Merry/happy time of the year for whatever it is that you and friends/family enjoy celebrating/taking part in. Hope all of that is going well. What you will see in this Christmas Day post is scenes from scrimmaging at Wizards practice on Thursday, December 22. Prepare yourself, fans of the team, for an ugly start to the season as a young team looks to progress toward improvement in uncertain times, i.e., enjoy!

What You Will See:

The Wizards making extra passes in the early offense — even JaVale McGee passing out of the post, go figure (I imagine this happens because McGee knows a double team is coming) — and Jordan Crawford ultimately finding Mo Evans in the corner for a jumper.

What You Will See:

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“Know your roll!”

Former Washington Bullet Ledell Eackles, as relayed in :07 Seconds Or Less by Jack McCallum, once wrote, “Know your roll!” on a chalkboard as a member of the Miami Heat, in an attempt to inspire the team. Yes, “roll” and not “role” — the irony easily realized if you know Eackles’ issues with rotundness during his playing days.

But in terms of NBA players “knowing their roles” on the court… What, exactly does that mean? No, really. Because I’ve never quite understood it past being pseudo-code for: ‘Some guys are trying to do things they are not supposed to be doing, nor are capable of doing.’ And maybe that’s enough, although all the talk about knowing roles can still be confusing.

A player knowing his role in basketball makes sense, at one level, as all positions in the game are free-flowing. Sure, you have point guards and centers, but even the lines between those have blurred over time. Basketball is not like baseball where action is often solely focused on one person throwing the ball to a sole person responsible for hitting it; there’s sharing in basketball. Have you been to Lob City yet? (And to a lesser extent, John to JaVale Township?) Nor is basketball like football, where assignments on both offense and defense are specifically outlined. Or even hockey, where one guy’s role is to mind the net, others are more specifically geared toward defense or offense.

Basketball, with its diluted assignments, can thus be confusing when it comes to roles. Positions 1-5 can all score within the offense, or at the drop of a hat with a sudden change in possession. Players do need to know some sort of role for team structure, but even saying that seems overly robotic, and counterintuitive to how fluidly equal the game of basketball is meant to be.

Whatever it all means, it’s no surprise that the young Washington Wizards have a lack of understanding when “role” talk makes its way to the airwaves, i.e., who should be following the offense more rigidly, who is able to improvise and ad lib, and at which point of the game, quarter, or shot clock all these players should be performing within their capabilities.

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Or rather, “Film doesn’t lie,” but you get it…

“Ball Don’t Lie!,” goes the famous saying, extended into pixels forever thanks to Rasheed Wallace. It’s entirely possible that Wallace, when he was a member of the Detroit Pistons, picked up the phrase from his coach, Flip Saunders. Wallace, however, was also said to use it as a member of the Portland Trailblazers. So maybe Flip learned it from watching him. And who knows where Rasheed got it from.

There’s a YouTube video of Wallace saying it during a Pistons-Milwaukee Bucks game after an Andrew Bogut missed free-throw. Ironically, there’s also footage of Saunders, as Pistons coach, saying “Ball don’t lie,” after a Gilbert Arenas missed technical free-throw for the Washington Wizards. Little did Flip know then how much he’d later be involved with Gilbert. But the ball, according to Saunders, isn’t the only think that does not lie. Game film doesn’t lie either.

On Saturday afternoon, after an embarrassing home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in their first preseason game on Friday, the Wizards returned to the scene of the crime. First up, a lengthy film session to review the 103-78 defeat.

“When you watch film, film doesn’t lie,” said Saunders. “You can see in the film who’s doing the right things, who’s doing the wrong things.”

When asked about the specifics of what the film showed him, Saunders said, “Nothing different than I didn’t see last night.” The coach indicated that his players didn’t move the ball, said that 80-percent of their shot attempts came off one or two passes.

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Washington Wizards Training Camp 2011: Day 4

By 7 pm on Tuesday evening, toward the end of the fifth day of training camp, the Washington Wizards will have 72 hours before their first preseason game. How NBA teams are coping with such short turn-around times is anyone’s guess, but the young Wizards have seemingly adjusted their seriousness with the abbreviated schedule. Aside from the hanging free agency status of Nick Young, this preparation experience coincides with the fewest distractions (including the distraction of expectation) that the Wizards franchise has had going into a season in a long time.

