[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Game 13 contributors: Adam McGinnis and John Converse Townsend with first-hand coverage and Kyle Weidie from watching on T.V.]

Score

Washington Wizards 106 vs. Houston Rockets 114 [box score]

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[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Game 12 contributors: Adam McGinnis and Kyle Weidie with first-hand coverage and John Converse Townsend from watching on T.V.]

Score

Washington Wizards 90 vs. Philadelphia 76ers 103 [box score]

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The hope is that young Wizards, especially the likes of John Wall, Chris Singleton and Trevor Booker, never get used to losing. That the current doldrums are helping shape their future focus toward doing the little things to win. Of course, in the interim, in the locker room environment after loss eleven in a 12-game old season, defeat seems to be more and more accepted than frustrating.

There’s talk of trust, talk of turnovers, talk of John Wall getting down on himself. “I get down on myself for making a mistake, but I know how to move on to the next thing, just keep playing basketball. It’s just tough when you make three or four in a row,” said Wall after Saturday night’s 103-90 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. What’s unknown at this point is how much Wall openly getting down on himself after mistake one or two affects the rest of his team. Maybe they take cues from him, maybe they are getting down on themselves for their own mistakes.

“He’s our point guard, we gotta feed off of him. He’s the guy that leads this team almost like the captain of a boat. We have to feed off of him, and he has to get everybody involved in the game as well as get himself involved,” said team veteran Rashard Lewis, a guy who could stand to get himself involved as well in hitting open jump shots to help Wall’s cause. Lewis is 6-26 from three-point land this season, a 23.1-percent that’s his career worst, aside from his rookie season when he went 1-6 from deep as a 19-year old. “He’s still a young player learning how to play the game, but at the same time, he’s the floor general,” said Lewis of Wall.

“When you get your butts kicked pretty bad, and we’ve lost a lot, the tendency is sometimes you start feeling sorry for yourself,” said coach Flip Saunders.

“You got to find something to get your spirits going and stay focused out there, because ain’t nobody going to take it easy on us if we’re pouting,” said starting guard Nick Young.

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The Wizards weren’t necessarily really, really bad in their 103-90 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night, they were just normal bad. For one, don’t take credit away from the Sixers. Good team. For two, Washington seemed to earnestly try in small doses to pass the ball to each other. It’s just that usually when they did, the passes were not crisp, or the recipient couldn’t finish, or a number of other things that just don’t seem to go a bad team’s way happened — no help from the refs, plenty of missed shots from point-blank range, etc.

Philadelphia scored 27 points off 18 Washington turnovers, 21 of those points came in the first half off 13 turnovers (seven in the first quarter, six in the second). Andre Igoudala got points with ease for Philadelphia when needed, finishing with 23 on 9-16 FGs with five steals, five assists and seven rebounds. Igoudala also had teammates who filled in with help. Thaddeus Young chipped in a solid 18 points off the bench, Wizard killer Lou Williams had 24 points on 4-6 from deep.

The money quote from Flip Saunders after the game: “The first half we looked like ‘Space Jam’ where everyone lost all their talents and couldn’t do anything there for a while. But I told them, when you haven’t passed the ball very much, and you’ve been holding the ball and holding it, then all of a sudden, as a team, when you try to start doing it, it’s like guys aren’t ready.”

The difference being: Michael Jordan brought the ToonSquad back to a fictitious, animated victory in the 1996 movie. The Wizards, well, they are living real life and the only Jordan they have is Jordan Crawford. A 1-11 record is in the books… Lights Out Wizards.

{Lights Out, Iggy…}

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[Lou Williams - photo: K. Weidie]

As I publish this post, the Wizards are down 52-40 to the Philadelphia 76ers at halftime. After a relatively decent first quarter where Washington outscored the Sixers 26-23 behind 11 points from Nick Young on 4-7 shooting and 10 points and five rebounds (three offensive) from JaVale McGee, things came more back to reality. Philadelphia out-scored the Wizards 29-14 in the second quarter. It’s not that Washington was wholly selfish as usual, they just found a way to bumble opportunity, even when Philadelphia gave them a couple chances with turnovers (six, leading to four Washington points). But the Wizards turned the ball over even more, giving it away 13 times leading to 21 Philadelphia points at the half. Below are some speakable quotes from Flip Saunders, Sixers coach Doug Collins, and notorious Wizards killer Lou Williams from before the game started.

Before the game Flip Saunders was asked how a coach sends the message that selfish basketball won’t be tolerated. Flip said:

“It’s a fine line because there are so many young guys. You don’t want them to play looking over their shoulders, that you’re going to take them out at every mistake. But I think that we probably have to be… that’s probably what has to happen, because we can’t… it’s not fair to the team, it’s not fair to them. We want to do aggressive-type things. If you’re playing aggressive offensively, and you’re taking good shots and you’re open, that’s different than taking a contested shot.”

