Top Stories of the Week: Ted Leonsis wins his first championship

The first week of June has finally arrived. Let’s catch up on what went down this past week.

Ted Leonsis, Monumental Sports win their first championship with the Capitals

Is this a basketball story? No. But the Capitals and their 10-point team building plan has been applied to the Wizards and Mystics, with varying degrees of success. We will talk more about that in the coming days. But for the moment, I’m very happy to see the Capitals win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, 40 years to the day when the Wizards won their only NBA title as the Washington Bullets.

Thanks to Leonsis’ rebuilding plan, we can say it truly works, at least for the NHL and the Capitals.

As the Capitals’ sibling teams, the Wizards and Mystics both gave their congratulatory messages last Thursday and Friday in the hours after D.C. became the home of the current Stanley Cup Champions. Now that one of the Big-Four league teams is a current champion, we can — and really should — believe in D.C. sports again.

The Capitals’ championship parade will be on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. starting at 11 a.m. EST. And for more Caps coverage, please head over to Japer’s Rink, SB Nation’s Capitals blog.

The Mystics aren’t doing too well

The Mystics are currently 7th in the WNBA with a 5-4 record after losing a close game to the Minnesota Lynx last Thursday at home. Washington is now on a three game losing streak, the worst in the WNBA after the Indiana Fever, who are still winless and have an 0-7 record.

Washington looked to start the 2018 season at full health minus Tayler Hill who is finishing up her knee rehab. But Elena Delle Donne missed four consecutive games due to a Lyme Disease flare up while Natasha Cloud has kidney stones for the second time in three years.

Some of the Mystics’ starters from the 2017 team also aren’t performing well. Tierra Ruffin-Pratt is shooting just 30 percent from the field and was relegated to the bench during the losing streak while Krystal Thomas has been playing progressively less as the season went on. In their place, Ariel Atkins has emerged as a starting wing while Tianna Hawkins, LaToya Sanders, and Myisha Hines-Allen are competing to play more minutes and start.

The Mystics’ season is far from lost so now isn’t the time to panic. But at the same time, they haven’t really wowed anyone this season just yet.

Wizards links

Here are the stories we wrote about the Wizards last week as we continue to review last season’s player performances and more.

• Former Wizards guard Nick Young won a championship with the Golden State Warriors, who swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. Warriors center JaVale McGee now won his second ring for the back to back champs.
• John Wall has grown out his hair to the point where he now has cornrows. It’s early to say whether it’s a “summer thing” for him or if he will wear that style this fall.
• We did a few more player evaluations, including for Otto Porter and Tim Frazier. While Porter continues his gradual improvement, Frazier is the latest American reserve point guard to take a step back after joining the Wizards.
• And on the NBA Draft front, could Mo Bamba be the type of center the Wizards need? In addition check out these profiles on Jontay Porter and Kevin Knox.

Have another link or story you’d like to share? Feel free to do so in the comments below. Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone.