**Washington Wizards Offseason Thread** Blatche re-upped....5 years/35 mil

[doublejs07]

Originally Posted by Im Not You

Chad Ford can go to hell.

I don't see how Rudy Gay helps.....

here's the quote from Ford:

[h6]Adam (Philly)[/h6]


So much talk about Lebron, Bosh and Wade. What's the latest on Rudy Gay? Does Memphis resign him? What teams are targeting his services?
[h6]Chad Ford
  (1:19 PM)
[/h6]


Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley is claiming he'll match any offer. Of course every team that has a restricted free agent claims the same thing. I'm skeptical he would pay Gay if he got a max offer from somewhere else. Gay isn't really worth that money and the Grizzlies have been so careful about spending. I think the darkhorse to land Gay is the Wizards. Pair him with John Wall and Arenas and you have some interesting building blocks.


Draft Chat w. Chad Ford

 

[jpzx]

Chad Ford also said Minnesota should give up ALL three first rounders they have in this year's draft... to move up two. freaking. spots. From #4 to #2. Two spots for three first rounders.

Guy's an idiot. However, I know I'm not telling any of you anything you don't know

 

[scott frost]

Wiz need to everything in their power to get Tough Juice back to DC.

 

[dt43]

Originally Posted by Steve212

This isn't "breaking news". Then again, any news is considered good for this sorry franchise and pestilent city/region.

lol at Chad Ford.. i guarantee there is absolutely nobody in the Wiz organization who gives a +%$+ about Rudy Gay.

 

[ramzs8906]

Rudy Gay wouldn't be bad for the Wizards... and on top of that, everyone talking about Melo coming "home" as if Rudy Gay can't feel the same way.

I guess y'all don't remember the Jordan classic game where Rudy Gay was booed for opting to go to UConn instead of hometown UMD

 

[bangdak]

Moving the two mid & late first rounders + a building piece like sessions to move up into the upper lottery would be a decent move if they can pull it over, although i rather just keep the picks if i was Minny.




And, IMO, i think the Wizards should get JJ, but GA would have to get shifted out first.

 

[steve212]

Originally Posted by DT43

Originally Posted by Steve212

This isn't "breaking news". Then again, any news is considered good for this sorry franchise and pestilent city/region.

  Hardly. 

Enjoy it though. 

 

[d723]

This is my post that officially entitles me as a Washington Wizards fan.. Wall might be my favorite player I've ever watched.

 

[steve212]

Gil does need to be shown the door. It's John Wall time in D.C. I doubt Gil can stomach that.

 

[im not you]

No to Rudy Gay. No to Joe Johnson.

Leonsis has already stated that they don't feel to need to make a splash in FA this summer. The youth movement will be in effect this season...and then they'll see what's good in FA next summer.

 

[theanswer]

should pick evan turner, better fit

 

[ryaneff23]

Originally Posted by I NaSmatic I

Chad Fraud thinks the Wizards will get Rudy Gay to add to the core.

  

But seriously, how does this guy still have a job?  I'd rather read articles from that bleacher report website over most of the stuff he writes. 

 

[im not you]

Originally Posted by TheAnswer

should pick evan turner, better fit

Not really...but thanks for your opinion. 

 

[ramzs8906]

Originally Posted by Im Not You

Originally Posted by TheAnswer

should pick evan turner, better fit

Not really...but thanks for your opinion. 

My question is who really thinks the Wizards have a chance at Carmelo next year during Free Agency... and furthermore, who will be free agents next summer that warrant not going after at least one free agent this year? WHile I do believe that we don't need anyone to stunt the growth of Blatche, and that we are a good 5 pieces away from contending anything, we should be building more than just with John Wall and (hopefully) Lance Stevenson this year

 

[ramzs8906]

Originally Posted by Im Not You

Originally Posted by TheAnswer

should pick evan turner, better fit

Not really...but thanks for your opinion. 

My question is who really thinks the Wizards have a chance at Carmelo next year during Free Agency... and furthermore, who will be free agents next summer that warrant not going after at least one free agent this year? WHile I do believe that we don't need anyone to stunt the growth of Blatche, and that we are a good 5 pieces away from contending anything, we should be building more than just with John Wall and (hopefully) Lance Stevenson this year

 

[doublejs07]

Check this out....supposedly it was Evan Turner's camp who DENIED the Wizards from having him workout for the team....rumor has it that this is all about David Falk (Turner's agent) still having a bone to pick w. the Wizards about how everything went down with Mike Jordan back in the day...

From Michael Lee's twitter....

Was told today that Wiz tried to set up workout with Evan Turner - some within org really like him - but were denied on several occasions.  

 

[im not you]

Couldn't care less. Good luck in Philadelphia or Jersey brother....

 

[doublejs07]

^I'm w. you....who knows...maybe dude will use this as a motivating tactic or something. At the end of the day, we're getting Wall, so I'm good....

 

[doublejs07]

Comments from Wall after his workout:

No matter: after the workout, Ernie Grunfeld and Ted Leonsis whisked Wall away before he talked to the media. You can draw your own conclusions there. After that, Wall talked to the media for about 18 minutes following the workout. Some quick highlights.