But ask most involved if they’re ready for Friday’s contest against a Philadelphia 76ers team in D.C. and a disregard for the affirmative will come back like a knee-jerk reaction. ”Uhh… No way,” Roger Mason said with a smile, “but we’re going to do the best we can. The coaches have prepared us great. The emphasis has been on defense, defense, defense.”

“I’ll tell ya in a couple days,” was Flip Saunders’ response, playing down the importance of Friday’s game in terms of basketball judgement and playing up the gauge of game conditioning it will be. Although, Chris Singleton seemed very ready to go against an opponent instead of a teammate. Plenty of anxiousness to go around either way, but it’s evident that this inexperienced squad is aware of the work ahead. Let’s take a look at some of the action in motion pictures…

What you will see:

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On Monday afternoon Flip Saunders left practice early, storming out and cutting it short because he said his team did not have a sense of urgency and that his players were not working hard. Saunders also said, “That’s the one thing as coaches, you can’t coach effort.” He told his team to come back for a second practice that afternoon at 4 pm.

Barring your opinion of whether coaches can really coach effort or not, or if they should at least be taking measures to encourage maximized effort, or if you believe it should not be an NBA coach’s responsibility to hold the hands of basketball millionaires, there are a lot of issues with this Wizards team and they have been pointed out.

But Saunders walking out on practice … how big of a deal is this? Sure, as TAI’s Adam McGinnis was opining to me over Google-chat, this would be getting killed in Chicago or New York. Then again, via web media with boundless reach, it’s out there for a larger audience to scrutinize nonetheless.

Is it a good sign? No, it’s not a good sign that the lines between coaching instruction and player implementation are not in tune. But we’re talking about practice.

Yes, practice.

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After a thrilling overtime victory over the 76ers on Election night  in the nation’s capital, the Wizards players and coaches appeared  in an upbeat mood at practice on Wednesday morning. Then again, this year’s team always seems to be in good spirits. The Four Bigs ‘(Dray Blatche, Yi Jianlian, JaVale McGee and Hilton Armstrong) were playing a rotating game of one-on-one with coach Gene Banks at one end, while other Wizards took part in a game of 3-on-3 on the side baskets at the other end. Gilbert was in this game and he looked pretty healthy.  John Wall, against a wall, was chatting with Coach Saunders and observing both workout contests. The big topics post-practice were Cartier Martin’s off-balance three that sent Tuesday’s game into an extra period and the spectacular play of Wall.

Check out the video mix:

Observations:

• Blatche bet assistant coaches Sam Cassell and Don Zierden that he could make six baskets in a row. Both took that friendly wager and when practiced concluded, Dray faced up against McGee. I believe Dray had made three or four straight before losing; an elated Sammy-I-Am jumped up for joy.

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After Tuesday’s practice adjourned, and before the Wiz Kids headed to Orlando, Hilton Armstrong, Kevin Seraphin and Andray Blatche got in some extra work, battling each other with pseudo post-moves under the supervision of assistant coach Gene Banks.

It’s hard to notice (via the video quality of a Flip Cam), but Blatche was hamming it up a bit from the get-go, looking at the camera, etc. So Armstrong and Serphin followed suit a couple times. It was all in good fun … and they are all kids (Armstrong will turn 26 at the end of November, Blatche turned 24 at the end of August and Seraphin will turn 21 in early December).

Still, one sometimes can’t help but feel that, speaking specifically about Blatche, he has a very long way to go until he’s looked upon as a team leader with any amount of seriousness. And I’m not really drawing from this instance of post-practice post-work, but rather from my complete observations regarding the serious nature in which he operates, or lack thereof.

Again, the guy is just 24, albeit, a 24 year-old who still protests about running as a result of end-of-practice particulars, etc. (again, not completely conveyed in the video). In the end, a rebuilding team has time … you just wonder how much patience. Fortunately, there is also plenty of time for that patience to be tested … mainly by Messrs. Arenas and Blatche. Gentlemen, do your best.

Sure, I pretty much said the Wizards would lose to the Magic on Thursday in my last post. But there’s always an ‘if’ … and Gilbert Arenas is just that. Coming into this season, I’ve been confident that Arenas would be healthy enough to be a very effective scorer. Some are concerned about his knee, but if the mystique of Tim Grover proves true, time off due to suspension only made the surgical repairs stronger, with more rest.

We’re talking about a guy who scored 45 points in a game last season — and 25 or more points in 10 out of 32 games, seven of those games coming in December when Arenas started to heat up. The Wizards went 4-6 in the win/loss column when Gil scored 25 or more … which I guess isn’t bad, considering.

