[UPDATE: Or not ... seems like the President won't be in attendance now, and Arenas has likely been traded to Orlando for Rashad Lewis. "Great."]

The Miami Heat make their way down to D.C. from New York to play the Wizards tonight. I imagine the atmosphere will be slightly different from Madison Square Garden, in terms of expressed fan affection for the home team. Surely many will be showing up more so to boo LeBron James, the energy from which, however, could certainly lead to more cheers for the Wizards. Then again, I will be curious to see how many adoring screams there are for LeBron and Dwyane Wade reigning down from the rafters. Seems like there will be plenty in this city of transient sports fans.

Actually, I imagine the scene at the Phone Booth will be crazier than MSG. Ted Leonsis has already warned that “lots of dignitaries and VIPS” will be in the building, and that means President Obama, as evidently the Secret Service has been making security preparations at the Verizon Center this morning. Oh, and with all the trade rumors swirling, it could be Gilbert Arenas’ last game in a Wizards uniform. Right now, according to the Washington Post’s Michael Lee, he’s still expected to suit up for Washington this evening.

To describe the buzz of emotion that will be going on in the Verizon Center as a circus doesn’t really do it justice — it certainly takes all the attention away from Josh Howard’s potential season debut, in the least. But to get a bearing on the incoming team that will actually be playing basketball against the Wizards, I turned to ESPN TrueHoop’s Kevin Arnovitz, who has been embedded covering Miami for ESPN.com’s Heat Index. And away we go…

Kyle Weidie: The Heat are on quite a streak and we all hear enough about so-and-so, but what about the other guys? Who’s filling in best when the team is working? Read more »

A big congrats goes to Jonathan Lee and Jacob Holtz for submitting the winning answers for a recent Wizards-Heat ticket giveaway held by TAI. Each of them will be receiving four tickets for when Miami makes their first visit to Washington on December 18, courtesy of StubHub.

For the contest, I asked people to submit answers to two questions and had other staff members of TAI (John, Rashad and Adam) serve as the judges. Here are the questions:

Question No. 1: Ted Leonsis is big on his 101 Signs of Visible Change, much of which has to do with the game experience of fans. Whether it involves Leonsis’ list, player or coaching personnel, team management, or just about anything, tell TAI what you most want to see changed surrounding the Wizards.

Question No. 2: Remember the mid-90s Washington Bullets promo video, “You The Man”? If not, you can watch it via YouTube here. Seeing as the mid-90s was a very long time ago, give TAI a very brief update (2-3 sentences) on why you are now a Wizards fan.

Here’s the response from Jonathan Lee:

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A D.C. pic, links, commentary and tickets for free ….

The Portland Trailblazers are in D.C. tonight to take on the Wizards … and guess what? They’re giving away John Wall bobble-head dolls to the first 10,000 fans. So if you want one, you best show up on time. What else are you going to do on a cold Friday night in D.C.? Watch Miami (Ohio) take on 25th-ranked Northern Illinois in college football? Sure buddy. Plus, if the game sells out, there’s a chance you could see Ted Leonsis do the “Dougie” … which would most certainly be better than Wolf Blitzer’s “Dougie” (who did it on ‘Soul Train’ of all places? Weird).

In any case, check out my column at the DCist this week where I ponder if the Wizards are still worth watching?

And from the other side, Portland fans have it pretty bad too, Wizards fans — just admittedly not as bad as Wiz fans, at least according to one Trailblazers blogger. Check out what the Portland Roundball Society has to say about tonight’s game.

GIVEAWAY: Wizards-Heat Tickets, December 18, 2010

A big congrats goes to Sarah Cook of Arlington, VA for winning TAI’s first ticket giveaway to the Wizards-Heat game on December 18th. Sarah writes about her Wizards fandom: Read more »

The Wizards played well against the Heat in Miami on Monday evening, they just didn’t have enough mustard to truly compete against superior talent. They lost 105-94 in a game that wasn’t exactly as close as the final score indicated, yet the final score also indicated the decent level at which a depleted Washington squad competed for the full 48 minutes. Hey at least the Wizards tried in tying a franchise worst 0-8 start on the road. Here’s a screen shot revue of the game … more to come.

“You’ve heard of the show ‘CSI: Miami’? How about ‘OMG: Miami?”
-Steve Buckhantz, pre-game

Buck and Phil Chenier were impassioned about their Wizards as usual on their first post-Thanksgiving road trip, and we ought to be thankful for that.

Nick Young, featuring a less-smiley game face.

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The Washington Wizards play the Miami Heat in Florida tonight, and the division rival will make a return trip to Washington on December 18th. Read below to win tickets to that game.

I’m relatively apathetic toward LeBron James. It’s not that I no longer don’t like him in a double negative manner. It’s just that after he further exposed to the national scene what Wizards followers knew the whole time, his villain status lost value in my eyes. LeBron is not really worth caring about, although one would most certainly rather him lose.

