I often sarcastically harp that I’m one of the “lucky” few who has watched every single Washington Wizards game either in person, live on TV, or via DVR over the past few craptastic seasons, but Wizards T.V. analyst Phil Chenier has seen almost every game in person, home and away, going on 26 years.

The former Bullets Star has an unassuming and steady game-calling style. His commentary is sharp and void of the preachy “back in my playing days” modifiers, which are so tiresomely prevalent amongst ex-jock pundits. (Looking at you, Jim Palmer & Rob Dibble.)

His pregame “Phil-osophy” segments are usually on point and lack cheesiness. Chenier’s calm diction is in stark contrast to having to suffer through Mark Jackson’s “mama there goes that man again” refrains and overall dull observations throughout the NBA playoffs.

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[Ed. Note: Carter Bryant covered this year's NBA Draft in New Jersey and has previously contributed to Truth About It.net; check him out further at his Twitter account: @CarterthePower. Below, his words accompany some post-draft video I shot of Chris Singleton talking about his defensive mentality and playing with John Wall. Singleton will be introduced to Washington at a press conference today at 2:30 pm. -Kyle W.]

We can all appreciate a good wingman. You’re at the bar, a chance encounter and great conversation have already been initiated. But the third wheel, friend of your target, can’t help but make their presence known. Cue the wingman to help save the day, jumping in to defend from distractions. If he succeeds, then you have a teammate for life. Great wingmen are vital to success, an idea that clearly translates to the basketball court.

The Wizards nabbed the steal of the NBA Draft when they selected Florida State lockup artist Chris Singleton 18th overall. For John Wall’s Wizards, he can be the wingman in more ways that one. I spoke to Singleton briefly in Newark last Thursday. The guy has long arms — a 7’1″ wingspan — and sounds hungry. But you didn’t need me to tell you that.

Even team owner Ted Leonsis sang Singleton’s praises at the press conference to introduce sixth pick Jan Vesely on Monday. Speaking of Singleton in the same breath as Kevin Seraphin, Leonsis said, “I saw him in the workouts. He just looked tough, he just looked mean. And adding that kind of bulk and strength, along with great talent, is what we promised John Wall.”

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The basketball world knew who the Washington Wizards were going to select with the sixth pick in the NBA Draft well before David Stern took the podium.

The Wizards, longtime fans of Jan Vesely since his emergence on the international scene in 2009, had considered selecting him in last year’s draft, before he decided to return to his Belgrade-based club Partizan for another year. And on draft afternoon, the paper trail spoke louder than ever. The Wizards’ sales department had invited staff members from the Czech Republic embassy to the team draft party in downtown Washington.

Now, while the selection might not have mystery, the player certainly was. To some extent, Vesely was misrepresented—even undervalued—having been surrounded by the popular, though incomplete, rhetoric from just a handful of available scouting reports and YouTube highlights. But the wing from Ostrava, Czech Republic, who has played basketball professionally since he was 16 years old, was the perfect pick for the Wizards. But you don’t have to take my word for it, consider head coach Flip Saunders’ review:

“He’s a perfect fit for us.”

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By now, via the quick courtesy of Dan Steinberg and other Internet denizens, you’ve heard about (and have likely seen), Washington Wizards sixth overall pick Jan Vesely jump up and passionately kiss his girlfriend after being selected in the NBA Draft on Thursday night, as I can only imagine someone from the Czech Republic would do. (And if someone has video of fellow NBA Czechs Jiri Welch and George Zidek kissing their girlfriends on their respective draft nights in 2002 and 1995, please do share.)

In the video below, Jan and Ms. Eva herself (last name Kodouskova — see if you can pronounce it correctly before watching), discuss each other and the now semi-famed kiss. The whole affair just might be worth another kiss.

NEWARK, NJ: Chris Singleton said the Wizards considered picking him at six. That would’ve been a big reach, but the lengthy wing out of Florida State, touted by ESPN.com’s Chris Ford as the best perimeter defender in the draft, didn’t expect to slip to Washington at 18. Now he has the honor of being the last Green Room invitee selected in the 2011 NBA Draft.

Of course, the NBA no longer embarrasses the undrafted by making them sit by their lonesome. Those who have already been taken and their guests usually go back to their Green Room tables after the horse and pony show of post-selection interviews. Still, athletes often concoct all sort of reasons to self-motivate, and the moment didn’t seem lost on Singleton.

