Training Camp Dates Announced
The Washington Wizards announced their training camp schedule yesterday. the team will conduct their 2008 training camp at the Siegel Center on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, from September 27-October 3. In addition, the Wizards will host an open scrimmage, free to the public, on Friday, Oct. 3 at 5:00 p.m. at the Siegel Center.
As I have stated in other posts, WashingtonWizardsblog.com and WashingtonWizards.com will have complete coverage that week and I believe we will also have Dave Johnson posting throughout camp to let you know what is catching his eye. Only a week and a half away folks!!!!
Posted: September 16th, 2008 under Wizards.
Comments
Comment from SportzWiz
Time September 16, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Hey fans, I went down to watch the guys play some pickup games fire away with questions. Here are the 9 players I saw.
Nick, Dom, Dray, JaVale, Dee, Brendan, Etan, CB3 and Twan.
Comment from SportzWiz
Time September 16, 2008 at 4:02 PM
Oh and I got a quick 1 on 1 with Nick and pictures so those will be posted hopefully by the end of today. If not first thing tomorrow.
Comment from doclinkin
Time September 16, 2008 at 5:42 PM
Re pick-up games:
GREAT! That’s what I’ve been waiting for.
Questions:
9 players: no five-on-five? Teams?
Any surprises? Anyone look significantly bigger than last year? Or leaner? Or faster? Or better-shooting? Better defending? Any stand-outs?
Dom’s jumper, how does it look? Is he still able to hit that midrange shot he displayed in Vegas? What position was he playing: inside or wing.
Dray’s low-post work, did he develop anything to score in the paint or is he still trying to be face-up only. How about his footwork on defense? Is he any bigger?
Ditto x3 on JaVale. Does he still look lost on D unless he’s blocking a shot?
How did any Brendan vs Etan match-ups go?
Is Caron lean like last year or did he add back on some bulk?
Does Nick still pound the hellout the ball or does he occasionally pass? Defense?
Who won? Any significant trash talk?
Details man! Understand you see the players every now and again, the rest of us don’t even know who’s in town, who hits the weight room, etc. Any scraps and tidbits you toss out is like chum in the water for hungry sharks. That’s a good thing.
Comment from SportzWiz
Time September 16, 2008 at 8:34 PM
I’ll do my best 
The guys went 5 on 5, I dont know who the 10th guy was. But the teams were
Black Green
Dee Brown vs. Nick Young
Caron Butler vs. Unnamed 10th player
Dominic McGuire vs. Antawn Jamison
JaVale McGee vs. Andray Blatche
Brendan Haywood vs. Etan Thomas
The black team won every game I saw. There was also a game where Nick and CB3 went at each other almost every possession, and lets just say Caron was unguardable (although nick got a few on the other end his jumper looks about 10 times better than summer league). Twan and CB3 didn’t try to control the game, they let the young guys shoot more except the game where Caron dominated
Questions:
Dom’s jumper, how does it look? Is he still able to hit that midrange shot he displayed in Vegas? What position was he playing: inside or wing.
Dom played the wing and was guarding Twan. Offensively he looked terriffic! The guy was knocking in that 18-20 foot jumper from both the baseline and the wing. He also looked much more comfortable handling the ball to me. I was very impressed.
Dray’s low-post work, did he develop anything to score in the paint or is he still trying to be face-up only. How about his footwork on defense? Is he any bigger?
Dray and JaVale guarded each other and it was a pretty good matchup. Dray wasnt in the paint as much because Etan setup on the block on most possessions.
Ditto x3 on JaVale. Does he still look lost on D unless he’s blocking a shot?
If JaVale runs, jumps and hustles he will be a force in this league one day. He scored on multiple put back shots where nobody could jump with him. Caron kept yelling “Dunk it on everybody.” the vets like the young guy and Dee Brown kept referring to him as J-Mac while most other people refer to him as “young fella”.
How did any Brendan vs Etan match-ups go?
Both guys know each other very well and they anticipate each other’s moves. Etan looks Ripped! Brendan’s mid-range jumper is getting very good from that 10-15 foot range and he also had a great face up and baseilne drive for the game winning dunk. Great to see Etan back out there also and he will be a very very nice addition to the frontline after missing last year.
Is Caron lean like last year or did he add back on some bulk?
Caron looks like a beast, and whenever he wanted to score he could, Again from someone very close to him “He’s in the best shape of his career”.
Does Nick still pound the hellout the ball or does he occasionally pass? Defense?
Nick’s jumper is great and he said after summer league he worked extra hard to prove that really wasn’t him. I wouldnt put too much stock in his play from summer league. Nick did a nice job staying with a quick Dee Brown the other games I saw
One last thing, Dee Brown is super quick, his jumper was solid and he seems to always make the extra pass to setup his teammates. He’s lightning quick on defense and the guy seems to never run out of energy on the court and is always trying to get his teammates going.
Comment from doclinkin
Time September 17, 2008 at 2:30 AM
AHHHHH thank you thank you thank you thank you. I feel like a hobo who just found a McNugget ™, or even a gift certificate to Checkers fast food. ‘You gotta eat..’ — yeah you damn skippy I do.
Black team won every game? I can see why– Caron, Dee and DMac all try to distribute, though Dray is about the only passer on the other team. Can you get word on who the mystery player was?
Caron playing guard? How’s Caron’s handle end-to-end? Did the teams run any recognizable plays (backdoor cuts etc) or was it mostly one-on-one.
Too many questions. I’ll make room for someone else to ask one. Anyone?
I’d love for these scrimmages to become a running update feature. (I know I’m greedy) Now or throughout the year. Scrimmage of the day recap. Retrospective play by play. Video of the day’s best play.
