Truth About It.net will turn a whole five years old at the end of this October.

Hard to believe/interesting. Nonetheless, over the life of the site from the 2007-08 season to 2011-12, we’ve seen/lived/suffered through 131 wins, 263 losses, four coaches, two owners, one GM/team president, one Phil Chenier mustache removal, and 56 total players (amazingly, 48 players over the last three seasons).

You may have heard of ESPN’s #NBArank project, now in year two. Now hear of #WizardsRank, where we rank each of those 56 players during Truth About It.net’s five-year run.

TAI anonymously polled 27 members of the Wizards pixel establishment — from mainstream media to new media, TAI staffers included, to a few pixel consumers (readers of the site) — and got 17 responses.

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[It's bad enough that the Sixers mopped the floor with the Wizards on Wednesday night... Making matters worse, this fan represented Washington in the city of Philadelphia.]

Tuesday night in Washington against the Indiana Pacers, Andray Blatche helped the Wizards dart out to a quick start and a 30-25 lead after one quarter by contributing 12 points himself. Then Jeff Foster did his best Dennis Rodman impression by grabbing seven rebounds against JaVale McGee in the second quarter, as the Pacers held the Wizards to just 19 points while scoring 33 of their own.  Just like that, Washington was down 58-49 at the half and never recovered en route to 113-96 loss.

Last night against the resurgent 76ers in Philadelphia, the Wizards started off with a strong effort once again. In the first quarter, John Wall had nine points and six assists, and Blatche and Young had eight and seven points respectively.  The score was 31-24 after one quarter, and it appeared as if the Wizards had quickly learned their lesson after a sluggish performance the night before — a performance that made Flip Saunders question who and was not entitled to playing time.

Then that evil monster called the second quarter showed up and decided to spook the Wizards once again. This time, Josh Howard was the main target. Kirk Hinrich was in street clothes and probably getting text messages about the trade of he and Hilton Armstrong to the Atlanta Hawks, which meant that when Wall came out of the game with 8:52 left in the second quarter with the Wizards up 33-29, Howard had to play backup point guard for the second consecutive night.

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By the time the referee threw the ball up to signify the start of the game against the Orlando Magic, the Washington Wizards knew they would be without Rashard Lewis and Nick Young.  Lewis continues to battle knee tendinitis and Young was a late scratch with swelling his knee.  Their absences meant the Wizards had to somehow account for the 30 points they usually bring to the starting lineup.

From scoring the first points of the game on a layup 42 seconds in, John Wall demonstrated that he was in an offensive state of mind and capable of picking up the slack by scoring 13 points in the opening period.  Seemingly all of his baskets on the evening would follow this sequence:  Wall would take the outlet or inbound pass, he would run by the Orlando big men, and then he would outmaneuver the Orlando guards en route to a layup.  He peppered in a couple short jumpers, some free throws, and one three-pointer later in the game, but the majority of his damage was done in the paint.  He finished with 27 points, five rebounds, two steals and just one assist.

It can be argued that Wall, who averages nearly 10 assists a game, wasn’t doing his job as a point guard if he only dished out one dime. False.  Dwight Howard kept pressure on Washington’s big men by often catching the ball deep in the paint (thanks to repeated poor post position from JaVale McGee, lack of strength from Hilton Armstrong or lack of experience from Kevin Seraphin), and forcing them to foul.  Howard went 8-11 from the free-throw line and 12-15 from the field to tally 32 points.

Wall kept pressure on the Orlando defense by repeatedly getting into the lane and ending up with a layup or a trip to the foul line.  So what happened when the Magic actually stopped him and other teammates were forced to step up?

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The lead from a New York Times article published on April 15, 2005:

Five years ago, Andray Blatche was a laughingstock as a basketball player. Today he is considered a probable first-round draft choice in the National Basketball Association.

‘Late Bloomer Is Ready to Join N.B.A. Early’ by Mitch Abramson continues:

Blatche did not play organized basketball until he was in high school, and he was on the junior varsity until midway through his sophomore year at Henninger High in Syracuse.

Unlike wunderkinds like LeBron James and Sebastian Telfair, who were labeled prodigies almost from the moment they picked up a ball, Blatche failed miserably at first.

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A D.C. pic, links, commentary, and whatever you want to call the other stuff…

TAI Recap: John Townsend implores Wizards fans to be more patient because a drastic turnaround next season is not out of the question; if Gilbert Arenas were rebuilding a team, he wouldn’t do it though the draft; Adam McGinnis has one of the rare photos captured from the baseline of Al Thornton’s massive dunk; pictures of Gilbert Arenas and Nick Young in a reunion among friends; Rashad Mobley relays that some young Wizards still don’t understand their role (after several seasons); and when it’s okay for JaVale McGee to dribble full court.

