The End Of An Era

What a couple of weeks to take off from blogging about the Washington Wizards. After a disappointing season where expectations were high and continually dashed by lackluster play from seemingly everyone except John Wall, someone had to pay the price. And that someone turned out to be head coach Randy Wittman, who I have blogged about in pretty much nothing but glowing terms. There's a reason for that: Randy is by far my favorite Wizards head coach since I became a season ticket holder. In case anyone cares, here's my list.

1. Randy Wittman (2012-2016)
2. Eddie Jordan (2003-2008)
3. Ed Tapscott (2008-2009)*
4. Doug Collins (2001-2003)
5. Leonard Hamilton (2000-2001)
6. Flip Saunders (2009-2012)

* Number 3 by default because he was assigned to the position. Tell me I'm wrong. You can't really.

I think Randy lasted way longer than most people thought and way way longer than most fans wanted. Before you get too "I told you so" about wanting Randy fired, go back a paragraph or so and check out the names at the bottom of the list above and tell me you would rather have them than Randy at the helm of your team. I know you can't and please, don't kid yourself about Doug Collins. He was awful. There's nobody other than 1 and 2 above who did anything approaching an acceptable job in Washington.

Randy was handed the reins to the Wizards in January of 2012 after the team fired then coach Flip Saunders after a 2-15 start. He lasted four full seasons beyond the one he was hired into. In a job that is inherently temporary, that's pretty good. While Randy held the top spot in D.C. there were 49 coaching changes in the NBA. 49!!!!!! In a little less than five seasons. Admittedly not all were firings. Some resigned, some were just not re-hired and one died. But most were canned.

Want to know who's been part of all this? In alphabetical order...Rick Adelman. Bernie Bickerstaff. David Blatt. James Borrego. Jim Boylan. Scott Brooks. Mike Brown. Kaleb Canales. P.J. Carlesimo. Maurice Cheeks. Doug Collins. Tyrone Corbin. Mike D'Antoni. Vinny Del Negro. Larry Drew. Mike Dunlap. Derek Fisher. Lawrence Franks. Alvin Gentry, Lionel Hollins. Jeff Hornacek. Melvin Hunt. Lindsey Hunter. Mark Jackson. Avery Johnson. George Karl. Jason Kidd. John Loyer. Mike Malone. Kevin McHale. Nate McMillan. Doc Rivers. Flip Saunders. Byron Scott. Paul Silas. Keith Smart. Tom Thibodeau. Stan Van Gundy. Jacque Vaughn. Paul Westphal. Monty Williams. Mike Woodson.

I know what you are thinking. That's not 49. Nope, it's 44. That's because Mike Brown, Tyrone Corbin, Mike D'Antoni, Larry Drew and Lionel Hollins could have been on the list twice. Randy outlasted them all. He also outlasted four coaching changes each in Brooklyn and Sacramento. And you think the Wizards are messed up.

My Randy Wittman signed basketball, in its place of honor next to my mini Verizon Center.

But enough negativity. I genuinely loved the Randy Wittman era. But I can accept that it's over and I hope it only gets better from here. I get that the player rotations at times weren't that great and the offensive creativity wasn't stellar sometimes (despite the fact that I agree with Randy that offense really wasn't our issue this year), but I appreciated Randy Wittman's tenure with the Wizards and give him a lot of credit for sorting a complete mess out and making it better. Here's what I'll remember.

He brought defense and accountability to a franchise sorely needing both.

I think I read an article once that Randy asked when offered the job if he would have the front office whispering in his ear about playing certain players on the roster when he took over the team. He was apparently assured enough to agree to sit in the head chair and then proceed not to play JaVale McGee and Nick Young when they were not inclined to play hard or smart. He also exiled Andray Blatche after JaVale and Nick were traded away. And I mean exiled. Told him just not to come back. The next time Dray showed up at Verizon Center he was in a Nets jersey.

On the defensive side of the ball, he took a team ranked 23rd in defensive efficiency (which measures points surrendered per 100 possessions) the season prior to being named head man and turned them into a squad ranked 8th, 9th and 4th in his first three full seasons. Those teams could D-up, which you couldn't have said about too many Wizards squads in the last few decades. And that translated to wins. It's way easier to play offense than defense. Just ask James Harden. Randy got our guys to believe.

He was always straight with everyone.

There are some coaches in professional sports that you rarely get a straight answer from. Bill Belichick comes to mind here. Right or wrong, Randy was not that guy. He always talked openly and honestly about his thoughts on the team's performance and called people out candidly and (mostly) objectively, although I'm sure Marcin Gortat might have a thing or two to say about the word I put in parentheses earlier in this sentence. Basketball is not that complicated a game and there's no need for a head coach to mince words about performance or strategy. Randy is so committed to freedom of his own speech that it cost him $20K a few years ago. Old school, all the way! I love it.

I also love that Randy was completely candid with me when I bumped into him at National Airport when heading out to Summer League in 2013 and asked if I could ask him some questions. I've talked to Ernie Grunfeld before when I've had the opportunity and that guy gives up nothing. It's like trying to get information out of a stone wall. Randy was the opposite, giving me insight into the team openly and honestly, although I'm pretty sure the stuff he told me about Jan Vesely he should have kept to himself. Sometimes the best leadership calls for not being completely transparent.