• Wall did not say that the Wizards have made their decision on drafting him yet:"They haven't told me I was going be the guy, and I don't know if I'll be the guy. I just came out here to work out and try to impress them, and hopefully on draft night, they pick me."
• Wall said he has been talking to Gilbert Arenas on BlackBerry messenger, trading jokes and checking in on his progress. When asked about potentially playing with Arenas, he said:"He's a talented player and a great scorer. I feel like if I got picked here, the coach would find a way to put us on the court together and let it work from there, but I think I can play with anybody."
• Wall admitted that he knows the first year will be tough:"[Rod Strickland] told me it's going to be tough. 'At the beginning, your first year, your going to have to learn a lot.' I know that. I'm not going to come in here and be the best player in the world [right away] and not have ups and downs, so I'm just preparing myself for that."
• Wall talked a lot about leadership, first saying that "If I'm going to have the ball in my hands, they have to have to trust me, and my coaching staff is going to have to trust me. At the same time, I'm going to have to listen to certain things they tell me, because they've been in this situaiton before and played on an NBA level, and it's going to be my first season, so I still have a lot of stuff to learn."

Rest of comments in link

Vid of him working out for DC....

 

[ramzs8906]

Are NBA solitary workouts usually conducted with that much nonchalantness on the behalf of the coaching staff...

Maybe its me, just the drills seemed to not really "work" John Wall

 

[doublejs07]

Originally Posted by RamZs8906

Are NBA solitary workouts usually conducted with that much nonchalantness on the behalf of the coaching staff...

Maybe its me, just the drills seemed to not really "work" John Wall

I think it depends....Wizards know that Wall is their guy, so there's really no need to destroy him in a workout before the draft.  If there was debate between drafting him or Turner, maybe you'd see a little more intensity from all that are involved.  Wizards know EXACTLY what they are getting with Wall. 

 

[mustbetheshoe58]

john wall to the wizards next week =

 

[doublejs07]

GREAT read on John Wall...

[size=+2]Despite the angst that his father's jail stint and death created, John Wall reveres him[/size]
[size=-1]By Eric Prisbell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 20, 2010;D01[/size]
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The temperature is well into the 90s, and laundry hangs on a clothesline behind the brick apartment complex on East Davie Street. Inside the two-floor end unit, Frances Pulley rises from the couch and takes the four short steps needed to cross the cramped living room, past the small television and the folding chair set up by a computer desk.

Pulley approaches a wooden cabinet and opens a creaking glass door adorned with family photos. She reaches past her son's high school diploma and pulls out a drawing that is protected in clear plastic.

"I kept it," she says. She's almost too choked up to speak. She points to the top of the picture, a detailed drawing of Batman, where the words "Happy Birthday" are written. "I think he was 4 or 5."

At the bottom is the name "Johnathan" written in long, sweeping strokes.

The drawing is one of John Wall's most cherished possessions. It had been a gift from his father, who had drawn it for him from a jail cell.

Wall's mother looks at the drawing again and chuckles. Then sighs.

"That's a good one, isn't it?" she says.

The apartment doesn't have room for a lot of furniture, but it houses plenty of memories. There's the small kitchen in the back where Pulley whipped together breakfast before leaving for one of the jobs that kept her away from her children most of the day and night. There's the bedroom where John's babysitter would leave him during his turbulent, and often violent, youth. There's the living room where his high school coach would sit with him, often well after midnight, trying to hash out the differences that sometimes kept one of the country's best young basketball players sitting on the bench.

A plaque that bears the letters "MVP" rests on a chair, along with several packs of cigarettes. Boxes are strewn across the living room floor. Frances Pulley will be moving soon.


Rest of Article

 

[buc em]

That's a greatly written article. That's the first time I've really ever heard any background information on John Wall

 

[doublejs07]

Originally Posted by Buc Em

That's a greatly written article. That's the first time I've really ever heard any background information on John Wall

yeah man....this is the part that stuck out to me...

I mean, imagine if you're Wall and you're just now finding all this stuff out about your dad...

The only record of what happened can be found in microfilm archives deep within a courthouse located just a half mile from where Wall lived on East Davie Street: On Sept. 30, 1991 -- less than a month after his son's first birthday -- John Carroll Wall walked into a convenience store in Raleigh, removed one beer and continued to the checkout where clerk Cecil Ibegbu stood. Wall placed a $1 bill on the counter. He then removed a .22-caliber Ruger from the back of his jeans and pointed it at Ibegbu, demanding all the money in the register. He was convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Sitting in the gym following his workout, Wall was told his father robbed a convenience store. He offered a slight nod and said, "Uh-huh."

Before meeting his mother, Wall's father had served three other sentences, one for armed robbery, another for possession of a firearm by a felon and a third for second-degree murder, after shooting a 26-year-old housewife in the head following an argument.

Sitting on the bleachers, Wall learned for the first time that his father had served prison time before he was born and that the crime was murder. He offered no affirmation and looked away for a moment.

"Ohhhh," he said, dragging the sound for a second. "Oh, I didn't even know. I didn't know."

He paused, but not for long. He took a quick glance at the basketball court -- the place that helped him quickly rise to stardom in high school -- before making eye contact again. He was calm, but his speech slowed.

"My mom never told me. I heard he had one robbery thing," he said. "That is all I knew. I never knew anything about that other part. She would never tell me, she would not want to tell me or my sisters."

Was he ever curious?

"I was not curious," Wall said. "I was just happy to see my dad and talk to him."


Obviously the kid has issues with many things that involve his father...I dunno how I feel about the reporter (or whoever) telling Wall about what his dad did to go to jail....