Truth About It» Wizards Last Beat Spurs 1,918 Days Ago

The Wizards last faced the Spurs on December 26, 2010 in San Antonio, and they did so without Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee due to their club fight suspension. It was also John Wall’s first game back after missing six in a row and 12 out of 19. The Wizards were competitive, by their standards, but San Antonio moved the ball much better and won 94-80. Plus,Manu Ginobili got into Nick Young’s head. Washington last won in San Antonio on December 11, 1999.

The Wizards haven’t beaten San Antonio in Washington, D.C. since November 12, 2005— 1,918 days ago.The were last in town on January 2, 2010, the day after the New York Posts’ article came out sensationalizing the Gilbert Arenas-Javaris Crittenton gun situation. San Antonio’s efficiency won97-86, Tim Duncan led his team with 23 points on 16 shots, and Roger Mason Jr. added 20 points off the bench. Meanwhile, Gilbert Arenas (25 shots) and Caron Butler (21 shots) were in a pissing contest on offense and scored just 23 and 24 points on their respective attempts. After the game, Flip Saunders spoke about how he wanted Andray Blatche, who started the game with Arenas, Butler, Antawn Jamison and Brendan Haywood, to look for his offense closer to the basket. When asked,Blatche said he was just trying to stay out of Arenas’ way. Andray also took shots like this:

On February 21, 2009 the Spurs won at the Verizon Center98-67, against thanks to Duncan, 19 points on 13 shots, and Roger Mason Jr., 25 points on 15 shots in a starting role. The rest can simply be explained by the Wizards’ starting a lineup of Mike James, Butler, Dominic McGuire, Jamison and Darius Songaila. Javaris Crittenton had a very Javaris Crittenton game with zero points on three missed shots to go with zero assists, zero turnovers, zero steals, three rebounds and three fouls in 18 minutes off the bench.

About Songaila, who was third on the Wizards with 15 points that game, Comcast’sSteve Buckhantz said:“He’s a smart guy, he knows how to play the game. If he had the body of a . . . Kwame Brown, he’d be an All-Star. And he makes the most with what he has.”

I know, totally random dig at Kwame. Love it.

Hard to believe the Wizards’ third removed home loss to the Spurs came all the way back on February 6, 2008, a San Antonio 85-77 win over Washington. TheAP headlineon the game was:“Horry keys 17-4 run as Spurs slip past Wizards.” Yes, Robert Horry who was 37-years old back then. Enough said.

And such… the Wizards have beaten the Spurs at home justthree times out of the 12 yearsTim Duncan has been in the league. One win came onFebruary 9, 2005when Duncan didn’t play (his only missed game in Washington), another came onNovember 12, 2005when Duncan scored his lowest output in D.C. (11 points), and the third Wizards win came on December 31, 2002, when Duncan had his highest scoring output in Washington, 35 points. But Timmy was out-done that year by a combined 64 points from Michael Jordan, Larry Hughes and Jerry Stackhouse.

On this Saturday evening, the Spurs are favored by seven points and the Wizards are without Al Thornton, Rashard Lewis and Josh Howard (still). John Wall, Kirk Hinrich, Nick Young, Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee will start and try to test a Spurs starting unit of Tony Parker, George Hill, Richard Jefferson, Tim Duncan and DeJuan Blair as San Antonio look sto bounce back from a 77-71 loss last night in Philadelphia. Good luck, Wizards.

Source

Truth About It» ShareBullets: JaVale McGee aims to do things, mostly jump a lot

Pictures, commentary and links…

Sometimes I feel like on offense, when he gets the ball, JaVale McGee is like that guy who receives a particularly funny chain email (well, at least it’s funny to him), and then gets so overwhelmed with excitement that he forwards it to everyone he knows when it’s probably not appropriate to do so. Or maybe when he gets the ball he’s more like a little kid who sees a dancing puppy holding an ice cream cone and a PS3 outside, whereas the kid goes running through a clear glass door to get to the puppy (or to the rim) in a fit of enthusiasm.

