Truth About It.net will turn a whole five years old at the end of this October.

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.

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The Washington Wizards continue the road trip in Dallas tonight for a matchup against the Mavericks. These two teams are most recently connected by the seven-player deal they completed on February 13, 2010. Washington sent supposed cornerstone pieces Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson (and cash, don’t forget the cash) to the Mavericks in exchange for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross. The crew from Washington helped Dallas win an NBA championship; the crew from Dallas helped Washington accomplish nothing but a chance to clean up after mistakes. Haywood is the only player from the trade remaining on either team. What maneuvering. Moving on, for tonight’s 3-on-3 we have Ian Levy (@HickoryHigh) from the ESPN TrueHoop Network Mavs blog The Two Man Game (amongst other blogs), Beckley Mason (@BeckleyMason) of HoopSpeak.com/ESPN, and TAI’s Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It). Three questions, three answers starts now…

#1) Although questionable in general, Brendan Haywood is evidently not physically questionable against the Wizards tonight and is set to return to the court for the first time in five games,  essentially (he sprained his ankle in the opening minute of Dallas’ loss to Oklahoma City on March 5th and missed the next four games). This will be the third meeting between the two former practice sparing partners, former Wizards teammates Haywood and JaVale McGee, and the numbers for each player over the previous two look pretty paltry. Who prevails in the matchup tonight and what does it mean for their respective teams?

IAN LEVY: I think Haywood gets the better of McGee, and it means a ton for the Mavericks. The Mavericks have capable depth in the front-court but when Haywood is out, everyone has to move up a chair into a role that asks a little more of them then they are capable. Getting Brandan Wright back will help settle the rotation as well.

BECKLEY MASON: McGee prevails with his activity and earnest effort. If McGee can control the glass, it might make up for what I predict will be a decided shooting advantage in the Mavs favor. The Wizards need to get more possessions, and while Dallas won’t test McGee at the rim too often on drives, he’ll need to be active and communicative on the perimeter. What I’m saying is: McGee will likely outplay Haywood, but he has to do more than that to swing the game.

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Big Bad John Wall wants to know. Beckley Mason, Rashad Mobley, John Converse Townsend and Kyle Weidie ask and answer hot topic questions about the Washington Wizards.

MOBLEY: Do we hold Ernie Grunfeld, Flip Saunders and the Wizards to any expectations during this abbreviated season, or do we just assume no significant strides will be made until next year?

MASON: My expectations for this team aren’t altered a bit. The summer is a time when, from a basketball standpoint, players need to be spending their own dime to work out with the best trainers possible. The lockout shouldn’t have affected that reality. Flip probably wishes he had more time with his newest players, but an extra week of training camp wasn’t going to solve the problems with McGee and Blatche, or help the Wizards to land a major free agent.

MOBLEY: John Wall has raised expectations for the Wizards with his play this summer, so it is entirely fair to hold Grunfeld and Flip to the same standard. But given that Grunfeld  hinted that he plans on using the amnesty clause next year, he may have bought both he and Flip an extra year.  However, if the Wizards win 25 games or less, a new coach/GM combo should reap the amnesty benefits.

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Commentary, links, John Wall, a poll, (not that kind of poll), etc., …

BaSkEtBaLl NeVeR sToPs

Dude, bro, chum, mate, chap, bloke, scallywag… Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, Chris Paul (probably as a New York Knick), Deron Williams … John Wall will never be an All-Star in the East.

I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Guys change conferences, there always seems to be someone who can’t play for one reason or another, and if Wall continues to show his talent, the coaches got to vote him in a couple times, right? But he must/should win first, which will be a tougher task to do consistently than make the All-Star team.

I took part in ESPN.com’s 5-on-5 Friday. We had to take the over, under, or a push on a variety of NBA Southeast Division potential occurrences. Regarding the Wizards, the over/under was six All-Star games for John Wall. I took the push. You can read it here, but what do you think?

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A Washington, D.C. pic, some words, and Wizards links in bullets…

[Calvert Street Bridge at dusk - NW Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

Mike Prada breaks down a good argument on Bullets Forever about why he’d trade JaVale McGee for the No. 2 pick (Derrick Williams) straight up. I previously made a simple argument of why I wouldn’t do it, but certainly wouldn’t complain if it happened. However, from what I hear, such a deal was never really considered seriously, or even “on the table,” because when conversations headed in that direction, the Wizards were turned away at the door. Indications are that Minnesota has been fielding some very creative and interesting offers for the second pick — which make the rumor of the T-Wolves sending Johnny Flynn and the No. 2 to Toronto for DeMar DeRozan and the No. 5 laughable. Nonetheless, lotta days until draft time, folks, so plenty of time for more rumors to float, and plenty of time for David Kahn to play hardball.

