Before tonight’s Wizards-Grizzlies game, I briefly spoke with Josh Howard about how the rehabilitation on his knee was coming along — because we are getting closer to the date that he might be back, even though he really has no timetable and the Wizards are bringing him along cautiously.

Howard said that he recently experienced a bit of a set-back with tendonitis, but indicated that such is relatively normal and that he’s going to keep working through it. I asked him if he’d circled any game in particular that he’d like to be back for. Howard said he did, but wouldn’t exactly divulge which game other than to say, “It’s in December, a big week in December too. People who keep up with our schedule, they’ll see it and they’ll know.”

Note that the Wizards play the Los Angeles Lakers in Washington on Tuesday, December 14, travel to New Jersey for a game against the Nets on Thursday, December 16, and then are back home for the their first peek at the Miami Heat on Saturday, December 18. Howard did also say that being more realistic, he might surpass whatever date that he’s targeted. Let’s give Josh a watch:

Before Wizards-Rockets match-up last Wednesday, I informally polled a couple of the more veteran Wizards on A) who has been the toughest guy for them to defend during their time in the league, and B) who in the league sets some of the hardest, toughest screens. Here are their answers:

Al Thornton

Toughest Cover:

“Definitely Kobe, Tracy [McGrady] … a couple years ago, Vince [Carter], there are a lot of guys. Rip [Hamilton], Tayshaun [Prince] …”

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The atmosphere around the Verizon Center practice court was light and playful for once, and the Wizards players and coaching staff looked completely at ease.  John Wall and Gilbert Arenas shared jokes while shooting free throws. Kevin Seraphin worked on his post moves with Gene Banks, trading jokes at the same time. Even the normally stoic Yi Jianlian could be seen cracking a smile while shooting free throws with JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche.

There was no talk about Arenas, his beard, his smile or his behavior, no visible residual sadness regarding the departures of Sean Marks and Adam Morrison, and no lingering effects from the loss in Detroit two nights earlier.

Earlier in the day, John Wall, Andray Blatche, Josh Howard, Nick Young,  Hamady Ndiaye, Trevor Booker, members of the Wizards coaching staff as well as front office personnel, hosted a “Salute to the Stars” in honor of NBA Cares Week of Service.  The Wizards staff served 200 combat veterans as well as wounded men and woman from various branches of the military.  Josh Howard commented on how the event went:

“Soldiers give back to us all the time, so its nice to see the Wizards along with Morton’s [Steakhouse] come together and NBA Cares as well. It’s a great organization…”

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A D.C. pic, links and commentary …

[Looking at the McKinley Tech football field - Lincoln Rd. & T St. NE - K. Weidie]

The preseason is officially over for the Washington Wizards (more on that in the links below), and the window to get in those preseason previews and predictions is closing. In fact, the crew from TAI totally forgot to include their crystal ball visions of the Wizards’ regular season record for 2010-11 … so here they are:

• Kyle Weidie – 34 wins
• Rashad Mobley – 30 wins
• Adam McGinnis – 40 wins
• John Townsend – 40 wins
• Arish Narayen – 41 wins
• Beckley Mason – 36 wins
• Stephen Riley – 35 wins

A couple other sites have also recently written their previews on the Wiz via the massive NBA Blog Preview by Bloggers (links to those also below). I’m sure you’ve read the preview of the gang at Bullets Forever — either way, go check out the ‘State of the Wizards’ address by Mike Prada … it’s particularly good and worth a second read.

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A D.C. pic, commentary, and links …

[A lil' Subway, 6th St. & Morse St. NE - Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

From Small To Big

Sean Fegan at Bullets Forever has a run down on what is likely the biggest question facing the Wizards — well, at least in terms of the starting lineup — who is going to start at the three spot?

Fegan states the feeling we all get: Starting a three-guard lineup of John Wall, Gilbert Arenas and Kirk Hinrich with the spotty defensive (team concept speaking) and rebounding ability of JaVale McGee behind them ain’t going to cut it on most nights.

