Despite what anyone might say, the game wasn’t on one man. It hasn’t been on one man all season. Not Caron Butler. Not Antawn Jamison. Not Gilbert Arenas. Not Flip Saunders. Not, etc.

The Wizards win and lose as a team.

[via @MikeJonesTWT]

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{Arco Arena, where it's at - flickr/Bo Knows California}

1 ) Added attention

It’s a nationally televised game on ESPN (10:30 pm EST). Actually, this is probably a bad thing for the Wizards.

2 ) It’s going to be a close game

• All seven of the Wizards’ games in December have been decided by four points or less.
• The Wizards have lost five in a row by a combined margin of 11 points. Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog reports that this is the lowest total five game loss margin in franchise history.
• So, the Wizards have obviously lost their last five by four or fewer points. The last team to do that in a single season was the 1979-80 Knicks. The most consecutive losses by four points or less is set at six games by the 1976-77 Suns.

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flickr/kris247

When the San Antonio Spurs asked Ernie Grunfeld what it would take to get the 5th pick in June 25th’s draft, Grunfeld simply responded, “Manu Ginobili,” or so goes the purported story relayed by the Washington Post’s Michael Lee.

Despite Ginobili’s old age and injury issues, sounds like a pretty absurd counter request (assuming only expiring contracts/low value players would accompany the pick) for one of the top gamers in the NBA. Spurs brass certainly would not expect to give up one of their top three stars for a pick in what most are saying is a down draft.

Grunfeld is not ridiculous, nor is he stupid. He’s just playing hardball knowing the pick will only increase in value heading up to the draft. Case in point would be the hype surrounding Stephen Curry and interest from the Knicks to possibly trade up to get him (amongst Wizards’ threats to draft Curry themselves). Whether Grunfeld’s old team would deal with him might be another story.

Forget what you’ve heard about this being a down draft. Even the worst drafts produce hidden gems, and every GM, with their egos, confidence, and scouting reports think they can mine the next one. A pick’s value is in the size of the target on a slotted player’s back placed there by interested parties.

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Caron Butler recently sat down with NBC 4′s Lindsay Czarniak for an interview. Interesting tid-bits are below, followed by the embedded video from NBC Washington.

• Butler, like most NBA players, has mad love for the Cheesecake Factory.
• He enjoys the ‘large’ chicken Caesar salad.
• He’s a great dad, often working out from 1-5 am so he can rest and then be home when his daughter gets back from school.
• Tuff Juice has 22-23 straws ready to chew during games … he calls it a fetish.

Wizards Web:

Marbury to the Wizards? [Frank Isola, Knicks Knation]
“Marbury, according to a source, was contacting Flip Saunders almost on a daily basis during the postseason and there is a chance that Marbury could be reunited with his first professional coach (okay, second after Bobby Cremins) next season. Read more »

Today, 4-23-09, is the official Flip Saunders press conference day … ready to put the ‘O’ in Official … I’ll try to listen to the 3 pm presser and blog down some thoughts later.

But in the meantime, why not bag on Cleveland?
(via a hilarious video made by someone from Cleveland that I could probably make about DC, via joeposnanski.com, via Google share with Chris Needham)

Wiz Run-Down:

Flipping Gil
“The thing about Gilbert is, no coach is ever going to have a problem with how much he loves the game. He puts in an unbelievable amount of time working on his game. He’s a competitor and he wants to be great.

“You don’t ‘control’ players. No coach does. Phil Jackson doesn’t control Kobe Bryant and he didn’t control Michael Jordan. What you do is put players in situations where they can be successful. And I think I’ve always done that.” Read more »