The most frustrating part about the Washington Wizards is that on the road, their main, young players often lose so much focus, concentration and aggression … and it clearly affects the team as a whole. Guys like Andray Blatche, Nick Young and JaVale McGee are young — 24, 25 and 23 respectively — but they’ve now been in the league a considerable amount of time and should not be going through break-downs so frequently and consistently.

One reason I think Wizards fans are tired about hearing excuses about age is that you have guys like Kevin Durant (22), Russell Westbrook (22), Al Horford (23), Kevin Love (22), among others, around the league playing at much more solid, dependable levels. Is it the type of mental player Ernie Grunfeld is drafting? Is it the player development? And none of this is to say that these players haven’t made improvement over the years, but it’s been a very painstaking process. Does the scouting process need to be re-evaluated? Is it already being re-evaluated? One can only wonder if the correct calculations are being made between the potential a talented prospect might bring and hubris notions from team management that they can change the mindset of such talent that might actually have a longer struggle on the path of mental development.

In any case, pounding on the mental rocks of those Wizards is starting to ache in the heads of those having to watch the games.

I used to frequently do game blogs (or game accounts) on this site. I stopped doing them so much because they can be tedious and long. On Sunday, I meticulously watched a recording of Saturday night’s Wizards-Bobcats game in several chunks, re-watching most all plays multiple times and documenting what I saw. Hopefully it will give a good depiction of what went on in the game beyond the box score and other game accounts. Unfortunately, it’s the chronicling of the Wizards’ eighteenth road loss of the season in 18 tries, a 104-89 defeat at the hands the Charlotte Bobcats without Gerald Wallace.

>FIRST QUARTER

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The New Jersey Nets had a road record of 3-16 going into last night’s game against Washington, and although that is not quite as bad as the 0-17 road record the Wizards are sporting, it still is not something to be proud of at all. Avery Johnson might not have been able to coach his team to a successful road record, but prior to the game, he laid out a blueprint on how it could be done:

So let’s break down what the Nets did against the Wizards Friday night using Avery’s formula:

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Each game brings countless stories, instances and things to digest. The Wizards’ 97-77 win over the New Jersey Nets on Friday night was no exception. Surely you’ll hear about the team learning from a battle between buffalo and lions shown to them by Flip Saunders, or about Rashard Lewis’ compete game (16 points on 5-11 shooting, 3-6 from three, 13 rebounds, six assists, three steals, a block and zero turnovers), or about Nick Young tying his career high five assists, or John Wall’s nine assists to zero turnovers, or JaVale McGee’s five blocks in the first half (six on the night), or the Wizards’ jovial pre-game routine and loose attitude in the midst of losing. Anything of the sort, in multitudes. But I’m here to talk about our friend Andray Blatche.

It’s a simple game … or at least it can be. And for all the transgressions we may point out about Blatche, and deservedly so, sometimes you got to point out the good things he does. And maybe we should get extra excited about Blatche doing the simple, little things. These are the small victories with him … something to believe in (even though, let’s be honest, at this point there’s no reason not to believe that the feeling could be fleeting). Nonetheless, through roller coaster haircuts and radio air-clearings with Mike Wise, let’s take a look at couple photos I took during the Wizards-Nets game that highlight something rather simple from Mr. Blatche.

Blatche certainly seems to be setting a good screen here … he doesn’t have a reputation of always doing so, at least according to Gilbert Arenas’ departing critique of the Wizards’ big men. But then again, who can believe what Arenas says?

And John Wall seems to be doing a good job of using Blatche’s screen. So what’s Brook Lopez doing? Well, he’s playing off Blatche, a known shooter, and throwing his concentration toward Wall without Devin Harris. I bet you expect Blatche to pop out around the three-point line for a jumper, don’t you?

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You talk about Andray Blatche’s bad defense, you talk about JaVale McGee’s bad defense, you beat dead horses that really won’t die. That’s how things go with the Washington Wizards franchise these days.

Head coach Flip Saunders is not happy, evidenced by the manner in which he cut his press conference short after Wednesday night’s 109-97 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, making his team 0-17 on the road for the season. Saunders wasn’t particularly terse in dealing with the media after the game, as seen on Comcast’s coverage, but it’s something we’ve seen before. He was suddenly done answering questions in his own, subtly annoyed tone, and ‘poof’ … he was gone, as some media member tried to get in a question to no avail.

