Wes, The Big E, John & Nobody Else

Last year I wrote a blog post about how our current Wizards stand on the franchise leaders list. A few years ago, this wouldn't have even been possible (or it would have been a very short post). The franchise culture in Washington was just a revolving door ever since the Wiz shipped out Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and some others towards the end of the 2009-2010 season. Heck, even the three other players besides John Wall brought to Washington out of the 2010 NBA Draft (Kevin Seraphin, Trevor Booker and Jordan Crawford) are way way way long gone. There was a period there of incredible instability, which brought with it much losing and absolutely zero resale value for season ticket holders.

Eight years into the John Wall era, we are in a totally different spot. Maybe it's time to do this sort of a check before every season from now on. Or at least until John Wall leaves town, which seems like it's a good way off and which I want in absolutely no scenario whatsoever. I'll go with the same seven categories I discussed in last year's post. Here goes.

Games Played

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (984)

Current Wizards in Top 10: John Wall (10th; 541)

It's going to take a long time for John Wall to pass Wes Unseld for the number one spot on the franchise list here, if he ever even gets there. Right now, he's 443 games behind, which is more than five full seasons which is when John's current contract (OK, so technically the extension to his current contract) expires. But he should be able to make some noise this year. If John plays a full 82 this year, he'll end up on third place, 28 games ahead of Charles Jones. Barring injury, John should get there easily. He'll also pass Brendan Haywood this year for most games played as a Washington Wizard (not Bullet). Pretty fitting I think. Wondering about Beal? Give it two more years. He's down at 406 right now.

Minutes Played

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (35,832)

Current Wizards in the Top 10: John Wall (4th; 19,441)

Yes, John Wall is 10th on the all time franchise games played list but already 4th on the minutes played list. That means he's playing a lot more than the guys in the four through nine spots on the games played list. Two seasons ago, John logged about 2,800 minutes over 78 games. He'll need four more of those kind of seasons to get past Elvin Hayes into second place. But he will surely pass Gus Johnson for third place this year since he needs fewer than 300 minutes to pass the Honeycomb. Beal fan? Brad might crack the top 10 this year. If he spends as much time on the court as he did last year, he'll bump Antawn Jamison down to the 11 spot.

Points

Franchise Leader: Elvin Hayes (15,551)

Current Wizards in the Top 10: John Wall (4th; 10,216)

Two years ago, John Wall passed Wes Unseld on the Wizards/Bullets/Zephyrs/Packers all-time steals list. This year, he's going to pass Wes on the points list. John needs just 868 to move past Jeff Malone into the number two position on this list. Along the way, he'll move past Wes too. John's high for a season in total points is 1,805. Elvin Hayes is going to be safe for a while but maybe not more than three years. Brad is likely to join John on the top 10 list this year; a good season will see him sitting right behind Phil Chenier in eighth after passing both Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison.

Rebounds

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (13,769)

Current Wizards in the Top 10: Nobody

And nobody's making it this year. Nobody.

Assists

Franchise Leader: John Wall (5,003)

Current Wizards in the Top 10: Just John

John Wall has just a tad more than 5,000 assists. That's almost 1,200 more than anyone else in the history of the franchise. And for a while at least, that gap's only getting bigger. It's going to be a while before anyone catches John Wall on this list. If I write a similar post next year, we might see Bradley Beal on this list. If he matches last year's total he'll end up eighth at the end of this season.

Blocks

Franchise Leader: Elvin Hayes (1,558)

Current Wizards in Top 10: Nobody

This mark is going to stay in the Big E's name for a while. John Wall has the highest current total of any active player and he's got 367. He needs 40 to crack the top 10 over Etan Thomas. Last year he tallied 45 in just 41 games. I'm pencilling John into the 10 position sometime soon. He might even catch Gheorghe Muresan (443) and Marcin Gortat (449). Unlikely he's catching JaVale McGee at 470.

Steals

Franchise Leader: John Wall (927)

Current Wizards in the Top 10: Just John

There's a pretty good chance John Wall is going to end up first or second in pretty much every category on the all-time franchise leaders board. He's likely to widen this lead this year. Last year, Brad caught him a bit since John missed a bunch of games. If Beal matches his 2017-2018 output, he'll sit at eighth between Rod Strickland and Caron Butler.

That's how things stack up in the major categories. Two years ago, John Wall moved into the franchise leader spot for both assists and steals. It's going to be a while before we see that sort of thing again. For this season, the leaders in these categories all seem competition-free. Six days to tip off. Can't wait.

10 11 25 41 45

This is blog post number three of four before I officially shut this blog down for the summer on account of the Wizards miserable play this past season. More than a month later and I'm still super bitter. This is going to take a while to wear off.

