Arenas Banner…Free Agency…Basketball Camp
SportzWiz checking in…as you can see above there is a new banner that just went up on 6th street of Gilbert Arenas. Just a few quick notes on what else is happening in the NBA and with the Wizards.
In league wide news, the NBA Free Agency signing period begins tomorrow so while certain teams have come to terms on deals nothing is finalized until tomorrow.
On the Wizards front, currently the Wizards are holding a basketball camp at Verizon Center. You can check out video and photos from the first day of camp. Today the kids had a special guest appearance as Wes Unseld spoke to the kids and talked about the importance of balance, quickness and conditioning. As more special guests come in I will post that here.
As far as mini-camp is concerned, the Wizards will begin on Friday and we’ll have videos, photos and quotes from camp.
Posted: July 7th, 2009 under Wizards.
Comments
Comment from neal
Time July 7, 2009 at 3:01 PM
The Wizard’s salary situation probably isn’t comparatively as bad as it looks. I presume several teams will be signing FA’s (particularly their own) before training camps start. If anything, we’ll just sign a big to a minimum.
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time July 7, 2009 at 3:26 PM
Although there were a lot of names presented in this blog that look attractive for the Wiz to pursue, I am leaning toward the “bottom of the barrel” talent variety due to the team’s money and tax situation.
Mike Jones, from the Washington Times, wrote the following article on July 1 and I am siding with his sentiment. Here’s his quick recap:
Wednesday [July 1, 2009] signals the beginning of the NBA’s free agency period, and although teams are free to begin courting and negotiating with players, don’t expect the Washington Wizards to spring into action.
Instead, the Wizards are expected to wait, then comb the leftovers to add the final pieces to their roster.
“We’re going to start making calls, and we’ll monitor the situation, but the teams like Detroit, Oklahoma City, Memphis and Portland – the teams with a lot of [salary] cap room – will be doing the big spending in free agency,” Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld said Tuesday. “The whole situation will shake itself out, and we’ll see what presents itself and carefully go from there. I expect this to be a drawn-out process.”
The Wizards are expected to use a conservative approach because of the luxury tax and a deep roster at most positions.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/01/wizards-wont-be-buyers-at-start/
Comment from wizards_fusion
Time July 7, 2009 at 3:34 PM
I’m curious – what position is the team looking at for the final spot? Center? Power Forward? Small Forward? Just a Forward? A “big body”? Or another guard to piss off Tom M.?
And whomever said JaVale McGee is playing backup center to Haywood must be dreaming. Blatche is the backup to Haywood at the 5. McGee would be flattened at the 5 like when the Roadrunner runs over Wile E. Coyote. Blatche can backup at any frontcourt position because he is versatile.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time July 7, 2009 at 5:33 PM
LOL — I’m sure we’re looking for a 4/5 — if the latter, then I imagine we want as much experience as possible; it’d be easier to accommodate a rookie at the 4.
Right now, I’d sign Nick Fazekas or Richard Hendrix onto our squad. Both would come *extremely* cheap, and they are players with real upside. Both very strong rebounders — the skill which translates most easily to the NBA.
Fazekas has only had 269 NBA minutes, not enough obviously to draw any conclusions. But, he’s averaging 16 rebounds per 48 minutes and shooting .566. Hendrix has a very big body, and you can’t keep him off the boards.
Comment from Reuben
Time July 7, 2009 at 5:35 PM
In the Day 2 gallery there is a pic of me playin D(pic # 6)
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time July 7, 2009 at 5:37 PM
neal — our salary situation is quite bad, yes. Especially if you look at salary obligations out a few years as well as for this year.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time July 7, 2009 at 5:40 PM
wizards_fusion — don’t you think Andray will see minutes at both positions?
As to JaVale, he was pretty effective last year playing the 5. His only real problem was that he couldn’t stop himself from taking dumb shots off of rebounds instead of sending the ball back out to re-initiate the offense.
