It’s been debated to the point of irrelevancy. Most will tell you, Jay-Z over Nas, especially with the back-minded consideration that the former has Beyoncé on his arm. And Kelis probably hates Nas… So. Much. Right. Now!

It was always mostly about lyricism, amongst the variety of other factors that go into one’s musical experience. I still personally struggle with the debate. They are the two best rappers alive, and for my money, not alive, too (at risk of committing hip-hop blasphemy in not buying into the over-inflated value in the lives and skills of Tupac and Biggie after death).

If Jay-Z’s debut album, Reasonable Doubt, is a 9.8, then Nas’ debut, Illmatic, is a 9.9—I’m hesitant to give anything, even LeBron’s basketball skills, a perfect 10. Ask me in the early-to-mid-2000s (Blueprint albums to the Black Album), and I’d be more inclined to say Jay-Z. Ask me later in my timeline (Street’s Disciple/Hip Hop is Dead to Life is Good), and I’d be more inclined to say Nas (including up to this very day).

I’ll concede that some of Nas’ lows are lower than Jay-Z’s lows, and that Jay-Z’s overall career is more decorated. And I might also find some irony that Nas’ “Ether” effectively killed the mano a mano battle between the two (although Hova’s “Blueprint 2” retaliation off the Blueprint 2 album was pretty badass).

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Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 60th game of the season on the road against the Brooklyn Nets are TAI’s Adam McGinnis (@adammcginnis) and guest Jeremy Gordon (@jeremypgordon), who writes about the Nets for Brooklyn’s Finest, an ESPN TrueHoop Network blog.

Wizards Starters (19-40):

John Wall, Trevor Ariza, Martell Webster, Nene, Emeka Okafor

Nets Starters (35-26):

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Truth About It.net turns a whole five years old at the end of October, which is right about now.

Hard to believe/interesting. Nonetheless, over the life of the site from the 2007-08 season to 2011-12, we’ve seen/lived/suffered through 131 wins, 263 losses, four coaches, two owners, one GM/team president, one Phil Chenier mustache removal, and 56 total players (amazingly, 48 players over the last three seasons).

You may have heard of ESPN’s #NBArank project, now in year two. Now hear of #WizardsRank, where we rank each of those 56 players during Truth About It.net’s five-year run. TAI anonymously polled 27 members of the Wizards pixel establishment — from mainstream media to new media, TAI staffers included, to a few pixel consumers (readers of the site) — and got 17 responses.

Participants were given the full list of 56 in alphabetical order, and included for each player were total games, minutes, PER (player efficiency rating), and WS/48 (win-shares per 48 minutes) only from the last five seasons. Participants were asked to rate each player on the scale of 1-to-10 according to this criteria: on court performance; off court performance; intangibles; and own personal memory. Yes, this is totally subjective, but relatively collective.

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No, there are no magic wands in a rebuild. The impetus of the recent turnaround for the Washington Wizards doesn’t amount to any wizardry, either. Rather, it had quickly become evident – for who knows how long – that three players from the previous organizational generation were malignant tumors on the culture of the franchise. Nick Young and JaVale McGee are gone. Andray Blatche is almost gone — in the box score against the Nets he received a “NWT – Conditioning,” and looks to be “NWT (not with team) – Permanently” after the Wizards likely amnesty his contract this summer. Once Blatche’s departure becomes official, John Wall becomes your longest tenured Washington Wizard, technically, since he was drafted before both Kevin Seraphin and Trevor Booker on that fateful June 2010 night.

The sole action of slicing three players, all perhaps well enough human beings in their own right, but who formed an infectious combination on the basketball court nonetheless, is no magic bullet, either. Expect these new Wizards, now truly worthy of this year’s franchise catch-phrase “new traditions,” to continue to struggle. But it’s a beautiful struggle when you play as a team, only lacking in developed talent and cohesiveness, and not under constraints of selfishness and stupidity. Were the Wizards really that much better without Larry, Moe and Curly in their 108-89 win over the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday night, a win that featured 22 points and 10 rebounds from new acquisition Nene (or even in the two post-trade games before Nene joined the starting lineup)? Yes, they were.

