Comment from Bridge
Time April 9, 2009 at 11:08 AM

“Yesterday’s telethon raised over 350,000 dollars” – - SportzWiz

What a great cause!
_________________________

I watched the game; I mean, how could I not – - I must’ve been smoking when I said that I wouldn’t watch my NBA games (I don’t even smoke); caught a “contact” perhaps (well, no one around me smokes either). Of course I’m gonna watch my guys – like I once said, they could be 1-100 and I’m still watchin’. I’m like a bad weave – you just can’t get me out lol…[of my games, especially my Wiz games!] Why was Twan SO hard on himself and his teammates; (I know that this may sound corny) but lets not blame – lets HUG each other. Enough blaming has already gone around this season; how can such a CLOSE group of guys end up like ‘Destiny’s Child’ or something. There’s no “I” in TEAM; NO Beyonce of this group of guys – the guys that I KNOW work TOGETHER…in harmony…Ebony and Ivory. Not such a good game, but hey, at least people like Dom got a bit of a breather; at least two of our key guys (cough, cough-Tawn and Caronimo) didn’t feel like they had to carry the team on their shoulders like they have been. Nick and Dray played well at least; McGee with his blocks; Brendan with his quest towards All-Star Center(ism); D-Song with his continued revenge from being suspended that one time; etc. Let’s take all of the positives from this game and move forward – improve as more games come. I know that I’ve said some of the things that I’ve said about next season and such, but, in all reality….[well, I’ll just say that] Every “trickster” has their reasons .

GO WIZ!!!!!

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time April 9, 2009 at 2:06 PM

I wasn’t able to watch the game last night; given that we went down 26-13 in the first quarter, it must have been something of a snooze.

From the boxscore, Andray looks to have had a very efficient 27 minutes. Otherwise, we were dominated and went into the 4th quarter down by 20 points.

Comment from wizards_fusion
Time April 9, 2009 at 3:26 PM

I, for one, am glad that Antawn Jamison is angry at his teammates for playing selfishly again. Antawn has always been a winner playing basketball and this season, in retrospect, is unacceptable for him – no matter how many crucial guys go down with injuries. Antawn holds a high regard for the game that has made him very wealthy and he respects the game. He earns the right to speak out as both the captain of the team and as an ambassador of playing the right way in the NBA.

Antawn is not saying the team should not have any fun (it was this team’s fun factor that brought back Washington basketball in the first place). Antawn’s frustration stems from the fact that his younger teammates are not understanding or listening to his messages. It’s like “in one ear and other the other”. As talented as Nick Young is, he does abandon the team game quite often and goes out to battle alone on offense. Even if Nick makes his shot, you can tell Antawn is not happy with what just happened.

In sports, you always have to measure yourself against what others are doing. Antawn knew that the Cavs and Wiz were basically on the same level 3 seasons ago. Since then, the Cavs have been to the Finals once (most likely going back this season) and have the ability to win a championship this time around. The Wiz are still stuck around playing .500 ball. Antawn is disappointed other teams have improved toward the goal of being champions while the Wiz are just an exciting but not a “seriously contending” team.

Maybe it is time for Antawn, along with Caron and Gil, to go to Grunfeld and tell Ernie who should belong on the Wizards next season and beyond. As I have mentioned in this blog before, if the Wiz are going to be hampered by injury after injury during these all-stars’ prime years, then I can’t be upset if the team doesn’t make it very far into the playoffs. However, if the team does something, such as retaining incompatible players or inexperienced coaches during these players’ prime years, then I would be very upset and frustrated because a golden opportunity is lost.

I’d say – keep up the heat on the youngins Antawn. The smart ones will eventually realize it and be on the same page with you. And these are the smart ones I want on the Wizards for the future.

Comment from neal
Time April 9, 2009 at 6:00 PM

I don’t think team members should be telling the GM who should be on the team. I didn’t like it when Arenas gave his ultimatum re. Jamison and I wouldn’t like it now. Grunfeld and the coaches have plenty of eyes to see who’s worth his salary. If the decision makers want input from the captains they will ask for it.

