[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Game No. 81, Washington Wizards at Brooklyn Nets; contributors: Kyle Weidie from tape delay in the District, and Sean Fagan from tape delay in Brooklyn.]

Remember me? Did Emeka Okafor really let Andray Blatche do this? [This was probably when Okafor hurt his ankle.] Did Emeka Okafor really let Andray Blatche do this? #SoWizards vine.co/v/bFjl71O1ihD — Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) April 16, 2013

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[#WittmanFace set to Twilight Zone music]

Friday was a day off from regular work (and the Wizards, sort of). Future wifey and I made an afternoon of grabbing lunch at a previously unvisited spot, and then we painted some ceramics (shout out to All Fired Up! in Cleveland Park—there’s a D.C. flag-themed oven spoon holder in my future).

Then naps, then drinks/dinner with the future wifey’s cousin and the cousin’s fiancé. The idea was to have the game on somewhere; the cousin’s fiancé is also a dedicated D.C. sports fan. By the time the four of us walked into a pre-dinner bar option—some place inexplicably called the Blue Banana on Georgia Avenue, which, to its credit, had the Wizards game on three of its several well-placed televisions—the game was over. Brooklyn was up 25 and it was early in the second quarter. We were the only people in the place who cared or paid attention for the rest of the game; I was just happy that no one changed the channel. Later on, I would get to explain to the future wifey—and show to her on YouTube—that Reggie Evans is most famous for grabbing a tall blond man’s nuts from behind during a playoff game. Thanks, Internets.

What had happened? Deron Williams happened. The Nets took a 38-14 lead after one quarter in which Williams went 7-for-7 from the 3-point line. At half, Brooklyn was up 59-33. The Wizards made a half-hearted attempt to once almost get within 10 points with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, but A.J. Price was called for travelling as he made a 3-pointer (inducing the above #WittmanFace).

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Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 60th game of the season on the road against the Brooklyn Nets are TAI’s Adam McGinnis (@adammcginnis) and guest Jeremy Gordon (@jeremypgordon), who writes about the Nets for Brooklyn’s Finest, an ESPN TrueHoop Network blog.

Wizards Starters (19-40):

John Wall, Trevor Ariza, Martell Webster, Nene, Emeka Okafor

Nets Starters (35-26):

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[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Game No. 49, Washington Wizards vs. Brooklyn Nets; contributors: Dan Diamond and John Converse Townsend from the Verizon Center, with Sean Fagan from B-R-DOUBLE OH!-K-L-Y-N.]

(Chinese) Near Year, New Team

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Boo this man?

As many (wicked) pixels about Andray Blatche that I have written and produced, I wasn’t exactly comfortable with hearing him booed Friday night as the Wizards handled the Brooklyn Nets in every way possible on the basketball court. And I was especially uneasy about the “An-dray Sucks!” chants at the end of the game. Just a little. It was all too evident from my position behind the television screen. Imagine if the Verizon Center were more fully attended. (If you can believe team-reported attendance figures—the biggest farce in professional sports—the VC was 96.6 percent full on Friday night.)

But of course, there I was. Happy to see “Baltche” miss dunks, even if the carnage did make me want to avert my eyes. Almost. There I was, content to see Blatche miss free throws (four in a row at one point late in the third quarter). There’s just something about Blatche being Blatche. Still, it’s hard to digest the comfort food via the guy who, almost purposely, never fulfilled his potential doing the same deeds as a Wizard.

The topic of booing Blatche became fodder for Saturday morning conversation with the future wifey. I suddenly found myself on the side of defending the boos.

“It’s sports.” “It comes with the territory of getting paid millions.” “Life—competition—needs villains.”

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Watching the Wizards is different now. OK, it’s only halftime, but they are up 20 on the Nets, 51-31. And per the previous post, the stats are different, better… with certain player combinations (but mostly thanks to John Wall). Several players need to step it up. Otherwise, watching the Wizards is like a Brazilian rug-pulling dance now. Or whatever it was that Nene did to Brook Lopez to make him travel. GIF away.

