[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. Click here for cumulative DC Council 3-star ratings over the course of the season. Game 47 contributors: John Converse Townsend (@JohnCTownsend) and Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) on-hand from the Verizon Center... and YOU, the reader, who gets to be the third voter in the DC Council star ratings.]

Score

Washington Wizards 92 at Atlanta Hawks 95 [box score]

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With coverage of the Washington Wizards’ 95-92 loss to the Atlanta Hawks from the Verizon Center on Saturday night, Kyle Weidie and John Converse Townsend provide their reaction…

First, a good moment…

Defining Moment.

-Kyle Weidie

By halftime, Atlanta’s Joe Johnson had attempted just five shots, making two of them; he had four total points and his Hawks were down 52-41. Johnson didn’t do much in the third, either. He scored a transition 3-pointer 24 seconds into the second half thanks to Jeff Teague quickness and creation. Otherwise, Johnson missed his other two third quarter attempts. Chris Singleton was making up for a lack of lateral quickness with physicality, making it especially tough when Johnson tried to post him. Atlanta’s leading scorer entered the final period with seven points on 3-for-8 shooting, and he hadn’t attempted one free throw either. Johnson checked back into the game for Willie Green with 5:41 left in the night, his Hawks down 87-83. At the 4:16 mark, he easily got into the paint against Singleton for a running jumper. Was he heating up? Was it a sign that the Wizards needed to double? Not a minute later, Johnson gave Singleton a slow, deliberate jab step from 19 feet away on the left wing. Singleton gave him just enough space and didn’t close the gap. “It’s over,” I turned and said to TAI cohort John Converse Townsend; Johnson then nailed the jumper. It was merely elementary when Johnson hit a 3-pointer against scrambling Wizards defense to put the Hawks up 93-92 with 46 seconds left, he already found the glimmer of rhythm he needed to get going.

M.V.P.

-John Converse Townsend

Nene was the rare MVP in a losing effort, recording his 80th career double-double. The Brazilian big man set the tone early, finishing two and-1s in the opening quarter, on his way to 14 points and eight rebounds and an 11-point lead at the half. Nene finished the game 21 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks, and two assists. Read more »

The Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks face off for the second time in eight days tonight in Washington. For tonight’s 3-on-3, John Converse Townsend (@JohnCTownsend) and I, Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) are covering the game at the Verizon Center, and we sourced some pre-game quotes to answer the questions about tonight’s game. The 28-20 Hawks are favored by three points over the 11-35 Wizards. The Q&A starts now…

#1) The last time these two teams played, in Atlanta on March 16, the Wizards were short-handed, as well as playing their fourth road game in five nights. Washington lost, 102-88, and were outscored by the Hawks, 30-5, on fast break points. What needs to happen this time for Washington to be successful?

RANDY WITTMAN: “We’ll see how the game goes, but obviously we got to make shot when that happens, from the perimeter. We didn’t knock down open jump shots [in Atlanta] and that shrinks the floor even more when that happens. But this is a new day and we’re going to come out here really focused on what we have to go try and do.”

TREVOR BOOKER: “We just got to play like we did in the first half when we played in Atlanta. We had great defensive pressure, we were out on the wings denying passes, we were digging out of the post, we just played great team defense in the first half. That’s how we have to play the whole game tonight.”

JOHN CONVERSE TOWNSEND: If the Wizards hope to avoid being swept by the Atlanta Hawks in this year’s three-game series, they’ll need Chris Singleton to put the cuffs on Joe Johnson, who scored 34 of the Hawks’ 102 points in their last meeting with the Wizards. Johnson missed four games in early March with a sore knee, but has returned in fine form, averaging 25 points per game on 50-percent shooting from the field since being sidelined. Atlanta is 16-3 when Johnson scores at least 20 points and 13-4 when he dishes out at least five assists. Let’s see if the Wizards’ rookie is up for the test and able to force the Hawks to find scoring answers elsewhere.

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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. Click here for cumulative DC Council 3-star ratings over the course of the season. Game 43 contributors: Adam McGinnis (@Adam McGinnis), Rashad Mobley (@Rashad20), and Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It).]