“I’m marking that,” he said when I asked him if he was making a list of all those that passed on him. “That’s all I can say, this day is marked in my history.”

What was lost on Singleton, in his interview video above, was exactly how many teams passed. I can’t blame him. Covering the draft live, it’s quite the whirlwind with picks flying off the shelves left and right. I can’t keep up, so we certainly can’t expect an anxious draftee to keep up. But for the record, 14 teams passed on Singleton, including the New York Knicks at pick 17 (much to the seeming chagrin of the local media).

Nonetheless, Singleton seems content, no, happy, despite the disappointment of slipping. He know’s Washington is ripe with opportunity for him to establish himself as “the” perimeter defender on the Wizards… because well, they don’t have anyone else.

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Jeremy Tyler is a reluctant case study. You’ve probably heard the story. He is the first high school junior to turn pro. No 12th grade year at San Diego High. No sticking to Rick Pitino’s coaching regimen at the University of Louisville, where he’d signed to play in the fall of 2008, a couple months after turning 17. Tyler’s name wasn’t splashed across headlines for being who some thought to be a future No. 1 overall draft pick in pursuit of March Madness glory. No, it was because he was missing out on all of that. Before he could turn 18, Tyler announced he was going to play basketball in Israel.

“I mean, I’ll be sitting here lying to you if I told you it was easy. It’s not easy. I wouldn’t advise, but…,” Tyler said after working out for the Washington Wizards on June 10, stopping in mid-sentence. It’s been over two years since his decision. Tyler’s self-confidence still seems high, but whether he would recommend his path to the NBA Draft to another high school junior is a different story.

“Because it was the best thing for me,” he continued. Later, he still struggles with his recommendation.

“I wouldn’t … I mean, {sigh}, see …. a decision like that is a life decision. It’s based on where you are in your family, where you are in your mental state, where you are basketball-wise, physically and mentally. It’s a very hard decision to make, so I wouldn’t say everybody should do it. I wouldn’t advise just anybody.”

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Fodder, links, bullets, commentary, rumors, etc., and a D.C. picture…

Cloudy skies of NBA Draft prognosticators.
[Francis Playground Court - NW D.C. - N St. & 23rd - photo: K. Weidie]

NBA.com’s David Aldridge:

“Wiz want one of the international bigs, and don’t really care which one.”

Is Kanter Worth It?

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The ESPN TrueHoop Network NBA Mock Draft 2011 continues…

Find the recap of picks as they happen on the post that announced the Wizards’ sixth pick, Enes Kanter. And now, with the 18th pick in the first round, Washington selects…

When a team has lost 110 more games than they have won over the past three seasons, saying there are holes to fill is an understatement. Drafting Kanter with the 6th pick as earlier projected in this mock draft fills the void of a bruising big man with low post scoring moves.

Another major area of need is the three position. Trevor Booker is more of a combo 3/4 man and his jump shot would have to vastly improve in order to play heavy minutes at the three  (along with his lateral defensive movement). Nick Young has the ability to play the three, but his more natural position is at the two. It’s easier to ask Nick to defend shooting guards. Rashard Lewis is another three candidate, but his age and faulty knees create doubt whether he can realistically hold up for 82 games ever again. It will be interesting to see if signs point to the Wizards bank-rolling the most expensive reserve in the NBA next season.

With this in mind, and other small forward possibilities off the board, TAI selects:

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The ESPN TrueHoop Network NBA Mock Draft 2011 is going down today. The first five picks are listed below and then it’s the Wizards’ turn, the decision made by a consensual agreement amongst the contributors to Truth About It.net. Keep checking back below the text of this post for updates on the entire first round.

1. Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers [Cavs: The Blog]
2. Derrick Williams, Minnesota Timberwolves [A Wolf Among Wolves]
3. Brandon Knight, Utah Jazz [Salt City Hoops]
4. Jonas Valanciunas, Cleveland Cavaliers [Cavs: The Blog]
5. Kemba Walker, Toronto Raptors [Raptors Republic]

And with the 6th pick, the Washington Wizards select…

Enes Kanter slipping to Washington’s pick at six is almost as lucky as the Wizards winning the 2010 NBA Draft Lottery and landing John Wall.Not that Kanter is a game-changer on the level of the actual “Game Changer,” but had Ted Leonsis’ magic landed the top pick in the 2011 draft too, Ernie Grunfeld would’ve had a much harder time choosing between Kanter and Derrick Williams than he did when considering between Wall and Evan Turner (which was never really considered).

