Randy Wittman begged and pleaded last night for the media to alert the world about the limit on Nene’s minutes.
“I had fans heckling me, alright? I mean, come on!! Will you guys please report that this guy’s on a minute limit? They’re killing me… I had to turn around and say something to them today.”
Mr. Jack Kogod (@Unsilent) had this nugget of reality to add via Twitter:
@truth_about_it Not sure why he thinks that fans who are unaware of Nene’s limit are actually reading media reports.
Nene has played 11 games this season and is averaging 21.5 minutes per game. He has come in below the 20-minute mark four times, and he has exceeded the 24-minute mark three times — 29 minutes in his second game, a double-OT loss to the Bobcats; just over 24 minutes in his sixth game, a nine point loss in Atlanta; and 24 minutes in Tuesday night’s OT loss to the Hawks in Washington. Along the way, Nene has sat out two games — against the Spurs after those 29 minutes in game No. 2 against Charlotte; and he sat out last Saturday’s Heat game after playing against the Lakers on Friday.
Ultimately, it is what it is — Mike Miller style. What will be with the Washington Wizards will be. Until there are signs that that franchise is truly turning around, those who question “the plan” are obtuse outsiders without context. At least it seems this way, sometimes, as mistakes accrue and ownership looks to provide massaged reasoning via blog pixels.
It won’t be easy is a mantra, stay the well-intended course is the verse, and injuries are the narrative. It’s still hard to tell if something is direly amiss with the Ernie Grunfeld administration and how things are being evaluated in his second life. The track record barely needs mentioning to know how putrid it is. Now, the fires have been further inflamed by a reported trade that never happened.
The Washington Post‘s Michael Lee dropped a bombshell on Ted Leonsis’ pro basketball franchise on Tuesday evening, just as the Wizards were set to tip off against the Hornets in New Orleans. The quick gist is this tweet via @PostSports:
[John Wall can only watch and wish that he played with Kevin Durant.]
Robert Griffin III is awesome. No getting around that. All of the draft picks that the Redskins traded for him were worth it, and more. Redskins fans are very lucky to even have the a talent like RGIII on their team for years to come. An NBA superstar can make a franchise, but a potentially all-time great NFL quarterback is like nothing else (without getting too far ahead of ourselves).
That said, the Wizards could really, really use an NBA superstar. Kevin Durant is pridefully from the DMV area and just thinking about him in ‘new’ Wizards red (or even sporting the uniform of a more properly-named pro basketball team from the nation’s capital) brings a warm and fuzzy feeling. And even though the quarterback usually gets the girl, if done smartly (note: the Redskins under Dan Snyder have generally been very, very stupid), an NFL team can be built to win and compete for the Super Bowl, with a less-than thrilling QB.
But a guy like Durant, the NBA’s youngest-ever scoring champ and quite possibly one of the top three scorers in the game of basketball over the last two decades (or ever), could be even more of a game-changer for a team like the Wizards than RGIII has been for the Redskins.
So, I posed the question to D.C. sports fans on Twitter (last night before the Redskins beat the Giants and again earlier this morning)… Read more »
Kalorama Courts – NW Washington, DC – Photo: K. Weidie
Well, the season is here. No big, blow ‘em out preview from the TAI crew. We’re just here to offer continued coverage of the hometown pro basketball team as we usually do, and more. The site is entering its sixth season, by the way. So leggo…
On October 9, www.Bovada.lv released estimated win totals for every NBA team, or their over/under. The Washington Wizards stood at 31.5. About a week ago, TAI threw up a poll of various over unders, including:
O/U on John Wall PPG, 68% took the over on 17 points;
O/U on John Wall APG, 56% took the over on 8.5 assists;
O/U on Nene PPG, 63% took the over on 14 points;
O/U on Nene RPG, 53% took the over on 7.5 rebounds;
O/U on Jordan Crawford PPG, 56% took the over on 12.5 points; and
O/U on Bradley Beal PPG, 72% took the over on 12.5.
Forgive D.C. sports fans for seeming gloomy – for feeling like there’s a dark cloud hanging over their heads.
Ok, maybe that’s just Hurricane Sandy. But after a sunny September that featured Robert Griffin III’s debut and some incredibly exciting baseball, October’s been much more depressing for local fans; a stomach-punch Nationals loss, the Capitals locked out, and several big injuries to the area’s best young players.
Will the Wizards give us a reason to smile? When the NBA season wrapped up about six months ago, TAI did its first Wizards Optimism Index – a survey of where the team stood, having just ended the 2011-2012 season on a six-game winning streak.
We weighed in using five factors, weighted to reflect their relative importance to the state of the franchise. Read more »
Over/unders are set for gambling purposes, and if you’ve noted a recent national story, it’s an industry worth billions with various levels of legality. But otherwise, over/unders are fun to set yourself, guess about, or use as fodder in sports chatter.
It’s with this intro we talk about some Wizards-related over/unders which have been set by Bovada.lv. Below are the numbers, along with polls for you to take a stance over or under the estimates…
First of all, we know Houston’s Chandler Parsons got a put-back dunk on JaVale McGee, circling his crotch and balls around Epic ‘Vale’s head for good measure. McGee was more than posterized, he was GIF’d…
In video form, if you will…
Then, of course, in true JaVale fashion, there was this, a dunk off the backboard when down 64-60 early in the third quarter against Houston:
Case closed, people like polls. And various polls about the same subject can all tell a different story. However, not necessarily in the case of the Washington Wizards’ new look, about which we are still discussing with expansive pixels. All signs point to success for the Monumental Sports & Entertainment posse, with much kudos to adidas (thank the basketball gods it wasn’t Reebok, which used to do the NBA jerseys until Reebok was purchased by adidas in 2006). Perusing some comment sections, the general thought is, we love the new look, but…
The color-replacement Wizards logo is bad. Even though the team still owns the intellectual property rights to that trade mark, they should really put it out of commission (as in, don’t throw it on gear and blast it for sale all over the website). But we get it, the team is seeing if anybody bites on sales. I have a feeling that soon the only people wearing the color-replacement wizard with moon logo will be sad little kids with unknowing mothers and those in other counties adding them to their 2004 Carolina Panther SuperBowl Champion and 2000 Indiana Pacers NBA Finals Champion t-shirt collections.
Road jersey sales could be down… depending on availability. There’s something about the road jersey that’s so drastically opposite from how great the home white jersey looks. Some have said a version with more blue would look better, but Ted loves red. The color placement in the top stripes makes organizational sense, but perhaps players will ultimately look like they’re wearing a red strappy onesie jumper set for the summer when actually on the court. Because that’s another thing people have said, ‘Let’s see how look in them while playing.’ Indeed. Then again, maybe everyone will just get used to them and forget about minor critiques. I’m sure some marketing research has told Monumental Sports this.
Others have wanted more stars, a scoop neck instead of a v-neck, and so on.
[Editor's note: Eric L. is a Wizards fan, season ticket holder and a faithful reader of Truth About It.net ... and he's caught in a conundrum over whether to renew his season tickets for next season or not. Ted Leonsis, upon officially taking over ownership of the team, said:
"Full season ticket holders are the lifeblood of our company. And I will tell you that we need more full season ticket holders for the Washington Wizards. I will personally drive our full season ticket holders to games. I’ll mow lawns, I’ll wash cars. We are in this together. And while I can’t promise championships, I can sincerely and honestly tell you that what is in our control is making the game experience, the value and the way we treat our customers, the best in the plans."
As is evident, Eric's decision is crucial for all parties involved. So, read below what Eric has to say on the matter and help him decide via the poll at the bottom of this post. -Kyle W.]
