Posts tagged ‘gheorghe muresan’

[The Bullets-Wizards have had 15 different 7-footers suit up over the years. Only one appears in this photo. Via SI Vault and B-R.]

Roy Hibbert is a very, very tall man. Seven feet-and-two-inches tall, in fact.

And over on Grantland, there is a really, really good article about Hibbert’s development. How D.C.’s own Big Roy went from Georgetown scrub to NBA All-Star in eight years.

Go read it.

Author Jordan Conn captures the routine — from Hibbert’s pre-game stretching to his mixed martial arts practice — that transformed a 7-foot-2 non-athlete into one of basketball’s best players. But in the sea of detail, there was one data point that jumped out to me. (Bolding is mine.)

Citing data from the Centers for Disease Control, Sports Illustrated estimated that there are fewer than 70 7-footers between the ages of 20 and 40 in the United States. Seventy 7-footers; 30 starting NBA centers.

If you’re Nate Robinson’s height, you need to be an exceptional athlete to make the league. If you’re Hibbert’s, you just have to be pretty good.

Read more »

When Washington and Toronto matched-up in Canada last Friday night, Amir Johnson of the Raptors came off the bench to score 18 points and grab 13 rebounds in a 106-89 win over the Wizards. ”They’re making him look like an All-Star,” someone probably said, also noting that this Washington franchise has seemed peculiarly deft doing so over the years. During my time following the team since 1990, nights like Johnson’s certainly don’t seem like an anomaly. But just how good is Washington at making otherwise mediocre opponents look like All-Stars? And how does Washington compare to other teams?

I used the glorious Basketball-Reference.com database to search for answers. First I needed to set up some requirements:

1. Since Johnson is the subject, I wanted someone who has scored at least 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds off the bench. Certainly a guard could look like an All-Star with 17 points and 8 assists off the bench, as would a non-starter scoring 25 points in a reserve role (ignoring other stats), but I eliminated them for this particular exercise. Also, you could certainly have a no-name starter put up All-Star stats, but assuming he’s starting with other quality talent, his success is somewhat dimmed. A bench player it is.
2. The player’s team has to win the game. Because All-Stars, or at least All-Star efforts, always are victorious, right? (No, not right, but just another factor of elimination for this post.)

Read more »

Links, commentary, strange connections, and silly photos of Gilbert Arenas, randomness…

Bryon Russell will be forever cemented into Michael Jordan lore. You know exactly why. And evidently, Russell holds a solid spot in Washington Wizards/Gilbert Arenas lore as well.

Because of Jordan’s last shot as a Chicago Bull, a game six and championship winner that took place in Salt Lake City, Utah on June 14, 1998, which came courtesy of a Jordan push-off of Russell and subsequent burial of the Utah Jazz, Russell and Jordan will always be connected. The moment has been in/on video games, video game commercials, posters, artwork,  t-shirts, books, and captured via wide-ranging multimedia design. No one has been, and perhaps no one will ever be, more remembered for having a basketball shot hit on them. The rest of it travels down an unexpected road.

After the shot marinated in basketball history for over four years Russell teamed up with Jordan on the 2002-03 Washington Wizards, a team surrounded with strife and disaster that failed to even make the playoffs in Jordan’s final NBA season. Russell averaged 4.5 points and 3.0 rebounds over 19.8 minutes per game and appeared in 70 contests. Russell then joined the 2003-04 Los Angeles Lakers, a team that epically failed to be a team in the NBA Finals against the Detroit Pistons. No championship for Bryon. Russell played 16 total minutes during that playoff run, the swan songs for the careers of Karl Malone and Horace Grant, and the end of the Kobe/Shaq era; Gary Payton was also involved.

Read more »

Manute Bol, as we further came to realize with his passing in June 2010, was a vastly unique and complex character. The posthumous coverage, as it often does in these instances, helped us peel back the layers of his multifaceted life in order to gain closure with understanding and appreciation.

