As a Wizards fan, I (like many fans) sometimes convince myself of things that aren't actually going to happen. I start believing things like “if Andray Blatche gets some playing time, he could start to look like a young Kevin Garnett” and “Songaila is going to make our post game respectable”. I want to stay positive, but a little critical evaluation can be a good thing. With that in mind, here is my honest look at the backcourt.

Continue reading this article at the Wizard Review.

Posted by Drew H. at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

I'm psyched for the season to start. The current squad promises be the best Wizards/Bullets team of the last ___ years. A solid nucleus, good role players and a sense of unity should make this season a great one. Let's emphasize the word “should”. This is a good team, but it is by no means guaranteed to be successful. So here are five reasons why the Wiz might suck.

Continue reading this article at the Wizard Rewind.

Posted by Drew H. at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments

The Clippers should be an improved team over the one we saw a year ago. With their current roster they should at worst be a western conference contender, barring any major injuries. The Tim Thomas signing is big, but they still lack in the perimeter shooting department.

Continue reading this article at the LA Clipper.

Posted by Drew H. at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments

The kid is huge; 7'3" and almost 290 lbs. He's also young(only 21) and aggressive. And he only makes about $700K per year. And yet, we still haven't found a good place for him. You'd think that a mobile big man would have an easy time finding minutes, but Ramos has been bouncing between the L and the NBDL. He played well in the minor league, averaging about 14 and 8 while shooting almost 59% from the field in 29 minutes per game. He still can't find a spot in the rotation, much less on the Wizards roster. So what do we do with him?

Continue reading this article at the Wizard Rewind.

Posted by Drew H. at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments

Jerry Colangelo, the architect of Team USA announced that Gil strained his groin and will miss the World Championships. So, as I wrote yesterday, he's not going to be one of the 12 to play in Japan. Maybe he can fly back home with Bruce Bowen after Bowen gets cut at the end of the week. Obviously, I'd prefer to see Gil tear apart the French National team and embarass Argentina for what they did to us at the Olympics, but this might be just as well.

Continue reading thist article at the Wizard Rewind.

Posted by Drew H. at 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments

Well, so much for Carmelo missing a couple weeks and Antawn stepping in and showing what he's got. In the Team USA rout of Lithuania, Jamison did play 17 minutes and drop 13 points on only seven shots, so he's looking pretty good. Gil on the other hand... He only played 6 minutes and hit one out of two shots. Before the World Championships actually start, Team USA has to cut its roster from 14 to 12.

Continue reading this article at the Wizard Rewind.

Posted by Drew H. at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments

Bucks Trade Smith to Denver for Patterson

Everyone, including myself thought the Milwaukee Bucks were done trading. We were wrong. Milwaukee traded Joe Smith to the Nuggets for strong forward/shooting guard Ruben Patterson.

Smith, or the beast, has been in a Bucks' uniform since 2003, when the team aquired him from Minnesota. Joe was also a fan favorite for the city.

Continue reading this article at the Daily Buck.

Posted by Drew H. at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments

While barely hanging on to a victory over Brazil in one of the final exhibition games before Team USA goes to Japan, we lost Carmelo to a hyperextended knee. It's not a serious injury, but it wouldn't surprise me to see him sit out a couple weeks. If that's the case, then Antawn should see some more minutes. It's always good to see Wizards lighting it up around the world. Gil, Antawn and the rest of Team USA certainly is lighting it up.

Continue reading this article at the Wizard Rewind.

Posted by Drew H. at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments

Can we really say the Cavs have had a quiet offseason so far? While there have been rumors of the Cavs signing David Wesly and trying out Jay Williams (yes former Duke Blue Devil and Chicago Bull Jay Williams) that has been about it. But can we not forget, we probably had one of the biggest signings in the offseason by getting our franchise player to agree to a 3 year extension with a player option for a 4th.

Continue reading this article at the Cavalier Cav.

Posted by Drew H. at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments

ESPN’s BottomLine was right; the U.S. beat China 119-73 in an exhibition game in Guangshou, China. LeBron James led the Americans in scoring with 22 points while Du Feng (who’s jersey read “F. Du,” which, interestingly enough, sounds better when read aloud) paced the Chinese national team with 18.

The exhibition aired on tape delay on ESPN2; which should also mean “if you want to watch the game without knowing the results in advance, don’t go on the Internet, don’t watch any of the ESPN network, and surly, don’t turn ESPN on minutes before the games starts or else you will mistakenly catch the highlights.” Really, is it that difficult to air the game early in real time? At least get back from commercial breaks on time if it’s on tape delay (which ESPN couldn’t do on numerous occasions). Alas, I digress into actual game coverage...

Continue reading this article at Sports Sphere.

Posted by Drew H. at 12:09 AM | Permalink | Comments

I can't tell you how refreshing it is to see our team actually run by professionals. I say this because Ernie Grunfeld is letting Jared Jeffries walk. This was a solid decision that should actually help the future of this team and it goes in direct contradiction to what our management would have done in the '90's. With Unseld at the helm, we would been bidding against ourselves and shelling out $70mil to watch Jeffries play 20 minutes a game for us. Those days, thankfully, are long gone.

Continue reading that article at the Wizard Rewind.

Posted by Drew H. at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments

What a wild off-season it has been for the Detroit Pistons. After losing to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, many people felt that the once certain status of Ben Wallace as a Piston maybe was somewhat dented. This was then followed by Ben agreeing to a contract with the Bulls. The reason for Ben leaving the city and team that turned him into a 4 time Defensive Player of the Year could have been a mixture of many different things. The first one is certainly money.

Continue reading this article at the Piston Post.

Posted by Drew H. at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments

Where do I start? What a busy and exciting off-season it has been for the Bulls so far. First, we drafted Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha with our two 1st round picks. Secondly, we signed Ben Wallace to a 4 year/$60 million contract. Then we trade Tyson Chandler and his God awful contract to the Hornets for P.J. Brown and J.R. Smith. We then trade J.R. Smith to the Denver Nuggets for two 2nd round picks and Howard Eisley. We then waive Howard Eisley so we can sign Adrian Griffin to a 3 year contract. And finally, Kirk Hinrich is playing on the Olympic team. Okay, were you able to digest all of that?

Continue reading this article at the Chicago Bullseye.

Posted by Drew H. at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments

Now on to the Wiz. Arenas and Jamison played well last night and Ramos didn't look half-bad either. There was other news in Washington basketball besides Team USA. We signed DeShawn Stevenson to a 2-year deal. When I first saw that, I immediately thought "Nooooooooo. Why on earth would we want him?".

Contine reading this article at the Wizard Rewind.

Posted by Drew H. at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments

The Dallas Mavericks have made many small changes this off-season to improve the team. We have made upgrades at almost every roster spot without even touching our core. We lost a lot of talent in potential in Marquis Daniels but we drafted an adequate perimeter defender in Maurice Ager that brings more of an outside game in addition to his ability to slash and cut.

Continue reading this article at the Maverick Mav.

Posted by Drew H. at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

In case you put your Bucks cap away after the playoffs and haven't looked back, let's get you caught up in a little diddy I call "Marc, My Words". The premise is real simple: first the news and then my views.

Continue reading this article at the Daily Buck.

Posted by Drew H. at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments

It was reported to today that after much flirtation, the Dallas Mavericks and ex-Laker Devean George agreed to a two-year, 4.2 million dollar deal. This deal comes after much speculation and I for one cannot be happier.

Continue reading this article at the Maverick Mav.

Posted by Drew H. at 7:06 PM | Permalink | Comments