A quick note on John Wall

This is John Wall's third season. Here are his field goal percentages in those years:

2010-11: 40.9
2011-12: 42.3
2012-13: 41.6

But here are his percentages from the free throw line:

2010-11: 76.6
2011-12: 78.9
2012-13: 83.2

Obviously free throws are different than jump shots. There's no one guarding you, you're not jumping, you can take your time, etc. But that's at least a little confusing.

In last night's 95-90 loss to the Kyrie Irving-less Cavaliers, Wall had 27 points (and 14 assists) on 7-15 shooting -- not bad. But he also hit 13 of 14 free throws. Maybe instead of saying things like, "Everywhere is my sweet spot," he should just talk about his progress from the free throw line.

Yes, the Wizards are still really bad

Let's look at some Wizards player averages, separated into two groups.

Disappointing: 

Emeka Okafor: 12.5 points, 9.9 rebs, 51.5 FG%, 32 mins (career)
                         7.0 points, 5.7 rebs, 44.5 FG%, 22 mins (2012-13)

Trevor Ariza (currently injured): 9.0 points, 4.9 rebs, 42.8 FG%, 25 mins (career)
                                                 8.1 points, 4.9 rebs, 34.9 FG%, 25 mins (2012-13)

Shaun Livingston: 6.6 points, 2.5 rebs, 3.4 assists, 45.7 FG%, 22 mins (career)
                           3.5 points, 2.0 rebs, 2.2 assists, 35.6 FG%, 18 mins (2012-13)

Chris Singleton: 4.6 points, 3.5 rebs, 37.2 FG%, 21 mins (2011-12/rookie year)
                         5.0 points, 3.9 rebs, 38.5 FG%, 19 mins (2012-13)

Jan Vesely: 4.7 points, 4.4 rebs, 53.7 FG%, 19 mins (2011-12/rookie year)
                  2.1 points, 2.3 rebs, 42.4 FG%, 13 mins (2012-13)

Somewhat better: 

Kevin Seraphin: 6.2 points, 4.1 rebs, 49.6 FG%, 17 mins (career)
                         11.0 points, 5.7 rebs, 47.0 FG%, 24 mins (2012-13)

Cartier Martin: 5.2 points, 2.0 rebs, 0.5 assists, 39.8 FG%, 13 mins (career)
                       7.6 points, 2.7 rebs, 0.4 assists, 42.6 FG%, 18 mins (2012-13)

Jordan Crawford: 13.8 points, 2.8 rebs, 3.2 assists, 39.5 FG%, 26 mins (career)
                            15.0 points, 4.1 rebs, 4.6 assists, 39.7 FG%, 29 mins (2012-13)

Martell Webster: 8.5 points, 3.2 rebs, 41.4 FG%, 23 mins (career)
                          9.1 points, 3.5 rebs, 42.3 FG%, 25 mins (2012-13)

You'll notice that there is no great or awesome category, for obvious reasons.

John Wall is injured and hasn't played yet. Nene is still on a minutes limit (only 21 minutes per game in 12 games), but he's been pretty good. And Trevor Booker and A.J. Price are also currently injured, but neither was playing that well anyway.

It's hard to expect too much from Livingston, who's a replacement for the failed Jannero Pargo experiment. When everyone is healthy, Livingston would either never play or be out of a job. (But I know, this is the Wizards, and everyone is never healthy.) But Okafor and Ariza have been huge disappointments, and every day that goes by that Hornets trade looks worse and worse.

Also, the Wizards' 2011 draft class looks like a disaster. Vesely is a DNP machine and has no offensive game. Singleton shows promise at times, hitting a couple shots and playing decent defense. But his three-point shooting has been abysmal (12.5 percent), and it says something that he's playing fewer minutes this season despite all of the team's injuries. Oh, and Shelvin Mack didn't even make this terrible team and is playing in the D-League.

There's still hope for Seraphin and Crawford, but both can be maddening to watch. Seraphin turns the ball over too much, makes plenty of boneheaded plays, and doesn't get to the free throw line nearly enough for someone who spends most of his time in the paint. And Crawford, who the Wizards have had to rely on for so much, still takes lots of bad shots. His all-around game, though, seems to have improved.

There's a reason the Wizards are 3-20. Sure, injuries have played a factor. But even if everyone on this team was 100 percent healthy, they still wouldn't be THAT much better. There has just been too many bad draft picks and foolish trades made by a general manager who should have been out of a job long ago.

Notes from the Wizards' 124-109 win over the Blazers

I didn't have a chance to watch the Wizards' game last night, so I was pleasantly surprised to check the score this morning and see that not only did they beat the Blazers, but they scored a whopping 124 points. That's pretty remarkable for such a bad offensive team.

Here are some interesting box score notes from the team's seventh win:

- Nick Young scored a game-high 35 points and shot an insane 7-8 from three-point range. Overall, he made 12 of 17 shots and committed just one turnover in 40 minutes. He also didn't have an assist, but, you know, whatever.

- John Wall played 41 minutes and had 29 points on 10-14 shooting. He had 5 turnovers but also dished out nine assists, had two blocks, made eight of nine free throws, and even made a three.

- Overall, the Wizards shot 60 percent from the field and outrebounded the Blazers 43-31.

- As a team, the Wiz were 9-17 on three-pointers. Without Young's threes, the Wizards shot 2-9 from long range.

- Every Wizards player had a positive +/- differential. Jordan Crawford led the way with +24. In 30 minutes, Crawford had 21 points on 9-16 shooting and chipped in four assists, three steals, and two rebounds.

- JaVale McGee added 18 points (7-13 shooting) and 11 rebounds. He also didn't commit a turnover!

- Other notable efforts: Trevor Booker had six points and six rebounds, and Jan Vesely grabbed nine rebounds and also had three assists and two blocks.

Not bad at all. Also worth mentioning: Since 1985-1986, the Wizards have shot over 60 percent and scored at least 124 points just seven other times. The most recent game came in 1993 against the Warriors. So, yeah, it's been a while.

After firing Flip, Wiz still need massive organizational overhaul

The Wizards dismissed head coach Flip Saunders yesterday, making him the first person to lose his job after the team's dreadful 2-15 start to the season. Randy Wittman takes over, which is not an upgrade. Wittman is no coaching medicine man -- far from it. Fans won't be happy with him if he continuously plays Rashard Lewis and Andray Blatche 35 minutes a night and keeps Chris Singleton, Trevor Booker, Jan Vesely, and Shelvin Mack tethered to the bench. Hopefully Blatche and Lewis see reduced minutes, but that won't happen. Look how many games it took for Mack to receive backup point guard minutes. Regardless, there's not much of a chance that Wittman sticks around after the season.

I don't think there's a single person out there who thinks this whole mess is simply Saunders's fault. He's certainly no one's top choice to lead a bunch of young players and is much better coaching a veteran-laden team, but he still deserves some blame. Everyone involved with this debacle does. The Wizards are a team without a direction. They're rudderless. Under general manager Ernie Grunfeld, things could not get much worse than they are now.

The Wizards have lost three times to the aging, 7-9 Celtics, with the most recent loss against Boston coming when the Celtics were without Rajon Rondo for the entire game and Ray Allen (left with an ankle injury) in the second half. Within the last month, the Wizards have lost to the T'Wolves by 21, scored just 64 points and lost by 14 against a Bulls team playing without Derrick Rose, dropped a game by four to a Nuggets team playing without Nene Hilario, and have been dismantled three times by the Sixers by a combined 64 points.

Have you looked at the Wizards roster lately? The Wizards have one really good player: John Wall. His current game is not without flaws, but this post is not about picking apart Wall's game. He has things he needs to work on, no doubt; but if Wall played on a different team and was surrounded by more talent, not only would his numbers be much better, but that team would have several more wins. If Wall were even just playing with mediocre players who worked hard, this team would probably be better. Instead, there's a lot of average-to-good players who think they're better than they are, and that unselfish play has been one of the most disappointing and hard-to-watch characteristics of this team.