Comment from Aj
Time July 7, 2009 at 6:52 PM
Does anyone know if javlae started living in the weight room yet? When i went on the floor at a wizards game earlier this year it was so weird seeing just skin an’ bones on such a tall body.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time July 7, 2009 at 7:40 PM
Reuben — is this you in the white playing D?
http://www.nba.com/wizards/photogallery/camp_090707_6.html
Comment from zbp18
Time July 7, 2009 at 8:38 PM
I think the Wizards need 2 more bigs to round out the roster, a true Center & a PF/C both defensive & rebound minded (but not Calvin Booth & Micheal Ruffin, we need to up grade). One threw free agency the other by trade (we’ve got way too many guards) I don’t agree with the Mike Jones article about another big not getting a lot of playing time on this roster if you factor in injuries (hopefully only minor one’s) & our young guy’s getting into foul trouble some nights, it seems like plenty of playing time. Remember Shaq’s back in the East not to mention D. Howard, KG & Rasheed who’s now with the Celts, & those long road trips out West when we get 4 games in 5 nights. We need to be able to weather the storm if were going to make it to the playoffs & beyond.
Comment from kg
Time July 7, 2009 at 8:46 PM
i’ve been watching the orlando summer league. I like Richard Hendrix, Josh McRobert with the beard and B.J Mullens so far for the big.
Comment from Reuben
Time July 7, 2009 at 10:10 PM
Yea tom that’s me in the white with black undershirt
Comment from Reuben
Time July 7, 2009 at 10:16 PM
I and by the way I stole the ball from the guy on that play. I remember the cameraman being right by me
Comment from neal
Time July 7, 2009 at 10:37 PM
Aj are you the former millie mill?
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time July 8, 2009 at 1:56 AM
Reuben that is Way Cool! Very Very Nice. Maybe you are a future John Stockton? You resemble him a little 
AJ very nice seeing you on here once again. We have missed you. And, Yes, I’ve been reading that JaVale has been putting a lot of time in the weight room and a lot of cardio. I think it was Sportzwiz that commented on physical development in an earlier thread.
Comment from millie mill
Time July 8, 2009 at 7:14 AM
No, Neal I’m millie mill, AJ just looks like me a little.
This one is for AJ. JaVale McGee’s summer workout. It was posted in a earlier blog.
Comment from millie mill
Time July 8, 2009 at 7:22 AM
There has been a lot of player movement this season so far. The East can look like the West did two seasons ago when a team had to have 50 wins to make the playoffs.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time July 8, 2009 at 7:34 AM
kg — how are you watching the Orlando summer league games? On the pc? Give us a link please…
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time July 8, 2009 at 8:03 AM
This year’s Lux Tax line was announced this morning at $69.92 million. We are @ $6m over the limit, meaning we take $6m out of our coffers and pay it into a fund that is split at season’s end by the teams that were under the tax limit.
Not only does this *cost us* money, but it means we don’t share in the fund as we have in past years — i.e. it’s *very expensive.*
Makes it hard to believe we’re going to go out and sign anyone for anything more than the undrafted rookie minimum — if there is such a thing.
Comment from kg
Time July 8, 2009 at 9:00 AM
here u go Tom
http://www.nba.com/magic/2009_Orlando_Pro_Summer_League.html
the games start at 3pm EST so just click on “click here to watch live”
direct link to broadcast is
http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia-live/nba/11191/300_nba-orlandmagic_060502.asx
Comment from neal
Time July 8, 2009 at 9:20 AM
Tom, I haven’t figured out the salary ramifications for future years. I presume you’re right – that they’re very bad.
HOWEVER, next year the economy will rebound, the lux tax limit will go soaring and everyone will live happily ever after.
Don’t worry.
Be happy.
Comment from millie mill
Time July 8, 2009 at 9:33 AM
According to this article the Wizards aren’t that badly hit by the Lux tax.
http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/art_garcia/07/08/salarycapinfo/index.html
Comment from Rick
Time July 8, 2009 at 9:35 AM
An interesting article about team financials from last year…
http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/art_garcia/07/08/salarycapinfo/index.html
All the teams paying tax were good except the Knicks (thanks to Marbury in large part).
So perhaps if we start paying the luxury tax we’ll be good?
Comment from SportzWiz
Time July 8, 2009 at 10:16 AM
just a quick fyi…
Dwyane Anderson (Villanova) has replaced Jason Rich (Florida State) on the Summer League team.
Comment from SportzWiz
Time July 8, 2009 at 10:37 AM
also had the chance to catch up with Brendan Haywood yesterday, I’ll post that q & A shortly.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time July 8, 2009 at 10:48 AM
Here is Anderson’s Villanova page. Draftexpress doesn’t have a profile for him.
millie mill (and rick) — that article detailed *last year’s* luxury tax situation. Per my post above, we are @ $6m into tax territory.
