NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog
NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
Wizards blog – Washington Wizards basketball blog
The Washington Wizards announced today that Head Coach Randy Wittman will miss the team’s next two games (Feb. 1 at Oklahoma City and Feb. 3 vs. Golden State) due to the passing of his brother.
Assistant Coach Don Newman will assume head coaching duties for the next two games. Wittman is expected to return to the sidelines for the team’s game on Feb. 5 vs. Philadelphia.
For one night only, the Washington Wizards will be known as the Baltimore Bullets when they host the Denver Nuggets on Jan. 28 at 7:00 p.m. for Throwback Night presented by CSN.
The team will wear their Baltimore Pride uniforms for Throwback Night, which pay homage to the uniform worn by the Baltimore Bullets from 1969-73 while updating the color scheme to the Wizards’ current red, white and blue. They will also be referred to as the Baltimore Bullets for all in-game entertainment, television graphics and the team’s social media platforms throughout the night.
The following alumni are scheduled to be recognized during the game: Terry Dischinger, Earl Monroe, Bernard King, and Bob Dandridge.
A special throwback performance will take place at halftime featuring DJ Kool of “Let Me Clear My Throat” fame and recording artist Sugar Bear, who will perform his chart-topping hit “Da Butt.” In addition, game entertainment elements for that night will feature graphics reminiscent to the eras when many of the alumni in attendance played.
The concourse will feature various activities such as face painting, poster making, throwback music and a photo booth station.
Fans can also view the organization’s proud past with the team’s franchise history display, which is located on the concourse outside of section 112. The display, which was added earlier this season, features examples of all of the uniforms in franchise history as well as a narrative highlighting historical facts and photos.
The Wizards franchise called Charm City home beginning in 1963, playing as the Bullets at the Baltimore Civic Center and featuring future Hall of Famers Walt Bellamy and Gus Johnson. Fellow Hall of Famers Earl Monroe (1967-71), Wes Unseld (1968-73) and Elvin Hayes (1972-73) also were part of the Baltimore franchise before the team relocated to Landover, Md., prior to the 1973-74 season.
|
Wizards guard Bradley Beal has been diagnosed with a broken nose and concussion by the Wizards medical staff after being hit in the face at the 8:22 mark of the second quarter during Monday night’s game vs. Boston. He is out for tonight’s game at Toronto and his status moving forward will be listed as day-to-day.
Per the NBA’s Concussion Policy, Beal will now begin the NBA-mandated “Return-to-Participation Exertion Protocol” and will be cleared to play once he has remained symptom-free during each step of the process.
Here’s CSN MidAtlantic reporting on the Wizards, who are 10-8 on the road this season yet a disappointing 9-13 at home:
Six teams have a sub-41 winning percentage at home: Wizards, Nuggets, Nets, Lakers, Timberwolves and 76ers. Overall, the Wizards are 19-21 this season, having reached .500 last week before losing two straight. Those other five teams are a combined 54-156 (.346).
Portland’s 3-point shooting barrage highlighted a major difference for Washington at home over the last two season.
Opponents are shooting an NBA-best 40.1 percent from beyond the arc (on 23.4 attempts per game) at Verizon Center this season. That’s a steep fall from last season’s 32.1 clip.
Overall visiting teams are sinking 47.3 percent of their field goal tries in Washington. That’s also the worst in the NBA. Last season, opponents made 42.2 percent.
|
Washington Wizards guard John Wall and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant and Thunder guard Russell Westbrook today were named the NBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month, respectively, for games played in December.
Wall averaged 22.6 points, 11.7 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 2.3 steals to lead the Wizards to an 8-8 record, despite the absence of several key players to injury. He is the first player to average at least 22.0 points, 11.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals in a month since Chris Paul in April 2009. Wall scored 20 or more points 11 times, his career high for a month, and recorded 10 games with at least 20 points and 10 assists, the most in team history for a month. The guard also became the first player to post three straight games with at least 26 points, 12 assists and five rebounds since Dwyane Wade in November 2006. Wall shot 46.0 percent from the field and 83.6 percent from the free throw line.
|
Durant (24.9 ppg) and Westbrook (23.8 ppg), co-winners in the West, ranked sixth and seventh in the NBA in scoring, respectively, as the Thunder went 12-3 in December. Durant added 7.2 rebounds and 5.7 assists while shooting 50.8 percent from the field. He reached the 20-point mark in all 15 games and shot 87.3 percent from the free throw line. Westbrook led the league in steals (2.73 ppg) and contributed 8.9 assists (fourth in the West) and 5.9 rebounds. He had three 30-point games, handed out at least 10 assists seven times and posted his third triple-double of the season.
|
Other nominees for NBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month were Atlanta’s Paul Millsap, Detroit’s Reggie Jackson, Golden State’s Stephen Curry, the Los Angeles Clippers’ J.J. Redick, Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic, Portland’s CJ McCollum and San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard.
The Wizards (14-14) have gotten a team-high 19.8 ppg from shooting guard Bradley Beal this season. But Beal has played in just half of the team’s 28 games so far this season. Here’s CSN MidAtlantic reporting the latest:
|
|
If all goes according to plan with Bradley Beal, the Wizards are “hopeful” that the shooting guard will begin non-basketball activities this week.
Beal was diagnosed Dec. 11 with what the Wizards called “the beginnings of a stress reaction” in his lower right leg for the fourth time in his fourth NBA season.
“Everything looks good,” coach Randy Wittman said Sunday. “He feels good. … Maybe he’ll start doing something. Obviously, nothing on the court.”
|
The Washington Wizards announced today that the team has signed guard/forward Jarell Eddie and waived center Ryan Hollins.
Eddie (6-7, 220) went undrafted in 2014 out of Virginia Tech. The former Hokie has spent the last two seasons with the Austin Spurs of the D-League. He has appeared in 11 games (nine starts) with Austin this season, averaging 14.1 points and 4.0 rebounds while shooting .530 from the field and .525 from three-point range in 29 minutes per game. Eddie spent the 2015-16 preseason with the Golden State Warriors, where he appeared in two contests, and played in six games with the Wizards during the 2014 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
Hollins, who was signed as a free agent on November 30, appeared in five games for the Wizards and averaged 1.6 points in 10 minutes per game.
Here’s the Washington Post blog reporting that the Wizards are about to make a minor roster move:
|
|
In urgent need of perimeter players, the Washington Wizards will sign forward Jarell Eddie out of the NBA D-League to a nonguaranteed contract and waive center Ryan Hollins on Tuesday, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
A sharpshooter, the 6-foot-7 Eddie went undrafted out of Virginia Tech in 2014, when he played on the Wizards’ summer league team in Las Vegas. He then played the Austin Spurs last season, averaging 12.9 points and converting 45.2 percent of his threes in 44 games. He also won the league’s three-point contest at all-star weekend.
|
|
As the Wizards deal with injuries to several players, guard John Wall has helped soften the blow by playing some of the best basketball of his six-year career. Wall is averaging 24.6 points (on 50.0 percent shooting), 10.8 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 2.2 steals in 11 games this month. That stretch has featured seven games with at least 26 points and 10 assists, the most such games in franchise history by any player in any month, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Wall has raised his overall scoring average to a career-high 19.9 points, and his shooting percentage of 44.5 percent equals a career high.
— NBA News
Wizards guard Bradley Beal has been diagnosed with the beginnings of a stress reaction in his lower right fibula. He will miss the next two weeks and then be re-evaluated. The injury was initially diagnosed following an MRI yesterday and confirmed today after further testing.
Beal has appeared in 17 games for Washington this season, averaging 19.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 36.5 minutes per game.