What's With The Juniors?

Five and a half years ago, the Washington Wizards drafted Johnathan Hildred Wall with the number one overall selection in the 2010 NBA Draft. John is named after his dad, Johnathan Carroll Wall which, according to Wikipedia, makes John a junior, although we wouldn't necessarily know it unless we looked it up. John doesn't advertise being his dad's namesake, preferring to keep his relationship with his deceased father private, and that's OK with me. That's also the way things used to work with people's names in professional sports until very very recently.

About six months ago, the Wizards drafted Kelly Oubre, Jr. with the Atlanta Hawks' 15th overall pick (which they acquired via trade) in the 2015 NBA Draft. Based on reading the previous sentence, Kelly's dad is quite obviously also named Kelly Oubre. But you don't have to read this blog post or look anything up; it's obvious looking at Kelly's uniform when he's on the court because it reads not just "Oubre" but "Oubre Jr." This seems to be all the rage in professional team sports lately and I guess it's fine to be proud of your lineage and advertise just exactly where you sit in your family tree of exact same or close-enough-for-Wikipedia names. But it's very non-traditional. 

Now before you start accusing me of being old and stuck in my ways, I'm fine with it; I really am. I just have a request, which I'll make in a paragraph or two. Here locally in the Washington, D.C. area, our most famous sports junior is likely Robert Griffin III, the former (and likely always former) Washington professional football team starting quarterback. In fact, RG3 may have been the player who really elevated this practice of identifying yourself as the son of someone bearing the same name to my attention. Good for him, I guess. He paved the way for the Wizards current crop of juniors.

Yep, you guessed it, John Wall and Kelly Oubre are not the only juniors on the current Wizards' roster. Otto Porter shares a name with his father, Otto Porter, Sr. And Drew Gooden not only is named after his father but also after his grandfather which makes him, just like RG3, a third, although calling Drew "DG3" has not caught on the way RG3 has swept the national capital area. Or at least I believe it has swept the D.C. area based on the number of license plates I see in town paying homage to a 25 year old professional athlete who by the team's choice has not played at all this season.

So here's my question or request or whatever you want to call it: why can't Verizon Center get it right? When Kelly Oubre steps on the wood for the Wizards, he's wearing an "Oubre Jr." jersey and that's what shows up on the scoreboard. However, Drew Gooden gets no such love for his "Gooden III" uni; he just gets "Gooden" on the display above center court. I guess I can understand this a little bit; I mean Drew did play his first season as a Wizard as just "Gooden", although admittedly that was two seasons ago but maybe VC is just slow to catch up.

But the thing that really confuses me is Otto's name on the scoreboard because despite never wearing a jersey with "Porter Jr." on it, Otto shows up just that way when he enters (or these days starts) a game. What gives? Can't we just match the names on the jerseys? That seems like the smartest thing to do. That's all I have to say on this subject. Get it right and keep it right.

As an aside, or postscript, I'm not sure I agree with Wikipedia on John Wall being a junior; I think the whole name has to be the same for one to truly be a junior but whatever.  I'm certainly no genealogy expert, if that's even the right word to use in this case. Eventually they may just agree with me and the link contained in this blog post may make no sense. That's fine with me.  Go Wizards! is my only response to that.

Matches the scoreboard but not the actual player jersey.

2015-2016 Wizards Bobbleheads?

With Summer League just a couple of days away (Vegas, here I come!), a couple of new signees and a trade in the books, the promise of a new season of hoops is right around the corner, once we get through the NBA starved months of August and September. So with an eye towards the new season this fall, it's time for the Wizards to start thinking about this year's promotional slate. At least I think it is. Here's some help for those in the giveaway war room.

I've been going to Wizards games at Verizon Center in downtown Washington for about nine and a half years now. Before that, I watched my favorite hoops team play ball at MCI Center, which is the exact same place but with a different name. Whether the building has carried the MCI name or Verizon name, signage letting you know who paid some bucks to get their logo on the marquee have been prominently displayed on F, 6th and 7th Streets NW since day one. Reports surfaced earlier this year that Verizon was considering pulling its sponsorship of the arena in 2018 when their current deal expires. Until then, the place remains theirs.

