A D.C. basketball court picture, some words, a link, some words about links, commentary, NBADRAFTGOOGLESEO, and some more links…

[Alice Deal H.S. - Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

At the risk of sounding expected and generic in critiquing a general sports column meant to appeal to the masses that was unexpectedly generic (at least according to what should be expected of the Washington Post), I’ll point out Jason Reid’s column in the Post last Monday about this new and innovative concept in the NBA called “defense” (sometimes spelled with a capital ‘D’), and how the Wizards should, you know, draft for it, with a very long-winded introductory sentence to this bloggy post of links.

Reid’s lede:

“While he prepares for next month’s NBA draft, Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld should consider defense.”

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A moving picture GIF for fake 3-D effect (don’t get dizzy), with links and commentary…

[Lafayette Elementary School, NW Washington, D.C. - photos: K. Weidie]

Links.

I recently took part in a ‘Word on the Street’ sports roundtable put together by Ben Standig of CSNWashington. My pick for the Preakness didn’t come through, but I still stand by the rest.
[CSNWashington]

It was spawned by Washington Capitals-related blog/media relations dealings, but Ted Leonsis has some good, well-reasoned thoughts on professional sports, his teams and surrounding media coverage. Worth the read.
[Ted's Take]

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NBA Draft Lottery thoughts and links…

{flickr/Lisa Brewster}

The life of a Wizards/Bullets fan has often been predicated on the NBA Draft Lottery. Being a fan of the team since moving to D.C. in 1990, it has generally been ‘the’ highlight of the season… More than the draft itself, more than peddled hope before a season. A simple flip of a card, the bounce of a ping-pong ball and/or the chance of mathematical equation can change the fate of a franchise for years… in just a brief moment. How exciting, right?

In 1992, with the fifth worst record in the NBA, second worst in the Eastern Conference, Washington fans hoped for Shaquille O’Neal, or even Alonzo Mourning. Instead, the Bullets were jumped by the Charlotte Hornets (who chose Mourning with the second pick), and ended up with the sixth pick and Tom Gugliotta.

With the fifth worst record again in 1994, did the Wizards succeed in landing one of three draft prizes in Glenn Robinson, Jason Kidd or Grant Hill? Nope. Fifth is where they stayed… begin memories of the Juwan Howard saga.

What about the finishing with the third worst record in 2004? Either Emeka Okafor or Dwight Howard could’ve been the lottery winning targets. Instead, the Wizards dropped two spots to fifth (thanks to the expansion Charlotte Bobcats) and wound up trading the selection, Devin Harris, to the Mavericks for Antawn Jamison.

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A D.C. picture, what others are saying about the new-look Wizards, and a whole bunch of links…

[Outside of Sportsman's Liquor in Mt. Pleasant - photo: K. Weidie]

What They Said… {About the new-look Wizards}

“I mean, this is a B+/A- at worse, and it just reminds us how horrific the past decade has been.” -Dan Steinberg, DC Sports Bog, Washington Post

“Other than my minor quibbles with the font on the front, these are great. The color scheme is better. The jerseys are unique, rather than something that seems like it came from a create-a-team in ‘NBA Live 2000.’ Even the new “monument ball” logo is really good. High five to whoever came up with these.” -Trey Kerby, The Basketball Jones

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Links, pictures and commentary… (Worth noting: I’m not into April Fools’ Day jokes, in case you were wondering.)

Sure, new media darling Othyus Jeffers got dunked on by LeBron James on Wednesday, but…

…Othyus took it like a good sport, getting a good smile out of it before LeBron even landed on the ground. Ask Jeffers about it (I didn’t), and I bet he’d honestly say, “It’s just basketball.”

And in that, he is right. Getting dunked on is bound to happen, no biggie (if you’re comfortable with being immortalized on the Internets). Life needs good sports, and Jeffers is just that. Can’t say the same about the perpetually crying and bitching LeBron. Can’t believe Ted Leonsis let him endorse his book with a quote.

