[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Click here for cumulative DC Council 3-star ratings over the course of the season. Game 44 contributors: Markus Allen, Adam McGinnis (@Adam McGinnis), and Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It).]

Score

Washington Wizards 92 at Memphis Grizzlies 97 [box score]

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The Wizards are in Tennessee tonight to take on the Memphis Grizzlies, their fifth consecutive game on the road. While Zach Randolph is back in action for the Grizzlies after suffering an MCL injury earlier this year, the Wizards are still without the services of their most recent acquisition, forward/center Nene, who is scheduled to make his official debut in New Jersey this coming Wednesday. Both Washington and Memphis have lost three of their last four games, but with the Memphis still fighting for a playoff spot, expect a focused Grizzlies team to make things difficult for the Wizards at FedEx Forum. For tonight’s 3-on-3 we have Josh Coleman (@3SOB) and Chip Crain (@chipc3) from the TrueHoop Grizzlies blog, 3 Shades of Blue, along with TAI’s John Converse Townsend (@JohnCTownsend). Let’s get into it… Three questions, three answers starts now:

#1) The Sunday night Wizards-Grizzlies showdown features an intriguing match-up between John Wall, the second year guard averaging 17 points, just under eight assists and about four turnovers per game, and Mike Conley, the league leader in steals at 2.55 per game. Which guard do you like and why?

COLEMAN: This is definitely an interesting battle to watch, as it is a contrast in the raw talent and potential of John Wall versus the savvy veteran play (at only 24 years old) of Mike Conley. Outside of being the best “thief” in the NBA, Conley doesn’t do any one thing well enough to make others take notice… Yet he’s incredibly effective in running a team, finding the open man, penetrating the lane to create chances for others, and hitting timely buckets. John Wall is one of the most athletic and talented point guards in the league right now. His learning curve is starting to flatten out too, which is bad news for everyone else, because his lack of experience and occasional questionable judgment is the only thing keeping him from being top 5 in the league. In this particular match-up, I’ll give a very slight edge to Conley just based on his ability to push others into making bad choices or causing them to rush things to avoid having to deal with his active and sticky hands. Wall will probably score more than Conley, but is likely to have double the turnovers, too.

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JaVale McGee’s career as a Washington Wizard has been chock full of consistent inconsistency, and head coach Flip Saunders summed it up succinctly after the loss to the Charlotte Bobcats last Friday:

“JaVale has five highlight plays a game, unfortunately there’s about 200 plays in a game, and he’s gotta get more substance than style.”

Both McGee’s style and substance were on display during the Wizards’ 89-86 victory over Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.  Early in the game, McGee did an excellent job of preventing Marc Gasol from getting deep position in the paint, but then at other points, he would incur the wrath of Saunders for being out of position on both offense and defense.

This theme would also rear it’s inconsistent head in the fourth quarter, as my Truth About It colleague, John Townsend beautifully broke down. Even though Kirk Hinrich and Gilbert Arenas were having excellent shooting nights, McGee tried to take the ball to the hoop (via the dribble), was picked by Zach Randolph (not exactly a quick handed, nimble fellow), and Mike Conley picked up the ball and dashed full speed toward his basket.  Luckily for the Wizards, McGee was able to zoom from one end of the court to the other and block Conley’s shot, immediately exonerating himself from his earlier sin.  Substance and style in less than 30 seconds.

After the game, I ventured over to the Memphis Grizzlies locker room to get their take on the play of JaVale McGee (he finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and three blocks). Their depiction of McGee was much different.  Now, I’m not naive enough to really know that, because Lionel Hollins doesn’t see McGee in practices and games everyday, and of course I know the Grizzlies were a bit dejected because McGee had a hand in their close loss.  Still, it was clear that in Memphis’ locker room, they viewed McGee has one of the main culprits in their loss. Here’s Hollins and Rudy Gay on McGee:

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The Wiz-Grizz ‘Play of the Game’
comes courtesy of JaVale McGee.

