If this summer’s frenzied free agent pace has taught us anything, it’s that vying for players on the market, restricted or unrestricted, can be more trouble than it’s worth.

Teams like the 2011 champion Dallas Mavericks can find themselves out in the cold, losing number one targets (like Deron Williams), as well as their own (Jason Kidd and Jason Terry). The Mavs are now scrambling to gauge interest in Elton Brand, the 13-year veteran who was surprisingly amnestied by the Philadelphia 76ers late last week — even a bid to secure his services would be unsure. Ramon Sessions is under consideration. Ramon Sessions. The question being whispered by NBA insiders and, likely, the Mark Cuban brain trust: Is it time to trade Dirk Nowitzki?

Other teams and their fan bases might currently be under the impression that they’ve “won” something in free agency, committing X amount of dollars in a chase to over-pay suspect basketball potential around the league. Money thrown at the likes of Brandon Roy (Minnesota, 2-years, $10 million), Landry Fields (Toronto, 3-years, $20 million), Michael Beasley (Phoenix, 3-years, $18 million), and Omer Asik (Houston, 3-years, $25 million), could quickly backfire. More crazed spending likely on the way.

And not to mitigate the risk involved with building a team almost exclusively through the draft and trades. The Wizards, as much as any franchise, know about the failures in those maneuvers. One only need to start rattling off names like Mike Miller, Randy Foye and Kwame Brown. Different options come with varying repercussions and risks across team situations.

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To dunk, Juwan Howard had to make his body as straight as possible
and daintily place his off hand to his side.

More Cardboard Bullets are below, but first, please read the story of Juwan.

Last Sunday marked the 13th anniversary of Juwan Howard’s first ever NBA playoff game. Yes, that Juwan Howard and the appearance was with those Washington Bullets, who were bounced from the 1997 playoffs in three games by the cigar smoking Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls

Hard to believe Howard is still playing in the current NBA Playoffs. And despite 1,116 career regular season NBA games, he’s only appeared in 28 total playoff games and is set to appear in number 29 with the Portland Trailblazers tomorrow night.

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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.

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[image via Gilbertology]

Tony Kornheiser will turn 61 on July 13th. Fully entrenched into his sixth decade, we can only hope that Tony has been given a shingles vaccine, the CDC recommends it.

Kornheiser shares a birthday with Spud Webb, boxer Michael Spinks, Harrison Ford (who is six years older, but about 6o years better looking than Tony — self deprecating joke that TK would make alert), was born on the exact same day as Aunt Viv from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air (the second one, after the first one left due to difficulties with Will Smith), and fittingly, shares a b-day with some fella from Queens named Dick Bunt, who played for both Kornheiser’s Knicks and Baltimore’s Bullets.

Life expectancy has increased in recent years. If it were 1935, Tony would be reaching the age where he would be expected to pass. Not so these days. That’s why some are proclaiming that 60 is the new 40.

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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):

The passing of Kevin Duckworth at only 44 years old should serve as yet another cautionary tale for the health of all Americans. Medical examiners have concluded that Duckworth died of “hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with congestive heart failure.” The initial report from The Oregonian indicated that Duckworth appeared to have gone into cardiac arrest, according to fire rescue officials on the scene.

We are all aware of the weigh problems Duckworth dealt with throughout his career and more so into his retirement. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy involves the thickening of the heart muscle, thought to be primarily caused by genetics, but could be affected by non-genetic factors. There is no definitive connection between Duckworth’s heart problems and being overweight, but an easy conclusion to make would be that the latter certainly did not help the former, especially since his high blood pressure played a role in his heart failure.

Memories of Duckworth have focused on his positive contributions, especially those of his days with the Portland Trailblazers, the team he was most associated with. True Hoop’s Henry Abbott and Wayne Thompson of Blazers.com will recall his performance in a Portland game 7 win over the San Antonio Spurs in the 2nd round of the 1990 NBA Playoffs. Current Blazers team president, Larry Miller, remembers Duckworth “as one of the warmest and biggest- hearted.” Duckworth was in Lincoln City, OR to host a free clinic for kids.

My memories will, of course, stem from Duckworth’s days as a Bullet. While the on-court recollections weren’t always fond, I do remember the big fella having a smile on his face, for the most part.

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The Washington Wizards would like to have a small forward to backup Caron Butler. Darius Miles would like to be a member of an NBA team. Could the two be a match?

At face value, Miles would be far from the shooter the Wizards should desire for spot action. On the other hand, he is still freakishly athletic and could provide a combustible punch of energy off the bench for a team needing a push. Darius Miles could be seen as a low-risk, high-reward option, and he’s only 26.

Darius Miles the person raises several red flags. Number one is knee issues. He had microfracture surgery in November 2006 and an independent source dubbed his injury as career ending this past April, allowing the Portland Trailblazers to release him without salary cap implications. The last NBA game the guy play in was over 26 months ago. However, reports say that his knee has fully recovered, but that Miles is just not yet in ‘NBA Shape.’ Should he play again, Portland’s cap space would shrink.

Red flag #2, attitude. Most accounts don’t dub Miles as an absolute menace, rather elude to a selfish demeanor created from your run-of-the-mill pampered upbringing of a natural born basketball talent. The most famous example is a 2005 confrontation between Miles and then Portland head coach, Maurice Cheeks. It started in a film session and may or may not have included escalation into the office of then Blazers GM, and former Bullets head man, John Nash. But surely Miles has learned a humbling lesson, and perhaps coming under the wing of a veteran such as Antawn Jamison would aid his maturity.

Red flag #3, suspension. Much ado has been made Darius Miles failing a drug test and being suspended by the league for 10 games. The NBA then made all teams aware of said fact via email, this stirred a minor controversy as to if the league acted unethically in leaking medical information. True Hoop and The Sporting Blog have the issue at hand well covered. The heart of the previous debate: does D-Miles have a weed or steroid problem? The latest report from Mark Stein is that Phentermine (an appetite suppressant which is considered a controlled substance because of a similarity to amphetamines) is actually responsible for the failed test. Not exactly a reason for NBA teams to be concerned. Although, I am curious as to why he was taking weight loss pills; being off that knee probably fattened him up.

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