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Parties, commentary and links…

Antawn Jamison is on his own level and you can’t get on it, at least that’s what the promotional party flier above seems to indicate. Jamison’s level these days involves sitting out the past 13 games — likely the rest of the year — due to a broken pinkie finger; and he has to watch the 15-58 Cleveland Cavaliers all the time, which probably isn’t that much different than watching the 18-55 Wizards. Jamison’s level also involves getting paid over $13.3 million this season, which is a pretty nice level regardless of the environment. Back to the promotional flier … Jamison’s level will evidently be on display this Thursday at the Shadow Room, as he is welcomed back to D.C. with a party the night before his Cavs take on the Wizards. Speaking of the Shadow Room, that’s the venue where Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee once got on the level of fighting with each other outside the club on Christmas Eve. The Wizards are just a classic team, on so many levels.

In other team party news, Josh Howard, who has appeared in 409 minutes over 18 games this season, has lent his name to the Wizards-Heat post-game party at Oxygen tonight. The most recently injured Wizard, Trevor Booker, had provided his name for use as well. Wale will also be performing … I still wonder if he roots for the Cavaliers and/or Nuggets.

Links.

Washington will likely be with Andray Blatche as they play the Miami Heat tonight and without Trevor Booker, who could miss the last nine games of the season with a crack in the bottom of his right foot. It all sounds rather splendid.
[Washington Examiner]

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Screen shots, commentary and links…

My column last week in the DCist got delayed due to my account, so it was posted this morning for you to kindly read. It’s all about how the “Our Time” motto worked out for the Virginia Commonwealth Rams, but not so much for the Washington Wizards. And as evident by the posters above from the crowd seen on television at VCU’s big win over Kansas yesterday, it was clearly a theme that resonated from when Rams coach Shaka Smart outlined it for his team at the beginning of their season. So a big congrats goes to VCU … go check out my DCist column … and the below screen shot captures how the ticket that I purchased in Las Vegas last July (while I was out there for the NBA Summer League) for the Kansas Jayhawks to win the NCAA national title feels.

Wizards-Warriors.

So the Wizards lost again on the road last night to the Golden State Warriors, 114-104, dropping them to 17-55 on the season and 1-35 on the road. The young, depleted Washington squad did not pay enough attention to shooters (Dorrell Wright went 5-11 from three-point land and Monta Ellis went 4-6) and were out-lasted by minor mistakes and a Warriors team with many more offensive weapons. Ten of the Warriors’ 11 3-point makes were assisted upon (Golden State missed 13 threes), while Washington went 4-16 from deep with all of those long buckets coming via assists.

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Some pictures, some writing, some links…

{Jordan Crawford in pre-game warm-ups.}

{Nope, not a dunk.}

{A put-back dunk from Yi.}

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Pictures, commentary, links and the whatnot …

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{John Wall looks for Kevin Seraphin - photo: K. Weidie}

{Wall looks for a trailing Andray Blatche - photo: K. Weidie}

In contrast to John Wall dropping a Rookie-Sophomore game record 22 assists on Friday night, an NBA team achieving single digits in assists over the course of a regular season game is a pretty rare feat. According to the Basketball-Reference.com database, it’s occurred just 194 times since the 1986-87 season (the extent of BBR’s game box score database). So in roughly 0.3-percent of NBA games over the last 25 seasons. And of course, your Washington Wizards did just that on Wednesday night in Orlando, tallying a mere eight dimes divided up amongst Kirk Hinrich, who had three, along with one each from and John Wall, Kevin Seraphin, Josh Howard, Andray Blatche and Hilton Armstrong.

Teams have now put up a single-digit assist total five times this season. The Orlando Magic dropped  five assists in a 26 point loss to the Miami Heat in just their second game on the 2010-11 season (the day after Orlando blew out the Wizards by 29 points in their season home opener). The Magic also had just nine team assists in a 80-74 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on December 6, 2010. The Portland Trailblazers had eight assists in a 100-86 loss to the New York Knicks on January 11, 2011. And surprisingly enough, Chris Paul’s New Orleans Hornets put up a league season low four assists for a team in a 88-70 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on December 12, 2010.

