[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. Game No. 82, Washington Wizards at Chicago Bulls; contributors: Kyle Weidie and Adam McGinnis from the District.]
Garrett Temple cleaned out his locker at the Verizon Center on Thursday and departed with its contents in a large, black trash bag. John Wall cleaned out his locker and left with a large, rolling suitcase.
Bags were packed, ready to go. Wall wore an adidas shirt and Zubaz-esque shorts. CSN’s Chris Miller had jokes. “Summertime fine,” snapped-back Wall. And the DC Sports Bog had a whole pixel post about the garb.
So with that, it’s summertime, John Wall, and Wizards fans.
“Watergate” – First it was a fancy Washington, D.C. hotel/apartment complex built in the late-1960s (well, maybe not first; there are other “Watergates” in existence, aside from the literal meaning of the word). Then it was a Presidential scandal in the early-1970s, which took place at said complex. Now, in the early-2010s, it is apparently a basketball expression, one that you’ve likely already seen in pixel form on this very website.
What “Watergate” means in basketball is easy enough to understand. Jumpers have long been “wet,” and the description of a ball going “splash” through the net probably came prior. So, when you’re talking “Watergate,” you’re talking about made jumpers. The term popularized itself around the Wizards locker room this season, but where did it come from?
What does a win really mean this late in the season?
One of the more divisive precepts of late-season NBA strategy is that of tanking. At the coaching level, it’s difficult to imagine the motivation for attempting to lose games. Even more difficult to imagine is a concerted effort by the players themselves to lose. For both players and coaches in a losing season, games played long after the specter of the playoffs has departed are sometimes as important as those early in the season. Several Washington players are still playing for quite a bit, and every game counts. A.J. Price, Garrett Temple and Cartier Martin are auditioning for a job, either with the Wizards or another NBA team. John Wall has made it reasonably clear that he’d like to receive a contract extension this summer, and his play in the last weeks of the season may inform any decisions to that end. To a lesser extent, Trevor Booker and Chris Singleton are playing to redefine their future roles.
With that said, front office employees are in a more complicated position. While mounting losses influence the team’s record in an obvious way and reflect poorly on the performance of team builders, owners are playing the long game, and understand that it may be in the team’s best interest, for better or worse, to lose as much as possible during the final stretch. Their knowledge of this reality should inform a relative leniency when it comes to resting “injured” players, or giving fewer minutes to starters, among other surreptitious tanking strategies which have been historically suspected of lottery-bound teams. Another, more productive goal may also be in play: late-season games provide on-the-job experience at full speed for young players who aren’t developed enough to play heavy minutes in meaningful games — like the 22-year old Jan Vesely. From an organizational standpoint, this is incredibly valuable. The average fan may not share that enthusiasm.
Without taking a position on the morality or healthiness of influenced losing, the tangible benefit of the Wizards losing their final game tonight can be readily discerned. The way things shake out across the Association on the last day of the season has the potential to slot Washington anywhere from No. 6 to 9 in terms of lottery odds and eventual draft slot, the latter of which far more important from a practical standpoint. While it would be nice to win the lottery, the best the Wizards can hope for is a 5.4 percent chance to land the first pick. The surer thing is where a losing team will draft if they don’t win one of the top three picks. After the first three spots are randomly decided, the unlucky rest of the lottery teams (picks Nos. 4 to 14) are slotted in the draft according to their record at the end of the season. Tiebreakers, in the NBA Draft Lottery, are determined by a coin flip for the purposes of positioning, but odds to land in the top three amongst teams with the same record are split as evenly as possible.
[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. Game No. 81, Washington Wizards at Brooklyn Nets; contributors: Kyle Weidie from tape delay in the District, and Sean Fagan from tape delay in Brooklyn.]
Remember me?
Did Emeka Okafor really let
Andray Blatche do this?
[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. Game No. 80, Washington Wizards vs Philadelphia 76ers; contributors: Adam McGinnis and Kyle Weidie from the Verizon Center, and Conor Dirks from the state of Georgia.]
OK, so it wasn’t ‘all’ about Nick. It was all about a poor showing from two teams that couldn’t care less. What had happened (at least according to Twitter)? Let’s check to story of Washington’s home finale loss to Philadelphia.
No. 1 on this week’s list of stupid NBA basketball stuff: this guy.
[original image via Evan Vucci, AP]
First of all, cool story, bro. [Is 'cool story, bro' played out yet? I mean, it is on t-shirts and stuff. Nonetheless, it applies to this guy.]
Second of all, nobody cares. [Wild guess: You, bro, are also a NY Jets fan.]
Third of all, the Heat won a championship recently. You might have heard about it through the Internets if you’ve been a fan of the team for long enough. So, why don’t you go suck on that for a spell. Should provide plenty of nourishment.
Fourth of all, even though your sign does not specifically outline such, you did not pay all that money for tickets to “see Lebron play.” Nope, you paid to see the Wizards of Washington play the Heat of Miami. Susan O’Malley is no longer around, so I’m pretty sure that LeBron wasn’t featured on the ticket that got you into the arena.
[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. Game No. 79, Washington Wizards vs Miami Heat; contributors: Rashad Mobley and Kyle Weidie from the Verizon Center, and Conor Dirks from the Dirty South.]
Sometimes it’s hard searching for reality in a franchise known for being so bad for so long. You certainly can’t turn to team marketing messages—they might only remind you of this famous butchered quote from President George Bush in 2002:
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee—I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on … shame on you. Fool me—you can’t get fooled again.”
Just as difficult is attempting to separate fluff from the owner’s blog, Ted’s Take, from a coach simply wanting to do his job. Randy Wittman wants to coach to win; players (most often) want to play to win. Positive pixel messaging and the coach’s intentions can go hand-and-hand, but they don’t always work in unison to clear the clouds from the scene.
