[ShareBullets -- Wizards Land links from 'round the web.]
Fountain at Meridian Hill Park in Washington, DC. Photo Credit: Adam McGinnis
Um, Jordan? [via instagram/jcs_stelo]
Links.
SLAM writer and longtime Wizards fan, Abe Schwadron, had a great interview with Jordan Crawford two weeks ago. The answers on candy got most of the attention, but there’s also this tidbit about Crawford returning home to Detroit. Read more »
ShareBullets: Links, commentary, pictures, the Web, and stuff you may have missed…
>> USA Today is reporting that the Wizards want to bring back Maurice “Mo” Evans for a front office gig (even though Mo wants to play one more year). But also, there’s this:
But it’s his locker room presence that made an impact in Washington. Last season, Evans filled that leadership role as a mentor to guards John Wall and Jordan Crawford. One person with knowledge of the Wizards’ season said Crawford would have been late to the airport for a handful of road trips had Evans not picked him up. The person, who requested anonymity because Evans is still trying to reach a deal, also said almost every player credited Evans for his leadership and advice during their exit interviews.
Tell us, now who will now get Jordan Crawford to the airport on time?!?!?
[USA Today]
[ShareBullets: links, thoughts, randomness, shares, Washington Bullets...]
John Wall turned 22-years old on Thursday, September 6. Kevin Willis turned 50 on Thursday, too. (Could’ve sworn he was 60 … he was still playing in the NBA less than 2,000 days ago.) Who else celebrated a birthday on September 6? None other than Pippa Middleton, Foxy Brown (the rapper), Jeff Foxworthy (the redneck), Rosie Perez, and Idris Elba (Stringer Bell from The Wire). Now let’s check out some John Wall birthday club fliers — Wall surely won’t become the next “Party All Dray,” right? (H/T DC Sports Nexus)
First, there’s New York…
And then Miami, where there will be girls holding boobs, clearly…
ShareBullets: (basically, they’re pixels)… but also, they’re bullet points from ’round the web about the Bullets Wizards.
Elevators, Dupont Circle N., D.C.
>> Ted Leonsis calls Michael Lee’s pixels ‘fair pixels‘ … Question mark pixels, I say. Either way, the Wizards and their direction under a relatively new owner, a ‘been there’ GM/team president, and a ‘wanna be there’ old school coach will be interesting to watch. I’m excited. Question is, will the team marketing slogan be up to par?
>> Again, not much to get excited about with summer pro-am basketball, but do check out new Wizards point guard A.J. Price putting in work at the Hartford pro-am… Nice dimes.
ShareBullets… links, commentary, irreverence… and the team used to be call the Bullets.
>> Chris Webber played a single season in a Wizards jersey (1997-98, the rest were a Bullets jersey), and I documented this fact by recently purchasing a replica from Joint Custody, a vintage store in D.C.’s Adams Morgan. Somebody on the Twittermachine tweeted at me that Webber was “one of the worst Bullets ever.” Not quite.
Turning to Basketball-Reference.com, narrowing down a list those who have played at least 2,500 minutes in a Bullets/Wizards uniform and then ranking them by the worst Win Shares Per 48 Minutes, these would be your 10 worst of all-time:
>> So Nene and Kevin Seraphin are done in the Olympics and are going home without hardware, as Brazil and France got taken down by Argentina and Spain respectively in their opening medal round games on Wednesday. From the Wizards perspective, both players had positive Olympic experiences, plus the team doesn’t have to worry about either getting injured now. Seraphin’s minutes were limited against Spain (6:31), perhaps to France’s detriment, but some in the Wizards organization were overall impressed with his back-to-the-basket scoring throughout the tournament. Nene didn’t play heavy minutes over the course of the Olympics (27 against Argentina after not suiting up in the previous game) and was sometimes bothered by soreness in his left foot. Were the Wizards worried? Not according to a report fromt the Washington Post’s Michael Lee:
“…the Wizards have been monitoring the injury and remain optimistic that it will not be a problem when training camp begins on Oct. 2.”
>> We start with a big Kevin Seraphin block versus Tunisia.
>> James Singleton is moving on; Roger Mason, too.
With the Wizards reportedly unwilling to pay anything more than the veteran’s minimum, John Singleton moving on and Roger Mason signing with the New Orleans Hornets represents cost-considered moves for the Washington franchise (see cliche phrase: “It’s a business”). In a sense, this is a disservice: not finding a way to reward the efforts of Singleton and Mason while offering some constancy to a young team. Inreality, the Wizards weren’t offering much playing time. Shooting from Mason would have been nice, the same with the grit of Singleton, but with roster capacity now at 13 — and the need to see how all the new feature parts fit together first– the Wizards can afford to hold off on filling the last two available spots, per report of the Washington Post’s Michael Lee. Not retaining Mason and Singleton was not part of an ideal offseason plan for the Wiz, but that doesn’t mean someone else can’t come along an inspire the team from the end of the bench just as well.
>> ESPN’s Marc Stein reports (via Twitter) that the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat are interested in Andray Blatche. Both are solid organizations and could help turn Blatche into something. Each city also drastically differs in nightlight options, which understandably could have a significant influence on the overall “Party All-Dray” experience. Blatche has for the past couple of offseasons made his home in Miami. So there’s that. San Antonio has the Riverwalk. Also:
“Everyone knows San Antonio is a great city… they do have some big ol’ women down here,” famously said Charles Barkley.
Destination Blatche: To Be Determined. Read more »
TAI’s Adam McGinnis (@adammcginnis) will be a judge at the Sprite Slam Dunk Showdown this Saturday at the National Capital Barbecue Battle in downtown Washington, D.C.
Fix This Mess. [Southeast-Southwest Freeway - 12th & K St. SE - Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]
Whomever put the debate over Basketball Related Income (“BRI”) at the forefront of the NBA Lockout argument between players and owners knew what they were doing, assuming they were working in favor of the owners. At least this is in terms of public perception, but does either side care about the public anyway? No, not really, it seems.
Fifty-fifty is what we’ve been taught is fair; “even-steven” is intrinsically connected to our humanity. Disregard concerns otherwise when it comes to the lockout, the focus has been how to split the BRI between owners and players. Under the previous Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”), the players received 57-percent of all NBA BRI, and for the purposes of new CBA negotiations, players have indicated that they are willing to reduce their BRI to 53-percent and have stuck staunchly to that (although recent reports indicate the players might lower their demands to 52-percent).