Whatever the case may be, dude needs to chill. No one wants to seem him get hooked for the same stupid mistake he keeps making over and over again… dribbling aroundlike he’s a 6’2″ guard.

“We explained to him, at the end of the game when he started going on his dribbling exhibition, that’s one of the reasons that we lose on the road, because we get in close games and we do those things,” said Flip Saunders after Wednesday’s match versus the Bucks. “You can’t do that, and then players lose trust, as far as throwing him the ball in a late-game situation. It becomes easier for teams to defend against you, and puts more pressure on you, especially if you’re up a couple {points},” Saunders finished, explaining his teaching moment of quickly taking McGee out of the game when he performs such acts, as he’s done countless times before.

When a player keeps doing the same thing, you bench him until he gets it… even if it serves to the detriment of the team. Otherwise, as an individual, he’ll never learn. Any other coach in the NBA would do the same thing.

Another teaching moment came with about a minute left in the first half against the Bucks. The below picture shows where McGee received a pass inside the free-throw line, but still around  9-10 feet from the basket. The picture of McGee is blocked, but so is his path to the basket… nonetheless, it’s clear that he is about  to take off from very far away. Why? Well, that’s always the hard-to-answer question.

Yea… still very far away from the basket. Not sure what McGee is going to do here as the defender still remains perfectly positioned in front of him.

…And he ends up just trying to throw the ball at the rim really, really hard.

…And of course a charge was called. McGee was the only one of thousands who seemed to be surprised.

But JaVale can do some awesome things too… like a cuffing the ball, cocking it back and dunking.

He’s also been working on that unstoppable hook close to the rim.

Furthermore, McGee willjust aboutalter more shots than he blocks… Brandon Jennings did not make this one.

John Salmons, however, made this one.

Jennings most definitely did not make this runner.

Andrew Bogut was distracted from making this hook shot.

Hands High.

Somebody has blockitius.

LINKS.

My column in the DCist this week threw out some statistical comparisons to John Wall.They don’t mean much, but they are fun to do. Early on, his stats were comparing to Oscar Robertson’s, now Wall’s rookie numbers have come down to Tim Hardaway / Damon Stoudamire / Mark Jackson rookie year levels. Probably worth nothing that Wall is a much better athlete and that those three mentioned were 6-0, 5-10 and 6-1 respectively against Wall’s 6-4 height.
{DCist}

Rashard Lewis has considered knee surgery, but is not opting for that route just yet.He’s dealt with knee tendinitis his whole career, possibly like John Wall will. Just saying.
{Washington Examiner}

Jeremy Schmidt of the TrueHoop Buck’s site,Bucksketball, on Wednesday’s game:

“As they often have this season, Milwaukee just looked old.  Especially when compared to the bouncy Wizards, looking to get out and run constantly.”

Dan Steinberg on the DC Sports Bog relayswhat happens when you sue the Washington City Paper… I’ll specifically say,‘what happens whenDan Snydersues the City Paper.’

Although, Redskins senior vice-president Tony Wyllie, previously the VP of communications with the Houston Texans,evidently advised Snyder to do so.

“All I did was support Tony Wyllie. He wanted to do it,” Snyder has said. It smells suspiciously like Wyllie is falling on the sword of enacting the worst PR maneuver in the world. Could Snyder’s image be tarnished any further? Now, he’s bringing Wyllie’s former good name into the fray. How noble of Mr. Snyder. Or Mr. Wyllie. Or both.

“As the digital media world evolves, it is critical to have someone like Tony who understands new media,”Snyder said about Wyllie when he was hired in May 2010.

So Wyllie, who hasmade it clear that theteamis not suing the City Paper, rather Snyder as an individual, advised the owner of the team as an employee of the team to go after a weekly hard print paper only to see the power of“new media” (Twitter, Facebook and Google, as anarticle from Tech Cocktail, linked by Steinberg, points out), further expose the obliviousness of Snyder and the surroundings of idiots that he’s created.

Brilliant.

