Michael Lee of the Washington Post followed up recent Wizards rumors in a piece this morning on the No. 5 pick and Caron Butler. Lee said the 'Zards and Suns discussed an Amar'e Stoudemire trade, but D.C. balked when Butler became a requirement from Phoenix's end.
Washington GM Ernie Grunfeld famously has little interest in keeping No. 5. Phoenix needs to do two things in short order: get younger, and get rid of its (spiritual) question marks up front (Stoudemire and Shaquille O'Neal), one way or the other. So can the Wizards and Suns arrange a deal without involving Butler, Gilbert Arenas or Antawn Jamison?
After much discussion, rumor mongering and ballyhoo, Yahoo! Sports reports that the Washington Wizards will make former Pistons and Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders their new head coach, reportedly agreeing to a four-year, $18 million deal.
That's not Yankees money or corporate bailout money, but for the Wizards, that's a pretty hefty chunk of change.
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.
Only one NBA team can legitimately claim its season ended before it began. Starting center Brendan Haywood, Washington's defensive anchor, tore a wrist ligament during a preseason practice. The injury basically ensured a mediocre defense would be destined for completely awfulness.
But Eddie Jordan's Wizards have always scored efficiently and frequently. Surely, the offense could save Washington. That'd be nice ... except that a month prior, the team's most potent scorer -- Gilbert Arenas -- had another surgery completed on his knee. His return date went from December ... to January ... to post-All Star break ... to Saturday.
You can understand how Washington finds itself at the bottom of the standings.
At 3 PM ET Thursday, the deadline for NBA trades for this season will hit. Moves made after the deadline will be limited to waiver pick-ups; meaning only veterans with short deals will likely shift around. Of course, those veterans (like Joe Smith) might be moved before that can happen.
There are a few parallel storylines heading into the deadline, and (unfortunately) not all of them have to do with basketball. So what should you expect to go down before the deadline hits?
Washington tastes all flavors of bad. The Wizards will almost assuredly end the season among the three worst teams in the league; as such, the team is due at least a top-six pick, with the probability skewing toward Picks No. 2-4.
As Bullets Forever's Mike Prada identified a month ago, Washington also faces a devastating cap figure for 2009-10. Owner Abe Pollin isn't one of these brave billionaires who can afford a $100-million payrolls. So, the Wizards really need to cut at least $8 million of '09-10 salary. Once Thursday passes, the degree of difficulty will become much greater.
But based on reports, it seems instead of unloading expensive veteran Antawn Jamison or hot prom date Caron Butler, the team is considering trying to attach a bad contract to the high pick to slink under the tax while maintaining a talent base.
Part of FanHouse's coverage of the NBA's All-Star weekend, coming to you live from Phoenix.
PHOENIX -- The All-Star festivities will be a little different this weekend, with the addition of the GEICO/HORSE Game on Saturday. If you've ever touched a basketball for longer than about six seconds, you have played a version of HORSE, so getting to see the big boys toss up crazy shots will be interesting.
During the media time on Friday, some of the bigger names talked about the game and who they thought might be the toughest to face in the NBA. The answers might surprise you.
Wizards bosses claimed that the early-season replacement of Eddie Jordan with Ed Tapscott came because the franchise management believe the playoffs could still be reached. At 4-23, Washington is now five games behind Charlotte for 14th place in the East. I think we can rule out the playoffs at this point.
Nevertheless, Tapscott is riding his veterans. JaVale McGee and Javaris Crittenton earned DNP-CDs for the Christmas game in Cleveland. Youthful Dominic McGuire didn't get some time to flourish or wilt until not-youthful DeShawn Stevenson requestedto be benched. There's no hope for this season, and the team hasn't yet given the kids a chance to show they can be successful next season. Lose-lose, mates.
As such, this rumor from the Washington Post's Ivan Carter makes a load of sense.
They are only whispers but I'm hearing chatter that Gilbert Arenas and the team is seriously pondering whether to bring him back at all this season.
By the end of the night, none of them will have scored as many points for the Tar Heels than Tyler Hansbrough. Psycho T is just nine points away from passing Ford and become the all-time leading scorer in UNC history. The Tar Heels host Evansville tonight.
When records fall, there are two stories to follow. One is the greatness of the player who is toppling the record. We all know about Hansbrough and what he has meant to the Carolina program. But the second story is about the record itself and who held it.
It is amazing that Ford has kept this record since graduating in 1978. Again, guys like Jordan, Worthy, Perkins, Jamison, Vince Carter and more have came and went since Ford. Sure, most of the best scorers since 1978 have left early for NBA riches (I think that Joseph Forte would have owned the record if he hadn't left after his sophomore season) but that shouldn't diminish the record.
There was a dead certainty that some changes would be occurring in the Washington Wizards' organization following the team's 1-10 start.
And because it seemed unlikely that Ernie Grunfield would fire himself, and it was already too late to start trying to trade Gilbert Arenas or Antawn Jamison and because Caron Butler is the truth ... well, it stood to reason that the first scapegoat would be Eddie Jordan. According to the Post's Wizards Insider, that has now come to fruition.
According to sources familiar with the situation, the Wizards have relieved Coach Eddie Jordan of his duties. Jordan was informed of the decision this morning.
Ed Tapscott, who had carried the title of Director of Player Development but traveled with the team and essentially served as an extra assistant coach, will take over coaching duties, starting with a practice that will begin today at 11 a.m.
Again, I don't know if it's deserving -- Jordan has done a pretty fine job of coaching up what is a quasi-limited roster since he's been in Washington. And additionally, he's currently missing about $110 million worth of said roster ... but yeah, the team is in the basement of a very winnable division, Gil and Brendan Haywood are talking about not coming back this year if the playoffs aren't an option, and someone has to get blamed. If the reports are accurate, looks like that guy is Jordan.
It doesn't seem that long ago that the Southeast was an afterthought. I'm aware that sounds stupid as this division attempts to rise to serious L-bound prominence, but it's true -- before Dwight Howard and before Dwyane Wade and before Josh Smith and before Jeff McInnis ... what was there?
It doesn't particularly matter now; the division is still only an erstwhile powerhouse; you would never see a prediction coming that any one of these teams can contend for the NBA title right now, and that's what matters in these sort of things.
Of course, Orlando is a different story of sorts. Maybe. At least we have to wonder: Does Hedo Turkoglu Still Have the Special Sauce?
Michael Lee of the Washington Post followed up recent Wizards rumors in a piece this morning on the No. 5 pick and Caron Butler. Lee said the 'Zards and Suns discussed an Amar'e Stoudemire trade, but D.C. balked when Butler became a requirement from Phoenix's end.
Ready or not, here Flip comes. 
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, 
At 
Washington tastes all flavors of bad. The Wizards will almost assuredly end the season among the three worst teams in the league; as such, the team is due at least a top-six pick, with the probability skewing toward Picks No. 2-4.horesnss.jpg)
Part of FanHouse's coverage of the NBA's 
Wizards bosses claimed that the early-season replacement of Eddie Jordan with 
North Carolina is one of those programs whose history drops jaws. Just the names of the players that have come through Chapel Hill are amazing. 
There was a dead certainty that some changes would be occurring in the Washington Wizards' organization following the team's 1-10 start.
