From a previous time when John Wall was sad. He’s probably pretty sad now, too.
During his press conference on Wednesday, Washington Wizards coach Randy Wittman spoke about some of the “bumps and bruises” his team was experiencing leading up to training camp.
Of course there was mention of Nene’s plantar fasciitis and how the team would be cautious with the 30-year-old. Wittman also said that Emeka Okafor dislocated a finger just that day. “He’s fine… pops back in. Your finger joints happen all the time, I’m lucky I got straight fingers,” he said, also mentioning that Okafor’s knee had been at 100 percent since the Wizards traded for him. In addition, Wittman mentioned that Trevor Booker was healthy and ready to go.
Finally, Wittman said that John Wall was experiencing some bursitis, but he didn’t seem highly concerned about it Then, on Friday afternoon, the bombshell. Per team press release: Read more »
The Wizards have signed a shooter, potentially. We don’t know how much said shooter will contribute next season, if at all. We don’t even know if he was the “best” option on the market. We just know that at some point or another, he has shot the ball through the net at varying degrees of success. So let’s start with a song, Heath Brothers – Smiling Billy Suite Pt. 2… (recognize this?)
When reports surfaced that the Wizards might be set at 13 players, and that they weren’t willing to pay anyone more than the veteran minimum salary anyway, this was the gist of the message: “We like Roger Mason and James Singleton, but they didn’t want to play for the one-year vet’s minimum; they are now gone. Agents, if you have a worthy client who wants a job and will play for the minimum, holler at us.”
Names still surfaced, names of those hungry to stay in the league: Anthony Tolliver, Michael Redd, Terrence Williams, Shawne Williams, and Martell Webster.
[NBA Summer League 2010: John Wall implores JaVale McGee to rebound with his hands;
he won't be having to do that anymore - photo: K. Weidie]
UPDATE:
This afternoon the Wizards released their official summer mini-camp roster. In addition to those previously reported (Earl Calloway, LaRon Dendy, Steven Gray, Shavlik Randolph, Mike Scott, Kim Tillie, and Garret Siler), and those presumed to be playing (Shelvin Mack, Chris Singleton, Bradley Beal and Jan Vesely), there are two additional names: Jeff Brooks and Ravern Johnson.
Note: Tomas Satoransky is also listed on the official roster. For more, go to NBA.com/Wizards. The team will hold a mini-camp at the Verizon Center from Monday, July 9 to Thursday, July 12 before heading out to Las Vegas for the summer league. Read more »
[Cartier Martin gets a shove from Kevin Garnett - photo: K. Weidie, via this post]
Cartier Martin just signed a 10-day contract with the Washington Wizards, and he is already their best 3-point shooter (with apologies to Trevor Booker).
You see, Cook Book is shooting 50-percent from deep this year, but he’s only taken two 3-pointers, and neither were of the traditional variety, rather very long distance attempts in late clock situations. (Booker hit a 35-footer right before halftime against the Los Angeles Lakers at home.)
Otherwise, Roger Mason leads the Wizards, shooting 36.9-percent from deep on 103 attempts. (The departed Nick Young would technically lead Washington with 37.1-percent from deep on 197 attempts.) Mo Evans, who has seen just 200 minutes in 17 games, is currently second on the team with 34.5-percent on 29 attempts, rookie Shelvin Mack is shooting 33.3-percent on 36 attempts, and rookie Chris Singleton is shooting 32.6-percent on 92 attempts. Jordan Crawford leads the Wizards in 3-point attempts with 205, but is shooting just 28.6-percent on those.
Before tonight’s Wizards-Grizzlies game, I briefly spoke with Josh Howard about how the rehabilitation on his knee was coming along — because we are getting closer to the date that he might be back, even though he really has no timetable and the Wizards are bringing him along cautiously.
Howard said that he recently experienced a bit of a set-back with tendonitis, but indicated that such is relatively normal and that he’s going to keep working through it. I asked him if he’d circled any game in particular that he’d like to be back for. Howard said he did, but wouldn’t exactly divulge which game other than to say, “It’s in December, a big week in December too. People who keep up with our schedule, they’ll see it and they’ll know.”
Note that the Wizards play the Los Angeles Lakers in Washington on Tuesday, December 14, travel to New Jersey for a game against the Nets on Thursday, December 16, and then are back home for the their first peek at the Miami Heat on Saturday, December 18. Howard did also say that being more realistic, he might surpass whatever date that he’s targeted. Let’s give Josh a watch:
[Yi Jianlian makes a nasty/tough game face during a game against the Ivory Coast.]
According to sources, the MRI results on the injured Achilles heel of Yi Jianlian have come back negative and he should be ready to play in China’s opening knock-out round game against Lithuania on Tuesday.
Yi aggravated his inflamed Achilles against Russia last Wednesday and was held out from China’s Group C finale against Turkey on Thursday. Wang ZhiZhi and Lui Wei were also held out of Thursday’s game by China’s American coach, Bob Donewald. Before the game, because of Puerto Rico’s loss to the Ivory Coast, China knew they would advance to the next stage regardless of the outcome against the Turks.
If you watched China in previous international competitions in comparison to this year’s FIBA Worlds, or if you’ve simply listened to the television commentators for this year’s games, it’s easy to conclude that this Chinese team has played with more energy and more overt emotion than ever in the past. Much of that can be attributed to the style of Donewald, from coaching flair to simply practicing his Chinese players less.
“The Washington Wizards take this situation and the ongoing investigation very seriously. We are continuing to cooperate fully with the proper authorities and the NBA and will have no further comment at this time.”
Nothing much here from the franchise, just an acknowledgement.
I was g-mail chatting with Tim Varner of the Spurs blog 48 Minutes of Hell about Wizards and guns earlier. In discussing the inevitability that the real story would have eventually come out (by the way … check out what Mike Jones has to say about this on his new blog), Tim mentioned that it might have been better if the team fully disclosed from the beginning to make it seem like they were taking care of the situation. I might be inclined to agree.
Seems like such a weird/tough thing to handle from media & PR perspective. Perhaps the first instinct is to cover up bad news that is, “unprecedented in the history of sports,” according to the head of the NBA Players’ Association, Billy Hunter. Who knows.
I’ll have some more thoughts on this situation to come.
It’s as if we’re forced to admire or respect the outspoken views of Etan Thomas just because, well, they are outspoken. The mere fact that he’s a rare beacon of political activism amongst professional athletes somehow lends more credibility to his point of view.
Kind of ironic when you think about it. Because he plays in a capitalism-fueled league that he’s at times criticized, Thomas’ soap box (via the Huffington Post, et al.) has been amplified more than your average Joe (except if “The Plumber” follows ‘Joe’ I suppose). When you consider the privileges athletes receive because of their status in society, no one ever thinks about such perks including a higher platform for activism. But as Thomas points out in his blogging debut on HoopsHype, there are plenty of NBA players who have been politically (or more accurately, socially) conscious. It’s just that not all of them opine on a regular basis like Thomas.
A vocal Etan Thomas isn’t a bad thing. He’s done an admirable job in his attempt to push ‘need to be discussed’ topics to the forefront. But I won’t always pay attention to or agree with all of Thomas’ utterances. As I alluded to, the fact that he’s an athlete doesn’t lend him any sort of credibility in my mind. Then again, Thomas is no more or less credible than the oodles of political pundits out there on CNN, Fox News, and the what-not … the types John Stewart so often rips down with reason and comedy on the Daily Show (Which is, by the way, my ‘source’ for news … just kidding, kinda. Would you blame me if, at times, I’d rather digest current events with heavy doses satire via a self-proclaimed “fake news”?)
