Lockout thoughts, randomly, and links, etc…

Fix This Mess.
[Southeast-Southwest Freeway - 12th & K St. SE - Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

Whomever put the debate over Basketball Related Income (“BRI”) at the forefront of the NBA Lockout argument between players and owners knew what they were doing, assuming they were working in favor of the owners. At least this is in terms of public perception, but does either side care about the public anyway? No, not really, it seems.

Fifty-fifty is what we’ve been taught is fair; “even-steven” is intrinsically connected to our humanity. Disregard concerns otherwise when it comes to the lockout, the focus has been how to split the BRI between owners and players. Under the previous Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”), the players received 57-percent of all NBA BRI, and for the purposes of new CBA negotiations, players have indicated that they are willing to reduce their BRI to 53-percent and have stuck staunchly to that (although recent reports indicate the players might lower their demands to 52-percent).

But players make the league, don’t they? They deserve more than half the BRI share. Yes, but who cares? I know I certainly don’t. I like to see teams, run by owners, with the best ones able to succeed, even in the previous purportedly broken system, with excellent organization and a watchful eye toward spending. The San Antonio Spurs, ladies and gentlemen.

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Seeing that pro basketball fans are essentially suspended from the NBA due to squabbling amongst millionaires and billionaires, passing time might be aided by chronicling all NBA and team suspensions of the Washington Wizards since circa 1995. Why? Well, because we humans love stories about crime and punishment, and to most, the NBA lockout fits the bill for both.  So away we go (with old basketball cards to accompany on occasion)…

[Note: This listing is incomplete and unconfirmed for accuracy; information has been gleaned, copied and pasted from eskimo.com/~pbender and prosportstransactions.com with the understanding that all suspensions and fines might not have been publicized or reflected.]

1/5/95
Bernard King suspended by team for altercation with head coach at practice.

2/3/95
Washington suspended Kevin Duckworth for 3 games for not staying in good physical condition.

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[Emery Rec Center - NW Washington DC - photo: K. Weidie]

I’ve previously used historical statistical analysis in an attempt to determine who were some of the best, and worst, shooters in Wizards/Bullets franchise history.

One post explained that Slick Leonard might have had to worst shooting season in franchise record books. As a member of the ‘61-62 Chicago Packers, Leonard threw up 1,128 shots, second most on the team after Walt Bellamy, but only made 37.5-percent of them. In a nine team league that season 30 players attempted 1,000 or more field-goals, and Slick was the worst of them all.

Others, such as Kevin Loughery and Mitch Richmond, have cemented themselves as some of the worst shooters beyond the window of just one season. Loughery, over 591 career games played with the team in Baltimore, made only 41.5-percent of his 9,209 FG attempts. Richmond, who adeptly bastardized any memories of trading Chris Webber into scorn from fandom toward his aching knees, made just 41.7-percent of the 2,356 shots he took as a Wizard. To note, Loughery and Richmond were two of 26 players in franchise history to play in 160 games or more with the team and average over 15 field-goals attempted per 36 minutes.

Another post noted that Gilbert Arenas is the best long-range bomber in team history, and that some of the franchise’s better shooters — over various time periods, from everywhere on the court… twos, threes and ones — have been Brent Price, Mike Miller, Scott Skiles, Chris Whitney, Tracy Murray, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler.

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Fodder, links, bullets, commentary, rumors, etc., and a D.C. picture…

Cloudy skies of NBA Draft prognosticators.
[Francis Playground Court - NW D.C. - N St. & 23rd - photo: K. Weidie]

NBA.com’s David Aldridge:

“Wiz want one of the international bigs, and don’t really care which one.”

Is Kanter Worth It?

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NOTE: The ESPN TrueHoop Network 2011 NBA Mock Draft starts today. Truth About It will be posting our consensus mocked pick of the sixth position around 1 pm, so check back for an update. Until then, a D.C. pic, commentary, and links…

[HD Cooke Elementary - NW Washington DC - Euclid St. & Mozart Pl. - photo: K. Weidie]