The Washington Wizards found themselves ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies 82-79 with just over three minutes left in the fourth quarter.

The Wizards were on the offensive, but on this particular occasion, they faced a defense playing with a little more attitude. As the shot clock winded wound down — the Wiz just couldn’t find a good look at the basket — the ball found its way into the hands of JaVale McGee. About 20 feet from the basket. Passing the ball back to PG Kirk Hinrich (1) would have been too easy … so with about six seconds left on the shot clock, McGee decided it was “go time.”

McGee (5) tried to lose Zach Randolph (x4) with a hard crossover and a spin move. Z-Bo wouldn’t stand for this and punched the ball out. Mike “Million Dollar Man” Conley (x1) collected the loose ball and took off on the break.

Hinrich and Gilbert Arenas (2) got on their horses to cut off Conley, while Ovinton J’Anthony Mayo (x2) curled around Arenas to support the wing. McGee was in hot pursuit.

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Marc Gasol Air Fist.

{keep going for more pictures}

I’ve recently taken to shooting some pictures of early pre-game warm-ups for both the Wizards and their opponent. As I arrived to the court last night, I saw the Wizards’ new guys going through various drills with assistant coach Wes Unseld, Jr. A couple shots of newcomer Mike Harris were a priority, so I did so. But then I glanced to the big man drills on the other end … them dudes were big. And Baby Head Zach Randolph wasn’t even present.

Marc Gasol, Hamaed Haddadi and Hasheem Thabeet out-weight the trio of JaVale McGee, Andray Blatche and James Singleton by 67 points.

Note: I’m got player weight info from each team’s official NBA.com rosters, but I’m skeptical that McGee weighs 252, a listed four more pounds than Blatche and the “heaviest” guy on the Wizards.

I was afraid of Memphis’ big going in, even as they were coming off a tough loss to the Lakers the previous night. Part of me genuinely feared for JaVale McGee’s life.

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{Mike Harris}

As you probably know, the Wizards today signed Mike Harris of the NBA D-League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers to a 10-day contract. Had a brief chat with him before tonight’s game …

“It’s basketball, so it’s always better up than it is down.” -Mike Harris

• Mike has never been to D.C. before, said he’s most definitely not used to the weather.
• Said he’s a “basketball guru” so he already knew a good deal about the current Wizards … played against Al Thornton and the Clippers when he was in Houston, also knows a little about Nick Young and Andray Blatche when he played against them in the 2008 Vegas Summer League as a Rocket.
• Harris said Flip Saunders told him to just come in and “do what you do” and to not try so much to fit in with the team, but to let the team fit to him … just play hard, have a good time, and try not to think to much.
• There is some familiarity, as Mike said the Wizards run similar plays to what they ran down in Rio Grande, just with different calls.
• Mike said he found out about the call-up about five minutes after getting out of tuesday’s practice with the Vipers when his coach informed him. It was about 12:30-1:00 pm when he found out that he had a 4:45 flight to Washington. Harris said he was lucky that he already had a rental car, so getting to the airport wasn’t a problem. His flight was a bit delayed in Houston, so he didn’t get into D.C. until 1:30-1:45 on Wednesday morning.

Here are some more bullets on Harris:

• He turned 26 last June 15th and shares a birthday with Mary Carey (the porn star who ran for governor in California and who once was “courted” by Dwight Howard), Neil Patrick Harris, Andy Pettitte, Ice Cube, Courtney Cox, Wade Boggs, Dr. Jerry Buss, D.J. Strawberry, and Zan Tabak … yes, “the” Zan Tabak, who won a ring in Houston with Hakeem Olajuwon. Take that Barkley!
• Harris went to Hillsboro High School in Hillsboro, Texas and averaged 27 points and 19 rebounds his senior year. He was recruited by Baylor, Oklahoma State, Stephen F. Austin and Tulsa, but ended up choosing Rice.
• After four seasons at Rice, Harris left as both the Owls’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder. He was named the WAC freshman of the year in 2002 and made the all-WAC first team in ’04 and ’05.
• The last, and only other, Rice alum to suit up for the franchise was Mike Wilks, who briefly played for the Wizards in December 2007.
• Harris previously suited up in the NBA for the Houston Rockets, but has also played in the Ukraine, China (where he won the all-star game dunk contest and was named to the All-Chinese CBA 1st team), and Kuwait, among other domestic stops.
• Harris will wear #33.