He is the Wizards / Bullets all time leader in playoff win percentage as a coach.

Do I need to say much more than this? It's both a comment on the job Randy did in his time here and how sad the history of this team is. I get that the sample size is really small but he's number one in this category. He had a winning record in both postseasons.

I've always thought it takes a different leadership skill set to lead people in times of crisis vs. times of prosperity. To me, Randy Wittman did a great job stabilizing the Wizards team and franchise and he achieved some phenomenal success relative to the history of the franchise. But it appeared that was only going to get us so far. And this week saw the beginning of the Scott Brooks era. I hope he can duplicate his success in Oklahoma City right here in Washington. At least he's a credible coach who has taken a team to the NBA Finals. I applaud the Wizards for that. Brooks is already number three on my favorite Wizards head coaches of all time list and he hasn't conducted a single practice.

I still have all my Randy Wittman basketball cards. I'm not throwing those things away after the money I shelled out for them. I'm also not taking my signed basketball off my shelf. Maybe one day, but not these next few months for sure. Job well done, Randy. I hope you are proud of the work you did here. I sure am.

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!!

$34.07

This post probably gets filed in the "less sense than money" category.

Randy Wittman has been head coach of the Washington Wizards for just a little bit less than four seasons. He was elevated to that position after the Wizards got tired of the lack of results under Flip Saunders and decided to kick Flip to the curb just 17 games into the 2011-2012 NBA season. Since his appointment as head coach, Randy's record is not stellar, posting a 46.4 winning percentage, although he did manage to get the Wizards into the second round of the NBA playoffs each of the last two years, something that hadn't happened in 36 years.

Sad though it may seem (because it's easy to achieve given my favorite team's historical performance), Randy is already becoming one of the most accomplished coaches in Wizards / Bullets team history. Despite his below even winning percentage, he's eighth all time in that category among the 23 head men in franchise history. I expect as his teams continue to win, he'll bring his winning percentage higher and higher. A 21-0 start at the beginning of next season would bring him to .500 instantly.

Randy fares better in some other franchise coaching categories. In total games coached, he's fifth. If he lasts to the end of next season he'll pass Dick Motta, who won the 1977-1978 NBA Championship with the Bullets. In playoff wins, Randy ranks fourth with 12 in just two playoff appearances. Maybe if John Wall hadn't hurt his wrist, the Wizards would still be playing and he'd be adding to that total.

In playoff winning percentage, Randy is first in team history with a 57.1 winning percentage. First!!! Granted there have been only two Wizards / Bullets head coaches who have an above .500 winning rate (the other being Dick Motta) but still…Randy deserves some credit here I think. If he wins three more playoff games next year, he'll be in second place on the all time team playoff wins list; If he gets the Wizards an NBA title, he'll be first. By one game.

If you read this blog regularly or know me personally, you'll know I'm a big Randy Wittman fan. He stresses the less glamorous parts of the game (fundamentals and defense) that are generally more difficult to be good at and he holds people accountable for performance. Those two things have been instrumental in turning the culture of the Wizards team over the last three plus seasons. So in honor of Randy being the winningest coach in Wizards / Bullets playoff history, I thought I'd see if I could buy all of Randy's basketball cards from his days as a player. I think I did that (and more) all for the low low price of $34.07. Here's what my money got me.

1983-1988: The Atlanta Hawks Years

Randy was drafted in the first round of the 1983 NBA Draft by the Washington Bullets as the 22nd overall pick. He never played in Washington as the Bullets traded his rights to the Atlanta Hawks for Tom McMillen, who apparently asked then Hawks owner Ted Turner for a trade to Washington so he could start working on his post-NBA career as a politician. Turner obliged and Randy ended up in Atlanta.

Randy ended up spending five seasons down south and got a basketball card of himself each of those five years. Basketball cards back in the 1980s weren't like basketball cards today. There was generally only one series of cards manufactured and not everyone got a card. There were no alternate series of cards, autographed cards or pieces of jersey or sneaker embedded in the cards. There were just plain old thin cardboard cards with an image on the front and some statistics on the back. These days there are what I refer to as liner notes about each player on the backs of the many many cards that players get today. A couple of years ago, I found some fairly amusing words on the backs of some of my Wizards cards which I wrote about in this blog.

I invested anywhere from $1.25 to $3.00 for each of my Randy Wittman cards but I sprung for a whole $5.00 plus $2.99 shipping for his rookie card, which came in a special plastic case with a grading number of 10 which I assume is the best grade a card can receive since it's noted as "Mint or Better." I'm not sure how anything can be better than mint but whatever. The image on the card is awesome, showing a wide eyed rookie in the horrendous mid-1980s Atlanta warmups. Is this the best picture they could find? The card is shown above, still in it's special plastic case because I haven't figured out how to remove it yet.

Randy's 1984-1985 through 1986-1987 cards are shown above in order from left to right. His second year card again shows him in his warmups, this time with the short sleeved shooting shirt removed and displaying his Hawks uni with the diagonal team name and numbers. I don't know what someone was thinking when they designed those things. I like the Hawks logo on the cards produced by Star; when Fleer got the contract they decided to remove the logo and not even mention the city where the Hawks are located. I'm not such a big fan of the Fleer cards.

