m sure you’ve read the preview of the gang at Bullets Forever — either way, go check out the ‘State of the Wizards’ address by Mike Prada … it’s particularly good and worth a second read.

Andrew Sharp on SB Nation takes a different turn in his preview and gives us the Wizards’ “Perfect World” top eight players of: PG John Wall; SG Gilbert Arenas; SF Al Thornton; PF Trevor Booker; C Javale McGee; 6th Kevin Seraphin; 7th Lester Hudson; 8th Yi Jianlian.

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{flickr/bestfor/richard}

When I was in junior high and behaved in a way that my father deemed incorrect or beneath his standards, he would banish me to my room.  He knew how much I loved watching sports (specifically basketball), and that if I were exiled to my television-less room, I’d be crestfallen, dejected and angry — and the first few times it happened, I was all those things and more.

Then one day I discovered the joys of talk radio, and I realized that listening to the Washington Bullets play-by-play was almost as exciting as watching the game on television.   I could create my own mental pictures, I could hear the players’ sneakers squeaking through the sub-standard radio speakers, and the announcers seemed to pay more attention to detail than the TV broadcasters.  I enjoyed the experience so much that even when I wasn’t punished, I’d watch the game on TV with the volume down while listening to the radio broadcast.  In fact, I was so smitten with the radio that I started using that technique to watch football as well.

Somewhere along the way I stopped listening to radio broadcasts during sporting events and just watched them on TV or via the Internet.  But last night, for the second time in two weeks, the Washington Wizards (with No. 1 pick John Wall on their roster) weren’t anywhere to be found on television or by streaming bootleg video on the Web.  To the radio I went …

The first time this happened, the Wizards took on the Cavaliers, and for a good quarter I tried to listen to the game intently.  But unlike when I was junior high, when I listened strictly for pleasure, trying to analyze a game with the intent of writing about it later was just too difficult.  I gave up after a quarter, watched on the gamecast/box score on the Internet, and promptly told my editor that no article (from me at least) would be forthcoming.

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[A D.C. basketball court - Florida Ave. and R St. NW - K. Weidie]

The Wizards are a 40-win team.*

Or a 25-win team. One or the other.

The Wizards’ 2010-2011 NBA preseason is now over. (They had a 3-4 preseason record.) The team left the 8,000-seat multi-purpose Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio in defeat, but with plenty of promise. And with promises I hope the [insert final roster number] Basketball Wizards can keep.

(Paraphrased) Promises like:

• I will do work in the low block. — ‘Dray Blatche
• I will gobble up defensive rebounds. — J-Mac
• I will protect the basketball. — Jimmy Teach ‘Em How To Dougie
• I will be the self-effacing sidekick to The Blur. — Robin Gilbert Arenas
• Et cetera

In 1960, the great American writer John Updike wrote a melodic tribute to Red Sox legend Ted Williams — Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu. Updike describes the relationship between fans, the media, and Williams himself as one of fragmented love: Read more »

A regular season chock full of meaningful games is ever so close. In fact, the last Wizards preseason game is tonight against the Pistons in Detroit Toledo, OH … and then we have to wait a whole eight days until Washington basketball opens the regular season in Orlando against the Magic on TNT on October 28.

Summer is a speck in the rear view mirror. But just before it’s set to disappear, I took the opportunity to ask several Wizards what was the most relaxing thing they did this past summer. Most seemed to enjoy the time they were able to spend with family. One particular Wizard got his heart broken and spent a lot of time watching movies about love. Just watch.

[Featured Music: "Mandatory" by The Five One -- You've probably seen me use music by this local DMV band before; be sure and vote for them for MTV-U's 'Freshman Video of the Week']

[Editor's Note: More pixels on Gilbert Arenas? Yes, more pixels on Gilbert Arenas. Last Friday I took part in a chat about the Wizards on ESPN.com. The questions coming in weren't mostly about John Wall or anyone else. They were about Gilly. People want them some Gilly. It got to the point where a couple questions came in complaining about the amount of questions about Arenas; I gladly obliged to answer their inquiries about other players. But yea, you like Gilly and TAI likes to cover Gilly ... simple as that. And this post by Adam is an excuse to post bearded Gilbert pictures anyway. -Kyle]

The national media freak out over Gilbert’s “sacrifice solid” rages on. Last Thursday I listened to Dan Patrick on his radio show crucify Arenas for using the word “loaded” when talking about the Wizards’ guard position. So now Gil can’t use certain words that may have indirect gun references? GEESH.

This is where I sympathize with the plight of Gilbert. He sulks in front of the media, everyone goes all Dr. Phil on his mood (myself kinda included), and when he is too candid about why he sat out the game to help out his boy, he is sliced up by the same media.

Let me reiterate, it is PRESEASON!! What was the Wizards’ preseason record in 2009? How about ’08? Or ’07? Or any year? I am sure very few know those answers without firing up The Google.

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John Wall is going to attract a lot of attention from opposing defenses this season … this is plain and clear to see. It’s all about how he reads that attention and the decisions he makes.

