John Wall, Flip Saunders, Andray Blatche, Nick Young, Trevor Booker and Carmelo Anthony speak on it from the locker room after Friday’s Wizards-Knicks game…

Words & Links…

[Michael Lee - Wizards Insider]

On a night when their most experienced player looked lost and confused, the Wizards nearly rode the infectious energy of two of their least experienced players to the first win of the season. Trevor Booker and Chris Singleton were drafted in the past two Junes to provide hustle and defense for a team deficient in those areas, and they both made a case for more playing time in the Wizards’ 99-96 loss on Friday to the New York Knicks.

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[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. Game 7 contributors: Rashad Mobley, John Converse Townsend and Kyle Weidie.]

Score

Washington Wizards 96 vs. New York Knicks 99 [box score]

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[UPDATE ON TRADE, via Washington Wizards press release: "...they have acquired forward/center Ronny Turiaf, a 2013 second round pick and cash considerations from the New York Knicks along with a 2012 second round pick from the Dallas Mavericks.  The three-team deal also sends Tyson Chandler, the rights to Ahmad Nivins and the rights to Giorgos Printezis from Dallas to New York while the Mavericks will receive Andy Rautins from the Knicks and a 2012 protected second round pick from the Wizards." NOTE: cash considerations is likely $3 million, max allowed by rule.]

Accountability. That’s exactly what Ronny Turiaf brings to the Washington Wizards as they finalize a trade for the 6-10, 245 lbs. big man with the New York Knicks. Accountability and, per the video above, crazy reactions. Oh, and also, Ernie Grunfeld once again uses cap space to make out like a bandit, so it seems.

Turiaf is a 28-year old veteran (29 in January) of six NBA seasons and 358 games. In terms of size (between 6-9 and 6-11), experience (over 300 NBA games, 30 or younger), and the statistical metric, PER (between 14.2 and  14.4), Turiaf’s career could compare to the likes of Danny Schayes, Mel Turpin, LaSalle Thompson, Jahidi White or Jeff Foster. [stats via Basketball-Reference.com]

Okay, so those comparisons aren’t exactly ones to get enthused over. But what do you expect? All of the aforementioned were serviceable bench big men at one time or another in their careers, but with Turiaf, there are caveats. First, a disclaimer: Marc Berman of the New York Post is reporting that the Knicks would not receive anything in return. In fact, they might be paying the Wizards to take Turiaf off their hands. Why? New York is about to sign Tyson Chandler, and they would like to clear Turiaf’s $4.36 million salary off of their books. That salary only lasts through this 2011-12 season. The Washington Post’s Michael Lee reports on Twitter that the Wizards are possibly giving up a second round draft pick, but that could easily be similar to the non-conditional pick Grunfeld gave the Sacramento Kings for taking Dominic McGuire’s salary off Washington’s hands in February 2010 (and the Wizards under the salary cap at the time).

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[Roger Mason Jr. - via Flickr/Keith Allison]

It’s now being widely reported that Roger Mason Jr. — native son of D.C., attendee of Sidwell Friends/Good Counsel, UVA Cavalier — will soon sign with the Washington Wizards, making it his second stint with the team. Teams can officially sign players at 2 pm on Friday, just before training camp is scheduled to commence. The Post’s Michael Lee reports that Mason will be in Washington, ready to join the team.

How do I feel about this? Iffy, yet content. For one, the signing fits the Ernie Grunfeld mold. The Wizards team president values the presence of veterans, and even though the Wizards hopefully aren’t promising Mason too much court action, nor are overpaying him (the veteran’s minimum, they say, which is just fine), Washington likely offers Mason the most comfort and opportunity over other potential suitors. The Boston Celtics were also said to be interested in Mason; in that situation, Roger might’ve easily found himself relegated to those spillover seats behind the bench, following the inactive dress code, and wondering how and why.

Washington it will be, in an existence of factual acceptance. Speaking of facts, below are some stats regarding the player. While I’m less than enthused about a Roger Mason Jr. signing, in the end I can’t help but welcome back the hometown guy in hopes that he will revitalize the sun-setting of his career, as he turned 31 in September, and I am about 10 weeks older. Read more »

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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Weekend pictures of Baltimore and stories from its past with pro basketball…

1st Mariner Arena, Baltimore, MD (formerly the Baltimore Civic Center and the Baltimore Arena).

Box of Natty Boh – Soliders and Sailors Monument, W. 29th St. & N. Charles Ave., Baltimore.

Baltimore City Hall.

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The end of the Slam Dunk contest on Saturday night signified the end of any Washington Wizards involvement here at NBA All-Star weekend in Los Angeles.  My plan was to attend the game, tweet a little during, and then hang around the media scrum afterward to see if I could snag something interesting.  Luckily for me, something interesting fell right into my lap involving Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz.

