Posts for category ‘Washington Bullets’

NBC Washington had a good video piece on Kevin Grevey and the ’77-78 Washington Bullets championship team earlier today (video above, obviously …. unless you are getting this through an aggregator/reader, then click the link).

Ahh, the memories … before my time.

I naturally wanted some more on Kevin Grevey, so should you.

The first place you should go is Bullets Forever for a piece about Grevey, all-time BF #20, by Mike Prada … bonus is an old school video of Pete Maravich playing horse.

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“Taste of Eleven”

Looking for a way to celebrate a Wizards draft lottery victory (or fail)? On Wednesday, Wizards Care will be hosting their 2nd annual “Taste of Eleven” luncheon at the Verizon Center in Chinatown, DC.

Basically, $11 buys you a ticket where you can select six lunch items from a selection provided by a ton of local restaurants. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Capital Area Food Bank.

The event is scheduled to run from 12:00-2:00 pm and tickets will be available to purchase at the door. If you are in the neighborhood, like me, might as well eat some good food while supporting a good cause.

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The friendly bloggers (and their fans) at the Cleveland sports-based Waiting For Next Year have taken upon the task of creating a Mark Price-themed t-shirt (h/t Sporting News).

Price, the current Atlanta Hawks shooting coach, may still be right for Cleveland Cavaliers fans, but that’s far from the case for Wizards/Bullets fans.

A reminder of how the Cavs fleeced former Bullets GM, John Nash (from this May ’08 post):

Every time I see someone sporting some old school Bullets gear, I’d like to buy them a beer. They weren’t selling any brews on the Mall today so I didn’t get a chance to toss one to this cat. Instead, he gets a blog post dedicated to his retro sweetness.

The passing of Kevin Duckworth at only 44 years old should serve as yet another cautionary tale for the health of all Americans. Medical examiners have concluded that Duckworth died of “hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with congestive heart failure.” The initial report from The Oregonian indicated that Duckworth appeared to have gone into cardiac arrest, according to fire rescue officials on the scene.

We are all aware of the weigh problems Duckworth dealt with throughout his career and more so into his retirement. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy involves the thickening of the heart muscle, thought to be primarily caused by genetics, but could be affected by non-genetic factors. There is no definitive connection between Duckworth’s heart problems and being overweight, but an easy conclusion to make would be that the latter certainly did not help the former, especially since his high blood pressure played a role in his heart failure.

Memories of Duckworth have focused on his positive contributions, especially those of his days with the Portland Trailblazers, the team he was most associated with. True Hoop’s Henry Abbott and Wayne Thompson of Blazers.com will recall his performance in a Portland game 7 win over the San Antonio Spurs in the 2nd round of the 1990 NBA Playoffs. Current Blazers team president, Larry Miller, remembers Duckworth “as one of the warmest and biggest- hearted.” Duckworth was in Lincoln City, OR to host a free clinic for kids.

My memories will, of course, stem from Duckworth’s days as a Bullet. While the on-court recollections weren’t always fond, I do remember the big fella having a smile on his face, for the most part.

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Over on Bullets Forever, the summer project is to recount past franchise curiosities. Robert Pack, Jim McIlvaine, LeDell Eackles, Tim Legler, and Haywoode Workman have been covered to date. There are many good players still left to remember, but there’s one particularly interesting character who we all forgot……

Going through the Bullets cards I collected as a 90s youngin’, I came across the gem(s) below. Larry Stewart, was he really a rookie sensation? Stewart wasn’t known to possess a lot of skill, rather he was a hustling, hard-working, versatile 6’8″ big man who made the most of his ability. Making it to the NBA when no one thought he would was, in fact, sensational…….but what’s happened to Larry Stewart since?

33>32

High School in Philly
Hailing from Philadelphia, Stewart starred at the famed Dobbins Technical High School. In 1985, the duo of Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble led Dobbins Tech to the Philadelphia City Title before heading to USC together in the fall of that year (and later, Loyola Marymount in late ’86). Dobbins has also produced Doug Overton, Dawn Staley (USA Today’s female high school player of the year in 1989), Linda Page (who scored 100 points in a game in 1981), and Horace “Pappy” Owens (’79 McDonald’s All-American and current assistant at LaSalle).

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Normally, Gilbert Arenas might be the last, but not the least, Washington Wizard to be evaluated. But that’s not the case this year…..Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison formed an alpha dog duo this past season. My thoughts on Agent Zero are below, head over to Bullets Forever (coming soon) to check out what the Pradamaster and Jake The Snake have to say.

