[Washington, DC Ward 6 Anacostia Rec Center - photo: K. Weidie]

A free-throw, the most efficient shot in basketball. But the clear irony is that the easiest way to get buckets, son (shout out to Oleksiy Pecherov, who is tearing it up in the Ukrainian Superleague), is often the most ignored difference-maker in games, unless they come at the very end. Then everyone knows the implications, and everyone is watching. It can get pretty lonely at the free-throw line in one’s thoughts.

In a sport where so many flowing events occur at once, instances where observers can focus on one man with the ball are relatively nonexistent. A solo fast-break is one (imagine Dwyane Wade in the passing lane), but even he must watch his back for a futilely hustling defender. Free-throws are another instance. On the court, nothing else is happening, aside the mental and physical jostling along the lane’s hash marks. White noise ready to rebound. All basketball-curious eyes are on a single, methodical routine. The line can be even more of an island when it’s a technical free-throw.

In 2010-11, 11 out of 30 NBA teams attempted 2000 or more free-throws, including the likes of Chicago, Oklahoma City, Miami and Orlando. The cumulative winning percentage of those eleven teams was 0.542. Ten out of 30 teams attempted 1900 or less free-throws, including the likes of Golden State, Detroit and New Jersey. The cumulative winning percentage of those ten teams was 0.508. There are, of course, exceptions. The 19-win Cleveland Cavaliers attempted the eighth most free-throws in the NBA with 2,075. The 57-win, World Champion Dallas Mavericks finished 27th in attempts with 1850. The Washington Wizards finished one attempt above the league average with 1,999, tied with the Charlotte Bobcats for 12th most in the NBA.

Getting to the line in abundance is one thing, making them is another. Washington finished tied with that Cleveland team with a 0.745 free-throw percentage, good enough for 24th league-wide. Free-throws are part of the “Four Factors” of winning basketball (offensively and defensively), popularized by statistician Dean Oliver. Oliver estimates free-throws as 15-percent of success, compared to shooting (40%), turnovers (25%), and rebounding (20%). Free-throw success in this sense is measured by the ratio of free-throws made to field-goals attempted. In 2010-11, Washington finished with an offensive FT/FGA ratio of 0.216, ranked 23rd in the NBA.

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EuroBasket 2011 is going on and several current, ex, and loosely connected to the Wizards are involved. Let’s go…

Darius Songaila – Lithuania

[via EuroBasket 2011 profile]

Here’s the point: LOOK AT THAT BEARD!

Digest it, behold it, listen to it whisper to you.

In terms of D-Song, well, he’s doing D-Song things: He’s ranked second at EuroBasket in fouls with 4.2 per game. Otherwise, he’s shooting 48.7-percent from the field, surely on long pick-and-pop jumpers just inside the three point line. His 3.3 rebound average per 15.2 minutes a game would be 9.9 rebounds per 45.6 minutes. So typical of Darius.

It’s also cool that Lithuania is 5-1, beating Serbia 100-90 on Wednesday, D-Song only nabbed two points, a board and four fouls in nine minutes. However, in their win against Turkey Songaila tallied 12 points, five rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes. A big offensive rebound and put-back late in the game was highlighted by NBAPlaybook.com:

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Links, commentary, randomness…

Notice how ever since that gig on Who’s The Boss? Alyssa Milano has been pretty much everywhere? Now, this former dream of teenaged boys’ affection hasn’t seemed to tap into a post-sitcom television movie career like Christina Applegate (via Kelly Bundy), but Milano looks like she’s barely aged since her role of Sa-man-THA! Micelli.

Well, not really… considering she was age 10-20 on Who’s The Boss?, but whatever. (And I’ll attribute the increased present-day Applegate popularity to her being blonde … as unfortunate as that may be, in that similar preference has splashed inconsequential news stories like Natalee Holloway across our television sets, but I do believe I’m digressing. Also, while I’m at it, I don’t know anything about the show Charmed (which Milano was on more recently) other than it would be on TNT sometimes when I got up for work in the morning because I’d left the channel on the late NBA game from the night before and I would hate it.)

In any case, good for Alyssa Milano — for staying ‘relevant’ — like I said, she’s been everywhere, including the Washington Wizards website. And I got no complaints. You’re welcome.

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“Basketball in my country is not so popular, but after this night, I think — I hope, that the basketball will be more popular. I will do my best to help that.”
-Jan Vesely, Draft Night 2011

Jan Vesely wants to put Czech Republic basketball on the map. Good luck.

“The Czech media have been really lame covering the story,” direct-messaged Yon Pulkrabek via Twitter. I’d sent out a tweet wondering if any follower spoke Czech, and the instant world of the Internet connected us.

Pulkrabek says he’s lived in Prague permanently for the past decade, working as a translator, journalist, and editor. He grew up in upstate New York to Czech émigré parents and has been a fan of the Boston Celtics since the 1980s, keeping up with their recent success thanks to League Pass, streaming web video and his DVR. Now, Pulkrabek has taken an obvious interest in the Washington Wizards.

