Some pics, commentary and links …

First, congrats goes to Tom Yi for winning two lower-level tickets to tomorrow’s Wizards-Heat game thanks to StubHub. Tom was the first to respond via email with the correct answer to the following Twitter Trivia question: “Name the last Washington Wizard to achieve 20 or more rebounds in a game.”

The answer, along with other Wizards/Bullets who have achieved a 20-plus rebound game since the 1986-87 season, can be found courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.

Tom writes about his Wizards fandom: Read more »

Prominent film maker and New York Knicks superfan Spike Lee was the court-side guest of Wizards Owner Ted Leonsis at the Wizards game last Friday night, a 101-95 Knicks victory. The duo struck up a friendship while Leonsis made his first film for his movie production company Snags Films, and Lee will return the favor by hosting Leonsis for a Wizards-Knicks game at MSG in New York. Lee’s presence highlighted the boisterous number of Knicks fans littered throughout the Phone Booth. Shouts of “M-V-P!” showered upon Amar’e Stoudemire and the Knicks’ recent stellar play obviously motivated the fans of the away team to be louder than usual.

The crowd was still 70-30 or 60-40 Wizards fans, but the heavy noise of Knicks cheers made it seem like the home team was outnumbered. Washington’s own sideline heckler and basketball personality, Miles Rawls, shouted across the court at Leonsis to move Lee down to a different spot. Unlike some of those scattered online voices who were critical of Lee’s seat, I am perfectly OK with it because the owner can host anyone he wants to. Lee’s appearance is positive exposure and maybe a rivalry in the future. I am more worried about Al Thronton’s continued disappearing act and trying to comprehend how Kevin Seraphin can go from starting to inactive in back-to-back contests.

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The Wizards take on the Raptors in Toronto tonight, still aiming to win their first road game of the year … and they’ll be doing it without Hilton Armstrong.

In a November 24 poll, when the Wizards were 0-6 on the road instead of the current 0-8, 33-percent of voters said the Wizards would notch their first road win tonight against the Raps. My dad recently told me that he thought the Wiz would get their first roadie in Sacramento — in that case, you’ll have to wait until December 8, when the Wizards would face the Kings with an 0-11 record on the road. The NBA: Where Amazing Happens.

Anyway…

Let’s look back and break down the play of the night from Monday’s game versus the Miami Heat. This one involves none other than Gilbert Arenas and Andray Blatche running a pick-and-roll, one where Blatche actually rolls to the basket. Imagine that.

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So Gilbert Arenas is evidently wearing a pair of custom Under Armour shoes now, as seen above (via Sole Collector – click for more pictures). Well, at least he wore a pair Saturday versus Cleveland (and only in the second half, I’ve been told). For his season debut in New York he wore a pair of Jordans.

The model, Under Armour’s Micro G Supreme, will supposedly be sported by Arenas-only for the next couple of months — and as you can see, the released pictures show the shoes in Wizards colors and with Arenas’ No. 9 on the heel. Also note that Arenas is evidently not getting paid a dime by Under Armour just yet (via CNBC’s Darren Rovell on Twitter).

For Arenas, it doesn’t hurt for him to lend his name/number to a company willing to support him; and for Under Armour, it’s certainly a low-risk investment that could increase their basketball market penetration.

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NBA players like their fashion. With so much disposable income, it’s only natural. So why not ask some of them about their favorite fashion items … and shoes, because it’s gotta be the shoes, especially what shoes they were into growing up.So, watch the video below if you want to find out …

• Which Wizard has a brand new pair of basketball shoes with his mom’s name on them. (He wore them for the first half on Tuesday, but then changed into his old shoes at halftime because he’s still breaking the mom pair in.)
• Whose mom bought him a pair of leopard skin Gucci shoes … that he hasn’t worn just quite yet.
• Which Wizard has a hat collection that’s 300 and counting.
• Who wore some skinny, tight Wrangler jeans back in the day when he was 13-years old … back in the day being 1996/97.
• Which Wizard calls his ‘Fruit of the Loom’ underwear his favorite clothing.

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[UPDATE: via Twitter, 1FreshHeir has covered over two of JMac's tracks, which will be made public shortly.]

JAVALE MCGEE: Double Pits to Chesty Dunk Champion, movie short star, music producer.

Since last summer, McGee has been building and posting instrumentals to Reverb Nation (a platform for independent musicians, producers, and venues to collaborate and communicate).  Big Daddy Wookie, known as JMAC on Reverb Nation, has produced over 25 Hip Hop and R&B tracks and attracted over 86,000 fans online.  He has favorited “Dumb It Down,” a JMac Produktion by the Co-Op.  (I believe he was featured in the song, but I have not been able to confirm.)

The result so far?

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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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{image via bscup.tom.com}

Reports have surfaced that Yi Jianlian injured his arm playing for China in an international competition, the Stankovic Cup, held in Liuzhou, China, while getting ready for the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey [hat tip to Matt Moore of ProBasketballTalk]. Initial reports only indicated that Jianlian suffered an “injury” to his right arm, and that forced him to sit out the second half of China’s loss to Slovenia. However, Jianlian came back and played in the next game against Iran.

In their first game on July 28th, China lost 64-63 to Australia. Jianlian led the Chinese with 17 points and 10 rebounds in just over 17 minutes of game time. But Australia’s David Andersen, who was recently traded from the Houston Rockets to the Toronto Raptors, scored a basket in the game’s final 10 seconds to give the Aussies a one point victory. Andersen finished with eight points and seven rebounds. Patty Mills led Australia with 13 points.

On July 29th the Chinese faced Iran and defeated them 86-64. Jianlian had 16 points (7-12 from two-point land, 0-1 from three, 2-2 from the free-throw line), 10 rebounds (two offensive), three blocks, one steal, two assists and three turnovers in 28 minutes of action.

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[Back for more sneaker heads ... the first time we checked out what some of the Wiz kids were wearing for summer league, then what some of the others were wearing. Now here's the second part of what players from other teams wore in Las Vegas.]

Brian Chase, Golden State Warriors

[via Dunbar H.S., Washington, D.C.; Virginia Tech, undrafted in 2003; Maryland Nighthawks (ABA); Gary Steelheads (CBA), Roanoke Dazzle (D-League); Nebraska Cranes (USBL); Los Angeles D-Fenders (D-League); Turkish Basketball League; French Basketball League; Russia A-Superleague; Spanish Basketball League -- Chase played for the Utah Jazz in the '06 summer league, was signed by the team for the '06-07 season but was waived before playing a game, played with the Washington Wizards in the '07 summer league, played with the Miami Heat in the '07-08 preseason, but was released before the regular season, played with the Orlando Magic in the '09 summer league and finally with the Warriors this summer. Chase has yet to appear in an NBA game.]

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[Okay sneaker heads, last time we checked out what some of the Wiz kids were wearing for summer league. Now here's the first part of what players from other teams wore in Las Vegas.]

Bill Walker, New York Knicks

[via Kansas State, Washington Wizards (draft, 47th overall in 2008), Boston Celtics (trade), Main Red Claws (D-League)]

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