Nothing particularly new here, but it frames the issues pretty well. This quote was memorable:

"As I study this thing more," said a GM whose team will not be in the lottery, "those players that are not energy guys, the Ray Allens of the world who are steady -- and I don't know who Barnes is going to be -- players like Gilchrist have more of an effect on your team, depending on who you are. Barnes is going to help the Celtics and the Heat, teams like that. Those kind of guys, bringing those guys to a young team, you have to deal with trying to find energy, trying to find what makes the guy go, trying to make the guy more aggressive ... when you have to try and get the guy going every freaking day, it's like another job."

He's playing for the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers, who are in the playoffs in the Chinese Basketball Association. (This article dedicates lots of ink to his teammate Quincy Douby, but Big Game James gets a quote in.)

Gil must be regretting the beard choice, those photos are showing up everywhere now, including on the All Star ballot.

Apparently he got dizzy in a recent game against Milwaukee.

As we approach the season and find ever new and more agonizing ways to worry about this team, and the ridiculous pseudo-statistical analysis of blogger hacks, and how Gilbert will respond this season, and whether Blatche was really that good, and whether JaVale can learn some genuine post-up moves, and whether Booker can play the 3, and how Hinrich will fit, and whether Nick can become that spot-up shooter Flip has wanted, etc...

Take a moment to reminisce about May 18, 2010, a day that started with the Wizards having a 10.3% chance of winning the lottery. I couldn't even win on the ESPN mock lottery. (Still can't.. see link)

I first heard about this via a post on a French basketball website (of which there seem to be several, judging by all the recent Seraphin-related links). Somewhere there's a Frenchman with a Roger Mason Spurs jersey, feeling bad.

Truth About It has a really nice write-up about Yi Jianlian's training with David Thorpe. My favorite part was the bit about

"He was dunking everything, and beating guards down the floor, and stripping guards, and making plays full-court in transition with the ball in his hands. His strength coach, who is with him full-time, said he’s never seen him do that kind of stuff before."

In other news, I guess his arm is ok, as he continues to play well in the Stankovic Cup, in preparation for the FIBA World Championship.

Editor's note, by Mike: We'll use this as an open thread for tonight. Thanks satchmore!

JaVale's on the blue team with Brook Lopez, going against Tyson Chandler. We'll see if the Vale of Cashmere gets any burn.

The more I think about this move, the better it looks.

An excellent synopsis of the many ways in which we were correct. (Apologies for the duplicate post, I just realized Johnnie Futbol posted this link earlier.)

Note that he actually paid for the guns, he just didn't pick them up. I guess rent in Beverly Hills is pretty high.

A crushing blow to the Kings.

It's that time again.. time to hang up this season and wish for a great draft pick to turn around the Wizards' prospects, just like that kid from Oklahoma turned the Clippers around. I've hit the "Play lottery" button about 20 times now, and the Wizards haven't taken first place once.