Andray Blatche is out 3-5 weeks with a strained left calf muscle, Washington Wizards coach Randy Wittman announced prior to tonight’s game. In the locker room a couple hours before facing the Chicago Bulls, John Wall spoke with the media about life, for the time being, without ‘Dray.

Q: How do you replace Blatche’s points?

WALL: “Look for Jan [Vesely], Book [Trevor Booker], Kevin [Seraphin], and each of those guys to step up in that role and play the four position… Just do the best they can. We’re not telling them to be ‘Dray [Blatche], but just be the player they is and do the right thing to help us out. You’re going to lose a lot of points from ‘Dray, but you can bring out the assets on the defensive end with the other guys. So they can still help us.”

Q: How does the offense change without the skill set Blatche provides as a big man?

WALL: “Just basically try to get them the ball in situations where you know they excel at. Don’t try to put them in the same situations that you put ‘Dray in, and shooting 19, 17-foot jump shots. You try to get them close to the basket where they can penetrate and kind of find guys at the free-throw line area where they feel more comfortable at.”

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When John Wall “Dougied” in front of an elated Verizon Center crowd before his professional home debut on November 2, 2010, the Game Changer’s career would be forever linked to the Philadelphia 76ers. Little did anyone know at the time how this connection between Wall’s Wizards and the 76ers would epitomize the ups and downs of his personal and team success. Philadelphia has sky-rocketed into its current perch amongst the best of the Eastern Conference, while Washington has plummeted to become a national punch line for sports futility. The relationship between Wizards and the 76ers has seen its triumphs, torment and just plain weirdness in the brief Wall era.

Going into the 2010-11 season, similarities between the teams were striking. Wall was the first overall pick in 2010, Philly selected Evan Turner second. Both teams were led by veteran teachers (Flip Saunders and Doug Collins) who had past playoff success. All-Star guards Andre Iguodala and Gilbert Arenas were viewed as possessing albatross contracts that needed to be moved in order for the teams to rebuild. A crop of young players in Thaddeus Young, Jrue Holiday, Lou Williams, JaVale McGee, Nick Young, and Andray Blatche littered their rosters.

Wall won each of his first two meetings versus Philly in thrilling overtime fashion, and a budding rivalry seemed in motion for these two NBA cities separated by only 132 miles. However, Washington has now lost four straight to Philadelphia by double-digits, including the most recent 103-90 defeat on January 14th.

In the original ‘Teach Me How to Dougie’ game, Wizards reserve Cartier Martin hit an improbable three point shot to send the game in overtime. Washington eventually pulled it out 106-105 on the strength of free throws, and Wall produced an eye-popping stat line: 29 points, 13 assists, 9 steals and 8 turnovers.  Wall’s first pro game, seen on TNT, was a dud blowout loss in Orlando, and while he performed much better in his second game (28 points and nine assists), the Halloween weekend loss in Atlanta garnered little attention. The 76ers victory affirmed to the sports world that the one-and-done hot shot out of Kentucky might be worthy of all the hype.

Comparisons to Oscar Robertson were thrown about, along with glowing coverage from ESPN’s SportsCenter, which led with Wall’s Dougie introduction. Wall’s dance moves and eight turnovers unfortunately drew the ire of a troll (a name which will go unmentioned) with a large radio show megaphone. His unfair, borderline racist views did nothing to stop the sports pop culture juggernaut that went from the John Wall Dance phenomenon to California Swag District’s “Teach Me How Dougie.”

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[Wizards, Wall & Wale... highlights from Fan Fest...]

The hope is that the fun of last Saturday’s Fan Fest at the Verizon Center was not just a reprieve from things to come for the Washington Wizards after Friday night’s debacle against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Tonight, the Wiz Kids will get a chance for preseason redemption in the City of Brotherly Love, as well as in front of a national audience on NBA TV. It might merely be a minor speed bump en route to a shortened 66-game season slate, but when the next game on December 26 counts, it’s not a bump to be taken lightly.

