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]

> The Washington Wizards, aka Ted Leonsis, might be looking into what it would take to own a D-League team. This is a good thing.
[Ridiculous Upside]

Read more »

Some sort of D.C. pick, a couple words, and several links…

[12th Street ramp, Francis Case Memorial Bridge, SW Washington, D.C.]

The big scuttlebutt today comes from the Twitter account @DraftExpress. Jonathan Givony reports:

Sources say Washington & Phoenix have been the most active teams trying to trade up for Derrick Williams. T’Wolves want a “veteran big man.”

Interesting. Sure, this could be nothing, but thank god for Twitter for allowing us to immediately go wild with speculation. Still, I imagine Ernie Grunfeld has been working the hotlines like no other, whether for No. 2 or a myriad of other maneuvers. One trade I wouldn’t do, which David Kahn and Minnesota would likely be highly amenable toward, is JaVale McGee and the sixth pick for the second pick. McGee, basketball sense aside, is way too valuable.

Read more »

A D.C. basketball court picture, some words, a link, some words about links, commentary, NBADRAFTGOOGLESEO, and some more links…

[Alice Deal H.S. - Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

At the risk of sounding expected and generic in critiquing a general sports column meant to appeal to the masses that was unexpectedly generic (at least according to what should be expected of the Washington Post), I’ll point out Jason Reid’s column in the Post last Monday about this new and innovative concept in the NBA called “defense” (sometimes spelled with a capital ‘D’), and how the Wizards should, you know, draft for it, with a very long-winded introductory sentence to this bloggy post of links.

Reid’s lede:

“While he prepares for next month’s NBA draft, Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld should consider defense.”

Read more »

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]

Read more »

NBA Draft Lottery thoughts and links…

{flickr/Lisa Brewster}

The life of a Wizards/Bullets fan has often been predicated on the NBA Draft Lottery. Being a fan of the team since moving to D.C. in 1990, it has generally been ‘the’ highlight of the season… More than the draft itself, more than peddled hope before a season. A simple flip of a card, the bounce of a ping-pong ball and/or the chance of mathematical equation can change the fate of a franchise for years… in just a brief moment. How exciting, right?

In 1992, with the fifth worst record in the NBA, second worst in the Eastern Conference, Washington fans hoped for Shaquille O’Neal, or even Alonzo Mourning. Instead, the Bullets were jumped by the Charlotte Hornets (who chose Mourning with the second pick), and ended up with the sixth pick and Tom Gugliotta.

With the fifth worst record again in 1994, did the Wizards succeed in landing one of three draft prizes in Glenn Robinson, Jason Kidd or Grant Hill? Nope. Fifth is where they stayed… begin memories of the Juwan Howard saga.

What about the finishing with the third worst record in 2004? Either Emeka Okafor or Dwight Howard could’ve been the lottery winning targets. Instead, the Wizards dropped two spots to fifth (thanks to the expansion Charlotte Bobcats) and wound up trading the selection, Devin Harris, to the Mavericks for Antawn Jamison.

Read more »

A D.C. picture, what others are saying about the new-look Wizards, and a whole bunch of links…

[Outside of Sportsman's Liquor in Mt. Pleasant - photo: K. Weidie]

What They Said… {About the new-look Wizards}

“I mean, this is a B+/A- at worse, and it just reminds us how horrific the past decade has been.” -Dan Steinberg, DC Sports Bog, Washington Post

“Other than my minor quibbles with the font on the front, these are great. The color scheme is better. The jerseys are unique, rather than something that seems like it came from a create-a-team in ‘NBA Live 2000.’ Even the new “monument ball” logo is really good. High five to whoever came up with these.” -Trey Kerby, The Basketball Jones

Read more »

Parties, commentary and links…

Antawn Jamison is on his own level and you can’t get on it, at least that’s what the promotional party flier above seems to indicate. Jamison’s level these days involves sitting out the past 13 games — likely the rest of the year — due to a broken pinkie finger; and he has to watch the 15-58 Cleveland Cavaliers all the time, which probably isn’t that much different than watching the 18-55 Wizards. Jamison’s level also involves getting paid over $13.3 million this season, which is a pretty nice level regardless of the environment. Back to the promotional flier … Jamison’s level will evidently be on display this Thursday at the Shadow Room, as he is welcomed back to D.C. with a party the night before his Cavs take on the Wizards. Speaking of the Shadow Room, that’s the venue where Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee once got on the level of fighting with each other outside the club on Christmas Eve. The Wizards are just a classic team, on so many levels.

In other team party news, Josh Howard, who has appeared in 409 minutes over 18 games this season, has lent his name to the Wizards-Heat post-game party at Oxygen tonight. The most recently injured Wizard, Trevor Booker, had provided his name for use as well. Wale will also be performing … I still wonder if he roots for the Cavaliers and/or Nuggets.

Links.

Washington will likely be with Andray Blatche as they play the Miami Heat tonight and without Trevor Booker, who could miss the last nine games of the season with a crack in the bottom of his right foot. It all sounds rather splendid.
[Washington Examiner]

Read more »

Screen shots, commentary and links…

My column last week in the DCist got delayed due to my account, so it was posted this morning for you to kindly read. It’s all about how the “Our Time” motto worked out for the Virginia Commonwealth Rams, but not so much for the Washington Wizards. And as evident by the posters above from the crowd seen on television at VCU’s big win over Kansas yesterday, it was clearly a theme that resonated from when Rams coach Shaka Smart outlined it for his team at the beginning of their season. So a big congrats goes to VCU … go check out my DCist column … and the below screen shot captures how the ticket that I purchased in Las Vegas last July (while I was out there for the NBA Summer League) for the Kansas Jayhawks to win the NCAA national title feels.

