[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Game 3 contributors: Rashad Mobley, Arish Narayen and John Converse Townsend.]

Score

Washington Wizards 81 at Milwaukee Bucks 102 [box score]

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…Because, well, why not? A man once said that you have to laugh to keep from crying. That man was 2009 Caron Butler, evidently with a message to Wizards of the future then that holds true now. Exactly. In other news, the year is almost over, but the season has just begun. Whatever that means. -Kyle W.

———- Message ———-
From: Wizz Nutzz <wizznutzz@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 9:17 PM
Subject: incites!!!
To: truthaboutit@gmail.com

The Wizards started their first two games of this season with less effort, more selfishness and more frustration expressed from the players than should be accepted. No matter how much the team owner wants to use age as an excuse, these are not good signs that the franchise is successfully establishing “new traditions,” the message printed on t-shirts given to fans on opening night. Some mistakes are okay, but the aspects shown thus far by the team are not what you want infiltrating a young, impressionable team. But, alas, each next game is a chance for the Wizards to turn it around, we think. Tonight they take on the Bucks in Milwaukee at 8:30 PM ET. For 3-on-3 today, we have Jeremy Schmidt from the ESPN TrueHoop Network Bucks blog Bucksketball, TAI’s Rashad Mobley, and myself, Kyle Weidie. Here we go…

Jeremy Schmidt, Bucksketball: Is Andray Blatche going to crush Milwaukee’s power forwards on the block in an effort to show how mature he is?

MOBLEY: Let’s see, after the first game, Blatche calls out everyone who passes him the ball for not getting him the ball in the post — a place he has routinely eschewed during his career. He repeats this anger via Twitter later that night, backtracks via Twitter the next day, and this amidst Flip Saunders having a pre-practice meeting with him to sort things out.  The next game, he started off shooting 0-for-7 en route to a 2-for-13, seven point performance. He may crush Milwaukee’s forwards, and he may think he’s showing maturity, but given his track record, it’ll all come undone soon enough.

SCHMIDT: He certainly has the talent. He’s a bad matchup for the Bucks: Too quick for Andrew Bogut, too strong for most of their power forwards. But he’s as much of a threat to remove himself from the game mentally as anyone it would seem. I know there was some noise about him being grouchy already, but I think if he’s demanding more post touches, ultimately, that’s a wonderful thing for Washington.

WEIDIE: We’re at the stage where Blatche is nobly, at least for him, trying a bit too hard… pressing. Unfortunately, some of this effort is focused in the wrong areas, and on this young Wizards team, he has no place to hide. In the past, there have been scorer’s to take the pressure and attention off of Blatche — and maybe Nick Young is starting to take that role. Another problem: Blatche is neither tough mentally or physically. If he wants the ball more in the post, he’s got to be strong and hold his post position. That didn’t work out on the VERY FIRST PLAY in Atlanta. That being said, watch his 17-foot jumper be on versus the Bucks, or something like that, which will then magically open up the offense for the Wizards.

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[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Game 2 contributors: Gregg Cobert, Sam Permutt and Kyle Weidie.]

Score

Washington Wizards 83 at Atlanta Hawks 101 [box score]

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The Night After The Wizards 2011-12 Season Opener:

The Day After The Night:

Andray Blatche just can’t help himself, literally, figuratively, and ways in between.

After the Wizards grabbing the mic to announce to a much-less-than-capacity Verizon Center crowd over the P.A. system:

“How y’all doing? This is your captain, Andray Blatche. On behalf of myself, my teammates, the whole Washington Wizards organization, we want to say we strongly appreciate y’all sticking around all summer. It’s been a long summer, and it’s a shortened season, but it’s going to be tough. And we’re going to need you guys, the best fans in the NBA, to be our sixth man. So in other words, let’s get this season started.”

Fairly good intentions (“best fans in the NBA” jokes aside; Blatche gets booed a lot by the paltry home crowds). Look, no one can question that Blatche is trying. He just doesn’t know how to try. So he continues to fall on his face while the franchise constantly running to defend him keeps looking silly in the process. After all, Ted Leonsis has only doled out one multi-year free agent contract in his brief tenure as team owner, to Blatche. This, of course, amongst other positive pixel puffery.