But sometime last season, some new names appears on the outside walls of Verizon Center. There was no fanfare that I noticed but sure enough, Monumental Sports and Entertainment affixed metal signs just to the left of the main entrance doors with the logos of Capital One Bank, GEICO, Pepsi and Etihad Airways. It's the first time I've ever seen this kind of acknowledgement of a second tier of corporate sponsors at an NBA arena. Not that I spend a lot of time at any other team's home; I just find it interesting. It probably means that these four sponsors are paying a little more than the average advertising partner at VC, which means we as fans might start to expect more than just a logo on a metal sign. What do I mean by this? Well, read on please.

Last year the Golden State Warriors won their first NBA Championship since 1975. They defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, who made only their second Finals appearance in franchise history and their first since 2007. Last year, the Warriors gave away six bobbleheads to thank their dedicated fans for showing up game after game, year after year; the Cavaliers gave away two. Now, I'm not trying to correlate the number of bobbleheads distributed by a particular team to postseason success but I am trying to make the point that successful teams give away multiple bobbleheads in any one season. Not to get fans in the door with some cheap piece of plastic but to say thank you. And bobbleheads need sponsors to pay for them or at least defray the cost. Getting the picture?

Last year the Washington Wizards gave away zero bobbleheads. Sure there was a G Wiz bobble made available "free" with a $20 Kids' Club membership but that's not giving a bobblehead away. It's also G Wiz. As much as I love our mascot, it's not the same as a player bobbblehead. I know we got a Marcin Gortat action figure but action figures are not bobbleheads. The previous year saw a similarly disturbing trend: just one player bobblehead (Nenê) given away plus a bonus Martell Webster bobble if you pony up some dough for a Kids' Club membership.

So now that we have some second tier sponsors (or Legacy Partners as Monumental Sport and Entertainment prefers to call them) on the outside of our building, can't we get some more bobbleheads? I'm thinking YES! Now just in case our new Legacy Partners are at a loss as to what to do here, I'm offering a few suggestions totally free of charge. Here goes.

Otto Porter, sponsored by Capital One Bank

So when I originally conceived of this post, I of course wanted to have Paul Pierce in this spot since he banked in one of the most famous Wizards shots in recent memory in last year's playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks (the "I called game!" game). But…since Paul decided to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers and not take a serious run at an NBA title, I'm sliding Otto Porter into his spot, who demonstrated that he is likely more than ready to take Pierce's starting spot this coming season.

The Wizards have been hesitant in recent years to give away bobbleheads of their rookies to fans. Sure, John Wall and Bradley Beal got bobbles their first years but Otto did not two years ago, nor did Jan Vesely, JaVale McGee, Nick Young or Oleksiy Pecherov before him. So after last year's playoffs, when Otto doubled his rebounds and assists per game over the regular season in about 80% more playing time and had the entire arena chanting "OT-TO POR-TER!", I think Otto needs a bobblehead this year.

Who has more upside for Wizards fans right now than Otto? The last couple of years he's been labeled a bust by folks from one end of this country to another and the Wizards were mocked for taking him with the number three pick. But the Wizards always insisted that while he had no obvious one strength, he did show a well rounded game with no obvious weakness and they (and he) saved all that for the playoffs last year. His length, improved shot, passing skills, speed and ability to rebound in a crowd were all on prominent display in last year's postseason. He got passed over his rookie year and his second year, it's time to make the Otto bobble. Andray Blatche got one a couple of years late. Otto ain't Dray (he's better) and he deserves one too.

Drew Gooden III, sponsored by GEICO

Need some insurance off the bench for the Wizards? Maybe a couple of three balls to get the offense going and keep the other team's defense honest? And perhaps at a 15% discount over other bench players? Looks like it's time to call on Drew Gooden. 

If you had asked me in the winter of 2010 how I felt about Drew Gooden, I'd likely have had some unkind words to throw his way. Drew was acquired by the Wizards in a deal that sent Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson to the Dallas Mavericks but he made it pretty darned clear he didn't want to play for the Wizards. A couple of days later he was gone to the Clippers in a deal that sent Antawn Jamison to Cleveland and brought back pretty much nothing in return. Drew's first tenure with the Wiz brought nothing but heartache.

Fast forward a few years and Drew's one of my favorite players. I'm always there screaming DREEEEEWWWWW! whenever he checks into the game or hits a three. The Wizards should make all players wear "III" on the backs of their jerseys. It paid off great for Drew. After the Wizards picked up Drew from the parking lot of the Bethesda Whole Foods about a season and a half ago on a veteran minimum (he was amnestied by the Milwaukee Bucks and was still drawing a $6.5+ million salary), my opinion of Drew has gone way up and I'm all for keeping him as long as he can do what he's done or close to it the last couple of years.