The next best player on the roster is probably JaVale McGee. Then there's some combination of Blatche, Nick Young, Jordan Crawford, Lewis, Singleton, and Booker. Mack and Vesely seem like useful young players, and they've been seeing more minutes the last few games. Singleton and Booker may be the two players who demonstrate the most hustle and toughness on the team, and they should unquestionably be receiving consistent minutes. But they are also flawed players and will never be stars. They can be serviceable role players, sure, but that's probably their ceiling.

The Wizards could use a superstar, or even a star, to play alongside Wall. I don't know if Wall can ever be the best player on a great, or even really good, team, but he needs some help. And that group of players after Wall and McGee is really where the problem lies. (Some also think McGee is a problem, and that may be true as well.) And that's mostly Grunfeld's fault. Grunfeld has failed repeatedly in the draft to hit on several players, many of them raw, athletic types.

Grunfeld was hired in June 2003. He's made a few shrewd trades and signings -- piecing Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, and Caron Butler together, most notably -- but he has not done a good job when it comes to drafting players. Let's take a look.

2003: Jarvis Hayes (10th), Steve Blake (38th). The Blake pick was nice; the Hayes pick was not. Notable players taken in the first round after Hayes: Nick Collison, Luke Ridnour, David West, Boris Diaw, Travis Outlaw, Carlos Delfino, Kendrick Perkins, and Josh Howard.

2004: Devin Harris (5th), Peter John Ramos (33rd). Shipped Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, and Christian Laettner to the Mavericks for Jamison. Defensible move. Notable players taken after "Party John": Chris Duhon and Trevor Ariza.

2005: Andray Blatche (49th). Arguably Grunfeld's best pick. Arguably also Grunfeld's worst pick, because fans have to watch Andray Blatche. The Wizards had no first-round pick after trading that pick and Laron Profit to the Magic for Brendan Haywood. The pick ended up being 20th overall.

2006: Oleksiy Pecherov (18th), Vladimir Veremeenko (48th). Maybe Grunfeld's worst draft. Notable players taken after Pecherov in the first round: Rajon Rondo, Kyle Lowry, Shannon Brown, and Jordan Farmar.

2007: Nick Young (16th), Dominic McGuire (47th). Notable players taken after Young in the first round: Marco Belinelli, Daequan Cook, Jared Dudley, Wilson Chandler, Rudy Fernandez, Aaron Brooks, Arron Afflalo, and Tiago Splitter.

2008: JaVale McGee (18th), Bill Walker (47th). Walker was traded to the Celtics for cash considerations. Notable players taken after McGee in the first round: J.J. Hickson, Ryan Anderson, Serge Ibaka, Nicolas Batum, George Hill, and Darrell Arthur.

2009: Jermaine Taylor (32nd). The Wizards traded the fifth pick (which turned into Ricky Rubio), Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila, and Oleksiy Pecherov for Randy Foye and Mike Miller. At the time, the Wizards were risking everything on the big three working out. It did not, and it looks really, really bad now. Oh, and the Wizards again traded away a player (Taylor) for cash. So in 2009, the Wizards ended up with zero drafted players.

2010: John Wall (1st). After a flurry of moves, the Wizards also ended up with Kevin Seraphin (17th), Trevor Booker (23rd), and Hamady N'Diaye (56th). Wall is obviously the real prize; Booker seems solid, too. But here are other notable players in the first round picked after Seraphin: Eric Bledsoe (would've made little sense with Wall), Jordan Crawford (current Wizard), and Greivis Vásquez. It's still early, but overall 2010 doesn't seem like a very deep draft class.

2011: Jan Vesely (6th), Chris Singleton (18th), Shelvin Mack (34th). Too early to tell, but this class does have some promise.

There are way too many missed opportunities in those drafts. Of course, it's too easy to look back and see how badly Grunfeld messed up on various picks. All general managers have made bad picks, or at least picks they wish they could go back and change. Hindsight is 20/20, and all that.

It's possible that many of the drafted players who didn't pan out just weren't that good to begin with. But it's also worth looking at Mike Wise's JaVale/Pamela McGee article a little closer. Ignoring all of the "mother protecting her son" stuff, Wizards fans should notice an underlying problem: The Wizards are terrible at developing talent. Who is the best player the Wizards have developed in the last decade? Bullets Forever's Jake Whitacre said a few days ago that it might be Blatche, and he's probably right. How sad is that?

Why aren't the Wizards more open to doing all they can to develop their players? Couldn't they have brought in different coaches or more efficient specialists? Players like McGee seem willing to learn and improve. Every Wizards player may not be like that, but the fact remains that players don't come to Washington and get that much better. And that's an organizational failure.

Just like the organization, the players deserve their fair share of the blame as well. How often have fans complained this season (and previous seasons) about Blatche, Young, McGee, and Crawford? Are all of those guys doing everything in their power to improve their games? At times, it seems like those four only care about their numbers and are willing to sacrifice wins in order to get buckets. That just can't happen.

Regarding the future of this team, lots of questions remain, including: Has Grunfeld done enough to stick around? Has he given his coaches enough talent to win basketball games? Has he kept improving the overall depth of Wizards' rosters? No, he hasn't.

Because of how horrible this team is, the Wizards will have an excellent chance at a top three pick in the next draft, but I don't have much confidence that Grunfeld will select the right player. And unless better coaches are in place, I also don't believe that player will develop at the level necessary to help turn this team around. I also have little trust that even if he does make a strong pick that he'll be able to surround that player and Wall with the right types of pieces.

Grunfeld has used up all of his excuses. He has been around for nearly a decade, and look where the Wizards are now. He's more responsible for this debacle than Saunders ever was, and it's time for Ted Leonsis to clean house and start in a different direction.

Wiz topple Thunder, which everyone totally expected

Heading into last night's lopsided matchup, the Thunder, at 12-2, had only one more loss than the 1-12 Wizards had wins. So of course the Wizards would battle throughout and eventually pull out a tough 105-102 win in front of a home crowd looking for any reason to stand and cheer.

John Wall and Nick Young, who both shot 6-17 from the field, shouldered the scoring load, posting 25 and 24 points, respectively. Wall added eight assists, seven rebounds, and made 13 of 14 free throws. He also committed just three turnovers in a game-high 45 minutes. And Young, who had just two points in the first half, scored 22 points in the final two quarters, including five (of 10) three-pointers. He also didn't turn the ball over in 34 minutes.

I was especially impressed by Wall, who played six more minutes than any other player. He wasn't as good this game as he was against the Rockets, when he put up 38-6-8 with four steals, but he seemed under control and set his teammates up with good shots. It helped that Young actually started making shots in the second half, but again, Wall kept finding him. In his last two games, Wall has made 25 of 30 free throws, which is also a good sign. He still has a lot of work to do on his jump shot, but that doesn't mean the rest of what he does on the floor -- which is a ton for this team -- means nothing. And his shooting will improve.

Jordan Crawford chipped in 18 points off the bench on 4-10 shooting, adding six rebounds, two assists, and a steal. He did turn the ball over three times, but he also frequently passed the ball and wasn't routinely calling his own number out there, which is a positive for him.

The Thunder shot nearly 10 percent better than the Wizards from the field (48.1-38.4), but the Wizards made seven more free throws (shooting an impressive 43 for the game), grabbed nine more rebounds (52-43), and dished out three more assists while committing four fewer turnovers. The Wizards also nailed four more threes, which was particularly surprising.

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 69 points, but the Wizards actually made them work for them (at times). Those two combined to hit 25 of 50 shots, but they also made just 2 of 12 three-pointers (including Durant making just 2 of 10). Durant also had seven turnovers, while Westbrook had three.

