Now that NBA the season is upon us, the most oft-considered repercussion of the compacted schedule has been for whom is it an advantage. Fresh legs? Sharp minds? Old teams?

On media day Flip Saunders was asked if a youthful team brings any benefits to a scrambled environment in the aftermath of the 2011 lockout. ”I think if you have youth, you’re going to say yes, and if you have veterans, you’re going to say yes,” he said, implying that you can cook the perspective to whatever degree you like.

As with any NBA season, normal length or not, if a team is hit with the injury bug too harshly or with bad timing, it can significantly affect results. With a slate of 66 games in just 122 days, injuries are now more likely. Neither young nor old are immune. Sure, less aged muscles can recuperate faster, but those benefits are not as effective without proper time to recover.

“We just have to make sure that they can get the proper rest when they’re not playing,” said Saunders, “and so that’s going to be a main focus of what we’ll try to do too.”

“We got to really listen in and focus in on film session and listen to what the coaches are saying because there’s not going to be a lot of time to practice on the floor,” said Rashard Lewis, a veteran of the last NBA lockout, the shortened season afterward being his 1998-99 rookie campaign with the Seattle Supersonics.

Saunders also likened the compacted schedule, which for Washington includes 16 back-to-back sets and two occurrences of three games in three days, to an “AAU phase,” since players at that level are used to playing three games in a day, or even nine in a weekend. But cognitively speaking, Saunders might not want to make such a comparison, because the Wizards are susceptible to playing more like an undisciplined AAU team instead of scouring report students.

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Time to #ReFollowNBA?

Well, not so fast. Both sides have to vote on the deal. And you know what happens when people start voting…

Nonetheless, here’s a checklist of things the Washington Wizards should starting doing, as it pertains to their current(ish) players, STAT! In terms of free agency? Well, there will be plenty of little time to discuss that. GO FORTH NBA!

Find Andray Blatche.

Not sure where he is, how he is doing, and if he was continuing to workout in Miami as it looked like the reality of a season was falling apart (in addition to handing out turkeys). But somebody find Blatche, quickly. I’m assuming you will need to following: a hose, several scrub brushes with long handles, industrial strength anti-bacterial body wash, some Asian flu masks, and probably a team of scientists.

John Wall.

Have you rested at all this summer? Training camp could be less than two weeks away (give or take, tentatively scheduled to start December 9th), and rumor has it that your groin has been bothering you.

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While some Wizards are attempting to eat spoonfuls of cinnamon… While some NBA players, including John Wall, are avoiding bullets at a place called the Juliet Supper Club in New York City… While Ted Leonsis welcomes the “buzz and interest” created by a show making fun of the Wizards team name (but don’t ask him about changing it, he’ll get annoyed)… While Jan Vesley returns to the Czech Republic to contemplate his basketball life… While real estate sites are getting in on the lockout action by posting about NBA player and owner housing…

While NBA players seem rather frustrated about the Lockout, but doing alright nonetheless, the rest of us have done… Not much, aside from being working-stiffs, or in school, or entrenched in unemployment, or perhaps involved in a myriad of issues more concerning than the NBA Lockout. Some days for some of us are good, some days for some not so much. Maybe all is not that bad… unless you’re a Redskins fan in a rainy and foggy District of Columbia the Monday after the football kicker couldn’t pull it out against the rival Dallas Cowboys in overtime.

Perspective. No one on either side, players or owners, seems to have it. Fans, especially those who will inevitably come back to the NBA game anyway, are left with a feeling of helplessness. We are often only left, in the midst of this NBA Lockout, with social media and online pictures. Could you imagine if this happened in 1998? The game and its players would’ve disappeared from our visual pixels exponentially.

I can’t even begin to try to name all the states in which John Wall has played exhibtion basketball this summer – Maryland, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Nevada, Washington, California, New York, Kentucky, and the District of Columbia (there were events in Minnesota and Connecticut where he didn’t show up). I’m likely missing several. He’s been playing basketball overseas as well. Trips to Paris, France.

For the most recent exhibition event, the ‘Good Squad Classic’ held on the campus of UC-Davis outside of Sacramento, Wall showed up, but didn’t play. Jonathan Santiago of Cowbell Kingdom writes, “I had overheard some chatter about his groin giving him some issues, forcing him to sit out the contest.  Donté [Greene] told me that that Wall was indeed injured because he had been playing overseas and that the Washington Wizards guard wanted to ‘rest his body’.”

