With the emergence of first-round pick Bradley Beal as Washington’s starting shooting guard, Crawford’s role diminished and his desire was to be moved elsewhere.

In parts of three seasons with the Wizards, Crawford averaged 14.5 points. This season, Crawford was averaging 13.2 points and 3.7 assists.

Crawford was the 27th overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft, and was traded from the Nets to the Atlanta Hawks for his rookie season.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba–wizards-trade-jordan-crawford-to-celtics-190805570.html

Reports have also surfaced that Crawford might be on the trade block. His tweet could also mean that he’s showing potential teams what types of numbers he is capable of putting up. Before Feb. Crawford was averaged well over 20 minutes per game and in Dec. he averaged 19.1 points per game on 41-percent shooting, including 34-percent shooting from three-point land.

There is no question that Crawford can score, but can he do so efficiently and in the flow of the team’s offense? That is what has been the knock on Crawford and what CSN Bay Area reporter Ric Bucher has shed some light on. Crawford makes just over $1.1 million this season and will make $2.1 million next season.

http://dc.sbnation.com/2013/2/18/4002010/washington-wizards-trade-rumors-2013-deadline-nba

By falling to the sixth overall pick, there’s just enough room for the Wizards to be worried that whoever they deem as their guy at that spot won’t be there. Add to that scenario the Minnesota Timberwolves sitting at No. 2, a spot where the second guy in a two-player draft is likely to be Derrick Williams, who would fit with nearly every team in the league except for one where Kevin Love and Michael Beasley already reside, and the cir*****stantial evidence starts to pile up quickly. Center Enes “I want to play with John Wall” Kanter is also all but guaranteed to be there at No. 2, which adds to the intrigue.

From there, buzz has grown in recent weeks, starting first with a tweet from Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com, then again in his latest mock draft for Yahoo!, but also via ESPN.com’s Chad Ford, who made multiple references to Minnesota, Washington and JaVale McGee in an online chat. None of this comes as a surprise, but it is helpful reinforcement of what we already know about the Wizards as they prepare for the draft on June 23: McGee is Washington’s best and only tradable asset this offseason.

This has been the case from the moment the trade deadline passed in February. Yes, if Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld can convince someone to take Gilbert Arenas off his hands – even if it was even more of a favor by Orlando general manager Otis Smith – he surely can find a taker for Andray Blatche’s bloated deal or Rashard Lewis’ cringe-inducing salary (and it appears they’re trying), right?

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/pick-roll/2011/06/wizards-key-draft-question-time-part-mcgee#ixzz1PXgk49QU

The morning after landing the No. 1 overall pick, there were no worries
about drafting the next Kwame Brown, nor were there grand expectations
that the Wizards were going to be immediate playoff contenders next
season with likely choice John Wall.

But there finally was hope for a team that endured a season that included the death of longtime owner Abe Pollin, dissension, guns in the locker room, season-ending suspensions, season-ending injuries, a 16-game losing streak, a player-coach dustup and a felony gun conviction for the most-recognizable player. As Peter Biche, the Wizards’ president of business operations and chief financial officer, said afterward, "The bottom is behind us and we’re on the upswing now."

In a few weeks, Ted Leonsis will replace the NBA’s longest-tenured owners, the Pollin family, and take the Wizards down a path that he hopes will resemble the success that he has encountered — at least in the regular season — with the NHL’s Washington Capitals.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/19/AR2010051904696.html

I was convinced, in fact, the Washington Wizards, the franchise with the worst luck in the history of professional sports in America, would win the lottery Tuesday night because there was no college player to lose your mind over. No Magic Johnson, no Hakeem Olajuwon, no David Robinson or Patrick Ewing, no Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, no LeBron James … not even a Yao Ming or James Worthy. I was thinking that this, 2010, simply wasn’t the time to get all worked up over winning the lottery if Wall was the Guy.

And then somebody who knows more about basketball than anybody of his generation shook some sense into me. Magic himself, sensing I was undervaluing what had just happened for the Wizards, said: "No, no, no, no! The Wizards have got to take John Wall. They must take this kid.

"When he’s got the ball in his hands, he causes excitement. You can always get an Evan Turner. He’s a very, very good player. But there will be an Evan Turner in next year’s draft. The game has changed. … There are no more huge big men you have to stop, no back-to-the-basket guys. The big guys are all shooting fadeaways and playing 15 feet from the basket.