The Wizards last achieved the single-digit assist mark with nine on December 23, 2008 against the Charlotte Bobcats. That game, Mike James started at the point and went 4-16 from the field with one assist. DeShawn Stevenson and Nick Young were the only guards off the bench and Caron Butler led the team with four assists.

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A D.C. pic, links, commentary, and whatever you want to call the other stuff…

TAI Recap: John Townsend implores Wizards fans to be more patient because a drastic turnaround next season is not out of the question; if Gilbert Arenas were rebuilding a team, he wouldn’t do it though the draft; Adam McGinnis has one of the rare photos captured from the baseline of Al Thornton’s massive dunk; pictures of Gilbert Arenas and Nick Young in a reunion among friends; Rashad Mobley relays that some young Wizards still don’t understand their role (after several seasons); and when it’s okay for JaVale McGee to dribble full court.

Here’s to NBA draft lottery luck in May for what’s been an excruciating winter for pro basketball fans in Washington. Below the jump, more must-read links…

[Hardy Playground, Washington, D.C. - Yearning For A Sunny Day]

LINKS.

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Some leftover pictures, commentary, and links at the bottom…

Kevin Seraphin.

At some point during the Celtics game, mid-third quarter, John Wall expressed dismay about a questionable call that didn’t go the Wizards’ way … that’s a $50 fine face, perhaps.

On Boston’s subsequent out-of-bounds play, Wall did what he usually does in bouts of heightened emotion, good or bad … he pulled his shorts up.

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A Photoshop, links and commentary…

Who knows if it’s true … who cares? This isn’t a gossip site. All I know is that someone on Twitter directed me to some site called MediaTakeout that is relaying gossip about DeShawn Stevenson possibly being illegally married to two women at the same time. There’s really no “evidence” as the site advertises, aside from a 2003 marriage certificate to the supposed first wife, which neither proves he is still married to that woman nor married to another. Basically, all this is a bunch of noise (and the story looks to be from early December 2010, but you won’t be stopping me if you’ve already heard). So what do we do with noise sometimes? Why, we stuff it in the Photoshop Machine, ignore the fact that we have a hand in spreading the gossip (once it’s on the Internets, there’s free-reign captain), and come out with the below hypothetical.

Just what if, instead of Abraham Lincoln, Stevenson got a tattoo of Joseph Smith, Jr. on the front of his neck, founder of Mormonism and, of course, polygamist. It just might be a scenario meant for itself.

Another question worth posing … does this provide new nickname fodder for Stevenson? Big Love? Should we call him a regular Bill Pullman? These are the questions to which there are no known, or right answers. That’s life (for DeShawn Stevenson … “Mister 50 (percent)” … Hey! Double entendre!). Now go read some links.

Links.

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Figured a picture of Pookie via New Jack City was apropos considering the title of this post that features commentary and links…

But, unrelated, here are some pictures of Wizards…

The thought had entered my mind before Flip Saunders said something along the sentiment in his post-game press conference after the Wizards’ “thrilling” 136-133 overtime win over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. Could, in some strange way, a game almost blown several times over by the Wizards actually be good for the team going forward? Maybe, just maybe, if the Wizards fight through mistakes at home and win, despite emptying the entire chamber of bullets into their own feet, then perhaps they can get over that hump on the road. It’s all about Flip Saunders pounding that rock, I suppose, and maybe there’s a more considerable amount of cracks in it now.

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Before their first game in the new year, the Washington Wizards seemed to have some extra pep in their step … a new pre-game intro routine confirmed that. The players huddled in a mass before the announced starter burst out of the pile and onto the scene. It didn’t really work/change much against the New Orleans Hornets on Saturday night, but it was fun to see and to try to take a picture of in the dark nonetheless.

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