Among the bad losses, the apathetic on court attitude, the poorly constructed roster (both short term and long term) and the seemingly limited coaching skill to close out games, there were actually some good moments during this year's Wizards season. One of those occurred in late March, when the Wizards elected to retire the number 45, which of course for anyone who knows anything about the history of the Wizards and Bullets was worn mostly almost exclusively by Phil Chenier. DeJuan Blair had it for a season, if you must know.

So let's pretend that you don't know who Phil Chenier is for a minute or two and let me go through his resume just a little. Phil was drafted in the Hardship Draft in 1971 fourth overall by the Baltimore Bullets. The Hardship Draft was a supplemental draft for underclassmen who wished to enter the NBA through some hardship exception. This draft has since been eliminated but at that time,  you were not allowed to enter the draft until after your college class had graduated. Phil was selected after his junior year at the University of California Berkeley.

From there, Phil would go on to be selected to the 1972 NBA All-Rookie First Team before being selected to three NBA All-Star games in 1974, 1975 and 1977. In the 1975 campaign Phil was selected to the All-NBA Second Team making him the only player from the 1971 Supplemental Draft to make an All-Star Game and All-NBA honors. What else? Oh, how about an NBA Championship in 1978 (without playing a single minute that year unfortunately) and still holding the Bullets / Wizards single game regulation scoring record at 53 against Portland in December of 1972 (Earl Monroe and Gilbert Arenas later bested that mark in a single game but they did it in overtime). He still ranks 9th all time in franchise history in games played, 7th in minutes played and point scored and 10th in assists.

To top all of that off, in 1985 he started working the color analyst duties at Bullets games for Home Team Sports on cable television. That gig went full time a couple of years later and he stuck with it all the way until the end of the 2016-2017 NBA season when he (ahem) retired. More on that situation later in this post. 33 years calling Bullets and then Wizards games. Wow that must be have been tough. I think I've got it bad sticking with this team for just 18 years. And relatively speaking, these have been a pretty good 18 years for this franchise.

The ceremony replay in quarter three. Wizards down by 12.

Phil's 45 jersey is the fifth retired by the team, following those of (in numerical order) Earl Monroe, Elvin Hayes, Gus Johnson and Wes Unseld. The last player to have his number retired before Phil was Earl The Pearl back in December of 2007. I gotta believe that of all the retired Bullets and Wizards players out there, this has to be it. I can't beleive there are any other players from the 1978 championship team worthy of jersey retirements and I don't think any member of the mid-aughts "big three" is going to make it.

I never saw Phil Chenier play. In fact, I barely saw the Bullets play (maybe three or four times a year on television while I was a Knicks fan up in New York State). But for 18 of the last 19 seasons, I've been watching Wizards basketball on TV and listening to Phil Chenier provide analysis alongside Steve Buckhantz. Phil's been a regular fixture in my life for almost two decades. I was sad to see that run end. Phil's banner is different than the other four at Capital One Arena; his banner has a microphone with the number 33 on it to signify the number of years he called Bullets and Wizards games as a regular occurrence.

Walt Frazier passing his congrats on to Phil. Wiz within 5.

The official retirement ceremony got squashed into the regular length halftime of the March 23 home game vs. the Denver Nuggets. I guess that's how these things have to go these days. It seemed almost too short but Phil along with team owner Ted Leonsis and Steve Buckhantz made it work. The actual banner didn't get raised during the ceremony; it was already in place before we got to the game so the festivities were limited to a couple of speeches. Cardboard Phil Chenier emoji-on-sticks were placed on each seat prior to the game so fans I guess could have a memento of the occasion. I left mine at the arena. For what it's worth, I still have my Earl Monroe replica banner from December 2007. That giveaway was way better in my eyes.

There's a little irony in the whole ceremony in that Phil didn't choose to do this. He was essentially fired from the position by the network with no certain plan (at least to this fan's mind) to replace him at the end of the 2016-2017 season. Fired might seem like a harsh word since he still works for NBC Sports Washington doing occasional in-studio guest gigs but he was involuntarily removed from his position. Where I come from, that's being fired. At the risk of being like Bob Dylan at Live Aid, I have to say Kara Lawson who replaced Phil is fantastic at her job. Dare I say even better than Phil.

The retirement ceremony was part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the Washington Bullets 1978 championship team, a two game event in one weekend Friday night (the Nuggets game) and Sunday afternoon (against the New York Knicks). In a fashion that seemed appropriate for the chronic underperformance put forth by the team this year, the Wizards lost both games that they had no business losing. It was terrible.
There's no question this event was deserved. Phil is one of the greats in the history of the franchise. There are only two other players (Walt Bellamy and John Wall) with more All-Star selections in franchise history than Phil and then he provided a third of a century's service (!!!!) to the team in the broadcast booth. I had the opportunity to say thanks to Phil after the end of the 2016-2017 season. I told him that I wished he could stay on for some more services. His response was "so do I". Now he gets to stick around in some form for as long as this franchise keeps playing in D.C.

