Hardwood Paroxysm, one of the best newish NBA blogs out there, is sponsoring the first-ever NBA Blogger Season Awards vote.

Bullets Forever has been nominated for Best Southeast Division blog, Eastern Conference blog, and Defensive Blog of the Year (for in-depth analysis).  You can also write in anyone you wish for any of the categories.

I hope you vote for Bullets Forever, obviously, but more importantly, I hope you vote for who you think is the best in each category.  There are so many great blogs besides this site out there that everyone should read if they want to become an even more educated NBA fan.  They all deserve recognition, and frankly, I don't think we necessarily need an award to validate our status anyway.

(But still, an award would be nice).

The ballot is here.  Be sure to vote.

On another note, just in time for the playoffs, Bullets Forever is scheduled to upgrade to the new SB Nation 2.0 platform next week (see Federal Baseball and Camden Chat).  In a word, the new platform is absolutely sick, and your user experience will be eons cooler than it is right now (and I venture to say it's cool now).  

Along those lines, in what might be the worst timing ever, I'm heading to Israel for 10 days, starting next Thursday, so I may not be posting as much in the first week of the playoffs.  Jake and Truth will be here though, and I will try to get computer access.

Tonight's game thread will be up in a bit.  I have some loose ends to tie in the meantime up here, but I promise you'll have time to make your picks (which I am updating this weekend).

But first, take a look at this.  This will be what BF looks like in a few months.

I can't tell you exactly when, but just so you're prepared, here's a list of FAQs.  

I know you were all probably on the edge of your seats today when I told you that I was working on something big (well, you probably weren't but pretend you were excited).  Earlier this week I was contacted by Micah Hart who works with the Atlanta Hawks website about doing a little interview before the Hawks-Wizards game on Friday night.  After a lengthy 2 second deliberation, I said yes. You can see how the Q&A session went down here.  While you're checking that out, make sure to check out the Micah's blog on the Hawks so you can stay informed on one of the Wizards' division rivals.  

Before anyone asks, I'm in no way related Lang Whitaker who writes a weekly column on the Hawks' website, so don't accuse me of using family ties to make this happen.

From Jake and I to you, we wish you a happy holiday season, whether it's Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or Festivus (obviously).  As you could probably guess, I'm not Christian, which is why I'm making this post, but I hope everyone's Christmas is going well.

Christmas tends to be known as the NBA's marquee holiday, much like Thanksgiving is for football.  Obviously, Washington hasn't played on Christmas in a long time, seeing as the Christmas games are reserved for marquee teams.  As a little Christmas activity, here's a question for you.  When was the last time the Wizards/Bullets played on Christmas, and who was their leading scorer?  I'll give you a hint: he's on the BF Top 20 list.

Happy Holidays!  I'll be back later, but until then, enjoy your holiday.

Game thread is coming, folks, so stay tuned.

Today is a big day, because it marks the one-year anniversary of this site moving to Sports Blog Nation.  When I started here, I never imagined how much this community would grow in just a year's time, and that's a tribute to all the great readers that make this site worthwhile.  To all of you, kudos.  

In recognition of this site's first birthday, let's run down some of the memorable moments in BF history.

Fantasy basketball: not to be confused with your basketball fantasies, like wishing that the Wizards had drafted Tyson Chandler over Kwame Brown.

• Pradamaster (obviously)
  
• JakeTheSnake (again, duh)
  
• mamemimo
  
• sierradave
  
• finkad01
  
• sierradave kdp922
  
• Josh
  
• miestersean
  
• hotplate
  
• AL

The goal is try and have 12 players which means there's still 3 2 open spots.  If there's enough demand, we'll open up a second league for anyone else who still wants to play.  As we try and get this going, there's five important questions (that aren't to be confused with the CelticsBlog preview) that need to be asked.

Q: When's the draft time?
A: As of right now, the draft is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m.  If that's a problem feel free to say so, I can't guarantee that we find a way to please everyone but hopefully we can find a way to please as many as possible.

Q: What service are we using?
A: Good question, the answer is I have no clue.  I originally was planning on going with Yahoo(!) but the only slots open on Friday are from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., which doesn't work for us.  (Unless a certain Wizards fan who might have been hired by Yahoo wants to hook us up.)  With that said, I believe that leaves ESPN.com, NBA.com, and CBS Sportsline as options.  I don't really have experience with any of them so again I'm open to suggestions here as well.

Q: Are there going to be any weird scoring rules?
A: Probably not, unless you want to give bonus points for "bank shots" or something cool like that.

Q: Can I talk smack?
A: Of course!  Try to keep it within the guidelines, but other than that go nuts.  I'll try and keep tabs with a "Smack Wall of Fame" or something like that.

Q: Can I call my team "The Thong Song(aila)?
A: No.

UPDATE: Check the comments for the new details.

Apologies for no posting today.  I need the season to recharge me, and frankly, I'm tired of waiting for it to start.  We're now less than two weeks away from the opener, and I'm positive it will be a near repeat of this.

Anyway, before we really get going with season previews, a couple quick site notes:

First, I'm not much of a fantasy basketball guy, but I'd love to create a Bullets Forever league if you all are interested.  Post a comment here saying you'd play, and depending on how many, we'll go from there.  If anyone wants to create the league too, by the way, say so.

