[The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Game 14 contributors: Kyle Weidie and John Converse Townsend with first-hand coverage, and Sam Permutt watching from afar.]

Score

Washington Wizards 105 vs. Oklahoma City Thunder 102 [box score]

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On the Wizards’ struggles to rebuild, particularly without a second star to help John Wall:

[Wall] does (have help). He does have some guys here, you know. He has JaVale, he has Andray Blatche, Jordan Crawford. They have a nice young core here, man. It’s all about being patient and knowing that if you’re working hard every single day that things are going to change soon. Like I said, they have a great group of guys here and they look like they enjoy playing with each other. It’s just a matter of time before everything starts to click. Same scenario with us, man. I didn’t know know what was going to happen. After the first year, losing 62 games, then the second year, losing 59. Coming back, your confidence is shot a little, not knowing what’s going to happen. But, if you stay positive and stay confident, things are going to change.

On whether Washington, D.C. is a destination for big-name free agents:

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Tonight before the Wizards-Thunder game I had a chance to quickly chat with Washington Wizards rookie Chris Singleton about his defensive assignment: Kevin Durant. Here that goes…

On your defensive assignment of Kevin Durant… are you ready to battle?

“I feel like I’m ready more than ever. I mean, he’s a tough competitor. He’s got so many different things he can do, he can shoot. He’s also 6’11″, can handle the ball. He’s got so many ways he can beat you. I’m just looking forward to the task.”

What tendencies of Durant’s do you have to limit? Read more »

[Oklahoma City Backpack Model - photo: K. Weidie]

The young team everyone wants to be comes to the District this evening. Odds-makers are comfortable giving the Oklahoma City Thunder an 11-point cushion over the Washington Wizards; many optimists and pessimists alike expect the visitors’ final margin to be double that. But hey, there could be some excitement… there’s always a chance for excitement. For instance, it might be interesting to see how Wizards rookie Chris Singleton matches up against Kevin Durant, or if John Wall can build on his 38-point performance and perhaps force Russell Westbrook into some bad shots. The ages of Oklahoma City’s starting lineup go something like this: 23, 23, 27, 22, 27; Washington’s go like this: 21, 26, 22, 24, 24 — the difference is five years. If only age and youth were valid assessors of team capability. In any case, you know the 3-on-3 drill… Today’s guest is Royce Young from the banging TrueHoop Network OKC-affiliated blog Daily Thunder; he is joined by TAI’s John Converse Townsend and myself, Kyle Weidie. Three questions, three answers starts now…

#1) People speak of the much-ballyhooed “Oklahoma City Model” with many across the web finding various to dissect Sam Presti’s mind. For one, nobody will deny that Presti is one of the best, if not at the very top, of his profession. But in all seriousness, how much (perhaps in an unscientific percentage estimate) did having the opportunity to draft Kevin Durant affect the success of the OKC Model?

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Highlights of John Wall’s improved jump shot plus a mini-duel with Michael Beasley at “Clash of the Superstars” in Washington, D.C.

The NBA’s unofficial stand-in—this summer’s suite of pro-am games—have drawn basketball’s biggest names to the delight of frenzied crowds from Northeast Baltimore to Southeast Asia. The exhibitions have clearly meant something to the players, visible in celebrations after big plays as well as reactions to suspect officiating.

That wasn’t so much the case at Saturday’s showdown at Calvin Coolidge High School in northwest Washington, D.C. that featured John Wall, Kevin Durant, DeMarcus Cousins, Michael Beasley, Jeff Green, Greg Monroe and Kemba Walker. Billed as “Clash of the Superstars,” the charity game had all of the star power but none of the flash; it was a sleepy affair that played more like the final run of a pickup game among friends—very little energy and even less defense.

Although the action on the court didn’t exactly rouse the sparse crowd, a few in attendance had high praise for Washington Wizards second-year point guard John Wall. I caught up with Goodman League commissioner Miles Rawls who talked about Wall’s “spectacular” summer, and explained that while pro-am competition doesn’t compare to the NBA, it’s still an important part of preseason preparation:

“You got to work on the summer stuff to get you ready for the season. His jump shot has progressed tremendously. The more I see him, the more he progresses; that’s the key thing, his jump shot. And I didn’t know he was that athletic, he’s athletic as I don’t know what. I see the progression and the work he’s been putting in. I’ve even seen the technique change on him. At first it was like a push shot, but now I see a lot of wrist in his shot. So whoever is working with him is doing a good job.”

