Posts tagged ‘dejuan blair’

A D.C. pic, links and commentary …

[Dupont Circle Metro, NW D.C. - K. Weidie]

The Wizards are going to start the season with a roster of 15 that includes Cartier Martin, Lester Hudson and Hamady N’diaye. On a developing team, this was the exact, right thing to do. Anything less would have been uncivilized. And if it happens where the Wizards need an extra roster spot to complete an unbalanced trade, I’m sure something can be figured out when and if the team reaches that juncture.
[Wizards Insider]

So Gilbert Arenas shaved his beard. For the record, I think Beards > Long pointy sideburns.
[Gilbertology]

Michael Lee has another good player profile, this time on Kevin Seraphin, which includes a funny quote from someone familiar with the French speaker, Rodrigue Beaubois of the Dallas Mavericks. Beaubois says, “He’s a beast. Physically, he’s amazing. He’s very strong. He’s a big baby, that’s for sure. I really think he’s going to be good for [the Wizards].” A big baby.
[Washington Post]

Now check out Seraphin’s rap in Creole.
[Wizards Insider]

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Okay. It’s not worth playing the “what if” game with Jermaine Taylor. You do remember Jermaine Taylor, right?

Jump back to June 25, 2009, the night of the NBA Draft and “this guy’s” (me) birthday. Oh yea, Michael Jackson died that day too.

Draft night was a bit anti-climactic for Wizards fans. They were already having paper goodness dreams of Randy Foye and Mike Miller teaming up with the Big Three, et al., also knowing that there was no way fan draft darling Ricky Rubio could slip to the departed fifth pick. Oh, wait …

In any case, pick #32 was worth paying attention to. Would the crafty Ernie Grunfeld, a man seemingly able to load his team with win-in-the-now veterans and promising youth (now with fleeting promise), find another second round gem a la Michael Redd?

“Anything is possible!!” Grunfeld screamed from the draft war room. “Loading up the pump, I’m loading up the Uzis, I’ve got a couple of M-16s, couple of nines, couple of joints with some silencers on them, couple of grenades, got a missile launcher. I’m ready for war,” said Grunfeld, quoting Kevin Garnett under the tutelage of Flip Saunders. [Note: Grunfeld did not say any of this.]

And as the picks passed, DeJuan Blair became that “OMG HE’S SLIPPING!!” possibility. After the Sacramento Kings selected Jeff Pendergraph, Wizards fans began to lick their chops, rub their hands together, pat each other on the back, and light celebratory cigars. Time to emerge triumphantly from the bunker boys, one of the best rebounders in the history of college basketball, an area where the Wizards so desperately needed help, was right there for the taking.

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Tim Legler says he can once again wear his old Wizards jersey proudly … wonder if he ever did in the first place. Legs did have ninth best PER season in the franchise’s past 25 years … for a white dude.

In his preview video below, Legler pegs JaVale McGee for a breakout year (Epic Vale seems to have a way to go before earning significant ‘breakout’ time), and says thatAntawn Jamison could possibly play the five at times (seriously doubt that). But you can watch for yourself …

The Washington Post’s Michael Lee also makes a guest appearance to preview the Wiz for Fox Sports.

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It’s popular to associate the Wizards’ second round pick with pictures of cash these days.

straight cash homey - flickr/Steve Wampler

For the second year in a row, the Washington Wizards sold their second round draft pick. Good move? Bad move? It’s Washington Wizards Point, Counter-Point.

[previously on Point, Counter-Point: Why Didn’t The Wizards Get Vince Carter?]

Point

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Running down the best of what was said about the Washington Wizards and the 2009 NBA Draft …

“We wouldn’t have done anything different. The only player I would’ve been upset if he slipped to five was Blake Griffin, and he went No. 1 overall obviously,” [Ernie] Grunfeld said. “We wouldn’t have taken anybody but Blake Griffin if it came to this pick. Ricky Rubio, Tyreke Evans, James Harden – we liked all those players, and everybody else did. But if we had a chance to get Miller and Foye in exchange for that pick, there was no question about it.”

>> [Washington Times]

I found it quite amusing that the player most experts had slotted as the second-best talent in the draft slid all the way down to fifth. It was eerily similar to the Wizards drop on the night of the draft lottery, when they had the second-best chance of winning the top pick and dropped down to No. 5. On that night, Rubio didn’t seem like a possibility. Now his career will forever be linked to the Wizards, much like Devin Harris, who has blossomed into an all-star in New Jersey.

>> [Michael Lee - Wizards Insider, Washington Post]

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Say it ain't so Big Ern!

Flip Saunders was just as laughingly confident that Ricky Rubio would not slip to five as he was enthralled with the guy. His partner in crime, Ernie Grunfeld, having seen Rubio play twice in person, mostly likely felt the same way.

To be a proverbial fly on the wall of the Wizards’ draft ‘war room’ Thursday night when Rubio was available at the fifth spot. Grunfeld’s face probably looked like he just swallowed an entire egg filled with arsenic, knowing that at some point the shell would crack and it’d be worse than fecal matter hitting the fan.

Wizards fans are not happy …
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