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Are the Players and Owners Closer than We Think?
I have been a doubter about this season happening, but Sheridan's sources are giving the best news I've heard in awhile. I still think we're far from home, considering the players are already giving up a ton of money in their proposal.
Nick Young on Playing in Europe (from 2010)
DCLS: You're gonna hate this question, but since you weren't playing for a bit, would you ever consider playing in Europe?
NY: Probably, I dunno, maybe if I just wanted to experiment. But some people just forget about them once they're over there. You don't see nothing, no highlights of 'em. I'm a person that at least needs to see myself a little bit.
DCLS: It's good money though, and you'd sneak onto some European highlights, but they also probably play in like high school gyms.
NY: Yeah, people be smokin' cigarettes at the game and stuff, but it is good money though.
Nick Young is Challenging You to a Game of 1-on-1
Details are fuzzy, but apparently the Drew League wasn't providing enough competition for Young Sushi.
Is Nick Young in the Running for 'The NBA's Premier Hipster?''
No beard, jeans arent that tight, I think Deadspin's editors haven't been to Brooklyn recently.
Keys to the Palace: Good Riddance and Excitement
by Jon Kelman on Apr 17, 2011 10:41 PM EDT
on Bullets Forever
68 comments
Keys to the Palace: D-Leaguers Color Me Optimistic
by Jon Kelman on Apr 11, 2011 12:59 AM EDT
on Bullets Forever
'No I don't have a dog house, I have a Palace of Good Play.' I'm looking for someone who's playing well so I can put them in that palace."
Talking Wizards on Internet Radio
I'll be chatting about all things Wizards on this internet radio show Monday night. The show is run by a NY Knicks radio personality, and should be available afterward as a recording.
Keys to the Palace: Winning!
by Jon Kelman on Apr 3, 2011 11:00 PM EDT
in Keys To The Palace
on Bullets Forever
Keys to the Palace: March to the Lottery
by Jon Kelman on Mar 28, 2011 2:39 AM EDT
in Keys To The Palace
on Bullets Forever
The Wizards Shopping Spree at the Nike Store
The Wizards are like kids in a candy store
Hines Ward Does the John Wall Dance
Hines Ward reps the Wizards Rookie During his Intro on Dancing with the Stars
Keys to the Palace: What Matters Most
by Jon Kelman on Mar 21, 2011 12:05 AM EDT
in Keys To The Palace
on Bullets Forever
A 1-3 week shouldn't be any reason for excitement, but there is 1 'thing' that can override almost all the losing: the development of John Wall. Specifically, Jimmy has shown remarkable consistency lately.
The team was ravaged by injuries this week, with only 9 players getting more than 15 total minutes in the 4 games(!). The revolving cast around Wall just underscores how great he has been in maintaining a high level of play. His scoring and rebounding has jumped, and the slight decrease in assists is partly due to him needing to take more shots because of all the injuries. He also has gotten back to being a peskier defender and getting more steals.
It is important to see the other young players develop, but what matters first and foremost for this franchise is the development of John Wall. How good he is will be the primary driver in the future success of the Wizards.
Wizards Describe Their Worst First Date
Nick Young (once again) takes the cake
Keys to the Palace: Short and Not That Sweet
by Jon Kelman on Mar 14, 2011 1:34 AM EDT
in Keys To The Palace
on Bullets Forever
2 games, 2 blowout losses. I am running out things to say about this team. Blake Griffin did not score a point in the 2nd half of the Clippers game (and sat for the entire 4th quarter), and the Bucks were up 23 going into the final quarter on Tuesday. With that in mind, no one earned a regular Key to the Palace this week.
The good news is that despite all of the losing, John Wall and Trevor Booker 'look like they give a crap' every night, which is no mean feat when many nights are blowout losses. Their efforts are that of team leaders. Jimmy showing his frustration makes me nervous about the team keeping him happy, but Cook Book is someone he should be proud to play with. Now we just have to fill out the rest of that roster.....
Wizards Play Name That Band
Nick Young is priceless
Keys to the Palace: A Glimmer of Hope
by Jon Kelman on Mar 6, 2011 10:55 PM EST
in Keys To The Palace
on Bullets Forever
John Wall's Excitement Rating
The website Thuuz evaluates the amount of excitement an unbiased fan would get from a game. I provided a little consulting for them and they have now come up with individual player ratings for excitement. Check out how John Wall stacks up.
Keys to the Palace: Some Awful and a Mini-Rebound for the Wizards
by Jon Kelman on Feb 28, 2011 1:00 PM EST
in Keys To The Palace
on Bullets Forever
In full disclosure, I had some family stuff to deal with this week, so I only watched the Pacers game. I just got back in town tonight, so didn't have too much time to write and really only went by the box scores for my evaluation. Let me tell you though, that Pacers game was horrendous, and in the running for our worst performance of the season. The offense looked like it had no plan, other than let Jimmy drive and figure out last second where he could pass. The defense was even worse, looking indifferent and a step slow - we managed to make the Pacers look like a well-oiled machine.