"More than ever you have to start with a really good point guard. Look at what Utah does with Deron Williams, New Orleans with Chris Paul, Chicago with Derrick Rose, Oklahoma City with Russell Westbrook. … Look at how Rajon Rondo has come along with Boston.

"John Wall’s got a little special in him. You can’t pass on him. Look at Atlanta; they passed on Chris Paul and Deron Williams and are still trying to recover from that mistake. The last two rookies of the year [Rose and Tyreke Evans] are point guards. Wall has that same type of ability, lived up to the same level of hype as Rose did in college. You do it at Kentucky, you’re playing on the biggest stage in college basketball every night, against top competition every night. You know what Wall does now as well as anybody in the league? Gets it off the glass and goes. I mean, right now he does that as well as anybody in the league."

http://views.washingtonpost.com/world-wide-wilbon/wilbon/2010/05/xxxxx.html

Federal prosecutors had just released a devastating 61-page do*****ent
illustrating how the culture of permissiveness could crumble an NBA
franchise. Gilbert Arenas(notes) pushed to see how far the Washington
Wizards would let him go, and that turned out to be all the way to a
felony, all the way probably to jail.

As much as anything, Wizards coach Flip Saunders needed to use the final weeks of this season to restore some semblance of standard and strength to the franchise. They’re losing every night now, playing out the string, and yet he still can’t make a stand. For years, Andray Blatche(notes) has been an underachieving pain in the butt for Washington and he’d never been more belligerent, more thickheaded than on Tuesday night when he refused to re-enter a game.

Blatche should’ve been suspended.

He should be gone now.

“Fifteen years, I’ve never seen anything like it, never,” Saunders said Tuesday night. “He can be pissed at me or whatever, but you never leave your teammates hanging out to dry like that, no matter what, especially when you’ve lost 11 games in a row and you’ve got a chance to win a game. Uncalled for. We’ll deal with it.”

Deal with it? Washington did nothing. They had lost 12 straight games, and they could’ve lost the 13th on Wednesday with or without Blatche. After a bad shot and a defensive lapse Tuesday night in a loss to Charlotte, Saunders brought Blatche back to the bench and tried to coach him. Only, he wouldn’t listen.

Saunders told Blatche he wouldn’t return to the game until he listened to the assistant coaches correct his mistakes. Sam Cassell(notes) and Gene Banks tried, but Blatche bristled.

Yes, the coach should’ve suspended Blatche, sent him home and played the rest of the week without him. Management told the coach it was his call, league sources say. They would’ve gone with a suspension, a benching, whatever Saunders wanted.

The coach backed down, again.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-blatchewizards032410

After leading the Washington Wizards to a shocking 10-point victory
over the Denver Nuggets nearly three weeks ago, Josh Howard reached
into his locker room stall and picked up an all-white Washington
Nationals baseball cap. Howard then explained how much he liked the
curly W logo and that he had bought a few hats in different colors long
before the Dallas Mavericks made him a District resident in a trade
deadline deal.

"I got a whole bunch of these," Howard said, flashing his crooked grin as he twisted the slightly oversize cap around his head. "You’ll see."

Howard had hoped to make wins and his assortment of Nats hats a regular post-game sight, but that was the last time he would play a game at Verizon Center and leave the court without assistance.

Howard’s season came to an end just two games later on Feb. 22, when his left knee bent awkwardly while receiving an outlet pass from Mike Miller in the first quarter of a 101-95 win over Chicago. He said he immediately knew "something wasn’t right" but didn’t find out until a day later that he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament.

"It was devastating," said Howard. "No guy wants to find out they’re not going to finish out the season. I had high expectations of taking this team to the playoffs, which I thought we was on our way, too. It was an unfortunate situation to happen."

Howard was the main acquisition, from a talent and financial perspective, when the Wizards made their roster overhaul last month. The Wizards had no intention of picking the one-time all-star ‘s $11.8 million option next season, even before the knee injury. The team began touting the salary cap flexibility provided by his expiring contract immediately after acquiring him from Dallas for Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/2010/03/josh-howard-hopes-to-play-agai.html?wprss=wizardsinsider

Adrian Wojnarowski

Zydrunas Ilgauskas(notes) could reach agreement on a buyout with the
Washington Wizards in the next couple days, his agent told Yahoo!
Sports on Sunday.

The bigger question is this: Will the NBA allow him to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers?

Ilgauskas’ agent, Herb Rudoy, said he was “hopeful” a buyout would be done by “Monday or Tuesday,” after having discussions with Wizards general manager Ernie Grunfeld over the weekend.