>With the caveat that cats seemingly wear random hats — for the style — and are not always interested in the teams on them, I bring you the video below of noteworthy fun images and interaction. Oh, and John Wall is wearing a Philadelphia Flyers cap, old style (Wall also has been seen wearing a retro Oakland Raiders hat, very hipsterish-lite of him/trendy)… good thing this wasn’t around when the Caps were losing to the Flyers in the first round of the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs. The video below is from a local South Carolina television station and is regarding the tournament that Josh Howard and Trevor Booker hosted over the June 11 weekend in Mauldin, which Wall attended. Things to look out for: a Wall interview in Ray-Bans (again, trendy, he is); John Wall judging a “Dougie” dance contest amongst kids and then handing out $20 bills to the winners; and finally, taking the cake, goober newscasters discussing the “Dougie” — one anchorman chap saying that as a University of Kentucky grad, he thought it was called the “John Wall Dance.” Then, sports guy Todd Summers chirps in with “We don’t even know where the ‘Dougie’ came from, but certainly kids know what it is.” Finally, the initial guy, named Gordon Dill, finishes the stereotypical ideal of a non-white comedian doing an impression of a “white guy” by saying, “Named after ‘Doug’, probably.”

That it is Gordon and Todd, that it is.

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A Washington, D.C. pic, some words, and Wizards links in bullets…

[Calvert Street Bridge at dusk - NW Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

Mike Prada breaks down a good argument on Bullets Forever about why he’d trade JaVale McGee for the No. 2 pick (Derrick Williams) straight up. I previously made a simple argument of why I wouldn’t do it, but certainly wouldn’t complain if it happened. However, from what I hear, such a deal was never really considered seriously, or even “on the table,” because when conversations headed in that direction, the Wizards were turned away at the door. Indications are that Minnesota has been fielding some very creative and interesting offers for the second pick — which make the rumor of the T-Wolves sending Johnny Flynn and the No. 2 to Toronto for DeMar DeRozan and the No. 5 laughable. Nonetheless, lotta days until draft time, folks, so plenty of time for more rumors to float, and plenty of time for David Kahn to play hardball.

LINKS.

> Check out this feature piece on Trevor Booker that I provided some quotes for.
[The Good Point]

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{image via Internet/Aaron Josefczyk – Reuters}

The Miami Heat may very well win the 2011 NBA Finals, but regardless of triumph or defeat, LeBron will still be the villain. It’s OK.

Washington Wizards fans almost like to gloat that they were amongst the first to whom LeBron exposed himself to — the epitome of privilege that always asks for more and will resort to less-than-savory tactics to get what it wants. So what.

LeBron is a villain, and I’ve spent a lot of pixels communicating this. And I will continue to do so. LeBron is a fact of life.

Of course he’s making you love him as a basketball player, passing exuberantly, rebounding above all, defending with no restraint, astounding with power that compresses rim paint to the point of cracking. He’s no basketball dummy. The only thing that really dwarfs his instinct for the game is what he can do with that freak of a Karl Malone-sized body that he’s in.

Yes, we know LeBron seemingly “checked out” of game four, according to DeShawn Stevenson at least, but does that mean all other memories of amazing are stricken from the record? In a contribution regarding LeBron on HoopSpeak.com (last entry at the bottom), I essentially opined that the hubbub over game four might be a tad premature. But if the Heat don’t win the championship, memories of LeBron’s basketball excellence will certainly be vastly muted.

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A D.C. pic, bullets of Wizards links, and words with those links…

A man with a plan, and a pizza.
[Meridian Hill Park, 16th St. NW - Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

> John Wall, at his young age, understands how important it is to be an ambassador for the game of basketball and for professional athletes. He also seems to know that it’s part of his job, but in a sense where when he does good deeds, they don’t have to involve a big production or show. He just does them. He takes extra time to sign autographs, all the time… excessively. I’ve seen this. And now, I’m imagining that over time you’ll hear more and more great stories like this one relayed by Dan Steinberg.
[DC Sports Bog]

> Washington Post music writer David Malitz makes a good observation … should the ’04-’08 “Glory Years” Wizards be celebrated as the first team to reap benefit from the Internet age (partially thanks to the rise of blogs, prominently via Dan Steinberg and Gilbert Arenas)? I think so.
[Click Track]

> The Washington Wizards, aka Ted Leonsis, might be looking into what it would take to own a D-League team. This is a good thing.
[Ridiculous Upside]

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Some sort of D.C. pick, a couple words, and several links…

[12th Street ramp, Francis Case Memorial Bridge, SW Washington, D.C.]

The big scuttlebutt today comes from the Twitter account @DraftExpress. Jonathan Givony reports:

Sources say Washington & Phoenix have been the most active teams trying to trade up for Derrick Williams. T’Wolves want a “veteran big man.”

