I started tinkering around with this trade idea last Wednesday, but never followed up with publishing a post. Today, with Yahoo!’s Marc Spears reporting that the Utah Jazz could face a roster shake-up and Mike Jones, of Mike Jones Sports, reporting that multiple Wizards have asked to be traded, i.e., more than just Mike James, it seems like an appropriate time to float this proposal out there. And no, this is not like Bill Simmons’ silly Utah-Washington-Cleveland idea where the Wizards would lose Haywood, Jamison, Butler and James and only get Shaq and Boozer in return … although my idea is almost as drastic.

So here goes …

Utah has the Carlos Boozer issue hanging over their head, the desire to remain cheap, and is a decent team unwilling to take a big step backwards.

Washington is not in a good way. If you read this blog site, you know this. Shot out to any readers in the Philippines who know this (they really, really like the NBA over in the Phillippines).

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On Christmas day, Yahoo’s Marc Spears reported, according to at least one NBA executive, that the Wizards were “open for business.” Of course, this could simply mean that Ernie Grunfeld has fielded a call, or made a call, and has had a discussion involving the potential possibilities past “hello.” You know, pretty much doing the job a general manager of a team falling way below expectations should be doing in gauging the value of his players.

No biggie and certainly to be expected despite the initial judgement phase of 20 games being extended to 40 games by Flip Saunders, which is probably a reflection of Grunfeld’s thinking … or at least the message the team president of basketball operations wants to convey to the media and the players.

Spears also reported that Gilbert Arenas is on the table and that the Wizards think highly of JaVale McGee and are unlikely to include him in a deal unless the pot is really sweet.

Again, it’s no shocker that everyone is pretty much available … for the right price, which is a pretty big caveat.

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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]

The Wizards beat the Cavaliers last night. The Cavs were without LeBron James, Mo Williams and Delonte West (among others). Brendan Haywood sat out for the Wizards and Antawn Jamison got hurt around five minutes into the match, more on that later.It was just a preseason game, but hey, the Wiz won 109-104. And when it’s against Cleveland, I’ll take it.

One trend for the Wizards during this preseason has been their play in the third quarter. On Wednesday night, they outscored the Cavs 33-23. Now granted, this was against a second half Cleveland starting lineup of Boobie Gibson, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, JJ Hickson, Shaq (Arenas, Miller, Butler, Blatche and Oberto for the Wiz) … so, make of it what you will.

What I want to analyze is the third quarter offensive efficiency of the Wizards in Flip Saunders’ system. Each possession is outlined below. There were 22 total — 16 resulted in scores. 3 resulted in a turnover. 3 resulted with a missed shot (each a ‘good’ miss). 8 of the 11 FGs were assisted upon — of the three which were not, 2 came in transition and 1 came from an isolation. Pretty damn good, huh?

Before the list of 3Q offensive possessions …

Notice #1: Our friend Fabricio Oberto is delightfully involved. Perhaps Roger Mason Jr. was right when he called Oberto the sleeper sign of the summer. Fabricio is only credited with three assists for the game with two coming in the third … but Mike Miller was wrongly credited with one of those (#11). So Fab had three in the third and four total for the game. As he continues to get his legs, it’s clear to see that he sets damn good screen (almost never looks to slip quickly like Andray Blatche), and is a guy who just knows where to be (#8 and #14).

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Grunfeld, circa 2000 NBA Playoffs, East 1st Rd. Gm. 5 vs. Indiana

Look at this young gent. Suave, classy … proper descriptors of this Ernie Grunfeld that your grandma could easily roll into one by saying, “He looks like such a nice boy!”

Now the goings-ons ’round the Wizards web

Candid Gil

“…what has surprised me is how open [Gilbert Arenas] is. We’ve had a lot of talks about everything, including his relationships with all the coaches he had from junior high to high school to college to the NBA. I have a better understanding of where he’s coming from.”

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We’ve heard it from Ernie Grunfeld before, most recently in an interview by Mike Prada of Bullets Forever.

We were the first to make a move, so everybody’s following us (chuckles).

True, the Wizards were the first to strike when they landed Mike Miller and Randy Foye. But it’s hard to laugh, or continue to pridefully boast about the move, when the cream of the Eastern Conference crop keeps passing the Wizards by.

