It just had to be done. Sure, this is a Washington Wizards blog. And my forthcoming report from Sunday’s Wizards Fan Fest will be exactly that, forthcoming. But, for some reason, I feel the need to share/celebrate the win of the Washington Redskins over the Philadelphia Eagles. And no, this doesn’t have anything to do with a colleague of mine, an excellent writer for Truth About It.net, Rashad Mobley, being an Eagles fan. Although, I take no pity in his team’s loss.

A couple weeks ago I attended a Redskins-Houston Texans game way out in Landover, Maryland. If you were following Twitter that day, you might have noticed a mini-meltdown on my part in reaction to the loss, and the subsequent remoteness of FedEx field. (Why is that place so terrible? Because it’s not in the District, that’s why.)

While there, I captured an Eagles fan in attendance, for some reason (he had two friends who were Skins fans), and a Redskins fan of another party… interacting and ultimately being cool with each other. Although it’s safe to say they aren’t near each other this week.

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Sometimes you’ll hear people call D.C. a basketball hotbed. Or you’ll hear claims that Washington has deep basketball roots that are just waiting to blossom, especially after the takeover of the Ted Leonsis regime and the arrival of John Wall.

All good things to hear. But let’s be honest, Washington will be a Redskins town for as long as I live (unless somehow, at some point, the Wizards win four championships in 10 years, while the Skins flounder with a few insignificant playoff appearances, making the top team choice for next generation a little more difficult — a scenario that’s more of a long-distance daydream than reality, and even then …).

Nothing wrong with D.C. being a Redskins town. Football, after all, is America’s sport, even if baseball is America’s way to pass time, and basketball is more global. I’m of the opinion that all D.C. pro sports teams should be embraced together (I’m a hometown guy if you can’t tell).

Of course, in a transient city like Washington, that’s tough to accomplish. But one thing is clear, many Washingtonians take pride in their Redskins … and where better to observe that pride than at the Adams Morgan Day Festival held on Sunday afternoon? (BTW, for those outside of D.C., Adams Morgan is a popular area of the city with bars, restaurants, shops, etc.)

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A D.C. pic and links …

I came across this big banner hanging on a building at the northeast corner of 13th and L Streets NW, about nine blocks or so from the Verizon Center. It features “Monumental Action” and the Verizon Center website URL followed by Alex Ovechkin, Andray Blatche, Crystal Langhorne, Beyoncé Knowles (I believe), and who appears to be Chris Wright of the Georgetown Hoyas. The logo of the Ted Leonsis-led group, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, is featured in the lower right-hand corner. I’m not sure what other monumental banners are around the city (or DMV area), or how long this has been up (the Monumental logo was released on July 16), but I am curious to see if Blatche will allow himself to be the Wizards representative of Monumental Sports in the future.

Preparation “H”

Michael Lee reports that it’s unlikely the Wizards will sign 2010 second round draft pick (56th overall) Hamady N’diaye, rather likely opting to let him develop in Europe.
[Wizards Insider]

I had a feeling something like this was coming, as N’diaye remained unsigned, and it was previously reported that an Italian team had interest in him. The Wizards will still hold N’diaye’s rights for the future, but now, since it looks like Kevin Seraphin will need a fair bit of time to develop (and he isn’t going to the D-League — link below), it makes sense for Hamady to get more experience overseas.

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[a basketball hoop somewhere in Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

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Excuse the comparison to the men’s game and think of the following more as context to what the Washington Mystics have accomplished this season. Through their run, a prevailing storyline has been about someone who hasn’t played at all, all-star Alana Beard. No one expected Washington to do anything after Beard had season-ending surgery on an injured left ankle tendon in April. Instead, the Mystics finished as the first overall seed in the East.

Unfortunately for the growing Mystics fan base, their team lost its opening playoff game against the Atlanta Dream in D.C. on Wednesday night. They’ve long moved past the ‘what if we had Alana’ stage, but for context, perspective, and for the hell of it, let’s find the NBA equivalent of Beard’s statistical production for a better idea of her impact, or lack thereof.

I chose three advanced stat categories to put in the Basketball-Reference.com historical NBA database (and please excuse the refresher course via the Basketball-Reference glossary): Read more »

Washington Mystics head coach Julie Plank was the epitome of business as usual after her team’s big 80-71 win on Sunday against the Seattle Storm, which just happens to be the best team in the WNBA. But the coach still understood that the victory was crucial, not only for a team still learning a lot about themselves, but also for their playoff hopes.

“It just felt like a championship, a playoff-type game,” said Plank after the win over the previously 25-5 Storm at the Verizon Center, pushing the Mystics’ record to 19-12, the most regular season wins in franchise history with three games to go.  “We’ve won six out of eight games, and this is kinda how we were playing before the All-Star break,” Plank continued. “We’re in a good rhythm right now, and we know that every game matters …. we haven’t clinched a playoff berth yet.”

“Yet” was evidently the operative word. The Connecticut Sun later lost to the Indiana Fever on Sunday, clinching a playoff berth for the Mystics likely before Plank even left the arena, and also marking another franchise first — the first time the team has ever earned consecutive trips to the WNBA playoffs.

So how did the Mystics do it? It wasn’t easy. On Friday in Connecticut, Seattle rested several of their top players. Point guard leader, and third in the league with 5.6 assist per game, Sue Bird played just over six minutes. Swin Cash, averaging 14 points per game, second on the Storm, also played just over six minutes. And two-time MVP Lauren Jackson, third in the WNBA averaging 20.9 points per game, didn’t even play; the reason cited was back spasms. Seattle lost to a Connecticut team that Washington has been trying to fend off for a playoff berth by 20 points.