Interesting. Sure, this could be nothing, but thank god for Twitter for allowing us to immediately go wild with speculation. Still, I imagine Ernie Grunfeld has been working the hotlines like no other, whether for No. 2 or a myriad of other maneuvers. One trade I wouldn’t do, which David Kahn and Minnesota would likely be highly amenable toward, is JaVale McGee and the sixth pick for the second pick. McGee, basketball sense aside, is way too valuable.

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[Ex-Wizard Brendan Haywood is heading to the NBA Finals, and now he's finagled two hats to prove it.]

The last ex-Washington Wizard* to appear in the NBA Finals used to be Larry Hughes. Not anymore. Hughes, a Wizard from 2002 to 2005, played for the Cleveland Cavaliers in game one of the 2007 Finals against the San Antonio Spurs. He scored two points on 1-5 shooting with two fouls and three rebounds in 23 minutes; the Cavs lost 85-76. In game two, Hughes missed all five of his field-goal attempts, didn’t score a point, and tallied two turnovers, two assists and two rebounds in 20 minutes; the Cavs lost 103-92. Dealing with foot issues pertaining to his plantar fascia, Hughes didn’t play in games three and four as the Spurs swept LeBron James in his only Finals appearance to date.

Now that the Dallas Mavericks have beaten the Oklahoma City Thunder for the right to represent the West in the 2011 Finals, three more ex-Wizards will be playing for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Antawn Jamison, who always kept a picture of the NBA’s championship trophy in his Wizards locker (now it’s John Wall’s locker), is probably really happy for his ex-teammates, but most certainly in a ‘I wish it were me’ kind of way. And if you want even more of a storyline as Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson and Caron Butler (okay fine, I’ll include Brian Cardinal, another former Wizard (2002-03)… so, four ex-Wizards), head to championship holy ground with Dallas, consider all the history those three most recent Wizards have with one potential opponent, the very same LeBron James, this time of the Miami Heat.

All but calling him a cry-baby, Haywood once led to LeBron being labelled “They trying to hurt me” James. With Stevenson, you can pretty much begin and end with him calling James overrated, and then Jay-Z coming to James’ rescue with a blown whistle on a diss track. Oh, and there’s also that back-and-forth gossip girl thing between the Stevenson and James, thanks to Drew Gooden’s loose lips. So yea, DeShawn and LeBron pretty much hate each other. Butler mostly aimed to remain neutral through the familiarity the Wizards used to have with James’ Cavaliers via first round playoff matchups in three straight seasons from 2006 to 2008.

But the Heat are not there quite yet, they have to finish off the Chicago Bulls first. The Dallas Mavericks are your Western Conference champs. So congrats goes to Stevenson for the duration of his NBA career, going from potential high school-to-pros bust to staying relevant with hustle work, defense and knowing his role (for the most part … surely DeShawn’s collection of busted threes don’t fall into an “ideal” role; he was 5-21 from deep in five games versus the Thunder). Congrats goes to Haywood, the warmth of whose body eats up a majority of his 6-year, $55 million compensation. But hey, Dallas wasn’t going to get to the Finals without two serviceable bigs in Haywood and Tyson Chandler. Congrats goes to Butler, currently recovering from knee surgery, for being around — decent work in the regular season, and thanks for your positive attitude, but let’s be honest, the Mavericks are probably better if you remain out due to injury for the rest of the season (unless someone else gets hurt). And finally, congrats goes to Cardinal. Thanks to Trey Kerby, you will always be the most dad looking dad in the current NBA.

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A Photoshop, links and commentary…

Who knows if it’s true … who cares? This isn’t a gossip site. All I know is that someone on Twitter directed me to some site called MediaTakeout that is relaying gossip about DeShawn Stevenson possibly being illegally married to two women at the same time. There’s really no “evidence” as the site advertises, aside from a 2003 marriage certificate to the supposed first wife, which neither proves he is still married to that woman nor married to another. Basically, all this is a bunch of noise (and the story looks to be from early December 2010, but you won’t be stopping me if you’ve already heard). So what do we do with noise sometimes? Why, we stuff it in the Photoshop Machine, ignore the fact that we have a hand in spreading the gossip (once it’s on the Internets, there’s free-reign captain), and come out with the below hypothetical.

Just what if, instead of Abraham Lincoln, Stevenson got a tattoo of Joseph Smith, Jr. on the front of his neck, founder of Mormonism and, of course, polygamist. It just might be a scenario meant for itself.