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[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Game 11 contributors over television screen: Rashad Mobley, Arish Narayen, and Kyle Weidie.]

Score

Washington Wizards 89 at Philadelphia 76ers 120 [box score]

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On draft night back in 2010, the Wizards and the Sixers were two bad teams who felt like they had received significant upgrades with the additions of John Wall and Evan Turner respectively.  Turner still comes off the bench, but the addition of Doug Collins along the maturation of Jrue Holiday, helped the Sixers reach the playoffs last year, along with a strong 7-3 start this year.  The Wizards were back in the lottery last year, and are far and away the worst team in the NBA this season.  To put it mildly, the Sixers have passed the Wizards by.  These two polar opposites will clash in Philadelphia tonight, but before that Truth About It writers Kyle Weidie and Rashad Mobley, along with the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sixers beat writer (and former Wizards beat writer for the Washington Times) John Mitchell answer three questions…

#1)    In Kate Fagan’s well-written blog entry on Monday, she broke down the reasons why Philadelphia is playing so well offensively this year.  One of the main reasons for the offensive efficiency, is that Doug Collins and his coaching staff realized that his personnel excelled at running the pick-and-roll, and he needed to customize his offense to match their strengths.  Given that the John Wall is struggling offensively, and the Wizards as a whole are struggling on offense—they scored just 64 points in a loss to Chicago—should Flip Saunders look to make adjustments to the offense? Or are the Wizards just in a bad shooting slump?

MITCHELL:   I honestly don’t know what Flip can do to ignite the offense. John Wall is an electric talent, but he probably played with better talent at the collegiate level than he has in Washington.  Nick Young, allegedly and offensive player, was reportedly seeking $9 million annually yet he’s back in Washington hitting just 38 percent of his shots. With the Wizards, the ball too often sticks. That’s not a good thing.

MOBLEY:  The Wizards are in a bad slump but it has nothing to do with shooting, and everything to do with where they are mentally.  John Wall and Andray Blatche are missing baskets at point blank range.  Nick Young, as many times as he keeps the Wizards in the game with his scoring, is still forcing shots.  There have been very few possessions for the Wizards this season, where precise passing and patience led to any easy score.  If Flip can somehow get this team to do that, the offense would be more efficient.

WEIDIE: Washington’s best bet, in the midst of offensive ineptness, is for John Wall to get paint penetration and for him and his team to earn trips to the foul line. Problem is, in the Wizards’ one win, they got 12 assisted FGs at the rim, John Wall was responsible for five of those. In all other games, losses, the Wizards average 6.3 assisted FGs at the rim, and overall, Wall’s assists leading to FGs at the rim is down to 2.9 this season from 3.2 last season. Wall is also struggling to finish, shooting 50.8-percent on attempts at the rim this season compared to 59.9-percent last season. Add in the fact that Washington’s team FT-percentage is at .716 this season from .745 last season, and I think the cause is less of a slump and more of a general inability. [Stats via HoopData.com]

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[Kramer Middle School, Anacostia, DC - photo: K. Weidie]

The Wizards have been bad, and for the most part, that’s okay, even somewhat expected. Even those who contribute so-called “wicked pixels” understand that the rebuild will take time. After all, some of us, such as this person typing, have been ardent followers of the franchise since years before current team owner Ted Leonsis even started his now since long ended career at AOL (1993), or even before the current franchise poster boy, John Wall, was born (September 6, 1990). So when the valid message of patience is preached, it shouldn’t so much be seen as a defensively pious sermon by Leonsis, but rather a navigation through rough waters by the current moderator of a public trust — a team which is the property of the community, not of the current proprietors who aim to make money and promote positive influences though said team.

Proprietors of wicked pixels, depending on the source, can be the equivalent of a guy manning the Crow’s Nest of the ship sending a message to those in the galley about how rough the waters are. Not exactly helpful… they know it’s rough in the galley, they can feel the waves. Still, the perspective of outside insight is always a necessity. Thus, there exceptions to being bad in a rebuild. The main one being actually looking bad in being bad. Sure, against the Bulls the Wizards scored a franchise-low 64 points. Sure, they fell apart at the very end as the team has been wont to do. But the key is that they didn’t look unexpectedly bad. New starters Trevor Booker and Chris Singleton displayed infectious toughness. The team fought against a very solid Bulls team, even without M.V.P. Derrick Rose. Yes, bad decision-making and lack of focus hurt in the game-determining stretch, but the Wizards didn’t lose, for the most part, because they played like they didn’t care. They lost because they lacked talent. Lack of capability leading to failure in a rebuild is OK, lack of wherewithal is not.