So before people pile on how bad this Wizards team might be, or rather, lack of evident improvement in this season from the last, let’s give John Wall’s bunch a chance to digest Flip Saunders’ harsh words, to think about their film session that didn’t lie, and for the fearless point guard leader himself to stand by his words of inducing better offense and more astute defense.

But aside from franchise development angst, Wizards Fan Fest was a pretty great event. After about 15 minutes of rest after practice, the team took center court in the Phone Booth for an exhibition display. The feature was two 15-minute, running-clock scrimmages — light in their demeanor, as expected — that brought this NBA follower back to summer exhibition basketball action — little defense and dunking galore. (Actually, with exception, Capital Punishment surprisingly melded entertainment and competitiveness.)

Before, during and afterward, D.C.-area rapper Wale entertained the crowd, serving as the magnet between community and professional basketball to the likely delight of team owner Ted Leonsis. While forever connected to the District, Wale hasn’t always represented the pro basketball team in his city adequately.

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[What does John Wall smell? - photo: K. Weidie]

Media members tend to attach themselves to keywords or catch phrases and then shape narratives around them. Guilty as charged. The Washington Wizards franchise has especially provided an abundance of excellent catch phrases over the years.

Recently, you have “pixels” via the web tech-savvy Ted Leonsis (and now, likely “erudite“). From Flip Saunders, we’ve had “Style over substance” as a JaVale McGee descriptor. Going back further, Gilbert Arenas helped popularize the term, “Swag.” Now most feel that word is overused, how oddly fitting.

“Just like Groundhog Day,” Antawn Jamison used to say. From “Get buckets son!,” via Oleksiy Pecherov to “I Love This Game!,” the NBA’s 90s motto that Gheorghe Muresan famously said in broken English over the television airwaves on draft night 1993, some phrases have been more relevant than others. And I’m failing to mention dozens of them, as they pertain to the Wizards.

It is unforeseen where Flip Saunders’ recent “popcorn players” parable/anecdote will fall on the spectrum, but it elicited one of the more revealing quotes from John Wall that I’ve heard. Because we all wonder, how exactly are stars like him wired? And while Wall’s words don’t exactly reveal anything about the inner workings of his neurology, they do show what he cares about: playing every basketball game like it’s his last.

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Media Day for the Washington Wizards fell right on the heeds of Training Camp ending on Thursday afternoon. It was a bit of a frenzied whirlwind, as expected, and more coverage is to come. The lessons taught and the whirlwind of basketball don’t end, of course. The first preseason game is on Friday, and the smell of popcorn is in the air.

There wasn’t much basketball action, however, for the media to witness during Thursday’s session. After team owner Ted Leonsis spoke, the display of players was pretty much relegated to some individual shooting drills. Then Flip Saunders gave rookie Shelvin Mack the DC Hard Hat for a day of work well done. Mack’s teammates congratulated him by pounding him on the head once he donned the hat.

So, in lieu of footage from today, let’s look back at a couple quick training camp videos shot by TAI’s Adam McGinnis and John Converse Townsend.

First…
McGinnis’ highlights of John Wall from Training Camp Day 3.

As Wall puts it best, “You know I’m nice.” He was talking about his abilities on the sticks in the NBA 2K video game franchise, but it certainly applies to the real basketball court as well, as it evident.

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It began with Chris Miller of Comcast SportsNet Washington innocuously asking Wizards rookie Shelvin Mack what he likes to do with his teammates to relax. It ended up with team’s young superstar, John Wall, informing the media how Superman cheates at video games.

Mack boasted that he was the best gamer on the team, which Wall was later asked about, and he vehemently disagreed with the accuracy of Mack’s claims.

Wall then revealed that sometime during the lockout, he lost to Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic (for now) in ‘Call of Duty’ because Howard hired professionals. Yes, D12 brought in ringers to teach Wall a lesson, evidently resulting in repeated beat-downs.