Randy's third and fourth year cards use the exact same picture of him dribbling the ball up the court in front of a typically empty Hawks arena. Maybe there were a lot fewer pictures taken at basketball games in the 1980s so the same image got used two years in a row, with a little color contrast adjustment to confuse people a bit. I'm guessing the card companies figured nobody would ever assemble a collection of Randy Wittman cards so they could probably get away with the exact same pic. Little did they know…

Randy's final Hawks card is awesome. I love the maniacal look on Randy's face as he's (and I'm presuming here) launching one of the midrange jumpers he was famous for during his career in front of a watching Magic Johnson. I'm guessing the shot went down. Randy shot over 50% from the field during his career, which is pretty impressive at the guard position.

1988-1989: The Sacramento Kings (Half) Year

After the 1987-1988 NBA season, one in which the Atlanta Hawks would lose in game seven of the Eastern Conference semi-finals against a Larry Bird-led Boston Celtics team, Randy was traded to the Sacramento Kings for Reggie Theus. Just like his five years in Atlanta, Randy managed to get a basketball card for his time in Sacramento.

Randy's not wearing a Kings uniform on his 1988-1989 card, presumably because the cards were printed in the summer before the season started and he hadn't yet donned a Kings uni. So of course the folks at Fleer used the exact same image that they used in 1986 and Star used in 1985. Is the only stock image of Randy Wittman playing basketball that anyone felt comfortable using in the mid-1980s?

For its image alone, the card is a classic. But I love the "Traded to Sacramento" pennant placed over the Hawks name, as if someone had placed an actual sticker or something on an old Atlanta card. The back of the card displays Randy's stats as a pro, just like the Atlanta cards did. Card manufacturers still hadn't started adding liner notes to the backs of cards yet. That would change soon.

1989-1992: The Indiana Pacers Years

Randy's stay in Sacramento was brief. He wouldn't last the 1988-1989 NBA season, being traded to his hometown Indiana Pacers on February 20, 1989 in exchange for Wayman Tisdale and a draft pick. Indiana is where Randy would spend the rest of his playing career.

By the time Randy got home to Indy, he was effectively done as a starting player in the NBA. With the exception of his rookie year in Atlanta, he never averaged fewer than 9.9 points per contest while playing there. In Indiana, he only averaged as many as 5.2 points per game in 1988-1989, his first year back in town. In the 1985-1986 NBA season with Atlanta, Randy managed 12.9 points per game in 81 games. The next two years (also in Atlanta), he'd average 12.7 and 10.0 in 71 and 82 games respectively. His last three years in Indy saw scoring averages of 2.1, 1.8 and 0.7 points per game. Done...

Despite his lack of production, the folks who made basketball cards back then saw to it that Randy got one each year he was playing for the Pacers, and doubled the fun by making two in 1990-1991. By this time, basketball cards were starting to become collectible as the trading card market exploded. I'm not sure it was worth it making two Wittman cards in a single year, but it wouldn't be the last time that happened either. Randy's cards from the 1989-1990 and 1990-1991 seasons are shown above. 1989-1990 was the first time we saw the issuance of cards under the NBA Hoops brand, a line carried on to this day by Panini America. I don't know how successful the arched design of the two cards on the left are but I'm positive it's better than the Skybox swoosh and diagonal lines design on the right. In this card, Randy looks like he's an unwitting contest in some sort of basketball Tron, although 8 years after that movie was originally released.

During the 1991-1992 season, the Hoops design loses the arched feature (shown above on the left), which definitely enhances the brand, although the appearance is still sort of bargain basement, a look which sort of continues to this day. That year would be Randy's last in the NBA, although that didn't stop Topps from producing two Wittman cards during the following season after the Pacers waived him: the gold embossed Stadium Club series on the right above featuring Randy shooting in warmups or practice and the shot of him on the bench shown below. Two cards and he didn't play a single game?? That's not bad.

During Randy's first year in Indy, we finally see notes about the players' histories on the backs of cards. They wouldn't be there every year but they'd eventually stick. The notes on the backs of these cards often stretch the truth; I'm convinced writers employed by the card companies are paid to embellish the facts as much as possible. I'm not sure why. It's not like people are buying the cards for the information on the backs.

The words on the back of the Stadium Club card are both prescient and sort of pathetic. First... "Coach on the floor type who hasn't been a regular starter sine 1987-88." Well that's projecting Randy's future vocation pretty well, although as I've noted many times before there are many who feel Randy is not damn good at coaching (I'm not one of them, just to reiterate). And then..."Once played 54 minutes in a playoff game without fouling." Is that all they can say that's positive? Really? OK, whatever. How many people play that many minutes in a playoff game, let alone without fouling.

So how cool is all that? I mean who has a better Randy Wittman basketball card collection than me? I'm guessing the answer is nobody.

But wait! I didn't even talk about the best part. By sheer luck while I was looking on ebay for everything that makes up my Randy Wittman card collection, I stumbled upon some dude selling a few Pizza Hut promotional cards from the 1986-1987 season, including one of Randy. There have to be far fewer of these cards than any of the others in my small collection so this really becomes the crown jewel of my Wittman card stash. It's shown in all its glory at the top of this post. The photo looks like a headshot straight out of the Hawks' media guide and I love the fact that the phone number has no area code. Like why would you even need more than one area code in a city in the 1980s.