Keeping things close and only down 82-81 with 8:33 left in the game, the Wizards went with a Wall-Crawford-Young-Jan Vesely-JaVale McGee lineup. When Andray Blatche entered the game for Vesely six minutes later, the Wizards were up five points and made just enough free throws to hold the Thunder off. The length of Vesely and McGee bothered the Thunder, and they tipped several passes. McGee grabbed 11 rebounds (adding two steals and a block), and during the game he repeatedly tried to bat rebounds back to his teammates. His strategy didn't always work; occasionally his batted rebounds ended up in the hands of a Thunder player, which inadvertently started their fast break. But in the fourth quarter, McGee opted to use two hands and actually grabbed the ball more. You have to wonder if the coaches talked to him about changing his volleyball tactics at some point in the second half.

Vesely was also particularly active (mostly on the defensive end), finishing with six points, three rebounds, a steal, and a block in 19 minutes. He had two turnovers, but he also shot 3-6 from the field. I'm pretty sure that all of his shots came right at the rim, which is exactly where Vesely should be shooting from (just like McGee and Trevor Booker). No jumpers, fellas.

For Wizards fans out there who feel good about this game: Guess what, you should. I certainly enjoyed the win. Real fans know it probably doesn't mean a whole lot, particularly because for as nice as that win was, the Wizards are still 2-12. But any positives this season should be relished. And it also doesn't hurt when the team's younger players perform well under pressure. It's all about building and improving, or something along those lines. It's probably about pixels, too, I guess. Right Ted?

Maybe the Wizards were supposed to be bad, but not THIS bad

Like most Wizards fans, I assume, I thought the Wizards would be somewhat improved this season, but overall still a bad team. Unfortunately, they've skipped the "somewhat improved" part entirely. At 0-8, the Wizards have been competitive at times, but far more often they've been a team that plays selfish, uninspired basketball, and that most recently resulted in a 93-72 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

In his latest Washington Post column, Mike Wise notes just how flawed this team is:

Some of the Wizards’ problems are obvious: Second-year point guard John Wall, the team’s main reason for hope, is off to a brutal start; Blatche, McGee and other key players rarely make good decisions in the fourth quarter; and the team’s overall talent pool is very shallow.

Others are utterly unfixable. The players with the most heart — Trevor Booker and Chris Singleton among them — don’t have enough skill. The players with the most skill — Blatche, McGee and Nick Young — don’t have enough heart. And the wizened veterans such as Evans, Roger Mason Jr. and Rashard Lewis are almost caught in a culture war between their scrappy teammates who care and their more talented teammates who remain clueless.

I'm not sure it's quite that simple, but it's a good place to start. Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee are two of this team's biggest scapegoats. And there's no question that John Wall has struggled, particularly when it comes to shooting the ball and trusting his teammates when things start going south.

I've been one of the many advocating more playing time for the rookie Singleton and second-year forward Booker, and they should be receiving heavy minutes every game. But that won't change the fact that Singleton's offensive upside is a guy who can knock down open threes, or that Booker can't really hit any shots outside of the paint (it's really a shame that Booker is 6'8 instead of 6'11 or 7'0). That doesn't mean they don't bring something to the table -- they obviously hustle and play more defense than most of the players on the roster -- but neither will transform into the star player the Wizards desperately need. Hopefully Wall becomes that star, but right now that's not the case.

(Random thought: Would any Wizards fans complain about the following starting lineup?

John Wall
Nick Young
Chris Singleton
Trevor Booker
JaVale McGee

That's obviously not the most efficient offensive group, but it's an extremely fast lineup that can go up and down the floor in a hurry. What's so special about a guy like Blatche where he's guaranteed to start and receive consistent minutes every game? He complained early in the season about not getting the ball in the post, yet every time he gets the ball now, he's nowhere near the basket. He's also content to launch jumpers that the defense has no problem letting him take.

Oh, and the Jordan Crawford experiment at point guard has to end. It's unbearable.)

Anyway, here's Wise's big finish:

Give Leonsis credit for transparency: He told us there would be seasons like these. That’s the sad truth that is starting to sink in with each embarrassing loss: This season’s Wizards were supposed to be almost painful to watch.

So as the losses pile up — and with 14 games in the next 22 days, surely they will — and the sentiment that someone must pay grows, consider: This was part of a plan.

That’s why Saunders and Grunfeld and especially Leonsis must stay and endure the pain with the rest of us: to ostensibly see how awfully bad it can be before there’s any hope of it getting good.

Sorry, but I'm not on board with that. This was the season in which the Wizards were supposed to be the worst team in the league? In Wall's second season, playing with guys that Grunfeld either drafted or acquired to make up the core of this team? Certainly that doesn't include Rashard Lewis, who was brought in just so Gilbert Arenas and his massive contract could be shipped out of town. But Blatche, McGee, Jordan Crawford, Young, and Kevin Seraphin all receive a ton of minutes, and they're the players that fans wouldn't mind seeing depart in the near future. Some fans are already starting to give up on Wall, which is unfortunate. (And many have already given up on Jan Vesely, who's played one game.)

I blame Grunfeld much more than Saunders. Saunders isn't the desired coach to lead a bad, young, rebuilding team. The offense is terrible, though that's mostly because the Wizards don't have many shooters and that they don't share the basketball. But Grunfeld is the architect of this team, and he's failed miserably. I won't go through all of the terrible trades and draft picks, but there are many of them. He's made several solid moves as well, sure. But this Wizards team may end up historically bad, and I don't trust Grunfeld to continue this rebuilding process. Why should anyone?

I'm also tired of Leonsis telling fans to be patient. We've been patient. Look at this team's record the last few years:

'08-'09: 19-63
'09-'10: 26-56
'10-'11: 23-59

Would he rather have no one care, or no one show up at games, or no one argue that changes need to be made? And maybe if stomaching lots of losses was the only awful thing, fans would be somewhat more inclined to go along with whatever plan the team is using. But this team is also routinely embarrassing off the court, and there doesn't seem to be much punishment for certain insubordinate acts.

I don't need Leonsis to hop on to his blog after each of the team's awful performances to tell fans to relax and to think of how wonderful everything will be in the future. A team's progress takes place on the court, and that's something Leonsis can't hide from fans. And right now, things aren't working.

Roger Mason Jr. ruled ineligible; Wizards fall to 0-3

Because of the teams that I cheer for, I've been forced to say this many times: It's one thing to just be bad. But as usual, the Wizards upped the ante and put together an awful performance both on and off the court yesterday. First, the embarrassing: For some reason, Roger Mason Jr.'s name was left off the Wizards' active roster, so when he was allowed (for some reason) to enter the game in the first quarter, ridiculousness ensued. Here's a more detailed description by The Washington Post's Michael Lee:

The Wizards’ public relations staff circled every name on the list except Jan Vesely and Maurice Evans without noticing the mistake and [Flip] Saunders signed off on a sheet that had only 12 active players instead of the possible 13.

“It’s my fault,” Saunders said. “The league sends us the list and what we do is circle the guys that are active and for some reason on our list, Roger wasn’t on it and I didn’t notice it. So, I take responsibility for that. I guess the only fortunate thing is, it wasn’t a situation that cost us down the stretch.”

The situation was exacerbated when Mason went to the scorers’ table and was allowed to check in for Jordan Crawford, who had just picked up his second foul with 3 minutes 27 seconds left in the first period. Saunders said before the game that he had planned to give the veteran Mason more playing time after he received just eight minutes in the first two games. “I thought he would’ve given us some help,” Saunders said.

Mason quickly hit a turnaround jumper but Rashard Lewis (14 points) was credited with the basket, which brought the Wizards within 24-18. After a timeout, Mason was set to reenter the game when referee Danny Crawford informed him that he should not have been allowed to play.

It's hard to believe that this could happen to a professional team, but yes, it did. As for the actual game, the Wizards allowed 65 first-half points and didn't play any defense until the second half. They did outscore the Bucks 26-13 in the third quarter, but they were again outplayed in the final frame and lost 102-81.

