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I've been thinking about this all day, so I figured I'd poll the community.  Once again, here's what Flip Saunders said about Andray Blatche and his altercation with Kevin Garnett.

"Dray is wolfing the whole time at Kevin Garnett. You can't do those kinds of things. When you're coming up and establishing yourself, you don't take a guy that's been defensive player of the year and is probably the best power forward and get that guy juiced up to play against you. You got no chance."    

Once again, here's how Blatche responded:

"I see myself as defending myself as a player. I'm a man, just like they a man. If a man is talking to me this close to my face," Blatche said, moving his hand toward his cheek. "I'm going to say something back. He has to respect me just like I respect him. I just, 'Get up out of my face.' He was this close in my face - I can feel his lips touching my cheek - I wasn't bragging saying 'Ah we winning.' It was 'Back up.' "    

On the one hand, at the end of the day, the Wizards lost, and Kevin Garnett did come alive to smother Blatche on several possessions late in the game.  It's also important to preach to Blatche that he can't lose his cool, because he does it a lot.  On the other hand, you have to wonder why Saunders isn't defending his player more vigorously.  Some of the stuff KG did was borderline nasty, and I don't blame Blatche for responding.  I believe him when he says he wasn't trash talking KG and that it was KG that instigated everything.  I also don't think it's fair to pin the collapse on Blatche.  Plus, Blatche is a sensitive dude that needs positive reinforcement, so implying that he shouldn't stand tall against one of the greats of the game could be interpreted as saying Blatche should have no pride in himself.

I don't know, it's a tough call.  Therefore, poll time!

UPDATE: In my haste to get the poll up, I mixed up the answers.  They should be correct now.

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I've already talked about Antawn Jamison, and I'll have more on Caron Butler soon (hopefully by later today), but to pass the time between the two, a simple poll. 

In the wake of Gilbert Arenas' comments about Eddie Jordan (amongst other things), there's been a lot of talk regarding Gilbert and leadership.  The fault for Gilbert Arenas never truly asserting himself as a leader probably falls on the shoulders of him and Eddie Jordan, but with a new coach in town, there's a chance to start over with a new coach in town.

Throughout the off-season, Flip has made it clear that he wants Gilbert to step up as a leader this year.  Remember what he said when he was introduced as the head coach?

"When you're the best player on the team you don't have a choice. That's a responsibility you have. I dont know any team that's had success that didn't have leadership from their best player. And I think sitting out the last two years he's been able to see that."

One of the clearest ways to Flip to assert Gilbert's leadership would be to make him a captain.  Being a captain in the NBA doesn't come with the honor of wearing a special patch like the NFL or NHL, but the title still comes with considerable pull in the locker room, just as long as the captain is the right person for the job.

The last two years, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler have been the right men for the job.  While most of us would agree that they could have done a better job of bridging the gap between the veterans and the younger players, all in all there hasn't been much to complain about with their captaincy.  This leads to a dilemma: Making Gilbert Arenas a captain would go a long way in ensuring the best players were in leadership positions and giving Gilbert an extra dose of maturity, but teams are only allowed to have two captains and Jamison and Butler haven't done anything to earn a demotion.

So if you were Flip Saunders, what would you do in this situation?  Shake up the team leadership and risk locker room turmoil in order to ensure Gilbert is put in a leadership position, or keep the status quo and try to find other ways for Gilbert to assert himself as a leader?  The choice is yours.

In last week's poll, 31% of you voted that DeShawn Stevenson would be hurt the most by the loss of Eddie Jordan and leaving the Princeton offense.  This week, we shift our attention from one defensive wing to another.

Dominic McGuire is entering a pivotal time in his NBA career.  His contract runs up at the end of the year and he'll be entering a free agency class chock-full of dynamic talent.  McGuire's athletic capabilities and defensive potential make him an interesting asset, especially to the Wizards, but it remains to be seen what role he'll play in Flip Saunders' rotation.  Complicating the issue further is that the Wizards also have to deal with Brendan Haywood, Mike Miller and Randy Foye who will be looking for new contracts next summer as well.  The case for whether or not to bring McGuire back after next season will be an interesting one, but there's another contract involving McGuire that needs to be addressed first.  

Long-time readers of the site know that last year we bought the rights to advertise on Dominic McGuire's Basketball Reference page.  Has it raked in money for us?  Not really, but it's a fun way to show support for a guy that most everyone here at the site has been a fan of since his play in his first summer league.  The year-long sponsorship for Taser's page expires on the 19th (this Saturday) and we have the option to extend the sponsorship for another year for the low, low price of $10.  Should I go ahead and renew, or would you like to see that $10 invested elsewhere?  The choice is yours.

(Oh, and I'm thinking about changing the tagline for the ad this year, so if you're in support of renewing, leave your suggestions for a new tagline in the comments.)

Back in July, 80% of you voted that Flip Saunders would be an upgrade over the departed Eddie Jordan.  While there are several areas that most of you feel that Flip will improve upon, I think most of us would agree that Eddie Jordan has the upper hand when it comes to offensive scheming, thanks to his knowledge of the Princeton offense.  While it's a tough offense to master, it's even harder for defenses to stop.

We've seen in the past how Eddie's offense has helped Larry Hughes and Jared Jeffries increase their value on the open market and how they were unable to replicate their production outside of the Princeton.  Thankfully, the Wizards avoided getting sucked into long term deals with those two, but they're certainly not the only players who have benefited from Jordan's tutelage. 