With the Pizza Hut card, I know my collection is the best Wittman stash on the planet. Bring on the comments!! I swear I'll lay off the Randy Wittman appreciation posts for at least a few months now. Summer league starts in less than five weeks!

Now What?

So the Washington Wizards 2014-2015 campaign is done. Has been now for about three weeks. I'm now reduced to rooting as hard as possible for any scenario that will have the Cleveland Cavaliers end their season without an NBA championship. It's sad, I know. The Golden State Warriors can't possibly lose to LeBron James, a hobbled Kyrie Irving and a bench full of also rans and LeBron hangers on, can they? I'm hoping not. Go Dubs!

The Wizards season this year, one could argue, is the most successful they have had it three and a half decades. Actually there's not much doubt about that just viewing that statement factually. The Wizards won more regular season games than they have since 1979, made the second round of the playoffs for only the third time since that same year and managed a better playoff record at 6-4 than at any time since 1979. Yet other folks seem to be lamenting that this season was unsuccessful because the team didn't achieve everything they could have. Well, maybe so. Or maybe not.

For the last two years, I've published a post listing what I think the Wizards should do in the offseason. I'm not going to do that this year, although I've been surprisingly prescient with my posts in 2013 and 2014. I'm not sure if that means the Wizards are listening; or what I'm proposing is common sense; or that I just read a lot of what other people write about the Wizards; or I've just gotten lucky. Regardless, I'm not going to do that this year. Instead I'm going to ask a series of questions. A six pack if you will. That's it. Nothing more.

One could argue that this offseason is different than it has been in years and years for the Wizards. For the first time since 2008, the Wizards face the prospect of having a first round draft pick that is outside the top five. Astonishing as it sounds, it's true. In the last six years we've had four first round draft picks at 1, 5, 3 and 3. The other two years we had none. You know who our three first round picks were the summer before we picked John Wall? JaVale McGee (18), Nick Young (16) and Oleksiy Pecherov (18). Suffice it say we are not that good at drafting in the late teens. This year we pick 19th.

And for the first time in years, it actually seems like with the right moves in June, July and August, the Wizards could be bound for the NBA Finals. Seriously, who besides the Cavaliers is going to stand in our way? How long is the Hawks success sustainable? Those two questions don't count as two of this post's questions. Let's get to those other six right now.

Question 1: Is it time for Ernie and Randy to go?

I know what most people are hoping that I'll say here. I can almost hear the dozen or so people reading this chanting "Yes!" I'm going to disappoint you. I'm not saying yes. Not yet.

I think if you have read every word I've ever written about the Wizards in this blog (I know, who on Earth has done that?), I've been very kind to both Ernie Grunfeld and Randy Wittman. I remember what life as a Wizards fan was like before either of those two got here. In the front office it was terrible personnel decision after terrible contract after terrible trade with a sprinkling of luck thrown in now and then. In the coaching ranks, it was a revolving door of guys who were largely ineffective at winning (Eddie Jordan's the exception here), building a professional locker room culture (Eddie's not an exception here) or getting the guys on the wood to play defense (or here). So rather bemoaning what we've got, I'd rather stand pat. For now. Sort of.

So I get that Ernie Grunfeld's draft record is spotty at best. Not just with the Wizards but going all the way back to his time with the New York Knicks in the 1990s and with the Milwaukee Bucks in the early '00s. But he's pulled off some pretty good trades (Caron Butler for Kwame Brown, anyone? Antawn Jamison for Devin Harris?) and signed some pretty good guys that have panned out really well from Gilbert Arenas (the first time, not the second time) to Paul Pierce (if only we had the team option…). Maybe we need to relieve Ernie of his duties come Draft night and get someone else to make the pick.

I also get that Randy Wittman is not the most glamorous of coaches, that his teams in Washington the last two years have maybe underperformed in the regular season and that there are some fairly vocal critics with national platforms (Bill Simmons) calling Randy a "terrible coach" among other things.

But here's the thing. Tom Thibodeau had tremendous success in the regular season with the Chicago Bulls in the last five seasons but he maybe wore his players out on meaningless games in late October through mid-April. He's no longer employed as a head coach in the NBA. A lot of people seem to think Mark Jackson is an awesome coach and deserves a lot of credit for the Golden State Warriors being in this year's NBA Finals. But his players and coaches were in almost open rebellion against him. Randy's players have nothing but praise for him and John Wall credits Randy with making him play defense. Mark Jackson is also no longer employed as a head coach in the NBA. And if Bill Simmons is so great, has anyone ever offered him a spot as an NBA head man or even as an assistant? I'm guessing no.

Randy wins in the playoffs and his teams play defense. That's enough for now. Let's see what he can do with a stretch four, if Ernie can find one. Coach stays!

Question 2: Are Bradley Beal and Otto Porter really as good as they were in the postseason?

Regular season and postseason stats for the 2014-2105 NBA season for Bradley Beal and Otto Porter are below.

Bradley Beal

• Regular Season: 33.4 MPG, 15.3 PPG, 3.1 APG.
• Playoffs: 41.8 MPG, 23.4 PPG, 4.6 APG.

Otto Porter

• Regular Season: 19.4 MPG, 6.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 0.9 APG.
• Playoffs: 33.1 MPG, 10.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 1.8 APG.

