2020

So two things right off the bat here: (1) I've been silent for way too long on this blog and (2) yeah, I know everyone thinks 2020 sucked pretty much as badly as anything as long as a year ever has. It's wrecked my year, it's wrecked my spirit, it's wrecked this blog and there's less than a month left so we don't really have to put up with this very much longer. On to 2021. And hopefully a return to normal.

Before I continue, this post is not supposed to be tone deaf but I realize it could come off that way. My year has been frustrating but I'm still alive and healthy and employed. There are more than 300,000 people who contracted COVID-19 who can't say that and millions more that have lost friends, relatives and jobs or have aftereffects of an illness that will never be cured. Compared to all those people, my year has been a breeze. I wouldn't wish 2020 on anyone but my heart goes out to those that have come through this thing way worse off than they started through no fault of their own.

Now back to that wrecking this blog thing...it's true. Since I started writing this thing in 2012, I published 51 posts every full year from 2013 to 2017 and then decided to take the summers off in 2018 and 2019 and dropped my output to 36. There's nothing magical about those numbers (no it's not for Michael Ruffin and Etan Thomas although it would be awesome if that were the case) it's just the way it worked out. This year? 9 posts through the middle of December (meaning before this post). Nine!!! Pathetic.

Speaking of pathetic, that's about how the Wizards' year has been don't you think? Let's recap, shall we? And yes, there's plenty of self pity here.

January

Do you know what it's like for your team to have no shot at winning anything before the season even started? I do. I'm a Wizards fan AND a New York Jets fan. There has been plenty of that hopelessness before anything started over the 20 years I've been a Wiz season ticket holder and the more than 40 years I've been a Jets fan. The 2019-2020 season was about as miserable as I have felt before the beginning of a campaign. The Wizards started 2020 with a New Year's Day loss to the Orlando Magic which dropped them to 10-23. I'd pretty much lost interest at this point. There was just no conceivable way that this team turned things around.

February

The All-Star Game is held in February without Bradley Beal. Why? Because Beal wasn't selected by the coaches to be an Eastern Conference reserve. Considering the success of the teams from which every other All-Star reserve was selected, it's difficult for me to argue with Beal's omission. Team success affects All-Star voting, at least among coaches. It just does. Deal with it!

March

After waiting through the first four months my 20th season as a Wizards season ticket holder, I finally get the information about my 20th anniversary reward, transportation to and from a regular season game with dinner pre-game. I select the March 15 game against the Thunder as my game. Then four days before that game, the NBA shuts down, dooming my reward that I've waiting 20 years to get. It's not the first time the Wizards have skipped a significant milestone. My five year reward was supposed to be a reception with a player but Agent Zero skipped out alleging a flat tire and the team never felt like that was important enough to reschedule. I got a signed basketball instead. It's not the same.

April

The season is still shut down. But...

So not only did the NBA shutdown affect my 20 year reward celebration, it locked Wizards fans out of the biggest bobblehead bonanza in more than a decade. Finally after single bobblehead seasons the Wizards low low low attendance forces the team to hand out more swag. April was supposed to be Bradley Beal Black Panther and Thomas Bryant bobblehead month. Never happened. Same for Rui Hachimura bobblehead night in late March. The Wizards probably have upwards of 9,000 or so of these things in some closet at Cap One. They could mail them to season ticket holders, but don't.

In typical fashion, there are clearly some of these things out there and on eBay. The Wizards have given away some of these to fans here and there and there was a promotional special for season ticketholders who visited the team store at Cap One a couple of weeks ago and dropped a minimum spend. It also appears that the team mailed out a special package to some fans with the Rui and Beal bobbles and some other swag. Some dude in Canada has one for sale. The picture is above. Have at it, fans!!

June

The NBA finalizes plans for The Bubble, a way for teams to finish out the 2019-2020 season. Not every team is a part of this thing but the Wizards are because they are close enough to the playoffs to be deemed competitive. There are going to be eight seeding games to allow teams on the outside of the playoffs looking in to catch the teams above them. If a team is within four games of the eighth place team there will be a series of play-in games. 

The NBA is wrong to deem the Wizards competitive here.

August

By the time the eighth month of 2020 starts, the Wizards have already seen Bradley Beal and Davis Bertans opt out of The Bubble and the team has already dropped their first of eight seeding games. It will get worse. It will take the Wizards until their eighth game to win one by which time they are long out of any sort of postseason scenario. The Bubble is a wasted experience.

The NBA came up with a way to get fans of the home teams engaged by having them attend games virtually having their likenesses pasted into seats on video boards. True to form, the Wizards "arena" under this scenario is more than half empty.

After their seeding games, the Wizards have the eighth worst winning percentage in the NBA for the 2019-2020 season. They entered The Bubble with the ninth worst winning percentage so by going 1-7 in July and August, they actually slid below the Charlotte Hornets in the standings, which last season were determined by winning percentage because not every team played the same number of games. In the annual NBA Draft Lottery, the eighth worst team moved up to the number three spot. But...the rules don't allow Bubble teams to slide below non-Bubble teams for the purposes of the Draft Lottery. The Hornets move up and the Wiz stay at nine. Figures! Push the knife deeper, why don't you?

December

The Wizards trade John Wall to the Houston Rockets along with a future conditional first round draft pick for Russell Westbrook. 

I'm crushed. I still haven't recovered emotionally. I can get my head wrapped around the idea that Russell Westbrook is going to hold the entire Wizards team accountable in a way that John Wall or Bradley Beal or Scott Brooks never have been able to but I'm still crushed.

In my 20 years of season ticket holder-dom, there have been only two players on this team that I have truly loved. They are (and there's probably no surprise here) Gilbert Arenas and John Wall. There's nobody else that's come close. Micheal Jordan, Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and Bradley Beal have all been All-Stars in Washington over that time and Brendan Haywood and Martell Webster have been favorite players of mine at one time or another. But none of those guys have offered me hope of achieving something more than just mediocrity as a Wizards fan. Gil and John did that. Nobody else. 