This week, you must decide which player on the roster is going to be hurt the most by moving away from the Princeton offense.  Obviously players who were acquired after Eddie was fired (James, Crittenton, Miller, Foye, Oberto) are omitted from the poll, as well as JaVale McGee, since he only played 11 games with Jordan before he was let go.  Your choices are below and after the jump you can check out some reasoning behind why each player's statistics could dip without the Jordan coaching the offense.

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Last week, half of you said that Brendan Haywood's summer media blitz won't impact his contract negotiations next summer.  Of the remaining half, 40% of you thought that it would help him at the negotiating table next season.

This week, we're going to take a look at Antawn Jamison and his work on the glass.  In 2007-08, Jamison put up the best rebounding numbers of his career, averaging 10.2 rebounds per game and 9.5 rebounds per 36 minutes.  The first average was the highest of his career and the second was only eclipsed by his rookie season when he averaged 10.2 rebounds per 36.  It's not often that you see a 31 year old put up career rebounding numbers, but Jamison doesn't exactly fit the mold for your average power forward anyway.  Part of the credit for Jamison's career year belongs to Brendan Haywood, who clogged the lane and allowed Jamison to get up for rebounds more easily, but Jamison deserves credit as well.  Going into a contract year, Jamison was out to prove that he could clean the glass while still being able to exploit defenses with his outside shot.

After signing a 4 year, $50 million extension that off-season, Jamison's rebounding numbers fell off in 2008-09.  He saw his rebounds per game drop by 1.3 and his rebounds per 36 drop by 1.1.  Classic case of a contract year sellout?  Not exactly.  One has to consider that Brendan Haywood wasn't in the lineup most of the season, unlike the year before when he played the most minutes of his career.  One of the great things that Brendan does is boxing out the opposition to allow other teammates to snag the board and no one took greater advantage of this than Jamison.  Without a widebody to clog the lane and box out the opposition, Jamison had to do more work to secure the board, which clearly hurt his numbers last year.

But before you go and attribute all of Jamison's career year to Brendan Haywood, consider this: Antawn averaged his third highest totals in rebounds per game and per 36 last season at the age of 32, even without the big man.  The only two years he had higher totals were his rookie year and 2007-08.  So while Brendan's presence does help Jamison's numbers, he clearly wasn't the only one responsible for Jamison's resurgence last season.  That provides some hope that he can return to his 07-08 form with Haywood returning to the lineup.

Jamison's rebounding numbers in the light of his age are certainly unusual, but we all know that he can't keep increasing his rebounding output as he continues to age.  He turned 33 in June and though many great players have still been able to rebound well at his age and older, everyone's clock is different.  Is this the year that he starts his slide downhill, or will Jamison continue to buck the trend?  The choice is yours.

Nick Young & JaVale McGee of Washington Wizards Holdin' It Down @ Drew League (via Ballislifedotcom)

Last season, Nick Young (Bean Burrito) averaged 22.4 minutes per game, JaVale McGee (Epic Vale) 15.2. This season, things will be very, very different. The availability of time just won't be there, and hopefully the team will be much better for it.

Still, there 'should' be plenty of chances for these two kids to earn minutes. As you watch the video above from their work in the Drew Summer League in LA (which also tickled Bethlehem Shoals' fancy), contemplate how many minutes you think these two should "get as a couple" and respond accordingly below.

Is this a pointless poll? Why, pretty much yes.

Is it Friday? HECK YEA!!! Have a great weekend everyone.

Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post

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Typically during the long months of summer most NBA players fade to the background.  Most spend their time focusing on some R&R and/or working on their game to get better for next season.  One exception to the rule this off-season has been Brendan Haywood.

As you all know, we've carried the "BRENDAN HAYWOOD IS MASSIVELY UNDERRATED AND WE WON'T STOP TALKING ABOUT IT UNTIL YOU STOP CALLING HIM 'BRENDA'" banner because he just doesn't get respect for the fine work he does at center.  So it's come as a bit of a surprise to see him get so much publicity this summer after years of toiling in relative anonymity.

It started in May when he started his blog on Yardbarker where he's touched on a number of issues, not all basketball related but typically more insightful than the thoughts of your average NBA player.  (Sidenote: It's refreshing to see a player trying to create an online presence using something other than Twitter.)  Then earlier this month, he began a weekly radio show on WJFK.  In between he's given various interviews, including last week's interview with Hardcore Sports Radio that caused a bit of a firestorm, to say the least.

All of this media exposure comes on the heels of the most important season of Brendan's career.  He turns 30 in November and he's entering a contract year; likely his last and best chance to rake in a big payday.  I don't think that it's a coincidence that Brendan is increasing his media availability on the heels of the most important season of his career.

As we all know, the 2010 free agency class that Haywood is a part of is chock-full of big name players.  Especially in a year where the cap is going down, it's going to be hard for many good players to make the money they would get in other years.  That makes it more important than ever for players entering free agency to get their name out there into the public consciousness and into the minds of general managers.  So far this summer, Brendan has done just about everything possible to get his name out there and increase his value.

Of course, nothing helps one's value better than playing well on the hardwood.  But don't tell Brendan that media exposure doesn't help at the negotiating table.  All he has to do to refute that argument is point across the locker room to Gilbert Arenas, who has probably done more to increase his value through the media than any other player this decade through his blog and his wacky interviews.

Media exposure can certainly increase your value, but as we saw last week, not all exposure is good exposure.  So what do you make of Brendan's media-filled summer?  A brilliant PR move that will pay off in spades (and Benjamins)?  A risky move with great potential for backfiring?  Much ado about nothing?  The choice is yours.