Zooming With Jamison

It's now officially mid-May and there's still no basketball. Two months without the NBA. Sure, there's been some talk, the Draft lottery has been postponed, the Wizards have offered season ticket holders refunds and I've gotten an email from the Mystics to ask me about when I'm ready to come out and support the team. But basketball? No. Any meaningful event to slake the thirst of Wizards die-hard fans? Also no. And Scott Brooks' haircut doesn't count there.

And on the Mystics front...I'd love to come back and see a winner. Start the season and let me see how it goes with crowds in building at live sporting events and I'll be right there. But just expect me to be a late adopter about returning to crowds of strangers in enclosed spaces.

But the Wizards did manage to break up the ennui of mid-March to mid-May and beyond by hosting a live chat on Zoom with two time Wizards All-Star and general all around legend Antawn Jamison this afternoon. OK...so chat means a chat between AJ and Dave Johnson but it was still worth me tuning in at 1:30 this afternoon to see what the current Wizards Director of Pro Personnel was up to these days and maybe get a story or two from the seasons that made up four consecutive playoff runs in the mid-aughts.

When I got this invite earlier this week I leapt at the chance to participate, especially since the session was limited to just 500 season ticket holders. I signed up as soon as the email hit my in box, entered a question into the question jar that I knew would never see the light of day with this ownership group and then prayed I'd make the cut. I did.

The topics in the almost 50 minute chat ranged from Antawn's thoughts on ESPN's 10-part The Last Dance series on the Chicago Bulls championship teams to musings about how to build a team in an era of positionless basketball to comments on the relationships between the Wizards, Mystics and Capitals. He also covered how it feels to be back in the Wizards organization and just a brief description of what he does as Director of Pro Personnel. This last one I didn't actually know but it sounds like he does anything behind the scenes to get the Wizards better on the court.

All that was well and good, but I wanted to hear about those 2005 through 2008 playoff teams and the seasons that led to those four straight postseason trips. And we did get some of that.

Unshaven and unshowered is becoming the norm these days. With bobblehead Antawn Jamison on the call.

On how he made those crazy and unorthodox shots in games...

Apparently AJ never really learned any technique in high school. He just did what he wanted and was more athletic and just plain better than anyone he played against. When he went down to the University of North Carolina, he had to learn the fundamentals but he also had to face players bigger than him guarding the basket. Apparently getting those looping, scooping, underhanded and push shots got him around those guys. Seemed natural. Never practiced it. Doc Rivers apparently didn't believe it; swore it was scripted.

On how the mid-aughts Wizards would fare in the NBA today...

What's he going to say here? That the Wiz wouldn't cut it? He spread the love around to himself, Caron Butler (would score from anywhere), DeShawn Stevenson (can defend multiple positions) and Brendan Haywood (would be effective at both ends). But his highest praise was for Gilbert Arenas who he called James Harden and Russell Westbrook before those guys were around. High praise. And  you know what I wanted to hear more than anything was stories about Agent Zero.

On his favorite moment as a Wizards player...

Clinching the playoffs in 2005 and the look on Abe Pollin's face when he came in to the locker room after the game. I still remember that night. After the Wizards won their game against the Bulls at MCI Center, we stayed in our seats and the players stayed on the court to watch the end of the Nets-Pacers game and celebrated when New Jersey knocked off Indy. It was clear that Antawn took great pride in leading a team starving for playoff action from a postseason outsider to the first round of the playoffs.

On his favorite places to eat in Washington...

Home. Although he did mention Georgia Brown's as a top spot. I used to work a block from Georgia Brown's and used to take people there who I wanted to make an impression on. Good stuff!

Of course, Antawn also had to take a little swipe at Andray Blatche (the only other Wizards teammate that he mentioned besides the four above and Larry Hughes) by talking about what leadership means. How could he get on Seven Day Dray to get in the gym and work if he wasn't leading by example? He also made a couple of dubious claims, comparing the work ethic of Gilbert Arenas favorably with that of Kobe, Shaq, LeBron and MJ, and claiming the Wizards are looking for players with "Championship DNA" to the roster. Really? To both of those last two claims.

Finally, and because LeBron ain't...MJ is the GOAT.

And my question that I knew wouldn't get asked? What does Gilbert Arenas and this current ownership group need to do to get Agent Zero back to D.C. and part of the Wizards extended family. Told you there was no way current ownership would let that one out of the box.

This was a good break from the boredom of my 10th consecutive working at home week. It's sometimes good to reminisce about the good times.

Two final things. First, there was no need to worry about being one of the first 500 to sign up for this thing. Attendance on the Zoom call surged to 34 at one point in the conversation and that included Dave Johnson, AJ and whoever at the Wizards was hosting. Finally, I appreciate the personal shoutout from Dave Johnson on the call, who never seems to forget how we bumped into each other in the airport in Reykjavik in 2016. Thanks, Dave!

Glorious stuff! I still have this in my file cabinet from 2005.

Why Not Jamison?

Last month, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame released its list of eligible candidates for the 2019 enshrinement class. The list features men and women players and coaches in addition to early African-American pioneers and other contributors such as writers, broadcasters and referees. 

By all accounts, this year's list of NBA players eligible for election into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is thin. Like really thin. Like someone who maybe wouldn't make it into the Hall in a normal year might make it in just because there's nobody else to elect. Maybe so thin that two or even three of those types of players might make it in.

Last year's class was pretty darned good. Steve Nash and Jason Kidd headlined the NBA players version of the 2018 class with Ray Allen, Grant Hill and Maurice Cheeks joining the two headliners as maybe less automatic choices (although Allen was in his first year of eligibility just like Nash and Kidd). Next year's class is strong: Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett. If you are a fringe candidate, this is the year to get in. 

So who is among the players who might squeak in this year? How about Marcus Camby? Or Richard Hamilton? Or even Dale Ellis? Maybe Ben Wallace? What about Chauncey Billups or Mark Aguirre? Yep, all those folks are on the Hall's list this year. 

One name not on the list is Antawn Jamison. I'm asking why not? Did all those guys really have better careers than Jamison? I say no. I say AJ got snubbed here.

Now, before we go getting upset about Marcus Camby giving an enshrinement speech this September, there are other former finalists on the list (this list is not a list of finalists; that reduced list gets announced on All-Star weekend) who are more likely to make the Hall than any of the name written a couple of paragraphs ago. I could argue that Jamison is maybe more likely to make it in than some of those guys and I will. Read on.

When looking for serious contenders for the Hall this year, I think we have to look at four former finalists: Chris Webber, Sidney Moncrief, Tim Hardaway and Kevin Johnson. For me, Webber is in. Maybe I'm biased because he and I attended the same University but he was a five time All-Star, a five time All-NBA player, the Rookie of the Year and the best player on a Sacramento Kings team that should have made the Finals but didn't in a place where no team really before or after C-Webb in recent memory was any damn good. I say this is Webber's year.

I'm also not sure why Sidney Moncrief isn't already in the Hall of Fame. Like Webber, Moncrief was a five time All-Star and a five time All-NBA player during his time in Milwaukee. He also made the NBA All-Defense team five times (including the first time four times) and was voted the Defensive Player of the Year twice. How is that not a Hall of Fame resume?

As far as All-Star appearances and All-NBA appearances go, Webber and Moncrief kill Jamison, who had zero All-NBA nods and just two All-Star appearances. They also boast similar college accomplishments with Webber taking Michigan to two NCAA Final Four appearances like Jamison and Moncrief taking Arkansas there once in 1978. Who cares about college? Remember it's the Basketball Hall of Fame, not the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame. Jamison won the Naismith and Wooden Awards as the most outstanding player in his final year at North Carolina, something Webber and Moncrief did not do, for what that's worth.

Hardaway and Johnson do not have the colleges resumes of Webber, Moncrief or Jamison. They do probably have more accomplished NBA careers. Both earned five All-NBA team appearances and made more All-Star games than AJ. Johnson also made an NBA Finals appearance with the Phoenix Suns in 1993. Neither, though, has a Sixth Man Award (Jamison does) and both have baggage, Johnson having been accused of sexual misconduct in his capacity of mayor of Sacramento and Hardaway having declared on radio "I hate gay people" in 2007. What do these have to do with their impact on the game of basketball? Absolutely nothing. But they may keep both out of the Hall.

So...about those other guys listed above.

Marcus Camby: NBA Defensive Player of the Year; zero All-Star appearances; got the University of Massachusetts to the Final Four.

Richard Hamilton: NBA Champion; 3x All-Star; NCAA Champion.

Dale Ellis: 1x All-Star, 1x All-NBA Third Team; Most Improved Player.

Ben Wallace: NBA Champion; 4x All-Star; 5x All-NBA; 4x Defensive Player of the Year.

Chauncey Billups: NBA Champion; 4x All-Star; 3x All-NBA.

Mark Aguirre: 2x NBA Champion; 3x All-Star; Naismith College Player of the Year.

How is Jamison, with his college resume and his two All-Star appearances and his Sixth Man of the Year not a better candidate than all of these guys. Sure, everyone except Camby and Ellis (I mean how is AJ not on the list before those two?) has more All-Star appearances but I say all of these guys and Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway don't deserve greater consideration than Antawn Jamison for two reasons.

First, All-Star appearances are deceiving as an honor because they are often bestowed upon players who play on successful teams. Think Chauncey Billups or Ben Wallace would have made the All-Star team multiple times if they had played for the early 2000s Atlanta Hawks? Or Johnson's three appearances weren't helped by the Suns making the playoffs for 12 straight years? Go down the list and with the exception of Camby and Ellis you'll find team success. Team success leads to All-Star appearances. Jamison made the playoffs seven years but only once on three of those teams. In his four playoff years with the Wizards, he was an All-Star twice.

Second, nobody that I've argued for or against in this post (including Webber and Moncrief) has scored as many points as Antawn Jamison. Everyone eligible for the Hall of Fame who has scored as many points (20,042) as AJ is in the Hall of Fame except for Tom Chambers and Chambers only scored seven more total points than Jamison. I realize points are not the only responsibility of an NBA player but they count for something in a big way. They likely made the difference a guy like Mitch Richmond and he only scored about 450 more than Antawn.

I get that Antawn is not a sure fire Hall of Famer. But does he deserve to be on the list this year given some of the guys on the ballot? I think so. And if the court of public opinion went against Johnson and Hardaway...who knows? But at the very least, he deserves some consideration. There's one thing for sure and that's he's not making it next year. No way. Even if he makes the ballot.

Top 10 Wizards

The 2016-2017 NBA season is the 20th that the Washington Wizards have played under their current nickname. By and large, it has NOT been a wonderful ride. But with the team seemingly surging towards more wins than they have had in over 35 years and with point guard John Wall in the All-Star Game this past weekend for the fourth consecutive year, I thought it might be a good time to create a top 10 list of the greatest players ever to suit up for the Wizards. Sort of a mini-20th anniversary celebration.

Now admittedly, I haven't been around for all 20 years of Wizards ball. I mean, I've been alive and watching NBA basketball for all that time but not necessarily paying close attention to the Wizards. I started watching the Wizards as my primary team during their third season under the new name, bought season tickets one year later and am now in my 17th year as a season ticket holder. I figure that's close enough, especially given the team's performance (9th and 13th in the Eastern Conference) in those two years I missed. No matter what list I create, there are always going to be folks who disagree with me.

This list considers a player's accomplishments as a Wizard, not a Bullet or on any other franchise's team. I'm deliberately considering the accomplishments of players who played for the team under both nicknames as Wizards. That both emphasizes performance since 1997 and makes my job a little easier. It also is not a list of the 10 greatest players to don a Wizards blue, black and bronze (later gold) or red, white and blue jersey. Michael Jordan may be among the greatest, if not the greatest, to play in the NBA but he ain't the number one Wizard with just two years under his 38-40 year old belt.

