Can the Washington Wizards actually contend in the East?

November 10, 2014 By Leave a Comment

wizards cheerleaders

The past offseason, the Wizards managed to resign Marcin Gortat, replace Trevor Ariza with Paul Pierce, and sign a couple of quality role players in Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair. The question, combined with John Wall and Bradley Beal, is that team ready to contend, or they will be stuck in mediocrity, something like the Hawks during the Joe Johnson/Smith/Horford era. Can Pierce be the piece that pushes the young Wizards over the top? Is Gortat worth that much money?

Is Randy Wittman a championship coach? John Wall proclaimed that he and Bradley Beal are the best backcourt duo in the NBA, but now he has to prove that on the floor.

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Washington Wizards: 2012-13 NBA Season Preview

October 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

john wall wizards

The Sports Bank will be counting down to the opening tip of the 2012-13 NBA season with team by team previews starting with the worst and working our way to the title contenders.  There is no lockout this time around so let’s get going.

The Washington Wizards training camp began with a sour taste as news came out that John Wall suffered a minor setback to his knee injury and could miss the first month of the regular season.  That is not the start that a franchise which has suffered through four straight brutally bad years was hoping to hear as they try to turn the corner and inch towards becoming a playoff contender.

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Paying a Price for Trading a Superstar

August 10, 2012 By 1 Comment

Orlando Magic

There is no denying that Dwight Howard is a superstar and superstars only come around every so often. Teams are rarely willing to trade their superstar unless it’s for another superstar or a group of solid players and draft picks. That being said, I have no words for what took place last night.  [Read more…]

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Top 25 Toughest Players to Guard in the NBA: 25-21

May 14, 2012 By 4 Comments

Deron Williams

I am little bored right now, so I thought I would create a list of the 25 Toughest Players to Guard in the NBA. Here are players 25-21. Feel free to leave a comment!  

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Washington Wizards off-season plan remains the same

May 7, 2012 By 3 Comments

john wall wizards

Team president Ernie Grunfeld called this the second year of a three-year plan for the Washington Wizards franchise.  After finishing with the second worst record in the NBA, there will need to be some accelerated growth next season if the team is going to reach the desired destination of said plan.  Having another high draft pick and adding some veteran pieces this off-season would certainly help.
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Blue Bowl: Kentucky Downs North Carolina in Classic Tilt

December 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

kentucky hoops

After an early season loaded with various tournaments and invitationals, the Kentucky Wildcats came into Saturday’s battle with the North Carolina Tar Heels at Rupp Arena looking to make a big statement on the national stage. Behind a 17 point and 11 rebound effort from Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the Cats managed to squeak by the Tar Heels 73-72, running John Calipari’s record to 38-0 at home as Kentucky’s headmaster.

North Carolina had a chance to win the contest late as they had the ball with 13 seconds left, but when John Henson went to put up a contested jumper in the corner with five seconds left, Kentucky freshman Anthony Davis seemingly came out of nowhere to block the shot, and when the Heels seemed to forget that there was still time left on the clock, the Wildcats came away with the emotional win.

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How does Kyrie Irving Compare to NBA #1 Overall Picks Derrick Rose, John Wall?

June 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Kyrie Irving NBA Draft

It’s only natural to compare Duke and soon-to-be Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving to the Washington Wizards John Wall and the Chicago Bulls Derrick Rose. After Thursday evening, it will mark three years in a row that a point guard went first overall, so this juxtaposition of the three franchise floor generals will continue on for many years.

Irving was been as good as advertised in his 11 college basketball games at Duke similar to what John Wall brought to the floor at Kentucky in ’09-’10. Offensively, he can do it all and shows a tremendous skill set for a young point guard.

Irving hung out with Wall at the NBA lottery, and met him during his official UK visit. Irving articulated the advice Wall gave him.

“He just told me to keep my head high when I go through rookie ups-and-downs, and just enjoy the draft process.”

Go here for the first part of this interview feature

By Paul M. Banks

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Washington Wizards Look to Build Around John Wall

May 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

John Wall dance

Like we are currently seeing in the NFL, the 2011 NBA off-season is up in the air with a lockout looming.  Free agency could be delayed and completely restructured depending on the new agreement reached by the owners and players.  Still, The Sports Bank will break down all thirty NBA teams over the next six weeks to see what areas they need to address in the off-season.

After blowing up their roster at the end of the 2009-2010 season, the Washington Wizards have put together a solid blueprint for their re-building process.  The Wiz enter the off-season looking to add to a core of young talent led by John Wall.

By: David Kay

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This Kentucky (and Calipari) Team is Different

March 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

calipari

There is one huge thing missing from Kentucky coach John Calipari’s coaching resume: a national championship.

Kentucky Wildcat fans have seen this similar storyline- a freshman point guard leading a John Calipari team deep into the tournament and falling short at the end. It happened at Memphis with superstars Derrick Rose (he’s only the NBA MVP this year) and Tyreke Evans (vastly underrated and underappreciated in Sacramento). It happened last year in Coach Cal’s first year at Kentucky with an Elite 8 run and last year’s first overall pick John Wall. Fans hope there isn’t a repeat ending this year.

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Minnesota Timberwolves Don’t Get Any Help From Lottery

May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The John Wall Lott, er, NBA Draft Lottery has come and gone. The Washington Wizards won. Thirteen other teams didn’t. However, one team’s loss of the lottery hurts them more than any of the other 12 losers. The Minnesota Timberwolves NEEDED to get the first or the second pick. That necessity however, is, of course, why the Wolves had no chance at landing one of the top two picks in this year’s draft. Needless to say, landing the 4th pick in this year’s draft means certain doom for anyone who had hopes that this draft class was going to turn the franchise around.

by Peter Christian

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The 2010 NCAA Tournament Year Book Awards presented by The Sports Bank

March 18, 2010 By 8 Comments

This week at The Sports Bank we posed ourselves some NCAA Tournament related “Yearbook Questions” to figure out two things: A) Just how much we enjoy being smart asses and B) well, there really is no B), we just wanted to share our smart ass comments with you in a little bit different format.

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Evan Turner Closes In on the Naismith

February 28, 2010 By 3 Comments

By: Hans Hetrick

It’s the end of February. Time to start polishing off the shiny trophies and big awards. And everyone’s favorite Buckeye these days, “His Royal Smoothness” Evan Turner, is up for college basketball’s player of the year award.

Barring any surprises, it’s a two-man race between Turner and Kentucky’s John Wall.

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