It's been a bad June for the young core of the Wizards.  It got off on the wrong foot when Andray was arrested, and it didn't get any better when he clanked 3 clutch free throws in a charity game.  Now, Nick Young is getting in on the action with some ugly stuff as well:

(Via Ball Don't Lie, by way of Truth)

While this certainly doesn't help the campaign, it shouldn't hurt it too much.  It's not like he's the first high flyer to ever miss a dunk.

In life we all have those questions that perplex us.  They might not consume our lives, but if we knew the answer it would be a great thing to use to break the ice in a conversation.

You know the kind of questions I'm talking about.  Such mind bogglers as, "What's up with those plastic tips on my shoelaces?"  Or "Why did a video that's been available on the NBA's website for over a year just become popular now?  And let's not forget the true mind-scratcher of our time, "Who let the dogs out?"

I'm not sure if we'll ever find out the answer to any of those questions, but at least now we know who was the inspiration behind the Wizards' logo:

Come to think of it, maybe Gheorghe was the one who let the dogs out too...

Now, I've never been in the Wizards locker room, so I can't say this for sure, but I think if you're looking for a 3 minute nutshell of what it's like in there, I'm guessing this is about as close as you'll get:

First we learned that Antawn Jamison is the black Homer Simpson.

Then earlier today, we found out that Calvin Booth is the black Nicholas Cage.

Now, Odenized has completed the trifecta.  Phil Chenier is the black Dr. Phil.:

I think this demands more investigation by you know who.

Has anyone else ever taken out two Kings with one move?

Sure, Roger Mason's 3 point barrage last night was hot like fire, but if he was still playing in Israel, he'd wouldn't have time for threes with all the dunks that he'd be throwing down:

It's nice to see that a wig won't derail Metro some of the Pistons' fans are taking last night's loss well:

Well, it looks like it's been pulled down now, sorry folks. Brief synopsis: Fan in a Billups jersey kicks a Wizards' wig on to the tracks where it's run over by a train. It's not ha-ha funny, but I thought it was cool in a "beating the Pistons makes this cool" kind of funny.

So I was checking the e-mail a few days back and Asian Zero, who's got quite the collection of videos, sent me his latest.  Normally, I'd post something like this right away, but I realized that it would be better to wait and post this today because it coincides with the one year anniversary of the game the video comes from (unfortunately, my calendar skills are absolutely terrible, which is why you're getting this 367 days after the fact, rather than 365).  The first 47 minutes of this game were filled with great, dramatic basketball, but despite that it still felt like a pretty normal game.  Then this happened:

Needless to say, it was a pretty bizarre game.  Yet, now that we have the advantage of a year of perspective, we can see how much of an impact this one game had on the rest of last season.  Exactly one month after this game, Gilbert got injured and set the playoff run into a tailspin as the Wizards eventually fell all the way to the 7th seed where they were unceremoniously dumped by the Cavaliers.  However, if Don Nelson hadn't gotten that T and the if the Warriors had managed to pull off the win, then the Wiz would've fallen all the way to 8th seed.  Detroit would've gotten the free pass through the first round and Cleveland would've faced Orlando.  Would LeBron have still had enough in him to fuel his insane ECF performance against the Pistons if he had to deal with going to the lane against Dwight Howard for an entire series?  Would the Pistons have had a better shot at winning the conference if they had benefited from  the easy sweep of the depleted Wizards?  It makes you think.

The game didn't just affect the Eastern Conference Playoffs though.  As you'll see in the recap I linked to of the game, Pradamaster called the Warriors a "crappy team" which wasn't far off the mark at the time.  With that loss the Warriors found themselves at 26-35 for the season, but after that game the Warriors went on a 16-5 tear over the final month and a half of the season which gave them all the momentum they needed for their upset of the Mavericks.  Yet, if the Warriors had pulled out the win that fateful March day in D.C. they would've climbed all the way up to the 7th seed.  Dirk and the Mavs would have (presumably) saved their dignity by taking down the Lakers, and the Warriors and Suns would've engaged in a series in which there would've been at least 3 games where a team scored 300 points and no one would've talked about how boring last year's playoffs were.

So remember, when you look at Jason Kidd in a Mavericks jersey, wonder why the Cavaliers are the most feared 4 seed in recent memory, or try and figure out why the guy in the Baron Davis jersey won't talk to you, just remember:

It's all the refs' Don Nelson's fault.

Welcome to the NBA, Oleksiy:

Wouldn't you know it, in the first game the Wizards play after TruthAboutIt comes back from his trip to Argentina, an Argentinian posterizes a Wizard.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Also, if you're big into deductive logic, you could argue that because Kwame posterized Nocioni, that the Wizards 2001 1st round pick > the Wizards 2006 1st round pick.  But who likes deductive logic anyway?

Because nothing tops watching a Tom Gugliotta highlight reel set to Gang Starr music right?