Score

Washington Wizards 88 vs Atlanta Hawks 102 [box score]

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So you might have noticed that the Wizards-Hornets DC Council Game 42 has yet to be posted. With four games in five nights, amongst hours of unintended website downtime yesterday and into today (with “figuring out” time to boot), and with real life work stuff on the side, things happen. Not to worry, we won’t be skipping it… your next drink will be a double. Thanks for bearing with us as the Wizards move on… to play the 24-19 Hawks in Atlanta. For tonight’s 3-on-3 we have Bret LaGree of the TrueHoop Hawk’s blog Hoopinion, along with TAI’s Markus Allen and Kyle Weidie. Let’s get into it… the second game past the Nick Young/JaVale McGee era… three questions, three answers starts now…

#1) So Josh Smith wasn’t traded. He’s set to make $13.2 million next season, and that’s it for his current contract. What do the Hawks do with the surly Smith?

ALLEN: I don’t see any reason to trade Josh Smith this off-season, he’s arguably the best player on the Hawks team, and has been snubbed from the All-Star game multiple times. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that Smith wants a fresh start with a new franchise, and is frustrated with Atlanta not doing enough to promote his All-Star appearances, as well as his desire to play with a championship contender. We really can’t look too much into what is “reported”, because the only person who knows whether or not he wants out of Atlanta is Josh Smith, and he has denied accusations of a rift between him and the organization (But so did Melo). The best thing for the Hawks would be to keep him around for another season, and if there is still issues, trade him by next year’s trade deadline. With Dwight Howard also under contract for next season, the Magic could definitely try to make a move to bring Smith to Orlando which would appease all the parties involved. Also, the 2012 Draft will be one of the strongest in years, and if a lottery team offers a draft pick, the Hawks might need to put Smith on a flight.

LaGREE: For the second straight summer, I’ll believe that the most logical thing to try to do is deal Smith in a mini-blockbuster that gains a lottery pick for the Hawks. I can’t see the Hawks going for a full-bore rebuild in 2013 by letting Smith leave as a free agent and amnestying Joe Johnson so they have to gain assets another way. All that being said, the most likely outcome involves the Hawks trying re-sign Smith in 2013, Smith signing somewhere else, and the Hawks acquiring someone older, bigger, and less good as his replacement.

WEIDIE: Trade him, but don’t undervalue him. But yea, when malcontents like Smith get malcontent, the best move is to get them out of town. Don’t worry ,Wizards fans, your team doesn’t need Smith — too risky for the culture (although, no one doubts the Wizards’ ability to market their players as All-Stars, per Smith’s complaint via Markus above). Getting a lottery pick for him isn’t out of the question… OR… why don’t the Knicks just trade Carmelo to the Hawks for Josh Smith and Marvin Williams? (Yea, riiiiiiight.)

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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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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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When a key deadline trade goes down between a playoff team needing help and a non-playoff team needing to rebuild, most feel bad for the veteran going to the losing situation —  Sasha Vujacic, Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, Mike Bibby, Maurice “Mo” Evans come to mind from this season. The secondary consideration, partially because he’s going to that losing team, is the young player who would gladly trade riding the bench during a playoff run for a chance to suit up for a team going nowhere. Jordan Crawford got that and more when he went from Atlanta to Washington. He got off to a hot start with a new team that he wouldn’t give up on, even when hindered by a back injury. He got that treasured green light, which is rare, even for a lottery team. But what happens when that green light ends?

Crawford arrived in Washington at February’s trade deadline along with the 18th pick of the 2011 draft and a good veteran influence in Evans. In exchange, the Wizards gave up Kirk Hinrich (owed $8 million next season) and Hilton Armstrong. They also got the unexpected bonus of a money-saving buyout of Mike Bibby, who also came with Crawford and Evans from Atlanta. Because of a knee injury to Nick Young, he suddenly found himself going from the 12th or 13th man on the bench to full-time starter by his seventh game with the Wizards. He ended up starting his final 17 games in Washington, out of 26 total games with the team. The carefree Wizards bunch went a respectable 7-10 in those last 17 games, during which Crawford averaged 20 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists (to 3.1 turnovers), and 1.3 steals. Pretty impressive for the 27th pick of the 2010 draft.