These two guys were number three overall picks in consecutive NBA drafts and they are both 21 years old. Bradley was able to be far more aggressive in the playoffs and looked like he deserved to be a player licking his chops for a max contract extension next summer. And Porter…wow! I mean this kid grew up in the postseason. I think he's ready to start next season, even if Paul Pierce finds it in his heart to exercise his player option and come back to D.C.

Beal and Porter now seem to be the key to the Wizards making the leap from a second round hoping for more playoff team to a Finals contender. Based on this postseason, there is every indication they are both ready. I'm hoping the answer to this question is yes.

Question 3: Will we ever see another legit halftime show at Verizon Center?

A little over a month into the 2013-2014 season, I wrote a blog post about the lack of halftime shows at Wizards games season to date. It was honestly a bit of a filler post, something to write about between gushing about the Martell Webster bobblehead I picked up earlier that month and the Nenê bobblehead I was looking forward to later the same month. I figured eventually we'd end up with a serious halftime show and that it was just sort of a scheduling issue that had forced us to watch kids playing basketball and local folks singing in the inaugural Monumental Talent Showcase that year. I wasn't really intending it to be an honest criticism of the Wizards organization. Besides, I don't really care that much.

But now a season and three quarters later, we still haven't had a professional halftime show. I saw one in Milwaukee in the one game I saw up there in the very cold winter of 2014 and I was only there for one game. But in the 79 regular season games and ten playoff games I've sat through in the last two NBA seasons at Verizon Center, I've seen none. Not a one. Zip. Zilch. No Beale Street Flippers, no Drums of Thunder, no University of Maryland Gymkhana, no Quick Change, no nothing.

Now if this is all a cost saving measure to keep season ticket prices low low low, I'm good with all that. But there's been no sort of statement to that effect or any other rationale offered. In the meantime, I'm starting to suffer from an inferiority complex. If other teams have halftime shows, why can't we? And keep in mind I don't really care. It just feels like we are being cheap and that bothers me. I'm hoping it's not a sign of other cost cutting measures to come.

Question 4: Can the Wizards draft someone who can shoot free throws?

The Wizards free throw shooting during the past couple of seasons has driven me CRAZY! They are FREE! For nothing. Nobody's going to block or challenge the shot. Get good at making these things and maybe just maybe we win some more close games.

The Wizards ranked 21st in the NBA this past season in free throw percentage at a paltry 74.2 percent. 21st is not a good spot to be in. Looking at the team numbers, it doesn't really seem like the Wizards free throw shooting was a deterrent to winning more games. I mean if they jumped into the top 10 in the league and shot 76.2 percent like the 10th place Sacramento Kings, they would only add 0.4 points per game to their point total (based on 21.4 attempts per game). Let's face it, the Wizards didn't lose any games by 0.4 points this year.

But here's my rub with the Wizards and free throw shooting. While their free throw percentage wasn't that much of a difference maker based on the season stats, the NBA doesn't award the Larry O'Brien Trophy on that basis. The Wizards had some good free throw shooting nights and some horrible free throw shooting nights. It's the number of horrible nights I'd like to see reduced. Just look at game five of the Atlanta series, where the Wizards shot just 68.8 percent from the charity stripe. Add a couple more makes and that game is ours in regulation or at worst we take it to overtime.

So who's going to be that dependable clutch free throw shooter for Washington's professional basketball team? Well, I don't know. Nobody shot better than Rasual Butler this year at the line and he shot 79.1 percent. That's lower than the combined average of everyone on the Memphis Grizzlies squad  who led the league in free throw percentage. We really don't have a stone cold ice in his veins knockdown end of game guy.

What does my question have to do with all this? Well, I guess it's a plea not to draft someone who can't shoot free throws. Look at the Wizards' last eight first round picks and how they fared before the NBA from the free throw line.

• Otto Porter, Jr.: 75.1 percent. Good.
• Bradley Beal: 76.9 percent. Really good.
• Chris Singleton: 59.2 percent. Really, Chris?
• Jan Vesely: 61.6 percent. Stunned this is higher than Singleton's.
• Trevor Booker: 62.1 percent. Not good.
• Kevin Seraphin: 60.0 percent. Small sample size but not good.
• John Wall: 75.4 percent. Good.
• JaVale McGee: 51.4 percent. Do I need to use this to prove that this pick was a stretch?

I know we shouldn't use any sort of litmus test when it comes to drafting players, but could we at least find someone who can shoot 70 percent from the line? Maybe that would help us next year.

Question 5: Can the Wizards please get rid of Wale?

I hope the answer is yes. What does this guy do to add value? And will he just bail if the Wizards ever get less than good again? Where was he during the lean times? Apparently rooting for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Denver Nuggets while uttering the words "I gotta be honest, I'm not the biggest Wizards fan." Well guess what, dude? I AM one of the biggest Wizards fan and to see you installed as the Wizards' Creative Liaison doesn't thrill me that much.

OK, so maybe I'm just ranting here and I'm being really unfair to Wale. I get that most people don't find his opening-credits-to-a-Wizards-home-game music as discordant and awkward as me. And I'm probably really sore about someone who professed some love for the Cavs and Nuggets and none for the Wiz a couple of years ago now draped all over my favorite team as if he'd been there applauding night in and night out while JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche called Verizon Center home. At least he shows up and give the team some love now right?