All-Time Franchise Leader Check

Last September I wrote a post on this blog detailing where John Wall stood on the all-time franchise leaders list and making the case that by mid-season last year, John would be number one on the franchise leader board in assists and steals. He got that easily and now stands atop those two categories where he'll stay for I assume a long long time.

I thought this year I'd do an update to where John stood after last year in the same seven categories I looked at last year (games played, minutes played, points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals).But after looking at our franchise leaderboards, I've decided to not do that. Instead, I've taken a look at where our current roster stands in each of these seven categories and where our current team is likely to be at the end of this season as they continue to make their mark on the team's history.

Games Played

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (984)

Current Wizards in Top 10: None

Of all the Wizards on the current roster, John Wall is the only one who will crack the top 10 in terms of games played this year and he should make a serious move on this all time list. Right now Kevin Grevey sits in the 10 spot at 530 games. John has 500 under his belt and played in 78 last year. If he plays the same number of games again this year, he'll sit in 7th place, one game behind Brendan Haywood and 18 games ahead of Gus Johnson (who's number is retired; just saying). If he somehow plays 80 or more, he'll be in 6th place with Kevin Loughery up next at 591. From there he's probably one more season away from third place behind just Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld.

Minutes Played

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (35,832)

Current Wizards in Top 10: John Wall (7th; 18,031)

At the beginning of the 2016-2017 NBA season, John Wall placed 10th on the minutes played list. After last season, he's at 7th and poised to make a big jump after logging 2,836 minutes last year. If he does the same thing this season, he'll pass Gus Johnson (who's number is retired; just saying) and move into the number three position. After that, he's got several more seasons to catch Elvin Hayes at 29,318 minutes.

No other Wizard is going to crack the top 10 list in this category this year.

Points

Franchise Leader: Elvin Hayes (15,551)

Current Wizards in Top 10: John Wall (7th; 9,419)

In addition to hitting the seven spot on the top 10 minutes played list after last season, John Wall also hit number seven on the points scored list, after scoring 1,805 of them in 2016-2017. If he does that again, he'll find himself tied exactly with Wes Unseld for third place with 10,624 points. That will be almost 800 points clear of Kevin Loughery who currently sits right behind Wes. So given a reasonable push this year, John could find himself at number one in two categories on this list and third in two more. Not bad for a guy who's under contract through 2023 who wants to see his jersey in the rafters one day.

For those of you wondering about Bradley Beal on this list, remember he's two full seasons behind Wall. Unless he averages more than 36 per game this year and plays in all 82, Brad's not hitting this list this year.

Rebounds

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (13,769)

Current Wizards in Top 10: Marcin Gortat (10th; 3,074)

Last year I offered the opinion that it would take John Wall three more seasons to have a shot at the top 10 list in rebounding. I'm backing up my statement this year. However, Marcin Gortat's managed to sneak into the number 10 spot after last year's performance. Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, Gortat's an awfully consistent rebounder. Last season he finished 11th in the NBA at greater than 10 rebounds per game while also playing a full 82 game schedule. Karl-Anthony Towns was the only other player to do that (although admittedly there were several more who played 81 games).

So how does Marcin project this year? Well, if he puts up a similar number to last year's 849, he'll likely pass Antawn Jamison and move into sixth. Even if he logs more than 100 fewer, he'll still be in sixth by season's end. Seems like Marcin just got to D.C. even though that's not true. Don't sleep on Gortat, folks.

Assists

Franchise Leader: John Wall (4,610)
Current Wizards in Top 10: Just John Wall

What's to say here? John Wall is clear of number two by about 800 assists. This gap is only going to get bigger. No other Wizard is cracking the top 10 this year.

For Beal fans: unless he has an exceptional couple of years, he's three years away from cracking the top 10. Not saying it won't happen next season (meaning 2018-2019) but it's a real long shot.

Blocks

Franchise Leader: Elvin Hayes (1,558)

Current Wizards in Top 10: Marcin Gortat (10th; 388)

It's been a good few years for Marcin Gortat as a Wizard. Not only did he make it into tenth place on the all-time rebounds list, he managed to land in the same spot on the blocks list. That after recording just 61 last year. If he does the same thing this season, he'll be in eighth ahead of Gheorghe Muresan and about 20 behind JaVale McGee (ugh!). Go get 'em Marcin.

If Gortat was no longer a Wizard, John Wall would have a shot at the top 10 list after this season. He's at 322 for his career right now and in his best year he blocked 59 shots. That would approach Marcin's 388 but that number's going to go up also. He'd need 85 to catch Etan Thomas who will slide to 10th once Marcin picks up 20 more swats. Maybe 2018-2019.

Steals

Franchise Leader: John Wall (870)
Current Wizards in Top 10: Just John Wall

John is the franchise leader over Greg Ballard by over 100. He'll be the franchise leader for years and years to come for sure. No other Wizard is cracking the top 10 this year.

