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Top Stories of the Week: Beal's Olympic hopes, Mystics improve, and Wall's still about the community assist

By Albert Lee

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Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

We are finally starting to get toward summer! Even though the Wizards aren't playing games right now, they still were in the news for good reasons. The Mystics have also gradually improved their season by winning games on the road. Let's go through the top stories of the week so you can revisit anything that you may have missed.

Bradley Beal is keeping his Olympic dream alive

Earlier this week, John Wall and a number of other players took their names out of the hat of the USA Basketball Men's National Team. I was proactive about it, but I wrote that Bradley Beal's chances have improved considerably to make the roster.

Beal is also keeping his name in the hat, according to J. Michael of CSN Mid Atlantic. Though there are concerns about the Zika Virus or political unrest in Brazil in recent months, the opportunity to play for Team USA is huge and it can help translate into an even better 2016-17 season.

I know many of you are concerned about Beal's injury history. However, let's also stress (no pun intended) that Beal's leg issues came from stress reactions in his lower right leg, not fractures. Yes, the Wizards and Beal have to find what is making him prone to them. But it's also a good thing that they caught these things early or Beal may truly be an "injury prone" player.

John Wall updates us on his offseason and continues to be a Community Assist champ

Wall was on "Face to Face" with Hannah Storm on Wednesday. He openly acknowledged that he will pitch Kevin Durant but of course, there are no guarantees. He also talked about his progress of his rehab from knee procedures last month. All-in-all, it's a good interview by the Wall star.

On top of all that, Wall is also hosting an online consignment sale on The Real Real. No, I didn't misspell it. That is the company's REAL REAL name. ;)

Mystics win two straight on the road

After a 98-72 loss to the Chicago Sky last Friday, the Mystics have beaten two of the league's more flashy opponents by beating the Dream on Sunday and the Wings on Wednesday.

The Mystics take on the Minnesota Lynx at home tomorrow night. We got something fun planned for that.

Markieff Morris can breathe a sigh of relief

He and his brother Marcus were involved in an incident where he was investigated for marijuana possession at Philadelphia International Airport.  He won't be charged since someone else admitted to it. I get that some will speculate about that stuff, but Morris can now put this behind him and avoid getting into this situation going forward.

Coaching news: #RexStillTheNorth

Rex Kalamian, a former Thunder assistant coach during Scott Brooks' tenure there, has decided to remain with the Toronto Raptors next season. The Rockets were also trying to court him after Mike D'Antoni was named their head coach.

Maybe we'll have God Shammgod here as an assistant instead -- I'm still waiting on what happens with him!

Emma Meesseman showed up against the Dallas Wings on Wednesday: Flemish news goes "slightly fanboy" over it

This is a quick recap on Meesseman's performance last Wednesday from Het Laatste Nieuws based in Brussels. Let me highlight this one sentence, which is in Dutch:

Meer dan 4.000 toeschouwers zagen in het College Park Center van Dallas hoe onze 23-jarige landgenote 23 punten scoorde en twaalf rebounds pakte.

In a nutshell -- NOT a literal Google Translate translation -- that means "More than 4,000 spectators at the College Park Center in Dallas saw our 23-year-old countrywoman score 23 points and grab 12 rebounds." Emphasis is mine.

I was a little surprised that I read the "onze 23-jarige landgenote" in the quick recap since I don't expect to read "onze" or "our" in a newspaper article. But as an American, I don't fully get the pride or appreciation that Flemings and Belgians as a whole would have for Meesseman.

Either way, Meesseman is a bigger deal for Belgian and especially Flemish basketball fans than she is in the States. Yet despite her performances overseas or even stateside, the WNBA still isn't promoting her very much. So I can't blame Het Laatste Nieuws for possibly being a little "fanboy or fangirl-ish" there.

Other BF features

Mike Sykes still has an axe to grind against the Cavaliers who are the two-time reigning Eastern Conference Champions. Here are seven reasons why the Wizards' fanbase still loathes Cleveland, ten years after LeBron whispered into Gilbert Arenas' ear.

Elle wrote about Ivory Latta's trick shot magic and swagger. Speaking about that highlight, it was number 7 on SportsCenter's Top 10 highlights for Thursday.

Also, check out the Mystics' Keys to the Palace for the last two weeks. I think it inspired Emma Meesseman's 23 point 12 rebound performance against Dallas. The Belgian star must have assumed that the Wings were Poland or the Netherlands. SHE SHOULD ALWAYS THINK EVERY TEAM IS WEARING RED POLSKA OR ORANGE NEDERLAND JERSEYS FOR THAT MATTER!

That thought lights a spark for Meesseman (even though this pic was before the Storm game a couple weeks back):

Until it's official one way or the other, we can't stop writing KD2DC content, right? Here's some free stuff that the DMV can offer in a desperation attempt to get Durant home.

Finally, Quentin evaluated Jarell Eddie's season in D.C.

Other Wizards and Mystics pieces on the web

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post wrote about Jared Dudley's take on whether Durant would be in D.C. His answer? It isn't realistic.

Steinberg also wrote about Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue's time as a Wizards player during the Michael Jordan years. He was known as a player who was able to get his message across to a wide variety of people. Don't take my word for it. Here's what former Wizards center Brendan Haywood said.

"He could say something that Michael Jordan might not have wanted to hear from me or Jared Jeffries, but his delivery was so cool that he got the message there and he wasn’t offensive," said Brendan Haywood, who spent his first two NBA seasons as Lue’s teammate. "That’s the sign of a good coach. I know that now, but I didn’t know it at the time. I just thought he was good with people."

"I CALLED GAME (TM)" - it's the Truth. Really. Check it out from CSN Mid-Atlantic. Paul Pierce is set for life monetarily because of those three words.

Wall gave a two-part interview on his philanthropic efforts on Monumental Sports Network (Part 1 | Part 2)

Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press wrote about Tayler Hill's breakout season. It's been a two-year process to get into prime shape after giving birth to her son, but I really like what Hill has done this year in D.C. She is now playing like the lottery pick we wanted her to be from day one.

Doug Ammon of WNBA.com wrote a column on Meesseman being "magical" this season.

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There are certainly more links out there than what I've posted, but these links certainly give you a quick picture over the last week. Enjoy Game 4 of the NBA Finals Tonight, Mystics Star Wars Night tomorrow, and the weekend as a whole. It can't come soon enough.