Let’s quickly go through what the top three teams in the East (Orlando, Cleveland and Boston), have done this off-season.

Orlando:

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flickr/Christopher Chan

Checked out the Wizards’ foray into the summer league last night. They won, almost blew an 18 point lead to Cleveland. Andray Blatche came out shaky. His version, via the DC Sports Bog recap, “I came out real hyper, real real hyper.”

Yep, in the beginning he looked like the same ol’ Blatche … ill-advised long jumpers early in the shot clock, turnovers while trying to carelessly push the ball on the break instead of passing to a guard, etc..

Eventually, after a talking-to by Dominic McGuire and assistant coach Don Zierden, he settled down, started hitting the boards hard, and played like a summer league veteran.

Question is, why is a guy with 238 ‘real’ NBA games under his belt nervous-in-the-service when it comes to a summer league game?

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via photobucket/d_julien

It first started with a report from Gary Parrish of CBS Sports. Then it spread like wildfire: True Hoop, Slam, Deadspin, The DC Sports Bog, The Sporting Blog, The Hoop Doctors, Mouthpiece Sports, Dime Magazine, The Dagger, Waiting For Next Year, NBC, Cleveland.com, Zoner Sports, The Same Intensity, and surely many more to come …

Yes, the dunk of Xavier’s Jordan Crawford on LeBron James, a video of which was confiscated by Nike officials, has seemingly caused more of an uproar than if it were posted on YouTube with a press conference held by the “Chosen One” himself,presenting the clip for all to see.

The worst part is that according to reports, it was actually LeBron who whispered into the ears of said officials right before they accosted various videographers around the gym.

There are a couple inevitable results from this occurrence: Read more »

See that fella above? That’s “Dinner Bell” Mel Turpin, a member of the cursed Washington Bullets/Wizards draft history … sorta.

Turpin was taken by the Bullets with the 6th overall pick in the famed 1984 NBA Draft … the Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and of course, Sam Bowie draft. Bowie was a teammate of Turpin’s at Kentucky, and while both are known as busts, it’s Bowie’s name that most often gets mentioned amongst NBA basketball infamy.

With Rick Mahorn and Jeff Ruland already holding down the paint, Turpin was immediately traded by then GM Bob Ferry to a team currently generally managed by his son Danny, the Cleveland Cavaliers. In exchange, the Bullets received Cliff Robinson and Tim McCormick, who was promptly sent to the Seattle Sonics, along with Ricky Sobers, for Gus Williams.

Williams lead the ’84-85 Bullets in scoring (20.0) and assists (7.7), while Robinson was fourth on the team in scoring (16.7) and second in rebounding (9.1). That Bullets team improved by five wins over the previous season’s mark to finish 40-42, but still lost to Barkley, Julius Erving, and Moses Malone in the first round of the playoffs.

Williams only played one more year with the team before signing with Atlanta, spending a single season there before retiring. Robinson also spent just one more season in Washington before being traded to Philadelphia, along with Ruland (who would only play 18 games for the Sixers over two seasons), for Moses Malone, Terry Catledge and two first round picks.

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Following up on part one of Flip Saunders’ meet-n-greet session with fans, I present his top ten quotes of the night (plus one to grow on, so eleven):

#11

“Whether JaVale McGee plays the four of the five depends on who he can guard.”

#10

“I’ve notoriously been a guy who’s played big [lineups].”

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[video h/t to  The Plain Dealer]

Remember that Damon Jones dude? I sure do. The guy ripped my heart out in game six of the 2006 playoffs, hitting a two-pointer from the corner with less than five seconds left, giving Cleveland the 4-2 series victory and LeBron James his first playoff series win ever … and I was at that damn game.

Ever since, I’ve been a Damon Jones hater. He’s always just been way too into himself and his fashionista ways. A lot of flash and little substance. Basically anyone can spend a ton of money on clothes, wear something outlandish every once in a while, and dub themselves a ‘fashion expert’. “Yay.”

The video above could be a perfect example of Jones being a prick. For one, he’s not on a list … but he’s thinks people MUST recognize him because he hasn’t “waited in line for 10 years” — good for Damon. That surely means he’s better than the rest of us.