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Representatives of the owners and players emerged from the umpteenth NBA lockout negotiation session on Wednesday (actually, Thursday — this one was of the 12-hour variety, 1 pm to 1 am), with an agreement to continue to negotiate on Thursday. Neither black nor white smoke emerged, but rather a bunch of smoke blown up our collective butts. That and the telltale sign from covering media via Twitter: ‘Two different press conferences, you know what that means.’ It means no basketball.

No news is not good news, it’s no news. Yet, people are forced to look for silver linings, some citing the mere fact that NBA commissioner David Stern “stopped the clock” (his words) on a previously given ultimatum of a 5 pm Wednesday deadline (for a player acceptance of the owners’ offer) as a positive sign. Afterward, neither side could publicly say whether progress was made.

“I can’t characterize whether they showed flexibility or not in certain system issues,” said player rep Derek Fisher. “Nothing was worked out today,” said Stern. Media sources have, however, indicated a semblance of progress. “Progress was made on three system issues,” wrote the Twitter account @WojYahooNBA.

When asked by Howard Beck of the New York Times if the NBA was in a position where they could give the players some semblance of what they want (in terms of in exchange for a 50-50 Basketball-Related Income (BRI) split) Stern said, “I don’t know how you would define ‘some semblance’.” Exactly.* Nothing appears as it seems, or vice versa.

There are no indications optimism nor pessimism the Commissioner told us. So into an uncertain tomorrow (or later today) we go. The mystery on the evening/morning, however, might not be the details of the negotiations, but why player union rep and Washington Wizard Mo Evans seemed unable to restrain chuckles on several occasions. I like to imagine that Dikembe Mutombo was sitting in the front row with a dry erase board drawing pictures of things that would like to sex him. Read more »

A D.C. pic, links, other pictures, commentary, video, etc.

[Down 14th St. from Red Derby - NW Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

LINKS.

> John Wall, in this photo, seems kinda bummed without the NBA.
[via irockcollege.com]

> Go check out some Goodman League gear on sale for charity. #DMV
[HoopSpeak.com]

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Sit back folks. I know it’s hard to digest losing the opportunity to watch John Wall, Jan Vesely, usually JaVale McGee, Trevor Booker, Jordan Crawford, Nick Young, Chris Singleton, and others play basketball for the Washington Wizards. It’s the pits. On the other hand, I shrug my shoulders. What else are those who will inevitably return to the game when they start playing again supposed to do? We get ready for the long haul.

But don’t worry folks, this site will carry on just fine. Friends have asked me what I’m going to do during the NBA Lockout. One, I’m going to miss taking pictures at games. There’s nothing like being right there, and photography from the baseline has, at least for me, allowed for new ways to express basketball from different visual perspectives. I’ll also miss the ability to interview players about things that don’t necessarily pertain to basketball or the game at hand — Christmas presents, nicknames, clothing/shoes, and those who never made it being some of the topics.

And that’s what this Wizards-related website often is all about… an outlet for creativity, no matter the pixel medium. So while there will be no games for a long time, it seems, basketball doesn’t go away. There’s history, there’s some old games to break down, there’s forgotten about projects that deserve attention. Of course, all of this as time with regular life allows. But to exist, we certainly don’t need NBA basketball. They’ll be back, one day.

Dave Stallworth

Dave Stallworth was born in Dallas, Texas on December 20, 13 days after Pearl Harbor. He is one of the all-time greats out of Wichita State. Better than Xavier McDaniel, once wrote Bob Lutz of The Wichita Eagle. For that matter, I suppose, better than Antoine Carr, Cliff Levingston, and Cheese Johnson, who is not to be confused with Cheese Wagstaff.

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Lockout thoughts, randomly, and links, etc…

Fix This Mess.
[Southeast-Southwest Freeway - 12th & K St. SE - Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

Whomever put the debate over Basketball Related Income (“BRI”) at the forefront of the NBA Lockout argument between players and owners knew what they were doing, assuming they were working in favor of the owners. At least this is in terms of public perception, but does either side care about the public anyway? No, not really, it seems.

Fifty-fifty is what we’ve been taught is fair; “even-steven” is intrinsically connected to our humanity. Disregard concerns otherwise when it comes to the lockout, the focus has been how to split the BRI between owners and players. Under the previous Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”), the players received 57-percent of all NBA BRI, and for the purposes of new CBA negotiations, players have indicated that they are willing to reduce their BRI to 53-percent and have stuck staunchly to that (although recent reports indicate the players might lower their demands to 52-percent).

But players make the league, don’t they? They deserve more than half the BRI share. Yes, but who cares? I know I certainly don’t. I like to see teams, run by owners, with the best ones able to succeed, even in the previous purportedly broken system, with excellent organization and a watchful eye toward spending. The San Antonio Spurs, ladies and gentlemen.