Here’s to NBA draft lottery luck in May for what’s been an excruciating winter for pro basketball fans in Washington. Below the jump, more must-read links…

[Hardy Playground, Washington, D.C. - Yearning For A Sunny Day]

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This is one of the few photos taken of this epic dunk by Washington Wizards forward Al Thornton on Atlanta Hawks center Zaza Pachulia.

Enjoy, and more to come.

Now, in live action.

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Not all is well in Wizards land these days with the team’s 0-21  road losing streak approaching a record level for futility and receiving unwanted national attention, a key player publicly feuding with the fanbase on local sports radio, endless injuries, more gossip surrounding their jettisoned ex-superstar and now D.C. is digging out from a heavy thundersnow storm. Now, there’s no better time for a positive distraction.

Awhile back, I spoke with several Wizards about technology. My questions included asking them about Internet usage, favorite web sites, if they’re a PC or Mac guy, where they go online for news and whether they Google themselves. Find out which player loves the website Media Takeout, which one admits to Google-searching his name, who only gets the news from his wife and who searches his name on YouTube.

Part two of the technology interviews will be forthcoming and will cover the players’ thoughts on social media, what type of cell phone they roll with, and how many read sports blogs (hint…not many).

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{flickr/Aquarius.1973}

The Wizards continue to lose on the road (and at home), in spite of John Wall.

Wall had a productive 34 minutes against the New York Knicks last night. He had 18 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and two steals. He also had four turnovers — two of which should be excused. Early on, Wall put two three-quarter-court passes right on the money. Both times, his teammates (Andray Blatche and Al Thornton) let the ball slip through their fingers. Instead of turning Wall’s great vision and pinpoint execution into four easy points, Wall receives credit — perhaps blame would be more appropriate, at least from the viewpoint of the pitiless box score — for a couple of turnovers.

But don’t roll your eyes. Effusive praise will not be heaped on the rookie point guard today, as much as he might deserve it. Nor will I take on the role of a John Wall apologist, aiming to vindicate him from his errors.

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[Al Thornton might not be as worried about the Wizards trying to end their 0-19 road record, he just wants his team to win two games in a row this season -- something Flip Saunders' squad was able to accomplish seven times last season, but they never got three in a row. The Wizards haven't won three games in a row since April 4-9, 2008.]

As frustrating as it is to see the Wizards fight to take a 94-90 lead with 5:45 left only to see the Timberwolves snatch the game from their grasp 109-97, it’s not as concerning as how they started the night. It was an all-to-familiar situation for Flip Saunders, one that probably had him invoking the basketball gods, as he’s done before when his Wizards lose a close game late after starting poorly out of the gate. Flip has never wanted his players to scorn the deities of James Naismith’s game, but now with a baffling 0-19 on the road, he’s probably wondering what he did to deserve all of this.

The Wizards are clearly not yet in a position where they can take games. And give Minnesota a lot of credit. In the end, they found their rhythm, they moved the ball well, they played like they wanted to be winners. Washington did not. After the Wizards took that four point lead late in the game, followers of the team on Twitter began to believe … it was their night, finally. Not so fast.

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The most frustrating part about the Washington Wizards is that on the road, their main, young players often lose so much focus, concentration and aggression … and it clearly affects the team as a whole. Guys like Andray Blatche, Nick Young and JaVale McGee are young — 24, 25 and 23 respectively — but they’ve now been in the league a considerable amount of time and should not be going through break-downs so frequently and consistently.

One reason I think Wizards fans are tired about hearing excuses about age is that you have guys like Kevin Durant (22), Russell Westbrook (22), Al Horford (23), Kevin Love (22), among others, around the league playing at much more solid, dependable levels. Is it the type of mental player Ernie Grunfeld is drafting? Is it the player development? And none of this is to say that these players haven’t made improvement over the years, but it’s been a very painstaking process. Does the scouting process need to be re-evaluated? Is it already being re-evaluated? One can only wonder if the correct calculations are being made between the potential a talented prospect might bring and hubris notions from team management that they can change the mindset of such talent that might actually have a longer struggle on the path of mental development.

In any case, pounding on the mental rocks of those Wizards is starting to ache in the heads of those having to watch the games.

I used to frequently do game blogs (or game accounts) on this site. I stopped doing them so much because they can be tedious and long. On Sunday, I meticulously watched a recording of Saturday night’s Wizards-Bobcats game in several chunks, re-watching most all plays multiple times and documenting what I saw. Hopefully it will give a good depiction of what went on in the game beyond the box score and other game accounts. Unfortunately, it’s the chronicling of the Wizards’ eighteenth road loss of the season in 18 tries, a 104-89 defeat at the hands the Charlotte Bobcats without Gerald Wallace. Read more »