So having said that, let's get right to my list. There are some honors listed under some players' names; these are their achievements while playing for the Wizards (everything before or after is missing) There are also some top five franchise rankings in the list below. These are the spots these players occupy on the Packers / Zephyrs / Bullets / Wizards leaderboard. I know I'm switching standards there. Just deal with it. And finally a quick spoiler alert: none of the players in the cover picture of this post made the list.

10. Marcin Gortat (2013-Present)
Two Postseason Appearances.

I really wrestled with this 10 spot. I was tempted to sneak in someone like Paul Pierce or Emeka Okafor; someone who impacted the Wizards in a teammate development way (Pierce with the whole team; Okafor with John Wall and leadership) but ultimately I decided Marcin's three plus years of steady play meant that I had to put him at number 10. 

I think Marcin's under appreciated as a Wizard. So many fans focus on the games with little offense or quick fouls and ignore the larger body of work. Sure there are bad games out there and Marcin's not the number one locker room leader some fans want him to be but look at the numbers: three plus years averaging double figure points with close to double figure rebounds (for sure double figures this year). Moreover, he's extremely durable; he's played at least 75 games each of his first three years with our team and is poised to do the same this year.

9. Bradley Beal (2012- Present)

Two Postseason Appearances. NBA All-Rookie First Team (2013); Franchise Leader 3rd in 3 Point FG Made.

Before too many people get upset with Brad at this spot, let me say I don't expect that if I made this same list two or three years from now that he'd be at number nine. At least he better not be. Not with his contract.

I believe Bradley Beal is having a fantastic year. All the promise of his first four years are coming to bear in a single season. He's also healthier than he's ever been which I am sure is a huge relief to Wizards fans beyond me. I also believe Brad should have been an All-Star this year. If not on the coaches' ballots then as a replacement for Kevin Love. He and John Wall should provide many many moments for Wizards fans to savor this season and the next few years. He's clearly the second best player on our current squad. And (again) he should be with his contract.

But one year doesn't rocket you to the top of a list like this created by me. I need to see some more consistency first, which I believe I will see for hopefully the rest of this season and the next four beyond this. Beal has turned the corner in major way. And I love it. I just want to see more of it.

8. Nenê (2012-2016)
Two Postseason Appearances.

There may be some emotion behind my number eight selection on this list and I think that's OK. I'm a fan, after all, and this is a blog about being a fan.

If this current Wizards squad ever amounts to something serious, I'll always remember Nenê as the first one in the door. Once the Wizards traded away Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and every other player that resembled a leader in the locker room in the spring of 2010, things devolved into chaos pretty quickly. One year later it was no better; the team had failed to instill any sort of professionalism in the 12 months since the team had been dismantled. The stakes were pretty high: John Wall was supposed to be the face of the franchise and he had nobody to show him how to be a professional ballplayer.

Enter Nenê, on the trading block in Denver because that team was convinced Kenneth Faried was going to be just as good in a couple of years if not in the moment the Nuggets pulled the trigger to swap Nenê for JaVale McGee. Thank God for this trade. Nenê was never a vocal leader in Washington, but he brought a credible presence to the Wizards team. He also showed everyone in Washington what it meant to be a team player after a period of misdirection. Nenê produced in his time in D.C., averaging double digits as a starter. Yes, there was always the next injury looming but I give Nenê a ton of credit for holding this franchise together until John Wall could assume the clear role of team leader.

7. Michael Jordan (2001-2003)

2x All-Star (2002-2003).

I hate putting Micheal Jordan on this list. I thought Jordan's two years in Washington put the franchise on hold just so Jordan and Doug Collins could try to make one more run at playing and coaching in the league. I thought his leadership in the locker room (which spilled out in public all too often) was poor and every move he engineered emphasized getting into the playoffs now at the expense of player development of anyone not worthy to play with MJ. It was completely selfish.

However, he was good, even at 38, 39 and 40. He was clearly the best player on the team those two years he was in D.C. (I know the bar was set pretty low) and he had some spectacular nights. Sometimes he just seemed to will himself to beat the other team. He scored 40 points or more six times in two seasons, including an MCI / Verizon Center record 51 on December 29, 2001, a mark that stood (Gilbert Arenas tied it years later) until John Wall scored 52 earlier this season. Those two years were exciting until they ended and you realized it was all for the glory of MJ. 

Jordan is one of only five Wizards players to make it to two All-Star Games, although the first was a fan vote and the second was likely a coaches' sympathy vote. 

6. Larry Hughes (2002-2005)

NBA All-Defensive 1st Team (2005); One Postseason Appearance.

Larry Hughes is the one guy in my 17 years as a season ticket holder that I wished had not walked away from the team. I don't feel the same way about Trevor Ariza or Paul Pierce or Jared Jeffries or any other player. I understand why Larry did it; it's hard to turn down that kind of money. But he and Gilbert Arenas were a backcourt to behold. Yep, it was fun seeing Gilbert team up with DeShawn Stevenson and for sure D-Steve was a cheaper option but I always thought Larry and Gil could have taken that team to a really good place.

Larry spent just three years in Washington, and he never played a full season (he never played more than 67 games). But the two last years he played at 601 F Street were among the best of his career and his last (the 2004-2005 season) was without a doubt the best. That year he averaged an astonishing 2.9 steals per game (albeit with a lot of gambling that paid off) and led the league in that category. Larry should have been in the All-Star Game that year; his injury right before the voting ended game coaches an excuse to not put him in the game along with Gil and Antawn Jamison. I saw Larry at the Oklahoma City game this year and told him as much. He agreed.

5. Brendan Haywood (2001-2010)

Franchise Leader 4th in Blocks; Four Postseason Appearances.

Brendan Haywood is at the five spot on this list for four simple reasons: (1) he made it to four consecutive playoff appearances with the team; (2) he was the most important defensive player in his years as an established starter; (3) he has played more games as a Wizard than any other player ever; and (4) he was my first favorite Wizards player. I warned you it was a fan's list.