But what’s a constant green light scenario without some wrecks and gridlock? Specifically speaking, Crawford’s intriguingly erratic and promise-filled offense comes with the caveat of him shooting  .394 from the field on 19.5 attempts per game in 40.7 minutes per contest. Volume shooting like that can get you beat. He also shot .280 from three (1.2 makes per game), and .877 from the free-throw line (3.8 attempts per game).

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[John Wall before the tip-off.]

People will say that the Atlanta Hawks lost to the Washington Wizards on Saturday night because they were without Josh Smith. Because they were unmotivated against a free-flying Wizards team with their playoff seeding already set. A date as the five seed going to Orlando to play the Magic awaits the Hawks in the first round, but did they have to get blown out by the Wiz Kids 115-83?

Regardless of Atlanta’s effortless situation, the Wizards countered with one of their best team defensive displays of the season, turning 23 Hawks turnovers into 27 points, partially thanks to 11 steals. And as the Washington Post’s Michael Lee has written, much credit is due to D-Leaguers Larry Owens and Othyus Jeffers — Owens putting in 10 points off the bench and Jeffers scoring 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. The energy of on-the-cusp players has made some of the more contractually secure Wizards not take their situation for granted.

Jeffers’ contagious explosion of hustle shouldn’t be taken for granted for the next training camp the Wizards hold either. He, along with Andray Blatche, were big reasons why the Wizards got off to a 29-18 jump on Atlanta after one quarter. Blatche worked Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia to the tune of nine points, five rebounds and 3-4 from the free throw line in the period. And Jeffers picked up two boards, one offensive, and 3-4 at the charity stripe in six and a half minutes off the bench. The disinterest of Atlanta was especially evident when they allowed Yi Jianlian to counter Jamal Crawford’s 11 points in the second quarter with 10 of his own. Washington led 61-46 at half.

Jordan Crawford didn’t have a particularly good first half. Limited with three fouls, he scored just four points on 2-3 shooting in 15 minutes, but he did have three assists and zero turnovers. In the third, Crawford didn’t try to force his own offense the entire time, even though he did go 1-6 from the field in the period. Instead, he proved that he’s not a limited basketball player by dropping five assists to one turnover and three rebounds. He finished the game with six points on 3-9 shooting with an 8-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, flipping zip passes to teammates with the same confidence he has in his offense.

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A farewell story.

Couple things to consider regarding the Wizards trade of Kirk Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong going to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Mike Bibby, Jordan Crawford, Maurice Evans and a 2011 first round draft pick…