So, to recap, the Wizards have not only lost all three of their games, but they have yet to produce a drama-free performance either. After game one, Andray Blatche complained about wanting the ball in the paint more. During game two, John Wall yelled at Flip Saunders to take an unspecified Wizards player out of the game. And now Wizards fans will one day have the opportunity to tell their grandchildren about experiencing the Mason fiasco.

By the way, it's sort of amusing to think that Mason's presence could have somehow changed the course of the game for the Wizards, which Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier were discussing at one point. Then again, I'll give Buck and Phil a pass, mostly because they're one of the few reasons to tune in and watch. If the Wizards had horrible, or even mediocre, announcers, I don't think I could stomach many of their games.

So let's add this bizarre incident to a long list of perplexing moments involving the Wizards. Over at Bullets Forever, Sean Fagan does a terrific job accessing the damage:

I don't want to sugarcoat this at all. These type of boneheaded mistakes make the organization look like a minor league franchise. We can't spell the names on our jerseys right, we misdiagnose injuries, and now we can't even register our players. This has gone beyond a simple "oops" and well into the realm of incompetency. The Wizards PR department can fall on the sword all they want, this is still a failure on the part of Flip.

I'm generally not a fan of using "we" when referring to teams I root for, but in this case I don't really have a problem with it. Why? Because mistakes like this are also embarrassing for fans. It's one thing to discuss why the Wizards are bad on the court, or why John Wall isn't playing that well, or why Blatche isn't that good. But these completely avoidable off-the-court mistakes? They have to stop.

All you need to know about Andray Blatche

Andray Blatche is a puzzling individual. He's talented and will have flashes of inspired play on the court, but then he'll say something outlandish off of it or spar with his coaches during a practice or a game. His most recent embarrassing moment came after the Wizards' season-opening loss to the Nets. Blatche wasn't happy with his role in the Wizards' offense, saying:

“You can’t keep having me pick and pop and shooting jumpshots. Gimme the ball in the paint. That’s where I’m most effiective at. I’ve been saying that since training camp. I need the ball in the paint. I don’t wand to be the pick-and-pop guy I used to be because it’s not working for me.”

Blatche refused to back down from critics, writing on Twitter yesterday afternoon: "Every body need to shut up I didn't call out my coach or team mates I said I had a bad game need it n the post instead of jump shots."

If Blatche had talked privately with Flip Saunders instead of going public with his complaints after the first game of the season, that would have been one thing. But he didn't, and here we are yet again discussing another controversial incident involving Blatche.

So Blatche wants to be a back-to-the-basket player now. That's interesting, because about a year ago, he called into Mike Wise's radio show and said the following:

"If anybody watched me grow into this team and into this league, they'd know that I've never been a back-to-the-basket, bang-bang down player. I'm more of a face-up and a finesse player. That's who I am. I can't force myself to be a different player that I'm not."

It sure sounds like Blatche is forcing himself to be a different player now. So Blatche may be a hypocrite. Or  maybe he was just frustrated after a not-so-good performance against the Nets. Either way, publicly complaining about his role and creating off-the-court drama are not things that a player entering his seventh season in the league should be doing.

Why does Blatche have to be either a pick-and-pop player or a back-to-the-basket scorer? Can't he be both? Does he realize that's a possibility? It sounds like his main beef is with the plays the Wizards ran in the first game, but those are also concerns that will work themselves out if Blatche plays effectively on the court. John Wall can create enough offensively to get Blatche open shots. It's his job to knock them down. If he's not good enough to make those open shots, or efficient enough with his back to the basket to get buckets consistently, then he probably shouldn't be on the court anyway. And if the Wizards and Saunders do oblige and get Blatche more opportunities in the paint, how long will it take before he wishes to be back outside the paint shooting jumpers instead?

Games notes from the Wizards' season-opening loss

The first regular season game after a lockout-reduced preseason is probably going to be sloppy (especially when the Wizards and Nets are involved). This game didn't disappoint. Unfortunately, after building an early lead -- at one point the Wizards were ahead by 21 -- Washington crumbled in the second half and fell to the Nets, 90-84. I missed most of the first quarter, but here are some of my observations from the rest of the game:

- Not John Wall's best game: 13 points (3-13 shooting), 8 rebounds, 6 assists. He added two steals and a block, but he also committed four turnovers and missed six free throws (7-13). He drove to the basket frequently, but he was also out of control on many of them and didn't get calls on several wild shots and layup attempts. The Wizards won't win many games with Wall playing that poorly. Still, it was only the first game, so there's plenty of time to improve.

- Chris Singleton, after just one game, already looks like the team's best perimeter defender. At 6'8, he has the size to defend power forwards, and he's also athletic enough to frustrate guards. The Wizards unleashed him on Williams a few times, and Singleton did a pretty good job sticking with him, moving his feet and staying in front of the shifty point guard. He's going to get plenty of minutes regardless, but if he's able to improve his shooting enough (3 points, 1-3 from the field), he's going to be a very valuable role player.

- Nick Young had the best offensive night for the Wizards. Young, who had an injury scare (left foot) in the third quarter that required him to be lifted into the locker room, later returned in the fourth quarter and seemed to be moving around just fine. In 18 minutes off the bench, he had 16 points on 6-9 shooting, and he made all four of his free throws. I kind of like him in that bench-scoring role.

- No starter for the Wizards played all that well. Jordan Crawford had 15 points and four rebounds; Andray Blatche had 11 points and eight rebounds; and JaVale McGee added 11 points and six rebounds. Rashard Lewis chipped in nine points and two rebounds. But none of them were efficient from the field. Crawford needed 12 shots to get his points, and McGee and Blatche combined to make just 10 of their 24 shots.

- The Wizards frountcourt was outplayed by Kris Humphries (21 points, 16 rebounds), Damion James (6 points, 14 rebounds), and Johan Petro (11 points, 5 rebounds). Yes, really. The Wizards were also outrebounded by 20 (58-38) and allowed 19 offensive rebounds. That was a major problem.

- Trevor Booker only played nine minutes and wasn't much of a factor. Ronny Turiaf played 20 minutes and had a very Turiaf-like game: 2 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls. Because Turiaf plays pretty good defense, he's going to see consistent minutes off the bench all season. It's too early to complain about the distribution of minutes after one game, but hopefully Booker receives more playing time as well.

- The Wizards only took eight three-pointers and only hit one of them. The Wizards don't have many solid three-point shooters, but making just one is obviously terrible.

Lots of people like the Wizards' draft

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Ernie Grunfeld and the Wizards in the NBA Draft. Over the past few weeks, reports surfaced that the Wizards were enamored with Jan Vesely, the talented, 21-year-old forward from the Czech Republic. But the Wizards were also exploring trade options, including possibly moving up in the draft to select other skilled big men, such as Derrick Williams or Enes Kanter. But in the end, the Wizards held onto all three of their draft selections, and by many accounts, used them wisely.

With the Wizards' first choice at No. 6, Vesely was indeed the selection. So maybe the Wizards tipped their hand a little early, but Grunfeld seemed very happy to get a guy they've been targeting for a while.

At No. 18, the Wizards selected another versatile forward: Chris Singleton out of Florida State. Singleton, also 21 years old, is considered by manner to be the best defensive player in the draft. According to a few reports, the Wizards were apparently considering taking Singleton at the sixth spot, so Grunfeld had to be ecstatic when Singleton was still available 12 spots later.

With their last pick, the 34th overall selection in the second round, the Wizards selected 22-year-old Shelvin Mack, a guard out of Butler. At 6-3, he's listed as a point guard and will probably get a chance to be the primary backup to John Wall, but he's also considered to be a combo guard who can create his own shot and knock down threes. The Mack selection, like the other two, also fills a team need.