I loved Brendan Haywood playing for the Wizards. Yes, he was selfish; he fought with Etan Thomas (I mean like actually fought with fists) and was reluctant to or just plain refused to mentor JaVale McGee. Yes, he was terrible from the free throw line except for that one season that Dave Hopla got him to shoot 73.5 percent.  But he was the primary starter at center in his second year in the league and held that spot (except for the 2008-2009 season when he was hurt) until the Wizards traded him to Dallas and he was the difference maker at the defensive end. He called the defensive sets for a team which sometimes had few defenders and made up for the mistakes of his teammates. The Wizards would have been a lot worse off if it wasn't for B Wood back there.

I'm putting Brendan unapologetically at the five spot while also conceding there might be a lot of emotion behind this decision.

4. Caron Butler (2005-2010)

2x All-Star (2007-2008); Three Postseason Appearances.

Caron Butler has spent time with nine NBA franchises in his 14 year career but he spent more than twice as long in Washington than he did in any other spot. He also had his greatest success in a Wizards uniform, being named to two All-Star Games. He also acquired his nickname, Tough Juice, while playing too hard in practice at Verizon Center. Nicknames don't really make much difference to me but Tough Juice is such a great nickname that it counts with Caron.

Caron's greatest seasons statistically during the 2006-2007 season and the 2007-2008 season, the two years he represented the East as an All-Star. The work he did along with Antawn Jamison in keeping the franchise afloat was phenomenal. If there's a season this franchise could have collapsed but didn't it was that one. I'll always remember Caron for the buzzer beater at Cleveland in the 2007 playoffs to stave off elimination (at least for one game) and for the monster slam dunk he had in Sacramentto. It's number two in this video.

Good times...

3. Antawn Jamison (2004-2010)

2x All-Star (2005 & 2008); Franchise Leader 2nd in 3 Point FG Made; Four Postseason Appearances.

Antawn Jamison was the guy that first put the Wizards into the playoffs. The franchise had struck out on the postseason in its first seven years under its new name. Jamison got them there in his very first year and he kept them there for the next four years. Before Nenê joined the Wizards in 2011, AJ was the only guy who showed any sort of leadership in the locker room. He was rewarded with the captaincy and with Abe Pollin's undying affection.

Antawn earned his only two All-Star nods while in a Wizards uniform and was the model of consistency on the offensive end, averaging more than 19 but less than 23 points every year he suited up in D.C. Antawn is likely to be one of two players (along with Tom Chambers) who scored more than 20,000 career points who will not be in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (hoping I'm wrong here; maybe in a down year?) and he scored more than 8,500 of them in Washington. He still has one of the quickest shots I've ever seen. I'll forget all about the baseline he let LeBron James have to beat us in the playoffs. There were few better than Antawn in the last 20 years for the Wizards.

2. Gilbert Arenas  (2003-2010) 

All-NBA Second Team (2007); 2x All-NBA Third Team (2005-2006); 3x All-Star (2005-2007); Franchise Leader 1st in 3 Point FG Made / 5th in Steals; Four Postseason Appearances.

And then there's Gilbert Arenas. I clearly love Gil. I mean I named this blog after him for crying out loud. There's only one player in Wizards history who has captured national attention with his play and his antics off the court. Where do I begin? Agent Zero. Hibachi. Oxygen tents. Walk off three pointers. Highest single game point total in franchise history. Throwing jerseys into the stands. Staying at season ticket holder events to sign every autograph even when the rest of the players have gone. Early morning shooting sessions at Verizon Center after sleeping on the couch in the players' lounge. Guns in the locker room. Trampoline dunks at the All-Star Game. His swag was phenomenal. 

Unfortunate about that whole guns in the locker room thing. More unfortunate about Gerald Wallace landing on his knee.

Gilbert is the only player who as a Wizard has been arguably the best player in the NBA. I'll admit it didn't last long but there was a time when he was dropping 60 and 56 points on a west coast road trip during the 2006-2007 season where he was legitimately in the discussion. There were rumors about the Lakers and Wizards discussing a Kobe for Gil deal and the Wiz legitimately saying no. And that was before Kobe's fourth and fifth championships. Gilbert was amazing that season and for the three that preceded it. He was instantly my favorite player (sorry B Wood) and I still love the signed gold jersey I have hanging in my closet with the "Agent Zero" personalization. Gil's the only Wizard other than John Wall and Michael Jordan to be voted as a starter in the All-Star Game and he's the only one to be named to an All-NBA team three times, or at all really. That knee injury...

1. John Wall (2010-Present)

NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2015); 4x All-Star (2014-2017); NBA Slam Dunk Contest Winner (2014); NBA All-Rookie First Team (2011); Franchise Leader 1st in Assists / 1st in Steals; Two Postseason Appearances.

As good as Gilbert Arenas was in a Wizards uniform and as many All-NBA teams as he made, he's still not John Wall. John has more All-Star appearances than Gil, he's a more complete player than Gil, he's a better leader than Gil and I can't tell you how many passes that he's thrown down at the east end of Verizon Center that have taken my breath away from my seats in Section 109. And this season has been the best of all; the leap he's made this year whether it's due to his health or Scott Brooks or just natural maturity is astounding. He's a better player than I could have hoped for this year. He's definitely for me in the top 10 discussion of players in the NBA.

On top of all that, John openly wants to be here in D.C. There is no question that this team is his and he wants as many fans in the building cheering for the entire team (not just him) as he can possibly get. He's already the franchise leader in assists and steals and he's likely to be second in scoring if he plays out his current contract with the team and remains healthy. All this from a guy who rival team executives say can't pass and who most everyone in the media says can't shoot. I don't see any competition for John Wall as the greatest Wizard. Just don't.

So that's my list. Call me crazy for some of these picks but that's what I believe. I took a hard look at (in no particular order) Otto Porter, Paul Pierce, Rod Strickland, Chris Whitney and DeShawn Stevenson but ultimately I went with the ten above. I expect some guys to move up the board quickly if I ever do this again. Wizards back in action on Friday in Philly. Let's go Wizards!