After the game, Blatche was equally putting on a show. He implored, to the media, mind you, that he wanted the ball more in the post.

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NOTE: Look, I don’t profess to know why Truth About It.net has found itself as the intermediary between Jordan Crawford’s Twitter account-cum-letters from camp as transcribed by the WizzNutzz… I just know that these things need a venue, which kind of makes TAI like a cross between Larenz Tate in The Postman and Larenz Tate in Dead Presidents — stuff is about to get weird, futuristic, apocalyptic, violent, or all or none of the above… Oh, and someone might have their face painted like a mime at some point. In any case, communique as-is below… Goes without saying that none of the following represents the thoughts, ideas, etc. of those at TAI … nor is any of this censored (with the exception of two of these: “*”), because this site, nor Tweets from @JCraw55 (which is what all this is based off) are venues for such. -Kyle W.

———- Message ———-
From: Wizz Nutzz <wizznutzz@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 12:33 AM
Subject: j craw camp letters 2
To: truthaboutit@gmail.com

dear Kyles,
J Craw LUV we use he tweets from camp letter to give incite into NBA lifestyle!!! he say, “EXPLAIN NOVEMBER, DIG?” and we do below!!! insides include incites on birds, backcourts, Jerry Sandusky & Ben Sherman clothes — that right, J Craw a mod!!!! +++DUDE BOUNCE IS WOWZERS!!! please to use if you fit!!!

Deeece Nutzz,

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Jordan Crawford heads back to Atlanta to play against the team that drafted him, while Chris Singleton returns home. He is from Canton, Georgia and played his senior season of high school at Dunwoody, right outside of Atlanta. As the Wizards prepare for game two on the season against the Hawks tonight, their first road game, we have three questions and three answers surrounding the two teams. TAI’s Rashad Mobley, Kyle Weidie, and Bret LaGree from the ESPN TrueHoop Hawks blog, Hoopinion… 3-on-3 is now…

1) Rashad Mobley: The Hawks lack a significant scoring threat off the bench, and Wizards are lacking a veteran presence in the back court to mentor/guide/spell John Wall. Jordan Crawford could be that bench threat for the Hawks, and Kirk Hinrich (when healthy) could play that role again for the Wizards. The draft pick part of the trade that brought Chris Singleton to D.C. notwithstanding, would Crawford and Hinrich be more effective on their old teams?

MOBLEY:  Crawford is still trying to figure out how his skill-set fits in the NBA, so I don’t know if that clarity would have come in Atlanta. But I do know that on opening night, Wall struggled to lead the Wizards on offense, and Hinrich could have steadied the team a bit.

LaGREE, Hoopinion: I think Hinrich’s perimeter defense will give the Hawks more value this year than Crawford’s ability to create a huge number of low-efficiency shots. Any of Atlanta’s five starters should be able to lead/carry the second unit for short stretches, though it remains to be seen how creative Larry Drew will get with the rotation to hide the lack of bench scoring.

WEIDIE: One part of Crawford provided Nick Young leverage this past summer (or a backup plan, depending on how you look at it). Hinrich did have shoulder surgery in the offseason that was suddenly revealed at the beginning of December (he will likely miss the first month of the season), but there’s no doubt that, if healthy, he would help the Wizards more — why do you think Atlanta paid so much for him in the trade? But the move was obviously made for reasons beyond individual usage, and the Wizards had time to afford an up-close glimpse at Crawford’s potential.

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[Versus the Wizards, Deron Williams takes the double screen and dribbles in an 'S'
around the hedging defense as the four rolls and options open at the hoop.]

The ball screen defense of the Wizards against the New Jersey Nets was sub par, to say the least. Also, Deron Williams is good. Nothing new.

“He just comes off pick and rolls good, and if the big is not there to show or help, he can pick you apart any type of way,” said John Wall when asked what made Williams so hard to defend. “He started making tough, contested shots, and when an All-Star player like that starts making tough, contested shots, there’s nothing you can do.”

When Wall was pressed about who needs to do more against screens, bigs or guards, he said, “The bigs is doing the best they can and hedging as much as possible,” retreating, somewhat. “When you got a guy that can probe his way through lane and keeps the ball a lot, and can split through a defense with no problem, that’s what it is. We did a great job of trying to contain him, he just made tough shots splitting the defense.”