But before the abrupt ending, Saunders twice exclaimed how bad his team fared at defending Philadelphia’s pick and rolls and twice pinned most of the blame on his big men, saying, “bigs didn’t give enough help.” Nothing new here. After the loss to New Orleans on January 1, Saunders indicated that his team addressed defending pick and rolls in a soft manner. Not long after Saunders made that comment, I asked John Wall to assess the so-called “softness.”

“It’s not about defending soft,” he said. “You know, I think we were pressuring the ball, it’s just that we’re not doing a great job of hedging. You see when I came off the screen, they big men was there, and they was hedging pretty hard, making me pass the ball and pick up my dribble. I feel like when [Chris Paul] came off a screen, he just had freedom to do whatever he wants to … find teammates and scoring. We just got to do a better job of stepping up and making the guards pass the ball.”

According to Synergy Sports, through 33 games this season the Wizards, in charted plays that end in a field-goal attempt, turnover or free-throws, are allowing the pick-and-roll ball handler to score 0.88 points per possession (PPP), ranked 23rd in the league. They are allowing the P&R roll man to score 1.06 PPP, ranked 22nd in the league. Not the worst in the world, not the best — and worth saying that these stats don’t paint a complete picture of what action develops off of P&R possessions.

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“We fell behind and lost some of our confidence. We didn’t make plays, we didn’t make shots. Their guards got in the paint and destroyed us.” – Flip Saunders

On Wednesday night, the Wizards lost 109-97 to the Philadelphia 76ers, falling to 0-17 on the road. Despite Andre Iguodala’s absence and the entire Wizards roster being healthy for the first time, the script was familiar: 1) Washington keeps the game close until some point during the fourth quarter; 2) during a timeout huddle, the players collectively decide that “defense” is no longer as important as taking “contested, off-balance shots”; 3) Washington loses in a slow, plodding fashion, as the opposing team shoots free throws for the last three minutes of the game.

I tried something new last night: while drinking (not the new part), I attempted to chart each Wizards’ offensive possession. Though my notes deteriorated late in the fourth quarter as my IV of Knob Creek was nearly tapped out, there was some wisdom to be found in my possession tracking. The results of that sophomoric effort, and other random tidbits, in bullet form:

• Numbers that seemed important prior to the game: 1) the Wizards winning their last five games versus the 76ers, including two overtime games this season; 2) this was the 76ers first home game since December 17th; 3) the Wizards were 6.5 point underdogs
• The Wizards scored 97 points on 90 possessions. By my primitive math skills, this amounts to a 107.8 ORtg (points per 100 possessions), good for 11th in the League if Washington played an Iguodala-less Philadelphia for 82 games a season.
• Washington’s ball movement was good last night. The team recorded 26 assists on 40 made field goals and committed only 12 turnovers. But, some of the turnovers could have been avoided: three TO’s from Lewis/Blatche/Hinrich came on passes to no one in particular, where the ball sailed out of bounds. Hinrich tried to force a couple passes in the pick-and-roll, which were easily intercepted. Lewis was also called for a charge three times, though two of those were questionable.
• Kirk Hinrich, streak-shooter — he started 5-5 from the field and finished 5-11, going 0-4 with two turnovers in the fourth quarter.
• Kyle already did a nice job chronicling Andray Blatche’s amazing ability to put up a decent stat line and still frustrate the hell out of you. My game chart suggests that Blatche’s ability in this regard comes from his propensity to ‘get himself started’ in the offense by taking long 2s, making no effort to get to the free throw line, and letting Elton Brand dribble and rebound around him.
• See: Kevin Seraphin’s nine minutes of playing time in place of Blatche, a substitution which came after Brand dropped 10 points plus a couple offensive rebounds on ‘Dray in the first quarter.
• Reason why the Wizards lost: 0.567. This number represents the 76ers free throw rate (free throw attempts divided by field goal attempts) last night. Philly shot an absurd 38 free throws on 67 field goal attempts, while Washington shot 18 free throws on 82 field goal attempts. John Wall and Kirk Hinrich accounted for 11 of the 18 free throw attempts.
• As point guards, Wall and Hinrich cannot be the only players making a concerted effort to get to the rim, especially when they are the team’s best (only?) perimeter defenders. When Wall or Hinrich misses in the lane, it can lead to easy transition opportunities for the opposition. Last night, Jrue Holiday killed the Wizards in precisely these kinds of transition situations. Holiday finished the game with 26 points on 10-14 shooting, four rebounds, and nine assists.
• Something which Flip Saunders should read and send to all the players: this Sports Illustrated article on Ohio State — the team that leads the nation in free throw rate. Can you imagine if each Wizards player had to review the film from each of their fouls? McGee and Blatche would never leave the team facility.
• Good quote from the SI article. To borrow a phrase from the critically acclaimed film Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood — “MESSAGE!”:

Matta’s secret to whistle-avoidance goes beyond merely having long, athletic players and telling them not to foul. One of the foundations of his philosophy came from something he heard while serving as an assistant at Butler in the early ’90s, and listening to the Indianapolis radio show of then-Pacers coach Larry Brown. “If you can guard your man when he doesn’t have the ball,” Matta recalls Brown saying, “then it’s 10 times easier to guard him when he gets the ball.” The point being: You avoid fouls and play effective D if you’re in quality position ahead of time, not reacting after your man catches a pass. That kind of preparedness can only be achieved through a combination of effort, mental sharpness and advance scouting.

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Ted Leonsis has been extra attentive toward celebrating the history of his new pro basketball franchise. There was the establishment of an official team alumni association back in early October 2010, headed by Bob Dandridge, among several other events featuring franchise greats — such as alumni appearances at the team’s training camp fan fest, having Earl Monroe speak to the team at training camp, co-hosting viewing parties with alumni association members at Kevin Grevey’s restaurant in Falls Church, VA, recognizing various association members (Dandridge, Grevey, Jack Marin, Kevin Porter and Michael Adams) at a home game in December and having Elvin Hayes visit with the team on a recent two-game road trip in Texas. The older fans I’ve spoken with absolutely love this stuff.

Now, the team has announced that they will unveil a new trophy case near section 100 before Friday’s game versus the New Jersey Nets. The case, according to the team press release, will feature new graphics and a refurbished Tiffany & Co. trophy celebrating the 1978 championship. A picture of the case, courtesy of the Wizards’ official FaceBook page, can be seen above. Another can be found on the Wizards.com website.

Leonsis is going above and beyond the call of duty, which makes a recent visit from Peter Vecsey’s slinging fecal matter regarding an inaccurate report of his that Unseld was “stripped” of his season tickets by Leonsis all the more curious … or not, because it’s Peter F-ing Vecsey. Dan Steinberg covered this incident extensively on the DC Sports Bog and Leonsis posted a response on his blog as well. Essentially, through this incident, Vescey further exposed himself for the ugly wart that he is … which we pretty much already knew. So, who cares? Vescey just needs to go away.

Moving on past that noise, in my research of the forgotten 1976-77 NBA dunk contest, I came across a YouTube user, WiltatKansas, who had posted a couple videos of Wes Unseld in high school. The first video below is of the 1963 Kentucky state championship between Seneca (Unseld’s high school) and Dunbar. The second is of the 1964 Kentucky state championship featuring Seneca versus Breckenridge County. Seneca won both games.

The footage is pretty grainy (the first video is in black and white), and there is no sound, but it’s not hard to spot big Wes wearing No. 31 in home white in both videos. (BTW, Free Darko/Bethlehem Shoals came across this last December and I’m only now remembering.)

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The historical invitation of JaVale McGee, a Washington Wizard, to the 2011 NBA slam dunk contest got the franchise all excited (which in turn got Dan Steinberg all bloggy). You see, this is the first player in Wizards/Bullets franchise history selected to participate in the dunk contest, so there’s little shame in taking the extra, perhaps unnecessary, step of hyping it up, along with showing the player that he has the team’s support. Plus, this franchise, fresh off an 0-17 start on the road this season, needs any good news it can get … and yes, this is good news. But is McGee really the franchise’s first?

On Wednesday night’s television broadcast of the Wizards-Sixers game, the trivia question of the night for the hometown D.C. crew, Comcast’s Phil Chenier and Steve Buckhantz, was to name the former dunk champions who have played for the Washington franchise (but for other teams when they won) — Michael Jordan and Kenny Walker was the answer. Other dunk contest participants who have played for the franchise (but again, who played for other teams during their participation) include: Rex Chapman, Robert Pack, Jerry Stackhouse, Larry Hughes, DeShawn Stevenson, and of course, Darvin Ham.

Peruse this all-time list from NBA.com, nary a participant from the franchise for the “official” NBA dunk contest that started in 1984. But there was something about Chenier’s contemplative words as he can Buckhantz bantered about their trivia question before the answer was revealed.

“I know Elvin Hayes participated …,” Chenier trailed off.

Huh? Elvin Hayes? He played for the Washington franchise, starting in Baltimore in 1972-73, and stayed with the team in the District before moving on to the Houston Rockets for the 1981-82 season. Hayes played with the Rockets for three seasons before retiring after 1983-84, before the first official dunk contest and at age 38.

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It’s not like these things just started happening. Andray Blatche missed that layup against the Bulls on December 22, said he was in one of the worst funks of his career, said it got his head messed up, and that mentally, he just wasn’t right. I hear him. I’ve played basketball before, plenty of times. Confidence is a huge part of the game. Maybe Andray needs a hug.

Blatche has also earnestly admited that trade rumors bother him. ‘Blatche in a funk, trying to clear his mind,’ said a Wizards Insider headline on Tuesday morning. A funk indeed. But really, and again, it’s not like these things just started happening with Blatche — been this way for years, it seems. Just now, at lesser levels of understanding. But hey, you do what you can do and try what you can try. In an unrelated but could be related matter, Blatche got a new pattern cut into the side of his head.

Blatche looked okay(ish) … sorta … against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night in a 109-79 loss, which made Washington 0-17 on the road for the season. Actually, he looked ‘okay’ early, then typical, then encouraging, then same ol’ same ol’, then, and finally, I don’t remember him. He had a basket at the 10:41 mark of the third and a hoop with 6:11 left in the fourth … and that was it for the second half. He finished the game with 17 points on 8-18 shooting, six rebounds, three assists, two steals, two turnovers and four fouls.

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Commentary and links …

You’ll often hear NBA coaches, especially Flip Saunders, exclaim (perhaps complain) about two things in explanation of their team’s faults: injuries and lack of practice time. Well, with three days off since their last game, along with the report that all 15 Wizards practiced for the first time this season yesterday, there will be little room for excuses as the team travels to Philadelphia tonight to seek their first road win of the season against the 76ers. Stay tuned …

Playing Down Defense?

On Monday the Washington Post’s Michael Lee had a good story about the Wizards’ improved defense since the Gilbert Arenas trade. Now, I’ll take a look at an additional level of defensive statistics.

As Lee wrote, before the trade the Wizards were giving up 105.8 points per game and after, 91 points per game. Since different opponents play at a different pace, thus the possessions in a game will fluctuate, we’ll look at points scored per 100 possessions* as a more balanced factor. Before the trade, the Wizards gave up 109.8 points per 100 possessions, and 96.7 after. So, the difference in pre- and post-trade points per game is 14.8; the difference in points given up per 100 possessions is 13.0.

Interestingly enough, before the trade, the current cumulative winning percentage of Washington’s opponents is an even .500; post trade opponents now have a .579 winning percentage.

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One of the difficulties of working at a relatively new TrueHoop Network blog, as opposed to a major newspaper or a well-known website, is the ability to nail down good relationships with actual NBA players.  Veterans like Michael Lee, David Aldridge and Marc Stein, have been around long enough to cultivate solid, trustworthy relationships with certain players, and they are granted more access  because of their well-known employers (The Washington Post, NBA.com/TNT, ESPN.com).  When you’ve only been around for only three years like I have it is more difficult–but not impossible.

My quest to get to know some of the NBA players a bit better has been even more difficult this year, because I mainly cover the opposing locker rooms (thus the title of this particular post).  I see the Wizards players in passing, and if I’m lucky I’ll get a head nod or a “What’s up man?”, but nothing close to a substantive conversation that produces some juicy bloggable information.  When I’m in the opposing locker room, the beat writers for whatever team is in town that particular night usually have a monopoly on those close relationships–as they should.  Players are friendly to me, and they are willing to answer questions, but I can never really get over that hump where they are comfortable enough to truly talk to me–with one exception.

I first caught up with New Orleans Hornets forward, David West in March of 2009, when they took on the Wizards.  I had seen him talking to Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson (Dr. Dyson is a minister, a professor, a radio talk show host, and he has written numerous books on race and cultural matters in this country.  He’s also a frequent guest on the HBO Show, “Real Time With Bill Maher), and I wanted to ask him what they talked about.  Before disappearing in the training room for treatment, West explained that he admired Professor Dyson, and he just wanted to finally meet the man.  He thanked me for noticing, and we parted ways.

Seven months later in January of 2010, the Hornets came to town again, and I caught up with  West before the game.  I introduced myself to him once again, and he didn’t remember me.  But when I asked him about Dr. Dyson, he instantly remembered my name, and shook my hand before resuming the interview (which can be seen here).  After I wrapped up the interview, he told me to have a happy New Year and said he’d see me next time.