For Beal fans: he'll be close to the top 10 after this season assuming similar numbers to last year but not close enough. Give it this season and next, please.

That's the rundown this year. This current group of Wizards players has the opportunity to make a real dent in the franchise record books but after this year, don't expect to see anyone but Wall and Gortat in the top 10 of these categories. The two years after that will get really interesting if this bunch manages to succeed enough for the front office to keep them together.

John Wall In Wizards History

It's getting towards mid-September. That means it will soon be time for training camp and then some meaningful NBA action in the District. It's been a busy August and it will likely be an even busier September for me so this is likely the only post I'll put out there this month although I'll sneak another one in if I can. If not, I promise to get after it in October again.

Every so often I sit back and think about how great John Wall is. I'm serious. Going into his seventh NBA season (all with the Wizards of course), I'm thinking this guy could be one of the greatest players, if not THE greatest player who has ever played for the Washington Wizards franchise in whatever city and under whatever nickname the team happened to play. Of course, I'm talking statistically here. It's going to be difficult to be the Wizards/Bullets/Zephyrs/Packers G.O.A.T. without a ring won with the home team.

So what do I mean "statistically"? Well literally just that. Have you checked out where John sits after just six seasons, one of which was lockout shortened to just 66 games, on the all time leaderboard for the Wiz? Take a look. On second thought, don't. Just keep reading. Assuming a typical NBA season for John, he'll be our franchise leader in two of the key positive individual statistics. And yes, I say "positive" because at the age of 26 he is already the franchise leader in turnovers (primary ball handlers always are). This (and the two other number one spots he'll occupy in team history by about February 2017 assuming full or moderately full health) is both a testament to how good John is and how bad my favorite hoops team has been since it entered the league in 1961.

I'm only digging so deep here. I'll limit my analysis to the five positive stats that make up a typical (or not so typical) triple double (that is points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals) plus games played and minutes played. I think you'll be surprised if you haven't kept track of this stuff closely. All statistics are regular season only by the way.

Games Played

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (984)

In six seasons with the franchise, John has played in 422 games for the Wizards. That's a long way from Wes Unseld's 984. He'll need more than six more seasons of good health to get even close to the number one spot. Having said that, he stands a very good chance of cracking the top ten in the first half of the 2017-2018 season. If he plays all 82 games this season (and I sincerely hope he does not by his or Scott Brooks' choice) he will have 504 games played all time for the Wiz. Kevin Grevey is 10th in franchise history with 530. Wes is still a long way away.

Minutes Played

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (35,832)

John has currently logged a total of 15,195 minutes played in a Wizards blue, gold and black or red, white and blue jersey. That's already good enough after almost six seasons for 10th on the all time franchise games played list. If he manages 2,500 minutes this year (a little more than 33 minutes over 75 games which is way less than he's played recently), he'll pass Antawn Jamison for 9th. Up next after that? Juwan Howard at 17,845. If John plays out his contract in good health with a reasonable number of minutes, he'll be number three behind Wes and Elvin Hayes.

Points

Franchise Leader: Elvin Hayes (15,551)

With 7,614 points in his first six campaigns, John is about halfway to the Big E's franchise leading total. He's got a long way to go but it's not unreasonable assuming he re-ups with the Wiz after his current contract expires that he could end up on top of this list. If he manages 1,500 points this year (less than last year's number) he pass Walt Bellamy for seventh on the all time list with Phil Chenier next in his sights. At the end of his current contract he could realistically be challenging Wes Unseld for third place all time.

Rebounds

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (13,769)

No way is John ever catching Wes in rebounds. His career high in rebounds was 379 which he achieved last year. If he does that for three more seasons, he'll be nipping at Rick Mahorn's heels in tenth place. While it seems crazy to even have a discussion about John being a franchise leader in rebounding, it should be noted he's already 10th in franchise history in defensive rebounding.

Assists

Franchise Leader: Wes Unseld (3,822)

Yes, the Wizards franchise leader in assists is a center. Somehow that makes so much sense for this team. But he won't be for long. As of the beginning of this upcoming season, John is second with 3,779, just 43 behind Wes. So in the fourth, fifth or sixth game John plays this year, he should be the franchise leader. He's likely to stay in that spot for a while considering John's got two more years after this one on his contract and he's been first, second and third in total assists in the NBA over the past three seasons. This is the mark he needs to hold for our franchise and he will pretty soon.

Blocks

Franchise Leader: Elvin Hayes (1,558)

Just like he's not catching Wes Unseld's rebounds mark, John's also not going to beat out Elvin here. After last year's 59 blocks, John has a total all time of 273. Wes Unseld is sitting at tenth place with 367. He'll catch Wes, but not likely this year. Blocks were only counted as a statistic starting in the 1973-1974 season so we are missing a dozen or so years of franchise history on this statistic.