Beyond development, beyond patience, beyond hope, the Wizards franchise can ill-afford to not adjust standards according to the current job auditions, or rather, continued poor performance when it comes to the simple desire of player to earn his pay. Navigating rebuild voyages also comes with sensitive lines amongst influences of culture. It’s a long trip across rough seas, and no matter how great someone might be at being a deckhand, if they have a negative influence on the rest of the crew, throw him off the ship. Else an unwilling and unknowing mutiny could form to wash the nautical charts away in an unexpected wave of trouble, leaving the vessel in a continued, directionless state.

All of this nonsense aside, let’s get into another aspect of being bad: measurables. Below is a chart with data courtesy of mySynergySports.com. “PPP” stands for Points Per Possession, a possession being defined by Synergy as a play that ends in a field-goal attempt, a turnover, or free-throws. The chart reflects the various types of plays tracked by Synergy on both offense and defense. The comparison is between the Wizards of 2010-11 and the Wizards through this current season’s first 10 games. Percent (%) Time reflects how often the Wizards run said play type on offense/how often they see them on defense. Read more »

[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Game 9 contributors: covered on-hand at the Verizon Center by Adam McGinnis and John Converse Townsend, with Rashad Mobley from the television feed. Oh, and you can now find our stuff on Google+. Go ahead and circle Truth About It.]

Score

Washington Wizards 93 vs. Toronto Raptors 78 [box score]

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The Toronto Raptors (4-5) fly south to D.C. to take on the Washington Wizards (0-8). Toronto, competing in its only back-to-back-to-back this season, will be looking for a second win in as many nights before heading west to play the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday. Washington split a four-game series versus Toronto last season, securing two victories at home by an average of nine points. TAI’s Beckley Mason, Adam McGinnis and John Converse Townsend go 3-on-3 to get you ready for tonight’s action. 

#1) In four games vs. Washington last season, Andrea Bargnani averaged 25.5 points on 57.1-percent shooting in wins and 18.5 points on 35.3-percent shooting in losses. Which Bargs will show up?

MASON: It’s a back-to-back for Toronto, but I’m betting that Bargnani will feast on the abhorrent Wizards power forwards. His range will always be troublesome for someone like Blatche, who prefers to move as little possible. He’ll get the looks, only a question of whether Bargnani connects.

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Ted Leonsis turned 55 yesterday, January 8, as he had a courtside seat to witness the current inept status of his franchise’s rebuilding process. To add to the mess of Flip Saunders is calling his team ’fragile,’ the coach also saying, ‘We can’t keep on using the excuse that we’re young,’  is the fact that Rashard Lewis, second highest paid player in the NBA, evidently quit on the Wizards. Frank Hanrahan of CSNWashington.com reports that Lewis decided he didn’t want to play after a pre-game argument with assistant coach Sam Cassell. Leonsis today blogs that he didn’t receive a very nice birthday gift from his team, and that now the best thing to do is research and to be analytical, not emotional. Whatever that means, let’s see what Flip Saunders, John Wall and Andray Blatche had to say after Sunday’s 93-72 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves (with cameo appearances from Chris Singleton and Jan Vesely)…

The Wizards said WHAT?

QUOTES & WORDS:

“They booed us tonight, we deserved it… I don’t know… I don’t know what to say…”
-Andray Blatche

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John Wall, Flip Saunders, Andray Blatche, Nick Young, Trevor Booker and Carmelo Anthony speak on it from the locker room after Friday’s Wizards-Knicks game…

Words & Links…

[Michael Lee - Wizards Insider]

On a night when their most experienced player looked lost and confused, the Wizards nearly rode the infectious energy of two of their least experienced players to the first win of the season. Trevor Booker and Chris Singleton were drafted in the past two Junes to provide hustle and defense for a team deficient in those areas, and they both made a case for more playing time in the Wizards’ 99-96 loss on Friday to the New York Knicks.

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[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Game 7 contributors: Rashad Mobley, John Converse Townsend and Kyle Weidie.]

Score

Washington Wizards 96 vs. New York Knicks 99 [box score]

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[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Game 6 contributors: Arish Narayen, Rashad Mobley and Kyle Weidie.]

Score

Washington Wizards 85 at Orlando Magic 103 [box score]

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[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Game 5 contributors: Adam McGinnis, Rashad Mobley and Sam Permutt.]

Score

Washington Wizards 92 at Boston Celtics 100 [box score]

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