Secondly, we're going to start our series of community projections tomorrow with Gilbert Arenas.  In the case of Gil and Antawn Jamison, those will double as 2006/07 evaluations, since I haven't gotten to them yet.  For all those relatively new here (which is everyone, because we last did community evaluations on the old site), you basically predict the players' individual statistics.  Eventually, we'll make an average for everyone, and when the season ends, we'll look back and see how right we were.  Sound good.

Finally, a reminder that our turn in the NBA Blog Previews is coming shortly.  For the record, here are the five questions to consider, so if you feel so inclined, post answers in diaries or comments.

1.  What significant moves were made in the offseason?

2.  What are the team's biggest strengths?

3.  What are the team's biggest weaknesses?

4.  What are the goals for this team?

5.  (Insert your own question here)?

Predicted Record:

Be back later.

Part 12 in a 20 part series, Yellow 55 is up next with Bobby Dandridge. -Jake

When it comes to Moses Malone, Bullet isn't the first thing that comes to mind on his resume. A lot of people will talk about his time with Houston where he won 2 MVP titles and played a key part in the development a player over at the University of Houston who turned out to be not half-bad:

Others will talk about Malone's next destination, Philadelphia, where his "fo' fo' fo'" was the battle cry as the Sixers finally oover the hump and won the NBA Finals in 1983. When you add in that no Philadelphia team has won a title since, (unless you count Smarty Jones) Moses' contributions to the great Sixers teams have endeared him to the Philly faithful:

Bottomline: When you think of Moses Malone, Bullet isn't the first thing to come to mind...or even the third for that matter but Moses did fill some of the roles that came along with his Biblical namesake during his brief stint in Washington.

Brother

In the story of Exodus, Moses was accompanied by his brother Aaron who played the yin to his brother's yang as they combined their forces and neutralized each others weaknesses as they helped deliver their people of Egypt. Likewise, Moses was accompanied by his mighty brother Jeff Malone (yes I know they weren't brothers, just let me finish the analogy) who provided the perimeter output that allowed Moses to reign supreme inside. Together, they formed a duo that plagued anyone that got in their way.

Teacher

As already mentioned, he was a tutor to Hakeem Olajuwon in his days in Houston. In Washington, Moses again found himself tutoring a lanky 7 footer from Africa. This new disciple didn't have anywhere near as much potential as Moses' last student and he was unable to have the same impact that his predecessor did. While the project was unsuccessful, it's hard to label Moses as a failure in this regard. Not every follower of Moses can be a prophet.

It's ok Manute, you're still my favorite hockey player.

Deliverer

A forgotten aspect of Moses leading his people to the Promised Land is that he never made it there. Long before his death, they were right on the doorstep of taking what was rightfully theirs, but fearing what was inside, chose not to seize that moment and as a result had to endure 40 years in the desert until that generation had all passed before getting another chance to enter. Yes, Moses was able to take a look at the Promised Land from a distance, but he never got the chance to enjoy the land he had delivered his people to.

In much the same way, Malone was only able to give the Washington faithful a glimpse of championship glory (two first round exits in the playoffs) before fear of signing a center who was on the downside of his career led the leadership to reject their opportunity to reach a land flowing with champagne and the Larry O' Brien trophy. This act of unfaithfulness brought about 16 years in the desert of no playoff victories. But fear not mighty Israel Washington, for your Messiah has come.

[Editor's Note: Taking a break from ADAW to give you part 11 of a 20-part series.  The following was written by Romans12 yikes, I mean LoneWiz54, a regular both here and on HH.   Jake is up next with Moses Malone. -PM]

When I think of Gus " Honeycomb" Johnson, I think of a great athlete and basketball player that  was spectacular and not given the credit he deserves.  Gus Johnson was a player whose high flying act was on par with Dr. J and Connie Hawkins.  At 6'6" 235lbs, Johnson had the physical structure of a NFL tight end.  He was without a doubt the most muscular and strongest player of his time.   During a close to 9 year period ('63-'72), the man with the gold star in one of his front teeth, was widely considered the second best power forward in the NBA  next to top 50 player and Hall of Fame member Dave DeBusschere.  The battles between Johnson and DeBusschere during the regular season and playoff were the type movies and books are written about.  

For those that have never seen him play, Gus Johnson was "Charles Barkley" (Charles in Philly and Phoenix after the big weight loss) before there was a "Charles Barkley".  He had amazing leaping ability for his height, and was as strong as two Army tanks. A great shot blocker and one of the first players to be able to hold a basketball with one hand, wave it around to fake his opponent, and end the play with a swooping, powerful, 3 times backboard shattering, dunk.  Only MJ, Dr J and Connie Hawkins have been able to handle the ball in one hand and maneuver to the rim with the same grace and power of Gus "HoneyComb" Johnson.

The follow quotes are taken from article entitled "How Great Was Gus Johnson?" written in 1997 by Marlin Smith.

Earl Monroe said the following.

[Ed: This is still from that 1997 book. -PM]

Many times an NBA All-Star, Gus Johnson averaged 17.4 points and 12.7 rebounds in during his NBA career.  Tragically, Gus Johnson died in 1987 from inoperable brain cancer.  The Basketball Hall of Fame has yet to include his name among its members. It is not complete until the name Gus "Honeycomb" Johnson is added.

I'll tell you what this is about tomorrow, but until then, I'll let you all try and speculate what this is about.