What if the NBA held a 2-on-2 tournament at All-Star weekend pitting states/Districts/counties against each other?One hypothetical would have Kevin Durant and Ed Davis representing Washington, DC with Carmelo Anthony and Rudy Gay standing in for Maryland and Keith Bogans and Reggie Williams playing for Virginia. Ed Davis? Meh. If I’m picking, I take Roger Mason Jr. over him.
{Piston Powered}

I’m betting that Sam Cassell still wants to“get in” on a Carmelo Anthony trade.
{The Onion}

Gregg’3G’ Popovich is coming to D.C. on Saturday. Here’s how his interviews go and such.
{The Basketball Jones}

Crappy players who have had success against the Wizards this season, as usual.
{Momentum Three}

How to properly pronounce and/or refer to some places in D.C.
{We Love DC}

Yes, the Huffington Post is terrible.
{LA Times}

Source

Truth About It» Wizards-Bucks Quote Mix, and John Wall Greets Earl Boykins

What’s life without a little Wizards-Bucks post-game quote mix?… especially after a Washington 100-85 win over Milwaukee that broke an eight game losing streak. And why did the Wizards give a more consistent effort on Wednesday night? Well, the boys have been going hard in practice, delving through competitiveness and talking trash to each other, whereas Kirk Hinrich is supposedly the one who talks the most trash… so says Nick Young in the video below.

“That’s the name of our story, however we practice is how we play.”
-Andray Blatche

And now… Jimmy Wall and Little Earl Boykins…

Source

Truth About It» Hello Turkey, Hello Australia…From Nick Young With Love

Now, this dunk wasn’ton, on Australia’s Andrew Bogut, but we’ll include him for diplomatic reasons. Turkey’s Ersan Ilyasova getting smacked around by Los Angeles’ Nick Young is really the big winner here.

One of the first things that comes to mind when looking at a picture like this is that there’s no way he’s making it to the rim.

He did.

You’d think some big time NBA advertising partner would want to sponsor a secondary dunk contest. Wouldn’t that haul in some bank on television? TNT, are you there? I understand the desire to make the official dunk contest on NBA all-Star Saturday night an elite and exclusive event, but there are too many good dunkers in the NBA not to have more than four participants.

Apologies to you, Nick Young, but also, here’s to you.

Young started Wednesday night’s game versus the Milwaukee Bucks with a traveling turnover and a couple missed shots that looked completely forced. He didn’t score his first field goal until the 10:59 mark of the second quarter, but then caught fire over the remainder of the period with 11 points on 5-8 shooting, including this dunk, as the Wizards out-scored the Bucks 25-18 to take a 47-37 lead at half. But just two of Young’s second quarter field goals were assisted by a teammate.

In the third, he came out more within the offense and paced the Wizards with 13 points on 5-7 shooting. This time, all of his buckets were created by a teammate. Washington took a 77-60 lead into the fourth.

Down the stretch, the Wizards made some unforced turnovers, and some forced, the quick hands of Brandon Jennings coming into play against Kirk Hinrich. Washington coughed the ball up eight times in fourth, and Young didn’t make a basket, but the Wizards had built up a big enough lead behind Young fighting his way through a rough start with a strong middle 24 minutes of the game. And the Bucks only out-scored Washington 25-23 in the final period anyway, ultimately falling 85-100 and breaking Washington’s eight game losing streak.

It was another Nick Young“specialist” game. He scored 26 points on 10-19 shooting  (3-5 from beyond the arc), thanks to three assists from Wall and a couple from Blatche. He got to the free-throw line just three times, making all of them, snagged four rebounds, all defensive, and shared just one assist to three turnovers. Young did have two blocked shots and a steal. Early in the third, he jumped in the passing lane, pushed the ball up the court, gave it up to John Wall on the two-man break, and finally got it back for the oop-dunk.

Young has found a niche scoring role within Flip Saunders’ offense, draining corner threes thanks to John Wall, throwing down a dunk every now and then, and with the final ingredient being a bad shot here and there. He plays adequate defense, but any other contribution is purely coincidental. Will he further improve? Because one thing people also miss when debating Young’s merits is how much his confidence has improved and how much further it could go.