Proper shooting technique goes a long way. Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose is a pertinent example of a player hitting the gym to improve his accuracy from distance—and succeeding. Rose has become a much more reliable offense weapon inside the arc, and has also made huge strides with his three-point shot. Read more »

Links, commentary, a D.C. photo…

[Key Elementary School - NW Washington, DC - photo: K. Weidie]

Eventually, soon, I would like to make a more comprehensive post regarding Javaris Crittenton’s Tweets on this here site. There’s a problem with his Tweets… in that it’s Twitter. It would be very hard to gather context from each and every one of Crittenton’s Tweets, much less the small sample used for my piece on TrueHoop, or even from any number of people publishing thoughts and ideas on the social media tool.

To put it clearly: Nothing can be gathered, inferred, or deduced from Crittenton’s Tweets. They are simply an additional window into the life of a figure whom so many people are now trying to futilely gain information about. Yes, the Tweets came directly from his mind, but we don’t know what kind of filter he was putting his thoughts through… just like we don’t know what type of filter athletes, or anyone, puts themselves through during interviews and other media interactions.

There is, however, one misconception, or instance that needs more clarity: Crittenton’s six Tweets from the day of the murder in question, August 19.

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Pictures, commentary, links, more pictures…

WE HAVE HERE: JaVale McGee dunking over Gary Neal at Capital Punishment, but John Wall should also look out below…

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Kevin Durant sure had himself a nice night in his Redskins-colored Nikes: 44 points, an M.V.P. award, and a win for D.C. over L.A.. Goodman League over Drew League, at Capital Punishment. For such a hyped event, the ending was fitting — the hometown team winning by one point, 135-134, in a game that had exciting plays, expected misses, uncontrolled flow far outweighed by entertainment (thanks in part to Goodman commissioner Miles Rawls being master of ceremonies), and the comfort of it all coming down to free-throws (especially those previously missed in abundance), and a controversial blocking/charge call that went in Durant’s favor over James Harden. How ‘NBA’ of the game indeed.

There were some hiccups around the event in total — trouble with the online streaming of the game, I’m told; crowds battled heat and unorganized entrance procedure (many with tickets seemingly were turned away due to oversold capacity, a refund for which organizers are claiming they will give). With such a small gym for an exhibition with nationwide fanfare, I was surprised some of the results and complaints weren’t worse. Otherwise, at all points the players and attendees were well within safe confines (and the fire code it seems).

Washington is a basketball town, in spite of and alongside of it being a Redskins city, as Durant’s shoe color choice goes to communicate. Hugh “Baby Shaq” Jones, local street ball legend and hometown fan favorite next to Durant, admitted before the game that he was not a Redskins fan, to no surprise likely jibing with a random polling of D.C. faithful.

“I’m sorry, I’m a Washingtonian, but I’m not a Redskins fan,” Jones said when I spoke to him before the game, the desire to know which NFL football team he was a fan of was immediately, and inconsequentially, lost. But basketball or Redskins, which is more important to the District?

“For me, basketball, but if you ask anybody else, it’s the Redskins,” Jones easily concluded without any objection from my end.

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 Commentary, links, and other things that might be of interest…

[Miles Rawls, commissioner of D.C.'s Goodman League, hopes his boys backup the trash talk against opponents from L.A.'s Drew League this Saturday.]

Well, it’s just about here… the highly anticipated matchup between out-of-work NBAers (and others) from the East to the West. Capital Punishment, to be held at D.C.’s Trinity University, will pit the Goodman League versus the Drew League on Saturday evening. Yea, I know, you’ve heard about it. I’ll be there. Lots of people will be there. In fact, Trinity could be an aboslute circus, but what would this whole event be without one?

Beckley Mason did a great profile of Goodman League commissioner Miles Rawls (the above photo of Rawls that I took accompanies his piece from the ESPN.com NBA home page).
[TrueHoop]

I read Matt Moore a fair bit. He’s one of my favs on the Internet, although perhaps because I’ve met him, but I also have and have not met a lot of NBA-writing cats. Either way, this blurb from him regarding Kobe’s 4543 points and a game-winning shot at the Drew League struck me as particularly funny.
[Eye On Basketball]

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A moving picture GIF for fake 3-D effect (don’t get dizzy), with links and commentary…

[Lafayette Elementary School, NW Washington, D.C. - photos: K. Weidie]

Links.

