 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 53rd game of the season at home against the Denver Nuggets are TAI’s Rashad Mobley (@rashad20) and guest Matt Cianfrone (@Matt_Ciafrone) who writes about the Nuggets for Roundball Mining Company, an ESPN TrueHoop Network blog.
John Wall, Bradley Beal, Martell Webster, Nene, Emeka Okafor
[Ty Lawson - photo: K. Weidie]
The Wizards doubled their win total for the season this week. What’s stopping them from tripling their previous count of one? Why, the Denver Nuggets of course. Tonight’s game will be the only meeting between the Wizards (2-12) and the Nuggets (10-5), the Western Conference foe hoping to remain unbeaten on a five-game road trip. Who’s down for a little 3-on-3? Today, our very own Sam Permutt and John Converse Townsend are joined by Jeremy Wagner of the ESPN TrueHoop Network blog Roundball Mining Co.
The subtle occurrence, about to be slightly magnified by this blog’s humble reach, doesn’t mean much … unless you’re a fan of basketball nuance. And I’m assuming that you’re already a fan of John Wall, who recently made a small display that he would not be intimidated by Amar’e Stoudemire, ironically nicknamed “STAT” (standing tall and talented), even though he’s below average in a main big man stat category, rebounding.
It’s late in the first quarter in the Wizards’ October 17 preseason game against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden. Raymond Felton, foolishly, according to the television analysis of Walt “Clyde” Frazier on the MSG Network, thinks he can play big boy veteran and pressure Wall far away from the basket.
Foolish indeed. Wall can’t shoot and Raymond Felton is Raymond Felton. His 6’1″, 205 lbs. physique, while stout, simply cannot keep up with the size and speed of Wall.
Felton goes to pressure Wall out near the Knicks mid-court logo, perhaps partially to avoid a sensed screen from Yi Jianlian. Wall counters by going away from the screen and attacking Felton by trying to get by him. The ref blows the whistle, much to the chagrin of Felton — rookies ain’t supposed to get calls. Sorry buddy, this is John Wall. Felton goes to take issue with the ref nonetheless.
A lot of people were disappointed when the Wizards traded for Kirk Hinrich. Mike Prada of SB Nation alone gave the move a “Nay”, a “Feh”, and a “D-”.
There is no question that “Kurt” is overpaid, but salary cap space only gets you so far. Even if the Wizards had upwards of $25 million to spend, it wouldn’t get them any closer to signing a “max” contract player. Let’s be serious. None of the league’s top players ever really considered coming to D.C., even with John Wall. The Wizards will be a work in progress for a couple of years, and when we are honestly competitive, Hinrich will no longer be under contract.
So is he worth it for this Wizards team? I turned to Synergy Sports Technology to find out.
This Wizards team has gone through a lot of adversity this year, some of it unimaginable. Poor them. People are dying around the world and not by choice. These guys get paid to play basketball. Suck it up.
More and more this team is playing like they just don’t care. It’s not the first time this has happened. Probably won’t be the last. But Wednesday night’s game against the New York Knicks seemed like more of a disgrace than efforts we’ve seen before.
I’ve said that Ernie Grunfeld can’t make drastic change fast enough. The associated anxiousness continues to mount by the day and will continue to do so up until the February 18th trade deadline, unless something happens before then.
When it goes down, how will I find out? Twitter? Text? G-Chat? Will Ric Bucher’s shiny doll hair pop up on my HDTV to tell me that it has all come to an end? Will I wake up one morning to find Marc Stein whispering in my ear, “Caron Butler for Marcus Camby and Antawn Jamison for Zydrunas Ilgauskas, both straight up” followed by him punching me in the mouth?
These are the things that haunt my slumber and twist my stomach. And they all feel plausible.
Across The ESPN TrueHoop Network