So why not a bench bobblehead from an insurance company? I think he's as worthy as anyone else? Who else you got? Garrett Temple? DeJuan Blair? Kris Humphries? I don't think so. If it's insurance guys at a discount on the bench, Drew has to be the guy. And it has to have a headband.

Yes, I realize Drew has not technically agreed to re-sign with the Wizards yet. And yes, I know with yesterday's Alan Anderson signing that we only have one other roster spot right now but plan on it just the same, GEICO. 

Marcin Gortat, sponsored by Pepsi

Over the years, Pepsi has sponsored a ton of bobbleheads in a variety of sports all over the country. Don't believe me? Search for "pepsi bobblehead" on eBay and you will come up with a ton of hits. A recent search I did while writing this post yielded 179 items, including a Ray Allen bobblehead from 2001 (Milwaukee Bucks), Vince Carter from 2010 (Orlando Magic) and undated Al Harrington (Indiana Pacers) and B.J. Armstrong (Chicago Bulls) bobbleheads in addition to an enormous number of baseball bobbleheads; I especially like the Manny Sanguillen throwback Pittsburgh Pirates bobblehead from 2003. 

If that's not enough, the Wright State University Raiders have promised a Pepsi sponsored Coach Ralph Underhill bobblehead giveaway for the 2015-2016 season. Now that they have their name on the front of Verizon Center, they should be itching for a Wizards bobblehead night. If other teams can get one from Pepsi, why can't we?

If I were Pepsi, I'd be pushing for a Marcin Gortat bobblehead night. I know we had an action figure giveaway featuring Marcin last season but as I've already stated, action figures are not bobbleheads. Why Marcin? Well the best I can come up with here is he's sweet and bubbly just like Pepsi or if nothing else, Pepsi and everyone else ought to be dying to get Marcin's melon onto a bobblehead with their logo on the base. Of the Wizards projected starters right now, only Gortat and Porter are without team issued bobbleheads. I've already fixed Otto by setting up Capital One gorgeously; Pepsi should take Marcin.

Randy Wittman, sponsored by Etihad Airways

If Verizon decides to not renew their sponsorship of the Wizards' home arena, I'm guessing Etihad will step into the void and plonk down some serious bucks to get their name on the place. They already have a huge presence in (perhaps) the number one sports league in the world by sponsoring the Barclay's Premiere League's Manchester City's jerseys and stadium. Now they just need a foothold in a United States sports league. Washington's up and coming basketball team and its location as the capital of our country seems an ideal match.

So with Etihad presumably looking for the brass ring to raise their profile instantly, why not just go straight for the head man with their bobblehead and get what most all true Wizards fans long for: a Randy Wittman bobblehead. OK, so let's face it, right now the Wizards fan base probably has a love-hate relationship with Randy. And by that I mean half the people love him and half the people hate him. Well, maybe it's likely to be skewed more one way than the other.

I love Randy so personally speaking I'd be thrilled to get my paws on my very own Witt bobble. Plus right now I have a bunch of players, a mascot and even a mini model of Verizon Center but I have no bobblehead coach. Randy's earned it. Please, please, please do this for me, Etihad. 

And for those of you who don't know by now, Etihad is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates. There…a little free air time for Etihad. I'm sure we'll see a spike in the number of travelers to Dubai as a result of this post. If we do, you know how to repay me.

A couple of final notes here. First, If our sponsors decide other players are more worthy or four just ain't enough, well who am I to argue? But we need at least one from each I think and your name on the building sort of ropes you into sponsoring a bobblehead each year. Even if it's not contractually required, you should feel a moral obligation anyway. Show us what you got.

Secondly and finally, yes I know the graphics in this post are horribly amateur. Half of it was intentional and half of it was due to technology and/or user limitations with the software on my MacBook Air. If you are similarly limited with technology or find my graphics appealing, feel free to use them absolutely free of charge. I won't mind at all. The promotional schedule usually comes out in October. You have about three months to make good on this post. Go Wizards! Go bobbleheads!!

2014 Off Season Priorities

The NBA Finals started tonight, a re-match of last year's seven game Miami Heat - San Antonio Spurs series which the Heat stole after the Spurs absolutely blew it in game six on their home floor. Just like last year, I'll be rooting as hard as I possibly can against the Heat, hoping they have just worn their roster just too thin after last off season's roster cuts, particularly (and I hate to say this based on his time in Washington) Mike Miller. Miami may come to regret that move.