I'm not a talent evaluator or a scout, and I haven't seen more than a few YouTube clips of Vesely. But even though I was skeptical of the Wizards selecting him before the draft, I do like the pick a little more afterwards considering the next two picks the Wizards made. The rebuilding goal, according to Grunfeld and Ted Leonsis, is to build around John Wall and keep bringing in younger, more talented players. Hopefully some pieces from this draft end up being significant building blocks to accomplish that plan.

Here's what other scribes around the NBA blogosphere think about the Wizards' draft (many including draft grades):

- "Washington Wizards (23-59): Three quality picks, Jan Vesley will surprise, Chris Singleton will defend and Sheldon Mack will scrap. Grade: A-" [Kurt Helin, Pro Basketball Talk]

- "[Listed under the Winners column:] Washington Wizards: The Wizards very quietly had a terrific draft. First Jan Vesely was available, who fits a need for them at slashing forward. With his athleticism and aggression, he makes a perfect partner to run the break with John Wall. Then, miraculously, Chris Singleton tumbled all the way down to No.18 where the Wizards jumped all over him. Singleton is a lottery talent that fell out of the top 14. He gives the Wizards the ability to move Andray Blatche if they can find a taker for his contract. He can rebound and defend exceptionally well. Singleton's length and athleticism, combined with a chip on his shoulder from dropping, makes him a great pick for the Wizards. Shelvin Mack in the second round was a great value pick for backup point guard." [Matt Moore, Eye on Basketball]

- "Grade: A+ Vesely fawning aside, this was a terrific draft. Vesely will be must-watch TV for those of us who dread pulling up Wizards games on a Tuesday at 7 at night, Singleton is a needed lockdown defender who might allow Flip Saunders to bust out his zone defense once again, and I don't understand why other teams underrated Shelvin Mack. This isn't an area where I want to be proven wrong. No boffo names, but Washington did well to surround John Wall with some eager types who couldn't be bothered with the team's recent history. Well done." [Kelly Dwyer, Ball Don't Lie]

- "Well, we know at least this much about Vesely — he has great taste in women! That stuff aside, Vesely will be a great finisher and running mate for John Wall. Singleton is considered the best defender in the draft and is a great piece for this young team. Mack could be a solid back-up and the team should be considered on the come up. Grade: A" [Dennis Velasco, The Basketball Jones]

- "Synopsis: The only two above-average players on the Wizards each got something to love on draft night. Point guard John Wall picked up a brilliant running mate in Vesely, a flyer who will no doubt find himself on the business end of a number of open court alley-oops. JaVale McGee, the team's quixotic center, found a partner in defensive crime in Singleton.

Of course, these two guys play the same position. But Washington can very easily push either one to power forward for stretches (and maybe over the long-term) given McGee's weakside defense. Individually, Vesely has to develop his jumper quite a bit to avoid becoming a problem in the halfcourt, and Singleton has to be a legit threat from the NBA arc.

Picking up Mack is a wash -- he won't likely be anything spectacular, but you could do worse. Grade: A." [Tom Ziller, SB Nation]

- "[Posted under the "Who won the draft?" column:] Chris Palmer, ESPN The Magazine: The Wizards got Jan Vesely and Chris Singleton, two guys who can contribute right away and help turn the franchise around. Vesely has some serious swag to go with his leaping ability. Singleton gives them toughness and could emerge as a quality pro defender. It's a great way to follow up taking John Wall at No. 1 in last year's draft." [ESPN 5-on-5]

- "[Grade: A+] As I mentioned earlier, John Wall can't do it alone. The Wizards won the same amount of games without him in the 2009-10 campaign as they did with him last season (23), but now comes the fun part. In grabbing the athletic, exciting small forward in Jan Vesely (No. 6), they now have a get-up-and-go talent to run the break with their franchise centerpiece. Vesely has been the apple of the Wizards' eye for quite some time and that's precisely why. In Singleton (No. 18), they get a lockdown defender player who claims he can guard all five positions. Shelvin Mack (No. 34) is a nice pickup at the point as well, as Washington's only backup for Wall before the draft was journeyman Mustafa Shakur." [Sam Amick, SI.com]

Sebastian Pruiti also wrote up a solid scouting report yesterday on Vesely -- it's definitely worth checking out.

For more draft coverage and Wizards coverage in general, check out Bullets Forever and Truth About It, as always.

Wizards lose to Heat by 16, are far from embarrassing

I'm always going to be a Wizards fan, but there hasn't been much to cheer about lately. Sure, the Wizards beat the Jazz on Monday -- wins are always good -- but that came after a four-game losing streak, and a six-game losing streak before that. You get the idea. Going into last night's game, the Wizards were 18-55, everyone keeps getting hurt (most recently Trevor Booker, who's fun to watch), and at this point the Wizards and other losing teams are basically jockeying for position in the upcoming NBA Draft.

But something about the team's effort last night against the Heat (a 123-107 loss) made me proud. Maybe it's that the Wizards are without the following players: Nick Young, Rashard Lewis, Josh Howard, and Booker. (Andray Blatche returned from an injury last night.) Maybe it's that Othyus Jeffers (who, with 15 points and eight rebounds, had a solid game) played 29 minutes and Cartier Martin played 18. But no, that's only part of it.

Early in the second quarter, John Wall and Zydrunas Ilgauskas got into a little skirmish. Ilgauskas had the ball and Wall was swiping at it, going for a steal. Ilgauskas, trying to fend off Wall (or something), ended up elbowing Wall twice, which obviously didn't make the rookie too happy. Understandably, Wall took exception -- after all, who likes being elbowed in the head? -- and threw a forearm into Ilgauskas's midsection. Watch the play for yourself:



As Wall and Ilgauskas argued and nearly squared off, the coaches ran onto the court to separate the players. Trying to protect Wall, JaVale McGee rushed in and shoved Ilgauskas, and Juwan Howard came to Ilgauskas's defense and went after McGee. Howard also had some words for Flip Saunders as he was on his way to break up the scuffle.

Wall and Ilgauskas received flagrant twos and were ejected for their actions. Howard received only a technical foul, but he was also ejected for basically looking to fight. McGee was given a technical foul but was allowed to stay in the game. (It's also worth noting that Ilgauskas was "offering fans a double-bird salute on his way to the locker room.")

Regardless of how poorly the Wizards have played this season, Wall and McGee refused to back down from Ilgauskas and the all-mighty Heat. Without Wall, the Wizards lost their best player for the rest of the game, yet they all continued to battle. Jordan Crawford took control of the offense, and it almost seemed like he made it his mission to keep the Wizards in the game. He ended up with 39 points on 12-24 shooting, also making all 10 of his free throws. He ended up with only four assists -- he loves to shoot and was hoisting up plenty of shots in the game already -- but in his crafty style, he was still driving to the basket on occasion with relative ease and was setting up his teammates with pretty good shots when he felt the need to do so. But yeah, in terms of a shooting conscience, he's similar to Nick Young (which isn't a revelation).

After a Crawford three-pointer cut the deficit to one (91-90) with 9:27 to go in the fourth quarter, the Heat finally started to pull away. At the end, accounting for both LeBron James and Dwyane Wade proved to be too difficult.

In most cases, moral victories don't mean a whole lot. They're usually just a way for a losing team to take something positive away from a loss. But in this situation, the severely short-handed Wizards took on one of the most talented teams in the league, played without their best player from the second quarter on, and stayed right with the Heat for a majority of the game. The Wizards need to get more talented; no one would question that. But the way the team played and refused to let the Heat walk all over them after Wall departed, when it could have easily happened -- that's something this franchise can build on.

Wall not doing enough, according to LZ Granderson

In a recent ESPN article titled "NBA rookie class: Worst in a decade?" LZ Granderson praises Blake Griffin while criticizing many highly drafted rookies from the 2010 NBA Draft. Granderson even took a shot at John Wall:

Top pick Wall has all the talent to develop into the next great point guard and is in the top 10 in assists. But as of now he's a player averaging 14.8 ppg on 40 percent shooting on a sub-.300 team, and the Washington Wizards pretty much have the same record they had a year ago.

