Washington Wizards Blog – Page 50 – NBA Blog

Wizards likely keeping Ernie Grunfeld

Ernie Grunfeld will return as president of the Washington Wizards, according to two league officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Grunfeld and owner Ted Leonsis have tentatively agreed to a deal that is believed to be for more than one year, a deal that would keep the team’s architect in Washington contractually until at least the end of the 2013-2014 season. Financial terms were not known, but Grunfeld’s present deal was set to expire at the end of this season. He has been the Wizards’ chief decision-maker since the late Abe Pollin hired him to take over the franchise in 2003.

The team is expected to make an announcement as early as Tuesday, the officials said. A Wizards official declined comment before Monday night’s game against the Bobcats at Verizon Center.

— Reported by Michael Lee of the Washington Post Blog

Wade hurt as Heat lose to Wizards 86-84

With the playoffs a week away, Dwyane Wade left the Miami Heat arena Saturday night with his swollen finger in a splint – and considered himself lucky.

Wade played less than 3 minutes before dislocating his left index finger but avoided serious injury as the Heat lost 86-84 to the woeful Washington Wizards.

A doctor reset Wade’s finger, and X-rays were negative…

Cartier Martin scored 22 points for Washington. Wall had 13 points, 13 assists, six rebounds and four steals, and Kevin Seraphin scored 17 points for the Wizards, who outscored Miami 22-3 on fast-break points.

The Wizards have only 17 victories, but they have won five of their past seven games, beating both Chicago and Miami down the stretch.

Miami’s Mike Miller led a second-half comeback and finished with his first double-double of the season, finishing with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Mario Chalmers also scored 16 points, and Udonis Haslem had a season-high 15 rebounds.

— Reported by Steven Wine of the Associated Press

Wizards waive Roger Mason and sign Morris Almond

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that team has signed guard Morris Almond and waived Roger Mason Jr.

Almond has spent the past four seasons in the NBA D-League, where he has averaged 24.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and shot .495 from the field in 119 career games (112 starts). He has played with the Utah Flash (2007-09), Maine Red Claws (2009-10 and 2011-12) and the Springfield Armor (2009-10).

Almond played in 29 games (28 starts) with the Red Claws in 2011-12, averaging 23.4 points and career bests in rebounds (6.0 rpg) and field goal percentage (.543). He led the D-League in scoring in 2007-08, averaging 25.6 points per game and also posted a pair of 50-point games (51 points against Austin Toros and 53 points against the Bakersfield Jam).

Almond originally entered the league as a first round pick (25th overall) with the Utah Jazz in the 2007 NBA Draft. In two seasons with the Jazz (2007-09), Almond averaged 3.1 points and 1.1 rebounds in 34 career games. He saw action with the Orlando Magic during training camp in 2009 and also played overseas with Read Madrid (Spain) in 2010, Scavolini Pesaro (Italy) in 2010-2011 and BC Cherkasy (Ukraine) in 2011. A four-year letterman at Rice University, Almond finished as the school’s fourth all-time leading scorer (1,825 points) and was named Conference USA Player of the Year after averaging 26.4 points per game in his senior season.

Mason, who underwent season-ending surgery today to repair an avulsion fracture in his left index finger, averaged 5.5 points and 1.3 rebounds while shooting .383 (59-154) from three-point range in 52 games for the Wizards this season.

Kevin Seraphin has stepped up for Wizards

Before this month, Kevin Seraphin has never recorded a double-double or scored more than 15 points in an NBA game. Seraphin also rarely had the chance to show what he was capable of, since he started the season backing up JaVale McGee and often had to settle for crumbs.

He offered a few hints immediately after the Wizards traded McGee to Denver for Nene, and has continued to serve as a reliable low post option. With Nene and Trevor Booker both out with injury, Seraphin has averaged 16.3 points on 54.7 percent shooting with 7.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 blocks in seven April starts.

After Seraphin had a career-high 24 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots to lead the Wizards to a 93-85 win over the Dwight Howard-less Orlando Magic, Ted Leonsis offered praise on his personal blog, Ted’s Take.

Leonsis wrote: “A lot of general managers around the league are now asking; ‘How did we not draft Kevin Seraphin and how did he fall so far in the draft?’ Kudos to our scouts. And congratulations to Kevin Seraphin for taking advantage of his minutes and playing with hustle and showing off his gifts.”

— Reported by Michael Lee of the Washington Post Blog

Sixers shoot bricks, lose to Wizards

A team fighting for first place late in the season is routed by a lottery-bound team led by a player on a 10-day contract. And, just for good measure, let’s say the lottery team finishes the game short-handed because two starters come down with the very same injury.

That sounds almost as preposterous as the Washington Wizards losing to the Kentucky Wildcats.

While the world will never know for sure whether the Wizards could handle the Final Four school, they certainly had no problem making the Philadelphia 76ers look a bit amateurish Friday night. Washington took a double-digit lead early in the second quarter and never let up in a 97-76 victory…

Philadelphia had only 36 points—including just two fast-break points—at halftime against Washington and were simply outhustled throughout. The Wizards outrebounded the 76ers 52-38 for the game…

Their top scorer was Cartier Martin, who tied a career high with 20 points in his second game under a 10-day contract…

Jordan Crawford scored 17 points for the Wizards. Kevin Seraphin added 14 points, and Wall had nine points, six rebounds and six assists.

Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young scored 14 points apiece for the 76ers. Andre Iguodala, returning after missing two games with tendinitis in his left knee, had just seven points in 34 minutes.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Wizards sign Cartier Martin to 10-day contract

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed guard/forward Cartier Martin to a 10-day contract.

Martin (6-6, 220), has averaged 18.3 points and 4.7 rebounds while shooting .489 from the floor and .556 from three-point range in seven games with the Iowa Energy of the NBA D-League this season. He has appeared with the Wizards in the previous two seasons, averaging 4.3 points over 60 games with the team.

Martin was originally signed to a 10-day contract by the Wizards on March 30, 2010. After finishing the season with the team and averaging 6.4 points over eight games, he returned for the 2010-11 season. Martin averaged 4.0 points over 52 games with the Wizards in 2010-11 before being waived on April 6.

A product of Kansas State, Martin has previously spent time with the Charlotte Bobcats (averaging 2.6 points over 33 games in 2008-09) and Golden State Warriors (averaging 9.0 points over 10 games in 2009-10) in addition to experience overseas in Turkey, Italy and China. He has also played in 59 NBA D-League games since the 2008-09 season (all with Iowa), where he has compiled averages of 18.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.

Memphis Grizzlies sign Gilbert Arenas

Once a beloved star in the NBA, free agent guard Gilbert Arenas has a new chance to prove to the basketball masses that he can help a team win.

The Memphis Grizzlies signed Arenas today, Grizzlies General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace announced. According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, “Arenas, who was in Memphis the past two days, passed a physical and signed a one-year contract for the veteran’s minimum. Memphis will pay him a prorated salary worth about $300,000.”

A three-time All-Star (2004-07), Arenas holds career averages of 21.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.63 steals on .421 shooting in 35.8 minutes in 535 career games (455 starts) over 10 seasons (2001-11) with the Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards and Orlando Magic. Selected by Golden State in the second round (30th overall) of the 2001 NBA Draft, Arenas’ career scoring average ranks ninth among active players (34th in NBA history).

During his time with the Wizards, the Los Angeles native developed into one of the league’s most dynamic guards, averaging 27.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists over a three-year stretch (2004-07) in which he was named to the All-NBA Second Team in 2007 and the All-NBA Third Team in 2005 and 2006. The 2002-03 NBA Most Improved Player ranked third in the league in points per game during the 2006-07 season (28.4), fourth in 2005-06 (29.3) and seventh in 2004-05 (25.5).

Most recently, the 30-year-old former University of Arizona standout split the 2010-11 season with Washington and Orlando, averaging 10.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 25.7 minutes in 70 games (16 starts).

The Grizzlies’ roster currently stands at 14 players. Memphis begins a four-game West Coast road trip tonight at 9 p.m. CT against the Sacramento Kings at the Power Balance Pavilion.

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Wizards sign Edwin Ubiles to 10-day contract

The Washington Wizards today added some bench depth, courtesy of the D-League.

The team has signed forward Edwin Ubiles to a 10-day contract. It is the 37th NBA Call-up of the 2011-12 NBA Development League season.

Ubiles joins more than 100 NBA players with NBA D-League experience currently on 2011-12 rosters.

A 2012 NBA D-League All-Star, Ubiles (6-6, 204, Siena) has appeared in 35 games, all starts for Dakota this season, averaging 20.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 35.3 minutes. He recorded a career-high 41 points in a 127-110 win over the Iowa Energy on Feb. 28 and has scored in double digits in 33 games.

A four-year contributor and two-year starter at Siena, Ubiles was named MAAC Co-Rookie of the Year in 2007 and to the All-MAAC First Team in 2008 and 2009 before playing in the Reese’s College All-Star Game in 2010.

Ubiles is expected to join Washington today and be available when the team travels to face the Memphis Grizzlies this evening.

The 10-33 Wizards are currently 14th in the Eastern conference.

Wizards adjusting to boos for Andray Blatche

Coach Randy Wittman isn’t sure if there is anything that he can do to help Andray Blatche ease his way onto the floor during games at Verizon Center. When Wittman sent Blatche to the scorer’s table to check in for JaVale McGee in the first quarter of the Wizards’ loss to Golden State, Blatche was serenaded with boos and was obviously shaken by the response.

He put Blatche in during a timeout in the third quarter, fans didn’t boo him until he touched the ball. But Blatche was ineffective, no matter how he was inserted.

Wittman said all that he can really do is push him to keep fighting through the jeers. “I talk to him every day. I’m just trying to encourage him. His play is going to get up there. It’s getting better. Sitting out that long, he wasn’t going to come back and be the Dray of old, and we knew that, he knew that, and it’s tough. Hey, that’s a tough situation, and I’ve just got to encourage him as much as I can and he’s doing some good things while he’s on the floor, from a defensive standpoint, rebounding. His offense, he’s got no legs right now, and if have no legs, you’re going to struggle scoring the ball. I think that’s what everybody is just kind of looking at right now, but I’ve just got to be there to encourage him.”

— Reported by Michael Lee of the Washington Post (Blog)

Javaris Crittenton arrested near Atlanta

Javaris Crittenton

Some money, mo problems

Former NBA [player] Javaris Crittenton was arrested outside Atlanta this morning — after he allegedly shattered the speed limit in his black Porsche … then refused to cooperate with police.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ, Javaris was pulled over for going over 60 in a 45 — and when the cop wrote up the ticket … Javaris refused to sign it, something you have to do to acknowledge receipt of the citation.

As a result, we’re told the officer asked Javaris to step out of the vehicle — and Javaris refused again.

— Reported by TMZ