[Note to all school kids out there reading this, especially my nephew Jacob McGinnis, becoming a video game pro is not a suggested career path ,and a NBA star employing you for this skill is highly unlikely.]

“My team got whooped in Call of Duty to Dwight’s team, but he cheated. He went and got these two guys that play Call of Duty all day long…like they don’t have a job. They got 30 kills every time. They just sit at home and play all day. They beat us bad…..they ranked in the nation. He (Howard) went and snuck, got those two on his team…Ringers got us. Every time you turned the game back on, we’re getting killed again.”

The whole exchange is a must watch.

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Best of Wizards/basketball-related links, in bullets. But first, John Wall’s glasses help him and DeMarcus Cousins see into the future…

John: “I see the future, and I’m going to have my own candy bar.”

DeMarcus: “I want to be a candy bar for Halloween in my future.”

John: “That guy in front of me has a sneeze in his future.”

DeMarcus: “My future is an All-Denim Party… even want the toilet paper to be made of denim.”

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Big Bad John Wall wants to know. Beckley Mason, Rashad Mobley, John Converse Townsend and Kyle Weidie ask and answer hot topic questions about the Washington Wizards.

MOBLEY: Do we hold Ernie Grunfeld, Flip Saunders and the Wizards to any expectations during this abbreviated season, or do we just assume no significant strides will be made until next year?

MASON: My expectations for this team aren’t altered a bit. The summer is a time when, from a basketball standpoint, players need to be spending their own dime to work out with the best trainers possible. The lockout shouldn’t have affected that reality. Flip probably wishes he had more time with his newest players, but an extra week of training camp wasn’t going to solve the problems with McGee and Blatche, or help the Wizards to land a major free agent.

MOBLEY: John Wall has raised expectations for the Wizards with his play this summer, so it is entirely fair to hold Grunfeld and Flip to the same standard. But given that Grunfeld  hinted that he plans on using the amnesty clause next year, he may have bought both he and Flip an extra year.  However, if the Wizards win 25 games or less, a new coach/GM combo should reap the amnesty benefits.

TOWNSEND: Wizards boss hog Ted Leonsis promised to bring our fine city respectable hoops in three years or less. That is the plan, and I’m holding Leonsis to it. Stay financially flexible, develop the young players, light a fire under the seasoned vets, and, above all, find a way to win games as a team (and on the road, dammit!).

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[Washington, DC Ward 6 Anacostia Rec Center - photo: K. Weidie]

A free-throw, the most efficient shot in basketball. But the clear irony is that the easiest way to get buckets, son (shout out to Oleksiy Pecherov, who is tearing it up in the Ukrainian Superleague), is often the most ignored difference-maker in games, unless they come at the very end. Then everyone knows the implications, and everyone is watching. It can get pretty lonely at the free-throw line in one’s thoughts.

In a sport where so many flowing events occur at once, instances where observers can focus on one man with the ball are relatively nonexistent. A solo fast-break is one (imagine Dwyane Wade in the passing lane), but even he must watch his back for a futilely hustling defender. Free-throws are another instance. On the court, nothing else is happening, aside the mental and physical jostling along the lane’s hash marks. White noise ready to rebound. All basketball-curious eyes are on a single, methodical routine. The line can be even more of an island when it’s a technical free-throw.

In 2010-11, 11 out of 30 NBA teams attempted 2000 or more free-throws, including the likes of Chicago, Oklahoma City, Miami and Orlando. The cumulative winning percentage of those eleven teams was 0.542. Ten out of 30 teams attempted 1900 or less free-throws, including the likes of Golden State, Detroit and New Jersey. The cumulative winning percentage of those ten teams was 0.508. There are, of course, exceptions. The 19-win Cleveland Cavaliers attempted the eighth most free-throws in the NBA with 2,075. The 57-win, World Champion Dallas Mavericks finished 27th in attempts with 1850. The Washington Wizards finished one attempt above the league average with 1,999, tied with the Charlotte Bobcats for 12th most in the NBA.

