ShareBullets… links, commentary, irreverence… and the team used to be call the Bullets.

>> Chris Webber played a single season in a Wizards jersey (1997-98, the rest were a Bullets jersey), and I documented this fact by recently purchasing a replica from Joint Custody, a vintage store in D.C.’s Adams Morgan. Somebody on the Twittermachine tweeted at me that Webber was “one of the worst Bullets ever.” Not quite.

Turning to Basketball-Reference.com, narrowing down a list those who have played at least 2,500 minutes in a Bullets/Wizards uniform and then ranking them by the worst Win Shares Per 48 Minutes, these would be your 10 worst of all-time:

1. Fred Carter >> 0.11 WS/48
2. Slick Leonard >> 0.11
3. Jordan Crawford >> 0.15
4. A.J. English >> 0.17
5. Mitchell Butler >> 0.20
6. Dominic McGuire >> 0.25
7. Doug Overton >> 0.26
8. Tom Hammonds >> 0.32
9. Juan Dixon >> 0.34
10. Jarvis Hayes >> 0.37

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John Wall’s summer league feet game.

Things I learned/witnessed at summer league in Las Vegas, in bullets:

• On Day 1, Chris Webber, an analyst for the games on NBA TV, broke out his pleated cargo shorts. It was a tough day for all of us.

• Bradley Beal can block shots… he averaged one per game over five contests in Las Vegas. Chris Singleton also threw his body around a bunch (“I feel like it’s going to help Chris Singleton out a lot,” said Shelvin Mack about the summer league 10-foul limit during Wizards mini-camp prior. “You know, he likes to foul, so he’s going to play a lot longer, so it’s good for us.”). This clip shows Beal blocking, or rather, thwarting a lob attempt off the backboard, and then Singleton diving over the first row of chairs for the loose ball:

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ShareBullets: Links and stuff…

Couple of reports on the Wizards summer league roster:

Steven Gray

Via HoopsHype, Gray will be a Wizard in Vegas. Gray might best be described as a west coast, guard version of Etan Thomas, right down to the hair (at least in college). A feature by Dana O’Neill on ESPN.com tells of his Pacific Northwest, granola upbringing, his acting in college at Gonzaga, and his trip to Africa as part of a leadership program. In 2011, Gray and the Zags were taken down by The Jimmer and BYU in the NCAA Tournament; Gray had 18 points on 6-for-16 shooting and seven assists. Gray spent his “rookie” season in Latvia with up-and-down numbers.

FWIW, some Latvian stats: 44.3% on 3-point field goals with averages of 12.3 points and 24.5 minutes in 15 EuroChallenge games; 33.7% 3P, 10.9 points, and 21.4 minutes in 18 Baltic League games; and 46.5% 3P, 9.9 points, and 20.3 minutes in 23 Latvian League games.
[stats via eurobasket.com] Read more »

[NOTE: Truth About It.net 2011-12 Player Reviews start today, where we take a look at the past, present and future of those players who have touched the Wizards franchise in the 2011-12 lockout-shortened season. And why not begin with a former Wizard who happens to be playing tonight? That's right... JaVale McGee. TAI's Rashad Mobley and John Converse Townsend take a look at Epic Vale's season. -Kyle W.]

Player Review Index:  Morris Almond (we’d like to)  |  Andray Blatche  |  Trevor Booker  |  Brian Cook (maybe)  |  Jordan Crawford  |  Maurice Evans  |  Rashard Lewis  |  Shelvin Mack (coming soon)  |  Cartier Martin  |  Roger Mason Jr.  |  JaVale McGee  |  Hamady N’diaye (remember him?)  |  Nenê  |  Kevin Seraphin (coming soon)  |  Chris Singleton  |  James Singleton  |  Ronny Turiaf (meh)  |  Edwin Ubiles (we’ll see)  |  Jan Vesely  |  John Wall  |  Nick Young

JaVale McGee: DC Council Ratings

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[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.

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[You know what they say about little chairs? Little capacity.]

We just couldn’t let JaVale McGee get away from D.C. without giving him his propers… whatever “propers” means. And actually, “Can’t Say I Do,” the movie (let’s call it a mini-docu-drama, I think), doesn’t give much proper respect to young JaVale. Rather, it aims to convey the story of why he is no longer a Washington Wizard… because he couldn’t say “I do” to willingly understanding the game of basketball like coaches, teammates and fans expected.

All that talent in the world with only JaVale to hold himself back. No need to provide advanced statistics, describe skills and faults, or wax poetic on memories of McGee, because it’s as simple as that. He’s gone and I could [not] care less. It took about three years, eight months and 19 days, but the 18th pick in the 2008 NBA Draft (McGee), along with the 17th pick in 2007 (Nick Young), and a guy whom the Wizards essentially got for free from the New York Knicks last summer (Ronny Turiaf), was finally traded so that Washington could get some competent help at the center position (Nene). Kind of sucks that it took so long, but I’m sure the Wizards will figure it out sooner or later.