First, a little background.  A week and a half ago when Jerry Sloan resigned, there were rumors and reports that Williams was the reason.  At halftime of a game against the Bulls, Williams and Sloan had argued (as they had several times during the year, and as Sloan has done with other players, such as Karl Malone, many times before), and when Sloan retired the next morning, Williams was essentially blamed. He was not happy about it at all. Williams lashed out at the media and named names over the radio airwaves on KFAM 1320AM:

All those guys, Ric Bucher, Chris Broussard, they’re all in our locker room everyday.  I’ll let them report what they want to report, that’s what they are paid to do. That’s why I’m always short and rude with the media, because they’re your friend. Ric comes in and sits by me every time I see him, acts like he’s my friend, but the day they find something they want to spin, they jump on it. That’s why I am the way I am and will continue to be the way I am.

I had just talked to Williams about a month earlier in Washington, and he was nothing but forthcoming to both myself and David Aldridge.  Even when I talked to Williams after the All-Star practice this past Saturday, he didn’t appear short or rude. Rather, his answers were expansive and thoughtful, and I appreciated his time.

But Sunday, after the All-Star game, Williams was asked about something Ken Berger of CBS Sports.com, had written in an article earlier that evening.  Berger wrote the following: Read more »

{flickr/Aquarius.1973}

The Wizards continue to lose on the road (and at home), in spite of John Wall.

Wall had a productive 34 minutes against the New York Knicks last night. He had 18 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and two steals. He also had four turnovers — two of which should be excused. Early on, Wall put two three-quarter-court passes right on the money. Both times, his teammates (Andray Blatche and Al Thornton) let the ball slip through their fingers. Instead of turning Wall’s great vision and pinpoint execution into four easy points, Wall receives credit — perhaps blame would be more appropriate, at least from the viewpoint of the pitiless box score — for a couple of turnovers.

But don’t roll your eyes. Effusive praise will not be heaped on the rookie point guard today, as much as he might deserve it. Nor will I take on the role of a John Wall apologist, aiming to vindicate him from his errors.

However, over the course of the season, one thing has been made painfully clear: those best able to neutralize John Wall’s contributions are his own teammates. A most disturbing trend, indeed.

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Dateline: New York; Road Losses: 21, 0 Wins; Knicks 115 – Wizards 106.

What it was: Andray Blatche being Andray Blatche, somehow getting the ball stuck to his hands too many times on offense in the end instead of John Wall, who, some say, is the face of the franchise. But that wasn’t the game changer, it was the Wizards, themselves … being themselves. The Washington Post’s Michael Lee wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen Flip Saunders as animated as he was during a late-game timeout. The way Flippery stormed off the floor on television after the loss sure got my girlfriend to notice.

Blatche will be the most glaring non-existent in the box score — six points on 2-10 shooting with five rebounds, two steals and three turnovers in 28 minutes — but it could have been anyone on this night. The Wizards lost as a team. Not all the Mustafa Shakur’s can overcome 10 first quarter turnovers for the Wizards, three by John Wall and three by Blatche. Different cities, different names, different night, same result that can neither be explained nor coached away … at the this time.

Flip Saunders after the game:

“Can’t feel sorry for yourselves … no one else is going to feel sorry for you. Hey, I said one of the most impressive things we had, we came to the bench and Hilton [Armstrong], who hasn’t played in six or seven games, he was getting into the guys, telling them, kind of getting on them, you know, ‘Can’t hang your heads, you got to get into it … what are we doing?’ And we need more of that. Some of the guys feeling sorry for themselves because they’re not playing well or whatever, that doesn’t matter. It’s what your team does, not what you do individually.”

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The Washington Wizards were down five points to the New York Knicks Friday night with 52 seconds remaining when John Wall stole the ball from Amar’e Stoudemire. Wall quickly raced down the court in his customary Mach-1 speed and raised up for the finish. The play unfolds in the following pictures:

{photos by Adam McGinnis}

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Prominent film maker and New York Knicks superfan Spike Lee was the court-side guest of Wizards Owner Ted Leonsis at the Wizards game last Friday night, a 101-95 Knicks victory. The duo struck up a friendship while Leonsis made his first film for his movie production company Snags Films, and Lee will return the favor by hosting Leonsis for a Wizards-Knicks game at MSG in New York. Lee’s presence highlighted the boisterous number of Knicks fans littered throughout the Phone Booth. Shouts of “M-V-P!” showered upon Amar’e Stoudemire and the Knicks’ recent stellar play obviously motivated the fans of the away team to be louder than usual.

The crowd was still 70-30 or 60-40 Wizards fans, but the heavy noise of Knicks cheers made it seem like the home team was outnumbered. Washington’s own sideline heckler and basketball personality, Miles Rawls, shouted across the court at Leonsis to move Lee down to a different spot. Unlike some of those scattered online voices who were critical of Lee’s seat, I am perfectly OK with it because the owner can host anyone he wants to. Lee’s appearance is positive exposure and maybe a rivalry in the future. I am more worried about Al Thronton’s continued disappearing act and trying to comprehend how Kevin Seraphin can go from starting to inactive in back-to-back contests.

