Combining links and quotes today since I had to run immediately after last night's game.

• Miami Heat stars give John Wall some advice on how to deal with the losing. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were spotted talking to him after the game last night. [CSN Washington]
• Recaps of last night: [Us | SB Nation D.C. | CSN Washington (Jackson) | Washington Post (blog, gamer) | Washington Times | Washington Examiner | Palm Beach Post | Miami Herald | Peninsula Is Mightier | AP | Sun-Sentinel | SB Nation Tampa Bay]
• Watch some highlights on the Heat dunking all over the Wizards, light yourself on fire [Palm Beach Post | SB Nation]
• Photos of the Heat partying the night before the game surfaced last night.
• Missed this yesterday, but here's the TNT crew clowning on JaVale McGee for running back on defense when his team had the ball on Monday. [NBA.com]
• Jan Vesely blog posts are the best blog posts. [Truth About It]
• The Lakers apparently have Kobe Bryant's blessing to sign Gilbert Arenas. [Ken Berger]
• Non-basketball: me on SB Nation about Maryland securing five-star wide receiver Stefon Diggs.

Continue reading this post »

Today's links:

• OK, let's just get all the Jeremy Lin links out of the way. First, general stuff. [Newsday | ESPN New York | New York Times | Bergen Record | New York Daily News | Ball Don't Lie | Hang Time Blog | New York Post | The Post Game |
• Lin crossed up John Wall, which I'm sure you haven't seen yet. [Eye on Basketball | Pro Basketball Talk | SB Nation]
• Best Lin sign ever. [SB Nation]
• Home team recaps. [Us (recap, quotes) | SB Nation D.C. | CSN Washington (Johnson, Hanrahan, Jackson, Miller) | Washington Post (gamer, blog) | Washington Times | Washington Examiner | Truth About It (recap, quotes) | Wiz of Awes | District Sports Page | WUSA9 | DC Sports Box]
• Other non-Lin focused road team recaps. [Knickerblogger | New York Daily News | Posting and Toasting| SB Nation New York]
• Randy Wittman's own son trolled his dad. [SB Nation D.C. |
• Wittman talks to 106.7 The Fan and tries to downplay JaVale McGee's mental gaffe on Monday. [106.7 The Fan]
• Maurice Evans is playing decent minutes again. [Washington Examiner]
• Wall wants the NBA to return to the old rookie/sophomore format. [Wizards Insider]
• For the draftnicks, a quick look at Syracuse's Dion Walters. [CSN Washington]
• The Wizards make two appearances on Jon Bois' Animated GIFs of January list. [SB Nation]
• Finally, I couldn't help but get in with #Linsanity. Here's my scouting report of what makes him so successful. [SB Nation]
• Heads-up: Keys to the Palace will be up later this afternoon.

• This is a video of the crowd at last night's Raptors-Wizards game during the second quarter (via SB Nation D.C.). This is Ted Leonsis' take on the crowd: "The crowd was very loud last night and I am most appreciative. Thank you." [Ted's Take]
• But it's OK, Ted. We understand [SB Nation D.C.]
• Recaps of last night's game. [Us (gamer, quotes) | SB Nation D.C. | Washington Post (gamer, blog) | CSN Washington (Miller, Johnson) | Washington Times | Washington Examiner | Wizards.com | WUSA9 | District Sports Page | Wiz of Awes | Toronto Star| Toronto Sun | National Post | Raptors HQ (rapid, long) | Raptors Republic | RaptorBlog | Popcorn Machine | HoopData advanced box]
• In case you missed it, JaVale McGee ran back on defense when his team had the ball, which was hilarious and kind of sad. [Deadspin | Ball Don't Lie | DC Sports Bog | SB Nation | Point Forward | SB Nation D.C.]
• How about Trevor Booker's performance last night? [Wizards Insider]
• ... Featuring this dunk on Aaron Gray. [YouTube]
• John Wall referenced something about the Wizards being disrespected during shootaround. I don't know what he's talking about. [CSN Washington (VIDEO)]
• Andray Blatche playing coach, poorly. [@drayblatche]
• Some actual numbers to support that the Wizards make scrubs look like all-stars. [Truth About It]
• The Knicks will come into town tomorrow night without Carmelo Anthony (out 1-2 weeks) and probably without Amar'e Stoudemire due to the death of his brother. They do have Jeremy Lin, though!
• The Wizards fan is my hero. [DC Sports Bog]
• Really good guide by Scott Schroeder as we get closer to the day when non-guaranteed contracts become guaranteed. Hamady NDiaye is the only Wizards player in this position. [SB Nation]
• As a follow-up, here's a primer on 10-day contracts, also by Schroeder. [SB Nation]
• Gilbert Arenas scheduled a workout this week. I wonder how many teams will show up. [LA Daily News]
• A look at some NBA Draft prospects who will be in town or on local TV this week. [CSN Washington]
• Tough break for Chauncey Billups.
• Me on SBNation.com about the revival of the sixth-man concept.