NBA Trade Deadline 2014

At 3 p.m. today, the annual NBA trade deadline came and went. Of course, instead of being hard at work making some bucks for my employer, I was sitting home watching Twitter for trade news. Yes you read that right, watching Twitter. I stayed at home today because I've learned from past experience that as this day gets closer to 3 p.m., I concentrate in my office less and less on work and more and more on internet trade rumors and gossip. So for the third year in a row, I elected to stay home and log eight hours of Paid Time Off rather than fight the battle to get some work done.

After last year's super slow trade deadline where the biggest deal was J.J. Redick to Milwaukee and the only Wizards action was sending Jordan Crawford to Boston for Jason Collins and Leandro Barbosa who was already done for the year with an injury, I was hoping for something more exciting this year. I mean how could it get any duller? I was not disappointed. There were a lot of Wizards and former Wizards on the move this year.

It all started last night when the Golden State Warriors, who earlier this season traded for former Wizards Jordan Crawford from the Boston Celtics, picked up former Wizard Steve Blake from the Lakers for essentially flotsam. Apparently Golden State is intent on picking up a collection of our former guards and it's working. Although I'm not sure it's helped their franchise yet.

It then continued this morning when the Miami Heat traded former Wizard Roger Mason, Jr. to the Sacramento Kings along with a bag of cash for a highly protected second round draft pick (or essentially absolutely nothing). Poor Roger. If there was one reason to be OK at all with Miami winning another NBA title this year, it was them having Roger Mason on their team. Now, I won't see any silver lining to a third Heat title. Let's go Pacers!!!

Then just before the 3 p.m. trade deadline (and it is possible for trades to be announced after the deadline), news came that the Los Angeles Clippers traded Antawn Jamison to the Atlanta Hawks for I'm still not sure what at the time of this writing. Just like with the Heat (although with less vitriol), there is now no reason for me to root for the Clippers to win it all this year.

But the biggest news Wizards-wise hit between noon and 1 p.m. this afternoon. I'd been reading rumors for a few weeks about the Wizards being interested in exiled Denver Nuggets' point guard Andre Miller but it didn't seem possible that we could grab Miller since he has a non-guaranteed contract next year and presumably the Wizards would want to send colossal disappointment off season signee Eric Maynor back in return. And honestly who the hell wants Maynor after his production this year?

But apparently lightning CAN strike twice. Two years ago, the Wizards sent away JaVale McGee to Denver in a trade deadline day deal for Nenê, a move that was decried as a huge mistake on Washington's part by a lot of people who watch the NBA but which anyone around the D.C. franchise saw as a first step in dramatically changing the culture here. This year, we did it again by taking Miller off the Nuggets' hands. Not only do we get a dependable backup point guard, but we traded him for two guys who rarely play (Maynor and Jan Vesely) while reducing our payroll this year, opening a roster spot and decreasing our guaranteed salary commitment next season (assuming Maynor would have picked up his option next year). How on Earth did we fleece the Nuggets twice in three years?

OK, so we gave up a New Orleans Pelicans' second round draft pick as part of the swap to the Philadelphia 76ers but who cares? Can anyone name a Wizards second round draft pick in the last 12 years that has had a positive impact on our franchise or the NBA in general? I realize that statement may be an indictment of our ability to draft and also may be a little unfair to Steve Blake who has had an astonishingly long career. And don't start with me on Andray Blatche. 

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Jan Vesely. I so badly wanted him to prove that Blake Griffin was in fact the American Jan Vesely. I'll be sorry to see him go, although I won't miss cringing any time he touches the ball on the offensive end or steps to the free throw line. I won't miss Maynor. I can't remember being more disappointed in an off season free agent signing. This trade should make the Wizards better this year without sacrificing any future flexibility whatsoever. I see it as completely positive. We'll see if Andre Miller can make any sort of difference.

Requiem For The Paper Ticket

My 2013-14 Washington Wizards tickets showed up in the mail today. Well...not really. For the second straight year my season ticket holder packet contained no actual tickets. Instead, all four of my seats are again loaded electronically onto a single plastic card. If there were anyone else with me when I opened up the package, I am sure they could have cut the disappointment with a knife. Again. Even though I knew this year there weren't going to be any actual tickets inside.

I know we are moving towards most things in life being virtual but I'm not sure I'm on board with this electronic ticketing yet despite the obvious environmental benefits. I know three of the four major sports teams in the Washington D.C. area (the Wizards, Capitals and Nationals) are all electronic now but that still doesn't make it any more palatable. One of the most exciting things about receiving my season ticket package each year was seeing what the tickets looked like and who was important enough to the team to be featured on them. Now that anticipation is ruined. I mean I don't really care which players show up on the plastic card. In case you are wondering, last year it was John Wall and Nenê; this year it is nobody at all (just the Wizards' monument ball logo). 

I remember when I first bought Wizards season tickets before the 2000-01 season. I'd seen people at games with these gorgeous oversized glossy cardboard tickets and couldn't wait to stop using the crappy printed Ticketmaster tickets I always had and show off my own full graphic season ticket when I went through the turnstiles. Unfortunately, I must have ordered tickets after the main season ticket printing that year so I ended up with the same crappy Ticketmaster tickets that I didn't want. But the next year I was rewarded with what I really craved: full color tickets in four designs, all prominently featuring Michael Jordan's profile on the left of the ticket and one of our four "stars" on the right, Richard Hamilton, Kwame Brown, coach Doug Collins or Courtney Alexander. I'd finally got what I wanted and felt like I'd arrived. I'm not messing with you on the last player by the way; it's true.

Over the years there have been some great season ticket designs. I loved the 2002-03 season tickets which featured alternating blue and gold tickets with a single large font word (either "Pride", "Courage", "Passion" or "Commitment") and a single player in silhouette on them. My absolute favorite tickets (pictured above) were the following season's tickets which featured pretty much everyone on our team in black and white game photographs on 41 unique ticket designs. I also loved the playoff tickets we used to get, which featured multiple connected tickets which formed a single picture. My favorite playoff tickets were the 2006 playoff tickets, which featured our "big three" of Antawn Jamison, Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler with the Larry O'Brien trophy.