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Some also call Zach, “El Toro”

{he had 19 total rebounds, 6 offensive}

The duo of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol were too much for the Wizards to handle. They combined for 43 points and 30 rebounds.

Washington doesn’t have a guy who can take up space in the paint, and that hurts them on both offense and defense. Brendan Haywood has size, but is not agile. Antawn Jamison put up a good fight against Randolph the Bull, but just doesn’t have the size.

The Wizards are missing a dependable post player who can play with his back to the basket and pass (think the Kevin Garnett Flip had in Minnesota or the Rasheed Wallace he had in Detroit).

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Caron Butler had his eye on the ball

“Shoot it boy!!”

At around the 8:11 mark in the first quarter, Arenas could have taken his first shot. He didn’t. Left wide open at the top of the key, the ball was kicked out to Gil, and he turned it down. C’mon dude, is that what the team is paying you to do now?

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Time and patience are the lessons to take from the first Wizards preseason game. They didn’t look bad on their way to a 101-92 win over Memphis, but they didn’t look particularly good either. But did anyone expect this team with so many newcomers, including a coach, to gel right away? Nope.

On the offensive end, where the Wizards are assumed to be amongst the NBA’s upper echelon, they appeared out of sync at times. Bad spacing and jumping to pass sloppiness reared their heads in spurts, but nothing disconcerting, and mostly occurring when the second unit guys were on the court.

After the game, Brendan Haywood gave the offense a C+, in terms of translating the instruction of training camp to a real game. Haywood said they weren’t smooth and were in the wrong place a lot of times, but that’s understandable because many guys on the team were in the Princeton for five years and they have a long way to go before mastering Flip’s offense.

The defensive end left the most to be desired (again, something to be expected), especially in the defensive rebounding department. Haywood called the effort “poor,” while Flip Saunders didn’t mince words by calling the Wizards’ rebounding “atrocious.”

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{There’s the Wizards home floor … transported all the way from D.C. to VCU’s Siegel Center in Richmond, Virginia}

Currently en route to Richmond for the Wizards’ preseason opener, I’m not exactly sure how I’ll be covering games this season. But for tonight I’m going to update the goings-ons of the game via Twitter, which will also update live in a post on this site (hopefully).

The game will not be televised, but can be heard over the radio on 107.6 The Fan.

So, follow me on Twitter and check back here to see anything you may have missed.

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Tonight’s match against Memphis at the Siegel Center on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA might provide the most packed crowd I’ve ever seen for an NBA preseason game.

Sure, the excitement of Gilbert Arenas’ comeback tour and the new-look Wizards are probably enough to fill the 7,500 seat arena … I mean, pictures of the Wizards are literally on the side of the building (see below).

But the main draw might be Allen Iverson, the prodigal son returning to his home state of Virginia (as a Memphis Grizzly of all things). Iverson grew up in Hampton, VA, about 80 miles away from Richmond.

I kind of heard a secondhand joke about Iverson this weekend, stating that he hasn’t been in Richmond since … [insert item from troubled past]

• … since he must have been thanking then VA Governor Doug Wilder profusely for giving him clemency and detention instead of jail time due to charges related to a 1993 bowling alley brawl (which was in Hampton, but Richmond is the state capital).

  or
  

• … since 1997 when Iverson was arrested and spent the night in a Richmond jail. Police found weed and a gun in his car after pulling it over for going 90 mph in a 65; Iverson was a passenger, not a driver.
  
  or
  
• … since 2006 when Iverson bought his mom an ABA franchise that was supposed to be called the Richmond Warriors. The team became the Ballerz before playing briefly in 06-07. They then moved to the Hampton Roads/Norfolk area, but haven’t really been heard from since.

