Ever find yourself wondering when and if Kirk Hinrich wore a white home Wizards jersey with an Abe Pollin commemorative patch? Me neither. But thanks to the magic of Photoshop, or another graphic design/photo editing software that a tech guy insists is better, and my observations of the Verizon Center hallways while covering a Washington Mystics game on Sunday, you now have a where and a how, just not a when, because it’s actually never.

If none of that makes sense, good … I’ve lost you. See, much has been made of what’s displayed on the interior and exterior of the Verizon Center. Well, not really. It was only made over Gilbert Arenas and how his banner was removed from the outside of the arena, his face removed from pre-game video montages, and his jersey removed from sales availability. His image was scrubbed, they said … except for the various photos that were still posted around the locker room, and on the hallway wall outside an entrance, across which there’s also an entrance to the Wizards’ practice facility. So Gilbert really never left the arena. (Remember when it seemed all but guaranteed that he’d never play in a Wizards uniform again?)

Anyway … the pictures on those walls, which display several members of the team, must be dynamic and resourceful, because they’ve changed several times over the past months. And well, if a player hasn’t exactly appeared in a real game, the pictures must be adjusted. So let’s take a look at a couple more guys who’ve never played in a Wizards uniform, in a Wizards uniform…

John Wall (no patch) …

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Sixteen losses in a row and counting. The Wizards showed some bright spots in Tuesday night’s loss to Houston, such as JaVale McGee. Actually, he was pretty much the only bright spot. Well, James Singleton played okay.

Andray Blatche’s 31 points, 10 rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocks you say? Well, when you play 41 minutes and receive the ball ALL. THE. TIME. (he took 23 shots) you are supposed to put up those numbers. He still has too much Tin Man in him … no heart … especially when it comes to rebounding toughness.

The Wizards mostly showed that they did not deserve to win. I’m sure some are saying, ‘Hey, those guys competed without Foye, Thornton, Gee, etc.’ But the Rockets also competed without Kevin Martin, Shane Battier and Jared Jeffries. Plus, the Wizards were beaten by Chase Budinger. Enough said.

Nonetheless, below are the notes and observations I took/made as I watched the game on delay at my leisure.

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{Scenes from last night in Cleveland}

I couldn’t exactly get inside the brains of the Washington Wizards, but my imagination did.

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Prior to Saturday’s 97-86 loss to the San Antonio, Flip Saunders indicated that for the most part, Brendan Haywood would guard Tim Duncan straight up and they would run one-and-a-half men toward the Spurs center “at times.”

Duncan finished with an efficient 23 points (10-16 FGs), seven rebounds, and three assists in 36 minutes.

Flip Saunders

After the game, I asked Coach Saunders asses how the defensive plan against Duncan worked. He said: Read more »

When it comes to the cut-throat world of the internet, where thou who posts first is like the man with one eye in the land of the blind, many have focused on being the first to post/blog/write/scribe/opine about the Gilbert Arenas-Javaris Critteton brandishing of weapons. I wanted to be the first to Photoshop about it.

In the Arenas/Crittenton comparison to the movie, Way Of The Gun, I suppose Gil would be Ryan Phillippe and Javaris would be Benicio del Toro. I’ve never seen the movie, but might own it. I sporadically buy $5-dollar movies from Target and leave them unopened on a shelf.

But if you Wikipedia Way Of The Gun, (BTW, is ‘wikipedia’ now a verb like ‘google’?) you’ll find that one critic, Richard Corliss of Time, described the film as, “a two-hour gunfight interrupted by questions of paternity.”

Seems fitting. Kinda.

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{Randy}

“We can’t reserve ourselves on defense. We gotta reserve ourselves on offense and give 110% on defense.

{Gilbert}

“Right now we stink … and we’re showing it.

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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.

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Matching up Wizards locker room quotes after the Sixers game with corresponding facial expressions.

Nick Young

When asked what the team needs to do to build on this one victory:

“We need to just not get too down on each other, not criticize each other. Everybody needs to be one as a team. When one player messes up, pat him on the back and tell them ‘do a good job next time’ instead of talking trash.”

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Matching up post-game locker room quotes with corresponding facial expressions.

Caron Butler

When asked about the shot Hedo Turkoglu hit with 8.1 second left in overtime, putting Toronto up for good at 109-107 …

“Turkish Jordan.

You know, it’s tough. It was a tough shot. Tried to make him take a difficult shot, and that’s exactly what happened.”

Brendan Haywood

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I experienced a “first” on Wednesday night.

In the Wizards locker room before the game, I noticed a stack of duPont Registry magazines under one of the huge flat screen televisions. If you aren’t familiar with the duPont Registry, it’s a publication full of fancy/luxury cars, etc. that only really, really rich people can afford. One of my friends had a duPont Registry once, but it was just for lookin’, not for buyin’.

So … Wednesday night was the first time I was in the vicinity of the magazine while also being in a room full of dudes who could purchase something from it.

So I have that going for me.

After Wednesday’s win over Milwaukee, I was all ready to write about Earl Boykins, as was everyone else in the world (and I kinda did … below), but life/work got in the way of a more formal game write-up. It happens.

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