When news of the Gilbert Arenas-Rashard Lewis trade broke, it was received with a groan. The less-than-enthusiastic reception of the 31-year-old Lewis wasn’t so much a public damnation of his basketball abilities, nor an uninterested dismissal of his more intangible, clichéd qualities – veteran leadership, for instance. No, it was the result of a city, of a fanbase, coming to grips with the end of an era.
The Washington Wizards traded away their (cult) hero, and all they got in return was a “lousy” stretch four.
Just a week before Christmas, Lewis arrived in the nation’s capital with his long frame, his long contract, and his long face. Rough. Nick Young—by way of Gilbert Arenas’ interview with ESPN’s Michael Wallace—made Lewis’ first impressions public:
“He was telling me about Rashard Lewis. Nick was like, ‘I don’t know if he’s going to make it two weeks here. He feels like the world just ended.’ “
From a professional standpoint, getting traded to the Washington was one of the worst things that could have happened to Lewis. In the time it takes to pen a bit of chicken scratch on a trade agreement, he went from championship contender to NBA doormat. But for the Wizards, the acquisition of the former All-Star was the best thing that could have happened to team—luck of the lottery draw notwithstanding.
People will say that the Atlanta Hawks lost to the Washington Wizards on Saturday night because they were without Josh Smith. Because they were unmotivated against a free-flying Wizards team with their playoff seeding already set. A date as the five seed going to Orlando to play the Magic awaits the Hawks in the first round, but did they have to get blown out by the Wiz Kids 115-83?
Regardless of Atlanta’s effortless situation, the Wizards countered with one of their best team defensive displays of the season, turning 23 Hawks turnovers into 27 points, partially thanks to 11 steals. And as the Washington Post’s Michael Lee has written, much credit is due to D-Leaguers Larry Owens and Othyus Jeffers — Owens putting in 10 points off the bench and Jeffers scoring 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. The energy of on-the-cusp players has made some of the more contractually secure Wizards not take their situation for granted.
Jeffers’ contagious explosion of hustle shouldn’t be taken for granted for the next training camp the Wizards hold either. He, along with Andray Blatche, were big reasons why the Wizards got off to a 29-18 jump on Atlanta after one quarter. Blatche worked Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia to the tune of nine points, five rebounds and 3-4 from the free throw line in the period. And Jeffers picked up two boards, one offensive, and 3-4 at the charity stripe in six and a half minutes off the bench. The disinterest of Atlanta was especially evident when they allowed Yi Jianlian to counter Jamal Crawford’s 11 points in the second quarter with 10 of his own. Washington led 61-46 at half.
Jordan Crawford didn’t have a particularly good first half. Limited with three fouls, he scored just four points on 2-3 shooting in 15 minutes, but he did have three assists and zero turnovers. In the third, Crawford didn’t try to force his own offense the entire time, even though he did go 1-6 from the field in the period. Instead, he proved that he’s not a limited basketball player by dropping five assists to one turnover and three rebounds. He finished the game with six points on 3-9 shooting with an 8-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, flipping zip passes to teammates with the same confidence he has in his offense.
{Mustafa Shakur scores his first NBA points. -Photo: K. Weidie}
Hours before taking on the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics on Saturday, it was a given that Mustafa Shakur would likely suit up for the Washington Wizards and get his first NBA minutes. Tell Shakur the same thing that Saturday morning and he wouldn’t have believed you. In fact, he didn’t even believe his agent when he told him that he was being called up to the big time that day from the D-League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
This wasn’t Ernie Grunfeld going after the same old stale veterans in a pinch. This was a legitimate prospect yearning for a chance and getting one from a rebuilding team … and the move was certainly not performed as a cursory, ‘We need to meet a roster minimum.’ Rather, it was a ‘Get ready to play kid … Kirk Hinrich is out and there’s no way we can exhaust John Wall with a ton of minutes.’
Shakur was inserted into the lineup at the 4:26 mark of the first quarter, after Wall picked up his second foul and with the Wizards down 24-11. By the time Wall was inserted back into the game at the 9:50 mark of the second quarter, the Wizards had held off Boston domination, keeping their deficit to a manageable 11 points. The Wizards were down 68-62 when Shakur checked in with 2:40 left in the third quarter and by the end of the period, Washington was only down 72-70. Shakur finished the game with five assists, zero turnovers, five points on 2-4 shooting, two rebounds and two blocked shots. His plus/minus of plus-6 was second highest on the team next to Cartier Martin’s plus-8.
“I thought he played great … could have been player of the game,” said Flip Saunders when I asked him about his impressions of Shakur after the 85-83 Washington win. “Here’s a guy coming in, doesn’t really know much of our offense, and [he] made a couple plays for himself … looked like he belonged out there, was comfortable, defended pretty well, and got it to a manageable situation. [...] When you’re down and you’re putting in a guy who just got off the plane, you wonder ‘Where are we going to go with this?’ We simplified things and he made some good plays.”
Mustafa Shakur left the University of Arizona after four seasons less of a prospect than what he once was as a 2003 McDonald’s All-American, and thus, was passed over by the 2007 NBA Draft. He was signed by the Sacramento Kings that summer, but was released before ever playing. He spent some time in Europe and was again seriously looked at by the Oklahoma City Thunder last March, but never played. The New Orleans Hornets picked up Shakur last August, that didn’t pan out either.
Now he finds himself as the latest D-League call up of the Washington Wizards. The Philadelphia native arrived in D.C. from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers nearly four hours before the Wizards are set to play the Boston Celtics on Saturday night. With backup point guard Kirk Hinrich out due to issues with his elbow, and with John Wall unlikely to play a ton of minutes, being on the tail end of a back to back having battled Steve Nash on Friday night, along with emergency backup point guard Josh Howard being out for a couple more weeks, Shakur has a legit shot to play in his first ever NBA game.
The media briefly caught up with Shakur before tonight’s match-up against Boston to get his thoughts on the day, one where when his agent let him know about the call-up, he was sure that he was kidding.