I recently took part in a ‘Word on the Street’ sports roundtable put together by Ben Standig of CSNWashington. My pick for the Preakness didn’t come through, but I still stand by the rest.
[CSNWashington]

It was spawned by Washington Capitals-related blog/media relations dealings, but Ted Leonsis has some good, well-reasoned thoughts on professional sports, his teams and surrounding media coverage. Worth the read.
[Ted's Take]

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{photo: K. Weidie, TAI}

There were varied reactions to the airing of ESPN’s Fab Five documentary this past Sunday.  Some people (like myself) were young impressionable college students when Michigan’s Fab Five rose to fame, and were captivated by everything they did — whether it was good or bad.  Others (like a friend of mine who is a Duke fan) watched the documentary and were reminded of all the negative feelings they felt toward Michigan out of loyalty to their team.  And of course, I’m sure there were some who watched with relative indifference toward the Wolverines, and simply enjoyed the stories, interviews and old clips of exciting basketball.

There are current NBA players who were much too young to watch and experience the play of Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Jimmy King, Juwan Howard and Ray Jackson.  They may know about the later pro careers of Rose and Webber, and they definitely know of them via ESPN, TNT and NBATV, but they have no recollection of their college days at Michigan.  They probably know Howard as a contributing bench player for the Miami Heat, but they don’t remember the goatee’d one running up and down the court in maize and blue. King and Jackson probably don’t even register on their radar screens.

So in the ten minutes I had in the Oklahoma City Thunder locker room prior to their drubbing of the Wizards Monday night, I asked Kevin Durant, Daequan Cook and Cole Aldrich about the documentary and the Fab Five in general.  All three players were under the age of five when the Fab Five was taking the NCAA by storm, and I was curious to hear their musings. Plus, the chemistry of the Thunder overall seems to be identical, if not very similar, to the chemistry of those 1991-1993 Michigan teams. I asked each of them three questions:

1. Did you see the documentary
2. What did you know about the Fab Five, and what were your impressions about them and their game, and did they influence you?
3. Do you see similarities between them and this Thunder team

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The Wizards were slaughtered by the Oklahoma City Thunder like lambs in the path of Zeus’ lightening bolts from Mount Olympus on Monday night. The rivers in the Verizon Center run red with the blood of losing. In addition to their 116-89 take down by the Thunder, Washington has lost their last two games by a combined 48 points. The statistics and numbers relating the common place of losing could go on; now the Wizards set their watching to those numbers.

Injuries, inefficiencies, youth, lack of heart and effort … the Verizon Center has become a dollar store for losing excuses. Or rather, reasons. But hey, the kids are in the pool. This is a good thing. Adult time and a dolt time is over with the forced hiatus of several injured veterans. There are still problem children, but without notables who enjoy night club potent potables, losing couldn’t be more comfortable. Not necessarily more comfortable for the fans and certainly not for the players and coaches, but for those who will endure.

The air about the team is all about getting this over with as fast as possible, which could be dangerous in the complacency of an apathetic mis-education and development. Seventeen games equating over a fifth of a season are left … gosh that’s a long time. If it continues to end horribly, upon whom will that reflect poorly?

In other news.

JaVale McGee did some very JaVale McGee things against the Thunder, just as he did versus the Clippers. A positive event came when he caught a down field pass from John Wall and forced the rock in the hole while brushing his head on the underside of the backboard. Let’s view.

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The Wizards have struggled this year, no question about it. The team has won just 13 games and is still hopelessly searching for its first road win. Their next opportunity for that elusive victory away from home comes on Sunday, February 13 versus the woeful Cleveland Cavaliers — a team nursing a 24-game losing streak.

Back on October 20, 2010, the crew at Truth About It.net gave their “crystal ball visions” of the Wizards’ regular season record for 2010-11. Here is what they looked like:

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

I might choose to pass on the Buffalo wings and beer for the Super Bowl, instead opting to find a spot on my couch with an extra helping of Washington Wizards crow. This team is headed nowhere fast this season … but regular season performance in one year isn’t necessarily predictive of success and achievement in the next.

On the lighter side, here are the ten biggest single-season turnarounds in NBA history:

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Breaking down the break down in Oklahoma City

The Wizards had more than a couple fair chances to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder Friday night — and to win their first road game of the season — but they were out-dueled. Better shot selection, better play calling, and an unforgiving execution on mismatches gave the Thunder the edge.

With the score knotted at 110 with just over five seconds left in the first overtime, Nick Young had the ball with a chance to sink the go-ahead bucket. What did our most eligible scorer do? He took two dribbles to his left, gave a shoulder fake, and missed an 18-foot fadeaway jump shot over Russell Westbrook. Not surprising, but especially disappointing considering that the Thunder were in the penalty.

In the second overtime, the Wizards actually found themselves winning 115-112. A very questionable foul call on a Kevin Durant layup sent him to the line, where he tied the game. What hurt the Wizards most on that play was not that Durant made the and-1 play, but that Trevor Booker — who had an unbelievable game, all things considered — fouled out during that sequence.

But that wasn’t a what decided the game — still tied at 115 with just over three minutes left.