The Wizards traded Gilbert Arenas because he ripped his knee up in a game against the Bobcats and did something immeasurably stupid by bringing a firearm into the locker room. The team apparently traded John Wall because someone in John's inner circle leaked a video of him flashing some gang signs at a party this summer. Not a smart thing to do, I get it, but the franchise has been talking about just wait until John Wall gets healthy for more than a year and right when he is they go and trade him. Makes no sense. That's all I'm going to say about that. Words can't express how faithless and utterly lacking in loyalty I think that trade is. I know...it's a business. John Wall offered me hope. The Wizards have taken that away.

Is that enough for this year? It is for me. The NBA season starts tomorrow. The Wizards open Wednesday at Philadelphia in front of no fans. I feel the same way I felt last October. The Wizards have no shot here at winning anything. Maybe they make the playoffs. Maybe they don't. If they make the playoffs this year then they get a mid-first round pick who likely won't make a difference to the team's future success in any real way and maybe they stay a playoff team the next season and then give up their 2023 first round pick as part of the Wall trade.

Maybe Russell Westbrook makes the Wizards better. Maybe Davis Bertans is worth the investment and maybe a draft pick pans out. What then? I get that it's unfair to say this but the guy who's supposed to be calling the shots for the Wizards was the team's third choice. Are we happy there? I know, the book's still out. But he did back a coach who's shown little ability to get the most out of his teams. Maybe Ted Leonsis called the shot on that one, not willing to part with $7 million for nothing, just like Ted called the Wall trade too. And refuses to exceed the luxury tax to take a shot at winning. Tell me where my hope is.

Where's Our Stuff?

So the NBA season is resuming July 30 in Orlando. With the Wizards by the way. And maybe no Kyrie Irving. Maybe. And it goes until when? October? Then the next season starts in December? When's that one going to end? Does it go until August of next year? Or is it a shorter schedule? Or compressed so we get tons of back to backs and three games in four nights type things? Will the players union stand for that? Will fans even be allowed in the buildings? Do we have to say see you in October 2021 to our favorite teams? 

So many questions, right? But I have to say the biggest one I have out there is "Where's our stuff?" Not trying to be greedy. Just stay with me here a minute or so. This one's not that long.

So the 2019-2020 season from a fans attending game scenario is done. But what about the free stuff the team had planned to hand out at the games that were cancelled? What happens to all that stuff? And most specifically, what happens to all the bobbleheads??????

So I get there's a ton of irony for me personally here. I've been begging and pleading with the Wizards to go above and beyond the one bobblehead they give away each year and they finally relent and give in and follow other great bobblehead-distributing franchises and then all the games with the bobbleheads have been cancelled? What are they going to do with all those things? What happens to the stash? And why can't loyal season ticket holders get a hold of them?

Before we go further, maybe we need to recap exactly what we fans are missing here. 

• Sunday, March 15 (vs. OKC): Beer Stein
• Saturday, March 21 (vs. Milwaukee): Glow-In-The-Dark Latvian Laser Bertans Socks
• Wednesday, March 25 (vs. Phoenix): Rui Hachimura Bobblehead
• Saturday, March 28 (vs. LAL): John Wall Phone Wallet
• Friday, April 3 (vs. Philadelphia): Black Panther Inspired Bradley Beal Bobblehead
• Wednesday, April 15 (vs. Indiana): Thomas Bryant Bobblehead

Now admittedly, I'm not super enthusiastic about all these giveaways. My phone probably doesn't fit in the John Wall phone wallet and as much as I love the idea of some glow-in-the-dark Davis Bertans socks, I'm not sure they are an essential fashion accessory for me. I still have my Sato socks from last year and I've never ever worn those things.

But a beer stein? And three bobbleheads? Come on...fans have got to be wondering what happens to those goodies, right? Right? RIGHT??

What corner of Capital One Arena is filled with 10,000 Beal and Rui bobbleheads? I'm guessing the same corner of the building that has those 20,000+ Thomas Bryant bobbleheads. I'm an architect and I've never met a client that didn't have enough storage space; they are always asking for more when we are designing their buildings. How about liquidating that inventory by allowing loyal fans to assume possession of all that merch and getting back a ton of closet space. I mean we'd be doing the team a favor.

The cancellation of the NBA season (and all sports for that matter) has been a total bummer. I mean if there's one thing we could have used in a time when those of us fortunate enough to be able to stay at home and work have essentially quarantined ourselves, it would be a team to root for, no matter how hopeful or hopeless the cause might have been. This truncated season was my 20th as a Wizards season ticket holder. I missed the end of the season and my 20th anniversary milestone reward. But most of all, I  miss having a brand new Rui Hachimura, Bradley Beal Black Panther and Thomas Bryant bobblehead securely nestled within my bobblehead collection. After 20 years and many many seasons begging and pleading for more bobbleheads, why can't we just get a package from the Wizards next week with all three of these things?

So here's my proposal to Ted Leonsis: get on a Zoom call this week and get someone or someones (with mask(s) or other sort of face protection of course) down to Cap One and start sending these giveaways out to season ticket holders to reward them for their years and years of loyalty. It's just the right thing to do. Please. Do it. For the fans. Three bobbleheads and one stein per season ticket holder. Throw the socks and the phone wallet in there too if you feel like it. But the stein and the bobbles please.

So for those of you really paying attention, I know I have not addressed the issue of the Isaiah Thomas bobbleheads, which we know exist since IT posted one on his Twitter feed and it's the cover photo of this blog post. If Ted actually reads this thing...come on, man...let us have that one too. Please?

Caveat Emptor

Every year in this blog, I beg, implore, coax, plead and whatever else you want to call it to try to get the Washington Wizards to add more bobbleheads (read: more than one) to their promotional schedule. It never works. I know, I know, nobody reads this thing let alone the Wizards staff that comes up with the less than impressive giveaway schedule every year. 

But this year it happened. For real. Crazy, right? More bobbleheads. Finally!

And then they Wizard-ed it up in the most Wizards way possible.