Young’s shooting % is only 45% and his 3 point % is only 34%. I guess I just happened to have watched the times when he’s been really slick. He looks almost unstoppable to me when he’s on.

I love McGee’s energy level. That’s not normal for such a big guy. On the other hand, his “basketball IQ” could stand considerable improvement. And he often muffs those short passes. But I remember Haywood had the same problem at first. Now he’s very good at handling those.

I still like Crittenton. If he continues normal improvement he’s going to be very good, I think.

Comment from Wizards4Life
Time April 9, 2009 at 7:03 PM

i have to agree with wizards_fusion on this because about 3 post down Dray+Mike James+Nick+McGee were in a video joking around in mid season when they should have been like AJ and CB3 and been working on what parts of there game that might have been lacking..

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time April 9, 2009 at 7:05 PM

I don’t think we know what’s on Antawn’s mind, but if he speaks out he speaks out.

As to telling Ernie who should be on the team… I don’t know, neal. We’d all like to see an A+ GM build an A+ team. In the last 3 years — since acquiring Caron — this team hasn’t made a move that led to any improved results. I’m not suggesting it would have been easy to make such improvements, but we’ve stood pat on the theory that “when we’re healthy we think we can compete with anybody,” although my memory is that when we were healthy we were just a bit over .500.

Gilbert said about Cleveland recently that they made moves when people thought ‘gee they don’t need to’, and the result has been a big improvement. They’re not trying to “compete with anybody,” they’re trying to win a championship.

Comment from tyrone20000
Time April 9, 2009 at 9:08 PM

Fact is- the Wizards are a very good team… when they are healthy and if they did not win their games they were almost always in them!

Comment from dcbutler357
Time April 10, 2009 at 12:09 AM

LOL…Can’t resist this one…

How in the heck can Antawn get on NY for doing the same thing that he does….LOL…If the COACH thinks that something is wrong with NY’s play, maybe the coach will take him out of the game…LOL….
Give me a break (Also, to be double teamed a lot, how many assists does AJ get a game….lol…point made). The sad part is that AD knew how to run the team when/if Gil was out, now there is no one that can compare to AD’s efficiency (we are not going to even mention what Gil brings to the table). I DID NOT SAY ATHLETIC ABILITY, I SAID EFFICIENCY.
Do we say that the Wiz simply can’t win without Gil (vs the upper echelon), or did Cleveland just play that poorly in Washington???
lol…it’s the end of the season for crying out loud…we discussed the same antics from AJ 20 games ago….lol….

Comment from Wizards4Life
Time April 10, 2009 at 1:06 AM

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/2009/04/the_javale_nick_andray_mike_sh.html

there u go we payed alot of money for it so you better whatch wile you can because the time used to do this stupid thing could have been spent learing your craft..
besides its not just AJ saying this its been Caron and Gilbert as well now why would 3 allstars say the same thing about the same people for nothing..

Comment from dcbutler357
Time April 10, 2009 at 6:44 AM

Good Morning,

It’s a few minute video…and it says they did it AFTER practice….

To give this as a reason that they are losing is LUDICROUS…LOL….They are probably mad because they didn’t come up with the idea….lol…..

for the video…..

THE VIDEO IS NOT THE CAUSE OF THE TEAM’S PROBLEMS…..

Comment from dcbutler357
Time April 10, 2009 at 7:11 AM

Greatest Player ever

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=60868292613&h=CrANf&u=uBtK4&ref=mf

Comment from Bridge
Time April 10, 2009 at 8:06 AM

“THE VIDEO IS NOT THE CAUSE OF THE TEAM’S PROBLEMS…..” – - dcbutler

I AGREE with you 100%…Wow – I guess that some of the guys aren’t entitled to have fun lol. I thought that that’s the original reason why people fell in love with this group of guys. Stop being kill-joy(ers)! LMAO

Comment from Tom Mandel
Time April 10, 2009 at 12:57 PM

The video is very fun. It didn’t win or lose any games or make us any better or worse a team.