There have also been some terrible ticket designs in the past fourteen seasons. I'd put the first ones I got in the fall of 2001 that I described two paragraphs ago into that category and not just for the inclusion of Doug Collins and Courtney Alexander. I also wasn't crazy about the 2006-07 tickets which featured our team slogan that year ("Go All In") and a half inch by two inch (barely) photograph of either Jamison, Arenas or Butler. We've also had some questionable player selections to grace our tickets over the years: Andray Blatche and Al Thornton were two of the five players selected for the 2010-11 tickets (the last tickets to feature players), Jarvis Hayes made it onto the 2005-06 tickets and I think I've already mentioned Courtney Alexander, right?

The 2006 playoff tickets. Just missing Gilbert's signature.

I think the thing I miss most about paper tickets is the souvenir quality. I have saved my ticket from every concert I have ever been to (where it was possible) and I keep those in my CD jewel boxes. I also still have a lot of my old tickets from attending basketball games.  They bring back memories. Some of these basketball tickets are the same Ticketmaster tickets that I loathed, some are the Wizards tickets I described above and some are other NBA teams' full color picture tickets that I bought for Wizards road games on the secondary market through StubHub.

I don't really do anything with all my old basketball tickets: a couple of them are on display with some signed basketballs in my condo but most just sit either in my file cabinet or a box of souvenirs that I have in one of my closets. I've had a bunch of tickets signed by players and those signed tickets are sitting generally in the same place as my unsigned tickets. I just like to have them. If nothing else, they have helped me remember a lot of the facts that I have put into this blog. For that alone, it has been worth saving them.

Road tickets to Wizards games vs. Chicago and Indiana featuring Derrick Rose and Roy Hibbert. No Andray Blatche caliber players on these teams' tickets.

Admittedly, I'm resisting the transition from paper tickets. If you know much about me, you'll understand. I was pretty much the last person I knew to get a cell phone (and when I got it, I refused to turn it on); I didn't own a computer until 2009; I still pay bills by signing and mailing checks; I don't buy electronic music or books; and I still balance my checkbook by hand each month. But I know I'm not alone in my longing for paper tickets and the souvenirs that they can become. There was a mini uproar from some fans when the Washington Nationals introduced electronic only tickets this past spring. The Nationals thought they accommodated the upset fans by offering commemorative tickets for sale, but I can tell they just didn't get the emotional attachment fans had to paper tickets. See the awesome article from Dan Steinberg to understand what I'm saying.

I know I'm senselessly clinging to the past in some respects here but paper tickets make me feel good although I'd admittedly give all those saved tickets up if I could get a team on the floor that could contend for an NBA championship. The home opener is November 1 and I'll be there with my plastic card in hand to start another season. Go Wizards!!!

Apparently I Was Wrong

Only one day after I stated that we probably don't have to deal with paying attention to Dwight Howard's nonsense until mid-January, the Orlando Magic just went and traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers in a four team deal involving the Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers. Just one day! Shows how much I know, I guess. So what does this mean to me and the Washington Wizards? Five things, I think.

One: The 76ers sent away Andre Igoudala, one of the 85 small forwards on their roster, and got back Andrew Bynum. This instantly makes the Sixers a more complete team and a real contender in the Atlantic Division. I was hoping the Sixers had slipped backwards a little. There's no way that's the case now.

Two: The Nuggets acquiring Igoudala means JaVale McGee is no longer the highest paid player on their team. That seems right, especially since JaVale doesn't even start.

Three: The Magic losing Howard for three players, two of whom are on their rookie deals including one who hasn't played in an NBA game yet, means the Wizards now finally have a real shot at finishing second in the Southeast Division this year. Yep, that's right, I'm probably setting my own expectations waaaaaaay to high here (note I'm skipping over the Hawks here too). Don't worry, as a New York Jets fan the last 34 seasons and a Wizards season ticket holder the last 12, I have a lot to rely on to remain grounded on this issue.

Four: Lakers-Wizards games at Verizon Center are going to have even more Lakers fans-who-have-never-set-foot-in-California-let-alone-been-to-Los-Angeles in attendance. We'll have more people  around us in section 402 offering lame excuses for their Laker fan-dom like claiming they have either always been a Lakers fan "for some reason" or that they admire Kobe Bryant. Memo to all Lakers fans who show up to VC who aren't from LA: you like the Lakers because they win, and you'd rather root for a sure winner than show some backbone and actually follow a team you have some actual connection to for years. I might be bitter on this one, but it sure is sweet to watch the Wiz come back from a 20 point deficit in the third quarter to take the game while the Lakers "fans" around sit in stunned silence and mutter to themselves about still being a better team.

Five: If it comes down to a Lakers-Miami Heat NBA Finals, I'm actually going to have to root for Dwight Howard to win. Ugh! I'm not a fan of either Howard or LeBron James for the way they turned their backs on the fans of their former teams. I think both guys are completely disingenuous. But Howard hasn't scorched my team in the playoffs even once, let alone three times, so I can't root for LeBron's team ever. If it comes to that, I'll focus on rooting for former Wizard Antawn Jamison and tell myself that Jamison's classiness sort of counterbalances Howard. Looks like AJ will probably have some very real hope in pasting the picture of the Larry O'Brien trophy in his locker this year. I hope it doesn't come to this, but I fear it might.

After being so wrong yesterday, maybe I should write about other things I am sure won't happen just to see if they do. In closing then, I guess we'll never see Kevin Durant in a Wizards uniform any time soon. Hopefully I'll be up early Saturday morning retracting that statement as well. I won't set my alarm.

The Playoff Years: 2004-2005 Through 2007-2008

The Wizards 25-57 record in the 2003-2004 season was poor enough to earn the team the number five pick in the 2004 draft. With the fifth pick, the team drafted Devin Harris out of the University of Wisconsin, but Harris never played for the Wizards. Instead, the team sent him along with Jerry Stackhouse and Christian Laettner to the Dallas Mavericks for reigning Sixth Man of the Year Antawn Jamison. It was the second major trade with the Mavericks in the last four years, but unlike the 2001 in-season trade which was essentially a salary dump, the acquisition of Jamison was designed to make the team substantially better. And it did.