So, in honor of CyberMonday … and LeBron’s first trip to Washington, D.C. as a member of the Miami Heat coming up on Saturday, December 18th, Truth About It.net would like to send you to the game. And because you are likely shopping online today, why not get something for free (courtesy of the good folks at StubHub)?

>LeWho? The Miami Heat

>LeWhen? Saturday, December 18, 2010 – 7:00 pm

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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] …”

I asked Al if any guy really stood out to him: Read more »

When you want to relive your favorite NBA moments (like the time Stromile Swift murdered Tyrus Thomas), where do you head? YouTube, of course.

Now, if you were interested in seeing highlights of Hall of Famer Gus Johnson, well, you won’t find anything more than a few snippets. Until recently, Johnson was a player who never got the notoriety nor the respect deserved from contemporary audiences. It is so hard to praise, and even harder to remember, someone you have never seen. Never known.

Time makes forgetting easy. In explaining why LeBron James need not be afraid of Michael Jordan, J.A. Adande once wrote:

And just because you might remember the old days doesn’t mean everyone does. There are Chicago kids celebrating their 12th birthdays this month who weren’t even born the last time the Bulls won. He has the chance to win over a whole new generation of Bulls fans who would then ask, “What was the big deal about that bald-headed No. 23 guy?”

What was the big deal about No. 25? Without further ado, I present to you: Gus Johnson, in excerpts from around the web.

[Bullets superstar Gus Johnson and his custom Cadillac. Among the amenities are a leather interior, a TV set and a license plate that lets the world know. - Baltimore Sun]

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Recently, the two first-named Michelle Marie of YoungHollywood.com caught up with Antawn Jamison at some location in the world … and it wasn’t in a dark room featuring an old wooden table, an uncomfortable stool, and a solo Jamison sitting and sipping on some Jameson.

Marie asked ‘Twan how the Cleveland Cavaliers were going to transition without LeBron. The gist of his answer: “It’s going to be interesting.”

Indeed it is, Antawn, indeed it is. He also spit out some generic clichés such as, “It’s a business,” and “It’s not going to be easy.” I don’t think the Gentleman will ever change, and he shouldn’t. In any case, you can watch the video yourself via Yahoo! Sports.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>LINKS.

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[Mr. Versatility]

During Hinrich’s introductory presser at the Verizon Center this past Monday, Chris Marks of Prince George’s Community Television asked him what position he thought would best fit him in DC.  Hinrich responded with a laugh:

Well we’re going to figure that out. I don’t know exactly.  I probably feel more comfortable playing the one, it’s a little easier.  But I feel I’m very capable of playing both positions and I think starting in training camp that’s going to be a challenge, trying to figure out exactly where I fit in and what I need to do to help the team.

This of course begs the question: Where does the Wizards’ factotum fit? (And is he a better PG than a SG?)

I headed over to 82games to find out.

The first metric I looked at was Win%, defined as the chance of winning the Chicago Bulls had with Kirk Hinrich on the floor.  During his time in Chicago, Hinrich gave the Bulls a 46.8% chance of winning.  Hinrich’s highest Win% was 60.3% in ’06-’07 and his lowest was 30.3% in his rookie season.  That number is respectable, but is a cold, indurating indicator that Hinrich is not a gamechanger.  To put this statistic in perspective, LeBron James’ career Win% is 67.8%.  (His career high is 82.7%; his low is 54.4%.)

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[Links and a D.C. picture ... keep scrolling ...]

[Skate or Door -- 500 block of Florida Avenue, NW - Washington, D.C.]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Links!

First … Josh Howard is back in D.C.! Michael Lee of the Washington Post reports the details, and Mike Prada puts down some thoughts on the signing at Bullets Forever. I’ll have some more in-depth thoughts soon … but until then, I’ll say I love the move (especially at $4 million for one year).

Second … 17th pick Kevin Seraphin has signed with the Wizards after a buyout agreement was reached with his team in the French pro basketball league.
[Wizards Insider]

Joe Glorioso of Wizards Extreme wonders where Gilbert Arenas has been and thinks that Arenas should be making a public apology to the DMV during this basketball dead period. I’d have to agree.
[CSN Washington]

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“Having been from Cleveland and everything we’ve gone through, you’d like to see your hometown do well, so I’m disappointed from that standpoint.”
-Flip Saunders

Yep, ol’ Flip is from Cleveland. But you probably already knew that. The high school All-American and 1973 Ohio Class A Player of the Year averaged 32 points per game during his senior year at Cuyahoga Heights, a school located in the burbs of the Mistake By The Lake.

Actually, my bad. I shouldn’t make fun of Cleveland. Even though Cavs fans lined up by the miles to witness and laugh at the Wizards after the Arenas gun fiasco and the rest of the implosion (including gladly taking the Gentleman Jamison), I cannot laugh at them at this moment. I feel very, very bad for those guys. And with that I say, ‘Join me people of Cleveland, in your distaste for Lebron.’