That being said, it’d be no surprise if we’ve arrived at Nick Young’s ceiling. As his audition for a contract spans the rest of this season, thedebate over whether he’s worth re-signing for whatever his value may be rages.

But on this occasion, let’s just thank him for the dunk.

Source

Truth About It» Poor Free Throw Shooting& Dismal Rebounding Doom Wizards

No Al Horford, no problem for the Atlanta Hawks as they defeated the Washington Wizards 99-92at the Verizon Center on Saturday night, their 12th in a row over D.C.’s pro basketball franchise. The All-Star big man Horford sat out the contest with a bruised tailbone after a scary spill versus L.A. Clippers on Friday, but the Hawks still pounded the Wizards on the glass with a 45-33 advantage in rebounding, 10-7 on the offensive boards. Aside for a few minutes in the third quarter, the Hawks led throughout. The Wizards managed to keep the game within striking distance but were never able to get over the hump.

Josh Smith was dominant, finishing with 29 points on 11-19 from the field along with 16 boards, Marvin Williams went for a solid 15 and 12, and Joe Johnson contributed a very quiet, yet smooth 21 points on 7-12 shooting. Nick Young led the Wizards with 21 points, but got to that tally by taking 17 shots, and John Wall tallied 18 points with six rebounds, six assists and two turnovers.

The consecutive daggers came with three minutes remaining. The Hawks were up five when Smith abused Andray Blatche on an spin post move with the And-1 harm. Blatche did score three straight buckets for the Wizards from the five minute to the three minute mark of the fourth to keep the Wizards down just 88-83, so perhaps his defense suffered after his burst of points. After an empty trip by the Wizards on the offensive end after Smith put Atlanta up 91-83, Damien Wilkins, (yes,Damien Wilkins!) scored on a strong baseline move to push the Hawks to a 10 point lead with 2:10 left. That was essentially the ball game.

Another deciding factor in Hawks’ victory, other than a 13-2 edge in second chance points, was their work at the charity stripe. Atlanta nailed 26 of their 35 free-throw attempts, 13-13 in fourth quarter alone. The Wizards ended up a putrid 8-18 from the line, going just 1-6 in the final period. Washington actually shot better from the field (51-percent) then they did from free throw line (44-percent). Ouch.

In his post game interview, Flip Saunders stressed how his team stood around too much on offense and played the game like they were on their Playstation. (PS3, XBox or Wii are probably more updated game systems, but hey, better than breaking out Nintendo or Sega.) Once a player got the ball, the other four often just assumed he would shoot it, so they halted their movement. Saunders emphasized that these individual acts are usually the difference in a two or three possession game. He referenced the Hawks moving the ball around four times to create a successful late-game jumper for Williams as an example of superb ball movement by a more veteran team.

With the loss, the Wizards wrapped up a laborious stretch of five straight back-to-back sets over the past two weeks in which they won just one game, the second night of the first back-to-backagainst the Boston Celticsat home on January 22.

Overall, the Wizards have lost eight games in a row. They could use a few days off before hosting the hard-nosed Milwaukee Bucks in Washington on Wednesday night, and then a couple more days off before the NBA’s best San Antonio Spurs come to visit next Saturday.

Fans of this 13 win team could use a break too.

Source

Truth About It» ShareBullets: Plodding Through An NBA Lottery Winter

A D.C. pic, links, commentary, and whatever you want to call the other stuff…

TAI Recap: John Townsend implores Wizards fans to be more patient becausea drastic turnaround next seasonis not out of the question; if Gilbert Arenas wererebuilding a team, he wouldn’t do it though the draft; Adam McGinnis has one of the rare photos captured from the baseline ofAl Thornton’s massive dunk; pictures ofGilbert Arenas and Nick Youngin a reunion among friends; Rashad Mobley relays that someyoung Wizards still don’t understand their role(after several seasons); and when it’sokay for JaVale McGee to dribblefull court.