A little more than two months ago, the Wizards announced three additional bobbleheads would be available for fans of the team. They had already revealed Thomas Bryant would be immortalized in resin (or whatever it is these things are made out of) in April of this year. Now they'd be producing Isaiah Thomas, Rui Hachimura and Bradley Beal (as Marvel's Black Panther) for fans to pick up. Only there was a catch. These bobbles would ONLY be available with purchase of a three game ticket plan...the Bobblehead Bundle.

My dilemma in late November of last year was this: buy tickets to three games that I already had two tickets for so I could get the three special bobbleheads or stay with my season tickets and settle for a solitary bobble while those more adventurous souls got IT, Rui and Brad in addition to Thomas Bryant. 

You know what I had to do. I spent $92.50 on upper deck tickets to three games I already had tickets to. There's no way I was going to use the tickets and I can't sell them and I knew it. At least I'd have a set of three bobbleheads that few other Wizards fans would have.

No I wouldn't.

On January 23rd, the Wizards decided to supplement their meager promotional schedule with a whole host of extra items. I'm guessing tickets aren't selling quite the way Ted Leonsis was hoping. Ish Smith pop socket. John Wall phone wallet. Davis Bertans glow-in-the-dark socks. Beer stein (!!!). Rui Hachimura bobblehead. Bradley Beal (as Black Panther) bobblehead. Wait! What? Two of the three bobbleheads that are supposed to be exclusive to the Bobblehead Bundle are no longer exclusive? So in effect I'm paying $92.50 for an Isaiah Thomas bobblehead that's probably worth all of $2.50. OK, maybe not that much. I'm pretty upset.

I calmed down a little, emailed my ticket rep, registered my displeasure, requested that my complaint be passed up the chain and asked what happened to the IT bobble which is not on the new and expanded promo calendar. Before we could actually talk on the phone, though, I got an email which I feel is laden with guilt from the Wizards about my bobble purchase. The text of that email is below.

So let me get this straight. The team knew I would be upset because I basically spent money for something now available to others without buying what I bought, but to let me know that I made the right decision, I could get two Rui and Brad bobbles (if I played things right) and the IT bobble was still on the table. Why do I need two Rui and Brad bobbleheads? What good is that going to do me? 

By the time my rep and I finally connected, I knew all this and decided to just let things be. I'd be out $92.50 but at least I'd get an exclusive Isaiah Thomas bobblehead. To their credit (I guess) the team did offer to refund my money which would remove access to the IT bobble. I told my rep not to do that. I'd just be wary of these situations in the future but would be happy to pick up my exclusive-not-available-to-many-others Isaiah Thomas Nipsey Hussle bobblehead on March 25. Why the Wizards are jerking around a 20 year season ticket holder over a piece of worthless plastic I have no idea. But that's what it's come to with this team I guess.

Today the Wizards traded Isaiah Thomas.

I assume that kills the IT bobblehead, right? So what started out as a package of three tickets with three exclusive bobbleheads is now just three tickets with two non-exclusive bobbleheads although you do get to pick up two if you are also one of the first 10,000 fans in the building on the giveaway nights. What a fiasco! If they had intentionally tried to screw up this promotion any more they couldn't have. Do the Wizards now have to refund everyone's money? I'm thinking yes. Either that or stick to their guns and give away a bobblehead of a dude who's no longer on the team.

You'd think I'd be furious at this point, right?

Surprisingly, I'm not upset at all. I will not be calling my ticket rep to register my displeasure with this new development today. The reason I'm not? Because when I told them not to refund my money they did it anyway. They did exactly what I told them not to do. I got a call asking for my credit card number so they could charge me again and I told 'em no. Is this how a championship team treats their fans? I can't imagine. 

At least I got my money back.

Kristi Toliver Bobblehead

I know we are more than two weeks away from the new year but I have to say 2020 is shaping up to be a banner year for Wizards bobblehead collectors. In addition to the end of season in game Thomas Bryant bobblehead, the Wiz have rolled out a three game / bobble pack that I'm looking forward to starting in February. And yes, I've already shelled out some extra money to make sure I've got those three collector's items coming home with me in the new year.

That was supposed to be it. I was going to be content with four Wizards-related bobbleheads this season. Then something else happened.

Every so often at lunch or before I start work (and I swear it's just those times) during the weekdays, I check in on Twitter to see what's going on. A Monday morning 7:15ish check of that social media site last week got me interested in a raffle for Ted Leonsis' courtside seats for the December 28 home game vs. the New York Knicks. $20 for 20 entries. I figured it was worth a shot. Plus the money went to charity.

But on closer inspection, I found out I could spend $80 more, get 80 more tickets (and 80 more chances to win) and snag a Kristi Toliver autographed bobblehead in the process. Don't have to ask me twice on that one. I'm in!

I didn't win. But my KT bobblehead showed up in the mail today. Better to spend $100 and get this than spend $20 and get nothing.

Kristi Toliver this ain't.

When the Mystics made this bobblehead available this past summer as part of a three game ticket package, I was tempted to shell out some money and get myself one. If I have a favorite Mystics player, it has to be Toliver; she's absolutely the fiercest, most stubborn competitor and she's really good and she knows it. But we were out of town or otherwise occupied during the pickup game date so I passed. This second opportunity couldn't be passed up. With just 20-some of the 100 available remaining at the time of my Monday morning Twitter check, I made a quick decision. Glad I did.

There is something about in-game giveaway free bobbleheads that fascinates me. Maybe it's the had-to-be-there-to-get-one nature of the acquisition (although in this case I guess I wasn't really there). Maybe it's the limited edition aspect (not numbered or anything, just limited). Maybe it's the crappy quality of these things. Maybe it's all of it. This bobblehead has all of that.

Before we get to the details, let's address the small elephant in the room that nobody except me knows about, shall we? Yes, it's true my current bobblehead collection is a WIZARDS bobblehead collection. Over the years, I have picked up a few other non-Wizards bobbleheads and those are all packed securely away out of view. My Kristi Toliver bobblehead is not. She's on the shelf with the rest of my active Wizards bobbleheads. That's because she is a Wizard. She's spent last season and this season as a barely paid (thanks, archaic WNBA rules!) assistant coach. She deserves to be on the shelf!