All of those things are true, and yet it just doesn't seem fair. First of all, Wall isn't just top 10 in assists -- he's sixth, with 8.9 assists per game. The next closest rookie is Eric Bledsoe, who's averaging 3.9 assists per game.

Granderson's point about shooting better is valid; everyone, including Wall himself, knows that he needs to be more efficient and make more of his shots. That was one of the main concerns about Wall when he left Kentucky -- he would need to improve his jumper. However, Granderson fails to mention that NBA rookies (primarily point guards) don't generally put up the kind of numbers that Wall is. In fact, only two other rookies have ever put up seasons with at least 14 points and 8.9 assists per game: Oscar Robertson and Damon Stoudamire. Wall still has part of the season to go, but I'd still say that that's rather impressive.

Is it a shame that the Wizards (14-38) aren't winning more games? Yes, definitely. But Wall doesn't exactly have a ton of talent around him, and it's hard to place a large share of the blame on the rookie's shoulders. He's still having a pretty excellent season, though apparently that's not good enough for Granderson.

Video: John Wall is an exciting player

After Wednesday's highlight-filled win over the Bucks, I figured that there's nothing wrong with staying positive about the Wizards for a couple days (not that I try to do the opposite) -- at least until tomorrow's game against the Spurs. So considering the team's entertaining performance, I went to YouTube in search of a recent, post-worthy clip. Thanks to tonytugathekiller (who's already made lots of other NBA player mixes), I came across, just as the title suggets, a "John Wall Mix."

Check out the video, and keep enjoying the continued development of John Wall.

Young leads Wizards to first win in February

Snapping their eight-game losing streak, the Wizards downed the Bucks last night, 100-85. Nick Young led the way with 26 points, and JaVale McGee scored 16 points and grabbed 17 rebounds.

As a team, the Wizards shot over 47 percent from the field, and they also outrebounded the Bucks 51-39. The Wizards essentially finished off the Bucks in the third quarter, but Milwaukee kept bringing the deficit back to about 10 or 12 points every few minutes. It was far from a well-played game, but the Wizards were pretty efficient, making 10 of 16 threes and 18 of 20 free throws as well.

John Wall finished the game with 15 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. Andray Blatche added 12 points and eight rebounds. The surprise of the night, though, had to be Cartier Martin, who played 23 minutes in Al Thornton's place (Thornton was out with a dislocated finger). Martin casually made five of his seven three-point attempts, which accounted for all of his 15 points off of the bench.

In terms of highlights, the Wizards had a few (a block and streaking dunk by McGee, a steal and lightning-quick breakaway layup for Wall, and a couple other nifty plays here and there). One of them was this steal and alley-oop combination completed by Wall and Young. But the play of the night took place in the second quarter, when Young drove baseline and dunked with authority over Ersan Ilyasova. Take a look:



Well done, Nick.

How Wall stacks up

I didn't get to watch the Wizards game last night -- a 124-117, double-overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder that dropped the Wiz to 0-22 on the road -- but here are a few notes from the game:

- The short-handed Wizards definitely battled and made the Thunder earn that victory. With Kirk Hinrich still out and JaVale McGee dealing with the flu, four starters (Rashard Lewis, Trevor Booker, Nick Young, and John Wall) played at least 45 minutes each. The other starter, Andray Blatche, played 31. I'm not sure that that's the best way to distribute minutes or to prepare for a back-to-back -- the Wizards face the Grizzlies tonight -- but, then again, neither is playing in a double-overtime game in which the Wizards and Flip Saunders were desperately seeking their first road win.

- Back to Booker: The rookie had 21 points and 12 rebounds and made nine of his 11 shots from the field. He did foul out after playing 45 minutes, but he should definitely start receiving consistent minutes after an impressive performance like that. Then again, with all of the injuries, he'll probably keep seeing more minutes anyway. Saunders doesn't have much of a choice.

- Wall and Young both played 52 minutes, which is both impressive and sort of ridiculous. Wall had 13 points and 10 assists, but he only shot 5-19 from the field. Remarkably, though, he didn't turn the ball over. (More on Wall later.) Young was the Wizards' leading scorer with 32 points. Unfortunately, he needed 33 shots to get those points, and he made only 13 of those attempts.

- Finishing out the starting five, Lewis had 22 points and eight rebounds, and Blatche had 22 points and two -- yes, two -- rebounds. He did, though, have three assists and three steals.

- Only two bench players -- Yi Jianlian (28) and Al Thornton (20) -- played significant minutes. Yi scored nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Thornton chipped in with six points. Mustafa Shakur, the team's de facto backup point guard with Hinrich out, played just six minutes.

- Other game notes: The Wizards only turned the ball over seven times. They were outrebounded 55-43 and out-assisted (not a word) 27-18. The Thunder also shot better from the field (49.4%-42.6%). The Thunder had 19 more fast-break points than the Wizards. So, basically, it seems that turnovers and sheer determination kept the Wizards in this game. I appreciate that they're battling, and at some point they're going to win a game on the road. But, seriously, 0-22 is really, really bad.

-----

So, yeah, another tough loss for the Wizards, but what I wanted to talk about was John Wall. He needs to be making more of his shots -- he's shooting under 40 percent from the field (39.6%) -- but as a rookie who has been playing well despite not being completely healthy, he's been very exciting to watch. Out of all rookies, he's second in scoring and first in assists. What I was curious about was how Wall's season so far stacks up to other top NBA point guards' rookie seasons. Again, Wall has played in only 33 games this season, but it's not hard believe that his current numbers could stay where they are for the rest of the season.

So let's take a look:

Player	Games	Pts	Reb	Ast	FG%	TO	Min
John Wall	33	15.0	4.0	9.4	39.6	3.8	37.1
Chris Paul	78	16.1	5.1	7.8	43.0	2.4	36.0
Deron Williams	80	10.8	2.4	4.5	42.1	1.8	28.4
Steve Nash	65	3.3	1.0	2.1	42.3	1.0	10.3
Rajon Rondo	78	6.4	3.7	3.8	41.8	1.8	23.3
Derrick Rose	81	16.8	3.9	6.3	47.5	2.5	37.0

I could have included several more point guards on this list, but I just went with those five. In terms of minutes played, only Paul and Rose really compare. Wall is averaging more assists than any of those guys did, but he's also shooting the lowest percentage from the field and turning the ball over more. Still, if Wall keeps putting up these kinds of numbers, there's no question that he should fit right in with these talented point guards.

The table doesn't include defense, and I didn't add steals because they don't necessarily demonstrate solid defense. Besides fewer turnovers and better shooting, Wall also needs to get better defensively. But that's something that comes with more experience and playing time, and it's not like the Wizards have a bunch of great defensive players behind Wall anyway. Wall certainly has the ability to improve at staying in front of his man and playing better pick-and-roll defense, and he'll get better at both. Then again, Nash isn't a very good defender and look where he is.

For what it's worth, the NBA record for most assists per game by a rookie is 10.6 by Mark Jackson in 1987-1988. In that season, Jackson appeared in all 82 games and played nearly 40 minutes per game. It would be an outstanding achievement if Wall could somehow average 10 assists in his rookie season, let alone approach Jackson's 10.6. Still, if Wall stays healthy and goes on some kind of second-half surge, it's at least possible.

Seven points, 13 seconds

I realize that the Wizards (10-26) are a really bad team. I also recognize that they did, in fact, win the game last night -- 136-133, in overtime, over the Kings. Nick Young also scored a career-high 43 points, which is great -- more on that below. But at some point, even the worst teams should be able to execute basic plays at the end of games. The Wizards, frankly, did not, and that's why the Kings forced overtime in the first place.