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NOTE: The ESPN TrueHoop Network 2011 NBA Mock Draft starts today. Truth About It will be posting our consensus mocked pick of the sixth position around 1 pm, so check back for an update. Until then, a D.C. pic, commentary, and links…

[HD Cooke Elementary - NW Washington DC - Euclid St. & Mozart Pl. - photo: K. Weidie]

>With the caveat that cats seemingly wear random hats — for the style — and are not always interested in the teams on them, I bring you the video below of noteworthy fun images and interaction. Oh, and John Wall is wearing a Philadelphia Flyers cap, old style (Wall also has been seen wearing a retro Oakland Raiders hat, very hipsterish-lite of him/trendy)… good thing this wasn’t around when the Caps were losing to the Flyers in the first round of the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs. The video below is from a local South Carolina television station and is regarding the tournament that Josh Howard and Trevor Booker hosted over the June 11 weekend in Mauldin, which Wall attended. Things to look out for: a Wall interview in Ray-Bans (again, trendy, he is); John Wall judging a “Dougie” dance contest amongst kids and then handing out $20 bills to the winners; and finally, taking the cake, goober newscasters discussing the “Dougie” — one anchorman chap saying that as a University of Kentucky grad, he thought it was called the “John Wall Dance.” Then, sports guy Todd Summers chirps in with “We don’t even know where the ‘Dougie’ came from, but certainly kids know what it is.” Finally, the initial guy, named Gordon Dill, finishes the stereotypical ideal of a non-white comedian doing an impression of a “white guy” by saying, “Named after ‘Doug’, probably.”

That it is Gordon and Todd, that it is.

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Below, an interview and workout video of draft hopeful Raven Johnson, a wing player out of Mississippi State who has worked out with the Wizards, and then, his story…

Athletes and politicians represent the two foremost groups that must be weary of the ills of Twitter. Maybe politicians have more to lose in terms of social standing, but the millions Gilbert Arenas ultimately lost due to his 50-game suspension in 2010 by David Stern is nothing to scoff at. It may have been Finger Gunz in Philly which made the final decision possible, but Arenas’ Twitter escapades surrounding his gun incident helped make a strong case for Stern.

In the furor of 24-hour news cycle overreaction to initial misreporting of the December 2009 situation between Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, Rev. Al Sharpton implored Stern to punish with a heavy hand. Before his suspension (which was initially deemed “indefinite”), and before his original @GilbertArenas Twitter account became non-existent, some of Arenas’ last tweets took to criticizing the reverend of inane public profiling. In the present day, however, Arenas continues to get fined by the NBA for tweets deemed inappropriate (for language), which have also been scrutinized because of their misogynistic nature. Future athletes and politicians will surely continue in this out-of-bounds manner on many occasion.

Mississippi State’s Ravern Johnson, a four-year senior who worked out for the Washington Wizards on June 2, also has first-hand knowledge of Twitter’s tribulations on the college level, albeit much more trivial in comparison to Arenas. In early February 2010, one of Johnson’s tweets, seemingly expressing frustration about a tough season, was deemed “inappropriate” by his university. He was also suspended indefinitely, at first. Johnson’s tweets were not utterly flagrant (they are quoted below), but seeing as the failed system of college athletics serves more as a money-making venture for institutions than it does to serve the athletes and the sport, it makes total sense that many coaches hold a desperate grasp on their ability to be disciplinarians. Not to say the college landscape isn’t chock full of good stories and genuine benefits, there’s just an obscene imbalance. And not to digress too much into a legit area that’s beside the point, because in this case, the punishment remained just. Being dumb enough to Tweet something likely to be viewed as dumb is no excuse.

Johnson’s Tweets (via Clarion-Ledger.com):

“Starting to see why people Transfer. You can play the minutes but not getting your talents shown because u watching someone else wit the ball the whole game.”