So about those bobblehead details...

One of the first quality tests of the freebie bobblehead is the head. Does it really look like the person whose name is on the base? I'm a little torn on this one. There's no way this thing actually looks like Kristi Toliver, despite the analysis of some of the individual details. There are two images of Kristi on the box, one frontal and one in profile and it's difficult to nitpick many of the details. The profile is almost correct, the face around the mouth is pretty good and the nose is almost spot on frontally. But the eyes and ears are clearly wrong and the overall effect is more Michelle Obama.  Not that there's anything necessarily wrong with that but it doesn't look like the person it's supposed to represent. It's not as bad as some of the Wizards bobbleheads I own (particularly the elf-like John Wall from 2011-2012) but it's not great.

Then there's the overall pose. Every so often the bobblehead designer makes a conscious effort to make a bobblehead after a specific picture. This is clearly the case here and they blew it. Sure it looks find in profile but the geometry of the typical bobblehead (oversized head and disproportionately stubby and short arms) renders the desired effect useless. The result is a shooting motion with one hand on the ball and the guide hand nowhere close. This is NOT a shooting motion. Fail on this point.

Finally I think it's worth checking out some of the details. One of the things I loved about older school in-game giveaway bobbleheads (and here I'm thinking like 5 years ago) is that their jersey numbers were cast in bas relief onto the person's body. Lately, the bobble artists have been ditching this strategy (which requires hand-painting the numbers) in favor of decals, which are I guess quicker to apply and more precise in detail. Here, not only are the numbers cast and hand painted but so is the "Toliver". I love that even though the front of the jersey logo and advertisements (gotta get the advertisements in...) are applied stickers.

There's not a whole lot else to note about the finer points of this bobblehead, although I will say I appreciate the effort to do something different with the shoes. Maybe I'm too soft here but the overall execution is lacking. It looks like the court is adhered to the soles of the shoes.

Glad to have this one in the collection. Next summer I need to make more of an effort to get over to southeast D.C. more than once to pick up what I assume will be a treasure trove of champions bobbles. Don't laugh. After all the team owner is still the same, right?

Wizards Bobbleheads (Finally!)

I have been asking and pleading and begging the Washington Wizards to make more team-issued bobbleheads practically since I started writing this blog. I even one summer gave the Wiz permission to use my mocked up example bobbleheads for inspiration or blueprints or whatever they wanted to make it happen. Today, it appeared the Wizards have answered my asks and begs and prayers.

Behold...more Wizards bobbleheads than the annual freebie they have been giving away for the last I don't know how many years (probably nine or ten with maybe a year off would be my quick guess). This is glorious stuff!!!

I kind of called this. In my annual Bobblehead Nation post I expressed a little shock as to how the Wizards in all good conscience could have NOT made their one bobblehead giveaway this season a Rui Hachimura bobble. Now I know why. They were saving Rui for the bonus bobblehead package that they just rolled out this week. I'm chalking this whole thing up to Tommy Sheppard by the way. I might be way wrong on this one but that's what I'm sticking with.

So here's the deal: 

Friday, February 7 vs. Dallas is Isaiah Thomas bobblehead night. IT is displayed on a checkered base with lyrics from his friend and rap artist Nipsey Hussle's song "Dedication" on three of the four sides. Thomas has at least three tattoos inspired by Nipsey, who was gunned down in front of his Marathon clothing store in Los Angeles earlier this year.

Wednesday, March 25 vs. Phoenix is Rui Hachimura bobblehead night. It's also the Wizards' celebration of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival. Rui, like the Cherry Blossoms, started out in Japan so there's a logical tie there, although I can't remember the Wizards ever celebrating the Cherry Blossom Festival before. Timing is everything I guess.

Friday, April 3 vs. Philadelphia is Bradley Beal as Black Panther bobblehead night. This is not the first time an NBA team has rolled out a Black Panther bobblehead. The Brooklyn Nets have given one of these away each of the last two seasons.

There's a catch. I mean of course there is. There has to be a little irony in the Wizards finally giving away more bobbleheads. 

These things are not on the promo schedule. You have to buy a separate ticket package as shown in the advertisement graphic above. I guess I'm going to have to fork over an extra $89 for these things. I'm surprised the games are actually as good as they are as part of this package. Dallas and Philly? And both on a Friday night? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Bobblehead Nation 2019 Update

So it's been a couple of weeks since I posted my annual post letting all NBA fans (OK, so the 20 or so people who read this blog) know where to get the choicest bobbleheads around the NBA. When I published my Bobblehead Nation 2019 post back in October, I had just over half the NBA teams' promotional schedules and I hadn't even started checking out the G League quite yet. Three weeks or so later, I have done that (the G League part). Time for an update.

First of all, let me say that the G League bobblehead schedule this year is pretty amazing. For the past couple of years, we've seen NBA team bobbles be handed out to fans at the minor league levels on a pretty regular basis. Canton and Santa Cruz have been notable in their rigor in treating Charge and Warriors fans to Cavaliers and...well...Warriors big league bobbleheads. This year, there's plenty of that and I've listed everything I could find below. But there are also a number of bobbleheads available which are exclusive to the G League and that's pretty exciting I think. Looks like some road trips are in order for some die-hard bobblehead collectors. Let's get right to the supplemental list, shall we?

Oh..and there have been a few new NBA promo schedules released. Only one of those (Houston) features bobbleheads. For those fans in Dallas, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Utah...better luck next year. Each of those teams have released promotional schedules since my post last month and there ain't no bobbleheads on them, although the Pels' schedule is mysteriously incomplete in its stopping in December. No way are there four promo nights in November and December and nothing the rest of the season. There has to be a Zion bobble, right? RIGHT??

