photo: K. Weidie

More than ever, media surrounding a professional sports team is a battle waged with pixels. Even winning franchises must deal with damage control, getting out feel-good messages about players, feeding the machine. But for teams like the Wizards, the task is even tougher.

Nothing looks good about this season, and fan frustration with team management is quickly coming to a head. Only one NBA team has accrued more losses over the reign of Ernie Grunfeld in Washington (since 2003, 458 and counting): the Minnesota Timberwolves (462). The T-Wolves, propelled by woulda/coulda/shoulda-been Wizards draft pick Ricky Rubio, beat the Oklahoma City Thunder last night—the team that everyone wants to be like. And the Houston Rockets, who managed to turn their roster over faster and more efficiently than the Wizards, are the surprise story of this NBA season.

Meanwhile, the Wizards are 3-20. Sure, there are a plethora of legitimate excuses—injuries (as always), youth, roster turnover, owner turnover, the list goes on…

And so it’s the thankless, unenviable job of team-fueled media—from television to radio to the owner’s blog—to pump out the positive pixels of puffery surrounding such a dead-in-the-water team. Somebody has to combat the cold, cruel vitriol—sometimes fueled by facts, sometimes fueled by fatigue, sometimes fueled by friggin’, frackin’ emotions in that people just want to be able to enjoy the basketball being played by their hometown professional team.

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Well, there is good news on the John Wall injury front. We think. After a visit to the doctor today, it has essentially been announced that John Wall can “do more stuff.”

Specifically, via team press release and New York City orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Altchek:

“John’s examination today showed improvement in his stress injury that will allow him to begin ramping up his activity level. There is still some irritation in the knee which we have treated over his last several visits with a series of three lubricating Synvisc injections, the last of which was given today. He will continue to be evaluated on an ongoing basis.”

After originally diagnosing John Wall’s “pre-stress fracture” as something which would cause him to miss “approximately eight weeks” in late-September, the team has now announced … well, nothing.

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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:

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After seven seasons, 7-Day ‘Dray is no longer a Washington Wizard, cast away by means of the amnesty provision on July 17. Some are still celebrating, some are still contemplating… the TAI crew of Adam McGinnis, Sean Fagan, Dan Diamond, Rashad Mobley, and Kyle Weidie take you through an FAQ on the official departure of Andray Blatche.

Q: When did Blatche’s time with the Wizards go south? And Why?

A: Adam McGinnis (@AdamMcGinnis)

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On June 28, NBA Commissioner David Stern strode across the Prudential Center stage to the podium and announced that Florida guard Bradley Beal was coming to play for the Washington Wizards. Prior to the draft, he became the most coveted prospect not named Anthony Davis. ESPN’s Andy Katz reported that the Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers all were willing to trade up to get Beal. None did, and the Wizards selected their man with the third pick.

Besides football toughness and high character, Beal brings sorely needed shooting and rebounding to the Wizards backcourt. Former guard Nick Young was a legitimate scorer, but did little else. Incumbent guard Jordan Crawford is also blessed with the scorer’s gene and the knack for an occasional timely pass, but defense, rebounding, and consistency are not parts of his repertoire.

Beal’s arrival, combined with the acquisitions of Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor, gives Wizards fans and coaches every reason to believe that change is coming. Those three combined with the still-maturing John Wall, a couple of promising kids in the fold, and a steady Nene for an entire season represent a new beginning … again.

In case there is any confusion, this 2012 version of “new beginnings” is slightly different than the one we saw in 2009. Then, Ernie Grunfeld and Abe Pollin tried to generate enthusiasm with the arrivals of Flip Saunders, Mike Miller and Randy Foye on top of a retread roster (Foye specifically said it was a “new beginning” for him at media day — it always is). The luster drastically wore off after uneven play, a gun incident, and trades that caused the Wizards to finish 26-56. The very next season, a game-changing new beginning was offered up by new owner Ted Leonsis in the form of number one draft pick John Wall, who received the limousine and red carpet treatment from the Wizards brass. Wall showed flashes of speed and brilliance during his rookie year, but his lack of a strong supporting cast was exposed, and by his second year, it was clear that more change was needed. This planted the seeds for this current version of a new beginning.

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[Heaven is a playground in Oklahoma City--and perhaps Wizards fans will get there, one day.
Hat-tip SpreeGoogs.]

A word of warning: I’m Truth About It’s resident pessimist. You may remember me from such posts as “Memo to NBA: Contract the Wizards” and “Clearly, God Hates DC Basketball Fans.” (OK, I made that second one up.)

But I don’t feel like a pessimist today. Just a realist.

Kyle and John have artfully explained why the big Emeka Okafor-Trevor Ariza-Rashard Lewis deal is a net good for the Wiz.

Still, I think we need to go by a simple question: What Would Oklahoma City Do?

Answer: Not this.

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[Ernie Grunfeld hoping to get lucky. Courtesy SportsPickle.]