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This may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back which then caused that camel to fall on the puppy holding a bouquet of flowers for his puppy girlfriend while they nuzzled wet puppy noses in a field of porcelain angels surrounded by butterflies and rainbows, and ice cream.

Did you hear what JaVale McGee did?

Maybe you read about it. Maybe somebody told you. Or, you can listen to JaVale McGee himself over a tape recorder, via the L.A. Times website, saying, “There’s definitely some guys in there saying that they’re ready to fold, but there are some guys, a majority of us, are ready to stand strong,” when asked by a reporter outside of a National Basketball Players Association meeting if players are standing strong against the NBA lockout, or if some are saying that they’re ready to go back to work.

Maybe McGee was earnest and right, but a negotiator with media concerns in mind he is not.

This, of course, happening after he ducked out of the NBPA meeting early. You know what else McGee enjoyed, aside from an early exit from long, tedious meetings (something we’ve all dreamed about)? He enjoyed the bountiful food spread provided by the hotel where players’ meeting was being held. On-location he Tweeted: Read more »

[The deflated NBA - Lowell School basketball court, N.W. Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

What does the latest lockout news, the cancellation of the first two weeks of the season, mean for player development, fan loyalty, media coverage, and if a season will be played at all? The collective knowledge of TAI contributors — Rashad Mobley, John Converse Townsend, Beckley Mason, Adam McGinnis, and myself – weigh in, on the scale of 1-5.

1) Scale 1-5: How much does the lockout set player development/rebuilding back for the Wizards — 5 being a huge setback; 1 being no big deal?

Mobley: The reality is that the Wizards would have been in rebuilding mode even without the lockout. What it has done is give franchise-player John Wall, an extended summer to flex the new found confidence in his game, and ideally that will be contagious.  Ideally. 1.

Townsend: The Wizards have a lot riding on the development of the last two draft classes. Rookies Chris Singleton and Shelvin Mack would greatly benefit from a full NBA offseason, allowing them to hit the ground running come game day; however, other players have signed deals overseas and continue to mature in professional settings. Setback? Maybe. Idle? More likely. 3.

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[Paul PCS - NW Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

In case you didn’t notice, Saturday, October 1st marked the start of the fourth month of the NBA lockout, and judging from the latest round of meetings that resulted in absolutely nothing, more preseason and possibly regular season games will be cancelled. Still, some players continue to organize glorified All-Star games in intimate venues; other players are contemplating or have made that overseas leap until the lockout ends; while other players find solace in working in their local furniture stores.

NBA fans have exhibitions and a topsy-turvy NFL season to thoroughly distract them until the owners and players reach a resolution. NBA bloggers like yours truly are forced to come up with creative ways to keep their writing chops sharp, and their basketball sites relevant, but we still have “real” jobs to sustain us during business hours.

But I found myself wondering what happens to those NBA beat writers whose job it is to cover a team all year. Sure, there is the occasional fruitless NBA negotiation to report on, but that’s a far cry from reporting about training camp, talking to the head coach about how his players are progressing, and anticipating the upcoming season. And if the season is cancelled or delayed significantly, what do NBA beat writers write about instead?

I posed these questions and many more to Mr. Michael Lee, Washington Wizards beat writer for the Washington Post.

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Wizards links in bullets with general commentary on the side, and a picture…

[NYC subway transit, E line - photo: K. Weidie]

> Is the NBA destined for a lockout? Why yes, it was. But check out my pre-lockout contribution about the lockout on ESPN’s 5-on-5 anyway.
[ESPN.com]

> I know it’s very old now, but he’s what I wrote for the DCist about the draft and the kiss that saved it.
[DCist]

> If you want to feel somewhat encouraged that the NBA lockout won’t drag out too long, check out this brilliant post by TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott. Huge point No. 1 from Henry: Read more »

It’s not like the Washington Wizards official website was ever a beacon of circus fun where you’d lose hours of your life trapped in an Internet conundrum of entertainment — where food, water, family members, and bathroom breaks have no bearing on quality of life. Nope, it was not like that at all.

And in this post-lockout world that NBA fans find themselves in, buried under the fecal matter of rhetoric from both sides of the aisle? Well, the Wizards website looks a bit different, much worse, and now most aptly compared to the sports fandom of an 11-year old girl (no offense, 11-year old girls).

You see, with this lockout, NBA teams have been required to scrub all images of their players from their http:// (there are legalities involved, etc. — read this report by TrueHoop’s Kevin Arnovitz) — the imagerial evisceration of post-suspension Gilbert Arenas seemed to develop over days, this other thing… overnight (although, after weeks of planning).

Let’s take a screen-shot review…

TOP STORY! G-Man goes to China.

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