What’s life without a little Wizards-Bucks post-game quote mix? … especially after a Washington 100-85 win over Milwaukee that broke an eight game losing streak. And why did the Wizards give a more consistent effort on Wednesday night? Well, the boys have been going hard in practice, delving through competitiveness and talking trash to each other, whereas Kirk Hinrich is supposedly the one who talks the most trash … so says Nick Young in the video below.

“That’s the name of our story, however we practice is how we play.”
-Andray Blatche

And now … Jimmy Wall and Little Earl Boykins…

Read more »

[Looking above for help in the clutch]

The Washington Wizards have been involved in 12 games out of 50 which have been decided by five points or less. Their record in those games is 7-5, with wins coming against Philadelphia (twice), Boston, Memphis, Sacramento, Toronto and Portland; the losses have come against Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta, Orlando and Miami. Only two of the games have come on the road, the losses to the Pistons and the Hawks.

So, Washington has fared better in close games in comparison to their 13-37 record on the season overall. But the glaring problem, especially in the midst of an 0-25 road record, is that Flip Saunders does not have a player with the ability to step up as a clutch performer and truly put the team on their back when big buckets need to be scored, or when a defensive stop needs to be made.

Read more »

A D.C. pic, links, commentary, and whatever you want to call the other stuff…

TAI Recap: John Townsend implores Wizards fans to be more patient because a drastic turnaround next season is not out of the question; if Gilbert Arenas were rebuilding a team, he wouldn’t do it though the draft; Adam McGinnis has one of the rare photos captured from the baseline of Al Thornton’s massive dunk; pictures of Gilbert Arenas and Nick Young in a reunion among friends; Rashad Mobley relays that some young Wizards still don’t understand their role (after several seasons); and when it’s okay for JaVale McGee to dribble full court.

Here’s to NBA draft lottery luck in May for what’s been an excruciating winter for pro basketball fans in Washington. Below the jump, more must-read links…

[Hardy Playground, Washington, D.C. - Yearning For A Sunny Day]

Read more »

Back on November 27th when the Washington Wizards last faced the Orlando Magic, four of their five starters struggled mightily.  JaVale McGee was in foul trouble all night trying to guard Dwight Howard; Alonzo Gee, known more for his hustle than his scoring prowess (and now a former Wizard), had eight points and seven rebounds, but really had no effect on outcome. Andray Blatche grabbed 13 rebounds, but scored just 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting. Kirk Hinrich, starting for the injured John Wall, shot 3-for-12 and finished with nine points.

The fifth starter that night was Mr. Gilbert Arenas, and he lit his future team up for 31 points, and despite the Wizards’ 100-99 loss, Arenas’ play kept them competitive.  He later admitted to the Orlando media that “he had to prove a point” to his friend, and Magic GM, Otis Smith.

Last night, Arenas no longer had to prove a point or show the Magic what he could do, because he was donning the Orlando Magic blue. Rather, Washington fans witnessing his return got more of a meat-and-potatoes version of Arenas; he scored 10 points off the bench to go with six assists, six rebounds and some decent defense. Unfortunately for the Wizards, their starters still struggled, and instead of losing by one point, they lost by 18.

Wall was healthy this time, and put up decent numbers of 14 points, five assists and five rebounds.  But he did not have a good feel for the ball, did not find his teammates consistently and was visibly frustrated by the lack of calls.  He picked up two technical fouls in a span of two minutes late the fourth quarter and he was eventually ejected, and the writers from Truth About It and Bullets Forever immediately began to tally up the resulting fines Wall owed both the NBA and the Wizards.

Read more »

I spent some time last night charting the Wizards responsible for each point scored by the New Orleans Hornets as Washington fell 97-89, putting their road record on the season at 0-25. Some of the blame assignment certainly comes via judgment calls, but from watching some plays countless times, I think the chart below gives an accurate survey of the landscape.

As you can see, exactly which Wizard was responsible for how many points a specific Hornet scored is listed. The PA column indicates how many total points were allowed by each Wizard on the night; PPM indicates the points allowed per minute of court action — sure, points per possession might paint a more accurate picture, but all Wizards fans have is time … so seeing what a player does with his time on the court defensively still tells a story.

[Link to Wizards defensive charting vs. the Hornets, 2.1.2011] Read more »

“Synergy” is an over-used buzzword, but it’s also a damn fine NBA statistics web site. So let’s use Synergy Sports Technology to take a quick snap-shot of some Wizards numbers to date.

This season, the Wizards’ defense has often been better than the offense. With the ball, on plays that have ended in a FGA, TO or FTs, Washington has tallied 0.89 points per possession (PPP), ranked 27th out of 30 NBA teams. They score 42.9-percent of the time and turn the ball over 13.7-percent of the time in these situations.