November

9 Sugar Skull (Windy City Bulls)

Last year my bobblehead update was posted in December. Because the Windy City Bulls are handing out a bobblehead on November 9 (or tomorrow), I've been forced to go early this year. The Bulls are handing out a pretty sweet (no pun intended) Sugar Skull bobblehead (shown above) for their season opener this year. This type of bobblehead is typically handed out in late October to coincide with dia de los muertos. Since the G League season doesn't open until November 8, the Bulls are going with better late than never here. I'd show up to the Sears Centre for this one. The Bulls do note the bobble is available while supplies last. Get there early. This is generally true for all G League giveaways.

18 Russell Westbrook (Houston Rockets)
One of the biggest offseason deals (top 3 after Anthony Davis and Kawhi/Paul George to LA?) has to be the Chris Paul and a like a half million draft picks to Oklahoma City for Russell Westbrook. I don't think Russ is winning a title in Houston; I also think the Rockets live to rue the day they made this trade. But if nothing else, Westbrook gets a bobblehead out of the deal.

29 Draymond Green San Francisco Edition (Santa Cruz Warriors)

The Warriors got bested by the Cavs in the bobblehead department at the NBA level this year. But they are still kings of the G League bobbles. Try six bobbleheads. That's more than they are giving out in San Francisco (remember there's no more Oakland...). Five of the six match giveaways scheduled at the brand new Chase Center. The last is a G League exclusive. First up? Draymond Green in the mysterious San Francisco Edition. If you miss this one six days earlier in San Fran, drive down to Santa Cruz.

December

13 Kevon Looney Stormtrooper (Santa Cruz Warriors)

Warriors bobblehead #2 in Santa Cruz, two days after the same giveaway in San Francisco. 

14 Austin Carr (Canton Charge)

This is the first of three Cleveland Cavaliers bobbleheads being handed out by the Charge this year. I'm assuming this is a duplicate of the Carr bobblehead given away in Cleveland two nights prior. First 1,500 fans only on this one, folks!

27 DeAndre Jordan Star Wars Night (Long Island Nets)

Brooklyn becomes the third NBA team to have a pile of parent club bobbles at the door of their G League franchise when they open up the arena on December 27. If you missed this one at Barclays on December 21, head out to this game six days later. The Brooklyn club doesn't have an image of this bobble on their website. The Long Island version does (above). First 1,000 fans only.

28 Whammer (Canton Charge)

Bobblehead night #2 in Canton is a repeat of the December 20 giveaway in Cleveland. First 1,500 fans here just like on December 14 in Canton.

January

4 Marvin the Martian and Gus T. Bull (Windy City Bulls)

Are you kidding me? I get that the Brooklyn Nets have co-opted about half the Marvel character list to tie in to their bobblehead promotions this year but Marvin the Martian? In the G League. I'm buying Windy City Bulls season tickets if I'm in the Chicago area. This thing is epic. Photo above. And remember...while supplies last.

6 Raptors Alumni Night (Raptors 905)

No promises here for a bobblehead but the Raptors' minor league franchise is hosting three Alumni Nights (on January 6, February 22 and March 11). All three nights advertise "special appearances, bobblehead giveaways and more." The focus here seems to be on Raptors players who have spent time in the G League. Pascal Siakam, maybe? Fred Van Vleet? Just my own guesses there. I don't see a promo schedule on the Raptors site right now. Could these be exclusive G League collectibles?

11 James Harden Space Bobble (Houston Rockets)
If it seems like every year I write this post, I'm writing about a James Harden bobblehead in Houston, you'd be correct. Seems like they are giving out these things more often than Harden travels in a game (not gets called for traveling, because that wouldn't be very often at all, but actually does travel). In the past five years, there have been four James Harden bobblehead nights in Houston. 2019-20 makes it five out of six. Apparently this one is space themed...cool!

18 Mark Price (Canton Charge)

Bobblehead night #3 in Canton matches the January 4 game in Cleveland. Just like the two prior bobblehead nights for the Charge, there are only 1,500 of these things available.

24 D'Angelo Russell (Santa Cruz Warriors)

Bobblehead night #3 in Santa Cruz is January 24 when the guy traded for Kevin Durant get his own plastic bobble likeness. 10 days earlier, he gets distributed at the Chase Center.

25 Gus T. Bull ASL Bobblehead (Windy City Bulls)

ASL is American Sign Language and this is the third not-available-at-the-parent-club-level bobblehead to be handed out by the Windy City Bulls. This is awesome that a bobblehead is actually addressing a cause of some sort rather than just spitting out an image of a player or mascot for the fans.

February

22 Alumni Night (Raptors 905)

See January 6 above.

28 Klay Thompson Headband Edition (Santa Cruz Warriors)

Well when I speculated about what this bobblehead would look like in my prior post, I was right. It is, in fact, Klay Thompson wearing a headband. And, yes, it's the same color as the one he wore when he dropped 52 on the Bulls.

29 Ben Wallace (Grand Rapids Drive)

No bobbleheads on the schedule for Pistons fans in Detroit but head west to Grand Rapids in late, late February (like, really late) and you can pick up a Ben Wallace bobblehead. Gotta think some Pistons fans are hopping in their cars for this one. I would.

March 

11 Alumni Night (Raptors 905) 

See January 6 above.

14 Stephen Curry Santa Cruz Warriors (Santa Cruz Warriors)

This is the only one of the six bobbleheads available this year in Santa Cruz that's exclusive to the G League. Surprise, surprise, it's Steph Curry. Presumably wearing a Santa Cruz jersey. If the Capital City Go-Go handed out a John Wall Go-Go jersey bobblehead I'd be there for sure. Of course, it's a bit further from San Francisco to Santa Cruz than it is from D.C. to another part of D.C. I'm seeing some Dubs faithful making this drive.

18 Stephen Curry Popcorn Edition (Santa Cruz Warriors)

The Steph in front of a giant tub of popcorn bobblehead that so befuddled me in my prior post shows up in Santa Cruz in mid-March. Go for it.

27 Dr. J as Black Panther (Long Island Nets)

The second Long Island Nets offering in the bobblehead department is the same as Brooklyn's giveaway three weeks prior. If the image above is true to life, I'm not sure how Dr. J is Black Panther. Maybe the real version is different? Looks like the Nets are making 2,000 of these available for G League fans. Get there early.

