Archive for July, 2008

No Surprise! Kwame Brown to Detroit

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

According to a Washington Post report, Kwame Brown and the Detroit Pistons agreed to terms on a deal potentially worth $8 million over two seasons. The former No. 1 draft pick of the Wizards in 2001 started his NBA career in Washington for four seasons (2001-2005) before his stops with the Lakers and most recently the Memphis Grizzlies.

It is no surprise to me as the Pistons GM Joe Dumars usually has a good feel about many former Wizards first round picks… in the recent memory. Here is a list of former Wizards “first round picks” who ended up playing for the Pistons for no more than one single season.

Former Wizards Drafted Years in Detroit
Kwame Brown No. 1 in 2001 2008 - ?
Jarvis Hayes No. 10 in 2003 2007-08 (Signed by the Nets in the offseason)
Juan Dixon No. 17 in 2002 Played 17 games for Detroit in 2007-08 (Free Agent)
Chris Webber No. 1 in 1993 by Orlando Played 43 games for Detroit in 2006-07 (before playing for his first NBA team “Warriors”)

2008 Olympics

Monday, July 28th, 2008

Hi Guys,

So SportzWiz is going to be out this week and he thought what better time to get me in the mix!

Okay, so the Olympics are almost underway and questions are in the air on what the USA team will be able to pull off this year. Is the USA team really ready for international play? I guess we will find out.

The World of Basketball has merged borders once again as the 2008 Olympics begins to take part next month. With four players returning from the 2004 USA team, including Carlos Boozer and Lebran James, the USA has much to live up to. The USA team faces heavy hitters like China, Spain and Germany whom all have returning players that are playing in the NBA. The presence of their big men and the leadership of the team have all been questioned. What does this mean for the USA team? A lot! The destruction of the Canadian team (120-65), although in the preliminary round, may serve as the road this team is going to take, or a fixed attempt to boost the dreamlike expectations of our dear USA team. Is the USA team heading down the road to redemption? Can they regain the strength that once was? One thing is for sure some good basketball will be played and there won’t be any excuses.

Childress Heads East……WAY EAST

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

I know this was being discussed in other topics so I figured I would just start a new one. Obviously Josh Childress made the decision to head to Greece for the next 3 seasons (although he has opt-outs after each year) for quite a hefty pay day which increases when you factor in the US to Euro exchange rate (currently at 1.57 at 10:00am this morning) and the fact that the team will pay his taxes.

Other European born players are now heading over to Europe in waves with Bostjan Nachbar, Juan Carlos Navarro and Jorge Garbajosa and Carlos Delfino all leaving the NBA for “green”er pastures.

While several players are heading over to Europe I don’t think this is a huge sign that the times are changing.

To me their are two specific type of American born players that will use the option of playing in Europe. Players leaving high school and restricted free agents.

Both of these types of players have limited options with high schoolers obviously having to choose to play collegiately and as we saw with Josh Childress the Hawks would have matched any offer that came his way from another team. So while some people are concerned over where the game is headed I think this statement from NBA president of basketball operations Joel Litvin is right on point.

“The level of concern is low. This is what happens when you have a global sport and a global marketplace for elite players, and we’re confident that the NBA remains the gold standard for professional basketball. Businesswise, it’s good for us, because it means more basketball fans will be watching basketball, and those fans will find the NBA because that’s where the best of the world plays.”

Gilbert Arenas Press Conference

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Hey everyone. Gil, Mr. Pollin, Eddie and Ernie spoke today at a press conference.

Here is a link to the video.

Here are pictures from the event.

Summer League Recap

Monday, July 21st, 2008

Well the Washington Wizards finished off their 2008 Summer League with a 2-3 record. Just a few links to throw at you this morning regarding Wizards Summer League.

For the stat gurus Here are the Wizards Stats for summer league.

For those of you who didn’t get to see the games but would still like to here are the archived games available on NBA.Com.

Wizards vs. Blazers (starts 30 minutes in)

Wizards vs. 76ers (starts 30 minutes in)

Wizards vs. Cavs

Wizards vs. Rockets

Wizards vs. Suns

Of course please chime in with your thoughts from Summer League and anything you saw over the past week.