The fact that it's NBA Finals time and I haven't written about the Wizards' off season priorities also means that I am behind in my blogging, so far in fact that one of my priorities or the team has already been resolved. What can I say? I have a full time job and I took vacation the last week or so during the Conference Finals. I'd be right on time if I could just write this blog full time. I'd also be a lot poorer.

The state of the Wizards seems to look a lot brighter this off season than it did last year. Instead of heading back to the Draft Lottery for the sixth consecutive year, the team is coming off its second most regular season victories and its most successful playoff run in the last 35 years. The starting five produced pretty well this year and the bench certainly improved in the second half of the season. Last year I thought a couple of tweaks could get us the seventh or eighth seed in the playoffs. Turns out I shot too low. Yet, as with any team that finished in the five spot in the Eastern Conference in recent years, questions remain and there's a long way to go before the Wizards can be considered a legitimate contender.

This year's off season will look a whole lot different than last year for a number of reasons. Unlike last year when the team held the number three pick in the Draft, this year our only selection comes in the second round, meaning the chance of us snagging a contributor on June 26 seems pretty remote, especially considering our recent track record in the Draft. The Wizards also face two of their five starters (Trevor Ariza and Marcin Gortat) being unrestricted free agents, as opposed to last year's one (Martell Webster). Fortunately the team possesses a good amount of salary cap space to sign free agents and last year's off season signing of Al Harrington, who presumably had other options available to him, is likely a good indicator that free agents might actually want to come play in Washington.

So with all that in mind, here's what I'd do if I were running the show at Verizon Center. I'm not, for which most fans should be eternally grateful.

1. Re-Sign Randy Wittman

I realize this has already happened. The Wizards signed Randy to a new three year deal at a rumored $3 million per year this past Tuesday. The third year is a team option, so it's really just a two year deal guaranteed. I've written a couple of times in this blog that I thought Randy was a key in turning the culture of the franchise from a group of irresponsible knuckleheads to (dare I say it) a model of professionalism. While the Wizards had some significant concentration lapses during the regular season which led to some bad losses, overall the team took their performance seriously and the playoffs were a totally different story. Randy clearly had the team's attention.

The knock on Randy seems to be his past coaching record. Local media seems to delight in trotting out Randy's "worst winning percentage in NBA history of all coaches with a minimum 400 games coached." I think it's safe to say this current year's team is likely the only one other coaches would actually envy, so it's no surprise that the results this year were far better than all his other years as a head coach in the NBA when he was working with rebuilding teams with little talent.

I'm not sure what a realistically better option there is for this team at this time. We have a coach who clearly has the commitment of the entire roster who just led the team to it's most successful season since 1979. I'm not sure what more we could want. Certainly bringing in a rookie coach (which happened a lot this past off season) doesn't seem to make sense. The only other option would be to get a proven winning coach who wants to come to D.C. to coach. George Karl seemed to be the popular choice of some local writers. But there are no guarantees in going that route. I think the players' support for Randy and the job that he has done so far makes him the logical and best choice. Way to go, coach. Well deserved!

2. Maintain the Starting Five…Or Close To It

The Wizards face an offseason where two of their most productive starters are unrestricted free agents, meaning the team has absolutely no control over re-signing Marcin Gortat or Trevor Ariza. Both will likely command large salaries on the open market and I'm sure their agents are salivating over the deals other teams will put in front of these two guys.

For me, the biggest challenge for the Wizards this off season is at the starting center spot. Marcin Gortat is a legitimate NBA starting center. Nobody else on the team is, even if Kevin Seraphin stays with the squad. With the Wizards expected to have more than $15 million in salary cap space there's certainly a lot of cash to hand out this off season. Will Gortat be the team's top priority? What about Ariza? Ariza is clearly the team's best defender and had perhaps the most productive offensive year of his career. He was absolutely deadly from three point range.

For me, the priority is Gortat. There are so few true centers in the NBA these days and I think Gortat values playing in Washington with John Wall with Randy Wittman as coach. The sort of chemistry he has and could have with Wall is difficult to find. I'm hoping there's a hometown discount in there somewhere. After all, what's one or two million dollars less per year? One year of his next contract is going to get him more money than I will make in my lifetime. It's for sure enough to keep him comfortable.