Here’s to NBA draft lottery luck in May for what’s been an excruciating winter for pro basketball fans in Washington. Below the jump, more must-read links…

{Hardy Playground, Washington, D.C. - Yearning For A Sunny Day}

LINKS.

David Aldridge has a good column about Gilbert Arenas, but he also has a message to Flip Saunders about one of his rookies:

“Flip: play Trevor Booker until he drops, give him a cup of water, and then put him back out there until he fouls out. Every night.”

{TBD.com}

The Wizards’ defense is like pudding.
{Bullets Forever}

JaVale McGee Tweets that he is addicted to the video game‘Call of Duty’, he writes:

“I’m addicted to call of duty… I have dreams about it… I need an intervention”

I bet Wizards coaches wish he was addicted to the iPad with Flip Saunders’ playbook on it… and this, of course, comes on the heels ofSaunders calling out his players, such as Nick Young, for being too individualistic and executing offense like they were playing Playstation.
{@JaValeMcGee34}

A column by Brian Schmitz discusses the Gilbert Arenas“baggage” that the Magic took on(baggage that the Wizards are glad they no longer have to deal with— Shall we just go ahead and give Ernie Grunfeld a gold star for the Arenas-Lewis trade alone? I say yes.). Schmitz also relays a rumor that a process server for the attorney of the mother of Arenas’ children was going to try to serve Arenas with child support papers while he was at the free-throw line. Nuts.
{Orlando Sentinel}

Is the Josh Howard situation not a little bit odd?Hear me out… the Wizards signed him to an incentive-filled, 1-year deal in August after he had surgery in March for a torn ACL. The contract incentives were said to make the deal potentially worth $4 million this season,Sham Sportslists Howard’s base salary at $3 million. We’re now at the point where Howard has appeared in just eight of 50 games on the season (spanning from Dec. 8, 2010 to Jan. 5, 2011), and he has missed the last 17 games because of issues surrounding his knee. Over his eight games, Howard averaged around 20 minutes per with a .333 field-goal percentage and a 10.3 PER… pretty poor numbers. On Wizards Insider, Michael Lee reports how Howard is able to practice fully now and hopes to return by this weekend. And the sentiment that Howard has been a good, vocal leader off the court persists. Of course, this is being said about the guy the Mavericks were anxious to ship out of town— via off court problems and the fact that Howard and Mavs coach Rick Carlisle are said to be not too fond of each other. Nonetheless,Mark Cuban was recently“dying to say” why Howard and the Mavs parted ways, but wouldn’t, deferring to Howard himself to answer that question.

It seems catty, not below Cuban… it seems odd, but not too much of a surprise… it makes you wonder, what was the point? Obviously the Wizards didn’t anticipate Howard having this much trouble with his surgically repaired knee, but at this juncture, especially if the trade deadline passes and Howard has not had a chance to prove his worth on the court, the signing seems like an expensive rental of a vocal character with a less than stellar track record who plays a crowded position. Shoulder shrugger.
{Wizards Insider}

Blatche Improvement? Craig Stouffer writes:

“Believe it or not, however, there are areas where the Wizards are showing small hints of improvement. Take Blatche, for example, who has 11 assists and just two turnovers in the last two games, in part because he’s been aggressively double-teamed. But whether he is totally conscious of it or not, he’s sharing the ball instead of putting it behind his back and giving it away to the other team.”

{Washington Examiner}

Thornton had anice dunkon Saturday night, but when asked about his troubles overall, he said:

“I think I don’t have nobody to blame but myself. It’s the inconsistency. That’s what it boils down to. I don’t point the finger at no one. I blame myself.”

