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[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Game No. 59, Washington Wizards at Minnesota Timberwolves; contributors: Adam Rubin and Kyle Weidie from behind the television screen.]
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Benched Mobbed?
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[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Game No. 41, Washington Wizards vs Minnesota Timberwolves; contributors: Rashad Mobley and John Converse Townsend from the Verizon Center, with Kyle Weidie from behind the television screen.]
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Bradley …
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Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 41st game of the season at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves are TAI’s Rashad Mobley (@rashad20) and guest Steve McPherson (@steventurous), who writes about the Timberwolves for two different ESPN TrueHoop blogs: Hardwood Paroxysm and A Wolf Among Wolves.
AJ Price*, Bradley Beal, Martell Webster, Nene, Emeka Okafor
*At any moment, Coach Wittman should realize that John Wall has completed his Jedi training and is ready to conquer the NBA in the starting lineup with the rest of his friends. When this happens, AJ Price will prove to be a better-than-average backup point guard, and Wall and Beal will rule the galaxy. If this does not happen tonight and the Wizards lose, Coach Wittman may find himself in a bit of hot water.
[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Game No. 34, Washington Wizards vs Atlanta Hawks; contributors: Kyle Weidie and Sean Fagan from the Verizon Center.]
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John Wall Salute.
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NBA All-Star Weekend is here, but what about the Wizards? “The team needs a break,” writes owner Ted Leonsis on his blog. Nowhere does he mention the media (professional or those with day jobs) needing a break. Nor, more importantly, does he mention fans needing a break. So, the players may be getting much needed (but not much deserved) rest, but Wizards fans… they really just get a reprieve from bad basketball. “With the season over in two months..the rest of this season really has nothing to do with this season,” writes @WorldWiEdWard on Twitter. Exactly… so you gotta wonder if this Wizards franchise will have the balls to start making significant adjustments in the second half of the season, predicated on the disastrous first half, to better set themselves up for the future. Who knows. But let’s not take all the fun out of NBA All-Star Weekend 2012, one in which a single Wizard is participating — John Wall in the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge as well as in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. To discuss this weekend’s festivities in 3-on-3 fashion, including the Rising Stars Challenge which is tonight at 9 pm, we have TAI’s Adam McGinnis (@AdamMcGinnis), Rashad Mobley (@rashad20) and Kyle Weidie (@truth_about_it). Three questions, three answers starts now…
McGINNIS: Las Vegas bookmakers earned their nickname of “Wise Guys” by having the Wall ranked much higher than he was selected by Barkley or Shaq. Wall was the best player in his 2010 draft class during his rookie season, has a national Reebok shoe campaign featured in Foot Lockers across America, and he is reigning MVP of this Rookie-Sophomore game, but TNT’s lack of coverage around Wall has declared him an afterthought. Wall will play extremely well as his pass-first and fast break game is suited for exhibitions like this one, and he will be fired up more than normal. However, I expect Jeremy Lin or Kyrie Irving to win the MVP. This is what NBA wants and TNT employees will be sure to deliver it for them.
MOBLEY: John Wall didn’t need to be miffed with his snub in the “draft” or motivated by Barkley’s distaste for his team to do well in this game. We know from his record 22 assists in last year’s game, and his dazzling summer exhibition performances from 2011, that he can easily stand head and shoulders above his peers. That being said, my vote is for Ricky Rubio. The Maravich in him will be unleashed.
Washington Wizards, Minnesota Timberwolves… on a Sunday afternoon when you will likely be watching playoff football, the Wizards will be trying to secure their first win of the season. For today’s 3-on-3, we have Benjamin Polk from the ESPN TrueHoop Network T-Wolves blog, A Wolf Among Wolves, along with TAI’s Sam Permutt and yours truly, Kyle Weidie. Three questions, three answers starts now…
PERMUTT: I don’t pretend to know whether Kahn can be trusted… and that’s what makes him such an entertaining GM. He’s like the guy in your fantasy league who you secretly admire because he picks with no regard for predicted rank—except he has a real team! As for Grunfeld flipping the fifth pick into Miller and Foye, I still say that was a solid move for both teams. The fact that it turned into Rubio two years later is good for the T-Wolves (and Kahn), but Grunfeld shouldn’t be blamed.
POLK: You know, I really have no idea. Although Kahn has certainly made more than his share of personnel mistakes, I do feel like his rep as a bumbler has been exaggerated by his abrasive personality and the weird things he says. That said, the Rubio/Miller-Foye trade is, in my opinion, the best thing he’s ever done. Now if he’d just found some way to avoid taking Jonny Flynn at six…
A D.C. picture, links and commentary …
[Howard Theater - 620 T St. NW - Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]
Dan Steinberg conveys pretty much the gist of the Redskins’ Brandon Banks doing the John Wall dance after scoring a punt return touchdown in their exhibition opener against the Buffalo Bills. Banks did the dance in front of his boy from Raleigh, John Wall, no less.
[DC Sports Bog]
Even the website of a Lexington, Kentucky NBC television station is covering Banks doing the John Wall dance.
[Lex18.com]
[Skateboarder in Central Park, NYC, taken from pedicab, 2010 NBA Draft Weekend - K. Weidie]
{image via www.osports.cn/RealGM}
Not sure when this picture was taken, but damn that guy’s arms are ripped. Even the dude in the background looks pretty shocked.
Running down the best of what was said about the Washington Wizards and the 2009 NBA Draft …
“We wouldn’t have done anything different. The only player I would’ve been upset if he slipped to five was Blake Griffin, and he went No. 1 overall obviously,” [Ernie] Grunfeld said. “We wouldn’t have taken anybody but Blake Griffin if it came to this pick. Ricky Rubio, Tyreke Evans, James Harden – we liked all those players, and everybody else did. But if we had a chance to get Miller and Foye in exchange for that pick, there was no question about it.”
I found it quite amusing that the player most experts had slotted as the second-best talent in the draft slid all the way down to fifth. It was eerily similar to the Wizards drop on the night of the draft lottery, when they had the second-best chance of winning the top pick and dropped down to No. 5. On that night, Rubio didn’t seem like a possibility. Now his career will forever be linked to the Wizards, much like Devin Harris, who has blossomed into an all-star in New Jersey.
Say it ain't so Big Ern!
Flip Saunders was just as laughingly confident that Ricky Rubio would not slip to five as he was enthralled with the guy. His partner in crime, Ernie Grunfeld, having seen Rubio play twice in person, mostly likely felt the same way.
To be a proverbial fly on the wall of the Wizards’ draft ‘war room’ Thursday night when Rubio was available at the fifth spot. Grunfeld’s face probably looked like he just swallowed an entire egg filled with arsenic, knowing that at some point the shell would crack and it’d be worse than fecal matter hitting the fan.
Wizards fans are not happy … Read more »
Across The ESPN TrueHoop Network