Getting to the line in abundance is one thing, making them is another. Washington finished tied with that Cleveland team with a 0.745 free-throw percentage, good enough for 24th league-wide. Free-throws are part of the “Four Factors” of winning basketball (offensively and defensively), popularized by statistician Dean Oliver. Oliver estimates free-throws as 15-percent of success, compared to shooting (40%), turnovers (25%), and rebounding (20%). Free-throw success in this sense is measured by the ratio of free-throws made to field-goals attempted. In 2010-11, Washington finished with an offensive FT/FGA ratio of 0.216, ranked 23rd in the NBA.

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While some Wizards are attempting to eat spoonfuls of cinnamon… While some NBA players, including John Wall, are avoiding bullets at a place called the Juliet Supper Club in New York City… While Ted Leonsis welcomes the “buzz and interest” created by a show making fun of the Wizards team name (but don’t ask him about changing it, he’ll get annoyed)… While Jan Vesley returns to the Czech Republic to contemplate his basketball life… While real estate sites are getting in on the lockout action by posting about NBA player and owner housing…

While NBA players seem rather frustrated about the Lockout, but doing alright nonetheless, the rest of us have done… Not much, aside from being working-stiffs, or in school, or entrenched in unemployment, or perhaps involved in a myriad of issues more concerning than the NBA Lockout. Some days for some of us are good, some days for some not so much. Maybe all is not that bad… unless you’re a Redskins fan in a rainy and foggy District of Columbia the Monday after the football kicker couldn’t pull it out against the rival Dallas Cowboys in overtime.

Perspective. No one on either side, players or owners, seems to have it. Fans, especially those who will inevitably come back to the NBA game anyway, are left with a feeling of helplessness. We are often only left, in the midst of this NBA Lockout, with social media and online pictures. Could you imagine if this happened in 1998? The game and its players would’ve disappeared from our visual pixels exponentially.

I can’t even begin to try to name all the states in which John Wall has played exhibtion basketball this summer – Maryland, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Nevada, Washington, California, New York, Kentucky, and the District of Columbia (there were events in Minnesota and Connecticut where he didn’t show up). I’m likely missing several. He’s been playing basketball overseas as well. Trips to Paris, France.

For the most recent exhibition event, the ‘Good Squad Classic’ held on the campus of UC-Davis outside of Sacramento, Wall showed up, but didn’t play. Jonathan Santiago of Cowbell Kingdom writes, “I had overheard some chatter about his groin giving him some issues, forcing him to sit out the contest.  Donté [Greene] told me that that Wall was indeed injured because he had been playing overseas and that the Washington Wizards guard wanted to ‘rest his body’.”

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A D.C. pic, links, other pictures, commentary, video, etc.

[Down 14th St. from Red Derby - NW Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

LINKS.

> John Wall, in this photo, seems kinda bummed without the NBA.
[via irockcollege.com]

> Go check out some Goodman League gear on sale for charity. #DMV
[HoopSpeak.com]

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John Wall: Damn good at basketball, which rhymes. So it’s good his name is not John Facade or John Rampart.

Anyway, in the ESPN.com #NBArank project he’s ranked 40th in the league. More interesting to me, than rankings, however, is that he was rated with a 7.07 out of 10 by the collective collectivity of ESPN-related voters. Consider that along with the fact that there’s no where to go but up for Wall. Kind of scary, in a good way, for the Wizards fans who’ve never been apart of any sort of achievement.

OK, so I’m exaggerating about the achievement part. Making the playoffs four seasons in a row (2005-08) is a damn fine achievement for the team that I know, as sad as that may seem. But now achievement means making it past the second round. And that former achievement? Well, it doesn’t count so much anymore because no one cares (but not in a ‘no one cares about the NBA’ selective sample size of opinion that spawned a Mike Wise column kind of way).