Thornton, however, couldn’t exactly pin-point a reason for the issues. In his fifth season in the NBA, Thornton’s PER of 12.0 is right at his consistent career average of 12.3. At this point, as a player, Thornton might be an“it is what it is” situation.
{Washington Post}

Reading about the“Social Media Night” recently held by the Detroit Pistons makes one appreciate the forward-thinking media& PR team of the Washington Wizards even more.
{Piston Powered}

Kirk Hinrich was convinced to wear a lab coat with his glasses.
{Urban Raccoons}

Now that football is over, it’s the NBA’s time to dominate sports.
{Ball Don't Lie}

The NBA often turns a blind eye to the jerk moves of Kevin Garnett… which further cements ideas that certain league superstars get preferential treatment, particularly from the referees… I’d say.
{NBA Facts& Rumors}

If you’ve been keeping up with the whole Dan Snyder vs. The Washington City Paper ordeal, and you’re a person who has a soul, then you might want to consider donating to the Washington City Paper Legal Defense Fund.
{WCP}

I don’t always agree with John Feinstein, but he’s a damn good writer and has some good thoughts on Snyder vs. The City Paper.
{Feinstein On The Brink}

Finishing With A Dunk.

Source

Truth About It» The Washington Wizards: From Blunder to Thunder?

The Wizards have struggled this year, no question about it. The team has won just 13 games and is still hopelessly searching for its first road win. Their next opportunity for that elusive victory away from home comes on Sunday, February 13 versus the woeful Cleveland Cavaliers— a team nursing a 24-game losing streak.

Back on October 20, 2010, the crew at Truth About It.net gave their“crystal ball visions” of the Wizards’ regular season record for 2010-11. Here is what they looked like:

• Kyle Weidie–34 wins
• Rashad Mobley–30 wins
• Adam McGinnis–40 wins
• John Townsend–40 wins
• Arish Narayen–41 wins
• Beckley Mason–36 wins

I might choose to pass on the Buffalo wings and beer for the Super Bowl, instead opting to find a spot on my couch with an extra helping of Washington Wizards crow. This team is headed nowhere fast this season… but regular season performance in one year isn’t necessarily predictive of success and achievement in the next.

On the lighter side, here are the ten biggest single-season turnarounds in NBA history:

{Chart adapted from data gathered byBerry Tramel, NewsOK}

Two additional notes concerning single-season turnarounds… the 2002 New Jersey Nets won 52 games, an improvement of 26 wins, with NBA veteran Jason Kidd running the show.

Last year, the Oklahoma City Thunder increased their win total by 27 with virtually the same roster that produced a 23-59 season the year before. The biggest offseason moves for that Thunder team were drafting James Harden, and signing Etan Thomas and Kevin Ollie— Thomas and Ollie played less than 600 combined minutes.

Are the new-look Wizards the next Oklahoma City Thunder? No, not necessarily. But the fans, media, and coaches might need to give this squad a little time to grow. (Everyone’s patience is running thin, but we have to look at this year asthenew beginning. It is the start of the rebuild. Year one.) Only Rashard Lewis started on an NBA team last season. We have never seen a Washington Wizards team that has looked like this… but the players have never seen the minutes, opportunities, and situations that they are living each and every day this year, either.

In the chart above, six of the most impressive franchise turnarounds came at the hands of one superstar player (Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Steve Nash, and David Robinson). The Wizards already have that once-in-a-lifetime player in John Wall, so it would appear that they are on the fast-track to relevance. But just one superstar doesn’t win a championship.

With a little luck in this year’s lottery and the continued development of its young (or not-so-young) players, the Wizards might find themselves in the middle of a super, storied improvement. If the team can gel and find an identity as this season comes to a close, and continue to develop in the offseason, maybe we’ll finally see some magic next year.

Sure, it’s early, but here’s to the team’s roundball revival in 2012.

Speaking of development, I caught up with Etan Thomas who was in D.C. from the 2001-02 season through the 2008-09 season. He has had the opportunity to watch Andray Blatche, Nick Young, and JaVale McGee grow during their years in the Association. Kyle Weidie said Thomas’ answers were“diplomatically optimistic.” For better or for worse, the old poet has me hoop dreaming.

***

{Top image courtesy of Adam McGinnis, video via John Townsend.}

Source