The 2012-13 NBA regular season ended a month and six days ago. Over the 170 days prior, starting on October 30, 2012, it was 82 games up, 82 games down for the Washington Wizards; 29 wins and 53 losses. The beauty is that we don’t have to live through it again—teams that win 35 percent of their games rarely want to—but we also don’t have to forget. Because you’d never learn, or improve, if you forgot everything and ripped the rearview mirror off the Ferrari.

Nineteen different individuals suited up for the Wizards this past season. Martell Webster led the way in action with 2,200 minutes, and Jason Collins contributed the fewest with 54 minutes. For all 82 games, the staff of Truth About It.net, amongst other game observations, rated each of the five Wizards starters plus two players off the bench on a three-star scale (inspired by the District of Columbia flag) in a series of posts called the D.C. Council. (Well, we evaluated players for all games, except one: Game 60, when Deron Williams completely demoralized the Wizards from ever competing by going 7-for-7 from the 3-point line in the first quarter.)

Sometimes three players off the bench were evaluated instead of two; a few times it was less than two. In general, the average rating of players coming off the bench was skewed a little higher for the simple fact that those playing better were more likely to get evaluated. Starters, on the other hand, got evaluated no matter what.

[***Also: remember that silly little time in December 2012 when the most positive talk that could be mustered was how the 1-13 Wizards led the NBA in bench scoring? Swell.]

The D.C. Council ratings are a statistical anti-stat. They are the combined impression of several interested members of the crowd, but in numerical form. Sometimes the ratings were contingent on winning and losing, and they were always subjective. They are simply one window of evaluation, combined with written analysis, both standard and advanced statistics, and shot charts. Below is a hyperlinked index of reviews for all 19 Wizards (plus a bonus review of Tomas Satoransky, Wizards Euro-stash), their average D.C. Council three-star rating, and the number of games over which they were evaluated.

The 2012-13 Washington Wizards season: it was all a dream, and not that great of a dream.

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[Wizards 2012-13 Player Reviews from the TAI crew are going down; let's reflect---index:
Jannero Pargo, Jason Collins, Shaun Livingston, Shelvin Mack, Cartier Martin, Earl Barron,
Jan Vesely, Chris Singleton, Trevor Booker, Garrett Temple, Emeka Okafor, Trevor Ariza,
Martell Webster, A.J. Price, Jordan Crawford, Kevin Seraphin, Bradley Beal, Nene, John Wall.]

Shelvin Mack

6-3 : Height
215 lbs. : Weight
24 : Age
2 : Years NBA Experience
3 : NBA Teams

Drafted by the Wizards on June 23, 2011;
waived by the Wizards on Oct. 28, 2012;
signed by the Wizards on Dec. 25, 2012;
waived by the Wizards on Jan. 7, 2013.

Time as a Wizard in 2012-13

7 : Games
2 : Starts
141 : Minutes

1.25 out of 3 stars

Average Truth About It.net DC Council Game Rating
{Mack evaluated over 4 games} 

10.4 PER

NBA historical PER contribution equivalent:
Earl Boykins with the 2011-12 Houston Rockets (10.3)

.052 Win Shares/48 Minutes

NBA historical WS/48 contribution equivalent:
Jamison Brewer with the 2001-02 Indiana Pacers (.052)

With Shelvin Mack on the Court…

The Wizards offense scored 5.5 points less per 100 possessions (OffRtg)
The Wizards defense allowed 7.5 points more per 100 possessions (DefRtg)
Plus/Minus per 48 minutes: minus-12.6

Numbers : Per 36 Minutes

9.4 : Points
4.1 : Rebounds
0.0 : Blocks
1.5 : Steals
5.9 : Assists
2.0 : Turnovers
2.6 : Fouls

0.73 PPP

Mack had 48 offensive possessions with the Wizards that ended with a FGA, TO or FTs, and he scored 0.73 Points Per Possession (PPP) on those, ranked 416th in the NBA (via Synergy Sports Technology). Defensively, he allowed 0.70 PPP over 54 possessions, ranked 9th in the league.