Let's go back to the last 13 seconds of regulation. After a Young turnover gave the ball back to the Kings, Jermaine Taylor grabbed an offensive rebound and dunked the ball to cut the lead to 125-121. Rashard Lewis desperately tried to find a teammate on the inbounds pass and forced the ball to Kirk Hinrich (under the basket) instead of calling a timeout. Beno Udrih stole the ball, which eventually ended up in the hands of Francisco Garcia, who not only made the layup, but was also fouled on the play. He made the free throw.

Now leading by just one, the Wizards got the ball to Young, who was fouled. At the free throw line, he made the first and missed the second. With seven seconds left, the score was 126-124. What happened next was absolutely indefensible: Pooh Jeter -- who the Wizards somehow allowed to score eight points and dish out 11 assists in 21 minutes -- drove right past John Wall for the game-tying layup. Wall was beaten badly on the play -- it happens, I guess -- but no one was behind him to alter Jeter's shot or even make him think about passing the ball. The lane was so wide open that it looked like the Kings were still in their pre-game layup lines. Not only did Jeter's shot tie the game at 126, but the play only took four seconds. It took just four seconds for the Kings to get a wide open layup. The Wizards obviously seemed concerned with giving up a go-ahead three-pointer, but there's no excuse for defense that poorly. None.

With three seconds left, Wall missed the game-winning bucket on the other end, and the game went to overtime. (Since the Kings didn't have the ball for the final three seconds, I guess it's actually seven points in 10 seconds, but I'll leave the title alone. It sounds bad enough as it is.) Thanks to Young and Hinrich, who combined for nine of the team's 10 points in overtime, the Wizards still pulled out the victory, which should be applauded considering the monumental collapse at the end of regulation. But they're not getting off that easy. There was very little defense played in yesterday's game from either team, but the defense displayed by the Wizards in the fourth quarter was absolutely atrocious. Not only did they fall apart in the fourth quarter's final seconds, but they allowed 43 points in that quarter alone. Forty-three points! In Friday's win over the Nets, the Wizards didn't allow 43 total points until the third quarter. I know: The Nets are terrible and that's a completely different game -- plus the Nets were chucking up bricks left and right -- but where is the consistent effort on defense? The Kings were getting buckets way too easy; at times it looked like the Wizards weren't even trying.

I don't think it's just Flip Saunders's fault. It's not just the players' fault. And it's not just the assistant coaches' fault. It's everyone's fault. Performances like that make me wonder why teams don't force more pressure on opposing teams more often. I know every team won't fold under pressure and throw the ball away like the Wizards did, but some might.

There's no excuse for the level of defense the Wizards played for much of the game -- obviously in the fourth quarter -- and that's not even counting the fact that the Kings were playing without their best player, Tyreke Evans. Here were the high scorers for the Kings last night: Udrih (26), Garcia (26), Carl Landry (23), Omri Casspi (15), and DeMarcus Cousins (10). There were no Kobes or LeBrons, or Amare Stoudemires or Kevin Durants, etc., on the floor last night, and again, Evans was out.

Now, for the positives. Young had an outstanding game (on offense). He had 43 points on just 22 shots, making 14 of them. He also shot a phenomenal 7-10 from three-point range. Here's a breakdown of his production by quarter: 14 in the first, three in the second, 18 in the third, five in the fourth, and three in overtime.

As a team, the Wizards outrebounded the Kings by 15 (55-40). Three Wizards grabbed at least 10 rebounds -- Andray Blatche (13), JaVale McGee (11), and Rashard Lewis (10). Lewis also had a decent game, scoring 16 points on 11 shots and dishing out six assists. Blatche had 16 points (5-10 from the field), four assists, and four steals. Wall didn't have a very efficient game, pouring in 22 points on just 6-19 shooting. He committed six turnovers, though he had nine assists and six rebounds. He also made all 10 of his free throws.

Off the bench, Hinrich scored 14 big points, all of them coming in the fourth quarter and overtime. He needed only nine shots to get those 14 and also had four rebounds and four assists. In 12 minutes, Al Thornton chipped in nine points on 4-5 shooting.

Nick Young takes charge

With John Wall still out and Gilbert Arenas now in Orlando after being traded for Rashard Lewis, Nick Young has had to shoulder more of the scoring load in the last two games. Against the Heat a few days ago, a game in which the Wizards somehow lost despite leading by five with 32 seconds left and again by four with 18 seconds left, Young perhaps had his best game of the season, scoring 30 points on 13-23 shooting and grabbing four rebounds. He also made both of his three-point attempts and both of his free throws while playing a season-high 45 minutes.

Young followed his performance against the Heat with another efficient effort last night in a blowout (108-75) win over the Bobcats. He scored a team-high 21 points in 35 minutes and shot 8-13 from the field. He also made three three-pointers and got to the line twice (making both), though he did commit five turnovers, a season-high for him.

When Wall gets healthy and returns to the lineup, it's not clear yet whether Young will move to the bench as the third guard or will instead start at shooting guard and force Kirk Hinrich to assume third guard duties. Hinrich does seem to be more comfortable playing point guard and getting his teammates involved, while there's no question that Young's best attribute is putting the ball in the hoop. In his last eight games, Young has scored at least 17 points in seven of them. In his one bad game during that stretch -- a three-point clunker against the Kings on December 8 -- Young made just one of eight shots while also turning the ball over three times.

Other than that, Young is averaging slightly more than 19 points per game in nine December games (he missed one against the Blazers because of a bruised left thigh) and shooting over 48 percent from the field. In 25 games so far this season, Young is playing more minutes (which should continue), making more of his shots (48.0 percent), and scoring more points (14.5) and grabbing slightly more rebounds (2.2). He's also taking more threes (3.6 per game) and is still making 38.9 percent of them. For someone who loves to shoot long twos, it's good that Young is shooting and making more threes. I also haven't noticed Young shooting as many fade-aways, though I'm not sure if that's completely true or not.

Young may not continue to play and shoot this well, but he's going to have every opportunity to do so since the Wizards don't exactly have a ton of other options at guard right now. But for someone who hasn't seen a whole lot of consistent minutes throughout his career, Young certainly won't complain about that.

Wizards part ways with Arenas, ship him to Orlando for Rashard Lewis

Taking advantage of an opportunity to get rid of Gilbert Arenas's massive contract, Ernie Grunfeld and the Wizards shipped Arenas to the Orlando Magic in exchange for Rashard Lewis.

After this season, Arenas has a little over $62 million left on his contract that runs through 2013-2014. Lewis's deal, however, expires after the 2012-2013 season. Also, while Lewis is currently making $20.5 million and will make about $22.2 million next season, according to The Washington Post's Michael Lee, Lewis is only guaranteed $10 million in the final year of his contract instead of the full $23.8 million or so (if he fails to meet various performance incentives). If the Wizards end up paying Lewis $10 million in the last year of his contract, the Arenas-Lewis trade will end up saving the Wizards about $30 million. Not bad.

But besides providing some financial relief, this move is mainly about one other thing: building around John Wall. I don't necessarily believe that Arenas's presence on the team was hurting Wall's development or impairing Wall's effectiveness on the court. I also think that it was possible to keep Arenas around while also handing the proverbial keys of the future over to Wall. But, hey, the Wizards had a chance to get out from under Arenas's huge contract, and they jumped at that opportunity. It's hard to blame them for that, even if the Magic didn't throw in any cash or draft picks along with Lewis.

Honestly, I think this was a trade the Wizards needed to make, if not just to provide Arenas with a change of scenery. His time in Washington had run its course. In a poll conducted on Wizards Insider (the link at the top), only 7 percent of 3,261 voters thought that the Wizards should have kept Arenas. The rest, at the very least, believed that it was time to trade Arenas away. That should say something.