And not to defend doormen from clubs, most of them are pricks too … but the place Jones is trying to get into looks to be the Park at 14th. I’ve been there a couple of times and have never experienced a problem with the staff. Unlike some other places (like Josephine’s), the Park seems more customer service oriented. (BTW … don’t worry folks, I’m not a ‘club head’ — just a very diverse bar hopper).

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I’ve been sitting on this post for a while, almost since Eddie Jordan got fired from his gig with the Wiz. Well, now that he’s at the helm of the Philadelphia 76ers, this is an appropriate time as ever to publish.

My feeling is that a majority of Wizards fans think Jordan was unjustly fired (or at least weren’t dancing in the streets when he departed), and that even more wish him well.

Count me among both of these groups. Although, when he was terminated, I wasn’t like, “OMG! What an injustice!”

I was more disappointed with the entire landscape of the team, and later resigned to it just being ‘one of those things’, and in the end, maybe it was best that both parties moved on. But we’ll never really know.

In any case, here goes my tribute to Jordan’s basketball career (to date).

Eddie Jordan was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers out of Rutgers with the 11th pick of the 2nd round (33rd overall), in the 1977 NBA Draft. Ernie Grunfeld was selected with the 11th overall pick out of Tennessee by the Milwaukee Bucks in that same draft.

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No one is going to question Wale’s allegiance to the DMV area. As he’s worked his way up through the mix-tape scene en route to his first studio production release, the DC-born/Largo, Maryland-bred rapper hasn’t lost touch with his roots, carrying the District’s Go-Go music genre with him along the way. Wale is the epitome of an up-and-coming rapper with snowballing nationwide appeal, and genuine staying power for a long time coming.

Wale has also stays touch with the DC sports scene. He’s rapped about Alex Ovechkin, among other DC sports figures, including Gilbert Arenas and Clinton Portis. He’s also appeared on ESPN’s First Take to rep DC sports, not to mention wearing the Nats’ Curly W while taking pics wit Lindsay Lohan. Wale puts on for the sports in his city … or so it seems.

Late Friday night, Wale twittered:

Maybe not all Washingtonians, or even Wizards fans, were actively rooting against LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs. But most ‘true’ Wiz fans, in good conscience, are probably pretty damn glad the Cavs lost Saturday night, myself included.

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NBC Washington had a good video piece on Kevin Grevey and the ’77-78 Washington Bullets championship team earlier today (video above, obviously …. unless you are getting this through an aggregator/reader, then click the link).

Ahh, the memories … before my time.

I naturally wanted some more on Kevin Grevey, so should you.

The first place you should go is Bullets Forever for a piece about Grevey, all-time BF #20, by Mike Prada … bonus is an old school video of Pete Maravich playing horse.

Then jump in the way-back machine and head to a story from the Sports Illustrated Vault about Grevey leading his ’75 Kentucky Wildcats to a big win over Alabama. Read more »

Some links as I waste my Sunday away, preparing for a couple game sevens, wearing my smelly, dirty homemade Ron Artest shirt, hoping for a Rockets win, or two close games in the least.

This past week, the Washington Post hosted a roundtable of Wizards bloggers. Each blog weighed in on what the team should do at a given draft position. Pretty cool when you think about it … MSM and Bloggers hanging out and stuff.

Pick #1: Keith McMillian, Washington Post
Pick #2: Truth About It.net (this place)
Pick #3: Wizards Extreme
Pick #4: Bullets Forever
Pick #5: WizzNutzz

Misunderstanding Media
Detroit Pistons blog, Full Court Press (on mlive.com), cited four paragraphs from the Bullets Forever contribution on Wizards Insider. Problem being, author Dave Dial failed to accurately represent that it was a blogger roundtable. He quoted three paragraphs written by the Pradamaster of Bullets Forever and one from Michael Lee of the WaPost without distinguishing the two authors. Dial also led with, “The Washington Post’s ‘Wizards Insider’ gives more credence to the fact that if the Wizards do not land in the top two picks they will look to trade the pick,” which is inaccurate. Yes, it is well known that Ernie Grunfeld sees the pick as an “asset”, i.e., trade-bait. However, the roundtable was speculation, and not necessarily an official team report as Dial’s use of the word “credence” seems to implicate.

We all make mistakes, and this really isn’t that big of a deal. But still, Dial clearly cut some kind of corner by not taking the time to fully understand the nature of the Wizards Insider piece.

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