Wrong. And this is what really gets me. I admit I missed two games during the regular season and maybe Wale made an appearance at both. But honestly, I only remember him showing up to two regular season games this year: opening night against Milwaukee (when he was performing live) and the April 3 game against the New York Knicks. Two games?!?!? (or four if he attended the two I missed) Are you kidding me? The Wizards' press release about Wale's appointment as Creative Liaison said he is a "die-hard Wizards fan." I don't think so.

Question 6: Are we really pinning all our hopes on luring Kevin Durant back home?
First of all, if we are and that's our strategy for winning an NBA title and securing a future perennial contender for long suffering Wizards fans, you could make me the General Manager and I could make that pitch. I might need some help with some of the finer points like filling out the roster with bargain contracts but I could handle the heavy lifting.

The two questions I have about this strategy (no these don't count as two additional questions) are can we afford him and do we need him? Barring any unexpected changes in the NBA Players' Union's strategy, the salary cap is set to explode during the 2016 offseason and the maximum salary superstar players can receive will skyrocket along with the cap. John Wall's current just less than $16 million salary during the 2016-2017 season is going to seem like a bargain and Marcin Gortat's $12 pricetag is going be dirt cheap. But the new way higher limits on contracts are going to fill in the gap. Bradley Beal AND Kevin Durant? You know KD already expects the max. He already said so! Get ready to open your checkbook, Ted Leonsis, and Ernie Grunfeld better be trolling the D-League for bargains. I don't see it.

Assuming both Bradley Beal and Otto Porter next year play anything like they did in the postseason this year (see question 2 above), do we even need Durant? I know this is tempting fate here but think about it. How good is a starting lineup of 27 year old John Wall, 24 year olds Bradley Beal and Otto Porter, 33 year old Marcin Gortat (with very low mileage) and anyone else to kick off the 2017-2018 season? Split Durant's salary between a serviceable starting four and a couple of production bench players and who's going to challenge that team?

That's it. I've just told every Washington hoops fan dying for KD in a Wizards uniform that we don't need him. What else can I offer? Probably should shut up now.

The Curious Case Of Randy Wittman

It's time for what seems to be my annual blog post about Randy Wittman, in which I fly in the face of popular convention and the wishes of pretty much every diehard, casual and bandwagon Washington Wizards fan and make the case that our coach is not doing all that bad a job.

Consider Randy Wittman. Right now he has the Washington Wizards up 2-0 in their first round playoff series with the Toronto Raptors, having just completed a sweep of the first two games in Canada after losing all three games played vs. the Raps in the regular season. Speaking of the regular season, this year the Wizards posted their best single season record since the 1978-1979 season, the year after they won the NBA title and the last time they appeared in the NBA finals. Yet most Wizards fans and some national media folks are labeling Randy one of the worst coaches in the NBA and calling for his head. My question is why?

OK, so Randy's regular season record is really not that good at all. After six full seasons and three partial seasons in Cleveland, Minnesota and Washington, Randy has amassed a not so impressive 237-365 regular season record. Have you looked at some of the rosters he's had to work with in his past coaching stints? He had out of shape Shawn Kemp in Cleveland to deal with and before his first full season in Minnesota the Timberwolves traded Kevin Garnett for Al Jefferson and told Randy to make lemonade with a team whose second leading scorer that year was Rashad McCants.

It didn't start any better in Washington when he was offered the job. In D.C. he was stuck with JaVale McGee, Nick Young and an out of shape Andray Blatche as three fifths of the starting unit. But this time he checked with the team about ground rules for playing guys who he didn't believe deserved time on the court before he took the job which allowed him to bring the kind of accountability he wanted to the team and ended in his first season with him sending Blatche home for good because he was just plain out of shape and refused to try. The result for the Wizards the past two years has been two winning seasons and two playoff appearances for a roster that is totally bought into Randy's way.

I don't really think that Randy's regular season record is why ESPN ranked him 26th out of 30 coaches in the NBA this year or why that network's Bill Simmons offered the opinion  on Tony Kornheiser's radio show that Wittman should be "Fired right now. This minute, he should be fired. He's a terrible coach. He just is." These words from Simmons came immediately after talking about how much he enjoyed working with former NBA coach Doug Collins, a guy who is the poster child for not having his team's support in the trenches after flaming out in Chicago, Detroit, Washington and Philadelphia. I assume Simmons holds Collins in higher esteem as a coach that he does Randy. I'm not sure he should. Coaching isn't all about Xs and Os. Ask Collins about that.

So if it's not Randy's regular season record that's rubbing fans and ESPN the wrong way, what is it? Is it that player development has been a real problem in Washington? Or that the offense bogs down for minutes at a time in games, especially when the team holds a lead? Or is it that Randy's a little awkward and doesn't necessarily inspire confidence in the team's fans and the media? Should we pick one of those?

Let's face it, Randy is awkward. Sometimes he looks and acts like an out of touch dad struggling to deal with the kind of stuff his kids are into. He has bad knees and walks strangely; wears glasses in press conferences but not during the games; denies the value of analytics when others who are seemingly hipper and more in touch are hailing them as the wave of the future; and sometimes does stuff like spinning his clipboard around six or eight times during a critical time out while Bradley Beal looks on like "dude, what the hell are you doing?" And those faces! I'm making a #wittmanface now as I'm writing this (look it up on Twitter).