That year, the combination of Jamison at the power forward spot with Gilbert Arenas and Larry Hughes in the backcourt were just spectacular. Arenas and Jamison were voted by the NBA coaches to the Eastern Conference All Star squad and Hughes might have joined them, had he not broken his wrist in the January 15 victory over the Phoenix Suns, a team at that time as hot as any other. After the season, Arenas was voted to the All-NBA Third Team and Hughes was voted to the All-NBA Defensive First Team but it was the team success, and not the individual honors, that made that season so special.

The team posted a 45-37 record, the best mark for the franchise since the 1978-1979 season, good for fifth in the Eastern Conference and a return trip to the playoffs for the first time since 1997. The team clinched their playoff berth on April 13 after a home victory against the Chicago Bulls and a loss the same night by the New Jersey Nets to the Indiana Pacers, which we watched on the scoreboard screen from our seats in Section 402 of the MCI Center after the Wizards took care of the Bulls. It would be the first of four consecutive playoff appearances, the longest streak since the Bullets made the postseason five years in a row from 1984 through 1988. Brendan Haywood, who had been my favorite player since his rookie year in 2001, and Jared Jeffries rounded out what would become a solid starting five. The bench on paper was a concern, with Juan Dixon, Jarvis Hayes, Etan Thomas and Michael Ruffin being the top reserves, but the team won. They beat the teams they were supposed to beat, posting a 26-9 record against teams that ended the season with losing records, and they were clutch in close games, going 20-10 in games decided by five points or less.

The first round playoff opponent that year was the Chicago Bulls, a team that had won two more games during the regular season than the Wizards. The Bulls took the first two games in Chicago before the Wizards evened it up at 2-2 with two victories at the MCI Center. The fifth game was tight and the Wizards would end up with the final possession of regulation in a game tied at 110. Then, with time winding down, Gilbert Arenas let fly a step back jumper over the outstretched arm of the Bulls' Kirk Heinrich with 0.3 seconds remaining. The shot hit the bottom of the net and the Wizards took the game and came home up three games to two. The photograph of that shot is awesome. I have a copy signed by Arenas and I pull it out and look at it sometimes when I'm longing for better times. I like to study the faces of the crowd; there is almost every emotion you can possibly experience at a sporting event on the faces of the Chicago fans. I'm sure their faces looked a lot different 0.3 seconds later. When Hinrich was traded to the Wizards before the 2010-2011 season, I thought about asking him to sign the photograph too, but I decided to not be that cruel.

The Wizards took game six and the series at home after being down big early, going ahead for good when Jared Jeffries stole the inbounds pass off the back of Chris Duhon and ran the length of the court for the slam. The crowd was going absolutely crazy; I can't wait for the now-Verizon Center to be like that again. In the second round of the playoffs, the team laid down and lost in four straight to the Dwayne Wade, Shaquille O'Neal and the rest of the Miami Heat, a team we had not beaten in seemingly forever. Despite the second round performance, the 2004-2005 season was memorable in so many ways and gave us something to build on and look forward to. The Arenas game five winner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcajwfVHTYI) and Jeffries' steal in game six (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_seuj1YRJT4) are still fun to watch. I just hope those aren't the best moments I'll have as a Wizards fan.

In the 2005 offseason, the Cleveland Cavaliers decided Larry Hughes was the guy they needed to pair with LeBron James to make the team into a winner and offered him a five year, $70 million dollar deal. Ernie Grunfeld and the Wizards decided not to match. Good decision. Despite the team's success in the 2004-2005 season, Boogie had a history of nagging injuries like the broken wrist he sustained that year and $14 million a year was just too much to pay, something the Cavaliers would find out during the next two and a half seasons, before they elected to ship Larry to Chicago in a mid-season deal. To replace Larry, Grunfeld sent Kwame Brown along with Laron Profit to the Los Angeles Lakers for Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins in a deal that still defies common sense. Brown was almost a certified bust and Butler was an up and coming small forward in the last year of his rookie deal. I guess the Lakers felt it was worth taking a chance on Brown or maybe they knew that they wouldn't be able to retain Butler at the end of the season. Whatever the reason, the Wizards immediately inked Butler to a contract extension. Another good decision.

The 2005-2006 season was successful, but just a little bit less successful than the previous season. The team again made the playoffs, finishing the season with a record of 42-40, good for the fifth best record in the conference for the second year in a row. Individual success also continued: Gilbert Arenas was selected to the Eastern Conference All Star team and the All-NBA Third team for the second year in a row.

In the first round of the playoffs, the team drew Larry Hughes, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The two teams split the first four games, each team winning once at home and once on the other's floor. In game five in Cleveland, the Cavaliers edged out the Wizards by a single point in overtime, meaning we had to hold home court in game six in Washington or be done for the season. Game six also went to overtime. Toward the end of the extra session, Gilbert Arenas got fouled and stepped to the free throw line for two shots which, if he had made both, would have given the Wizards a three point lead. Then the first notable incident between Lebron James and the Wizards franchise happened. Rather than allow Gilbert to shoot the free throws unimpeded, LeBron decided to step to the charity stripe with Gilbert and talk some trash, telling him that if he missed the two free throws, the series was over. It should be noted that this sort of act is now an automatic technical foul, but the officials in that game six decided what LeBron did would not draw an infraction of any sort. Of course, Gilbert missed them both and on the ensuing possession with a few seconds left, Damon Jones hit a jumper to seal the game for Cleveland and our season was over.