Comment from SportzWiz
Time July 8, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time July 8, 2009 at 10:56 AM
Re: salaries — for ‘10-11, we are at $63m for 10 players (assuming we pick up options on JM, JC, NY, qualify RF, and keep our first round draft choice) — not including Brendan, Mike Miller, and Dominic McGuire and/or whomever we pick up this summer.
Looks like another year in tax land?
Comment from Rick
Time July 8, 2009 at 11:02 AM
Yeah, that’s what I said… “financials from last year”. That’s the point. The teams that payed the luxury tax *last year* were good *last year*
So perhaps if the wiz are forced to pay a tax this year it is a good omen.
Comment from millie mill
Time July 8, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Tom Question??
Could the Wizards have offered Mike James 6 million NOT to pick up his option year, so they would not go over the lux tax and pay another 6 million in tax?
Comment from eri_2
Time July 8, 2009 at 11:05 AM
I think if we sign anyone to the roster from the summer league team we should look at the following players in order of preference.
Alade Aminu F 6-10 225 09/14/87 Georgia Tech R
Josh Heytvelt F/C 6-11 260 06/02/86 Gonzaga R
Diamon Simpson F 6-7 230 09/08/87 Saint Mary’s R
Brandon Wallace F 6-9 203 03/14/85 South Carolina R
Jon Edwards C 7-0 275 07/31/81 Kent State 2
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time July 8, 2009 at 2:57 PM
millie mill — what a *great* question! You are asking whether we could have offered him money that was somehow *not* salary to induce him not to pick up his salary option.
I have no idea. Obviously, my guess is that this would somehow be prevented in the league’s agreements, and I can’t think of a case where it was done. But… it may also be something no one ever thought of.
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time July 8, 2009 at 2:59 PM
eri_2 — why restrict yourself to *our* Summer league team? Take a look at the rest of them and tell us whom you’d want. There are a bunch of interesting guys who aren’t going to be signed beyond the summer.
Comment from neal
Time July 8, 2009 at 4:09 PM
Good question millie.
Per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, buy-out amounts are included in team salary. So the Wiz would have an Xtra roster spot, but no relief from the luxury tax limit.
Comment from millie mill
Time July 8, 2009 at 4:31 PM
I don’t know if it would be conceder a Buy-Out if he doesn’t pick-up option year.
In other words I know the Wizards can’t do it now because he already signed his option year.
Just wondering would it be legal if EG went to Mike James and said “Mike we’ll give you 6 million dollars right now and you can become a free agent and sign with another team if you don’t pick-up your player option.”
Comment from Babakism
Time July 9, 2009 at 1:36 AM
When you look at javale last year you would deffinetly say he is to lean to play center However, an earlier post was correct in stating Javale played some effective minutes at center. He made up for his muscle with hustle and athleticism. WOrd on the street is that he is bulking up doing alot of strenth training. Perhaps he see’s the team is going to give him a chance to play alot of minutes and he wants to make the most of them. Perhaps his motivation and determination will make Blatche want to work harder the way Etan made Haywood work harder.
Poetential………………is the difference between playoffs next year or championship.
Untaped potential
Comment from dmac
Time July 10, 2009 at 12:57 PM
Chad Ford just posted today the top 25 remaining free agents on ESPN. In the group there are only two that are on the Wizards list.
One is Chris Wilcox withe the Wizards being the only team interested in him. Here are Chad Ford’s comments:
Wilcox has enormous athletic ability and is still relatively young. However he is truggling to find a team willing to give him big bucks.
I say sign him as insurance for Dray. If Dray don’t pan out this year then give Wilcox the minutes and more money like we did for Deshawn.
Comment from dmac
Time July 10, 2009 at 1:01 PM
The word on Drew Gooden is that there are no teams interested in him because he has a bad rep. Anyone know what that bad rap is? They say he is big, talented and still young.
Word is Channing Frye is leaning towards the Cavs or the Blazers.
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Comment from rgz
Time July 7, 2009 at 2:24 PM
Gilbert Arenas banner right next to a Chinese neon sign, is there a hidden message there somewhere?
Seriously if you guys take a look at the workout videos, Heytvelt is easy to spot he’s the light skinned tall dude. Doesn’t seem to be very much of a defensive player, just hangs around, doesn’t use his body nor does he position himself for a rebound. He seems to be quite heavy as he doesn’t jump beyond a couple of inches.
The Josh I would be interested in for mini camp is Josh Moore, who joined the Clippers 5 years ago but never played. He then went to China and Iran. I wonder if he’s keeping fit and what he’s doing. He’s tall (7′2″) and a body like Shaq (his cousin).