Whatever I can do to make this happen I’ll do it. I’ll happily post links all over to bump up the hit count. I’ll sell ticket packages, I’ll act as a roving free PR guy at large, only please — keep feeding that inside-the-Wiz actual basketball info, inane as it may seem. I’m a Yogi, I can live a week on a single McNugget, but 2 months, that’s just too long I tells ya, too long.
Thanks man,
-doc.
Comment from millie mill
Time September 17, 2008 at 8:33 AM
Thanks doclinkin and sportzwiz. I needed that. Sprotzwiz as you probably know this is about the only way we Wizards Fan Junkies can really get information about the Wizards. I usually go to http://www.prosportsdaily.com/nba/wizards/ to get the latest Wizards news but they only give the news that I can find in the paper or if another team is talking about a possible trade with the Wizards. This is the only way we can get the behind the seen info about so I feel just like doclinkin.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time September 17, 2008 at 8:52 AM
Awright, the fun begins!
Are you saying there was a tenth guy, and you didn’t recognize him, SportsWiz? Just some guy…?
I like the “dunk it on everybody” cry for JaVale — his nickname needs to be “Everybody”.
No Gil, Antonio, Darius or DeShawn. Interesting that Pech wasn’t there. Got to worry about his ankle if he isn’t back to 100% after all this time.
Comment from SportzWiz
Time September 17, 2008 at 9:21 AM
Pech got there later on after the games were ending, there was about 10 other guys there and they rotated in on who got to be the 10th. I wouldn’t get caught up at all in who those players were.
DeShawn had an appearance yesterday at a local event so that’s why he wasn’t there. Not sure about the others.
Comment from SportzWiz
Time September 17, 2008 at 9:29 AM
Millie, you can also check the wizards website and on the bottom there is around the net. That is all the latest Wizards and NBA news from the local papers and national sports websites.
Let me see if I can answer a few more of these
Black team won every game? I can see why– Caron, Dee and DMac all try to distribute, though Dray is about the only passer on the other team.
Dom and Dee both did a great job of making the extra pass and both guys knocked down their jumpers consistently.
Caron playing guard? How’s Caron’s handle end-to-end? Did the teams run any recognizable plays (backdoor cuts etc) or was it mostly one-on-one.
It’s a pickup game so you might see some parts of the princeton, but its a lot of pick and roll, post up and isolation offense. Dee ran the show on offense, again Caron deferred for the most part.
I’d love for these scrimmages to become a running update feature. (I know I’m greedy) Now or throughout the year. Scrimmage of the day recap. Retrospective play by play. Video of the day’s best play.
Doubt we can do that I’m sorry I can only get you what I can. As I said before I have pictures from yesterday and a quick Q and A with Nick. A couple nice plays from yesterday, Dee Brown knifing through the defense on the break for some very nice lay-ups. JaVale with a steal on a pass and dribbling it coast to coast then giving a behind-the-back pass to Dee Brown for a layup. Caron scoring whenever he wanted to against anyone. Brendan’s baseline drive and two hand slam for the win in one game. JaVale’s putback dunk to win another game. Nick’s effortless jumper that was automatic yesterday. Ok I’m getting way too much in depth. Yes I’m as excited as you are for camp to open on September 27th!
Comment from Phemy
Time September 17, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Gilbert Arenas confirmed that he underwent a surgical procedure this morning that “cleaned out some debris” in his left knee. Arenas, who has undergone two surgeries to repair the left knee in the last two seasons, has been limited during the rehab process all summer and said he has planned all along on not participating in training camp or the preseason.
( check nba.com )
here we go again.. :/
Comment from gbkdc
Time September 17, 2008 at 12:37 PM
Dang it Phemy, that is really bad news!!!!! I’m going to cry!
Comment from millie mill
Time September 17, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Three knee surgeries. He better be glad he signed that big contract. This is messed up!!!!
Comment from Jason C
Time September 17, 2008 at 1:42 PM
I hope this isn’t because he pushed his rehab too fast again…
Comment from LilGil
Time September 17, 2008 at 1:59 PM
Damn I just heard about Gil…. Are we ever gonna get him to play??
Comment from SportzWiz
Time September 17, 2008 at 2:08 PM
Everyone relax. We’ll have something up shortly and we’ll discuss the injury in another thread.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time September 18, 2008 at 11:44 AM
SportsWiz — will you post the q&a w/ Nick? Maybe its own thread?
Comment from SportzWiz
Time September 18, 2008 at 1:54 PM
I will post it now. It’s been up on the Wizards website since yesterday, but got quickly passed over due to the Gil situation.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time September 18, 2008 at 2:33 PM
Wizards website? Who looks there, when we have *you*????
Comment from SportzWiz
Time September 18, 2008 at 4:38 PM
I would highly recommend that everyone check out the Wizards website, especially when training camp rolls around and information will be put up there constantly!
Comment from slwiz
Time September 26, 2008 at 11:51 PM
It’s been awhile so I wanted to test out my user id and password. I’ve been reading the blogs from training camp last year. Wonder if they will have a daily honor roll and who will get the first one? Who will the special coaches be? Also, why go all the way to Richmond, Virginia for training camp? How many years running have the Wizards been going to Richmond? Is there a tradition? Sportzwiz are you a color analyst or do I have you confused with another? I, too, am anxious for training camp! And videos and pictures!! Tomorrows the start of a big week!!
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Comment from wizards_fusion
Time September 16, 2008 at 1:39 PM
If tradition stands, NBATV will also be down in Richmond and broadcast training camp with interviews of some players and Coach Jordan. Last year, I remember Glen Consor had some analysis as he was interviewed by Andre Aldridge.