[Rodrigue Beaubois stands annoyed after another foul was called on him.]

Before the game I ran my mouth off to just about anyone who would listen at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion that I was intrigued by the Roddy-Wall match-up, clearly, a Samhan-McGee ‘opposites attract’ battle, and finally, perhaps Hamady N’diaye versus Moussa Seck in a Senegalese throw down.

Well, Beaubois couldn’t do anything but foul Wall and was switched off him, the newly acquired Ian Mahinmi started for Dallas and mostly guarded JaVale, and Seck didn’t even see the court. Damn the summer league (just kidding, I love you).

Two things are below: 1) quick post-game chats with John Wall, Rodrigue Beaubois and Dominique Jones in video form; and 2) the second piece by Arish Narayen, a contributor to Truth About It. Arish previously broke down the Wizards’ small forward situation. Here he takes a look at summer league game three against the Mavericks. Read more »

People talk about the fall of Agent Zero, how about the fall of Tuff Juice?

Mike Prada of Bullets Forever writes “the” definitive piece on Caron Butler’s 2009-10 season, but with some historical perspective as well. Below I’ve put a great quote from the article, but the whole thing, “Caron Butler was a big part of the problem with the 2009/10 Wizards,” is much longer and is really a must-read.

So what’s the theme of Caron Butler’s season?  It’s very hard to function when you’re dogged by resentment and dreams of personal success.  Butler has moved on to Dallas, where he’s now shooting more than Dirk Nowitzki and generally wasting possessions like he did in DC.  His game has declined with age, sure, much like other 29-year olds who have been as injury-prone as him.

But this is not your typical decline.  Much like Kevin Garnett, Butler has declined while kicking and screaming about the wonder days that were.  He’s the last person to accept the fact that he isn’t the player he once was.  He never figured it out in DC and he doesn’t appear to have figured it out in Dallas.  Worse, his decline was accelerated by lingering resentment of his co-star that only grew when that co-star started missing games.  That co-star is now on a different team, but Butler still stubbornly pushes on, trying to show he deserved his past status.

And really, this is a story about how precious one’s state of mind is in this game.  Butler went from being one of the league’s most unselfish and professional players to one with too big an opinion of himself that resented his teammates.  It was a dramatic shift and it couldn’t have happened to a more unexpected guy.  If it can happen to Butler, it can happen to anyone.

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Doing some spring cleaning while watching the NBA playoffs on Sunday, I found myself ripping off covers of old ESPN The Magazines and trashing the rest, but not before quickly flipping through to make sure nothing was keep-able.

Times were different in December 2007. Well, not so much for Wizards fans. The turmoil was just getting started with the news that Gilbert Arenas would be having a second surgery on his knee just two weeks old. That December 3rd edition of ESPN The Magazine ironically had part of an NBA advertisement featuring a picture of Arenas and the words, “Where I’m back happens.”

In that same edition, which had Terrell Owens giving Tony Romo ‘bunny ears’ on the cover (Jason Witten was in the picture too), was the above ‘Got Milk?’ advertisement featuring two former Dallas Mavericks, coach Avery Johnson and player Josh Howard.

December 2007 represented some of the last days of NBA harmony for each Howard and Johnson. The Mavericks as a one-seed lost to the eight-seed Warriors the previous Spring, an ’06-07 season where Howard also represented the Mavs in the NBA All-Star game. But from there, it would go further downhill.

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{flickr/Keith Allison}

I’ve written about Caron Butler and Josh Howard being different players off the court. But what about on the court? To get the best perspective, I turned to Rob Mahoney of the ESPN TrueHoop Network Dallas Mavericks blog, The Two Man Game. In addition to his Mavs blog, Rob does great work all over the internet, including his contributions to Hardwood Paroxysm and NBC’s Pro Basketball Talk.

Below is the question I asked Rob about Howard and his answer, and then my response to his question about Butler.

Tell me about Josh Howard. I know about all of his off-court stuff. I know about some of his “can’t control what the ball do” statements regarding on-court stuff. I know about a debate between you and Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com over whether Cuban and the Mavs were coddling/babying Howard too much. Any other reasons why Howard fell so far from grace in Dallas? Did you get any indication that he was a disturbance in the locker room? Or can his down year mostly be attributed to injury issues? The Wizards likely see J-Ho as just an expiring contract, but he certainly will play. How healthy is he now? How motivated do you think he will be to contribute to his new, yet very, very bad, team?