“Yea, I got the braces done too … this season, everything is new. Everything is going to be fresh. Everything is going to be more exciting. You know, it will be good this year.”
—Andray Blatche, September 2009

[Don't call us, we won't call you. - photo via Adam McGinnis]

Under Avery Johnson’s coaching, Brooklyn stood at 14-14. Since he was fired in late-December, they are 15-6 under new coach P.J. Carlesimo, but they have lost four of their last seven—two on the road to Memphis and Houston and two at home to Orlando and the L.A. Lakers. Currently tied with the Bulls for the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference, Brooklyn can’t afford to falter against the Wizards tonight… before facing San Antonio, before going on the road to play the Pacers on Monday, before a hot Denver Nuggets team comes to the BK next Wednesday, and before the league heads into the All-Star break after that.

The Prince of Party has played a slightly diminished role under new leadership, removing the luster from those ready to anoint Blatche as the NBA’s Most Improved Player a quarter into the season. In his 21 games during the Carlesimo era, Blatche is playing 3.4 less minutes, taking 1.9 less shots, pulling down 1.1 less rebounds, and scoring 2.4 less points. All negligible, perhaps.

In consideration of the entire season, Blatche has spent 956 minutes on the court for the Nets over 49 games, and 1,421 minutes off the court. When Blatche rides the bench, Brooklyn shoots the ball 2.7 percent better, tallies 3.1 more assists, turns the ball over 1.5 times less, commits 2.5 less fouls, and scores four points more per 48 minutes.

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Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 31st game of the season against the Brooklyn Nets in D.C. are TAI’s John Converse Townsend (@JohnCTownsend) and guest Justin DeFeo (@JustinDeFeo), who contributes to The Brooklyn Game.

Wizards Starters (4-26):

Garrett Temple, Bradley Beal, Martell Webster, Nene, Emeka Okafor

Nets Starters (17-15):

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Andray Blatche is doing good things in Brooklyn. So good that trolling the Wizards is easy. So good that he knows exactly when he will be ready to talk about a new contract.

We’re all too familiar with the fact that the Washington Wizards used the amnesty provision on Blatche this past summer. That no other NBA team made a full, or even partial, waiver claim on his contract. That Blatche signed with the Brooklyn Nets for a one-year, non-guaranteed deal worth about $850,000. That the Wizards are essentially on the hook for the remainder of Blatche’s amnestied contract, about $23 million over three years. Essentially.

So about the new contract that Blatche might want due to his good play with the Nets? Well, it’s too early to talk about all of it, he says. But, there will be a good time to discuss. We’ll let the New York Daily News take it away:

In an interview with the Daily News, the Nets center said he’d like to re-sign as a free agent next summer but understandably couldn’t commit to anything so early in the season.

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The Washington Wizards suck. No getting around that. They suck so bad that toward the end of Monday night’s loss, as the San Antonio Spurs wound down a 26-point lead, fans yelled for the defending Wizards to foul. Yes, Verizon Center faithful, those who had not yet headed for the hills, wanted the Spurs to shoot free throws. Why? So fans could have a chance to boo those free throws into misses; so they could potentially win free chicken sandwiches if a Spur missed both.

And then there’s Andray Blatche. Ted Leonsis and Ernie Grunfeld once had the idea of constructing a bridge to nowhere when they rewarded Blatche with a contract extension in 2010. Blatche returned the favor with lazy basketball and an unmotivated existence. Then the Wizards amnestied him last July. Of mice and men, of Andray Blatche.

But everyone had moved on. Well-wishers have expressed hope that Blatche would turn the corner. And he has, to an extent. In 12 games with the Brooklyn Nets, Blatche is sporting a career-high PER of 20.6, which is 26th best in the NBA this season amongst those who have played at least 200 minutes. Still, the revitalized Blatche will always carry with him the stigma of the past. Because the Internets say so.

And sure, Blatche is playing well, but it’s not rare that such evaluations of his nights show up on Nets blog, The Brooklyn Game (from Nov. 23rd): Read more »