He writes that initial coverage of Vesely in Prague was limited to a couple stories in the paper and a report on the evening news, but otherwise, soccer and hockey get the most attention in the Czech Republic. “But they are off now,” messages Pulkrabek. “Tennis is the headliner now, followed by inline hockey and hockeyball.”

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Some recent links (with commentary) and forgotten notes from last Friday’s preseason game against the Mavericks at the Verizon Center in D.C. …

Caron Butler and a very tall clown {via WashingtonWizards.com}

Evidently on Sunday morning, Caron Butler was slated to co-chair the ‘Sister to Sister’s Bike For The Heart’ event with D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty at the Verizon Center in Washington. But the Wizards also had a preseason game in Toronto, Canada at 3 pm that afternoon. Event host Irene Pollin, Wizards co-owner, told Butler that he could attended that morning and just catch up with the team at their next stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The team’s other ‘co-owner’, Irene’s husband Abe, said “nope,” indicating he wanted Butler in Toronto, supporting his teammates. So Abe called up his private jet and whisked Butler, along with team president Ernie Grunfeld, to T-Dot after the event and in time for Butler to get in a workout before the Raptors game.

Wizards Preview

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flickr/Roadsidepictures

I watched the Wizards take on the Timberwolves and Clippers in the Las Vegas Summer League long ago, but am just getting my notes/observations on those two games posted.

So in the spirit of better late than never, here goes ….

(Note: I still need to get my post up on the Knicks game and hand out the summer league grades … but only to the players who ‘count’ — Blatche, Young, McGee, Crittenton and McGuire.)

Wizards vs. Timberwolves : Summer League Game 3

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The dust from yesterday’s trade has somewhat settled, but the building is still under construction.

So after my initial thoughts, the first set of web reactions, and Brendan Haywood’s musings, it’s time to go through the second run of Miller/Foye trade react quotes.

And remember, Ernie Grunfeld is likely not done dealing … especially judging by his quote in USA Today: “We might get out of (the draft) altogether. Very seldom do you get a 32nd pick who’s going to come right in and help a veteran ballclub.”

Of course, this could mean drafting someone and selling them for cash (as the case with Billy Walker to the Celtics last season), or packaging it with Mike James’ expiring contract for some sort of help down low (please be the latter, please be the latter).

Here goes….

WWW:

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Player evaluation time has come again. You can find the evaluations from ’07-08 here. Up first for ’08-09 is Big Oily Pecherov. My thoughts and some images from the season are below, you can check on the full evaluation report on Bullets Forever.

I could cite some of Oleksiy Pecherov’s mediocre numbers, including his assist per 138.5 minutes rate, but they’re a moot indicator as to his value to the franchise. The 23-year old just didn’t get enough time on the court. However, when a guy’s player evaluation from last year can be easily recycled, a bulk of responsibility lies on his shoulders.

Rail if you will on the Wizards’ player development, or lack thereof, and whether or not Ed Tapscott stunted growth. The fact remains that if Pecherov gave more reasons for increased run, the minutes would have found him, especially in such an injury plagued year. The epitome of his season’s effort was more when he got blocked by the 6’2″ Boobie Gibson in the last meeting against Cleveland than the few positive moments.

Already behind a prideful veteran exempt from the bench (Antawn Jamison), a rookie with more fire and defensive instinct (JaVale McGee), a role player with court smarts (Darius Songaila), an inconsistent prospect with a much better skill set (Andray Blatche), and the occasional Etan Thomas sighting, the Ukrainian goof-ball dubbed ‘Big Oily’ was already in a position where working extra hard was a prerequisite for more time.

At one point, Pech seemed to want to rebound, which is more than you can say for many European big men with an outside touch. But it’s not encouraging that hustle on the glass decreased, while hovering around the arc increased, toward the end of the year, at least in practice as Kevin Broom highlighted on the Secret Weapon. I like Pechrov, but his comedic shtick isn’t much without meaningful contribution.

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The Wizards were out of the game before it even started, and I really wish I had bet online. They came out lacking a ton of focus and turning the ball over….key ingredients to a disaster pie.

Cleveland was also aware of everything the Wiz wanted to do offensively before they did it. Javaris Crittenton would come down the court tapping his chin and Mo Williams would do the same. Guess the “intricate” offense (simplified for the youth, I know) of Ed Tapscott and Wes Unseld, Jr. won’t fool many.

To make matters worse, Washington was always a second behind on open passes, a telltale sign of the team going through the motions….a “we got this team in DC, so who cares about Cleveland?” type attitude.

Not to belittle the effort of some individuals, but as a team, it sucked a big one last night….what’s new? The game was no where close to the final 12 point margin.

Enjoy the screen shots.

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The Memphis-Washington game was a couple days ago, but these outsourced screen shots just came in on the plane from Bangalore.

But then he ordered a Five Dollar Footlong and got comfortable.

Rumors of Gilbert Arenas’ possible presence spread
along Beale Street and the masses gathered.

The Wizards moved the ball well in the beginning, but the defense gave Ed Tapscott heartburn, the throw-up feeling, and the ‘it hurts when I swallow’ throat.

The Swarth of Marc Gasol was swagger inducing.

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