Previous Entries:
Etan Thomas | Oleksiy Pecherov | Dominic McGuire | Nick Young | Andray Blatche | Roger Mason |
Darius Songaila | Antonio Daniels | DeShawn Stevenson | Brendan Haywood

This past season provided me, along with others, a lion’s share of negative thoughts about Gilbert Arenas. Unfortunately, many of those others allowed such ideas to consume the previous good will built by Agent Zero to the point where they no longer wanted Gilbert on their team. I will not allow myself to forget what I’ve learned from the past.

For one, I’m a believer in Gilbert Arenas. He came from humble beginnings and has successfully overcome every real and perceived slight handed down upon him. I remember seeing Gilbert Arenas play live in college from the opponent’s end of the court way back in December of 2000. That day, Mississippi State defeated 10th-ranked Arizona, in Tuscon, in ‘Zona’s own Fiesta Bowl Basketball Classic tournament, for the first time in its 16 year history. That Wildcat team featured the likes of Arenas, Richard Jefferson, Jason Gardner, Loren Woods, Luke Walton, Eugene “High Socks & ‘Fro” Edgerson, and team leading scorer, Michael Wright. Gilbert dropped 14 points, but I barely remember him being on the court……he surely didn’t live up to scouting report expectations. Gilbert Arenas? Who’s that dude? Lo and behold…..almost seven years later…….I’m writing blog letters to the guy.

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Washington Wizards Player Evaluation #9, head over to Bullets Forever to check the thoughts of the Pradamaster and JakeTheSnake on DeShawn Stevenson.

Previous Entries:
Etan Thomas | Oleksiy Pecherov | Dominic McGuire | Nick Young |
Andray Blatche | Roger Mason | Darius Songaila | Antonio Daniels|

If you were guessing which Wizard would have the best chance of surviving a season of Deadliest Catch, who would it be? Caron Butler, obviously…..especially since he grew up in the climate of Racine. But right behind Tuff Juice would be DeShawn Stevenson, this year’s recipient of the Warrior Award. He made it through watermelon knee, grandpa’s ankle, and pregnant woman’s back without missing a game…..and while turning in the best season of his career.

Stevenson also provided a king’s share of off-court fodder, while significantly boosting business for The Pride of Fredonia’s Sports Bog. DeShawn dubbed himself the Lock Smith, had trouble keeping it real, lost feeling in his face, danced at his 80s birthday party the same night he sprained his ankle and lost to the Bucks in devastating fashion, led me to realize that he had something in common with Ricky Davis, and made trash talking history. And I’m not even mentioning last summer’s gun play (which has seemingly been swept under a rug – DeShawn and Andray Blatche are the poster children for the perils of bringing hoes, and their male baggage, home), Black Card escapades, jersey tattoos and Lindsey Lohan solicitations.

I certainly appreciate some of DeShawn Stevenson’s off-court antics. He makes the team more bloggable, which garners more attention….and the end result is better for the franchise in an ‘any pub is good pub’ manner. However, many times, I found DeShawn’s on-court antics disgraceful and sophomoric. I know, I know….go easy on the guy, he’s a warrior. But being a numb-faced hype man is one thing, acting as an incendiary device for opponents is another. If only DeShawn could find the balance between maturity and motivation.

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I was doing some cleaning around the apartment yesterday, working on a project for Father’s Day (Happy Father’s Day to my dad all the real dads out there) and came across a clipping from the Washington Times that my pops gave me just over three years ago.

“What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been,” was Tom Knott’s proclamation of purged bad karma for DC’s pro-basketball franchise just before game one against the Chicago Bulls in the ’05 NBA playoffs. It made me think, so much of that trip was spent bonding with my dad. We probably made the trek out to Landover, MD, and then downtown to Chinatown years later, at least 175 times together, witnessing years of futility and a lone playoff game pre-2005. To pass time with my father, to follow a hometown team together, it was all worth it.

I couldn’t help but get a chuckle out of Knott’s column. The long, strange trip continues and some would argue that Wizards fans still have not been exonerated of bad karma. Is this article to remind us how appreciative we should be for a four year playoff run, or have our expectations justifiably risen to the point where wanting more supersedes being spoiled by morsels of success?

The circus acts of yore are all featured: “Nervous” Pervis Ellison, Manute Bol, Boo-nard King (is that the best picture they had?), Mel Turpin, Rex Chapman (one of my all time favorites), Rod Strickland, Juwan Howard, Chris Webber, Jerry Stackhouse, and finally Old Man Jordan.

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