Getting blown out by the 76ers and having the face of the franchise question his teammates effort are about as bad as it gets, but then the team seemed to rebound slightly and get a couple moral victories against the Heatles and Mavericks.
I'm tired of moral victories though, and the Pacers game was unacceptable. The coaches can be blamed, but Flip Saunders has a track record in the NBA, whereas many of these young players do not. The players have to look in the mirror and be leaders. The absolute last thing this franchise needs is to have John Wall's develop stunted by poisonous teammates, so something has to change dramatically.
Who Would You Trade John Wall For Right Now - Revisited
by Jon Kelman on Feb 21, 2011 2:15 PM EST
in Player Analysis
on Bullets Forever
A little over 6 months ago, I wrote a piece on who the Wizards would consider trading Jon Wall for, before our young point guard had even played a game. I used the NBA trade value column that Sports Guy does for ESPN with one major tweak of removing salary considerations. SG's new list came out last week, featuring Wall for the first time, so I think it is a good time to revisit my article.
For those of you too lazy for the link, Bill Simmons creates a yearly list of the 40 most valuable trade commodities in the NBA and I am using his column to find the players the Wizards would consider trading John Wall for right now. To be clear, Simmons takes into account age and contract, but I am removing contracts from my analysis.
Once again, here is the list of guys that I think the Wizards would at least consider for the 20 year old Great Wall (with age and Sports Guy ranking in parentheses and in order listed by Sports Guy) after the jump:
Keys to the Palace: 2 Stars, Kind Of
by Jon Kelman on Feb 20, 2011 11:58 PM EST
in Keys To The Palace
on Bullets Forever
John Wall Wins MVP of T-Mobile Rookie Challenge - Dougie Dunks?
by Jon Kelman on Feb 18, 2011 11:19 PM EST
in Recaps
on Bullets Forever
John Wall dished out a Rookie Challenge record 22 assists in leading the Rookies to a 148-140 win over the Sophomores. DeMarcus Cousins had a legit claim to MVP, but Jimmy's 22 assists were just too much, which included a bounce-pass alley-oop to Blake Griffin. Yeah, you read that correctly (the highlight of the game). I thought Wall and Cousins would share MVP, but no gripes with our man taking it all for himself. Cousins was good, but didn't generate the excitement in the game that his stats indicate, and Wall obliterated Chris Paul's record of 17 assists. Whatever, at least the Wizards won something this year.
Cali Swag District performed at halftime, and I was hoping for a Dougie-off between the Rookies and Sophomores, but no dice. You know what, forget it, they didn't even need Cali Swag District, there still should have been a Dougie-off worth maybe 10 pts in that game.
My favorite part of the game, other than the bounce-pass alley-oop, was the final play of Wall getting an off the backboard alley-oop from Cousins. That sounds amazing enough, but it is very possible that Jimmy did the Dougie while hanging on the rim:
My DVR couldn't stop a split second before this shot for some reason, so this is not the best shot. That said, Jimmy's hand definitely went behind the head, a little Prime Time Deion Sanders, but more likely a Dougie move.
For anyone who watched the dunk, I'd like to hear thoughts on whether Wall was trying to do the Dougie here. He was definitely trying to do something as he swung side to side......
Keys to the Palace: Let's Get Real
by Jon Kelman on Feb 14, 2011 12:47 AM EST
on Bullets Forever
What a week. I was tempted to give everyone a key if the team beat the Cavs, particularly after a great performance against the Bucks, but then that 'effort' happened against Spurs. I want to be able to talk about how the defensive rotations took massive steps forward against the Bucks, but the Spurs game overshadows the good.
I am trying to tell myself that it is fantastic to get off the schneid and finally have that first road win. As Mike said, time to dance. Maybe the game is all we needed to get over the mental block and will serve as a springboard.
On the other hand, we could have lost by 50 to the Spurs, and that is not acceptable. Maybe the team was looking ahead, and maybe the Spurs had something to prove after a bad game the night before, but that performance is not something I can accept as a fan. It is a game like that makes you realize we are celebrating a win over a historically awful team. Let's enjoy the win, but stay real about the state of the Wizards.
John Wall Is (Still) On The Billboard Charts
by Jon Kelman on Feb 12, 2011 5:33 PM EST
in Off Topic
on Bullets Forever
Mike already mentioned this about a month ago, but I thought it was worth putting it out there again in a time when Blake Griffin has almost completely overshadowed John Wall. Little do most of us realize, however, that our man has spent the past 7 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. Don't worry, Wall is not going to pull a Ron Artest and ask for a month off to promote the album (or only sell 343 copies), because he is not the artist, but rather the subject of Troop 41's Do the John Wall.