Wizards-Warriors.

So the Wizards lost again on the road last night to the Golden State Warriors, 114-104, dropping them to 17-55 on the season and 1-35 on the road. The young, depleted Washington squad did not pay enough attention to shooters (Dorrell Wright went 5-11 from three-point land and Monta Ellis went 4-6) and were out-lasted by minor mistakes and a Warriors team with many more offensive weapons. Ten of the Warriors’ 11 3-point makes were assisted upon (Golden State missed 13 threes), while Washington went 4-16 from deep with all of those long buckets coming via assists.

Read more »

Links, commentary and video…

I’m not sure if anyone has a formula for jumpers, but I’ll make one up: one part mechanics, one part muscle memory, two parts confidence. Confidence can wane between quarters, games and possessions, it’s all about building a history of it. And that’s what John Wall is working on. He put on a glimpse of jump shot confidence in a takeover display versus the New Jersey Nets last Sunday. Let’s watch…

The knock on Wall’s jumper will continue to be the most prevalent of knocks against him, but at least he’d never pull what Rajon Rondo did recently.

LINKS.

After the Wizards beat New Jersey last Sunday, evidently Andray Blatche went to a party hosted by R&B singer Mya at D.C. night spot/strip club ‘Stadium Club’ — according to DC Fab’s sources, Blatche and his bum shoulder were on stage doing the “Dougie.” Nice. Wale was there too.
[DC Fab]

Read more »

Some pictures, some writing, some links…

{Jordan Crawford in pre-game warm-ups.}

{Nope, not a dunk.}

{A put-back dunk from Yi.}

Read more »

Pictures, commentary, links and the whatnot …

Read more »

{John Wall looks for Kevin Seraphin - photo: K. Weidie}

{Wall looks for a trailing Andray Blatche - photo: K. Weidie}

In contrast to John Wall dropping a Rookie-Sophomore game record 22 assists on Friday night, an NBA team achieving single digits in assists over the course of a regular season game is a pretty rare feat. According to the Basketball-Reference.com database, it’s occurred just 194 times since the 1986-87 season (the extent of BBR’s game box score database). So in roughly 0.3-percent of NBA games over the last 25 seasons. And of course, your Washington Wizards did just that on Wednesday night in Orlando, tallying a mere eight dimes divided up amongst Kirk Hinrich, who had three, along with one each from and John Wall, Kevin Seraphin, Josh Howard, Andray Blatche and Hilton Armstrong.

Teams have now put up a single-digit assist total five times this season. The Orlando Magic dropped  five assists in a 26 point loss to the Miami Heat in just their second game on the 2010-11 season (the day after Orlando blew out the Wizards by 29 points in their season home opener). The Magic also had just nine team assists in a 80-74 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on December 6, 2010. The Portland Trailblazers had eight assists in a 100-86 loss to the New York Knicks on January 11, 2011. And surprisingly enough, Chris Paul’s New Orleans Hornets put up a league season low four assists for a team in a 88-70 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on December 12, 2010.

The Wizards last achieved the single-digit assist mark with nine on December 23, 2008 against the Charlotte Bobcats. That game, Mike James started at the point and went 4-16 from the field with one assist. DeShawn Stevenson and Nick Young were the only guards off the bench and Caron Butler led the team with four assists.

Read more »

There’s sadness to report from the Wizards’ locker room, unfortunately on Valentine’s Day, and it involves Nick Young’s  forlorn relationship with the NBA’s annual dunk contest. Upon being passed up by the League for this year’s event in his  hometown of Los Angeles in favor of teammate JaVale McGee, Young admitted that he was a little jealous. However, not two weeks ago, Young was alluding that he and McGee had something special planned for the contest being held on NBA All-Star Saturday night on February 19. Now, things have seemingly changed … sadness, and perhaps some hate has entered the realm of Young. Poor guy. Let’s hear it from him:

Believable? Well, Young did learn from the master, Gilbert Arenas … so there’s that.

LINKS.

Valentine’s birthday wishes go to former Washington Bullet Gheorghe Muresan (4o years) and former Wizards Darius Songaila (33) and Richard Hamilton (33).

Read more »

Pictures, commentary and links…

Sometimes I feel like on offense, when he gets the ball, JaVale McGee is like that guy who receives a particularly funny chain email (well, at least it’s funny to him), and then gets so overwhelmed with excitement that he forwards it to everyone he knows when it’s probably not appropriate to do so. Or maybe when he gets the ball he’s more like a little kid who sees a dancing puppy holding an ice cream cone and a PS3 outside, whereas the kid goes running through a clear glass door to get to the puppy (or to the rim) in a fit of enthusiasm.

Whatever the case may be, dude needs to chill. No one wants to seem him get hooked for the same stupid mistake he keeps making over and over again … dribbling around like he’s a 6’2″ guard.

“We explained to him, at the end of the game when he started going on his dribbling exhibition, that’s one of the reasons that we lose on the road, because we get in close games and we do those things,” said Flip Saunders after Wednesday’s match versus the Bucks.  “You can’t do that, and then players lose trust, as far as throwing him the ball in a late-game situation. It becomes easier for teams to defend against you, and puts more pressure on you, especially if you’re up a couple [points],” Saunders finished, explaining his teaching moment of quickly taking McGee out of the game when he performs such acts, as he’s done countless times before.

When a player keeps doing the same thing, you bench him until he gets it … even if it serves to the detriment of the team. Otherwise, as an individual, he’ll never learn. Any other coach in the NBA would do the same thing.

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]

LINKS.

Read more »