Steals

Franchise Leader: Greg Ballard (762)

For a brief moment during the 2016-2017 NBA season, the Washington Wizards will have four different franchise leaders in the categories of points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. A few months later, they won't because John's going to catch Greg Ballard this year if he plays at least half the season. For the last three years, John has tallied 138 or more steals per season. At 713 in his career right now, he needs just 49 to pass Ballard. Sorry, Greg. Like blocks, steals were not tracked until the '73-'74 season.

I've had the privilege the last six seasons to watch John play night in and night out at Verizon Center from the fourth or fifth row of Section 109. There are about five or six passes John Wall makes per season that absolutely astonish me down at the east end of the building. I think it's appropriate he'll be our franchise leader in that category this year. I'll continue to wear my number 2 home white jersey with pride this season and hopefully for many more to come.

1961 Or 1963?

I know it's early in the 2015-2016 NBA season but tonight's win over the San Antonio Spurs (second in a row by the way) while being surrounded at Verizon Center by Spurs "fans" was incredible. I'm optimistic that when the Wizards and Randy Wittman figure out this whole pace and space offense that some good things might happen. But first, on to different things...

The Washington Wizards began life 54 years ago as the Chicago Packers. After their inaugural 1961-1962 season, the Packers changed their name to the Zephyrs. A year later, they were gone from Chicago and bound for Baltimore re-named the Bullets who began play in Maryland during the 1963-1964 season.

The Bullets were named after an extinct Basketball Association of America franchise which used to be located in Baltimore and the name actually stuck for a while (longer than one season anyway) before the team moved to the brand new Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. Figuring they couldn't very well keep the Baltimore name and not wanting (I'm guessing here) to alienate their Charm City faithful, they renamed the team the Capital Bullets. Just one season later, they realized the futility of that name and changed the Capital to Washington, even though they still didn't play in the District.

The team's journey to the current Wizards nickname began in 1995 when owner Abe Pollin, upset about the rise of gun violence in the United States and possibly the assassination of his friend and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, declared the Bullets' days were numbered. Two years later after a public name-the-team contest that almost landed the city with the Washington Sea Dogs, the Wizards began play in the 1997-1998 season.

If all that seems like a lot of drama, it is. No NBA team has had more name changes than the Wizards franchise, not even the Sacramento Kings, who before landing in California stopped in Rochester (New York), Cincinnati, Kansas City and Omaha.

Not only is the start date wrong, but I object to the un-retiring of Gus Johnson's 25 in the graphic on the left.

So the Wizards have had a lot of names. So what? Who cares? Well, of course, I do. Being a guy who likes to understand the history of his sports teams, when I first became a Wizards fan I got up to speed immediately on the franchise's history, including all the stops and name changes, and noted something odd: there seemed to be a lot of merchandise both in the stores at MCI Center (now Verizon Center) and in the online NBA store (shown above) that advertised the franchise founding date at 1963. The team didn't seem to acknowledge those first two years in Chicago.

Then popped up an exception. In 2008, the Wizards announced the team would be wearing Zephyrs throwback uniforms for selected games during the 2008-2009 season. In the team's press release for this announcement, the Wizards noted the uniforms would be worn to celebrate the franchise's 45th anniversary, which ironically (doing math here) would put the team's founding one season AFTER the Zephyrs name was discontinued. How can you celebrate team history if you claim the team was founded after the jerseys you are wearing were originally worn?

So, fine, the team's confused. So am I. But at least it was just once. 

But now they've done it again. As I noted in a recent post, the Wizards installed a Franchise History display on the north side of the street level concourse that tracks the team's history, all the way back to their founding in Chicago in 1961, which is totally correct, even though the team has not acknowledged this date in the past. Finally it seemed that the Abe Pollin era refusal to admit to two years in the Windy City had been erased by Ted Leonsis' new deal.

Not so fast. Then I noticed the team's warmups for the current season (shown at the top of this post). The NBA has rolled out new pre-game warmup jackets this season (as they do every year to sell more stuff) that show the team's founding date in a basketball logo near the top of the left arm. The Wizards establishment date is shown as 1963. What gives? Why can't the Wizards agree with themselves or the NBA about when we want to recognize the first season played by this franchise? It seems pretty clear that it's 1961 to me. So this whole crazy ride started in Chicago. Who cares? I think it's time we started acknowledging 1961, not 1963. What's the problem, Wizards? You've got a problem. Just pick one at least. Please.

1961 seems to be the start of things on the Franchise History display. That sounds right to me.

What's New At Verizon Center?

October is a glorious month. It's the first full month of fall, the days are getting cooler and of course it means the start of the NBA season and that's probably the most important reason I love October so much. This week the Wizards play all of their three home preseason games before heading out on the road for the last four before the regular season begins down in Orlando on October 28.