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[Editor's Note: What was formerly the "Rundown" in the preseason is now the DC Council -- after each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. For the season opener, in addition to my first-hand game coverage, we have two guest contributors, Gregg Cobert and Sam Permutt. More on both of them at the bottom of this post. -Kyle W.]

Score

Washington Wizards 84 – New Jersey Nets 90 [box score]

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The Washington Wizards open the season at home versus the New Jersey Nets this evening. Seems weird that it’s already here. Even after all that lockout deliberation, it kind of crept up on me. It’s a quiet December 26 Monday in D.C., and that has something to do with it. But I’m now more realizing that tonight is like a starting gun, once this game is played there will be no looking back. Three questions from Adam McGinnis, new dad Rashad Mobley, and myself, Kyle Weidie… and three answers from those same people. This is 3-on-3… Leggo.

Adam McGinnis: Kris Humphries was noted as the most disliked player in the NBA by Forbes.com, and was booed relentlessly in his preseason debut at Madison Square Garden. How do you think Wizards fans will treat him in the season opener? 

McGINNIS: Kim Kardashian’s well documented record of public manipulation should bring the brunt of public contempt on her, not a random NBA forward like Kris Humphries. However, Team Kardashian’s campaign to make Kim the victim and Humprhies the evil one is showing prosperous signs. J.J. Reddick, Lebron James and Kwame Brown are all opposing players that the Wizards home crowd loves to boo (sans Blatche of course); Humphries’s situation lacks the circumstance of those three, so I seeing Wiz fans ignoring his existence.

MOBLEY: Humphries will certainly be booed, but only because D.C. fans saw New York Knicks fans do it first. This, of course, is assuming tonight’s Verizon Center crowd will be large enough to summon that type of emotion.

WEIDIE: There might be faint smatterings, but I don’t think anyone cares much. Seems silly that the poll was not based in the opinion of true basketball fans, but I get it… Paparazzi-type B.S. Otherwise, I don’t think the demographics of basketball fans in D.C., as opposed to NYC, care much about the trials of the Kardashians. But what do I know?

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NOTE: If you’re familiar with the work of the WIZZNUTZZ, then there’s no need to explain the unexplainable. If you’re not familiar, then I won’t even try. Either way, with a now dormant WizzNutzz website and a more recently dormant @wzzntzz Twitter account (resulting from what one can only assume is non-basketball reasons within the Mothering Hut), people miss the WizzNutzz. No need to miss them anymore, for now, because here with a Christmas miracle, via electronic mail, is a brief return of the WizzNutzz on Truth About It.net, with an assist from Jordan Crawford’s Twitter account, @jcraw55. I’ve written too much already, so without further ado, the email in full below… -Kyle W.

 ———- Message ———-
From: WizzNutzz <wizznutzz@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Dec 25, 2011 at 6:30 PM
Subject: wzntz xclusivce 4 truth abotu ti!!!
To: truthaboutit@gmail.com

kylyle-

we  locked out of we site & dont know how get back, but we have LAST MIN incite for Chriosmtas MIRACLE!!! below is a collection of J Craw’s Dec tweets as writ like letter home from camp to we wizznutzz, he best friends & only people who speak same language. it’s HIGHER PLANE SHIT. please to print in apropriate forum on your website should u FIND NEED!!!!

Merry Christmas to all! Have a Bless one! I feel where you was goin wit that jeezy! I relate. Maintain to cool but she dumb Hot! Thought my name was Charlie the way she kept sayin she was over the moon for me On ice wit somethin that make ya melt! Yall take it easy on the Xmas eve! God Bless.

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Merry/happy time of the year for whatever it is that you and friends/family enjoy celebrating/taking part in. Hope all of that is going well. What you will see in this Christmas Day post is scenes from scrimmaging at Wizards practice on Thursday, December 22. Prepare yourself, fans of the team, for an ugly start to the season as a young team looks to progress toward improvement in uncertain times, i.e., enjoy!

What You Will See:

The Wizards making extra passes in the early offense — even JaVale McGee passing out of the post, go figure (I imagine this happens because McGee knows a double team is coming) — and Jordan Crawford ultimately finding Mo Evans in the corner for a jumper.

