[Florida Ave. Grill - Florida Ave. & 11th St. NW - Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

<FREE LINKS (AND COMMENTARY)>

(*) Josh Howard is the subject of a recent post by Zac Crain on Free Darko. Interesting stuff. If I can get the gist: Michael Finley kinda caught basketball cancer from Michael Jordan, and in turn gave that cancer to Josh Howard whereas Howard went from doing the little things to settling for fade-away jumpers. Reminds me of Caron Butler, a little. My take: if defense is preached first, and Howard listens, he can return to a solid all-around player. Oh, and if his knee gets better.

(*) Trevor Booker, after the Las Vegas summer league, participated in the development camp of Denver Nuggets assistant coach Tim Grgurich, as reported by the Washington Post’s Michael Lee. Grgurich was an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks during Ernie Grunfeld’s tenure as their GM.

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A D.C. pic and some links …

[500 block of Florida Avenue NW - Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

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Andray Blatche won’t officially turn 24 until Sunday. Yes, he’s just 24. And like many people any age, ‘Dray is ready to party. And that party is going down Wednesday night.

This year, according to the flier below, Dray will be appearing in uniform, along with Lil’ Dray (wearing backwards red cap to the lower left), and several others, many of whom are listed on the promotional material. E. Taylor, Taz Wube, Rashad Jenkins, Serge Sejour, Todd Hamilton, DJ Quicksilva and Rara The Party Starter … they’ll all be there.

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A D.C. picture, links and commentary …

[Howard Theater - 620 T St. NW - Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

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By now you may know that JaVale McGee has been cut from Team USA … and it also served as another example of news coming directly from a player, via Twitter. This is somewhat disappointing (him being cut, not that word came by means of Twitter). Many signs/media reports gave you the feeling that McGee would at least be taken to Europe to participate in training and exhibitions leading up to the FIBA tournament in Turkey, and it would have been good for his development. Then again, maybe he didn’t want to go, knowing he wouldn’t make the final 12. Or perhaps the team thought it would be best for him to train stateside under the direction of the franchise. Regardless of the reason, a lot of eyes, D.C. and beyond, will be on McGee in 2010-11 because of this Team USA experience. If he becomes more of a student of the game, he can really be special.

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]

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A D.C. pic, links, and commentary …

[Somewhere in NW D.C., I can't remember ...]

My latest piece for SB Nation DC is called, “Steve Francis Doesn’t Even Own The D.C. Courts. Just Ask Curt Smith.” I probably was a little harsh on Francis, could be dubbed a hater. I’ll be that. His career fizzled because he couldn’t adapt his immense talent to play a winning brand of basketball as a point guard leader. Then, he comes out of the woodwork claiming he’s the best D.C. has had to offer since Len Bias. People are going to take issue with that, and one of them happened to be me. Oh well … it is what it is. Go read.

Seeing A Red Future

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Links and a picture (or two) …

[The reluctant dad, preparing to chase - Logan Circle, Washington, D.C. - K. Weidie]

@LINKS

It’s about roles, not positions.
[Bullets Forever]

John Shuhmann writes about JaVale McGee’s chances with Team USA:
[NBA.com] Read more »

[Skateboarder in Central Park, NYC, taken from pedicab, 2010 NBA Draft Weekend - K. Weidie]

Figured some pictures of Yi Jianlian would be apt.

Not sure when this picture was taken, but damn that guy’s arms are ripped. Even the dude in the background looks pretty shocked.

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[Intersecting paths, Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C. - taken by Kyle Weidie]

I recently wrote a piece for SB Nation DC about a Twitter interaction — a musical enlightenment — between the WizzNutzz and Mike James, while the former was in glorious Wheaton, Maryland and the latter was in Kenya, Africa. So go read that now … but there’s also more to the story (after you read) …

@WZZTNZZ further Tweets:

@Truth_About_It u like benga jams we gav @mikejames7? then u LUV @AlexMinoff Extra Golden, strait outta Nairobi NW, near Adams Morgan

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Recently, the two first-named Michelle Marie of YoungHollywood.com caught up with Antawn Jamison at some location in the world … and it wasn’t in a dark room featuring an old wooden table, an uncomfortable stool, and a solo Jamison sitting and sipping on some Jameson.

Marie asked ‘Twan how the Cleveland Cavaliers were going to transition without LeBron. The gist of his answer: “It’s going to be interesting.”

Indeed it is, Antawn, indeed it is. He also spit out some generic clichés such as, “It’s a business,” and “It’s not going to be easy.” I don’t think the Gentleman will ever change, and he shouldn’t. In any case, you can watch the video yourself via Yahoo! Sports.

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[Thinking on 14th Street south of Thomas Circle, Washington, D.C.]

Who do you leave off the roster? A poll.

After the signing of Josh Howard, the Wizards’ “officially signed” roster has been pushed to 12: John Wall, Gilbert Arenas, Kirk Hinrich, Nick Young, Howard, Al Thornton, Andray Blatche, Yi Jianlian, Trevor Booker, Kevin Seraphin, Hilton Armstrong and JaVale McGee. So, there are three spots left with at least four potential names to fill them (that is if Ernie Grunfeld decides to have a full roster of 15 right now).

First, there is Cartier Martin, to whom the Wizards have extended a qualifying offer of $1,029,389, according to Sham Sports, making Martin a restricted free-agent.

Then there’s James Singleton, whose rights the Wizards had to renounce to sign Howard, but the Washington Post’s Michael Lee reports that the team is still interested in Singleton or Fabricio Oberto.

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