Washington’s overall offensive rating (ORtg – points produced per 100 possessions, which is calculated differently and likely includes other factors outside of plays that end in a FGA, TO or FTs) sits in line with these focused numbers; their 102.6 ORtg also ranks 27th.

The Wizards are particularly bad at scoring on post ups — which comes as no surprise considering the roster construction — chalking up a measly 0.70 PPP over 318 opportunities, a rate that’s ranked dead last in the league. Andray Blatche has produced 0.64 PPP on 121 post up opportunities, JaVale McGee has produced 0.66 PPP on 64 post ups, Yi Jianlian 0.50 PPP on 28 post ups … you get the point, the cupboards are bare, the well is dry and the children are starving.

Read more »

Not all is well in Wizards land these days with the team’s 0-21  road losing streak approaching a record level for futility and receiving unwanted national attention, a key player publicly feuding with the fanbase on local sports radio, endless injuries, more gossip surrounding their jettisoned ex-superstar and now D.C. is digging out from a heavy thundersnow storm. Now, there’s no better time for a positive distraction.

Awhile back, I spoke with several Wizards about technology. My questions included asking them about Internet usage, favorite web sites, if they’re a PC or Mac guy, where they go online for news and whether they Google themselves. Find out which player loves the website Media Takeout, which one admits to Google-searching his name, who only gets the news from his wife and who searches his name on YouTube.

Part two of the technology interviews will be forthcoming and will cover the players’ thoughts on social media, what type of cell phone they roll with, and how many read sports blogs (hint…not many).

Read more »

We may never know who Kirk Hinrich really is … at least personality-wise. Maybe that can mostly be summed up with three concepts: Basketball, Iowa, Coach’s Son. His game is beyond vanilla, but it isn’t flashy either. He is Kirk Hinrich … under the radar, yet completely noticeable.

Kirk is even more noticeable now that he plays with glasses. They now encapsulate his ‘flair’ … as much as a pair of Oakley spectacles can I suppose. But who is he? (In those glasses.)

On a recent ESPN Daily Dime chat session, friend of the blog and a proprietor of HoopSpeak, Beckley Mason, likened Hinrich’s glasses look to that of a character in the movie, Team America: World Police.

Read more »

Andray Blatche got a haircut. Finally.

I wasn’t a big fan of Andray’s spiderweb hairstyle. So, as you can imagine, I was delighted that he introduced that maze of hair follicles to a pair of trimmers. Tweeted Kyle Weidie before last night’s game versus the Sacramento Kings:

“No more rollercoaster hair-do for Andray Blatche folks…”

Because this season has been as dizzying as an old-fashioned barber shop pole, Blatche’s haircut was of the utmost importance — it signaled a return to normalcy.

“When everything goes back to normal, I’ll have a straight haircut,” Blatche explained last week. “Hopefully my life will get in order and I’ll have a straight regular cut.”

Read more »

The most frustrating part about the Washington Wizards is that on the road, their main, young players often lose so much focus, concentration and aggression … and it clearly affects the team as a whole. Guys like Andray Blatche, Nick Young and JaVale McGee are young — 24, 25 and 23 respectively — but they’ve now been in the league a considerable amount of time and should not be going through break-downs so frequently and consistently.

One reason I think Wizards fans are tired about hearing excuses about age is that you have guys like Kevin Durant (22), Russell Westbrook (22), Al Horford (23), Kevin Love (22), among others, around the league playing at much more solid, dependable levels. Is it the type of mental player Ernie Grunfeld is drafting? Is it the player development? And none of this is to say that these players haven’t made improvement over the years, but it’s been a very painstaking process. Does the scouting process need to be re-evaluated? Is it already being re-evaluated? One can only wonder if the correct calculations are being made between the potential a talented prospect might bring and hubris notions from team management that they can change the mindset of such talent that might actually have a longer struggle on the path of mental development.

In any case, pounding on the mental rocks of those Wizards is starting to ache in the heads of those having to watch the games.

I used to frequently do game blogs (or game accounts) on this site. I stopped doing them so much because they can be tedious and long. On Sunday, I meticulously watched a recording of Saturday night’s Wizards-Bobcats game in several chunks, re-watching most all plays multiple times and documenting what I saw. Hopefully it will give a good depiction of what went on in the game beyond the box score and other game accounts. Unfortunately, it’s the chronicling of the Wizards’ eighteenth road loss of the season in 18 tries, a 104-89 defeat at the hands the Charlotte Bobcats without Gerald Wallace. Read more »