The Los Angeles Times reported the NBA has told teams the center won’t be allowed to return to the Cavaliers, based on evidence there was a prearranged deal. The Cavs traded Ilgauskas and a No. 1 draft pick for Antawn Jamison(notes) on Thursday, and many in the NBA – including Lakers coach Phil Jackson and Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers – insisted they believed Ilgauskas was always destined to return to Cleveland.

“ ‘Z’ does not want to go to Washington and knows that there are plenty of good teams that want to sign him,” Rudoy said. “He’s going to take his time.”

Players have to wait 30 days before re-signing with the team that just traded them.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ys-ilgauskasbuyout022110&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Butler, the Washington Wizards’ standout small forward from Racine, has been the subject of trade rumors for several weeks.

Friday, it was reported by several media outlets that the Wizards had
agreed to trade Butler, a two-time All-Star, to the Dallas Mavericks in
a multi-player deal.

In the proposed trade, Washington would send Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson to Dallas for Josh Howard and Drew Gooden.

However, I was told late Friday night the trade hasn’t been finalized and that there was still a possibility the deal might not be consummated.

* Whether veteran Bucks point guard Luke Ridnour is dealt to the New York Knicks before the Feb. 18 deadline remains to be seen, but there is little doubt the Knicks are keenly interested in his services.

I was told by an NBA executive that the Knicks "want a guard bad.’’

There have been some rumblings the Bucks would receive point guard Chris Duhon – who once played for Bucks coach Scott Skiles in Chicago — from the Knicks, but that apparently isn’t the case.

* Bucks reserve guard Jerry Stackhouse won’t be in Sunday’s All-Star game, but his son, Jaye, will be.

Sort of.

Jaye Stackhouse, a seventh grader who lives in Atlanta, will be a ball boy for Sunday night’s All-Star game.

"He’s been a ball boy before; when I was in Dallas, he did the games,’’ Jerry said. "But this is his first All-Star game. He’s excited, obviously.’’

Stackhouse, by the way, said he hasn’t given much thought to playing beyond this season.

"I’m day to day,’’ Stackhouse said, smiling.

However, Stackhouse made it clear there is one factor that would prompt him to call it quits.

"If anything significant happens again, as far as injuries, I would come to that point of retiring,’’ Stackhouse said. "But, hopefully, I can help the Bucks get into the playoffs and then come back next year with them. That would be a no-brainer.’’

* Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings, who acquitted himself quite well in Friday night’s Rookie Challenge when he scored 22 points and had eight assists, was asked the difference between his torrid start this season – which included a scintillating 55-point outing against Golden State — and his recent shooting struggles where shots 30 percent in his last six games.

http://my.journaltimes.com/post/woelfel-world-of-sports/caron_butler_should_hear_today_if_hes_being_traded.html

Antawn Jamison wasn’t necessarily upset that the Wizards were unable to
get out of Orlando this weekend. Sure, he would’ve loved to make it
back to Washington and play the Atlanta Hawks at Verizon Center last
night. But since the game was postponed, Jamison had a much easier
commute to Miami, where he plans on watching the New Orleans Saints and
Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl.

Jamison caught a short flight to Miami after Sunday’s practice in Orlando. He’ll join the team on Monday.

This will be the first Super Bowl that Jamison has ever attended, but the Louisiana native said it has nothing to do with the Saints participating. He’s not even a Saints fan. He said he’s a fan of individual players and thinks Peyton Manning is the best quarterback in the game.

Jamison has no rooting interest in the game, but he purchased a suite at Sun Life Stadium so that he could have a good time with several of his friends. He said his wife, Ione, granted him some time with his boys to help get away; with this difficult season with the Wizards providing few opportunities for fun. Jamison made a similar trip to watch North Carolina win the national championship in Detroit last season.

I know there has been a lot of talk lately about the Wizards being reluctant to move Jamison to Cleveland given the bad blood between the two franchises. The apprehension is believed to be rooted in three hotly contested playoff series, and Larry Hughes’s departure in the summer of 2005. The prevailing sentiment from people around the league is that President Ernie Grunfeld has no desire to help Danny Ferry and the Cavaliers win a championship by giving them Jamison.

But I had a recent conversation with an Eastern Conference executive who made a very interesting point. The executive said the Wizards should only be concerned about interest of the organization – not what Jamison could do for the Cavaliers – and used Memphis as an example.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/2010/02/jamison-headed-to-miami-for-su.html?wprss=wizardsinsider