I would also love to see Ariza back next year, but at a sensible price, which in my mind may be the same as he made this year. I love Trevor Ariza's play. If it weren't for Martell Webster on the team, I'd be wearing a number 1 jersey to Verizon Center every game. I love Trevor's ability to shut down opponents and I love his ability to score the three. But I also believe John Wall has something to do with his offensive output. I thought it was a mistake to start Ariza over Webster this year since Martell performed so well last year. But Ariza at the starting three spot worked exceptionally well this year, whereas Martell's production fell off significantly. If we can't retain Trevor next year, I believe Martell will fill in adequately until Otto Porter is ready. And I believe Otto is the real deal.

I'd try to get both Ariza and Gortat back in the fold. But if negotiations proved too difficult, I'd wrap up Marcin first. He's just way tougher to replace.

3. Shop Frugally

The Wizards end of season salary cap number was $70,204,382. Of that about $70 million, $9,140,915 (or so) was spent on four guys in the last year of their rookie deals, specifically Kevin Seraphin, Trevor Booker, Jan Vesely (I prorated his salary at 54 of 82 games) and Chris Singleton. Rookie contracts are typically the best bargain going in the NBA, a chance to get relatively high production out of guys whose costs are kept low by the rookie salary scale. John Wall, for example, played a little more than 15% of the team's total minutes and made slightly more than 10% of the team's payroll. Next year John's salary will almost double. His minutes won't.

Seraphin, Booker, Vesely and Singleton occupied about 13% of the team's payroll (again, prorating Vesely's number) but only played 14.5% of the team's minutes. Booker was by far the best bargain here, costing about 3.3% of the salary number and playing about 7.9% of the minutes. The other three actually cost more than they produced, even at the relative bargain that is a rookie contract. Next year we are not going to be able to afford that kind of waste if we want to challenge teams like Miami and Indiana, especially with John Wall's salary increase and potential sizeable contracts for Gortat and Ariza, if the team opts to go that route.

I think it's safe to say Chris Singleton will not be back in Washington next year and I suspect neither will Kevin Seraphin, unless we really can't find anyone else to back up the center spot. I think Booker stands a pretty good shot at getting a multi-year deal at or about his current salary (just less than $2.5 million) and I think if the Wizards can wrap him up at that number, they should. The real trick will be to maximize the value with the money that last year went to Seraphin, Vesely and Booker. Drew Gooden and Al Harrington proved to be great value for veteran minimum deals. I'd love to see Gooden back with the team at a similar price point in addition to some other free agent vets that can still contribute. A couple of former Wizards in Emeka Okafor (assuming his back isn't forcing him into retirement) and Caron Butler seem like guys we should at least take a look at.

4. Improve Free Throw Shooting

I can't tell you how many games the Wizards blew this year because of their free throw shooting but there were a number, enough that some serious thought needs to be given to how the team as a whole improves their performance from the charity stripe. The Wizards shot just 13 of 26 from the free throw line in an overtime loss at Oklahoma City in November and faced similar difficulties (11 for 18) in a home loss to Atlanta the next month. One more free throw in regulation in either of those games would have wiped out the extra session and given the Wizards a regulation victory.

Overall, the Wizards finished 25th out of 30 teams in free throw percentage during the regular season. Jan Vesely was the worst of all the Wizards shooting a pitiful 33.9% from the line, good for 450th in the league (there were 463 players who shot a free throw in the regular season this year). And just in case you believe shipping Ves to Denver cured the team of its free throw woes, the team actually shot worse in the post season. Collectively, the Wizards managed to hit only 69.6% of their free throws in the playoffs, good for dead last among the 16 teams who played beyond the regular season this year.

During the 2007-2008 season, the Wizards hired Dave Hopla to help with free throw troubles they were experiencing during the previous season. Dave managed to get the team's free throw percentage up from 76.5% to 78.2%. That may not seem like a lot of improvement; it represented only about 34 points over the course of the 2007-2008 season. But trust me when I say I'd love to have had a few extra points in some of our games this year.

Over and above the 34 extra points, the biggest difference Hopla made that year was with center Brendan Haywood, whose free throw percentage jumped from 54.8% during the 2006-2007 season to 73.5% one season later. Instead of being a free throw liability at the end of games, Brendan became an asset, allowing him more time on the floor to coordinate the Wizards' defense (the Wiz were pretty much hopeless on D without B Wood those years). That change doesn't show up on the free throw statistics but it made a difference. Unfortunately, the next year Dave was gone and so was Brendan's free throw prowess. He shot 47.6% the following year.