I love the first preseason game each year. It's such a relief to get back to Verizon Center after a summer off and see some basketball once again. It's also interesting to see what kind of changes have happened to the streetscape in Penn Quarter. Maybe there are some new restaurants or stores or maybe construction has started on some block or other or a building's been torn down. I was a little surprised this year. This is the first time in years I can't remember something substantive changing on my walk from Metro Center to the arena.

But if there's nothing outside changed, there's plenty of new stuff inside. And I'm not talking about Bradley Beal's headband or the Wizards new three point heavy offense with everyone including Kris Humphries bombing from beyond the arc or Marcin Gortat's new number. Nope, I'm talking about all sorts of stuff that makes the fan experience at VC come together. There's no doubt some deliberate changes happened these past few months. Here's what I noticed in the first two preseason games.

Etihad Is Coming

Actually, Etihad is here. And it's pretty darned obvious. Towards the beginning of this year, Verizon Center brought on Etihad Airways as a pretty significant sponsor. Etihad is probably most famous in the major sporting world for sponsoring the Barclay's Premier League's Manchester City uniforms and to a lesser extent their stadium. This sort of sponsorship is likely the ideal vehicle to raise the profile of a middle eastern airline dying to get people from the west to come to the UAE and spend some dough.

But until they popped up at VC last season, their presence in the United States was relatively invisible. And this season they have popped up in a big way. You can't escape the permanent signs in the end zones of the building. Becoming a sponsor at the Wizards and Caps arena is probably the first step towards something bigger. My money is still on seeing Wizards games in the Etihad Center in a couple of years, assuming Verizon decides not to re-up their naming rights. Etihad can probably out bid them significantly if they really wanted to anyway.

The Bone

OK, so The Bone wasn't open for the first preseason game but I'm hoping it will for all 41 regular season home games. I've long been disappointed with Verizon Center's food offerings in my first 15 years of being a season ticket holder so getting a barbeque place set up by a local microbrewery (Heritage Brewing Company out of Manassas) seems promising. I've had Heritage's Freedom Ain't Free beer before which I think is pretty good so that might be a good omen.

Now, I've written in this blog before about how I've been disappointed in general with barbeque food so there's some hesitancy to my optimism. I also acknowledge that Verizon Center has made some strides in adding legitimate restaurants like Hard Times and Greene Turtle (go ahead and debate the "legitimate" part if you must and both are now gone from VC) and to me it hasn't worked. I honestly tried multiple times to like the Greene Turtle food and I just couldn't. Nonetheless I do have some hope and I'll give it a shot. Let's get this thing open.

Poutine

I discovered Poutine for real when I visited Toronto last fall to watch the Wizards fall hard and quick to the home Toronto Raptors. It's the most simple and delicious of meals which is not particularly good for you at all. It's a heap of French fries with gravy and cheese curds. Sometimes there are other toppings or add ons on there but in its most basic form it's fries, gravy and curds. Yummy!!!

So imagine my excitement when I saw a sign advertising two different types of poutine at Verizon Center on my first visit there this past week. I had to try this. There are two types of poutine available at Verizon Center. I opted for the bacon ranch.

For sure there are fries and cheese curds in this dish and as advertised, there is bacon and ranch dressing. But I wondered how the gravy component would work in what was likely a cardboard container before ordering and my initial suspicion was that it wouldn't. I was sort of right. It was only at the end of me shoving fries into my mouth that I even found any gravy at all. When I did, it was OK for stadium food. But poutine it ain't. I'm still hopeful for The Bone. Not sure I'm trying the pulled port version of this dish.

Wizards History Display

The notion of incorporating displays of memorabilia or other items celebrating the history of Verizon Center's residents was clearly not an idea that was integrated into the initial design of the building. Over the past decade or so, displays have been shoehorned into whatever space could be made available to connect the building's concourse to the action happening on the court or ice. It started with the Bullets' 1977-1978 championship trophy on the F Street side of the arena and last season, the Caps added a hat trick display on the opposite side of the building.

I've been in other newer arenas on much larger sites in the past couple of years where these displays are much better. Orlando's arena has a large history of the Magic gallery and Philadelphia's arena on the south end of the city has a much more impressive hat trick exhibit. Verizon Center just doesn't have the space available so I guess we take what we can get. I'm glad Monumental Sports is doing this sort of thing.

Over the summer, a Wizards history display was added on the mall side of the building near last year's Caps display. It's a simple case showing off the team's multiple jerseys since 1961 when the team was founded as the Chicago Packers. There is some narrative describing the team's history as it moved from city to city to city and changed it's nickname four times in addition to a technically correct but perhaps a bit misleading (on the contribution to team history side) list of Hall of Famers who have played for the franchise.