Today's links:

• Chauncey Billups tells John Wall to never forget the pain of losing. More good quotes from Billups and Chris Paul in this story. [Washington Times]
• Randy Wittman says he may need to work in more veterans into the rotation. [Washington Examiner]
• But what veterans can Wittman really turn to anyway? [Truth About It]
• The Wizards relapsed on their smoking habit. [DC Sports Bog]
• Videos and gifs of last Saturday, if you really want to relive that. [Truth About It]
• The Wizards need to play as a team. [CSN Washington]
• The Wizards need to find another scorer. [CSN Washington]
• Very cool look at the relationship between John Wall and his brother. [Wizards Magazine, Segment 4. Click here to see all segments]
• Guess the shoes of these Wizards players and win things. [Wizards.com]
• David Thorpe on the three Wizards sophomores. John Wall is ranked third, behind Greg Monroe. Jordan Crawford is 13th. Trevor Booker is 17th. [ESPN Insider]
• Personal announcement: I'm no longer the senior editor at SB Nation D.C. I'm instead focusing more on basketball and other under-the-hood stuff with the company. The new editor is Samuel Chamberlain, who is @SChamberlainSBN on Twitter.

Today's links:

• For those wondering about Ernie Grunfeld's future, Ken Berger of CBS Sports looks into it. He reports that while those around the league believe Grunfeld's days are numbers, he's seen "zero indication" that owner Ted Leonsis is "anything but on board" with the rebuilding plan Grunfeld is executing. It's worth noting that Grunfeld's contract is up after this year, so the Wizards would have to give him a new deal if they want to keep him beyond this season.
• Catching up with Caron Butler, who will be back in town tonight. [Washington Post]
• Jason Reid talks to Clippers' GM Neil Olshey and suggests the Wizards need to follow the Clippers' path. It's easy to scoff at this as "well, all they did was trade for Chris Paul with the commissioner's help, [snark]," but I think Reid's larger point is Olshey saw urgency in needing to keep Blake Griffin happy and acted right away instead of waiting for a plan to come into place. [Washington Post]
• In case you missed it, the latest rumor has the Wizards and Bobcats discussing a swap of Andray Blatche and Tyrus Thomas. [Marc Stein of ESPN, with analysis from us]
• JaVale McGee says "it's possible" he'll be in the Slam Dunk Contest again. Remember that Blake Griffin has already begged it off. [Wizards Insider]
• Recaps from last night. [Us | Randy Wittman himself via CSN Washington | Washington Post | SB Nation D.C. | Wiz of Awes | District Sports Page | Raptors Republic | National Post | Toronto Sun | RaptorBlog | TSN | Canada.com | Toronto Star | Raptors HQ (rapid, full recap) | Popcorn Machine | HoopData advanced box]
• Game previews for tonight's Clippers game. [Clips Nation | CSN Washington | SB Nation D.C.]
• Report cards from the first third of the season. John Wall gets a very unflattering grade. [WUSA9]
• A look at Harrison Barnes, who will certainly be one of the top picks in next year's NBA Draft. [Ben Standig, CSN Washington]
• A brief reminder here that Raptors coach Dwayne Casey was the man fired by the Timberwolves before Randy Wittman took over. [Winnipeg Free Press]

There's already been a lot of content on the site today, and we've already seen the Raptors, so in lieu of a "Meet The Opponent" post, here are a few links.