That's all I got bobblehead-wise until (a) the Thomas Bryant bobblehead gets released at Capital One Arena or (b) the Wizards by some miracle decide that there's another way Wiz fans get a different bobblehead this year (come on...there's got to be a Rui Hachimura bobblehead ticket package somehow). 

I'm still missing some lists from some NBA teams but there have been some bobblehead-less schedules published at the G-League level. Get ready to be disappointed some of you. Hoping for bobbleheads in Aguas Calientes (Clippers), Erie (Bayhawks but the Pelicans G League team), Greensboro (Hornets), Iowa (Wolves, short for Timberwolves), Salt Lake City (Stars which is way better than Utah Jazz) and Stockton (Kings).

Good luck NBA (and G League) bobblehead collectors!!!

Bobblehead Nation 2019

The NBA season starts October 22 so that means it's pretty much time for some excellent bobblehead giveaways over the next seven months or so, right? Well it does if you are (a) in the right location where your local NBA team is actually handing out bobbleheads, (b) are willing to travel somewhere on bobblehead night or (c) know when to check eBay for the latest bobbles that someone's looking to make a couple of bucks on. Either way (or if it's something different) you need to read this annual post.

Over the last month or so, NBA teams have been putting their promotional schedules up on their websites and we've about reached a critical mass where there is enough information to actually write a meaningful post with multiple dates and multiple teams. And this year there are no preseason bobble giveaways (we see you, Golden State Warriors) so everything in this post this year is actually in the future. Very excited about that last part.

This year's schedule is packed full. It features bobbles from some usual reliable sources like the Warriors, the Brooklyn Nets and the Charlotte Hornets but there are also some shockers on here. Every year I've been writing this post (this is year six), the San Antonio Spurs haven't published one promo schedule with a bobblehead. This year they have three on their calendar. Who'd have thunk it? For those of us Wizards fans, yeah we got the one and only one as usual. Keep reading way to the bottom of this post.

I'll give a spoiler alert and save folks in Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles (at least Lakers fans, anyway) Memphis, Minnesota and Sacramento from having to read this whole post. There's nothing for you in this one. The schedule's out and there are no bobbles to be found. Although the Lakers do have two nights just labeled TBA so maybe there's some hope for you there.

Without further ado, here's this year's post.

October 

30 Stephen Curry Popcorn Edition (Golden State Warriors)

Over the last four seasons, the Golden State Warriors have, by my count, handed out six Stephen Curry bobbleheads at pre and regular season games. Yep, for those of you who can do math, that's right...two years in there they gave away two. So it seems right that we would see yet another one this year. The Dubs did not disappoint, not even making it out of October, without a Curry bobble. I gotta tell you though, they are kind of running out of ideas. After multiple regular Steph bobbles, one wearing a San Jose Sharks sweater and even an MVP edition, there's this year's offering which is Steph standing behind a giant thing of popcorn. I got nothing here.

By the way, the Trolley Car in the picture above? Preseason giveaway. You'll probably need to find one on eBay at this point.

November 

20 Lou Williams Underground GOAT (Los Angeles Clippers)

If there's a must have on this year's NBA bobblehead schedule, this (shown above) has to be it. Sweet Lou shooting a J with his three Sixth Man of the Year trophies sitting on a shelf behind him. Are you kidding me? I should find a way to get out to L.A. right before Thanksgiving.

22 Spider-Man (Brooklyn Nets)

Something good is going on in Brooklyn. In the last few years they have been extremely bobblehead focused. This year they enter Warriors territory and have five on the schedule. Good for them. And for Nets fans. As if it weren't great enough getting KD and Kyrie to go to Brooklyn, they also get five bobbleheads. Brooklyn, it seems, is taking a bit of an unorthodox approach to this whole thing. There's a lot of Marvel tie-ins. Either that or the Nets had way more cap space than I thought and managed to sign Spider-Man with the Mid-Level Exception or something.

25 Draymond Green San Francisco Edition (Golden State Warriors)
There's a storyline this offseason that the Warriors decided to tear it all down and rebuild for a year. Gone is Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala was traded and Shaun Livington retired. But they still have Steph Curry, an injured-but-soon-to-return Klay Thompson (just wait two days for the bobble on that one) and of course Draymond Green. Doesn't sound like any sort of rebuild to me. I'd love to see this team playing in Washington wearing the red, white and blue. Apparently the bobblehead version of Draymond Green this year is a San Francisco edition. Whatever that means. Show up November 25 to find out I guess.

27 Klay Thompson Headband Edition (Golden State Warriors) / DeMar DeRozan (San Antonio Spurs) 

While I have no ideas on the San Francisco Edition bobblehead on the Warriors' calendar, I'm pretty sure the Klay Thompson Headband Edition bobblehead is Klay Thompson wearing a headband. I could be off base on this one but I think I may actually have this right. I didn't remember Klay actually ever wearing a headband while he played. I found one picture: on ESPN on an article about him dropping an NBA record 14 threes in a game en route to scoring 52 against the Bulls. Maybe there's something there.

On the same day, the NBA stunner of bobblehead announcements kicks off with a DeMar DeRozan bobblehead in San Antonio. Who knows...maybe they give away bobbles in San Antonio every year and I just miss it but for me right now this is huge. Maybe it's because the Spurs' stock is dropping slightly? Who knows? If I'm a Spurs fan, I'm circling this and two other dates on my calendar a can't miss games.

December

3 Austin Carr (Cleveland Cavaliers)

I can't stand the Cleveland Cavaliers. I don't like what they did to the Wizards in three straight playoffs, I resent the fact that the NBA kept handing them number one overall pics, and I really really detest their owner. But, man, do they hand out some bobbleheads. Six this season. SIX!!!! 