I find two things especially interesting about this display. First, it's the only I've ever seen a Chicago Packers jersey. I had no idea they wore red, white and blue. Secondly, the franchise, especially under former owner Abe Pollin's tenure, seemed reluctant to acknowledge the first two years the team spent in Chicago as the Packers and Zephyrs. Many items of memorabilia for sale over the past dozen or so years at VC have had a 1963 founding date, which is the year Pollin's group first bought the club and moved it to Baltimore.

I like pretty much everything about this addition. It's a nice touch, I think, especially for newer fans. Oh and the jerseys…Walt Bellamy (8), Earl Monroe (10), Wes Unseld (41), Bernard King (30), John Wall (2), Antawn Jamsion (4). Elvin Hayes (11), Gus Johnson (25) and Terry Dischinger (43). I had to look up Dischinger. I don't get that one.

Beer Prices

I know what you are thinking...beer prices went UP? AGAIN? Yep, it's true. The biggest swindle in all sports arenas is still beer. And because so many people (myself included) can't help themselves from drinking beer at sporting events, the price keeps going up. Like every year. Or at least it seems like it's that way.

I think I can remember way back to 2000 when I first became a Wizards season ticket holder. At that time or shortly thereafter, a draft beer was $7 for a 24 oz. cup. Over the years, the cost of tap beer inched up a bit until the price stabilized when the arena reduced the cup size (sneaky...) and then it kept going up again.  Get used to it beer drinkers. It's going to continue to rise. This year's 25 oz. can of Budweiser (my preferred beer selection due to a combination of "savings" with the bulk buy in a way-easier-than-draft container) jumped from $11 last year to $11.50 this year.

Skycam in action. Just above the referee on walking up the court near the Verizon Center graphic.

Skycam

This year, Comcast SportsNet and the Wizards have decided to install a mobile camera system which will bring angles of the game for the home viewer previously un-seen. Sounds great, right? I'd love to get as many different views of plays as I can when I'm at home sitting in my lounge chair watching the Wizards. So why isn't this great? Well, let me explain.

The camera runs along a series of cables hung from the structure of the arena on the north side of the main scoreboard. That makes sense. They can't hang it from the center of the building because of the scoreboard and the views taken from the north side would show the court as the correct way up (i.e. the court graphics would not be upside down on TV). The problem? When you are sitting in the 400 level on the north side of the building, especially in row C of 415, the camera flies over the court and obscures my view of what's going on every so often. Maybe it will become less obvious as I watch more and more from upstairs at VC, but for now, it's made my seats obstructed view at times. That's not good. I'm not a fan.

I think Verizon Center hit on some of these alterations and missed on others. Call me a complainer or resistant to change or whatever, but there are some things here that don't add to my experience at VC. Keep changing. It's the only way things will get better. One more preseason tilt tomorrow then I'm looking forward to getting back to the building October 31 for the home season opener.

List of Hall of Famers that played for the franchise in the Franchise History display. There maybe too many here.

New Blood

Since I arrived in the United States in 1979, just nine franchises have won an NBA title. It's the most exclusive club over those 35 plus years in the four major American sports. Over that span, there have been 16 different Super Bowl winners, 17 different Stanley Cup champions and 20 different World Series champions. In the NBA, just nine. And two of those franchises (Philadelphia and Dallas) won the title only once. The sport has been dominated by just seven franchises over the last three and a half decades. 

Last night, the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the reigning champion San Antonio Spurs in game seven of their first round series. That means that the teams that have won the NBA title for the last 16 years are no longer in the NBA playoffs and for the first time in a while, we may actually have an NBA Champion who hasn't won it recently. As a measure of how much the landscape has changed this year, consider this: there are only two franchises that have made the second round of the playoffs both this year and last year and those are the Los Angeles Clippers and the Washington Wizards. How crazy is that?

Because it might be difficult for the average NBA fan to recall when each of the remaining NBA franchises won a title (I know it was for me), here's a look back at the last time the final eight won it all.

Atlanta Hawks (1958)

The last time the Hawks hoisted an NBA trophy, they were in St. Louis and there were eight franchises in the league. EIGHT!!! And six of the eight teams made the playoffs. That year the Warriors were in Philadelphia, the 76ers were still in Syracuse and known as the Nationals, the Lakers were still in Minneapolis on the westernmost edge of the NBA and the Kings were still in Cincinnati named the Royals. How different things are now.

That year the Hawks had a first round bye and knocked off the Boston Celtics, who had won the title the previous year and would win the subsequent eight, despite Boston having home court advantage. This year, the Hawks posted the second best record in the NBA and despite that accomplishment, most folks don't seem to be giving them much of a chance, preferring the Bulls or Cavaliers as the Eastern Conference champs. For my part, I hope the Hawks really are done, but I obviously don't want the Bulls or Cavs in the Finals either.

Golden State Warriors (1975)

Before this season, the Warriors last won a division title in 1976. That was their second division title since they moved to California, having won it the previous season when they won it all. It's the only NBA title in team history. The 1974-1975 NBA season had to have been one of the tightest ever. The Warriors were the best team in the Western Conference with a 48-34 record. This year, that record would have secured them the eighth and final spot in the West.