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A D.C. picture, links and commentary …

[Howard Theater - 620 T St. NW - Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

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By now you may know that JaVale McGee has been cut from Team USA … and it also served as another example of news coming directly from a player, via Twitter. This is somewhat disappointing (him being cut, not that word came by means of Twitter). Many signs/media reports gave you the feeling that McGee would at least be taken to Europe to participate in training and exhibitions leading up to the FIBA tournament in Turkey, and it would have been good for his development. Then again, maybe he didn’t want to go, knowing he wouldn’t make the final 12. Or perhaps the team thought it would be best for him to train stateside under the direction of the franchise. Regardless of the reason, a lot of eyes, D.C. and beyond, will be on McGee in 2010-11 because of this Team USA experience. If he becomes more of a student of the game, he can really be special.

Dan Steinberg conveys pretty much the gist of the Redskins’ Brandon Banks doing the John Wall dance after scoring a punt return touchdown in their exhibition opener against the Buffalo Bills. Banks did the dance in front of his boy from Raleigh, John Wall, no less.
[DC Sports Bog]

Even the website of a Lexington, Kentucky NBC television station is covering Banks doing the John Wall dance.
[Lex18.com]

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From 1999 to 2004, two different versions of Chamique Holdsclaw played in Washington D.C.

The first version was drafted by the Washington Mystics first overall in 1999 out of Tennessee and started in the inaugural WNBA All-Star game as a rookie.  Holdsclaw led the team to two playoff appearances, and averaged 18.4 points and 9.1 rebounds a game during her tenure.  She created so much buzz and excitement for women’s professional basketball in Washington D.C. that the Mystics led the league in attendance five out of her six years with the team, averaging well over 15,000 fans per game (close to what the Wizards averaged during that same span, until someone named Jordan came back and spiked the numbers).  Attendance banners were put up in the Verizon Center to recognize this achievement, and this was largely due to Holdsclaw.

But in 2004, another side of Holdsclaw began to emerge, and the positive press about her began to subside.  She missed a series of games down the stretch during the 2004 season, and rumors swirled about whether she was pregnant, suffering from some type of drug addiction, or just plain unhappy with playing in Washington.  Just a few months after the season ended, Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post, broke the story that Holdsclaw had been diagnosed with depression, and she had been too ashamed to speak up about it earlier.  She never wore a Mystics uniform again.

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Some recent Washington Wizards videos that you might have missed ….

Number ten on the Wizards’ top plays of the 2009-10 season is of particular interest … because one could argue it was the play of the year (or perhaps the play of the last five years), but it also could have been one of the worst bad luck plays imaginable. And it’s nothing more than a Cedric Jackson game-winning three-pointer that gave the Wizards a 98-97 victory over the Indiana Pacers in the last game of the season. So what significance is that?

It’s of John Wall-level significance.

Let me explain by quoting something I wrote on the night of May 18th when the Wizards won the NBA Draft Lottery:

Irene Pollin spoke before the fourth quarter of the last game of the season. The Wizards, down by six and looking everything like a 25-win team heading into the final 12, came back to beat the Indiana Pacers by one point. Flip Saunders played his most inexperienced, least talented squad down the stretch. But little-used Cedric Jackson bucked and scored the last five points of the game.

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D.C.-area rapper Wale has been covered quite a bit on this site. But he wouldn’t be if I didn’t think so highly of his music. I mean, Soulja Boy was flown in for a Wizards-Cavaliers playoff game in 2008 and I barely mentioned it … because it’s friggin’ Soulja Boy. He is absolutely terrible.

First Wale just wasn’t that into the Wizards, rather he rooted fo the Cleveland Cavaliers. Then his fandom for the Denver Nuggets, as well, came to surface. “I gotta be honest, I’m not the biggest Wizards fan,” Wale once said, putting his hometown team further away than the back seat, shutting them in the trunk instead. Of course, Andray Blatche cautioned us not to believe that Wale really wasn’t a Wizards fan. And maybe Blatche was right, Wale did show up for a decent share of games last season, in the on-the-house seats the team makes available for VIPs.

In late May when the Wizards’ draft lottery chances became a hot topic, Wale revealed that he was rooting for his hometown team to win. Clearly after they did, Wale’s attention deficit toward the Wiz came to a record-screeching halt. The bandwagon became heavier, and that’s okay.

The reality is also that the Wizards haven’t had anyone with huge star power for some time. Wale was unheard of on the music scene the last time Gilbert Arenas was relevant. Now the rapper is readily expressing his excitement that John Wall will be part of a new generation of stars in D.C., the “freshman class” (and Donovan McNabb). And the difference is that Wall’s hype is propelled by basketball talent, not by a $111 million contract. Fans loved Arenas when he was on top, but Wall is seen as one who will change the direction to the franchise, rather than someone putting up numbers in a high-octane offense.

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Remember when the Wizards removed Gilbert Arenas’ banner from the facade of the Verizon Center?

Of course you do. It was kind of a big deal.

It was a big deal to Arenas. It was a big deal to the local NBC television camera crew that just ‘happened’ to be there to capture it. It was a big deal to the media … a blog-worthy moment of an infamous instance in franchise history.

Sounds dramatic, huh?

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