No, instead of his offense, what I’ve wanted to see from Gilbert is if his defensive legs can prove something other than the norm, for him, especially after Flip Saunders has backed Arenas’ defensive capability so much. People are already afraid that the twists and turns will continue with Gilbertology. Hopefully, lingering groin and ankle injuries won’t contribute more of that feeling you get when the plane or roller coaster takes a sudden drop.

But if Gilbert is merely a bench ornament in Orlando, the name of the Wizards’ game will still be to out-trick the Magic with strong and dominant guard play — pressure bursts pipes and speed makes it worse. Hello John Wall.

An upset toppling like a good ol’ Pyramid Scheme in the new Amway Center isn’t beyond comprehension. What if Dwight Howard gets in foul trouble, or perhaps is moved by the spirit to pick up a couple of those ‘new’ technicals? Who else do the Orlando Magic have that can out-basketball the Wiz kids? Vince Carter? I imagine that Al Thornton is a threat to give him the ‘Melo Treatment (meaning the one time Thornton played stellar defense against Carmelo Anthony).

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The atmosphere around the Verizon Center practice court was light and playful for once, and the Wizards players and coaching staff looked completely at ease.  John Wall and Gilbert Arenas shared jokes while shooting free throws. Kevin Seraphin worked on his post moves with Gene Banks, trading jokes at the same time. Even the normally stoic Yi Jianlian could be seen cracking a smile while shooting free throws with JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche.

There was no talk about Arenas, his beard, his smile or his behavior, no visible residual sadness regarding the departures of Sean Marks and Adam Morrison, and no lingering effects from the loss in Detroit two nights earlier.

Earlier in the day, John Wall, Andray Blatche, Josh Howard, Nick Young,  Hamady Ndiaye, Trevor Booker, members of the Wizards coaching staff as well as front office personnel, hosted a “Salute to the Stars” in honor of NBA Cares Week of Service.  The Wizards staff served 200 combat veterans as well as wounded men and woman from various branches of the military.  Josh Howard commented on how the event went:

“Soldiers give back to us all the time, so its nice to see the Wizards along with Morton’s [Steakhouse] come together and NBA Cares as well. It’s a great organization…”

In terms of how practice went, what the preparation will be for the next week until the opener against the Orlando Magic, and why Morrison and Marks fell short of making the team, Flip Saunders handled that.

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The position of team captain was an unstable one last year, especially after the trade winds when Earl Boykins and Mike Miller were pegged as the team leaders/representatives with the referees.

Slightly different story for 2010-11 …

On Monday afternoon, when I asked Flip Saunders who had arisen to fill the team captain position(s) this year, he sounded pretty confident that 20-year old John Wall and soon-to-be 30-year old Kirk Hinrich would be his men.

“Right now we’ve gone with Hinich and Wall. Those are the two guys, at this point, that have shown leadership through camp. So that’s where we’re at right now,” said the coach.

And about Arenas? …

“We just haven’t really talked,” said Saunders. “Those two guys have been our two most vocal guys and our two guys that have shown leadership.”

Other Quick Practice Notes:

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The first practice for new Wizards Josh Howard, James Singleton and Quinton Ross had a media buzz in the air, yet a slightly somber tone on the court. Most of those already on the team ducked the awaiting press by exiting the practice court from a side door. Antawn Jamison, however, made his presence known by singing the Black Eyed Peas’ “I got a feeling,” down the hallway as he headed into the locker room. He later would make the media wait around 30 minutes for him to speak until a Wizards PR person finally declared that ‘Twan had left the building. For good? We don’t know.

It seemed like forever since I’d been in the Verizon Center. Sixteen days to be exact. With the Atlanta Hawks game originally scheduled for February 6th postponed because of snow, the last time I was around in the catacombs of the house that Abe built was on February 1st when the Wizards barely mustered 10 points in the fourth quarter and lost to the Boston Celtics 99-88.

Days like Tuesday afternoon’s practice are always interesting. I walked into the press lounge to see several faintly familiar faces; the television personalities who only show up on noteworthy days with their camera crews in tow. Some of the regulars wondered how many of them knew the difference between Ross and Singleton. Nonetheless, I don’t expect much coverage from the infrequent media masses once the trade deadline passes.