• I've been pleasantly surprised with Randy Wittman's dedication to holding players accountable for their mistakes. The lines on Flip Saunders and Andray Blatche in here are things that I noticed happening too. Nice piece. [Washington Post]
• Given what Ted Leonsis and Wittman have said about the officiating, is there any legitimacy to their point of view that the Wizards get the short end of the stick? [Washington Examiner | Wizards Insider]
• Speaking of Leonsis ... a good, balanced story by the Washington Post comes out on Wizards season tickets, and Leonsis responds with some ... uh ... interesting comments. [Ted's Take]
• Dan Steinberg responds to Leonsis' comments. [DC Sports Bog]
• Luke Russert, who was singled out by Leonsis, does the same. [TBD]
• Really interesting look at how teams are using more video to compensate for less practice time. Would love to know where Wittman stands on this spectrum. I know Saunders was a big video proponent. [NBA.com]
• The Wizards have a charge board (pictured in the second link), and John Wall is very much in the lead. Players talk about the issue in link 1, and there's more on the theory of having it in link 2. [Capital Games | Truth About It]
• Blake Griffin says he won't defend his dunk contest title. JaVale, this is your opening! [SB Nation]
• Speaking of JaVale, here's a look at his new shoe line by PEAK. [PEAK Sneakers]
• Nice scouting report of Andre Drummond and Jeremy Lamb. [SB Nation]
• I answer a few Wizards questions for Raptors HQ.

Today's links:

• Video of Randy Wittman expressing dismay at the 33-9 free-throw disparity between the Magic and Wizards last night. A quick note on the officials: while there were some iffy calls, it's important to note that the Magic are really good at defending without fouling. They're currently ninth in the league in lowest defensive free-throw rate (foul shots attempted per 100 field goal attempts). Last year, they were seventh. The year before that, they were fourth. Point being: they defend well without fouling, and that means they usually win the free-throw battle. [CSN Washington]
• Recaps [Us | SB Nation D.C. | CSN Washington | Washington Post (gamer, blog) Washington Times | Wiz of Awes | Orlando Sentinel | Orlando Magic Daily | Howard The Dunk | Magic Basketball | SB Nation Tampa Bay | Orlando Pinstriped Post | HoopData advanced box score | Popcorn Machine]
• Ernie Grunfeld thinks the Wizards are playing much better under Randy Wittman, sees a lot of positives, says a lot of nothing like always. [Washington Post | Wizards Insider]
• Great look at the Wizards' press that was used to get them back into the game against the Bulls. [Truth About It]
• JaVale McGee got posterized by Dwight Howard. Yikes. [SB Nation]
• The Magic waived Larry Hughes within minutes of last night's game ending. Cold. Blooded. [Orlando Sentinel]
• Trevor Booker is stepping up big-time. [Washington Examiner]

Today's links are here. Scroll down for BNIE's latest and the return of Keys to the Palace:

• Randy Wittman is now where he's been before: an interim coach trying to help turn around a losing program. [NBA.com]
• He's the coach the Wizards have now, but he's not the one they need. [We Love D.C.]
• This is what a losing team sounds like. [New York Times]
• Recaps of the Bulls' 98-88 win last night from the home team. [Us (recap, quotes) | SB Nation D.C. | Washington Post (blog, gamer) CSN Washington (Jackson, Jackson again, Johnson) | Washington Times | Washington Examiner | Truth About It | We Love DC | DC Sports Box | Ted Leonsis]
• Recaps from the enemy. [Pippen Ain't Easy | ESPN Chicago | Chicago Now | Bulls.com | Daily Herald | Sun-Times | CSN Chicago | Chicago Tribune | Blogabull | SB Nation Chicago]
• Essential resources. [HoopData box score | Popcorn Machine]
• Andray Blatche, in case you missed it, will miss 3-5 weeks with a calf injury. [Us | SB Nation D.C. | Washington Examiner | Washington Post | Ted Leonsis]
  
• As good as Rose was, the Wizards could have defended better. [Craig Stouffer, Washington Examiner]
• Thanks to Chad Dukes and LaVar Arrington for discussing our JaVale McGee Poll. [106.7 The Fan]
• Trevor Booker is starting to come into his own. [CSN Washington]
• John Lucas talks about LeBron dunking on him. [SB Nation]
  
• Speaking of dunks, how about Blake Griffin on Kendrick Perkins last night. Was it even the best dunk of the past 20 years? [SB Nation]