Another question worth posing … does this provide new nickname fodder for Stevenson? Big Love? Should we call him a regular Bill Pullman? These are the questions to which there are no known, or right answers. That’s life (for DeShawn Stevenson … “Mister 50 (percent)” … Hey! Double entendre!). Now go read some links.

Links.

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One of the more unique experiences I’ve had in my three short years of covering the Washington Wizards came during the 2008-2009 season.  Eddie Jordan had been fired, Ed Tapscott was the interim head coach, Gilbert Arenas was out for the majority of the season with a knee, and that all added up to a dismal 19-63 record.  But the locker room dynamic was fascinating to watch, particularly after a loss.

During his post-game press conferences, Coach Tapscott’s comments did not focus on whether the Wizards won or lost, but he focused on who played well, how hard his team fought, and the lessons that could be learned.  I did not know whether it was Tapscott’s demeanor, or if he was taking that stance because he knew his time as Wizards head coach was temporary.  I just knew he preferred the diplomatic approach as opposed to, say a Flip Saunders, who is much more pointed with his comments.

Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and Deshawn Stevenson were the veterans of the locker room that season, and I always respected how they carried themselves after a loss.  They were somber, angry and frustrated, but most of the time they would answer all questions thrown at them.  It was clear they really did not want to talk to the media, but they understood it was their duty as professionals.  It was also obvious that all of the losing was taking a toll.

Nick Young, Andray Blatche and Dominic McGuire (I would include JaVale McGee, but he was relatively mute during his rookie year) were the youngsters of the team, and their collective attitude in defeat came in stark contrast to the veterans.   By the time the media hit the locker room, they would be laughing, smiling, comparing attire and having a good time.  I did not know whether they simply didn’t care about the mounting losses, or if they just had the ability to quickly move on and not dwell on them.  I just knew that on certain nights, the veterans were visibly upset that the entire locker room wasn’t as affected by the losses as they were.

I saw that same type of locker room atmosphere after the Sacramento Kings lost to the Washington Wizards 136-133 in overtime on Tuesday night.

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Not too long ago we took a look at some of the worst shooters in Bullets/Wizards franchise history. Now, especially since shooting is such a concern, we’ll take a look at some the best shooters in team history, specifically from the three-point distance.

[Basketball Court - Georgia Avenue/Howard University - photo: K. Weidie]

Last season was the 31th anniversary of the three-point shot in the NBA. Well, sorta. The three-point line was implemented on a trial basis for the 1979-80 season and set into permanent rule for the 1980-81 season. So, perhaps technically this season is the 31th anniversary of the three-point shot in the NBA. Nonetheless, stats on the shot have been kept for the previous 31 seasons and are available thanks to Basketball-Reference.com.

Kevin Grevey of the Washington Bullets hit the first three-point bucket in franchise history, on opening night against the Philadelphia 76ers at home on October 12, 1979. Evidently there is some dispute as to whether Grevey hit the first three in NBA history; Chris Ford of the Boston Celtics is usually credited with accomplishing this feat, which occurred on the same night.

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[Shaw Rec. Center - Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

In mid-September, ESPN.com contributor Tom Haberstroh made an attempt to determine the five worst players in the franchise history of each NBA team [ESPN Insider]. The requirements, along with the implementation of John Hollinger’s PER, were:

“… a player needed to have played at least 10 minutes per contest over the course of at least 100 career games with the franchise. Furthermore, we’ve added the “Bruce Bowen Corollary” to exempt players who started for championship teams.”

And the list of distinguished gentlemen for the Bullets/Wizards franchise:

And while a standard qualification is necessary to measure across all teams, it’s still subjective. Any of us could find other players just as bad, or worse, using the database of Basketball-Reference.com. Today, I’ll focus on bad shooting players in franchise history.

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[Editor's note: Below is third piece Arish Narayen has written for TAI. He first broke down the Wizards' small forward situation in early July, and then wrote about the Wizards' third summer league game against the Mavericks. -Kyle]

If you haven’t had a chance to read this study linked on TrueHoop Monday, check it out. In the piece, Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference.com analyzes how NBA players performed against above and below average defenses in 2009-10.

Paine begins by ranking each team’s defense by using a defensive version of the Simple Rating System, taking into account margin of victory, strength of schedule, and home-court effects. Taken from the article, here are the relevant bits about the Wizards:

First, the good news. Last season, the Washington Wizards’ defense ranked 20th in the NBA using Paine’s DSRS metric. Take that, New Orleans and Phoenix. Read more »