The Night In Which Roger Mason Was Ruled Ineligible

There are teams that live throughout history for all the wrong reasons. Teams like the 1962 Mets or the 1972 76ers are not remembered just because they are historically awful, but because they were awful in completely ridiculous ways. Tonight, the Wizards took one step closer to being "funny" awful rather than simply awful with the team's failure to note that Roger Mason was eligible for the game. According to Mike Lee from WaPo, the Bucks did not include Mason on the active player list prior to the game, but that still does not excuse the Wizards coaching staff for overlooking something so obvious. I have been watching basketball for a long time, but I have never seen something as ridiculous at what we witnessed tonight. There is a reason that Wizznutzz chose to return this season, there is simply too much gold to mine from this situation.

I don't want to sugarcoat this at all. These type of boneheaded mistakes make the organization look like a minor league franchise. We can't spell the names on our jerseys right, we misdiagnose injuries, and now we can't even register our players. This has gone beyond a simple "oops" and well into the realm of incompetency. The Wizards PR department can fall on the sword all they want, this is still a failure on the part of Flip.

Notes:

• The pick and roll defense in the first half was atrocious which is now three straight games in a row. Compounding this, the Wizards are still failing to rotate with any consistency on defense, leading to such brain locks as leaving Brandon Jennings wide open from three. Of course, this is the same team that can't even register all its active players.
• Nick Young had a lousy game tonight, due in large part to the gameplan of the Bucks to bump Young and force him to put the ball on the floor. Its only one game, but it still demonstrates some of the limitations in Young's game that may have given the Wizards management pause is signing long term. He still has difficulty extending his game past the catch and shoot, and those limitations prevent him from being worth 9 million a year. Of course, this is the same team that can't even register all its active players.
• At the half the Bucks were 66% from the field and over 60% from 3pt. To say that the Wizards defense was porous would be a bit of an understatement. Of course, this is the same team that can't even register all its active players.
• I'm sure some will say that Jordan Crawford had a decent game. I'll point out that he only got hot after the Wizards deficit was insurmountable and continues to show no conscience on the offensive end. At some point, one one think that Flip would use the hook, but this is the same team that can't even register all its active players.
• JaVale McGee had a nice solid game and continues to show that his improvement over the summer was not all talk. One continues to question whether if McGee was partnered with a defensive floor general at the PF we would see dividends paid off quicker. Of course, this is the same team that can't even register all its active players.
• Andray Blatche returned to the charred ruin of my bandwagon and peed on it.

That is all for tonight. Mike and I will be back with more fallout. Yikes.