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Real quick, before I listen through the tape.

• Gilbert Arenas' knee looked fine today in the brief time we were able to see him.  Flip Saunders says he's progressing well there and that part of the motivation for sitting him in previous scrimmages is to protect Arenas from overworking himself.  Saunders noted that Arenas is usually the first one in the gym shooting for a long time.  So it appears yesterday's limping thing was a false alarm.  I'm curious to hear feedback on whether I and the other Mikes handled the situation correctly. 
• The finger, however, is still bugging Arenas and might be bugging him for a while.  Saunders said the finger is going to be "a whole year situation."  He added: "When you dislocate a finger and it's considerably swollen, you can work on it, tape it, and it'll feel great for five days, but if you hit it, it's going to jar it a little and it's going to get sore.  So it's going to be a constant factor.  We'll try to monitor it."
• Saunders says the shooting guard position is far from settled, and that everyone is making their case pretty well for minutes.  Personally, I think Randy Foye has had the strongest camp, but he's been playing on the ball a lot.
• Javaris Crittenton had to sit out the end of practice and emerged later with a boot on his left foot.  He said he's getting an MRI on it this afternoon.  The injury dates back to when he played in a pro-am league earlier this summer.  He's been playing through pain all throughout camp, which should tell you something about his determination.  We'll see.
• Fabricio Oberto sat out the end of practice as well, but Saunders said he merely tweaked his hamstring and he'll be fine.
• Yesterday, we discussed just how familiar Foye was with this offense.  Foye confirmed that he ran a lot of similar sets in Minnesota under Randy Wittman.  "I've been through it before with coach Randy Wittman," Foye said yesterday.  "He was running a lot of the same sets.  Some of the terminology may be different, but all of the concepts and the plays are the same."
• More stuff later, including an update on JaVale McGee's situation and some words you all will probably like hearing from Caron Butler.

More photos » Matt Rourke - AP

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One thing I have noticed so far from the Wizard's Training camp - and I've been following just about EVERY venue and source I can get my hands on - is that it seems like everything is flowing smoothly. No bumps in the road. No distractions. Nary a negative word coming out of Camp.

The closest thing I've heard that could be even in the neighborhood of negative was a comment by Flip Saunders that McGee seemed to lose a little focus when he's tired. The biggest controversy? Who will be the starting Shooting Guard....... That's it?!!?!?!  Nothing else?

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More photos » Steve Helber - AP

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For more, check out this story on Andray Blatche and Nick Young, Michael Lee's report, Mike Jones' report and the Wizards.com blog roundups (day practice | night practice).

• Keeping in mind that I arrived in Richmond from DC at 11:25, the only thing I saw the team doing was running through Flip's offensive sets.  No defenders.  Just five guys running through pick and roll plays, screen plays, post plays, etc. 
  
• Randy Foye spent the entire time I watched playing as a point guard.  When I asked Flip Saunders about it, he said that while Foye's role is likely to evolve as training camp and the season progresses, "right now, we're playing him at the 1 to give him an opportunity to learn that spot."
  
• Gilbert Arenas reportedly looked good during the scrimmage, with the only limitation being a jammed finger that didn't really seem to be bothering him.  He wasn't made available after practice, but others spoke pretty glowingly about him.  
• Saunders said Arenas been through every practice and scrimmage thus far without any ill effects, adding that "one of the main comments that came out from our meeting afterwards with the coaches was that they didn't realize how well he can really see the floor, push the ball and create."
  
• Antawn Jamison said Arenas is "trying to dunk on people.  I don't know where that came from."  Jamison added that Arenas "has that bounce to his step.  He has that confidence, cockiness.  That's something we haven't seen or heard from the last couple seasons."
• Brendan Haywood was the only person who didn't go all ga-ga over Arenas' performance, but even he admitted Arenas looked pretty good.  "It's been real early, so I can't say that 'Damn, he looks like the same Gilbert Arenas,' but he's looked very good so far and I'm happy with what he's done."
  

Jump for more insights about Dominic McGuire, JaVale McGee and the iTouches.