They passed the vision test, by far. Numbers looked good, too. This season, when the Wizards’ team totals for free throws made, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks (minus turnovers) add to 83 or higher, their record is 7-4 (8-4 after the Nets win). Losses under such conditions have come against Boston, Milwaukee, Denver and Golden State; wins have come against Portland, Detroit, Charlotte, Toronto, the Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City. The total of those categories against the Thunder amounted to 101, a season-high. The total against New Jersey: 88, which would rank sixth-highest.

Even former NBA coaches, and current television analysts, are on board with the quick-change Wizards. During a break in the action in Wednesday night’s Dallas Mavericks-Los Angeles Lakers game broadcast on ESPN, a promo for the “National TV Big Board” was displayed — essentially the league’s cross-network schedule of upcoming nationally-televised games. I’ll let Jeff Van Gundy take it away: Read more »

In Sunday’s edition of the Washington Post, Eric Prisbell wrote what likely is the most comprehensive profile on John Wall to date.

One part of the piece, where Prisbell revealed to an unaware Wall that his father served time in prison for murder before he was born, has struck a chord with many.

Mike Prada covers this aspect in an interview with Prisbell on Bullets Forever. I also touch on the subject in my weekly media column for SB Nation DC, “Media Sensitivities in a Sports Celebrity World: The Handling of John Wall’s Story.” Check it out.

John Wall can cut as fast as a cheetah’s single top-speed stride.

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It was only a matter of time, obviously.

“Got me bringing guns to work, Gilbert Arenas,” is a line Jay-Z uses in a verse on the recently leaked collaboration between him and Dr. Dre called “Under Pressure.” The track is supposedly on Dre’s upcoming Detox album, the release of which has been anticipated since before Antawn Jamison ever wore a Washington Wizards uniform.

Some music critics have pointed out that Jay-Z’s lyrics on “Under Pressure”, which also mention the Tiger Woods sex scandal, are rather stale.

I’ll point out that Arenas likely didn’t bring guns to work because of any kind of pressure he was under, or because of the “haters”, as Jay-Z’s line associates his actions.

It kinda paints Arenas as a thug, kinda … I’m taking liberties here. Hence, that sorta makes Wizards players 0-2 in their last two mentions by Jay-Z in a verse. Blow the whistle indeed.

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Remember last year’s crappy 19-win Wizards season? At least in those times, the anxiousness to get the season over was supported by hope for the future. Now, the future is very uncertain. Something to be said about ignorant bliss.

In any case, it seems that over the past 12 months, Andray Blatche has learned a valuable lesson: Don’t have an ‘End of the Season’ party before the actual end of the season. Yes, last year Blatche had his season ending celebration on Sunday April 12th at Josephine’s in DC. The Wizards had a home game on the 13th against the Raptors and concluded on the road in Boston on the 15th. They lost both games.

But this year is different. Blatche has grown up. He is now Seven-Day-Dray. And while a guy who works every day of the week certainly deserves to host a party, that same guy also now knows that it’s best to host said party after all the games are played.

Hence, tonight, after the Wizards go for their 26th win of the season at home against the Indiana Pacers, which would be a 37% improvement over last year’s win total, (imagine if that happened over the next three seasons), Blatche will host his kick-off to another summer of Dray at District in Adam’s Morgan (flier below).

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Caron Butler had his eye on the ball

“Shoot it boy!!”

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You may think yesterday’s press conference introducing Fabricio Oberto was about closure … about finalizing the chapter on 2009 summertime movement … about alleviating the angst of Wizards fans hoping for a reliable big man to secure depth.

You’re wrong. Yesterday was all about Gilbert Arenas.

As soon as it was mentioned that coach Flip Saunders, who has been visiting almost all of the players on his team in their summertime locale, made a trip to Chicago to check on Arenas, zealous ears perked up.

Maybe media types assume fans are hungry for Agent Zero morsels since the all-star’s self-imposed moratorium on communication of any type. Or perhaps Arenas’ “so goes him so goes the team” importance is realized whereas any little bit of information about him needs to be magnified and manufactured into web hits.

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