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Limbs get tangled all the time in the NBA. But for some reason, when it involves tangled arms, you can depend on a two things: arms from two opposing players will become inexplicably intertwined so fast that you’d think elastic were involved, and the result is going to be tension filled until there is separation.

Sometimes the tangles and locks are unintentional. Sometimes the maneuver is enacted by a foe with the simple intent of getting under someone’s skin by quite literally, getting under their skin … knowing that referees are more likely to see and respond to retaliation rather than the instigator’s act. And the instigator can be an offensive or defensive player.

Such an instance happened in the waning minutes of Saturday night’s game versus the Hornets. Nick Young had just made a shot with 1:36 left in the fourth, still keeping the Wizards just outside of striking distance at what would be the final tally, 92-81 New Orleans.

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Back on Christmas Eve, when the story broke about Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee getting in a bit of a tiff at a nightclub, I was willing to give McGee a pass.  Unlike Blatche, who has put together an (un)impressive list of brushes with the law, McGee has managed to steer clear of that type of trouble.

Sure, his lack of a go-to move in the post is maddening, and yes he falls for every eyebrow twitch of a pump fake, and I’ll give you the fact that he fouls more often than Ted Leonsis blogs. Still, McGee is relatively quiet off the court, and he plays hard on it, which is an enviable quality for a young player to possess, especially on a young team.  He’s averaging career highs in every major category, and almost every opposing coach mentions him in their how-do-we-stop-the-Wizards pregame speech.

In a December 29 match against the Indiana Pacers, McGee totally flustered the improved Roy Hibbert. After the game, he sounded like a seasoned veteran when asked about his approach:

“I was watching film on him. So I was definitely just seeing what he does in the post, and I was trying to front him every time so he really didn’t have a lot of touches in the post. That was the game plan, just stop Hibbert and go out there and try to work as hard as we can on defense, and that’s what we did.”

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I don’t know if this is the highest JaVale McGee has ever touched on a backboard, likely not. But by my rough calculations, McGee’s touching at least the 12-foot mark here, if not higher. Probably higher.

Now, that photo I took prior to the Wizards-Hornets game on Saturday might not be the most dynamic, basketball high-jumping photo I’ve ever taken in my brief career — that title still probably goes to the picture I took below at last July’s NBA Summer League in Las Vegas where Jason Rich, playing for the Golden State Warriors’ squad, appeared to be close to kissing the rim … during a game.

But this post was really just a reminder of something you already know … that JaVale McGee can get up.

Oh, and JaVale can also wave is hands in the air as if he were apathetic toward waving his hands in the air.

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Before their first game in the new year, the Washington Wizards seemed to have some extra pep in their step … a new pre-game intro routine confirmed that. The players huddled in a mass before the announced starter burst out of the pile and onto the scene. It didn’t really work/change much against the New Orleans Hornets on Saturday night, but it was fun to see and to try to take a picture of in the dark nonetheless.

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Before the Gilbert Arenas-Rashard Lewis trade went down, Flip Saunders dropped a comment or two about the imbalanced roster he’d been given, and even referred to his, quote “our top players play the same position,” sentiment after the deal was done. But the fact that Rashard Lewis is a 31-year old stretch four with ‘been in the league since high school’ mileage is the zinger. How’s that for roster imbalance? Flip, your team is still soft.

You almost think that Lewis’ current trade value for the Wizards is less than the perceived value of Gilbert Arenas when he was a Wizard, even with Arenas’ longer contract … in that as a Wizard, Arenas’ trade value was always going to be high risk, high reward for a desperate GM, and he was building on an ‘okay-ish’ job at improving his status. In reality, Lewis may have been more stuck in Orlando than Arenas was in Washington. But Arenas’ potential trade value probably was higher for Otis Smith than anyone else, and that’s why Lewis is in Washington.

Which, of course, will bring us back to some comments from Arenas in that infamous Q&A with ESPN’s Michael Wallace which came across as jerk-ish. When asked about the entirely different subject of keeping in touch with Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood, Arenas spoke about Nick Young instead and ended his answer by pointing out how mad Rashard Lewis is, and should be, about his situation in Washington … while Arenas smiles in Orlando. Here’s the excerpt:

Q: You say you’re past it all now. Everyone has moved on. Caron Butler, DeShawn Stevenson and Brendan Haywood ended up in Dallas. Antawn Jamison is in Cleveland. You’re now in Orlando. Do you guys still keep in touch?

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