Shooting

40% Field Goals (16-40)
30.8% 3-Pointers (4-13)
50% Free Throws (1-2)

[stats via NBA.com/stats and Basketball-Reference.com]

#22

Shelvin Mack in 2012-13 with the Wizards:
Lost in a Waive of Despair

by Adam Rubin (@LedellsPlace)

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D.C. residents cheered when three new escalators opened at the south entrance of the Dupont Circle Metro Station in October 2012. The Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) closed the southern entrance for repairs for nearly nine months, but the wait was worth it, in theory. WMATA had decided to strip the entrance and rebuild from scratch this past summer, finally doing away with some of the least reliable escalators in the system.

New “transit-grade” escalators promised a better commute—to “unsuck” D.C. Metro—in one of the city’s busiest, and deepest, subway stations. In reality, Metro and its faithfully frustrated riders were forced to deal with 20 outages in the first 40 days after the grand reopening.

Construction is a constant in the nation’s capital, but, for one reason or another, it never seems to go according to plan. Just ask any Wizards fan who is still waiting for their team to climb out of the gutter.

Supporters of D.C.’s pro basketball team have suffered through nearly 200 losses and some of the worst basketball the Association has ever seen for almost five seasons now. We all know about owner Ted Leonsis’ blueprint for rebuilding his Washington Wizards: stay financially flexible, sign free agents and develop supposedly talented prospect. And, perhaps, trade some of said prospects for major players when the opportunities arise.

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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. 29, Washington Wizards vs Dallas Mavericks in D.C.; contributor: Kyle Weidie from the Verizon Center.]

Romantic Bradley Beal Bobblehead. 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. 28, Washington Wizards at Chicago Bulls; contributors: Kyle Weidie and John Converse Townsend from behind the television screen.]

The Progression of #WittmanFace. 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. 27, Washington Wizards vs Orlando Magic; contributors: Dan Diamond and Conor Dirks from the Verizon Center.]

Post-Game Steez Face. [Jordan Crawford, Steez]

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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. 26, Washington Wizards vs Cleveland Cavaliers; contributors: Dan Diamond, John Converse Townsend and Kyle Weidie from behind the television screen.]

Who Dat? Read more »

Here to provide the DC Council Opening Statements for Washington’s 26th game of the season against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the District are TAI’s Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) and guest Amin Vafa (@AminNBA), who is all over the interwebs (including Bullets Forever and Hardwood Paroxysm) but contributes here today as a writer for SB Nation Cleveland.

Wizards Starters (3-22):

Jordan Crawford, Shelvin Mack, Bradley Beal, Martell Webster, Nene, Emeka Okafor
Note: Crawford is not starting per violation of a team rule.

Cavaliers Starters (6-23):

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The Washington Wizards, well, aren’t doing too well this preseason. Randy Wittman’s bunch is also not a full bunch. Surely not the way coach wanted to start his campaign.

John Wall’s knee will continue to be a gargantuan question mark, even as his scheduled return date — toward the end of November — nears. What else would the preemptive resting of a 22-year-old because he was on his way to a stress fracture of the patella mean? It’s a major threat to Ted Leonsis’ rebuilding project until proven otherwise.

Nene is getting fitted for orthotics in order to tolerate the pain in his foot — and play — instead of showing off suits on the sidelines. Since players started convening in D.C. for training camp, Emeka Okafor has dislocated his finger, taken time off due to “rest/soreness” (per various box score reports), and has had a bout with food poisoning via a burger from the George Mason University hotel during training camp. (He’s playing now.) Trevor Booker, because of a hamstring pull, just played in his first preseason game last night (he played well). Kevin Seraphin has missed the last two preseason games with a calf injury. Jannero Pargo’s ribs, Chris Singleton’s shoulder — things happen.

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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. Preseason Game No. 3, Washington Wizards at Cleveland Cavaliers; contributor: Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It), who watched the game over bootleg Internet television.]

Washington Wizards 99 at Cleveland Cavaliers 95 [box score] Stat of the Game: The Wizards shot more free throws than their opponent for once, 34 to 28, but they made just 23 of them (67.6% — ouch) while Cleveland made 21 (75%). Washington tallying 26 assists to 16 turnovers also somewhat helped. Read more »