Most records indicate that Bol was drafted by Bob Ferry, then GM of the Washington Bullets, with the 31st overall pick (seventh in the second round) of the 1985 NBA Draft. Lesser noticed records indicate that Bol was first drafted 97th overall in the 1983 draft (fifth round) by the San Diego Clippers. The selection was sparked by ex-Bullets coach (from 1994-97) Jim Lynam no less, who at the time was head coach of the Clippers. But Bol was not afforded the opportunity to play for Lynam in his first season at the helm of an NBA team, along with the oft-injured Bill Walton in the franchise’s last go-round in San Diego before moving to Los Angeles. The pick was subsequently voided because Bol hadn’t officially declared for the draft.*

Lynam’s intrigue with seven feet and seven inches would later be Ferry’s gain, after Bol spent time at the University of Bridgeport followed by a small appearance with the Rhode Island Gulls of the USBL.* As a blogger, I’m also obliged to mention that the ’85 Bol draft was the same year the Bullets took Kenny Green with their top pick at No. 13; Karl Malone went to the Utah Jazz at 14.

Read more »

ESPN.com currently has this “Franchise Five” feature going on for all NBA teams. Basically, they have an interactive page where visitors can vote for the “best” player in franchise history at each position (PG, SG, SF, PF, C).

Here are the candidates:

Point Guard:
Gilbert Arenas, Rod Strickland, Archie Clark, Kevin Porter and Michael Adams

Shooting Guard:
Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Jeff Malone, Phil Chenier, Kevin Loughery and Don Ohl

Read more »

The above image is iconic in the history of the Washington Wizards/Bullets franchise. The 7’7″ Manute Bol, the 5’3″ Muggsy Bogues … it’s easy to see why.

And while the image below of the 7’7″ Gheorghe Muresan reaching out to slap fives with the 5’5″ Earl Boykins isn’t even close to being as iconic, it’s still pretty damn adorable.

Unfortunately, this scene had to come after yet another Wizards loss, their 24th of the season. The look on the kid’s face to the right says it all … notice his less than half-hearted attempt to give the Wizards a hand slap as they exit the court.

Read more »

A random political protest in Dupont Circle

In case you missed it last week, NBA commish David Stern strolled into a Harlem barbershop and displayed a skill he’s masterfully crafted, that of the silver-tongued politician. Watch for yourself.

I love how he tells almost everyone “you are right,” before making his own point, or says things like “good question,” while avoiding being patronizing.

Funny, when I say those things in public I come across as a condescending S.O.B. … guess I shouldn’t be telling the homeless guy ‘good question’ after he asks me for some change.
Read more »

When the DC Sports Bog’s Dan Steinberg was in Vegas, he tweeted the question:

“Is mike miller the wizards’ best white player since….gugliotta?“

Dan later followed up in a Sports Bog post saying:

I was asking some of the other media members who would be the answer to this question: “Mike Miller is the Wizards/Bullets best white player since…..” There was no consensus. I will keep working on this. In a purely jesting, non-offensive way.

Steinberg’s nomination of Tom Gugliotta seems like a choice with which most of Wizards nation could concur. But thinking back, the organization hasn’t exactly had a history of illustrious contributions from the white man on the basketball court.

Read more »

I was on a break outside the other day, catching some fresh Penn Quarter air, taking a stroll around Freedom Plaza, when this little kid came up to me, and said, “Hey Mister … don’t you know that the Wizards need another big man? Haywood, Jamison, Blatche, McGee, and McGuire aren’t going to cut it.”

“Easy lil’ fella,” I told him. “We’ll keep looking around to see if we can add someone else, but we feel comfortable about what we have currently and the depth of our ballclub.”

The kid then kicked me in the shin and ran away.

I suddenly woke up from my slumber and realized those weren’t my words, those were Ernie Grunfeld’s words. I had a mission …

Read more »

The friendly bloggers (and their fans) at the Cleveland sports-based Waiting For Next Year have taken upon the task of creating a Mark Price-themed t-shirt (h/t Sporting News).

Price, the current Atlanta Hawks shooting coach, may still be right for Cleveland Cavaliers fans, but that’s far from the case for Wizards/Bullets fans.

A reminder of how the Cavs fleeced former Bullets GM, John Nash (from this May ’08 post):