In the end, Arenas provided a lot of bad memories -- but plenty of awesome ones too. I'll do my best to focus on the good times instead of reminiscing about all of the things that went wrong while Arenas was in D.C. Here are some of those exciting moments:

Again, those are just a few of the dozens of positive moments Arenas had in a Wizards uniform. Things may not have ended well between Arenas and the Wiz, but most Wizards fans will still wish Arenas the best. Good luck in Orlando, Gil.

Wizards fight back, stun 76ers against in OT

Because of work, I was unable to watch one minute of the Wizards' 116-114 win over the Sixers last night. But on the way home, I did have the opportunity to listen to the radio during the fourth quarter and overtime, and I will say this: play-by-play man Dave Johnson and color analyst Glenn Consor were shocked at the Wizards' comeback and eventual victory.

From listening to Johnson and Consor and looking at the game's box score, the Wizards were terrible in the first half. They finished the half down 14 points, and from what I could tell by glancing at the box score, no Wiz player was really competing except for JaVale McGee, who already had a double-double midway through the second quarter. (More on McGee and his monster game below.)

After scoring just 38 points in the first half, though, the Wizards turned things around in a hurry, outscoring the Sixers by 10 points (35-25) in the third quarter and scratching and clawing in the fourth to send the game to overtime.

Let's go back to the fourth quarter. With about six minutes to go, Marreese Speights hit a jumper to give the Sixers a 98-85 lead. For nearly the next five minutes, though, the Sixers failed to score any points; meanwhile, the Wizards scored 10 and cut the lead to 98-95. Both teams traded a few buckets, and then Evan Turner hit two free throws with 27 seconds left, giving the Sixers a 104-99 advantage. John Wall then got fouled and hit two free throws, making the score 104-101. Then came arguably the biggest play in the game (at the time, at least): On the ensuing inbounds pass, Trevor Booker tied up Andres Nocioni and forced a jump ball, which he eventually tipped to Gilbert Arenas. The teams traded free throws, and the Wizards got the ball back with 11 seconds to go. Flip Saunders used a timeout to advance the ball and drew up a play, but Nick Young launched a three-pointer that either was an airball or barely touched the rim, giving the ball back to the Sixers. Luckily, though, the Wizards fouled Evan Turner on the inbounds pass, and he missed both free throws.

Still down by three with eight seconds to go, Wall hurriedly drove down the floor and then made an absolutely fantastic decision. With the Sixers looking to foul instead of giving the Wizards a chance to hit a three -- a strategy that simply has not worked in two games against Washington -- Wall pulled up from about halfway between mid-court and the three-point line and was able to draw an obvious foul by Jrue Holiday. Holiday was not expecting Wall to force a shot from that far away. Wall made all three free throws and sent the game to overtime, 106-106.

Overtime was just as exciting, or even more so, than the fourth quarter, but let's skip ahead to the final seconds. Down 114-113 after a Thaddeus Young tip-in, the Wizards drew up another play and hoped for some more late-game heroics. And they got it when Nick Young (on a pass from Arenas) hit a three-point jumper in the corner to put the Wiz up two, 116-114. I'd like to say that the Wizards ran some awesome play to get Young that wide-open three, but judging from the replay, all Young did was run down the baseline, and the Sixers simply lost track of him for a moment, which was just enough time for him to nail the shot. Andre Iguodala missed his shot to tie the game, which gave the Wizards another overtime win over the Sixers.

I apologize for the long game recap, but it really was an outstanding comeback and an exciting game (at least to listen to, for me). Wall was the story in the second half and overtime after a bad first half in his first game back from injury, but the player of the game for the Wizards has to be McGee, who had the best game of his career with 24 points (9-15 shooting), 18 rebounds, and four blocks. He also had two assists and two steals. Amazingly enough, McGee still would have had a double-double without the defensive rebounds (8) he grabbed because he had 10 offensive boards. And as I discussed yesterday, McGee has now grabbed 10 or more rebounds in four straight games. Phenomenal work, JaVale.

Back to Wall: He led the Wizards with 25 points and was 7-15 from the field -- not great, but much better than he started off the game. He also had six assists, three rebounds, and just one turnover in 36 minutes.

Playing 32 minutes off the bench (partly because of an Al Thornton injury), Young scored 19 points and was also 7-15 from the field. He even grabbed three rebounds and made four three-pointers. As for the starters (other than McGee; Wall came off the bench), Arenas had 17 points and seven assists; Andray Blatche scored 17 points and snagged 12 rebounds; Kirk Hinrich chipped in seven points and six assists; and Thornton had no points and a rebound in eight minutes before departing. Neither Arenas nor Blatche shot well, though; they were a combined 14-37 from the field (ouch).

Overall, the Wizards won a game in which they were outshot (46.2% to 43.9%), outrebounded (48-45), and out-assisted (29-25). But they made four more three-pointers and shot better from the free throw line (76.9% to 71.0%), which certainly ended up mattering.

The Wizards improved to 5-8 on the season with the win, and they travel to Atlanta to face the Hawks on Thursday (on TNT). Also, in just 13 games, the Wizards have already played three overtime games.

Note: According to Basketball-Reference.com, since 1986-1987 only eight other players (other than McGee) have had games with at least 24 points, 10 offensive rebounds, a field-goal percentage of 60 percent (or higher), and four blocks. Those players, in descending order sorted by points, are Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Shaquille O'Neal (three times), Patrick Ewing, Elton Brand, Billy Thompson, Dikembe Mutombo, and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Wiz handle Raptors without Wall, Yi

Now with a 2-9 record after last night's 109-94 loss to the short-handed Wizards, it's fair to say that the Raptors are one of the worst teams in the NBA. Still, the Wizards improved to 3-6 with the win, and they did so without John Wall, and to a lesser extent, Yi Jianlian.

The Raptors, far from a good defensive team, allowed the Wizards to shoot over 56 percent from the field and dish out 28 assists. The Wizards ended the first half with a seven-point lead and then outscored the Raptors by 15 points in the third quarter (36-21) to put the game away for good.

With Wall out, Gilbert Arenas and Kirk Hinrich started together in the backcourt, and both had solid games. Arenas scored 20 points on 7-14 shooting, including 3-6 from three-point range, and he also had seven rebounds and six assists. Hinrich was also efficient, scoring 13 points on eight shots, while also dishing out a game-high 12 assists. Andray Blatche led the Wizards with 22 points (9-13 from the field) and also had seven rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Rounding out the starting five, Al Thornton added six points and seven rebounds, and JaVale McGee had eight points, nine rebounds, and four blocks.

Nick Young (30 minutes) and Trevor Booker (20 minutes) both played a sizable chunk of minutes off the bench. Young poured in 20 points on 8-15 shooting and also managed to do something else other than scoring points, grabbing six rebounds. The 20 minutes for Booker were the most he's played so far in his young career, and his eight points were also a career high. Also, Hilton Armstrong scored 10 points in a productive 16 minutes off the bench.

As a team, the Wizards held the Raptors to 40.7 percent from the field and outrebounded them 47-36. The Wizards also had nine more assists than Toronto (28-19), but they did turn the ball over three more times (16-13).

After beating the Raptors in Washington, the Wizards face the Celtics in Boston today. Unfortunately, they may still be without Wall, whose status is "still uncertain." The Celtics won't roll over like the Raptors did, and Wall's presence will likely be missed much more in tonight's game.

Brief note: I realize that Young was likely to play more minutes in this game because of Wall's injury, but it's still funny to see how his minutes change from game to game. His 30 minutes last night were a season high, but he hadn't even played 20 minutes in a game since November 2 against the 76ers. I realize that Young basically is who he is at this point -- a guy who doesn't bring a whole lot to the table other than his ability to heat up and score points in bunches -- but I guess he's sort of settling into his role as the fourth guard, which essentially means that he'll see some playing time if Wall, Arenas, or Hinrich misses a game. If not, then I guess he gets to spend most of the game with Sam Cassell on the bench.