[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. Click here for cumulative DC Council 3-star ratings over the course of the season. Game 40 contributors: Markus Allen, Adam McGinnis (@Adam McGinnis) and Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It).]

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The Wizards kick off a six-game road-trip with a date near the Alamo this evening, where they haven’t sealed the deal since December 11, 1999. Back then, John Wall and Jan Vesely were 9-years old, and Chris Singleton, Kevin Seraphin and Shelvin Mack had barely reached double-digits in age (in Seraphin’s case, he was 10 by about five days). Even old Wizards such as Andray Blatche were just 13; Rashard Lewis was barely 20 with 40 games of his current 934 NBA career games under his belt. In other words, it’s been a while. To be close to specific, it’s been about 6,445,440 minutes, along with one massive fear of Y2K being put to rest, since the Wizards last won in San Antonio, Texas. Will the kids, 14.5-point underdogs, stop the streak tonight?  For today’s 3-on-3, TAI’s Dan Diamond (@ddiamond), Rashad Mobley (@rashad20) and Kyle Weidie (@truth_about_it) analyze in an attempt to predict. Three questions, three answers starts now…

#1) Which two players will most determine the outcome of tonight’s game?

DAN DIAMOND: It’s my rookie debut for 3-on-3 so I’ll stick with the kids. Jan Vesely will do his flying ninja routine and fire up the Wiz with an acrobatic dunk. Kawhi Leonard will force Nick Young into a string of more terrible shots than usual. Mark my words. Unfortunately, those plays will happen in the first half — the game will be over by the third quarter.

RASHAD MOBLEY: For the Spurs it is Danny Green. His offensive contributions are a bonus, but he makes his mark on the defensive end of the floor. He could present problems to frustrate John Wall, Nick Young and Jordan Crawford, which would basically thwart the Wizards offense. For Washington, the Young/Crawford combination will either make life easy for the Wall by spreading the floor and hitting shots, or make life easier for Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs by creating fastbreak opportunities off of their long misses.

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Sebastian Pruiti, founder and editor of NBAPlaybook.com and NetsAreScorching.com, has had the opportunity to watch Yi Jianlian for the past two seasons and in a conversation with Truth About It, said:

Yi is an incredibly inconsistent player.  There are days where he looks like he finally solved the puzzle and will turn into a pretty solid offensive player and then the next game he will go 2-15 from the field.  Something he has always been ripped for was [his] lack of aggression, and last year he tried really hard to dispel those thoughts…maybe too hard.  Most times he made the catch he wouldn’t even look for the shot and he’d put the ball on the floor, but teams started to pick up on it.  If he can find a happy medium he might do pretty well offensively.

On the defensive end though, he is absolutely lost.  That is part of the reason I think the Nets traded him besides the cap relief.  I don’t think he would have got much minutes this upcoming year, just because Avery wouldn’t allow his terrible defense to hurt the Nets.

That isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of the 22 (or is it 24?) year old stretch four.  To sort out any misconceptions and better determine Yi’s worth, it’s time for another installment of CHECK MY STATS, unofficially sponsored by Synergy Sports Technology. Read more »

On Thursday, June 17, Andy Rautins (G, Syracuse, 6’4, 195 lbs.) worked out for the Washington Wizards along with Chas McFarland (C, Wake Forest, 7’0, 245 lbs.), Kevin Palmer (G/F, Texas A&M-CC, 6’6, 205 lbs.), Dexter Pittman (C, Texas, 6’10, 290 lbs.), Terrico White (G, Mississippi, 6’5, 213 lbs.) and Darington Hobson (G/F, New Mexico, 6’7, 205 lbs.) (Note: Hobson actually did not work out for the Wizards because he tweaked his ankle). Get the run-down on Rautins and check his post-workout interview video below…

Another guy who also worked out on June 17th that I didn’t mention above is John Wall. But he was all by his lonesome for an 11 am session, Rautins started with the rest of those guys around noon.

By the time I arrived at the Verizon Center just after 11 to catch a glimpse of the end of Wall’s workout, Rautin’s name had already become a punchline several times over.

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