Let’s take a look at some moving GIFs from Sunday’s second-to-last Wizards preseason game against the Knicks in New York.

One, Hilton Armstrong should be commended for the good, hard screen he sets here. Wall comes off hard and fast, giving poor Timofey Mozgov a couple changes in direction, and attracting FOUR Knicks to him in the paint, thinking he will drive left, when Wall kicks it out to an unguarded Yi Jianlian at the three-point line on the right wing. Yi misses the jumper in this instance, but it’s about as open as he’s going to get. Wall is going to change Yi’s career if he can knock down that shot with consistency.

Here the Wizards get a chance to re-set their offensive possession.

Wall brings the ball back up top with 14, 13 seconds on the shot clock, and initiates the play with nine seconds left as his teammates get in position.

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A D.C. pic, commentary and links …

[Seeing D.C.'s Chinatown - K. Weidie]

Michael Lee has a good feature piece in the Post about Hilton Armstrong.
[Washington Post]

Armstrong also spoke with us on Saturday about the differences between the offense he participated in with Chris Paul in New Orleans and what’s been developing here with Flip Saunders and John Wall in Washington; and he compared Wall and Chris Paul a bit. Here’s video of that:

“Just be the standard big man … just rebound, defend, communicate on defense, help out pick and rolls, try to get everybody in the right place, be the big man behind everybody and help them out. Offensively, if I have something there, take it … don’t be shy. Just don’t try to force anything, just stay within my game, stay within my role.” -Hilton Armstrong on his role.

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Today Gilbert Arenas sat out of practice because of that injured groin. Afterward, he took about 25 minutes or so to sign autographs for and take photos with fans after an open house/practice the Wizards held at the Verizon Center. Arenas signed everything from paper money, to ipods, to jerseys, to human arms … pretty much anything fans could produce. The people showed him love and he showed them love back, joking and talking with fans and not just solemnly signing his name .

He didn’t speak with the media afterward, about all four of us who were there to check out the event, saying with a smile on his face, “I’m happy today, I’ll talk to y’all tomorrow.” (or something like that). Take a look at some pictures first … and then, commentary.

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[Editor's note: Stephen D. Riley covered the Wall-Jennings matchup on TAI from John's perspective, now here's Rashad Mobley with a look from Brandon's perspective in his series "From The Other Side." -Kyle]

By the time John Wall’s name is announced as the Wizards’ starting point guard on their home opening night against Philadelphia 76ers, he will have received more than enough advice.  His family is telling him how to manage his life, his friends are telling him how to spend his money and where to hang out, his teammates are saying get me the ball in my sweet spot, the coaches (especially Sam Cassell) are telling him how to be an effective point guard in the NBA.  Hell, I’m sure even his twitter following has chimed in with their clueless, but well-intentioned advice.

After my visit to the Milwaukee Bucks locker room before their preseason matchup with the Wizards, it looks like Wall will have two more people to take advice from:  Head Coach Scott Skiles and second year guard Brandon Jennings.

Skiles coached Jennings during his rookie year, so he knows first-hand about the ups and downs involved with a rookie running the show.  But prior to that, Skiles enjoyed a 10-year career in the NBA (including one year with the Bullets), where he averaged 11 points and 6.5 assists, and dished out 30 assists in one game (an NBA record).

Jennings, much like Wall will do this year, was given the responsiblity of running the Milwaukee Bucks in his first season.  He exceeded expectations in the regular season by averaging 15.5 points and 5.7 assists, and then in the playoffs he continued his solid play by raising his scoring average to 18.7 points (his assists dropped to 3.6, but Andrew Bogut was hurt, so he gets a pass).  Much like Skiles, Jennings also picked  up an NBA record along the way, by dropping 56 points on Golden State–the most ever by a Milwaukee Bucks rookie.

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[Editor's note: Stephen D. Riley has contributed to player previews on Truth About It.net and writes about sports for the The Afro. This is his first piece on TAI, where he'll be keeping tabs on John Wall during the season. -Kyle]

John Wall is a gamer. This much you should know already. He’s so much of a gamer that he basically attacked Brandon Jennings at every turn on Thursday in one of the more intriguing matchups of the evening. Actually, forget one of, it was the only intriguing matchup of the evening. Pretty impressive when you consider that both men only have a combined year and two weeks invested into the NBA.

Jennings splashed into the league last season with a 50-Burger against the Golden State Warriors in November, then proceeded to flash the Association with the type of speed and quickness unseen since the days of a young Allen Iverson. But the way Wall played Thursday night, he pretty much showed he could care less about any of that. He attacked Jennings from the tip, defending with vigor and making plays that wouldn’t keep the guys behind me at the Verizon Center from shutting up.

Late in the first quarter he caught an over-the-head pass from Gilbert Arenas, avoided a reach by Jennings and contorted his body while drawing the foul and finishing the layup. The fans stood up, I stood up, and Wall face-flexed to his bench. Splash plays for Wall, one. None for Jennings.

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