Top Stories of the Week: Mystics sweep Lynx, Wizards offseason workouts, and more

First, I want to give a big thanks to L.W. for taking care of the weekly roundups while I was away on vacation. It was awesome going to Europe, but it's now time to get back to the grind.

Let's get to the top storylines of the week.

The Mystics sweep the Lynx in back to back contests

On Sunday, the Mystics defeated the Lynx, 77-69 at home. They followed that up with a huge 79-61 blowout win on Wednesday in Minneapolis. Considering that the Lynx are heavily favored to win the Western Conference, if not the WNBA championship this season, this is definitely a signature moment for Washington's 2015 season.

Here's another fact about the Mystics' success against the Lynx. Mike Thibault has a 4-2 record vs. Minnesota as the Mystics' head coach over the last three seasons. Finally, when you include the analytics scrimmage and the preseason victories, the Mystics have beaten the Lynx four times this year. For whatever reason, this team just has Minny's number, with or without the recently-acquired Sylvia Fowles.

Kris Humphries leads the Wizards in team workouts on the beach

The Wizards have been working hard this offseason to start this fall on the right note while enjoying some beach time in the west coast. Kris Humphries took part in his sweatpants, which compelled Jake to take a closer look.

Sporting News goes in-depth with Kelly Oubre

If you read up on Kelly Oubre after the Wizards drafted him, you may have read that he grew up in New Orleans before he was forced to move to Houston because of Hurricane Katrina. Sean Deveney talked with Oubre about how that experience prepared him for the NBA in a great piece for the Sporting News:

The roots of that self-confidence can be found in that trip from New Orleans to Houston that Oubre and his father took a decade ago, and what happened in the months and years after. Both Oubre and his dad had to learn to become survivors. And so there was a series of dilapidated hotel rooms in Houston. There were long stretches of unemployment for Kelly Sr., mixed with stretches working two jobs in order to support his son. There was the difficulty of finding a school for Kelly Jr. But through it all, there was something that the son learned from the father.

"We were living in hotels," Kelly Jr. said. "We moved here and there and over and over. We would spend a night in the car sometimes. My dad didn't have a job. We were moving around, it was not an easy time for us. Chaos, it was chaos.

"Now that I am older, I can look back and it is like, wow, we handled it well. You don't understand what is happening when it is happening, when you are a kid. But now that I can look back, I am always surprised that my dad kept us going and kept me positive through all that. My dad showed me how strong he was in that situation. That's why I am where I am today. I saw what a true soldier looks like."

Bradley Beal is developing his shot off the dribble

Beal is certainly a great three point shooter. But in order to be an elite shooting guard, he's going to have to improve on his shot off the dribble. Sure, the videos only show the shots that are going in, but it's still a good thing to see that he's working on his weaknesses during the summer so that they won't be this winter when the season is in full swing.

Tuesday was an unofficial John Wall Day at Bullets Forever. (But isn't every day John Wall Day?)

All of our stories Tuesday focused on Wall in one way or another. Jake kicked things off by noting that Wall has to embrace being an "outsider," or more specifically the superstar who isn't necessarily respected or promoted like some others in the league like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, etc.

After that, I shared you a link to a Mike WiLL Made-It music video where Wall made an appearance and his new J Wall 2 Adidas shoes.

And if that still wasn't enough, Mike and Akbar hosted our most recent podcast where they talked about Wall's chances to make the 2020 Olympic team in Tokyo.

Keep doing you John.

The Wizards will be fine without Paul Pierce

Alan wrote on Thursday that even though Pierce was a major contributor to the team last season, he was still declining. Besides, there are other young wing players like Otto Porter who can help fill in the void right away.

It's also a more detailed analysis on something I wrote last month right after Pierce signed with the Clippers. Yes, the Wizards miss Pierce, but there are just as many positive opportunities out there for the team's younger players, and especially for John Wall.

The Mystics talk about their favorite moments about the movie "Love and Basketball"

The video is embedded above from Monumental Network or click here.

I can't believe that this movie is now 15 years old! Damn, I'm getting old.

Enjoy the weekend everyone.