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Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld addressed the media on Thursday afternoon and the major theme of his remarks was the team is in the “beginning of a new era.” While the most newsworthy item took place when the cameras were off, Grunfeld did give highly informational updates on various players.

Here Ernie talks about how John Wall will handle the extra attention placed upon the number one draft pick and discusses the games of the new youngsters:

Grunfeld details why the Wizards brought in two former lottery picks, Yi Jianlian and Adam Morrison:

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Operation Sports (a leading news and content provider focused on the sports video game industry) is pretty well connected. Today, 2K Games (makers of not only the No. 1 selling NBA video game two years in a row, but also the No. 1 rated NBA video game 10 years in a row) sent Operation Sports the overall ratings for every player in each team’s starting five for NBA 2K11, which will be released on October 5. Let’s see where some of the Wiz kids stand.

The NBA 2K11 Wizards Starting Lineup:

John Wall — 81 OVR (overall rating)
Gilbert Arenas — 83 OVR
Josh Howard — 71 OVR
Andray Blatche — 72 OVR
JaVale McGee — 59 OVR

As a point of reference, here are the current Wizards starter ratings from NBA 2K10:

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[Wizards 2010-11 Player Preview Index: Gilbert Arenas, Hilton Armstrong, Andray Blatche,
Trevor Booker, Kirk Hinrich, Josh Howard, Yi Jianlian, JaVale McGee, Kevin Seraphin,
Al Thornton, John Wall, Nick Young.]

The Intro.

-by Kyle Weidie

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A D.C. pic, commentary and links …

[Frazier's Funeral Home - Florida Ave. & Rhode Island Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

Josh Howard recently said ‘all the right things’ in an interview with HoopsHype … ‘all the right things’ that are almost hard to believe. Perhaps it was a proclamation, of sorts — a personal challenge from Josh to Josh. Howard saying that the Wizards “see a natural-born leader” in him certainly drew faint scoffs from several prominent websites: ESPN Dallas, SLAM, Yahoo!.

Which makes me wonder … is skepticism wrong? Why are we skeptics? I’m sure there’s been a ton of psychoanalysis about it, but does it accomplish much aside from a potential future “I told you so”? That being said, I’ve been guilty of skepticism before … from being leery of Ernie Grunfeld’s romanticism of old school team management tactics to past battles with assessments of Andray Blatche (after being around him as a person this past season, I’ve grown to like him … it’s just that his previous bonehead decisions and court attitude have been teeth-grinders).

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So I was called out by Ted Leonsis this past weekend. I know, not good to be called out by a billionaire … oops, millionaire. But in reality, it was more of a challenge (or question) from Mr. Leonsis, i.e., it wasn’t anything like his emotional “Unemotional Response” or calling me “Simply Uninformed,” as he’s done with others. Different by far, let me explain.

While relaying a good deed performed by Josh Howard (his past record of note has many bad deeds), I poked fun at his outfit, and loosely related something that Brendan Haywood (supposedly) said about Howard. It was joking. It was fun. And that’s what this “blog” thing is all about: writing, analysis, pictures, graphic design, stats, reporting, break-downs, video, opinions, links, and I’ll reiterate, fun.

But, considering Howard’s past bad news and how it’s nice to hear good news associated with him (and because they say the good things are never written about), was it fair for me to poke fun at his outfit (which honestly isn’t that bad, more silly)?

Well, I’m not answering that question. Too bad. Easy way out on my part? Maybe. But my poking fun at Howard’s outfit isn’t the point. Neither is the fact that Leonsis comes to the defense of his players, as their employer. I don’t necessarily see it as Leonsis being “too sensitive,” as I’ve heard others amongst my web social network imply. An employer goes to bat for his or her employees. That’s the way it should be, in most cases. It makes the employees feel appreciated. It creates unity from top down. More than understandable, in my book. (Although, I did giggle when my girlfriend called Mr. Leonsis their “Papa Bear” in a joking manner.)

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