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[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Preseason Game No. 8, Washington Wizards at San Antonio Spurs; contributors: John Converse Townsend and Kyle Weidie.]
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Martell Webster offerings: a composed full court push to Jan Vesely.
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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…
[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Preseason Game No. 7, Washington Wizards at Miami Heat (in Kansas City, MO); contributors: Adam McGinnis, Rashad Mobley and Kyle Weidie.]
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Jordan Crawford can pass?
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That apartment building that burned down in Mt. Pleasant, D.C. forever ago. Photo: K. Weidie
Being gloom-and-doom about the Washington Wizards is a thankless job. It also doesn’t accomplish much, which is likely why no one is thanking you, with the exception of gloom-and-doom Wizards fans for which that has become the standard. They feed off it. They know no other way. And when you waste seasons on terrible basketball and unintelligible basketball players (“bad by design,” supposedly, via Ted Leonsis), it’s to be expected.
But PLAYOFFS? Good luck. You might as well be Andray Blatche claiming that you’re working hard in the offseason while making your own T-shirt that says, “Play Off Starts Here.”
ESPN’s John Hollinger, notorious and perpetual Wizards skeptic, pegs this year’s team to finish 38-44 and tied for ninth in the East. Writes Hollinger in his season preview (Insider): “So enjoy the sugar high of playoff contention this year, Washington. Chances are it will wear off quickly.”
He still has two legs. Here, on Monday afternoon, he performs a dribbling drill with assistant coach Ryan Saunders. This is a John Wall update, in GIF form.
He didn’t practice on Monday with that strained right calf muscle of his. A return is indeterminate according to head coach Randy Wittman.
“That’s one of those things that can continue to make great strides in a day or two, but then it could be a week, it could be two,” said the coach. “It’s one of those things — calf, hamstring, any kind of muscle injury — you just don’t know until it runs it course.”
[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Preseason Game No. 4, Washington Wizards at Brooklyn Nets; contributors: Rashad Mobley (@Rashad20), John Converse Townsend (@JohnCTownsend), and Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It), all via television.]
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 Look, it’s ‘what’s his name’ … You know, that guy… |
Washington Wizards 88 at Brooklyn Nets 98 [box score] |
[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Preseason Game No. 3, Washington Wizards at Cleveland Cavaliers; contributor: Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It), who watched the game over bootleg Internet television.]
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Washington Wizards 99 at Cleveland Cavaliers 95 [box score]Stat of the Game: The Wizards shot more free throws than their opponent for once, 34 to 28, but they made just 23 of them (67.6% — ouch) while Cleveland made 21 (75%). Washington tallying 26 assists to 16 turnovers also somewhat helped. |
[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Preseason Game No. 2, Washington Wizards vs. New York Knicks; contributors: Rashad Mobley and Kyle Weidie.]
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Washington Wizards 101 vs. New York Knicks 108 [box score]Stat of the Game: The Knicks shot 18-for-33 (54.5%) from the 3-point line. Steve Novak led the way by going 7-for-7. |
Let’s not fawn over the new Wizard who’s a good quote. (And we mostly mean ‘basketball’ good quote, not so much ‘poop-in-shoe’ story good quote.)
And let’s be cool before we dub Martell Webster as a “sleeper.” I don’t want guys on the basketball team that I watch sleeping. (But yea, I’ve previously said that Webster could be a steal of a sign by the one and only Ernest Grunfeld.)
Sure, it’s great that Webster followed up an 18-point performance (6-for-12 FGs in 25 minutes) against the Charlotte Bobcats on Sunday with a 12 point, 10 rebound showing in 27 minutes off the bench against the New York Knicks on Thursday. It’s the preseason, folks.
But whatever the case, just take some time and watch Webster talk in the video above.
Two weeks ago, John Wall and the Wizards jointly announced that the third-year point guard would miss around eight weeks with a stress injury to his left patella. The resulting ”sky is falling” sentiment divided into two groups. There was the “Curse of Lez Boulez” camp who fully expect the Wizards to start the season with a 9-20 record, followed by season-ending injuries, bad trades and a missed playoff berth, because that’s basically been the norm the past 30 or so years (the Eddie Jordan years and 1997′s ‘we-beat-the-Chicago-Bulls-in-the-first-round’ year being the only exception). The other group of disappointed people are still feeling the effects of the Gilbert Arenas injury (those effects range from contract extensions while hurt, to the criticisms of the Wizards’ training staff, to the eventual blowing up of that playoff roster) which was the catalyst for a slide from playoff relevance to lottery dependence.
Fortunately for Ted Leonsis and Randy Wittman, this current Wizards roster is neither burdened nor bogged down by the franchise’s previous chapters/history. With Wall’s injury, Trevor Booker and Kevin Seraphin are the longest tenured Wizards on the roster (Cartier Martin played for the Wizards during the 2009-10 season, but has not been on the team consistently). The Wizards have players like Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor, who just arrived to the team via trade over the summer, and Martell Webster, who witnessed career-threatening injuries to Greg Oden and Brandon Roy while in Portland. Then there are players like Bradley Beal, Jordan Crawford and Shelvin Mack, who will have the opportunity to shine in Wall’s absence and aim to enhance the Wizards’ offense upon Wall’s eventual return. And finally there’s Nene, who is currently battling plantar faciities, but, according to Nene himself and Ernie Grunfeld, will be ready on opening night against the Cavaliers. That’s important, as Nene led a mini-Wizards resurgence toward the end of last season. This Wizards roster can actually claim the “New Beginnings” mantra without drawing the cynical ire of bloggers and writers alike.
Wall’s injury and extended absence come at a crucial time in the development of this young Wizards franchise. The Wizards finished the season on a six-game winning streak, which was part of the reason Coach Randy Wittman was brought back for a full season. Ted Leonsis is on record as saying the playoffs should be on the radar, and that the lottery is not acceptable. (Leonsis recently tempered those expectations by saying it would be “unacceptable” to finish the season with one of the four worst records in the NBA.) And with maturity-challenged players like Andray Blatche, Nick Young and JaVale McGee no longer around to serve as go-to scapegoats, this was supposed to be the year the Wizards took the proverbial next step—a step that was predicated upon a full, healthy season of John Wall.
If the young players like Beal and Crawford fail to step up; if veteran players like Nene, Ariza and Okafor fail to lead; and if second-year players like Chris Singleton and Jan Vesely fail to improve, the grandiose hopes and plans of this team will disappear, and the lottery could very well be the Wizards’ destiny yet again. Not to mention, there could be more ugly losses like the Wizards’ first preseason loss against the Charlotte Bobcats. (As Kyle Weidie points out, there were plenty of injured Wizards unable to play, but plenty of disturbing trends, too.) Read more »
Across The ESPN TrueHoop Network