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flickr/Antonio Rull

Amongst claims the Washington Wizards hold an “enviable” spot in Thursday’s draft, (they seem to be the only team apathetic towards the keep vs. trade scenario), the Memphis Grizzlies hold an even more enviable spot … because well, two is better than five. The argument on which team has the most enviable spot starts and ends with the L.A. Clippers, of course.

The Grizz don’t know what they want to do. ESPN’s Ric Bucher tweeted that Grizzlies scouts want Hasheem Thabeet, GM Chris Wallace wants Ricky Rubio, and Coach Lionel Hollins wants Stephen Curry. However, according to reports, Thabeet (insinuated by a cancelled workout) and Rubio might not want Memphis back. Wallace says he could care less about a ‘Spanish-Stay-Away’ order, but probably really does.

During his meet-n-greet with fans, Flip Saunders said, “I still think [Rubio] is going to get taken two. I think someone will make a trade when it comes down to trying to get him because he has that type of impact.”

Flip is exactly right. Rumors of Rubio slipping to the Wizards at the five spot are out-of-touch, especially with the reduced buyout from his contract with DKV Joventut potentially allowing him to join his NBA for the Las Vegas summer league. But hey, that hasn’t kept the Blazers from getting excited about the possibility.

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The Memphis-Washington game was a couple days ago, but these outsourced screen shots just came in on the plane from Bangalore.

But then he ordered a Five Dollar Footlong and got comfortable.

Rumors of Gilbert Arenas’ possible presence spread
along Beale Street and the masses gathered.

The Wizards moved the ball well in the beginning, but the defense gave Ed Tapscott heartburn, the throw-up feeling, and the ‘it hurts when I swallow’ throat.

The Swarth of Marc Gasol was swagger inducing.

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After he walked (and played) in Gilbert Arenas’ shoes, and before he became a Washington Wizard, Javaris Crittenton played for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies. My immediate reaction is that while I’m sorry to see Antonio Daniels go (I have love for him too), I like the idea of Crittenton’s youth, potential, and size (who doesn’t like a 6’5″ PG?).

But before I get into doing a bunch of research on the kid’s past, I wanted to asked some NBA bloggers from LA and Memphis their opinion about Crittenton. Thanks to Kurt of Forum Blue & Gold and Josh of 3 Shades of Blue for providing their thoughts. Read on…..

Kurt from Forum Blue & Gold:

When the Gasol trade went down last season, the only twinge of regret for fans was losing Crittenton. Well, there was really no twinge of regret, but Lakers fans were sad to see Crittenton go. I haven’t seen him play in a year, but his game has potential with a capital “P.” He’s long, very fast, played hard on defense, was developing a shot, and he can get to the rim. He played a little out of control, especially for the rather controlled triangle offense the Lakers run, but that was a matter of youth and maturity. He could develop into a quality player in this league. He’s just in the weird spot a lot of young players are: He needs run to develop, but he can’t get run because coaches can’t sacrifice wins for experience. So he sits a lot.

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I’m going to get more down on Javaris Crittenton in the future, among others (Dee Brown, and of course, Antonio Daniels), in the wake of today’s big trade (well, maybe not “big” in the grand scale of all things NBA, or even your fantasy team….but big for the Wizards’ point guard situation), but wanted to post something quick in the interim. You can also go to Bullets Forever to join the trade discussion.

Crittenton is the big “get”…some are saying “steal”…for the Wizards. But until I’m able to do a more exhaustive write-up on the former Yellow Jacket/Laker/Grizzly/high school teammate of Dwight Howard, I wanted to remind everyone that Javaris Crittenton has once walked in the shoes of Gilbert Arenas, literally.

From a June 2008 story in the Washington Times, “Arenas’ shoes are on other feet” –

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