1. Vladimir Veremeenko, the Wizards’ 48th overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, a Belarusian who was probably never going to play for the Wizards anyway, has been essentially flipped for Kevin Seraphin (17th pick in the 2010 draft), $3 million cash (from Chicago in Hinrich trade), Jordan Crawford (27th pick in the 2010 draft), Mike Bibby and a 2011 draft pick (currently projected to be the 22nd pick). The presence of Hilton Armstrong and Maurice Evans are negligible in this instance. Not bad though, right?
2. It’s fallible analysis when you total the contracts of Bibby ($6,417,616) and Crawford ($1,120,440) next season versus that of Hinrich ($8 million) and say that the Wizards are only saving around $461,944. Crawford is in the second season of a rookie contract. Money slotted to be spent on him next year should be considered an investment and not considered when tallying “savings” … Might the Wizards have instead been able to purchase a late first rounder in the ’11 for $3 million? Perhaps, if you want to make that assumption. But then you’ll have to sign that player to a contract. Getting Crawford now offsets having to spend that cash, along with him being someone the Wizards were purportedly interested in, and a player who is already acclimating himself to a professional environment. Plus, as is being reported, Bibby might seek a buyout, which could end up “saving” the Wizards even more money.
3. Breaking down Jordan Crawford’s very small sample size stats this season and contemplating how he’ll fit in on a team whose parts will continue to move is useless. Remove that from the analysis … for now. Crawford comes in with a clean slate, simple as that.
4. A future first round draft pick … enough said. Looking at historical data and saying, “Well, such-and-such team or GM doesn’t have a good history of drafting late first rounders…” is, again, useless. What does that have to do with future implementation other than as an enhancement to a static argument? Exactly. Also, why should we assume that the Wizards will keep Atlanta’s late first rounder? What if it’s flipped for a higher pick, or something (someone) else? It’s easy to judge moves alone, but just as outlined in point No. 1, this move could assist the end result of subsequent moves. Pay $3 million for a pick in the low-to-mid-20s? Okay… maybe. Pay $3 million to package a pick in the low-to-mid-20s for a pick in the low teens? It could happen.
5. Why trade now? Why didn’t the Wizards wait? Maybe Hinrich’s value would have improved? Maybe another team was going to offer more? Again, assumptions are great for argument, not always so much for real world analysis. As far as we know, there were two teams that showed any real interest in Hinrich: Atlanta and the Los Angeles Lakers (and in the Lakers’ case, the interest was probably minimal) … There’s not really a better time to take advantage of a fevered trade deadline environment, especially one occurring before the CBA is set to expire in the summer. Essentially Hinrich had one suitor (because LA made no moves), and Ernie Grunfeld still drove a hard bargain of a pick and a prospect when it was previously reported that Atlanta was unwilling to give up both. Pat yourself on the back, Grunfeld … just a little bit.
6. But wasn’t Hinrich good for Wall? Sure he was. He set good examples, answered any question Wall had of him. Great. Now Wall can ask questions of Bibby (if he stays around) … or he can continue to seek advice from Sam Cassell … or I’m sure he can just call Hinrich if he really, really wants to. Sure, there is a difference between Hinrich dropping verbal knowledge versus leading by example and being that calming veteran presence on the court during play. But does that really matter in the grand scheme of things? To Wall’s personal development, maybe … some … but otherwise, the veteran intelligence factor in this specific case should not hinder a rebuilding move. Especially when other bad players seem to be dragging down the team, I’m not sure that Hinrich’s presence made that much of a difference. It’s not like he was going to slap Andray Blatche into submission like a Kevin Garnett would.

In the end, it was wholly essential to take advantage of this opportunity. It was a good trade for the Wizards (but doesn’t necessarily change the underlying opinion of the job Ernie Grunfeld has done in totality).

Now, the un-quotable Kirk Hinrich is gone. Thanks for being around.

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Agent David Falk, decorated history with the Washington Wizards, representative for Mike Bibby. Bibby is the guy who was just traded to D.C. along with Maurice Evans, Jordan Crawford and a 2011 first round pick in exchange for Kirk Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong, who are flying high to Atlanta as I type.

The “Cold War” between Falk and the Wizards was declared over by Falk to the Washington Post’s Michael Lee last June. Abe Pollin had to pass away before the declaration was made.

So, it makes one wonder, would Falk have said, “Ernie [Grunfeld] and I will sit down” back then, during the Cold War, as he did over the phone in an interview with Comcast’s Ron Thompson on Wednesday night?

These are the questions that shall go unanswered, but documented.

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The picture show run down from last Saturday’s Wizards game versus the Atlanta Hawks…

The Wizards organization hands out free 3D glasses to fans so they can enjoy the 3D pre-game introductory montage that’s shown on the jumbo-tron for select home games.

The team sometimes has a random fan shag balls during warm-ups,
and I can only imagine the excitement of this youth throwing the ball to John Wall as he dons his jersey.

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No Al Horford, no problem for the Atlanta Hawks as they defeated the Washington Wizards 99-92 at the Verizon Center on Saturday night, their 12th in a row over D.C.’s pro basketball franchise. The All-Star big man Horford sat out the contest with a bruised tailbone after a scary spill versus L.A. Clippers on Friday, but the Hawks still pounded the Wizards on the glass with a 45-33 advantage in rebounding, 10-7 on the offensive boards. Aside for a few minutes in the third quarter, the Hawks led throughout. The Wizards managed to keep the game within striking distance but were never able to get over the hump.