The Wizards stink.

And that isn’t my grumpy reaction. It’s a sad, embarrassing fact.

In today’s Washington Post, Michael Lee warned that the Wiz are on track for their worst record in franchise history. (A related WaPo graphic captures the year-over-year misery.)

I love our NBA franchise. I’ve just hated watching them suffer. Although TAI readers weren’t thrilled about my suggestion that the league contract the Wizards, to save us all the pain.

So here’s what you think we should do instead.

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[Remember planking? Or is G-Wiz just dead on Ted Leonsis' desk?]

Here at the 2012 NBA All-Star break, exactly halfway through Ted Leonsis’ three-year rebuilding plan, it’s hard to think about the future of the Washington Wizards without contemplating how they got here. Before this season, Leonsis stated that he wanted to rip the rear-view mirrors off his Ferrari of a franchise and only look forward. The glaring metaphorical omissions by the owner being, a) he may have made modifications to the car, but he didn’t change the driver, team president Ernie Grunfeld, and b) no race car driver would ever compete without a way to see behind them, else they put themselves in an unnecessarily dangerous situation. And we wonder why the Wizards are where they are now.

Teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers and Utah Jazz have been broken down and are now stocked with better future talent than the Wizards. The Cavaliers only got a trade exception, a couple future first-round picks and a couple second-round picks from Miami in return for LeBron James. But the key to their current situation was sending Mo Williams and Jamario Moon to the Los Angeles Clippers for Baron Davis and a 2011 first round pick. That pick turned out to be the first overall selection, Kyrie Irving. Combined with Cleveland’s fourth pick, Tristan Thompson, and whatever player development they have working in their favor (really, look at Cleveland’s roster and tell me it’s more talented than the Wizards), the Cavaliers have achieved post-LeBron promise faster than anyone expected.

The Jazz were able to parlay Deron Williams off on Jay-Z and the Russians for a bounty of prospects — Derrick Favors and two first-round picks. One of those picks netted Utah Enes Kanter third overall in last year’s draft, and they used their own ninth pick to select Gordon Hayward in 2010. Utah also simply had a better core of players and better player development in place. They found Paul Millsap with the 47th overall pick in 2006. Al Jefferson came from Minnesota in a July 2010 exchange for Kosta Koufos, a first-round pick that turned out to be Donatas Motiejunas, and another future first-rounder. In rebuilding past the Deron Williams-Andrei Kirilenko-Mehmet Okur-Carlos Boozer core that was swept by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2010 Western Conference semi-finals, Utah put better veterans in place to support the young core now in development.

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A D.C. basketball court picture, some words, a link, some words about links, commentary, NBADRAFTGOOGLESEO, and some more links…

[Alice Deal H.S. - Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

At the risk of sounding expected and generic in critiquing a general sports column meant to appeal to the masses that was unexpectedly generic (at least according to what should be expected of the Washington Post), I’ll point out Jason Reid’s column in the Post last Monday about this new and innovative concept in the NBA called “defense” (sometimes spelled with a capital ‘D’), and how the Wizards should, you know, draft for it, with a very long-winded introductory sentence to this bloggy post of links.

Reid’s lede: Read more »

I should have known that the NBA Draft Lottery was not going to fall in the Washington Wizards favor when I walked into the media area.  Two members of the Cleveland Browns, Joshua Cribbs and Joe Haden, who are from Washington, D.C. and Fort Washington, MD respectively, were sitting at a table with former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar.  Maybe under different circumstances Cribbs and Haden would have donned the new colors of the Washington Wizards, but on this evening, their roles were to be good luck charms for Dan Gilbert.  They were ensconced in Cleveland Cavaliers gear – the former pseudo-rival of Washington which also happened to be the team that eliminated the Wizards the last time they were fortunate enough to make the playoffs

Two hours later, Dan Gilbert, his charismatic son Nick, Kosar, Cribbs and Haden were posing for pictures in front of the ESPN camera, and celebrating the fact that the Cavaliers had won the first pick of the 2011 draft.  The Wizards, who were represented by last year’s number one selection John Wall, were left with the sixth pick, despite having the fourth-worst record in the NBA.

Despite the disappointing draft position, there were still some positives for the Washington Wizards franchise.  As I wrote for the DCist, in just a short period of time Wall displayed the type of confidence and leadership that the Wizards braintrust probably expected when they drafted him first just one year ago.  He worked the room, he joked around with his fellow 2010 draft classmate Greg Monroe, as well as Kyrie Irving, who figures to the first pick of the 2011 draft class.  He was equally comfortable in between Toronto Raptors President Bryan Colangelo and Mayor of Sacramento Kevin Johnson; Wall even mentioned that he asked Mayor Johnson about his role in keeping the Kings in Sacramento.

Here is Wall speaking confidently on his summer plans, his opinion of some of the players in the draft and his expectations for his fellow teammates among other things:

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