It's the Cavs' 50th anniversary and they are pulling out all the stops bobble-wise. They are releasing bobbleheads as voted by the fans representing each era (as defined solely by the team itself - I'm debating attaching the name "era" to some of these) in team history. Austin Carr (ANOTHER first overall pick by the Cavs) starts the party off on December 3 representing what the Cavs are calling "The Early Years Era". Seems like they could have omitted the "era" from that one.

6 Giannis Antetokounmpo MVP (Milwaukee Bucks)
The Milwaukee Bucks haven't had a league MVP since 1974 (Kareem; he won three in Milwaukee if you must know) so it seems natural that they'd celebrate by casting Giannis in resin along with a pretty detailed MVP trophy. If the actual item looks like the picture (see cover photo of this post), this one's going to be worth showing up for,

11 Kevon Looney Stormtrooper Edition (Golden State Warriors)

In recent years, the Warriors have been a bobblehead collector's dream, not just for handing out plastic likenesses of their All-Stars but for celebrating success in bobblehead form deep into their rotation. This year is no exception as December 11 sees breakout star in the making Kevon Looney get his very own likeness in bobblehead form. It's the fourth of five total bobbles being handed out in San Francisco (remember they moved...) this year. Stormtrooper Edition too. Thinking Star Wars there.

20 Whammer (Cleveland Cavaliers)

Two and a half weeks after handing out bobblehead number one, the Cavs are back on the schedule with a Whammer bobblehead. Yeah, I had to look it up too. Apparently he's a polar bear who was the Cavaliers' mascot back in the day. Who knew? Whammer represents the "Gund Arena Era" in the Cavaliers 50th anniversary celebration. He's got to be wearing one of those top 10 worst unis in NBA history that they wore back in the day, right?

21 DeAndre Jordan Star Wars Night (Brooklyn Nets)
Somehow the Nets have managed some Marvel and Star Wars tie-ins this year. I hope they got a package deal from Disney. Bobblehead #2 in Brooklyn drops just before Christmas (these things make great presents, folks!) and one day after the ninth and final Star Wars movies. They get closer than Golden State did to the actual date but somehow I still feel they should have been out in front of this a bit.

22 Bango Snow Globe (Milwaukee Bucks)
I love mascots bobbleheads. Heck, I love anything associated with mascots at all. But a mascot bobblehead that's also a snow globe? Oh! My! God! And it's Bango too, who topped out at number four on my mascot rank (back when I used to do such stuff in the summers) before Hugo's return in Charlotte knocked him down to the five spot. Bango Snow Globe bobblehead? I'm there. Not really, though, since I'd have to go to Milwaukee right before Christmas. Nothing against Milwaukee (in fact, lots FOR Milwaukee). Just not going right before the holidays.

23 Deandre Ayton (Phoenix Suns)
Only in a world occupied by Kelly Oubre, Jr. can there be a bobblehead series called the Valley Boyz Bobblehead Series. Unfortunately for Wizards fans, that world is no longer Washington, D.C. Fortunately for Suns fans, Kelly is now re-signed in Phoenix and bobblehead fanatics in Arizona are the beneficiaries. Deandre Ayton is up first in this trilogy. That's two years in a row with an Ayton bobblehead. There's got to be something in Phoenix to make up for all that losing.

31 Terry Rozier Star Wars (Charlotte Hornets)
Michael Jordan may not like spending money on free agents, but he sure does love handing out bobbleheads. There are four on the calendar in Charlotte this year, starting with the third (and so far to my knowledge, last) Star Wars themed bobblehead this season. Freshly acquired point guard Terry Rozier gets things kicked off in the Queen City.

January

4 Mark Price (Cleveland Cavaliers)

The Cavs celebrate the "Richfield Coliseum Era" (the third questionable "era" celebrated so far in Cleveland) just after the turn of the new year. I'd definitely show up for a Mark Price bobble, who I assume will be wearing the Cavaliers blue jersey with the orange CAVS logo where the V is a basket. But...since I don't live in Cleveland and they aren't playing the Wizards, I'll be passing.

14 D'Angelo Russell (Golden State Warriors)

Mid-January ends the Dubs' bobblehead run for the 2019-2020 season with their newest All-Star in cast resin, D'Angelo Russell. They swapped Russell for Kevin Durant in the offseason from the Brooklyn Nets (where Russell was an All-Star). There are more plenty more goodies later in the season for Warriors fans but not in the bobblehead department. Have to wait until next year for another five or half-dozen or so.

18 Spencer Dinwiddie as Iron Man (Brooklyn Nets)
Marvel bobblehead #2 in the NBA is available for the taking (or the picking up) at Barclays Center in mid-January two days before the annual Dr. Martin Luther King holiday. After Spider-Man in November, you get Spencer Dinwiddie as Iron Man after the new year. What exactly is this going to look like? I assume he's not fully helmeted, right? Otherwise, it's just an Iron Man bobblehead, right? I should note this one is not on the Nets' promo schedule page on their website but was part of their Instagram promo night announcement. Trusting Insta is right here.

19 Patty Mills (San Antonio Spurs)
Bobblefest in San Antonio contines in late January with Patty Mills in bobblehead form. I'm telling you, if I'm in San Antonio, I'm not missing this stuff. I love that the Spurs are doing one of Mills, who is super valuable but will likely never get to All-Star game level. Wish the Wiz could honor more steady players like the Spurs.

31 Notorious B.I.G. (Brooklyn Nets)
I don't know what to say about this one. Bravo, Nets! This has nothing to do with hoops and it doesn't matter at all. Awesome!

February 

5 Paul George (Los Angeles Clippers)
This summer the Clips pulled off the biggest splash signings and trades of the summer, signing Kawhi Leonard on the open market and trading about a million draft picks to Oklahoma City in exchange for Paul George. Now they gotta win. The Clips have never even been to the conference finals before. Seems like this year might be the year. This is the second and final Clippers bobblehead of the year. So in other words, no Kawhi. I would bet that Kawhi has a clause in his contract that the Clips NOT make a bobblehead of him. Note this is not on the giveaway schedule on the Clippers' website but it was in the press release regarding the promotional schedule. I'm counting on the press release being right.