Josh Smith was dominant, finishing with 29 points on 11-19 from the field along with 16 boards, Marvin Williams went for a solid 15 and 12, and Joe Johnson contributed a very quiet, yet smooth 21 points on 7-12 shooting. Nick Young led the Wizards with 21 points, but got to that tally by taking 17 shots, and John Wall tallied 18 points with six rebounds, six assists and two turnovers.

The consecutive daggers came with three minutes remaining. The Hawks were up five when Smith abused Andray Blatche on an spin post move with the And-1 harm. Blatche did score three straight buckets for the Wizards from the five minute to the three minute mark of the fourth to keep the Wizards down just 88-83, so perhaps his defense suffered after his burst of points. After an empty trip by the Wizards on the offensive end after Smith put Atlanta up 91-83, Damien Wilkins, (yes, Damien Wilkins!) scored on a strong baseline move to push the Hawks to a 10 point lead with 2:10 left. That was essentially the ball game.

Another deciding factor in Hawks’ victory, other than a 13-2 edge in second chance points, was their work at the charity stripe. Atlanta nailed 26 of their 35 free-throw attempts, 13-13 in fourth quarter alone. The Wizards ended up a putrid 8-18 from the line, going just 1-6 in the final period. Washington actually shot better from the field (51-percent) then they did from free throw line (44-percent). Ouch.

In his post game interview, Flip Saunders stressed how his team stood around too much on offense and played the game like they were on their Playstation. (PS3, XBox or Wii are probably more updated game systems, but hey, better than breaking out Nintendo or Sega.) Once a player got the ball, the other four often just assumed he would shoot it, so they halted their movement. Saunders emphasized that these individual acts are usually the difference in a two or three possession game. He referenced the Hawks moving the ball around four times to create a successful late-game jumper for Williams as an example of superb ball movement by a more veteran team.

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This is one of the few photos taken of this epic dunk by Washington Wizards forward Al Thornton on Atlanta Hawks center Zaza Pachulia.

Enjoy, and more to come.

Now, in live action.

[Andray Blatche gets consoled by Wizards trainer Eric Waters after experiencing a malady early in third quarter against the Hawks. Trevor Booker would be subbed in for him around the 8-minute mark and Blatche would not see the court again on the night. Due to getting poked in the eyes? Perhaps. Due to other inefficiencies? Probable.]

“Maybe too much turkey,” Flip Saunders suggested to TNT’s Craig Sager during a sideline interview early in Atlanta’s 116-96 Thanksgiving night thrashing of the Washington Wizards on national television. The Washington Post’s Michael Lee pointed out (via Twitter) that the team ate their holiday meal together at an Atlanta hotel the day before the game on Wednesday.

But a one-day carryover of sleepiness resulting from Tryptophan or not, there aren’t too many excuses for a young team to come out lacking energy, toughness, aggression and any other immeasurable trait that’s also wholly noticeable. Inexperienced squads like the Wizards do tend to struggle with consistency, but such miniscule effort has happened way too many times in a season just 14 games old. Hopefully the Wizards enjoyed their holiday vacation and comradary together in the South, because they sure didn’t show up in Georgia to play basketball. They were never even in the game.

Notes and thoughts, randomly:

• Flip Saunders, it seems, has been pigeon-holed into playing the gimmicky three-guard lineup, because it includes some of his better, more veteran talent. But it’s not going to work against most teams.
• With big men behind those guards who have very low-level awareness — from harder concepts such as rotations, to easier tasks like simply having hands and limbs active in passing lanes — all an opponent needs to do is be patient enough to make the extra pass against the Wizards and they’re golden.
• Mike Prada opines on Bullets Forever: “… if the concern with pairing Wall and Arenas is that neither guy plays well without the ball, how does adding Hinrich to that mix help?  Saunders, so far, has gotten the Hinrich of 2007 rather than the Hinrich of 2009 this year.  He’s gotten the Hinrich that dribbles around looking to make plays rather than the one that sits in a corner and finishes plays.”
• In other words, in Saunders’ system Hinrich is closer to Earl Boykins.
• Rebounding just might be the toughest assignment in basketball. Sure, constantly chasing a wing guard around screens can leave a player with bruises. Jostling elbows in the paint with some of the largest athletes in the world ain’t an easy job either. But rebounding either produces or preserves possessions, and doing it well requires relentlessness, something the Wizards simply do not have.
• Well, let me check that for a second. JaVale McGee has really impressed lately with his hustle, his version of relentlessness. When he appears to be trying as hard as he has been (with stellar statistical results), it’s much easier to swallow his instances of cluelessness … while he’s young.
• Of course, when McGee wastes offensive possessions trying to get to the basket from 20 feet away by dribbling the ball once and then using that lengthy step of his to wrangle around a defender, contorting his body in ways that should be on display in a museum while throwing up some floating junk that’d even make a playground pickup game pause, you still want to pull out your hair and sit his ass on the bench, even though he’s really the only Wizards big man who can make a difference on both ends of the floor.
• And then there’s Andray Blatche. He’s certainly improved his basketball skills now that he’s in his sixth NBA season. And surely he’s acquired more basketball intelligence, making inherent to his thought process some of the game’s nuances. But c’mon folks, let’s be honest, this is the same exact Blatche he’s always exposed to us.
• On the Hawks’ first offensive possession, Blatche set a tone by casually letting an offensive board slip through his hands. I hesitate to denote anything past the area around Blatche’s waste as “soft” right now — to flat-out accuse a player of being soft these days requires some more due diligence – but Andray certainly doesn’t embrace contact like a big man should.  On offense he acts like a guard willing to do anything to keep a shot attempt from the lengthy arms of a much larger defender … then you realize that Blatche is a 7-footer and you wonder why he just can’t take the goddamn ball right to the rim in order to draw a foul. He’s a great free-throw shooter, you’d think he’d want to produce more undefended points.
• On defense, Blatche rarely offers much resistance in the paint. Sure, he can use acquired technique to hold his position, or his long arms to thrawt shot attempts, but most of the time, if an opponent works hard enough to get position on him down low, it’s over.
• The most damning vision from Blatche against the Hawks was his single rebound in 19 first half minutes. To his credit, he did snag three more rebounds over the first four minutes of the third quarter, but by then it seems that Flip Saunders had seen enough. With eight minutes remaining in the period, Blatche would be relegated to the bench for the rest of the night (believe that it was due to his eyes being poked if you must, he looked fine on the bench later in the game). When you’re getting your butt kicked as much as the Wizards were, you definitely don’t want to see a complacent, apathetic performance from one of your most talented players. And actually, I’m hesitant to call Blatche apathetic. It’s not that he doesn’t care, he just, perhaps, never knew how to work hard in the first place, and this team has never taught him. Or maybe they have and he’s just incapable, which would really bring into question why the Wizards signed him to an extension this past summer.
• Ted Leonsis doesn’t get embarrassed easily, he says. But you wonder at what point he becomes concerned to the point of action. It’s still much too early in the season to be making rash decisions. It’s not like the Wizards’ situation is as dire as Detroit’s.
• But clearly, someone needs to have a ‘come to Jesus’ with Blatche. Which, again, is kind of hard with that extending of his contract. Not sure how effective a parent would be if they gave their kid a cookie and a Snickers and then told them to sit in the corner to think about what they’ve done.
• Saunders is a great coach, and the circumstances unable to be controlled by him during his tenure in Washington have been rather miserable, but the coach also hasn’t exactly expanded or enhanced his resume while with the Wizards. Not that he’s incapable of turning it around, but he’s not off to the best start.
• Patience, patience, patience … rebuilding, rebuilding, rebuilding — valid aspects of what the Wizards are currently going through. But at some point, accountability must go hand-and-hand with those terms in order for a franchise that hasn’t been relevant in over 30 years to truly build.

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