If there's a guy out there who can help Nenê raise his 58.3% free throw shooting mark, I'd sign him up. The difference in that one player alone would be worth a lot of money. Remember, there's no salary cap on the coaching staff.

5. Develop a Developmental League Strategy

The National Basketball Development League started the 2013-2014 season with 17 teams. Of those 17 teams, 14 were in an exclusive relationship with a single NBA franchise. For NBA teams affiliated with a single D-League franchise, this allowed the NBA team to have their personnel run basketball operations, appoint the coaching staff and run the exact same offensive and defensive schemes in the NBDL. This arrangement provides a huge benefit for players that are assigned to the D-League by the NBA team. The value in this type of relationship has been cited as critical to player development by a number of NBA teams.

The other 16 teams without a single D-League affiliation do not have the same benefit. Instead, those 16 teams share the remaining three NBDL franchises but have no control over playing time or playbooks, meaning the development component of D-League assignments is basically a crap shoot. The Wizards, not surprisingly to this fan, are one of the 16 teams without an exclusive relationship.

The 2014-2015 NBDL schedule will feature 18 teams, the highest total in league history, after the New York Knicks established a new franchise in White Plains. The Knicks were single affiliated with the Erie Bayhawks last year; the Orlando Magic have managed to snag the Bayhawks as their D-League team next year. Of the 18 teams which will participate next year, all but one have an exclusive relationship with an NBA team. Over the past year, the Memphis Grizzlies have secured the Iowa Energy as their exclusive partner and the Phoenix Suns did likewise with the Bakersfield Jam. For the other 13 NBA teams, that means all 13 share a single NBDL franchise, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Fort Wayne is about 550 miles from Washington.

So what exactly is the Wizards' plan in relation to the D-League. If there's one area this franchise has struggled with, it's player development. Are the Wizards actively resisting, slow to react, or just executing some other strategy that is just not apparent? It is not unreasonable to envision a D-League with 30 franchises, one per NBA franchise, in the near future. But what happens until that day for the Wizards? Is sharing a Development League franchise with 12 other teams really useful? I'd love to know.

Algonquin For "The Good Land"

The first Saturday of this month saw me in Philadelphia watching the Wizards beat a hapless 76ers team (second worst record in the NBA) in a relatively new arena in front of a sellout crowd. OK, so the Allen Iverson jersey retirement ceremony might have had a little something to do with the uptick in attendance that night. The Sixers were a successful proud franchise in the late 1970s and early 1980s, winning an NBA title and falling short in a couple of more finals. For the last few years they have been toying with being a good team, grabbing a low playoff seed the past couple of years before tearing it all down and rebuilding behind new coach Brett Brown this season.

This past Saturday, just one week after being in Philly, I was in Milwaukee watching the Wizards squeak by a hapless Bucks team (worst record in the NBA but arguably way better than the Sixers at this point) in a not so attractive 25 year old arena in front of not many folks at all. The Bucks were a successful proud franchise in the 1970s and 1980s, winning an NBA title and dominating their division year after year in that span. For the last few years they too have toyed with being a good team, grabbing low playoff seed after low playoff seed before going all out and rebuilding behind new coach Larry Drew this season.

On the surface, these two Wizards rivals (using that term very loosely) would seem to be in pretty similar situations. But Milwaukee's got it way worse. Despite both teams being terrible this year and hoping for a miracle rebuild, the Bucks have the burden of an NBA mandate to get a new building. Like pronto. Like in three years. They also have an owner looking to sell the team to an investment group who will preferably keep the team in Milwaukee (that group doesn't seem to exist right now) while out of town investors are circling the city like sharks just waiting for the NBA's OK to have at it and take the team. Such is the state of professional basketball in Milwaukee these days. Sounded to me like I should head up to Wisconsin quickly in case the team disappears entirely in the next few years. So I did.

The first half, before things got ugly.