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Sorry for the long title, but there’s a decent bit to cover here.

The Edict Under Which Ernie Grunfeld Works

We already know Mark Cuban is a pretty smart dude. To get that rich, you gotta be. But we never figured he was smart enough to pull one over on Ernie Grunfeld, the man who spent years honing his trade in the Big Apple. Not only did Cuban (and Mavs GM Donnie Nelson I suppose) get everything they ever dreamed of in a trade with Washington, but they also got the Wizards to pay them “cash considerations,” and they didn’t have to send the Wizards their trade exception in exchange for Fabricio Oberto, as was supposedly discussed.

If you’re the Wizards ownership in limbo, guess you gotta spend money and give away value to save money, perhaps for the sale of the team. With part of potential majority owner Ted Leonsis’ ’10-Point Rebuilding Plan’ being to always seek a “pick and a prospect,” we now have some insight that, perhaps, Grunfeld was working under edict of the Abe Pollin estate to cut costs no matter how much it might set the franchise back in the future. Abe’s dream of his team winning another championship has been put to rest, now the Washington basketball patriarch’s squad could be being dismantled just to appease the financial gain of those he left behind.

Sorry Wizards fans, the legacy of Abe Pollin still haunts the franchise. Not until Leonsis takes over can you rest assured that the team you love will be firmly headed in a positive direction, or at least open with fans on that direction, which would likely sooth baffled impatience in these current trying times.

Mark Cuban, a brilliant cat he sure seems like right now. But he’s also a goober. You know, the type who hams it up beyond necessity while being unfunny and cutesy enough to make you roll your eyes and think, “this” guy. Some of this is evidenced in a video interview Cuban did with Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Sure, Cuban is probably a nice man, but he’s also annoying with a kitschy style of charm. Good for him, I suppose. He’s rich and most of us aren’t. He wins. Read more »

Two of the three below are gone, the third on this Wizards Mount Rushmore might be gone by President’s Day. And that would make not one, but two banners needing to be removed from the 6th Street facade of the Verizon Center in 2010.

“Character, Commitment, Connection”

-Wizards 2009-2010 Season Motto

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Ready for a sports cliché? Wait for it …. wait for it …. here goes …. “Games are not won or lost on a single play.”

Not exactly comforting to Wizards fans. Definitely not comforting to certain players in the Wizards’ locker room. Especially not comforting to head coach Flip Saunders.

After overcoming just 15 assists to 14 turnovers for the game and a seven point deficit with a minute left, the Wizards fell short by just one point to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night. Down 94-93 with 6.7 seconds left, just after Brendan Haywood drew a huge charge call on Dirk Nowitzki, Caron Butler had the ball in his hands to win the game, either with a shot or a pass to a teammate.

After receiving the inbounds pass, Butler halted any previously set up process and dwindled clock with unproductive bounces of the ball, something you can’t exactly afford when you’re down. He drove left against Shawn Marion into the strong side help of Jason Kidd. With good defense quickly closing up the lane, Butler threw up the only shot he could muster, a weak, fading attempt that was sent back in his direction by Marion. Game over. Fans were left baffled.

No, games aren’t won or lost on one play, but when it came down to one play, why did Washington screw the pooch in between taking it out for a nice seafood dinner and never calling it again? There must have been a better way for the Wizards to court their first three-game win streak of the year. Perhaps being on the same page as to how the final play was to be executed would have helped.

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{Game Faces}

A focused pre-game Gilbert Arenas.

A plotting, thinking Flip Saunders.

Contrasting bench facial expressions.

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There are two states Wizards fans should be in after last night’s game: anxiousness relieved and mid-range.

Between Jamison being out for the next ten games or so, and an inconsistent preseason where the Wizards’ major players didn’t really see a ton of court time together, fans really didn’t know what to expect on opening night … in hostile territory and against a team that many expect to be amongst the best in the West (after the Lakers and Spurs).