LINKS.

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A D.C. pic, bullets of Wizards links, and words with those links…

A man with a plan, and a pizza.
[Meridian Hill Park, 16th St. NW - Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

> John Wall, at his young age, understands how important it is to be an ambassador for the game of basketball and for professional athletes. He also seems to know that it’s part of his job, but in a sense where when he does good deeds, they don’t have to involve a big production or show. He just does them. He takes extra time to sign autographs, all the time… excessively. I’ve seen this. And now, I’m imagining that over time you’ll hear more and more great stories like this one relayed by Dan Steinberg.
[DC Sports Bog]

> Washington Post music writer David Malitz makes a good observation … should the ’04-’08 “Glory Years” Wizards be celebrated as the first team to reap benefit from the Internet age (partially thanks to the rise of blogs, prominently via Dan Steinberg and Gilbert Arenas)? I think so.
[Click Track]

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Bunch old Wizards in the NBA Finals, this we know. Unfortunately, two couldn’t play in game three last night due to injury, Brendan Haywood and Caron Butler, so they sat on the bench in nice suits while a cat to the far left stuck some finger guns up his nose.

Speaking of finger guns, what is our old pal Gilbert Arenas doing here?

His Twitter @agentzeroshow explanation: “I got on my mo hawk for shawn M..if he can wear a mo hawk durn the nba finals I guess I can wear in my house” Read more »

When news of the Gilbert Arenas-Rashard Lewis trade broke, it was received with a groan. The less-than-enthusiastic reception of the 31-year-old Lewis wasn’t so much a public damnation of his basketball abilities, nor an uninterested dismissal of his more intangible, clichéd qualities – veteran leadership, for instance. No, it was the result of a city, of a fanbase, coming to grips with the end of an era.

The Washington Wizards traded away their (cult) hero, and all they got in return was a “lousy” stretch four.

Just a week before Christmas, Lewis arrived in the nation’s capital with his long frame, his long contract, and his long face. Rough. Nick Young—by way of Gilbert Arenas’ interview with ESPN’s Michael Wallace—made Lewis’ first impressions public:

“He was telling me about Rashard Lewis. Nick was like, ‘I don’t know if he’s going to make it two weeks here. He feels like the world just ended.’ “

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[The Wizards' ballsiest offensive players: Sam Cassell, JaVale McGee and Jordan Crawford]

The young Wizards made a valiant effort last night in Boston, that they did. Losing 104-88, they were within four points at 87-83 with seven minutes before the Celtics pulled away. Individual talents and potential flashed nicely, but familiar inefficiencies combined to lead the team down the path of losing. Possession-killing shots form Jordan Crawford, a crucial missed one-handed, wide-open dunk from JaVale McGee that would’ve kept the Wizards within four points with five minutes left, newcomer Larry Owens letting the 35-year old Ray Allen beat him to a transition basket, the seven turnovers of John Wall (which combined with those of McGee and Andray Blatche totaled 17) — they all were there. But nothing unexpected.

The Celtics valued most of their possessions and functioned like coordinated birds in flight on many. Rajon Rondo took ownership of the night with 14 assists. Neither John Wall nor Jordan Crawford could sufficiently keep up with him without worrying about the coordinated movement from the rest of the Celtics and whether the Wizards could depend on each other for a combined effort on defense.  Washington does not yet know how to fly together like Boston. They’ll get there as the core grows with time, but that begs the question, who’s part of the core?

Wall, Crawford and McGee? Clearly. Rashard Lewis? There’s not much choice. Andray Blatche? Signs point to yes. Nick Young? Things are more complicated with the free-agent to be. On Friday Ted Leonsis gave Young some blog love, touting him for Most Improved Player.

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Monday night the Wizards competed without Nick Young, Rashard Lewis, Josh Howard and Andray Blatche—roughly $32 million, 55-percent of the team’s payroll.  It felt great. I haven’t had this much fun watching a Wiz game in months.

Yes, John Wall was spectacular in the first half, as Kyle points out in video form. But my excitement and interest can be traced to exactly one player, Jordan Crawford.

Crawford, a skinny combo-guard out of a mid major conference; the kid with the slightly hunched posture, a wide, loose handle and a perpetual look of %$@! the world on his face. You may know Crawford for banging on LeBron James or for his eye-popping pull-ups in the NCAA tournament.  He’s also the one who ditched Indiana after his freshman year when Kelvin Sampson was fired, deciding to rebuild his reputation in the A-10. The one who came with character questions—would he focus? was he mature enough?—but also an unquestioned hunger. The one who’s made a name for himself gambling on his own guts and repeatedly come up cash.

Crawford isn’t a very good player yet. He’s a streak shooter (the positive parlance for inconsistent) who turns the ball over too much and takes other foolish risks.

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