Saturday night's contest was the Wizards' third of the season against the Bucks. Despite the Bucks' sub-.200 record, the Wizards came away with only a split in those previous two games, preferring to play at, or I guess slightly below, Milwaukee's level at home in December and needing a last minute comeback to send it to overtime on the road before finally prevailing in the extra session a few weeks before that in Milwaukee. So Saturday's contest appeared to be an ideal trap game for the Wizards, especially with the Bucks' best player, Larry Sanders, sidelined for the season and their starting shooting guard, O.J. Mayo, serving a one game suspension for a punch to the Pelicans' Greg Stiemsma's throat the previous night in New Orleans.

Early on, it didn't appear there was any danger of a loss here at all. The Wizards came out in the first half like they seemed to be uninterested in making this a competitive game, building a 28 point lead and hitting the 70 point mark about four minutes before the end of the second quarter. Finally it seemed like we had avoided playing down to the level of inferior competition for one night at least. 

Not so fast. Our team's attitude towards playing the right way seemed to waiver with about two minutes to go in the first half. The atmosphere on the bench, at least from my seat about 10 feet away, seemed light, with players hamming it up, laughing and celebrating the Bucks' misfortunes. The play on the court, meanwhile, slowed down and degenerated into a one on one, time wasting exercise which for the Wizards this year has yielded not much success at all. I said at that time I'd feel lucky if we were up by 20 at the break. We survived and took a 22 point cushion to the locker room.

After a halftime show featuring a 50 something year old man standing atop a 15 foot or so high stack of chairs, the Wizards sauntered out of the locker room and proceeded to score zero points in the first seven minutes plus of the third quarter. It was the kind of letdown we can't afford against a halfway decent team with Nenê out with an injury and the Bucks quickly cut the lead to single digits. John Wall played quite honestly one of the worst games in recent weeks; he was absolutley dominated by Brandon Knight. And Bradley Beal continued the inconsistent play he's shown in the past few weeks.

Fortunately the Bucks are not a halfway decent team and the combination of 28 points from Trevor Ariza, a super valuable 13 from Drew Gooden off the bench and a strong fourth by Beal was enough to put the home team away by seven points. I've said it again and I'll say it again: the Wizards are just not good enough to take any minutes off right now. Scoring 10 points in the third quarter and yielding 33 in the fourth quarter of a game isn't going to cut it most days. 48 minutes, guys. I'm thankful for the 75 we poured in during the first 24 minutes. This brings my road record to 3-4. I definitely picked the right away games this year.

I'd feel remiss if I didn't spend a few sentences on the BMO Harris Bradley Center since I'd heard numerous sources describe the place as a dump. I didn't feel the interior of the arena was that bad, although it's clearly older and lacks amenities that the NBA loves, like tons and tons of luxury boxes. But the outside of the arena is a different story. This building has a complete lack of character. It's a scaleless, windowless box that doesn't engage the city or the street at all. The entries at either end of the building contain no sense of arrival at all. It honestly looks like the building was designed in the 1970s then shelved for a while and then finally built in the late 1980s on the cheap. It made me proud of the Verizon Center for it's ability to activate the streetscape. I guess the nine years between the construction of the two buildings make a lot of difference.

Liquid cheese eating contest. Go! Go! Go!

So given the state of the building and the record of the team, it's understandable that the Bucks are on the edge of begging fans to attend in person. We talked to a number of people in the city asking us why we were in town and the typical response when we said we were going to the Wizards-Bucks game was along the lines of "I'm sorry." But if there's one thing I can say that the Bucks did right it's the in game entertainment. They ran it like a meeting, presenting a quarter by quarter agenda for the fans so we knew exactly what to expect. They even covered the halftime show I guess so you could decide to stick around or bail. And this was the only game I've attended where there was a liquid cheese eating contest: two dudes sucking down canned artificial cheese for 45 seconds. Classic and somehow totally Wisconsin. I'm sure they didn't have doctors on hand doing a before and after cholesterol check, but it might have been prudent.

I got a lot out of my weekend in Milwaukee. Of course I'm glad the Wizards won. That was, after all, the reason I made the trip. Milwaukee is a classic midwestern city and I've loved the midwest ever since I spent four years at the University of Michigan. In between taking in downtown's eclectic mix of early 20th century and 1970s/80s buildings; checking out the statue of the Fonz (seriously); eating a late night snack of delicious fried cheese curds (translation: fat deep fried in fat oil with a side of fat ranch dressing); and gazing at the largest and scariest collection of Miller Lite and Coors Light at the Miller Brewery (totally worth the trip by the way), I had a very enjoyable weekend. Milwaukee is crossed off the NBA pilgrimage list. Next up: NBDL action in New England.