Otherwise, four of us Truth About It.net writers — Rashed Mobley, Adam McGinnis, John Converse Townsend and myself — asked each other questions about Mr. Wall. And as he would say, Leggggo!

Rashad Mobley: John Wall has impressed virtually everyone who has seen him play this summer, and they’ve noticed that he’s quicker, stronger, shooting better, and most importantly more confident.  When this lockout ends, and Wall is playing on a Washington Wizards team that is bound to struggle, will he be able to retain that confidence? Read more »

A D.C. pic, commentary, links, video, pictures, etc…

[Mt. Pleasant Day 2011 - Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

Do we even know this John Wall kid?

Watching him play at exhibition games this summer, he doesn’t seem like the guy I saw make his pro debut at the 2010 Las Vegas Summer League, much less the player who dazzled us all during an injury-affected, frustration-filled rookie season.

The one potential problem I see with all of this (there’s always a “problem,” isn’t there, pessimist?) is that with the seemingly enhanced offensive and athletic ability over the 2011 Summer, is Wall, as a point guard, setting himself up to take matters into his hands too much if his teammates fail him?

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Let me take you back in the history of basketball, one which we are certainly NOT doomed to repeat. To the 1920s, Washington, D.C. ….

Photos via Shorpy.com.

[1925. Bob Grody & manager Ray Kennedy, Palace Laundry]

[Feb. 15, 1926. Washington, D.C. Palace team, entry in the American basketball league, being taught Charleston by Vivian Marinelli. Left to right: Kearns, Manager Kennedy, Conway, woman playing piano, Miss Marinelli, Grody, and Saunders]

Last week a D.C. neighborhood blog, New Columbia Heights, posted some very old photos of a Washington pro basketball team from the 1920s, the Palace Five Laundrymen.

The Palace Five played in the American Basketball League (ABL) from 1925 to 1927 and were owned by the racist former owner of the Washington Redskins, George Preston Marshall. Most interesting to me, they played in Columbia Heights, D.C., mere blocks from where I live today.

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Highlights of John Wall’s improved jump shot plus a mini-duel with Michael Beasley at “Clash of the Superstars” in Washington, D.C.

The NBA’s unofficial stand-in—this summer’s suite of pro-am games—have drawn basketball’s biggest names to the delight of frenzied crowds from Northeast Baltimore to Southeast Asia. The exhibitions have clearly meant something to the players, visible in celebrations after big plays as well as reactions to suspect officiating.

That wasn’t so much the case at Saturday’s showdown at Calvin Coolidge High School in northwest Washington, D.C. that featured John Wall, Kevin Durant, DeMarcus Cousins, Michael Beasley, Jeff Green, Greg Monroe and Kemba Walker. Billed as “Clash of the Superstars,” the charity game had all of the star power but none of the flash; it was a sleepy affair that played more like the final run of a pickup game among friends—very little energy and even less defense.

Although the action on the court didn’t exactly rouse the sparse crowd, a few in attendance had high praise for Washington Wizards second-year point guard John Wall. I caught up with Goodman League commissioner Miles Rawls who talked about Wall’s “spectacular” summer, and explained that while pro-am competition doesn’t compare to the NBA, it’s still an important part of preseason preparation:

“You got to work on the summer stuff to get you ready for the season. His jump shot has progressed tremendously. The more I see him, the more he progresses; that’s the key thing, his jump shot. And I didn’t know he was that athletic, he’s athletic as I don’t know what. I see the progression and the work he’s been putting in. I’ve even seen the technique change on him. At first it was like a push shot, but now I see a lot of wrist in his shot. So whoever is working with him is doing a good job.”

Proper shooting technique goes a long way. Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose is a pertinent example of a player hitting the gym to improve his accuracy from distance—and succeeding. Rose has become a much more reliable offense weapon inside the arc, and has also made huge strides with his three-point shot. Read more »