There are certainly many different types of swagger, just ask Dan Steinberg. What was seen last night was ‘Sustainability Swag’. Every time Dirk started heating up, every time you thought the Mavs might make a run, the Wizards’ veterans came together and withstood oncoming water like a brick wall. The Wiz didn’t dazzle and amaze. They simply looked good. They were poised. Such composure and consistency on the court has been a rare sight for this franchise. Enjoy this one folks, you deserved it.

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{The Dallas Skyline - flickr/Victor F}

Game night is finally here. It seems like only yesterday I was pouting about my favorite league in my favorite sport ending and it’s back already.

I must admit, just under three hours before the Wizards tip off their season against the Mavericks in Dallas, I’m not exactly as pumped as I feel I should be. A lot of it probably has to do with Jamison being injured and my current level of optimism being a bit more guarded as a result.

Meh … all of this will probably change once the ball is thrown in the air and I’ll be as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve (or whatever holiday you may celebrate where you know will be getting presents the next day). Read more »

Some recent links (with commentary) and forgotten notes from last Friday’s preseason game against the Mavericks at the Verizon Center in D.C. …

Caron Butler and a very tall clown {via WashingtonWizards.com}

Evidently on Sunday morning, Caron Butler was slated to co-chair the ‘Sister to Sister’s Bike For The Heart’ event with D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty at the Verizon Center in Washington. But the Wizards also had a preseason game in Toronto, Canada at 3 pm that afternoon. Event host Irene Pollin, Wizards co-owner, told Butler that he could attended that morning and just catch up with the team at their next stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The team’s other ‘co-owner’, Irene’s husband Abe, said “nope,” indicating he wanted Butler in Toronto, supporting his teammates. So Abe called up his private jet and whisked Butler, along with team president Ernie Grunfeld, to T-Dot after the event and in time for Butler to get in a workout before the Raptors game.

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{Gilbert Arenas in the now dead gold jersey - flickr/Keith Allison}

It was a tale of two quarters for Gilbert Arenas. In the first, he frustrated fans and probably his coaches and teammates alike because he didn’t even take a shot when opportunities were ample. Did he lose his offensive mojo and become the Agent Austin Powers instead of the one they call Zero? Arenas did have four assists to a sole turnover in the 9:12 he played first quarter, but that’s not exactly going to make the Wizards’ offense better.

Before the game, Flip Saunders said “I think with Gil, my thing is going in, playing in 10 minutes and that’s pretty much it. If he feels pretty good about where he’s at, then come back a little bit. If he doesn’t come back it doesn’t mean, ‘Oh somethings wrong with Gil.’”

With the ‘same’ passive Gil to start against Dallas, did Saunders really have a choice but to play him more?

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5:35:20 PM: Walking to the Phone Booth for the only Wizards preseason home game. #ipodcheck ‘All I Need’ Jay-Z, The Blueprint

5:41:46 PM: “Got fiends throwing up on themselves like Willie Beamon.” #jayz

6:57:54 PM: At the Verizon Center, nothing crazy. Missed Flip Saunders’ court interview. Not much to ask the players about in the locker room bf game.

7:08:24 PM: Seen in the Wiz crowd: a bald headed white dude with a Nick Young jersey, but it’s not Dan Steinberg.

7:09:43 PM: Tweet bf Wiz-Mavs start: Stevenson starting for the Wiz, Drew Gooden at C for Dallas .. hope Haywood abuses him.

7:16:25 PM: Haywood getting offensive rebound then fouled by Gooden then crumbling 2 floor holding his ankle sends moans & cuss words through crowd.

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The Wizards will play the second game of their preseason slate against the Dallas Mavericks tonight … the only home preseason game on the schedule. It will televised on Comcast SportsNet and can be heard on DC’s 106.7 The Fan.

Also, I’ll be reporting from the game, and likely doing another live Twitter post on Truth About It (of course, this time within the NBA guidelines of a three ‘Tweet’ limit during each quarter and one during each of the two quarter breaks (but no limit on pregame, halftime and postgame Tweets).

But in terms of the Mavs, fellow TrueHoop Network blogger, Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game, agreed to answer a couple questions about his team. Here that goes …

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(Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)

check more (and video) at You Got Dunked On.com

The Wizards were just what the Mavericks needed on Saturday night….yep, that’s my cliche opening sentence. How ’bout it?

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