I don't think it's the awkwardness. I also don't think it's the player development, although in my opinion there's reason to be concerned with what's going on there at Verizon Center. Both Bradley Beal and Otto Porter have not made the jump I would expect of a number three overall draft pick, no matter how weak you might argue the class is. I'm not going to discuss player development with regards to Jan Vesely or Chris Singleton. I'm chalking those up to poor drafting. It's not like just the Wizards are alone in not wanting those two in the NBA. The other 29 franchises seem to agree too.

So that leaves me with offensive stagnation or something else. The offense sputtering (kind word there) sometimes is a big problem. It's especially frustrating when we blow a big lead because we decide to kill as much clock as possible. Killing clock for the Wizards generally involves John Wall dribbling for about 15 seconds or so and then trying to create something. The Wizards offense doesn't work that way. It relies on player movement and passing primarily because we don't have any isolation players, including Wall. Randy's talked about this in press conferences and we regularly see him screaming at players to move the ball and speed the game up at the ends of games.

I think the real objection Wizards fans and observers, including our friends at ESPN, have to Randy Wittman coaching the Wizards is that they are convinced there's someone out there who could turn this five-seed team into the best team in the Eastern Conference. They are looking for this team's Steve Kerr or Phil Jackson, someone to replace the coach who's taken the team from terrible to OK and can lead the team to glory. Division titles, conference titles, whatever. My opinion on this is that we better be careful what we wish for. Instead of hiring the next Steve Kerr, we might end up hiring the next Flip Saunders or Byron Scott or Brian Shaw or George Karl.

I'm not picking on Karl here, but in his last nine playoff appearances, he made it out of the first round once. Randy did that in his first try. Karl by the way was ranked 16th on ESPN's recent coaches ranking, ten spots ahead of Randy. Randy was one spot behind his former boss Saunders, the guy who led the Minnesota Timberwolves to just 16 wins this year and whose performance at the helm of the Wizards was way below the Wittman standard. Tom Thibodeau, who Randy outcoached in last year's first round playoff series, is ranked fifth; Dwane Casey, the Raptors' coach, is 13th. Hmm...

So like it or not Wizards fans, unless the Wizards fail in this first round series or they get swept in round two, I think we'll see Randy Wittman back at the helm next year. If it bothers you to have the guy who's coached the Wizards to a top 10 defensive efficiency rating in the NBA three years in a row (fifth this year by the way), has a winning postseason record and is at this point an NBA historical best 7-1 as a coach in road playoff games, then that's too bad; you are just going to have to deal with it. I'm OK with it at least for another year or so. I also think Randy's deserved it. We'll see how it goes the rest of the way in the playoffs.

Maybe a little postscript is in order, considering there are probably some Wizards fans out there foaming at the mouth at what I've written. I'm a patient guy when it comes to sports teams. I have to be: I'm a Wizards fan and season ticket holder who misses maybe two games a year and I'm a New York Jets fan. But don't for a minute think that I'm content with my beloved Wizards merely exceeding their performance of the last three and a half decades. Let me be really clear when I say that the Wizards performance since 1979 and even in the last 15 years has been a little pathetic to very pathetic.

The Wizards are the only franchise other than the Charlotte Hornets (the current version, not the ones that are now the New Orleans Pelicans) that has failed to record 49 wins in a season in the last 15 years. Heck, the Wizards haven't even gotten to 47 in a season in the past 36. They are also one of only three franchises to not win a division title in the last 36 years, joining the Memphis Grizzlies and the aforementioned Hornets in that group. 36 years and zero division titles!!! Wow!!! At least the Grizzlies and Hornets have sort of an excuse that they haven't been around that long.

So while I'm OK giving Randy another year, I want to see progress every year. The bar set by past Wizards coaches including Flip Saunders, Leonard Hamilton and Doug Collins is pretty easy to clear and Randy's doing that with flying colors. But the ultimate measuring stick is the rest of the NBA. How about a division title? Or an Eastern Conference Finals appearance? I believe Ted Leonsis and the rest of the Wizards ownership group has the same sort of standard as I'm using. We better see something soon. Go Wizards! Go Wittman!

Where's Glen Rice, Jr.?

Hey, Wizards fans, remember Glen Rice? No, no, not three time All-Star, NCAA champion, 1997 All-Star game MVP, NBA champion Glen Rice. The other one. His kid. Glen Rice, Jr. 2013 Washington Wizards second round draft pick? 2014 NBA Summer League MVP? First guy ever drafted out of the D-League? Supposed to make a major leap this year off the bench for the Wizards? Yeah, THAT Glen Rice. Remember him? It's been a couple of months, right? I think it's time we caught up with him. Is that OK?

Before we catch up, let's go back a bit. Three years ago this month, Glen was enrolled at Georgia Tech playing for the Yellow Jackets' men's basketball team. About a month later he would be suspended indefinitely from the team for undisclosed reasons. That suspension was not his first from the team that year; he was held out of the first three games of the 2011-2012 season for an undisclosed violation of team rules (LOVE Georgia Tech and their "undisclosed" reasons and violations). A month after his indefinite suspension began, Rice was charged in an incident involving the discharge of a firearm outside an Atlanta nightclub and was cut from the basketball team entirely.  After being dismissed from the team, he would never play college ball again.