The Wizards re-loaded in the 2006 offseason, signing free agents DeShawn Stevenson and Darius Songaila. The team started slow in November, going 4-9, but caught fire in December and January, posting a 22-9 mark through those two months. But it wasn't just that they were winning; the team was hot and Gilbert Arenas for those two months was arguably the best player in the NBA. He scored a franchise record 60 points in an overtime game against the Lakers in LA on December 17 and followed that with a 56 point effort in another overtime game in Phoenix less than a week later. Both those games were big road wins for the team, which doesn't always happen when a superstar fills it up. Then the team came back to Washington and Gilbert continued to impress, this time with game winning buzzer beating shots against the Milwaukee Bucks on January 3rd and then again against the Utah Jazz in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day matinee. I remember watching the Milwaukee game from our seats in Section 109. Gilbert let that shot go and turned around and headed for the locker room before it hit the bottom of the net. He just knew it was going in. And two weeks later he knew the Jazz had no chance at the end of the game with the ball in his hands and he was right again. At the All Star break, the team had the best record in the conference and Eddie Jordan would be named the Eastern Conference All Star coach, where he was joined by Gilbert in his third consecutive All Star appearance and Caron Butler in his first.

Then the wheels came off. On January 30, Antawn Jamison had injured his knee, and it showed in the team's February performance. Jamison would return, but a month and a half later, Butler went down, also with a knee injury, only to return and then fracture his hand on April Fools' Day in Milwaukee. But the biggest blow came on April 4 in a home game against the Charlotte Bobcats. Late in the first quarter, Gerald Wallace of the Bobcats fell into Gilbert Arenas' leg; the way Wallace fell twisted Gilbert's leg in a way it was not supposed to bend and Gilbert tore the meniscus in his knee. He would never be the same player again.

The Wizards ended that season with a 2-8 record in the final ten games and limped into the playoffs without Arenas or Butler as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference with a 41-41 overall record. The team again drew LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs and this year went down in four straight. With a second playoff elimination in two years at the hands of the Cavaliers, Wizards fans were starting to really dislike both the Cavaliers and James, who often whined and cried his way through games and was routinely booed in Washington. I guess we were trendsetters in that regard. If there was a season in the last 12 years of being a Wizards season ticketholder that I could truly look back on with regret, it would be the 2006-2007 season. It all went wrong so fast.

Despite the 2006-2007 season collapse, the franchise still felt it had a winner in the Arenas-Butler-Jamison led team and made no major changes in the offseason. Arenas had major knee surgery to repair his torn meniscus and it appeared our Big Three were healthy going into the season and poised to take a run at an Eastern Conference championship. They weren't. Gilbert's knee wasn't right and the team shut him down after only eight games, with the team owning a 3-5 record. But the team gelled around Jamison and Butler, who both made return trips to the All Star game that year, and the team finished with a 43-39 record, an improvement of two games over the prior season.

For the third year in a row, the Wizards drew the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs, this time as the four-five matchup with Cleveland owning the better record and home court advantage. The series was highly anticipated due to the two teams facing each other in the playoffs the prior two years, but DeShawn Stevenson amped up the rivalry a little after the Wizards March 13 victory over the Cavaliers at Verizon Center. In a post game interview, Stevenson called LeBron James "overrated" and when asked to respond a few days later, James said "With DeShawn Stevenson, it is kind of funny. It's almost like Jay-Z saying something bad about Soulja Boy. There's no comparison. Enough said."

The 2008 playoff series between the Wizards and Cavaliers seemingly featured drama of every sort. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd believe that the NBA fixed this series to allow the Cavaliers to win. Realistically, it's silly to think that the series was fixed; I mean, who would fix a first round playoff series? But there were just too many things that either the officials or the league did or didn't do to handicap our chances for victory so I allow myself to think that we were doomed to lose that series sometimes.

It started in a close game one. In that game, a seven point loss, the Wizards would have benefited from the couple of free throws and possession from LeBron James' flagrant foul elbow thrown to the head of Andray Blatche. The foul was in retaliation for an earlier foul on James after which he writhed on the court in agony for a few minutes in a way only LeBron James can. Only the elbow wasn't called, either as a flagrant foul or as a personal foul. It was missed entirely by the officials. The league quietly handed down a flagrant foul after the fact, not that it did us any good. We were down 1-0 but there was plenty of time to recover.

Game two was a blowout 30 point victory for the Cavaliers, the largest margin of victory in a playoff game in that franchise's history. The game turned in the decisive third period, when Brendan Haywood picked up a flagrant two foul for a shove on James, after which James told referee Danny Crawford that the Wizards were trying to hurt him. Apparently Crawford believed him because he threw Haywood out of the game and the Wizards just couldn't recover after that. 2-0. Now it looked like we were maybe headed for another sweep like the previous year.

Back at Verizon Center, the Wizards took game three by 36 and made it a 2-1 series in a game that featured Soulja Boy in the front row dressed in a DeShawn Stevenson jersey. That game may have been the most entertaining Wizards playoff game ever as Soulja Boy rapped and we serenaded James with chants of "o-ver-rated" and just relished the blowout. But the Cavaliers rebounded to win game four in a game which DeShawn Stevenson received a flagrant foul for knocking off LeBron's headband during the game and the NBA piled on with a $25,000 fine after the game for what they described as a "menacing gesture" made by D-Steve in the first quarter.

So the Cavaliers headed back to Cleveland up 3-1 with a chance to close out the series in the next game. But they couldn't. Caron Butler made sure of that when he hit the game winning layup with 3.9 seconds to give the Wizards a one point victory. It was back to DC for game six and a chance to even the series at three games each.

But then the league intervened again. In the first quarter of game five, LeBron James became entangled with Darius Songaila on the baseline and in the process of getting untangled, Darius' hand hit James' face. LeBron acted as if he had been cold-cocked, snapping his head back and drawing a technical foul, continuing a sequence of over reactions and flops that he had been engaged in for the entire series. A day passed before the NBA handed a one game suspension down to Songaila late in the morning of game six. Despite our efforts, the team lost and went down to the Cavaliers for the third straight year.

After the series, DeShawn Stevenson summed it up perfectly, declaring "It just shows you he gets any call he wants." Even Papa John's, a corporate sponsor of both the Wizards and Cavaliers, understood James' fake histrionics, handing out t-shirts at Verizon Center with the number "23" and "Crybaby" on the back. In the end (and it was unfortunately really the end), the Wizards had been beaten three straight by the Cavaliers. I'll never root for that franchise or LeBron for the way he beat us those three years.