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More photos » Haraz N. Ghanbari - AP

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Also see: An introduction to the series | Mike James | Javaris Crittenton | DeShawn Stevenson | Fabricio Oberto

He'll never admit it, but Nick Young had to have felt pretty crappy the day the Wizards traded for Mike Miller and Randy Foye.  Young had just been through a year where his playing time went up and down like a yo-yo.  His commitment to anything other than scoring was questioned, as was his seriousness about the game.  He had his moments and did ultimately have a better year than he did as a rookie, but he still seemed like trade bait after Foye and Miller were brought in.

Of course, that was then.  Now, after an outstanding summer, Young has seemingly given himself another chance to earn minutes.  He's worked extensively with Sam Cassell and others on his catch-and-shoot game, his defense and his ball-handling, and it showed in Summer League, when he averaged nearly 24 points a game in the Wizards' five games.   Flip Saunders singled him out at his preseason press conference, and he was one of the most impressive players in the team's scrimmage last night. 

But has Young climbed the latter enough to get significant playing time?  Make the jump to discuss.

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More photos » Evan Vucci - AP

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After most of the scrum left Flip Saunders, I was able to get a couple quick questions in with him one-on-one about the roles of his assistant coaches and how his staff charts different plays.  A transcript is below the jump.

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RICHMOND -- Put yourself in the shoes of the Washington Wizards coaching staff.  Try to think of a way to teach entirely new offensive and defensive systems, both of which have received notoriety for being notoriously complex, in just a week.  Try to think of a way to do it with a team that has spent several years playing for a coach with very different offensive and defensive philosophies.

How are Flip Saunders and company doing it?  According to Antawn Jamison, they're having the players learn the plays on iTouches.  Yes, iTouches.

"You can listen to your music and look at the plays," Jamison said. "They got video of each play.  We all know how technology runs this world, so why not incorporate it with what you do for basketball?"

How does it work?  Each player's iTouch is coded for themselves, meaning they are the only ones who can sign in to access the plays.  The team will upload diagrams and videos that the players are expected to watch.  Some of the files are picture files diagramming the plays, while others are video files that actually show the plays in action.  The players will be asked to have their iTouch on them at all times -- Jamison was wearing his around his neck. 

It's almost like having a homework assignment if you think about it.

"It's definitely something I was very impressed by," Jamison said.  "I was trying to watch the football game, but [instead] I had the iPod on watching the playbook and things of that nature to catch up and make sure I'm ready, so that when certain things are called, I know what's going on."

The iTouches aren't the only thing new at Wizards training camp.  Jamison and Caron Butler were two players that were sporting shirts that had "Our Time" on the front.  Butler, in fact, had a black "Our Time" hat on his head.

"We've been through so many down times, so many negative things have been done and said, and it's just our time to go out and do what's expected," Jamison said. 

"That's what we believe," Butler said.  "We believe it's our time to [go out] and win a championship."

In this series - we'll explore some of the basic plays that can be initiated by the Hawk set.

Previously:
The Hawk Set - plays for shooters

As shown above, the Offense starts with the two guards at the high post... one on either side; with a double stack on the low post. A screen-er (usually the 4) at the Free Throw line.

This article will show some options for post up plays.

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More photos » Evan Vucci - AP

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There's one iconic image of Flip Saunders from today's press conference that tells you all you need to know about the guy. 

It's after the press conference is officially over, and several of the reporters presented have either left or gone to begin filing their stories.  A handful of reporters still remain, including NBA.com's David Aldridge and myself.  Flip's just spent nearly 30 minutes answering questions, and at least 15 of those minutes were on the subject of Gilbert Arenas.  Now, he's just answered yet another question about Arenas, and one of the reporters asked jokingly if he's ever received so many questions about a single player.

Flip's response?  "Yeah, I did coach Rasheed Wallace." 

The group chuckles, but Flip's face is pretty stoic.  It was almost as if he didn't get why what he said was so funny.  It wasn't meant to be, after all.  He was just stating the fact that he's used to dealing with a lot of questions about a crazy dude.

That's kind of how Flip Saunders is, and we saw it at its best today.  The only times he says something just to get a quote in the papers is when he stumbles into it.  He wasn't there to crack jokes and make provocative statements; he was there to talk basketball.  And talk basketball he did.  There was a lot of substance in what he said, even if sometimes it took a while and a lot of good listening to get to it.

Below the jump, some highlights of the press conference and some quotes.

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