[Background: On Leap Day 2012, the Wizards faced the Orlando Magic at home, and JaVale McGee came off the bench for the first time all season. The previous night, in Milwaukee, Randy Wittman benched McGee for the entire second half (with good reason), and after the Wizards lost that game, the coach said, "I’m done with young guys. If they don’t want to play the right way, young guys aren’t going to play. It does us no good." After the Orlando game, which Washington also lost, Wittman said he spoke with McGee (and Nick Young, to an extent), about why they were benched. After that, I asked McGee if he understood the message his coach was trying to send. He could not say that he did, but seemed confident that he would figure it out sooner or later. And now we have a movie to watch...]

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Things have happened recently.

With apologies to Mugsy Bogues and Manute Bol (who had a soft-spot for gambling, it was written), an account of historical note has recently been relayed to us by the mouth of Gilbert Arenas. Yes, Gilbert Arenas.

This bit of history comes via a USA Today piece regarding how things are ’different’ now for Arenas in Memphis. Basically, it’s Gilly being Gilly… running his mouth as only a self-preserving historical revisionist can. An excerpt from the article pertaining to the now infamous-game of airplane Bourré (Boo-Ray) which ignited a firestorm:

Then-Wizards center JaVale McGee had beaten Crittenton out of $1,100 in a card game. Wizards guard Earl Boykins loaned McGee $200. McGee didn’t immediately pay back Boykins as he won the money and an argument blossomed. Arenas says he wasn’t involved in the actual bet.

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It’s been about three weeks since the Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets collaborated to exchange parts. The Wizards gave up Nick Young, JaVale McGee and Ronny Turiaf and got Nene, Brian Cook, and a 2015 second round draft pick belonging to the New Orleans Hornets (via the L.A. Clippers) in return. Los Angeles received Young in exchange for Cook and the second rounder, and Denver received McGee and Turiaf in exchange for Nene. The Nuggets soon thereafter waived Turiaf, who then signed with the Miami  Heat. To check in on the aftermath of this trade, I turned to some authorities for the involved franchises for commentary. Nick Flynt (@ClipperBlogNick) of ClipperBlog, Jeremy Wagner (@RoundballMiner) of Roundball Mining Company, Sean Fagan (@McCarrick) of Bullets Forever, and Kevin Arnovitz (@KevinArnovitz) of ESPN.com/TrueHoop drop some knowledge on the Clippers, Nuggets, Wizards and Heat respectively. Read on…

L.A. CLIPPERS

Intro: The Clippers had to know what they were getting with Nick Young, right? In 1,211 minutes with Washington this season, Young had a FG% of 0.406 and an eFG% of 0.468; he also picked up 1.4 assists per 36 minutes. In his hometown of Los Angeles, Young’s FG% has dropped to 0.373, his eFG% to 0.444, and his assists/36 to 1.0. With a nice recent run of eight wins to one loss (vs. the Lakers), the Clippers are 9-4 since Young made his debut (although, 0-3 when Young starts). So… how’s that trade working out? (Bonus if you miss Brian Cook.)

NICK FLYNT – ClipperBlog:

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NBA coaches are constantly tinkering with their five-man units. Whether someone starts or not really takes a back seat to the primary concern of which players work well together, and only then, how match-ups can be exploited. In the very least, lineup data can tell us which combinations of Wizards have best played together with success (must less whom they are doing it against… high- or low-quality opponents). The lineup statistics for these 2011-12 Wizards also tell of a failed plan from the start. But if the ultimate goal was to get a top four pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, then maybe Ernie Grunfeld & Co. haven’t failed after all.

Eighteen different five-man units have played 25 or more minutes together for Washington this season. Below is the distribution of those lineups ranked by minutes played, and including the plus/minus per 48 minutes for that lineup. Yes, one lineup this season played 41 minutes together and would have been down by 38.4 points had they hypothetically played an entire game together against hypothetical competition. It’s hypothetically pretty sad. I’ve bolded the five lineups with a positive plus/minus per 48 minutes, if that helps.

OK, so what if we were to rank those 18 lineups by best to worst plus/minus per 48 minutes, but hiding all names except for those of JaVale McGee, Nick Young, Andray Blatche and Nene. What if… Read more »

Two weeks ago, the Washington Wizards acquired Nene and shipped JaVale McGee to the Denver Nuggets. Gone were the talented, immature and inconsistent ways of McGee, and in came the steady, blue-collar production of Nene. Wizards team president Ernie Grunfeld and owner Ted Leonsis weren’t at all subtle with their post-trade message”

“Nene is a versatile player who will bring experience and a physical presence to our frontcourt. He is a strong rebounder, tough defender and a fierce competitor. His veteran leadership and postseason experience will be a positive influence in our locker room.”
-Ernie Grunfeld

“Nene is coming to us from a winning program. He has played in a system that we admire. It is up tempo and high scoring and he has good hands; runs the floor well; and is very strong. He is a team first kind of player. He is about winning and is a respected teammate. He is a family man; a player who is secure in who he is; and a player who has battled through adversity and is dependable and strong in spirit.”
-Ted Leonsis

That same March 15 NBA trade deadline day, Derek Fisher was unceremoniously traded from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Houston Rockets, had his contract bought out, and then signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder that next week. Thunder general manager Sam Presti spoke of Fisher providing intangibles and veteran leadership to Kevin Durant, rookie Reggie Jackson and Russell Westbrook. Fisher did not shy away from the role: Read more »