So at that point, Rice is pretty much a trouble maker, right? A kid who can't deal with society's rules or authority who was likely to just fade away. His next move was a bit surprising: playing for the NBDL's Rio Grande Valley Vipers way down in Hidalgo, Texas after being selected in the D-League's draft in November 2012. For a kid with an NBA focused, presumably comfy upbringing, playing in the no-frills, low low salary D-League with a team right on the Mexican border had to be humbling and tough. 

Keep in mind Rice knew he was stuck there for the year. Since he bypassed the 2012 NBA Draft, he couldn't be called up by a team to the NBA; he would have to wait for the subsequent draft before being eligible for a call up. If he could survive the D-League, he could probably convince most people that he outgrew his trouble at Georgia Tech and had matured and was worth a second chance.

The Wizards bought it. The team held two second round picks in the 2013 NBA Draft and decided to send them both to the Philadelphia 76ers for the rights to Rice, whom they then signed to a one year, non-guaranteed contract with a team option for a second year, also non-guaranteed. Rice's rookie year was nothing to write home about. Not that scoring is everything, but he averaged just 2.9 points per game on slightly less than 30 percent shooting from the field in 11 games, including one start. He spent most of the time riding the pine or being inactive entirely and spent a few games with the Iowa Energy, who at that time were the Wizards' NBDL affiliate.

After his rookie campaign, Rice seemed to be pretty serious about showing the Wizards that his lack of playing time in 2013-2014 was a mistake and it started in Summer League in Las Vegas. Despite not winning the Summer League title, the Wizards made a strong showing, bowing out in the semi-final game to the eventual champion Sacramento Kings. Rice ended up as the Summer League Most Valuable Player in a unanimous vote. He averaged 25 points and just less than eight rebounds per game while shooting almost 47 percent from the field. While Summer League MVPs don't alway translate to NBA success, it was an encouraging sign for Rice.

The Wizards 2014-2015 NBA campaign started on October 29 and with Bradley Beal out for a couple of weeks with injury, the stage seemed to be set for Rice. He didn't play in the team's opener at Miami but did get involved in the next five games, scoring a season high five points in the Wizards' first victory of the season at the Orlando Magic. It was an ideal opportunity for Rice to crack the rotation in something resembling a permanent way. And if the Wizards needed something with Martell Webster missing the first couple of months after back surgery, it was a reliable scorer off the bench.

In his fifth game, a blowout loss in Toronto, Rice had some words for Randy Wittman when he was pulled from the game in the first half in favor of Rasual Butler. The exchange was significant enough that I noticed it from my seat at Air Canada Centre even though I was supposed to be paying attention to the game. Rice wouldn't re-enter the game. Butler, who has since emerged as the Wizards' leading bench scorer despite being the last guy to make the team, tallied only five points that night but it was clearly the beginning of something that has been one of the brightest spots for the team this season.

The next night as I was watching the Wizards play the Indiana Pacers in a bar in downtown Toronto, I remember a note on the ticker at the bottom of the screen about Rice and Wittman again exchanging words. What was going on? I could understand Rice being frustrated about his limited playing time with the team, but his 20 percent shooting from the field wasn't exactly forcing coach to get him in the game at every opportunity. 

The Toronto game was not the first time I'd seen Rice talking back to our coaches. He blew off Sam Cassell in our second Summer League game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He appeared to be either upset about not getting calls from the referees or maybe Alexy Schved lit him up a bit too much. Either way, he was clearly agitated. Al Harrington, who was serving as a volunteer assistant during Summer League, also got the brush off from Rice that game just before halftime. While Glen was clearly too important to bench for a Summer League game, he's certainly not good enough to talk back during the regular season.

About two weeks after the Toronto game, Rice was assigned to the D-League, this time to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, who had replaced the Iowa Energy as the Wizards NBDL affiliate when the Energy entered into an exclusive arrangement with the Memphis Grizzlies. With the return of Bradley Beal from injury, it looked like the perfect time to preserve Rice's playing time via a D-League assignment. He seemed to have been playing well for Fort Wayne, averaging 12.7 points in 14 games while hitting at over 49 percent from the field. In a loss at Sioux Falls on December 16, Rice went for 22 points on 9 of 11 shooting.

With the Mad Ants playing the Delaware 87ers next weekend on a Wizards off day in nearby Newark, Delaware, I thought it might be the ideal time to catch up with Glen's game. But in the last three games for the Mad Ants, Rice hasn't played a single minute. He's been a healthy scratch for all three games. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported yesterday that while Rice is still technically on the roster, it seems unlikely he'll play for the team again.

What's the deal here? Are the Wizards trying to trade Rice or are they just willing to let him sit in Fort Wayne? If the Mad Ants aren't going to play him, does it make sense to recall him? Or has he burned his bridges with the team and coaching staff? Rice's contract for a little more than $800,000 becomes guaranteed a week from today. If they decide to terminate his contract before that date, they owe only $400,000. Seems like a decision is likely looming in the next couple of days. I'm still likely headed up to Delaware next Saturday, but I'm pretty sure I won't find Glen Rice there, although he apparently was in D.C. last night for his birthday party. I'm questioning the "superstar" label in the advertisement below; I elected to stay home rather than texting SWANK to 41411.