Of course, I type this as if I were some grizzled veteran when I just started covering the Wizards with media access last September. Then again, the circumstances surrounding the team this season is enough to give a blogger some gray hairs.

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Today’s concluding media session at Wizards practice, which was held on the main Verizon Center court because it happened to be set up, didn’t have as somber of a mood in the air as I expected.

Then again, the shellacking in San Antonio came way back on Saturday … plenty of time for the players to look forward and put the bad loss behind them, as professional athletes are so apt at doing.

I only got to talk with two players today (not that many talked in the first place; to my knowledge, I only missed comments from Andray Blatche), and had to leave before Flip Saunders finally made himself available. The two players: Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas.

And get this, Arenas actually wanted to talk to the media. The days of him walking by after practice and saying, “They told me I didn’t have to talk to you guys today, only on game nights,” could be a distant memory. Then again, Agent Funeral could also be back at any time.

As the scrum surrounded Jamison, Gilbert stopped for a minute to listen on his way to the locker room (Antawn immediately threw a wadded up paper cup at him in jest).

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On Thursday, the members of the media were treated to a spirited match of one-on-one between Sam Cassell and Nick Young … well, “spirited” only really reflects one side of the battle, obviously coming from the entertaining Sam I Am.

I didn’t see every possession, but as it’s been reported before, the old man still has it.

The game of one-on-one was of the casual variety that you usually see pro or college basketball players play … mostly jump shots induced by a variety of moves that serve no real purpose of ‘getting to the basket’ productivity.

Young did get his shot to fall a couple times. But for the most part, Cassell was getting the best of the kid with some veteran trickery, craftily adjusting his shot near the basket and using some below the waist leverage to gain an advantage on defense, especially when Young was trying to go up for a shot.

Not only was Cassell talking smack to Young, but he managed to get Brendan Haywood involved as well. At point point after a Young miss, Cassell said something in Haywood’s direction to the effect of “Can’t finish … This is the Wizards … Good first half team, but can’t finish.”

The whole scene left the entire media contingent in stitches and the newly acquired Earl Boykins smiling and shaking his head at the antics of Cassell as he and Gilbert Arenas left the practice court.

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Sure the Wizards could have gone with a younger guy, perhaps a promising prospect, or even a hard worker from the D-League … but little Earl Boykins is what the Wizards get, a move that clearly has the words ‘offense’ and ‘veteran’ in mind.

Flip Saunders and Boykins go back to the old days in Cleveland, where both were born and raised (not together of course, Saunders is 54 and Boykins is 33). Saunders also saw him play a lot when he coached in Minnesota and Boykins played for the divisional foe Denver Nuggets. Flip said that the 5’5″ guard gives the Wizards something different than what’s currently on the roster, has the ability to pick up things fast, and with his quickness, is a tough matchup for any team.

Saunders also praised Boykins for his floor effectiveness, especially in the fourth quarter, and for his ability to shoot free-throws. Boykins is a career .879 from the charity stripe and finished in the NBA’s top ten from ’03-04 to ’06-07. And free-throw shooting is something the Wizards definitely need.

Boykins wasn’t shipped all the way from Italy, where he spent last season playing. He was hanging out in Denver, Colorado, training in the high altitude, confident some team would need him and come calling … and Washington did. Sort of unfortunate for the Wizards because of injuries resulting in the need to sign someone, but certainly fortunate for Boykins.

When asked about the backcourt injuries his team is facing, going from seven deep in training camp to an available three (Arenas, Stevenson, and Young) with four down (Miller, Crittenton, James, and Foye ), Flip Saunders said, “Maybe I had this kiss of death when I said ‘those things always work themselves’ out … unfortunately they did.”

Boykins said that he’d been contacted by some other teams, but wouldn’t divulge whom. “I’m here, it doesn’t matter,” he said. And “here” is in Washington for a team that not only needs his services for depth, but needs them now … as in playing time against Detroit this Saturday. Saunders even indicated that a backcourt lineup of Boykins and Arenas is a possibility because: Read more »

After Monday’s practice, before setting off for hostile territory in Ohio, Brendan Haywood, Caron Butler, Randy Foye and DeShawn Stevenson are prodded to talk about the rivarly/history between the Wizards and the Cavaliers.

Other practice coverage links:

• New look Wiz get ready for Cleveland rivalry [DC Sports Bog]
• Butler expeced to play vs. Cleveland [Wizards Outlet]
• Foye is fine about not getting an extension [Wizards Insider]