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In early mid-April (the 12th to be exact), when asked as part of an ESPN.com 5-on-5 roundtable which NBA star would have his legacy enhanced the most in the 2011 Playoffs, I wrote:

“The health of Andrew Bynum won’t affect Dirk Nowitzki’s hunger, but Nowitzki’s stomach did just growl. One could argue that Dirk’s legacy has the deepest hole from which to climb. Since blowing a 2-0 series lead on Miami in the 2006 Finals, the Mavericks have been bounced in the first round of the playoffs in three of the past four seasons. A championship isn’t wholly necessary to repair Dirk’s playoff legacy, but if Dallas fails to make the Finals, he may have to live with the label of a regular-season MVP who can’t come through in the postseason.”

Now, I’m not here to exactly toot my own horn as a prognosticator of all things basketball — seeing as I predicted last year’s Wizards to achieve 34 wins (only off by 11 wins), and the bastardly 2009-10 Wizards to achieve 55 wins (yes, I was off by a whole 29 wins here… like I said, “bastardly”) — however, in the same ESPN poll, in reponse to a query on the most surprising thing that would happen in the Western Conference playoffs, I wrote:

“It won’t be surprising when each of the top four seeds in the West move into the second round with relative ease. Nor will it be surprising when the conference semifinals and finals all get pushed to seven games. What will be surprising is when the Dallas Mavericks come out on top in the West and Mark Cuban holds a party for all his friends in the media.”

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[Editor's Note: Before we all complain about the inundation with all that is LeBron -- with coverage good, bad, overall, and everything in between -- consider the fact of how such a unique character provides an opportunity to relish in how influential sports figures have become. That is to say, at least all of this is not boring. Ben Standig (Twitter: @BenStandig) writes about DMV sports all over the web, CSNWashington.com amongst them. In a TAI guess piece below, Ben breaks down a commonality between LeBron and Mike Tyson, who, by chance, is being inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame today. -Kyle W.]

Once upon a time, Mike Tyson was legitimately the baddest man on the planet and in that era he delivered one of the best quotes – both figuratively and in his case, literally – depicting the nature of intimidation in the world of sports. When told before a fight that his opponent had a plan to beat him, Tyson brashly countered that “everyone has a plan, until they get hit in the mouth.”

This quote is pertinent to the NBA Finals because up until a few days ago, most of the basketball world surely would have slotted one LeBron James into that role of baddest of the bad. Not that he would land an actual haymaker to an opponent’s cranium or was the one guy in the league you wouldn’t want to cross, but his physically imposing ways surely put fear into the hearts of opponents. That physicality certainly blinded the observing world.

As it turns out – and as I suspected – James is showing that his persona indeed resembles some aspect of that quote. But not as the harasser, rather the foe to whom Tyson was referring.

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A Washington, D.C. pic, some words, and Wizards links in bullets…

[Calvert Street Bridge at dusk - NW Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

Mike Prada breaks down a good argument on Bullets Forever about why he’d trade JaVale McGee for the No. 2 pick (Derrick Williams) straight up. I previously made a simple argument of why I wouldn’t do it, but certainly wouldn’t complain if it happened. However, from what I hear, such a deal was never really considered seriously, or even “on the table,” because when conversations headed in that direction, the Wizards were turned away at the door. Indications are that Minnesota has been fielding some very creative and interesting offers for the second pick — which make the rumor of the T-Wolves sending Johnny Flynn and the No. 2 to Toronto for DeMar DeRozan and the No. 5 laughable. Nonetheless, lotta days until draft time, folks, so plenty of time for more rumors to float, and plenty of time for David Kahn to play hardball.

LINKS.

> Check out this feature piece on Trevor Booker that I provided some quotes for.
[The Good Point]

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Nick Young might be the epitome of good-natured balance. A much more mild brand of Gilbert Arenas funnies with a goofy innocence wrapped inside of a Los Angeles box, he is. But Nick clearly loves the game of basketball too, and this past season gave a small glimpse of how hard he’s willing to work for it. The future is uncertain for free agent Young, and all of the league for that matter. So as we think about the impending NBA lockout and what a sharp turn from the goodwill currently being offered by a great NBA Finals (and entire playoffs) it will be, much appreciation can be given to NBA players who Tweet. At least they will go a long way toward keeping fans close to the game during the basketball downtime, however this whole thing plays out.

All of this is to say that Nick Young is on Twitter, under the handle @NickSwagyPYoung, so let the entertainment commence. And ladies, watch out for the Cuddler…

The Highlights:

Just got pull over 4 talkin on the phone once agAin drivin down Melrose [May 24]

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