7 Kelly Oubre, Jr. (Phoenix Suns)
I have never ever ever bought a bobblehead off eBay or some other website. I'd consider breaking that fast for this Kelly Oubre bobble. Yes, I know, I've already got one in a Wizards jersey. I'm still bitter about that stupid trade last year.

22 Miles Bridges (Charlotte Hornets)
Miles Bridges got 25 starts and averaged 7.5 points per game as a rookie in Charlotte. With the Hornets being essentially completely irrelevant this year, he gets his first team-issued bobblehead. Good luck with all that.

28 Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns)
Bobblehead number three in the Valley Boyz Bobblehead Series is Devin Booker. Makes sense to me. Booker's been the only bright spot on the directionless Suns team the last few years. Can't wait to see what this set looks like together.

29 Zydrunas Ilgauskas (Cleveland Cavaliers)

Apparently the Gund Arena Era was so awesome in Cleveland that they are handing out two bobbleheads representing those 11 or so years, including one of former Washington Wizard Zydrunas Ilgauskas on February 29. I'm making fun of the Cavs' "eras" a lot here I realize but it's probably deserved. The Cavs still play in Gund Arena to this day, it's just that owner Dan Gilbert has re-named the place after his Quicken Loans and now Rocket Mortgages businesses.

March

1 "Dwayne" Bacon (Charlotte Hornets)
OK so honestly, I'd never even heard of Dwayne Bacon but apparently he's entering his third season with the Hornets. Maybe I'm completely out of touch with non-superstars in the NBA and if that's the case, I'm OK with that. Charlotte (for lack of a better choice) is riding a youth movement this year and I guess someone feels Bacon is a rotation guy. For the life of me, I can't figure out why the Hornets issued a schedule with Bacon's first name in quotes. From everything I can tell, his first name is actually Dwayne. I'm matching the Hornets website however.

4 Daniel "Booby" Gibson (Cleveland Cavaliers)

When I first started researching this post this date was pencilled in as a fan-voted bobblehead representing the New Wine and Gold Era in Cleveland. Apparently between the time I first saw the promotional schedule and the time I wrote this post, the fans voted for a Booby bobble. There wasn't much competition here. Some of the alternates were Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak and Ira Newble. I mean, really? Ira Newble? I would have voted for Larry Hughes. LeBron was NOT on the ballot.

6 Dr. J as Black Panther (Brooklyn Nets) / Benny the Bull x Hebru Brantley (Chicago Bulls)
The Nets are the best. At least in the bobblehead department this year. I can't wait to see this one. How's Doc's afro gong to fit in here. Makes me jealous of Brooklyn fans. Almost. This is the last one in Brooklyn this season. What a run!

Over in Chicago on the exact same day, the Bulls are handing out a Benny the Bull bobblehead for at least the third consecutive year (last year's is shown above). This is also the only bobble handed out in Chicago this year which is quite the indictment of the Bulls' roster although if it were me, I'd be all over the Satoransky bobblehead. I'll confess, I had to look up what or who Hebru Brantley was or is (showing my age, I get it...). He's apparently a Chicago hip-hop artist. After the Lou Williams Underground GOAT bobble, I'd circle this as the most intriguing of the year.

7 Mystery (Charlotte Hornets)
Not much to say here. Watch this space I guess. Awesome that the Hornets are going four deep in the bobblehead department this year.

22 Rudy Gay (San Antonio Spurs)
If I'm a Spurs fan, I'm a bit puzzled here. I mean I know Rudy's been a solid contributor the last couple of years but he gets a bobble over LaMarcus Aldridge? Or even Dejounte Murray? Still, they are getting three bobbles this year. Don't be picky. I wouldn't be.

30 Fan-Voted Championship Era & Beyond (Cleveland Cavaliers)

The sixth and final bobblehead to be handed out in Cleveland this season will be determined by fan vote starting November 4 and ending a week later. It's gotta be LeBron, doesn't it? Two reasons why it might not be: (1) Cavs fans still hate LeBron and vote for Kevin Love or J.R. Smith or someone like that just to spite him or (2) owner Dan Gilbert doesn't even put him on the ballot. Number 1 is unlikely; number 2 is very likely and Gilbert also omits Kyrie from the ballot too.

April

15 Thomas Bryant (Washington Wizards)

If I'm a Wizards fan (and I am) I've been sitting around the entire NBA season to finally get a bobblehead handed out to me and my fellow fans at the doors of Capital One Arena. On the VERY LAST day of the regular season, we finally get one. And it's not (thank God) a Bradley Beal or John Wall default bobblehead. This year's offering is breakout star (from last year) Thomas Bryant who went from the waiver wire to a three year, $25 million contract in one year. I'm honestly a little surprised Rui Hachimura didn't make it here but lately it seems that rookies get about as much consideration for a bobblehead giveaway in Washington as they get in Scott Brooks' rotation.

As usual with this post, this list may not be comprehensive. As of the writing of this post, I'm missing schedules from Boston (no surprise there), Indiana, Miami, New York (also no surprise), Orlando, Philadelphia and Toronto in the East and Dallas, Denver, Houston, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Portland and Utah in the West. Seems to me that Toronto (to celebrate their 2019 Championship) and Portland (50th season) would want to do something bobble-wise to celebrate this season. I'm also shocked that the Rockets haven't released a schedule; they are usually one of the first to chime in. Maybe there's a second post in the wings in the next month or so.

There are some other interesting non-bobble giveaways out there. Golden State is handing out some All-Star Voting Nesting Dolls and a Stephen Curry Action Figure. The Bulls are also getting into the nesting doll game with a Benny the Bull Nesting Dolls giveaway. If gnomes are your thing, both Milwaukee (Giannis Antetokounmpo) and the Brooklyn Nets (Jarrett Allen) have gnome handouts this year. 

The last thing I'll point out is that this year, there are only two days where multiple  bobblehead giveaways are scheduled on the exact same day. So theoretically, you could get them all in person (except two) given enough time and money. Happy bobble hunting, NBA fans!!!