What You Will See:

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Now that NBA the season is upon us, the most oft-considered repercussion of the compacted schedule has been for whom is it an advantage. Fresh legs? Sharp minds? Old teams?

On media day Flip Saunders was asked if a youthful team brings any benefits to a scrambled environment in the aftermath of the 2011 lockout. ”I think if you have youth, you’re going to say yes, and if you have veterans, you’re going to say yes,” he said, implying that you can cook the perspective to whatever degree you like.

As with any NBA season, normal length or not, if a team is hit with the injury bug too harshly or with bad timing, it can significantly affect results. With a slate of 66 games in just 122 days, injuries are now more likely. Neither young nor old are immune. Sure, less aged muscles can recuperate faster, but those benefits are not as effective without proper time to recover.

“We just have to make sure that they can get the proper rest when they’re not playing,” said Saunders, “and so that’s going to be a main focus of what we’ll try to do too.”

“We got to really listen in and focus in on film session and listen to what the coaches are saying because there’s not going to be a lot of time to practice on the floor,” said Rashard Lewis, a veteran of the last NBA lockout, the shortened season afterward being his 1998-99 rookie campaign with the Seattle Supersonics.

Saunders also likened the compacted schedule, which for Washington includes 16 back-to-back sets and two occurrences of three games in three days, to an “AAU phase,” since players at that level are used to playing three games in a day, or even nine in a weekend. But cognitively speaking, Saunders might not want to make such a comparison, because the Wizards are susceptible to playing more like an undisciplined AAU team instead of scouring report students.

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“Know your roll!”

Former Washington Bullet Ledell Eackles, as relayed in :07 Seconds Or Less by Jack McCallum, once wrote, “Know your roll!” on a chalkboard as a member of the Miami Heat, in an attempt to inspire the team. Yes, “roll” and not “role” — the irony easily realized if you know Eackles’ issues with rotundness during his playing days.

But in terms of NBA players “knowing their roles” on the court… What, exactly does that mean? No, really. Because I’ve never quite understood it past being pseudo-code for: ‘Some guys are trying to do things they are not supposed to be doing, nor are capable of doing.’ And maybe that’s enough, although all the talk about knowing roles can still be confusing.

A player knowing his role in basketball makes sense, at one level, as all positions in the game are free-flowing. Sure, you have point guards and centers, but even the lines between those have blurred over time. Basketball is not like baseball where action is often solely focused on one person throwing the ball to a sole person responsible for hitting it; there’s sharing in basketball. Have you been to Lob City yet? (And to a lesser extent, John to JaVale Township?) Nor is basketball like football, where assignments on both offense and defense are specifically outlined. Or even hockey, where one guy’s role is to mind the net, others are more specifically geared toward defense or offense.

Basketball, with its diluted assignments, can thus be confusing when it comes to roles. Positions 1-5 can all score within the offense, or at the drop of a hat with a sudden change in possession. Players do need to know some sort of role for team structure, but even saying that seems overly robotic, and counterintuitive to how fluidly equal the game of basketball is meant to be.

Whatever it all means, it’s no surprise that the young Washington Wizards have a lack of understanding when “role” talk makes its way to the airwaves, i.e., who should be following the offense more rigidly, who is able to improvise and ad lib, and at which point of the game, quarter, or shot clock all these players should be performing within their capabilities.

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[photo: K. Weidie, Truth About It.net]

A trademark of a Flip Saunders offense has long been exploiting the mid-range game for his wing players. This aspect of the game can be hard to master (especially considering shot location), but also tough to defend. Furthermore, working the middle gives a team good options to either create closer to the basket or beyond the three-point line (given that the intended mid-range shooter is also a willing passer). One thing Jordan Crawford hasn’t been able to grasp just yet is the mid-range game, at least not like Nick Young.

Maybe Crawford’s mid-range ability will come, but considering the progress Young made last season, his second under Saunders, the time for Crawford to advance might be warranted more sooner than later. Consider these stats:

Nick Young – Shots from 16-23 Feet Per 40 Minutes

2010
2.2 makes
5.5 attempts
41% field-goals
53.8% assisted

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