The group is from Wall's hometown of Raleigh, NC, and judging by their Twitter account and MySpace page, they generally only perform around the Carolinas.
The song has reached as high as #76 on the chart, and currently sits at #92. Here is a sampling of the lyrics:
"Everybody clear out, hand me the rock Time winding down 3 seconds on the shot clock Break the defense homeboy I can't be stopped All about my money so you know I'm hitting bank shots I'm trying to tell them, boy you can't guard this Beast on the court homeboy I play the hardest."
A Knee for A Knee
The Bittersweet Aftermath of Gilbert Arenas in DC
Putting the Pieces Together: How the Wizards Should Build Their Next Championship Team
by Jon Kelman on Feb 7, 2011 2:00 PM EST
in Team Analysis
on Bullets Forever
Speaking with Rook about his article on Nick Young and the fact that we both compare Sushi to Rip Hamilton got me thinking. If Nick is a rich man's Rip Hamilton, then the Wizards might already have a few parts of their next championship squad in place.
The only player guaranteed to be on the team next year and beyond is John Wall, but the most efficient way to build a contender is not trade all our assets for a 2nd superstar. I am not saying that trading all our assets for a star is necessarily the wrong move, but the most solid and fastest way to build is keep some of the current parts. With that in mind, I see possibly 3 parts of this future championship roster already here: Wall, Nick, and JaVale McGee.
Nick's similarity to Rip Hamilton made me immediately think of the 2003-2004 Pistons, who were the only team in recent memory to win a title without one of the top-5 or even top-10 players in the league (also a team that used 3 former Bullets in their starting 5...kill me). That team succeeded with a remarkably strong and balanced starting 5, not unlike the current Boston Celtics, which is in stark contrast to the Heatles. We are still unsure of Wall's ceiling, but every team should have a vision of how to construct their roster, and I think those Pistons are a great model for the Wizards to follow. I also think that in a league where teams are trying to put superstars together, a different approach could prove to be an advantage. I will now try to play Ernie Grunfeld and figure out how the Wizards can actually emulate those Pistons......
Keys to the Palace: Time for Some Leadership
by Jon Kelman on Feb 7, 2011 1:39 AM EST
in Keys To The Palace
on Bullets Forever
At 13-37, we are now 2nd to last in the Eastern Conference, and 4th to last in the entire NBA. I would like to say that this 0-4 week is acceptable because this is a rebuilding team and all 4 losses were against good teams, but frustration is mounting amongst fans and the players.
With that in mind, the theme for this week's Keys to the Palace is leadership. This team has 2 players over the age of 27, so leadership roles have been thrust upon a lot of young players. As we look to the future, seeing how these players embrace their leadership responsibilities could be very telling for how quickly and successfully the team moves forward.
Keys To The Palace: When An 0-4 Week Gives Signs of Encouragement
by Jon Kelman on Jan 30, 2011 11:25 PM EST
in Keys To The Palace
on Bullets Forever
0-4 is not good, but when those games are 2 pairs of back-to-backs, 3 of the 4 games are on the road, and all 4 are against teams with .500 or better records right now, I can stomach it. Even more to the point, in a season where winning isn't everything, there were some signs of encouragement in the team's performance. The front ends of those back-to-backs were both solid, with a tough loss to the Knicks, and a double-overtime loss to one of the NBA's best teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
We are still 0-23 on the road, but that road win is close (at Cleveland on February 13th anybody?) and the overall performance against the Thunder is more important than the result, as tough as that can be to swallow.
Keys To The Palace: Who Needs a Road Win?
by Jon Kelman on Jan 24, 2011 12:42 AM EST
in Keys To The Palace
on Bullets Forever
Jake has passed this weekly feature off to me due to real work obligations, so be prepared for all hell to break loose. I will do my best to do the feature justice.
On the court, the Wizards have had their best stretch of the season since the last Keys to the Palace. 4-3 with wins over the Jazz and Celtics. Hoo-ah! Amazing that this team can lose at Philly, Charlotte, Indiana, Minnesota, and Milwaukee in the last three weeks, and then suddenly beat two of the NBA's best. Such is the life of a young team.
Four games out of the eighth seed sounds doable, but let's not forget that there are three teams between the Wizards and that eighth seed, and four games over 41 is not an insignificant mountain to climb. Let's also not forget that the playoffs mean nothing, this team would be slaughtered in the first round, and should be thinking about the development of certain players and how they impact the 2011-2012 season.
Let Me Show You How Exciting John Wall Is
Statistical proof that John Wall will change your life
Start Your Office Pools: When Will the Wizards Get Their First Road Win?
At 0-15 away from home, when will the Wizards get their first road win?
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