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No Jordan-Wizards Love

When the Miami Heat retired Jordan’s No. 23 in 2003, the original jersey Pat Riley raised to the rafters was half Bulls, half Wizards. Today, it’s all Bulls. (It sure is)

[Michael Lee - Wizards Insider, Washington Post] Read more »

When I hear about Flip Saunders saying he’s a teacher before a coach, about how he and his assistants (namely Sam Cassell) have been working with the young guys, that he, being an ‘offensive mind’, has developed a mini-playbook for the summer league team and that he’ll be observing from a close distance on-site in Vegas, I think, “Boy, isn’t that refreshing?”

It’s comforting that a new, veteran coach, known to keep a tight bench and favor elders in his rotation, has arrived in D.C. with the mind-set of bringing along the young fellas. Not only does Flip believe that children are our future, but he practices it, knowing the jobs of both him, and the man who hired him, Ernie Grunfeld, depend on how they develop the team from top to bottom.

Mike Prada recently expressed a similar sentiment regarding Saunders in a pre-summer league post on Bullets Forever.

But in patting Flip on the back for his involvement with the youth, no one should be pointing ‘shame on your’ fingers towards former coach Eddie Jordan. Yes, Jordan used different tactics with his young players. And from the outside perspective/opinion of many (not including myself), those tactics were less than ideal.

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Wizards player evaluations for ‘08-09 continue, up fifth is JaVale McGee. My thoughts are below, you can check on the full report on Bullets Forever.

[Previously: Oleksiy Pecherov | Juan Dixon | Etan Thomas | Javaris Crittenton]

I’ve long thought that it was Ernie Grunfeld who made me eat crow after NBA Draft night 2008. But really, it was JaVale McGee. Ok, Grunfeld had big hand in serving what was fed to me. That’s why he’s the general manager with a team of trusted scouts and we are the blogger/fan people. But it was JaVale McGee who made the meal, proving us all wrong.

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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).

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Player evaluations for ’08-09 are in full effect, up second is Juan Dixon. My thoughts are below, you can check on the full report on Bullets Forever.

[Previously: Oleksiy Pecherov]

Juan Dixon seemingly fell into the right opportunity last year … well, for him, not the Wizards. Gilbert Arenas goes down and signing Dixon, local kid made good via prevailing under abysmal childhood circumstances and a Maryland Terrapins national championship, seemed the perfect fit.

Dixon knew the system, having previously played for the Wiz under Eddie Jordan, and would presumably provide the same veteran guard skills and bench scoring punch that was vacated by Roger Mason, Jr. (or not really).

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As if it was ‘Blog About Brendan Haywood‘ week … but as you’ll see, it’s not all about him.

Haywood had an online chat session via ESPN last week and took the opportunity to subtly call out a couple of the Wiz kids. And what would be a Wizards offseason without hoping that certain someone finally gains some maturity?

When asked how he could help the young bigs, specifically Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee, Haywood responded, “Both those guys have the skill but it comes down to being in shape and wanting to do it. Nothing I can do to help them, they have to want to do it on their own.”

Blatche’s career issues have been well documented. From getting shot during a car-jacking, purportedly set-up by gold diggers after a night of clubbing, to sleeping at the arena because he couldn’t pay rent, to snacking on nachos before a game because he didn’t think he’d play, to soliciting an undercover D.C. cop posing as a prostitute, to getting arrested for reckless driving and driving on a suspended license (three times over), Andray has had plenty bumps in the road, somewhat validating why he was overlooked by many GMs en route to slipping to the second round out of high school.

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Did the Caps depress you this weekend? Did you spend time drinking on it?
Sorry.
The series isn’t over,
but you’re always welcome to pull up next to a Wizards fan at the bar.

First a couple Wizards-related pieces I wrote for NBC Washington (shameless self promotion):

“[Ernie Grunfeld is] panicking and that whole franchise is panicking, they are a dumb blockbuster trade waiting to happen,” said ESPN columnist Bill Simmons.
ESPN Columnist Wants To Fleece Wizards [NBC Washington]

From Miami, to throwing the opening pitch at a Nationals game, to La-La Land, Caron Butler is on a tour, going each and every place with a mic in his hand .
Caron Butler’s Championship Campaign [NBC Washington]

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I’m a huge Antawn Jamison fan. He’s a classy dude, I’ve nicknamed him ‘The Gentlemen’ (hasn’t caught on), and the women folk say he’s got eyebrows for days.

Jamison is the current patriarchal cornerstone of the franchise. This year’s team MVP? Unquestionably. He possesses the never-quit attitude that should be infecting the locker room via leadership by example … Jamison is quite the opposite of past clubhouse cancers, like Christian Laettner.

But sometimes, everyone needs to be questioned, Jamison being no exception.

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The 2009 NBA Draft is on June 25th, an important day in so many ways. For one, it’s my birthday….the onset of my last year in my 20s…..but it’s also the day that the Wizards will be selecting Blake Griffin with the #1 overall draft pick (hopefully).

And while Griffin might not be a franchise changer like Tim Duncan, Yao Ming, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Shaq O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, he certainly isn’t a Kwame Brown or Michael Olowokandi.

Griffin won’t magically propel the Wizards to the cream of the crop, but he can certainly be a key cog on a potential contender while keeping the ‘Zards poised for the future.

June 25th is a pretty big date…potentially (Dikembe Mutombo will also turn 43 in beyond-human years on 6/25)….but May 19th is much more important. That’s when the order of the NBA is decided via a lottery.

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Whew. It’s over. Should have figured that the end would involve the Wizards blowing a lead. I hacked out my initial thoughts on NBC Washington, some more are below, and I’m sure there are more reflections to come.

Historically, most will point to injuries and youth and say that the 08-09 Wizards were destined to fail. Some will also tell of interim coach Ed Tapscott “biting the bullet” and “taking one for the team.”

Not saying that Coach Tap didn’t try his best, and by all accounts, including my observations of his interactions with the media, he’s a respectable and intelligent guy….he’s just not a basketball coach.

The fact is that the Wizards regressed under Ed Tapscott, evidenced by youth such as JaVale McGee, Nick Young and Andray Blatche overtly expressing me-first attitudes in wanting to get theirs. Whatever happened to working on your game, sharing with your teammates, and playing as a team (even in the face of losing)? Read more »