Posts for category ‘Ex-Wizards’

["eternal seppuku #wizards" via @wzztnzz

The Washington Wizards are just one of four NBA franchises which haven’t tasted the playoffs in the last four seasons (since 2009-10). Its contemporaries: the Sacramento Kings, the Toronto Raptors, and the Minnesota Timberwolves. (Yes, the Charlotte Bobcats made the playoffs in 2010 if you’re wondering).

That doesn’t, however, mean that one can’t play for one of these recently–and some more permanently–forlorn franchises and not make the playoffs. There are plenty of ex-Washington Wizards in this year’s regular season afterlife.

Let’s dive into some names and see how these four teams compare. To be listed, ex-players must be on a current playoff roster, and not simply having played for a current playoff team at some point during the season. (Looking at you, Beno Udrih, ex-King who was traded from the Bucks to the Magic in February.)

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[Ed. Note: This is the 'official' TAI debut of Conor Dirks, longtime Wizards fan, Maryland transplant in the ATL. Follow him on Twitter: @ConorDDirks. -Kyle W.]

A pensive Ernie Grunfeld prepares to “explain.” Please allow him to do so.

In the last 10 years, the Wizards have had exactly one general manager, former NBA player Ernest Grunfeld. During Ernie’s tenure, the Wizards have amassed 475 losses, which is good for the second-most losses (tonight’s opponent, Minnesota, has the most) and third-worst winning percentage in the NBA over the last 10 years. The reason for the discrepancy between total losses and percentage is appropriately sad: the Charlotte Bobcats didn’t exist during Grunfeld’s first year with Washington.

It would be irresponsible to hold one individual wholly accountable for the failure of an organization with so many moving parts. However, after the trade of Jordan Crawford, and a recent history riddled with failed player development, it’s appropriate to try to ascertain what has gone wrong.

Bad draft picks and failed draft picks are not one and the same. Many of Ernie Grunfeld’s draft-day acquisitions have gone on to play significant roles in the NBA. However, the Wizards under Ernie Grunfeld have shown a complete lack of ability to develop and retain valuable players. Washington has also, during Grunfeld’s tenure, become notorious for dysfunction. This dysfunction isn’t endemic to D.C.’s team (see: Sacramento Kings), but the Verizon Center might be its headquarters. Read more »

Seen here: Ernie Grunfeld debriefing with the Monumental Media & PR Network after putting the squeeze on Jordan Crawford.

Who knew Jordan Crawford would be such a polarizing character amongst Wizards Nation?

…In a nation where it’s made easy to concentrate on just about anything aside from winning.

We all should just move on. And, guess what? Jason Collins!!! I’ll let the Theodore Unit take over via his blog: Read more »

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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Tonight is the third time, with his third team, that DeShawn Stevenson has been back to play in D.C. since he was traded away in February 2010.

As a member of the Dallas Mavericks, before they won the title, Stevenson returned to Washington, played two minutes and missed one shot in a February 2011 contest, a 105-99 Dallas win. As a member of the New Jersey Nets last season, Stevenson made a brief 12 second appearance at the Verizon Center in a 90-84 Nets win on opening night of a lockout-shortened season. Now, as a member of the Atlanta Hawks, having been traded last summer in the Joe Johnson deal, Stevenson returns to Washington, yet again.

Take the opportunity to speak with DeShawn before Tuesday night’s Wizards-Hawks matchup? Certainly.

TAI: Anything to being back here in D.C., or has all that passed by now? Read more »

Well, it’s no Eddie Jordan pro-style Princeton offense. Instead, it’s Gilbert Arenas aimlessly wandering around the 3-point arc on the basketball hardwood in China. Which, for some strange reason, I take pleasure in watching … while those peddling Amway products are essentially paying Arenas not to play for the Orlando Magic. It’s all very sad in a bloggable way. Hey, did you know that Arenas was the first blogging athlete? Well, he was.

The above video, in fact, comes from China. It’s Arenas’ November 24 debut with the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), against Stephon Marbury, famed consumer of Vaseline, and the Beijing Ducks. Well, the first few minutes of Arenas’ debut—he pulled up with an injury not six minutes in. But there Gilbert is, wandering around the floor in blue, wearing uniform No. 0 (just like Andray Blatche of the Brooklyn Nets).

Long story short, the Sharks get down 10-2 while Arenas barely touches the ball. Then Arenas sinks a step-back, fadeaway 3-pointer at about the 6:35 mark of the above YouTube (the only shot he would end up attempting). Then Arenas gets injured via his groin, or hip flexor, or “intramuscular strain of the right thigh”—all of them probably apply, all of them are probably lost in translation—and leaves for the night, and the foreseeable future (around the 8:22 mark of the YouTube). And then the Sharks lost to the Ducks, 94-78.

The blog, Beijing Cream, relays this: Read more »

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 »

Truth About It.net will turn a whole five years old at the end of this October.

Hard to believe/interesting. Nonetheless, over the life of the site from the 2007-08 season to 2011-12, we’ve seen/lived/suffered through 131 wins, 263 losses, four coaches, two owners, one GM/team president, one Phil Chenier mustache removal, and 56 total players (amazingly, 48 players over the last three seasons).

You may have heard of ESPN’s #NBArank project, now in year two. Now hear of #WizardsRank, where we rank each of those 56 players during Truth About It.net’s five-year run.

TAI anonymously polled 27 members of the Wizards pixel establishment — from mainstream media to new media, TAI staffers included, to a few pixel consumers (readers of the site) — and got 17 responses.

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Truth About It.net will turn a whole five years old at the end of this October.

Hard to believe/interesting. Nonetheless, over the life of the site from the 2007-08 season to 2011-12, we’ve seen/lived/suffered through 131 wins, 263 losses, four coaches, two owners, one GM/team president, one Phil Chenier mustache removal, and 56 total players (amazingly, 48 players over the last three seasons).

You may have heard of ESPN’s #NBArank project, now in year two. Now hear of #WizardsRank, where we rank each of those 56 players during Truth About It.net’s five-year run.

TAI anonymously polled 27 members of the Wizards pixel establishment — from mainstream media to new media, TAI staffers included, to a few pixel consumers (readers of the site) — and got 17 responses.

Read more »