Category: Washington Wizards Blog

Here’s the Washington Post Blog reporting on Wizards point guard John Wall:

The prevailing feeling both inside and outside the Washington Wizards locker room is this: the team will only go as far as John Wall leads it.

Such a burden is of course natural for a former No. 1 overall draft pick who signed a five-year, $80 million contract extension last summer. But Wall’s status as franchise player stretches far beyond the figurative sense and into the statistical realm, where his leadership responsibilities have emerged in several categories this season.

With two games left in the season, Wall has positioned himself to finish as the NBA’s total assists leader with 699, which is 21 ahead of Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio. When considering that Rubio plays alongside All-Star Kevin Love and that Chris Paul, who leads the league with 10.7 assists per game, is teammates with high-flying All-Star Blake Griffin, Wall’s position among the league’s top playmakers is that much more notable.

Not only does Wall rank third overall with 17.2 assist opportunities per game (passes to a teammate in which the teammate attempts a shot, and if made, would be an assist), he’s also third in points created by assist per game with 21.2, according to NBA.com’s Player Tracking stats.

Sure, it was easy for the Washington Wizards to say they were going to rebuild their team the “right way,” using the draft to restock the roster and doing a lot of losing before, hopefully, getting back to at least a little bit of winning.

Try living through it.

“Let me tell you, it feels like I’ve been here 20 years,” said coach Randy Wittman, who actually arrived as an assistant in 2009. “But it makes it worth the while, too. I wouldn’t wish some of the struggles that we went through on anybody, but it also makes it nicer then to see the other end of it.”

No one is proclaiming that the Wizards are the NBA dynasty, but the long-suffering franchise is back in the playoffs, having booked their spot Wednesday night with a 26-point thrashing of the Boston Celtics.

— Associated Press

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed forward Drew Gooden for the remainder of the season.

Gooden, who signed consecutive 10-day contracts with the team on February 26 and March 8, has averaged 8.1 points and 4.6 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per game in eight games with the Wizards.

The Wizards have a 35-31 record, and are currently the 5th seed in the Eastern conference.

Here’s the Washington Post with a look into the future of the Washington Wizards and Trevor Ariza:

Ariza can become an unrestricted free agent after the season. Although he has been a huge contributor to the franchise’s revival, the Wizards have a logjam at his position. Backup forward Martell Webster is in the first year of a long-term deal, and rookie Otto Porter , the third overall in last June’s draft, needs to play, which he can’t do that if he remains buried on the bench.

For now, though, Ariza is on the roster — and the Wizards have needed him.

The Wizards have maintained their solid footing in the Eastern Conference playoff race (they’re currently fifth) despite the loss of Nene, who could miss all but the last few games of the regular season because of a knee injury. The Wizards had been 8-34 without the talented-but-brittle Brazilian big man before this most recent ailment, but they’re 7-3 in this stint entering this week’s four-game Western swing, thanks in large part to Ariza.

Ariza, whose career scoring average is 9.6 points, is at a personal-best 15 points per game this season.With Nene out, Ariza is averaging 19 points.

Washington Wizards guard John Wall has been fined $15,000 for directing inappropriate comments towards the officials, it was announced today by Rod Thorn, President, Basketball Operations.

The incident occurred at the conclusion of the Wizards’ 98-85 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats on March 12, at Verizon Center.

CSN Washington reported the following last night, “The frustration has been boiling with John Wall when it comes to the lack of foul calls he receives when he attacks the paint, and in his mind it never was more evident than in Wednesday night’s loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. On what turned out to be a game-changing play, Wall was whistled for fouling Kemba Walker on a three-point attempt with the shot clock about to expire. At best, based on replays, the contact was minimal. “I didn’t touch him. All he did was scream,” Wall said. “The ref gave him calls all night because he was screaming.”

Harrington has appeared in seven games since returning from his right knee injury but he has had to adjust his game and find other ways to be effective while he continues to search for his rhythm.

That has meant more slashing and driving until his perimeter shot starts dropping. Harrington scored eight points in the Wizards’ 104-91 win over Utah but he failed to make a three-pointer for the fourth straight game. He has shot just 2 for 13 from long distance since returning.

“That’s how it is sometimes. I’m still thinking about my shot and that’s the worst thing I can do,” Harrington said.
As long as I keep doing that, I’m not going to be consistent. More opportunities I get to shoot, I’ve got to let it rip. Once I get one or two going, I’ll feel good about myself.”

— Washington Post blog