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The subtle occurrence, about to be slightly magnified by this blog’s humble reach, doesn’t mean much … unless you’re a fan of basketball nuance. And I’m assuming that you’re already a fan of John Wall, who recently made a small display that he would not be intimidated by Amar’e Stoudemire, ironically nicknamed “STAT” (standing tall and talented), even though he’s below average in a main big man stat category, rebounding.

It’s late in the first quarter in the Wizards’ October 17 preseason game against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden. Raymond Felton, foolishly, according to the television analysis of Walt “Clyde” Frazier on the MSG Network, thinks he can play big boy veteran and pressure Wall far away from the basket.

Foolish indeed. Wall can’t shoot and Raymond Felton is Raymond Felton. His 6’1″, 205 lbs. physique, while stout, simply cannot keep up with the size and speed of Wall.

Felton goes to pressure Wall out near the Knicks mid-court logo, perhaps partially to avoid a sensed screen from Yi Jianlian. Wall counters by going away from the screen and attacking Felton by trying to get by him. The ref blows the whistle, much to the chagrin of Felton — rookies ain’t supposed to get calls. Sorry buddy, this is John Wall. Felton goes to take issue with the ref nonetheless.

But the foul and resulting opinions aren’t the issue here. It’s what’s happens afterward. Wall, like many NBA players are wont to do, goes to shoot a post-whistle fadeaway, more meaningless than the meaningless preseason game in which it takes place.

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When the New York Knicks signed 7″1′ Russian center Tomofey Mozgov to a 3-year, $9.7 million contract in early July, I, like many of you, gave a big ‘Huh?’ Part of that is the result of people, myself included, not being as aware of international prospects. The other part was that Donnie Walsh and the Knicks seemingly did it under the cover of darkness.

As was pointed out at The Painted Area, if other teams suspected Mozgov’s interest in playing in the NBA this season, as opposed to staying with his Russian club, BC Khimky Moscow, and getting more seasoning, there would have been more competition for his services. And especially curious when you consider that the Knicks signed Mozgov while the New Jersey Nets and their new Russian owner were licking their wounds from losing LeBron.

The Painted Area also called Mozgov the best free-agent candidate, factoring his youth of 24 years, behind Brendan Haywood and Darko Milicic, and described him as a “powerful finisher.” Well, not so much against Yi Jianlian (according to the visual eye, not necessarily a FIBA referee). For an explanation, let’s go to the GIF machine …

After a drive by Russian guard Dmitry Khvostov, on which Yi helps off of Mozogv, the ball is dished to TimoFey who has the baseline and an open path to the basket. But hold those Russian horses, the athletic Yi whips around and ain’t scared to meet young Timmy at the rim.

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This Wizards team has gone through a lot of adversity this year, some of it unimaginable. Poor them. People are dying around the world and not by choice. These guys get paid to play basketball. Suck it up.

More and more this team is playing like they just don’t care. It’s not the first time this has happened. Probably won’t be the last. But Wednesday night’s game against the New York Knicks seemed like more of a disgrace than efforts we’ve seen before.

I’ve said that Ernie Grunfeld can’t make drastic change fast enough. The associated anxiousness continues to mount by the day and will continue to do so up until the February 18th trade deadline, unless something happens before then.

When it goes down, how will I find out? Twitter? Text? G-Chat? Will Ric Bucher’s shiny doll hair pop up on my HDTV to tell me that it has all come to an end? Will I wake up one morning to find Marc Stein whispering in my ear, “Caron Butler for Marcus Camby and Antawn Jamison for Zydrunas Ilgauskas, both straight up” followed by him punching me in the mouth?

These are the things that haunt my slumber and twist my stomach. And they all feel plausible.

Ok, back to the Knicks game. Even though they clearly started to lose the game in the third quarter, I was pretty incensed when watching the fourth quarter “melt,” as Flip Saunders called it.

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Prior to the Wizards-Knicks game, Rashad Mobley of Hoops Addict and myself stopped to chat with Jonathan Bender of the New York Knicks, a man on a long-shot comeback attempt. Rashad has his piece posted on Hoops Addict, mine is posted below.

Jonathan Bender broke Michael Jordan’s McDonald’s All-American game scoring record when he dropped 31 points in the 1999 game, besting his Airness by one point.

That performance was on the stage Bender needed to forgo his verbal commitment to Mississippi State University and enter the NBA draft, becoming who I believe is the first modern-day high school player to jump to the NBA after actually committing to a school. They say Kobe Bryant would have gone to Duke, but he never offered his commitment. Today, despite being called one of the 20 biggest busts in modern NBA draft history by Sports Illustrated in 2005, Bender doesn’t think twice about the choice he made over 10 years ago to follow in the prep-to-pros footsteps of those such as Kevin Garnett.

“Once I made the decision, it was made,” Bender said without hesitation from the Knicks locker room before last Saturday’s match-up against the Wizards.

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