On the next Wizards possession, Rashard Lewis found Andray Blatche right underneath the basket, who missed the easy chance. The Wizards, courtesy of an errant Nick Collison pass, were gifted an extra possession and the chance to take the lead. However, John Wall missed a wide open step-back jumper over Westbrook.

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A D.C. pic, some Michael Jordan commentary, and links …

[Cavalier Liquor - 14th St. & Parkwood Pl. NW - Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

Not All For Nothing, Perhaps.

Michael Jordan, as owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, is trying to do things the right way, this time … so it seems. There’s a must-read on TrueHoop right now called, “Michael Jordan’s Bobcat Comeback.” This induced several thoughts:

• I’m not privy to all the insider knowledge of the disconnect between Jordan’s “people” and Abe Pollin’s “people” during Jordan’s tenure as a player and executive in D.C. — However, just as inept as Jordan seemed to be, or rather, bad at building a team/community environment, one could easily lay blame on both sides of the track. Pollin, a great man for his community and his employees, was also known to be a bit fickle and set in his ways.
• For instance, it seemed to be well-known that “agents” weren’t high on Pollin’s list of likable figures, especially David Falk (Jordan’s agent). One could insinuate that Pollin generalized the nature of agents as “inherently evil,” which might be taking a little too far. Pollin was a man who instead opted for handshakes and looks-in-the-eye in a changing environment that called more for established protocol, and hence, agents as intermediaries. He couldn’t separate the issue of “old school trust,” dealing directly with players, in which Pollin, being the older, smarter, richer man, would have had the advantage, versus the fine print of crossing Ts and doting Is on a legal document as a CYA contingency needed on the part of the players (and teams).
• Of course, I’ve also shared some of Pollin’s sentiment regarding agents.
• So, Pollin might not have always had optimal relationships with agents (although I’m sure there were some he got along with) … but still, it’s easy to deduce how being slow to adopt the necessities of a changing league, or an unwillingness to let bygones be bygones and build more holistic unity, served to the detriment of the Wizards franchise for a long time.
• Which circles me back to my point about Jordan … what if he’s learned his lesson? Or at least has become more willing to see things from a different perspective? Or, has just become a nicer guy to deal with? People can change. It’s a scientific fact. And not saying that Pollin didn’t change, or learn lessons, during my tenure closely following the franchise for the past 20 years, I’m just saying that the “set in his ways” idea is not baseless.
• I recently appeared on a sports talk radio show in St. Louis, At The Buzzer with Brian Doolittle (Episode 17). Brian asked me to comment about the recent signing of Kwame Brown by Jordan’s team … and I wasn’t exactly sure how to answer. How should Wizards fans feel about the reunion between Jordan and Kwame? Should they not care? Should they hope they both fail together? Should they hope for redemption? It’s easy to not be a fan of Kwame, and I’ll leave it at that for now, otherwise opting for apathy.
• But it got me thinking … Ted Leonsis, as a minority owner under Pollin, was very instrumental in bringing Jordan to the Wizards in the first place (Jordan and Pollin previously had some “run-ins,” if you will). Leonsis wanted to make a splash with marketing pizazz,  glitter and the what-not (see also: giving Jaromir a then-record $77 million contract in 2001) … both situations failed pretty epically.
• However, as the case with most smart men, the lesson out of the whole situation was not lost on Leonsis, as he has admitted himself. You don’t build teams with big splashes (well, sometimes you do, but it’s rare and risky). Leonsis is undoubtedly better set up to succeed because of what he was able to observe — as a result of his own actions and as a result of how the franchise was previously run.
• The Michael Jordan Experiment, as bitter of a memory as it is/was for Wizards fans, ended up making Leonsis a better owner … and in all likelihood, a better, more consistent franchise (of the community) for the future. Ah, the cycle of life.
• So, you see, perhaps Jordan can change too (and maybe even Gilbert Arenas as well! — Matt Moore, if you’re listening). Maybe Jordan, like Leonsis, can learn lessons from past mistakes that he’s created — Kwame Brown and Adam Morrison. Okay, not much of a lesson there aside from the necessity of doing the bare minimum of due diligence >>>> TINY-HANDED PLAYERS ARE NOT MADE IN ONE WORKOUT … THOSE WITH WISPY MUSTACHES DON’T HAVE NBA CAREERS PREDICATED ON COLLEGE BASKETBALL TEARS.
• I am now unsure as to why I just typed in all caps (probably for some sort of effect), and why all of this is organized in bullet-point form.
• Otherwise, that’s all I got … hindsight is 20/20, but sometimes you have to go through bad visions to get to better ones … not all for nothing, perhaps.

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