Despite the field being a little wide open this year, the Warriors have to be considered the favorite to win it all. They killed the entire rest of the NBA; were the second best best offensive team and the best defensive team; and the only team with any success against the Dubs this year (the Spurs) were eliminated by the Clippers last night. Crazily enough, if the Warriors don't win the title, the season might be a waste. They get the banged up Grizzlies in round two then have to face the winner of the Houston Rockets - Clippers matchup.

Washington Wizards (1978)

The last time the Wizards made it to the second round of the NBA playoffs two years in a row, it was the year after the one and only title in franchise history, which they won as the Bullets. Since then, it's been mostly futility. There were a series of first round losses in the 1980s, one playoff appearance in the 1990s and a brief run of mostly non-success with Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas during the last decade. 

Now it's John Wall's turn and for the first time I've been a Wizards fan, it looks like the team might actually make the Eastern Conference Finals. Either that or the sweep that the team just completed over the Toronto Raptors was just our team mopping up a group of guys that were done months ago north of the border. We'll see how we stack up against the Hawks, who sort of genuinely struggled against the Brooklyn Nets over the last two weeks and are maybe a little banged up with Al Horford and Paul Millsap nursing injuries and Thabo Sefolosha having been taken care of by New York City's finest. Series starts in a couple of hours.

Houston Rockets (1995)

When the Hawks, Warriors and Wizards (Bullets) last won NBA titles, I either didn't exist or didn't know what basketball was. But I remember all too well the Rockets' back to back titles in 1994 and 1995. Fresh out of college and a budding New York Knicks fan, the Rockets killed me in 1994 on my birthday by knocking off the Knicks in game seven in a game when John Starks, who I still love, couldn't hit a shot to save his life.

Hakeem Olajuwon, Mario Elie, Kenny Smith, Robert Horry and the newly arrrived Clyde Drexler with Sam Cassell off the bench managed to sneak in the second of their two consecutive titles in 1995. I say sneak because they won both while Michael Jordan was off playing minor league baseball. This was supposed to be the Knicks' window, but it ended up being the Rockets'. In 1995 they swept the Orlando Magic in their only finals appearance. Those unis…wow!

Chicago Bulls (1998)

I hate Michael Jordan but damn, he was good. The best even. I first hated him as a Knicks fan during the 1990s. Then in an odd twist of fate cheered loudly as he led the Wizards to two consecutive 37 win, non-playoff seasons in 2001-2002 and 2002-2003. Then applauded Abe Pollin as he showed Jordan the door in Washington and I renewed my hatred with perhaps a little less enmity after that as I realized Jordan just put our franchise's development on hold for a couple of years while wasting a number one overall pick. 

The Bulls won six titles in the 1990s and honestly, I'd hate for them to win another one. Ever. This year with Derrick Rose back at pretty much full strength the Bulls think they can knock off the Cavaliers (I hope so; hate the Cavs more than the Bulls) and then whoever they face next (I hope not). The Cavs-Bulls series promises to be one of the best in recent years. I hope it is. And I still hate Michael Jordan.

Los Angeles Clippers / Cleveland Cavaliers / Memphis Grizzlies (NEVER!)

The Los Angeles Clippers (as the Buffalo Braves) and Cleveland Cavaliers entered the NBA together in 1970 and neither has ever won a title. The Cavaliers came won one conference championship in 2007 but then were unceremoniously swept by the San Antonio Spurs in a Finals that was pretty much over before it began. Other than the current incarnation of each of these franchises (I'm counting LeBron's first go-round in Cleveland as part of the current run), neither has had much success.

This year the Cavaliers seem to be most people's favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference; it will be interesting to see the effect of the team losing Kevin Love for the rest of the season in the finale against the Boston Celtics in round one. Other than the Derrick Rose ACL tear in the 2012 playoffs, I can't remember an injury to someone this important to their team in a playoff run. I'm of course hoping the Cavs can't recover. On the Clippers' side of things, why not? I mean other than the Warriors, it's an open heat in the West, which might mean it's not open at all of course.

Then there are the Grizzlies, one of two teams who have never won anything at all (the other is the current incarnation of the Charlotte Hornets). The Grizz have it tough this year. With point guard Mike Conley on the floor, you could almost talk yourself into thinking this team has a chance against the Warriors (who they will face in the second round) but with Conley out with a facial fracture at least the first two games, they are likely to be on the path to getting the Dubs a whole lot of rest before the Western Conference finals. I'm pulling for the Grizzlies out West, but I'm not sure it's going to do any good.

The second round starts today at 1 p.m. eastern time with my beloved Washington Wizards taking on the Hawks in Atlanta. This is absolutely the best time of year. Go Wizards! I mean, why not?