Top Stories of the Week: The Mystics’ season ends, Markieff Morris’ injury, and John Wall’s Kentucky Hall of Fame speech

Like most of you, I’ve been anxiously waiting for the NBA season to begin. And next Monday, Media Day will finally begin. That said, the Wizards had some news on the injury front. In addition, the Mystics’ season came to an end last weekend. So let’s get through the main storylines.

The Mystics season ends in the WNBA Semifinals

The Mystics dealt with many injuries and a significant player departure. But they ultimately made the semifinals for the first time since the 2002 season. Last Sunday, they lost to the Lynx at home and were swept 3-0 in the series.

Whenever any team loses a series in the playoffs, it’s disappointing to see a team lose. So yes, we’re all disappointed to see that the Mystics aren’t in the WNBA Finals. At the same time, building a team doesn’t happen in a day or one season. The Mystics have the most talent at the top of their roster in well over a decade. There’s a window for Elena Delle Donne, Emma Meesseman, Tayler Hill, and the gang to win a title now. I look forward to seeing what moves are made to get the Mystics there next season.

The Mystics thank the fans via social media

Meesseman trolls Americans with filet americain

Emma Meesseman flew back to Belgium, where she apparently ate a bit of filet americain. Despite the French sounding name, that is the Dutch spelling since American in French is américain. It is basically steak tartare for our Dutch speaking Belgian readers who live in places from Ieper in West Flanders to Antwerp. And for our readers in the Netherlands, it is popular from Middelburg in Zeeland to Amsterdam in the heart of the Randstad. Just watch the video below (from her Instagram stories):

Dutchmen and Belgians will call raw ground beef “lekker,” or tasty in their language. But to Americans like me, we’re more likely to say that it is “verschikkelijk!” That’s terrible in Dutch. We fear that any raw red meat will give us food poisoning. Ultimately, my take is this. If the nutrients in the meat of a Belgian Blue cattle are the source of Emma’s efficient game, then I’ll take it.

Joking aside, if you want to try some authentic Dutch cuisine like filet americain, here’s a recipe from TheDutchTable.com. You can also find recipes for other Dutch goodies like poffertjes (little pancakes) or stroopwafels (pronounced as strohp- waffles). Flemish people eat most of the same things, though their choice of beer will differ.

We’ll have some more wrap up pieces in the next week as we reflect on the Mystics’ season as a whole. So, let’s get to the Wizards.

Wizards start training camp on Tuesday without Markieff Morris

The Wizards were fortunate last season to see that their starters were healthy nearly all year. But their luck ran out as Markieff Morris had surgery to repair a sports hernia last Friday. If all goes well, he will just miss training camp and we may see him not miss a beat.

If not, things can be quite tricky since it will test the Wizards’ unproven depth at the position besides Jason Smith. We also had a roundtable on Morris and his possible absence, regarding who should get more time. Morris will be out for 6-8 weeks, so the Wizards could be without him through the first month of the regular season.

Training camp will start next Tuesday at VCU in Richmond, Virginia. On Monday, the Wizards will host their annual media day. We’ll see how the guys are doing in their fresh Nike uniforms then.

John Wall breaks down, does the Twist Fist in his UK Hall of Fame speech

Wall gave his induction speech after making the Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame. During the speech he broke down in tears while thanking his mother. And toward the end, Wall put on his Wildcats jersey and did the “Twist Fist” one last time for the crowd.

And more links

Here are some other stories that were on the web, here and elsewhere:

• Ed Sheeran wore a Bradley Beal jersey last Tuesday during his concert at Capital One Arena.
• The NBA is doing well financially, but some teams are apparently losing money even after revenue sharing payments. The Wizards are one of those teams.
• Howard Megdal wrote a column earlier this week on The New York Times which sets the stage for what to expect from the Mystics next season. After a season of major personnel changes, this season will be a welcome change where there won’t be much of that.
• Rook6980 wrote an optimistic take on the Wizards’ offseason.
• And finally, Robby Kalland of Dime Magazine has this column on Wall, who wants to get past the second round of the playoffs — and doesn’t want his career defined by that. Rockets point guard Chris Paul unfortunately has that stigma.

Alright, that’s what I have for the past week. If there’s another link you’d like to share, feel free to do so in the comments or FanPosts. Enjoy the rest of your weekends everyone.