One quick question … who’s now more indefensible, LeBron or DeShawn Stevenson?

What? Too soon?

Meh, here’s video of Flip Saunders talking about Cleveland and the whole James ordeal.

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Dammit. I did it. I used that LeBron fella’s name in the title of this post. I know, I know … I shouldn’t have.

If it’s any consolation, I refused to watch the “decision” when the option was offered to the awaiting media to do so in the Wizards’ family room (the usual press lounge was unavailable).

Oh, the “awaiting” media part … well, yea, we were all waiting to speak to John Wall after he’d gone through his first day of mini-camp with the Wizards. The team’s opening session went from around 6:30 to 8:30 pm on Thursday; it was well after 10 pm before Wall spoke. Can’t blame him, he had to watch his buddy Bron Bron and then ice down some sore muscles.

Which makes me step back and think … back in February, would you have ever imagined that by July Cavs fans would (likely) want to trade places with Wizards fans?

Okay, back to Wall and mini-camp. He looked impressive during last 15 minutes of scrimmage the media was allowed to watch, or at least several notches above whomever was guarding him (okay, that was mostly Sun Yue and Abdulai Jalloh). On defense Wall struggled to fight through a couple picks, but Flip Saunders said he has a chance to be an “outstanding defensive player.”

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Flickr/next2landon

OVER THE PAST SEVEN YEARS, you’ve accomplished some incredible feats.

You are a two-time league MVP; you won NBA Rookie of the Year; you’re a six-time NBA All-Star; a NBA Scoring Champion; one of five players in NBA history to average over 25 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists in a season – which you have done four times; one of just three players in NBA history to average at least 40 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists in a postseason series; and you hold the record for the most consecutive points scored for a team in a playoff game with 25 straight hero-points against the Detroit Pistons in 2007, just to name a few.

(For additional ego-stroking, click here)

If you would allow me to speak freely, you should stay far, far away from Miami.

For starters, oil from the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe (surely, you’ve heard of this) is likely to keep moving east because of the so-called “loop current,” according to NOAA officials.  To make matters worse than they already are, the likelihood of the Gulf oil spill hitting the Keys and the southeastern coast of Florida is greater than the likelihood of you making a free throw (80 percent)!  I know.

And then, there is Bosh.  John Krolic of CAVS: the blog reminded us that he has fewer player of the month awards than you have MVPs.  You’re not even in the same league as Bosh. In fact, he has become part of the “LeBron-Wade-Bosh” trinity, triumvirate, chimera, in large part because he doesn’t have Amar’e Stoudemire’s baggage.  Bosh has also been adamant about his desire to play power forward, but on this Heat team, he is the default center.  Oh, and Brendan Haywood has been locked up by Dallas for years.

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A lot of people were disappointed when the Wizards traded for Kirk Hinrich.  Mike Prada of SB Nation alone gave the move a “Nay”, a “Feh”, and a “D-”.

There is no question that “Kurt” is overpaid, but salary cap space only gets you so far.  Even if the Wizards had upwards of $25 million to spend, it wouldn’t get them any closer to signing a “max” contract player.  Let’s be serious.  None of the league’s top players ever really considered coming to D.C., even with John Wall.  The Wizards will be a work in progress for a couple of years, and when we are honestly competitive, Hinrich will no longer be under contract.

So is he worth it for this Wizards team?  I turned to Synergy Sports Technology to find out.

OFFENSE

Where is Hinrich most effective (at least 60 attempts)?

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[Editor's note: Check out the debut of new TAI author, John Townsend. Read more about that John at the bottom of this post, but first, check out his piece about another John. -Kyle]

America always seems to need an enemy, whether they’re found in politics (terrorists!) or in sports (referee Dan Crawford for Mavericks fans).  Sure, there are times when our criticism of these villains is justified (British Petroleum), but just as often it is not (Steve Bartman).

The most celebrated, captivating products and people are the most polarizing as well.  We should expect this, especially considering the amount of time, money, and hopes being invested.  This all brings me to John Wall – savior or setback? The question was never will the Wizards select John Wall, but instead what will happen when they do.

photo courtesy of thomasbeisner's Flickr

The debate over whether or not John Wall is the answer in Washington, DC is groundless.  John Wall is one part of the solution to a greater basketball challenge.

Some will argue that taking a point guard with the number one overall pick is a waste, based on historical records.  Power forwards and centers who have been drafted number one overall have won 23 championships combined, while point guards, shooting guards and small forwards have only won nine.  However, it is important to note that there has been, and continues to be, a large disparity between frontcourt and backcourt players selected first overall.  No. 1 overall power forwards and centers have won more championships, not because they are necessarily better players, but as a result of being selected at that spot with greater regularity – 21 times since 1985.

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