[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. 71, Washington Wizards at Oklahoma City Thunder; contributors: Rashad Mobley, John Converse Townsend and Kyle Weidie from the comfort of their abodes.]

Lonesome Dove. [Why the long #WittmanFace? via @recordsANDradio] [John Wall's post-game tweet, which seems to have been deleted for some reason. Adam McGinnis was on top of the screen-grab.]

Read more »

[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.]

Bradley … Read more »

When season recap of the 2012-13 Oklahoma City Thunder is pixeled, their 101-99 loss to Washington Wizards will stand out like a RG3 jersey in Dallas, or me drinking an O’Doul’s. The “worst beating first” result was improbable, but it was memorable because of its strange quirks.

Washington often gets buried by poor beginnings, but this time they raced out to a strong start with 30 points in the first quarter. And a devastating scoring drought (like the seven-minute stretch that cemented the Jan. 9 loss to Miami, ugh) never materialized.

Jan Vesely actually did positive stuff on the basketball court, finishing with 10 points. Honza had gone weeks without totaling that output, and get this: he only had two fouls. Emeka Okafor showed himself to be a rim protector with a gigantic rejection of a Kevin Durant slam attempt. Garrett Temple scored some huge offensive put-backs in the paint.

Serge Ibaka — OKC’s big man — was their best offensive player, pouring in a career-high 26 points; Ibaka even drilled a 3-pointer at first half buzzer. And Wizards, finally, inexplicably to followers of this squad, did not fold in crunch time, highlighted by Bradley Beal’s smooth, one-handed, game-winning dagger.

Read more »

Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 33rd game of the season against the Oklahoma City in D.C. are TAI’s Rashad Mobley (@rashad20) and guest Royce Young (@dailythunder), who contributes to the ESPN True Hoop Blog Daily Thunder.

Wizards Starters (4-28):

Garrett Temple, Bradley Beal, Martell Webster, Nene, Emeka Okafor

Thunder Starters (26-7):

Read more »

[A John Wall jumper, original picture via the Internets.]

Welcome to the big leagues, Junior. Wall may have been the sixth-fastest player in NBA history to 2,000 points and 1,000 assists, but he’s not a top shelf NBA product. Not yet. ESPN’s NBA Rank project, which I participated in this season (here’s the full list of voters), ranked Wall as the 55th best player in the Association. He came in at No. 40 after after his rookie season.

Wall isn’t the fastest player, either. Not according to the 11th annual, and always entertaining, GM Survey on NBA.com. The survey asks every general manager (or team president) in the league to respond to 57 questions about the best teams, players, coaches, etc. GM’s are not allowed to vote for their own team or personnel.

Which player is the fastest with the ball?

Read more »

Building the Great Wall of China was a process, you see….

The Oklahoma City Thunder are America’s heartland heroes. From top to bottom, from the shot-callers in the front office to the shot-makers on the hardwood, they’re made up of all the right stuff: sharp minds and undeniable athletic talent, blended together with a big helping of humility.

They’re winners. They’re the model of roundball reconstruction. They’re what the Washington Wizards aspire to be.

Thunder Up

Read more »

[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 14 contributors: Kyle Weidie and John Converse Townsend with first-hand coverage, and Sam Permutt watching from afar.]

Score

Read more »

[Oklahoma City Backpack Model - photo: K. Weidie]

The young team everyone wants to be comes to the District this evening. Odds-makers are comfortable giving the Oklahoma City Thunder an 11-point cushion over the Washington Wizards; many optimists and pessimists alike expect the visitors’ final margin to be double that. But hey, there could be some excitement… there’s always a chance for excitement. For instance, it might be interesting to see how Wizards rookie Chris Singleton matches up against Kevin Durant, or if John Wall can build on his 38-point performance and perhaps force Russell Westbrook into some bad shots. The ages of Oklahoma City’s starting lineup go something like this: 23, 23, 27, 22, 27; Washington’s go like this: 21, 26, 22, 24, 24 — the difference is five years. If only age and youth were valid assessors of team capability. In any case, you know the 3-on-3 drill… Today’s guest is Royce Young from the banging TrueHoop Network OKC-affiliated blog Daily Thunder; he is joined by TAI’s John Converse Townsend and myself, Kyle Weidie. Three questions, three answers starts now… Read more »

The Wizards were slaughtered by the Oklahoma City Thunder like lambs in the path of Zeus’ lightening bolts from Mount Olympus on Monday night. The rivers in the Verizon Center run red with the blood of losing. In addition to their 116-89 take down by the Thunder, Washington has lost their last two games by a combined 48 points. The statistics and numbers relating the common place of losing could go on; now the Wizards set their watching to those numbers.

Injuries, inefficiencies, youth, lack of heart and effort … the Verizon Center has become a dollar store for losing excuses. Or rather, reasons. But hey, the kids are in the pool. This is a good thing. Adult time and a dolt time is over with the forced hiatus of several injured veterans. There are still problem children, but without notables who enjoy night club potent potables, losing couldn’t be more comfortable. Not necessarily more comfortable for the fans and certainly not for the players and coaches, but for those who will endure.

The air about the team is all about getting this over with as fast as possible, which could be dangerous in the complacency of an apathetic mis-education and development. Seventeen games equating over a fifth of a season are left … gosh that’s a long time. If it continues to end horribly, upon whom will that reflect poorly?

In other news.

Read more »

As I left today’s All-Star practice media session, one of the workers at the Los Angeles Convention Center asked me what it was like to be on the practice floor with all the players and media.  I pondered for a minute, and then I told him to imagine what it’s like when a men’s college basketball team wins the NCAA tournament, and people frantically run on the floor.  Then I told him to imagine that he had to look for 24 people in that frantic crowd, while trying to get audio, video and whatever else was needed.

His one-word response? “Damn.”

Despite the madhouse that was today’s post-practice media session, there were uplifting and useful moments to be had.  The morning started with Justin Friedlander dunking home his 63,000th shot  to raise brain tumor awareness.  Justin was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor called an optic nerve glioma back in 2009, and he vowed to shoot 63,000 shots — one for everyone diagnosed with a primary brain tumor per year.  Justin, who hails from Rockville, Maryland, visited the Verizon Center last year prior to the Wizards/Pacers game, so it was nice to see him complete his journey.  All the coaches and players from both the East and West All-Star squads shook his hand, and signed a t-shirt for him. Very moving stuff.

Next, the East and West All-Stars conducted the kind of practice that even Allen Iverson would not turn down.  Gregg Popovich, who was mic’d up during the entire session, walked through some very remedial plays he planned on running in tomorrow night’s All-Star game, and then he just relaxed and watched like every other fan.  At one point he ran up to Blake Griffin and said, “I’m a huge fan of yours!” Griffin just laughed and said thank you.

Read more »