And Saunders made clear during a news conference at the team’s arena that he was keeping an eye on his guys from afar during the offseason and the lockout, making references to a couple of episodes:

—an Internet video showing guard Nick Young — who the Wizards hope to re-sign — and center JaVale McGee engaging in something called the “Cinnamon Challenge,” in which they swallowed spoonfuls of that spice;

—guard Jordan Crawford’s comments quoted by The Washington Post in which he said he feels as if he “can be better than Michael Jordan.”

Speaking specifically about Young and McGee, Saunders said: “The biggest thing is they’re not young players anymore. So they have to show the discipline, maturity, not only on the floor but off the floor.”

And then Saunders added: “The cinnamon — that thing doesn’t cut it.”

When he was asked about Crawford at another point, Saunders preceded a serious discussion of the player’s competitiveness and ability to play both guard spots by cracking: “Well, I didn’t know he was as good as Michael Jordan. I wasn’t sure of that. I didn’t know that. That’s one thing I didn’t know. But I did know he had a lot of confidence.”

What sort of improvements are made by Wall, Crawford, Young, McGee and Andray Blatche will go a long way toward determining how the Wizards do. They’re not expected to make too many moves to bring in new faces of significance as the truncated, 66-game season approaches.

Training camp will start next Friday in Washington, and the Wizards will play preseason games at home on Dec. 16 and on the road Dec. 20 — both against the Philadelphia 76ers. Blatche worked out informally Friday at the team’s arena with some players from other NBA teams, including Indiana’s Roy Hibbert and Denver’s Ty Lawson.

Saunders needs the 25-year-old Blatche to stay healthy and to be one of his on-court leaders.

“We have eight guys (who are) 23 and under. That’s pretty young. He’s not one of those guys. He’s a veteran player. When you’ve been in the league six years, you don’t have that crutch anymore of saying, ‘I’m a young guy.’ He’s not,” Saunders said. “I think he understood that people look up to him and now it’s a point where he has a responsibility not only to himself but to the team and to his contract.”

In talking about how he thinks the Wizards are capable of making a run at the playoffs, Saunders ran down a lengthy list of “ifs”: Wall — the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft — and McGee must develop; Rashard Lewis must be healthy and revert to the multidimensional player he was back in Seattle; Washington needs to have more success down the stretch in close games.

Add it all up, Saunders said, and he’s “hoping that the development of your team is going to give you more, and you can put yourself in position to be a 40-win team.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Coach Flip Saunders delivered a fairly simple — and not-so-subtle — message to his young Washington Wizards: I’m watching.

Saunders knows his team, led by point guard John Wall, is stocked with players in their early 20s. Saunders also knows there will need to be some growing up done if the Wizards are going to, as Saunders put it Friday, “compete for the playoffs” this season after going only 23-59 and finishing last in the Southeast Division in 2010-11.

And Saunders made clear during a news conference at the team’s arena that he was keeping an eye on his guys from afar during the offseason and the lockout, making references to a couple of episodes:

Speaking specifically about Young and McGee, Saunders said: “The biggest thing is they’re not young players anymore. So they have to show the discipline, maturity, not only on the floor but off the floor.”

And then Saunders added: “The cinnamon — that thing doesn’t cut it.”

When he was asked about Crawford at another point, Saunders preceded a serious discussion of the player’s competitiveness and ability to play both guard spots by cracking: “Well, I didn’t know he was as good as Michael Jordan. I wasn’t sure of that. I didn’t know that. That’s one thing I didn’t know. But I did know he had a lot of confidence.”

What sort of improvements are made by Wall, Crawford, Young, McGee and Andray Blatche will go a long way toward determining how the Wizards do. They’re not expected to make too many moves to bring in new faces of significance as the truncated, 66-game season approaches.

Training camp will start next Friday in Washington, and the Wizards will play preseason games at home on Dec. 16 and on the road Dec. 20 — both against the Philadelphia 76ers. Blatche worked out informally Friday at the team’s arena with some players from other NBA teams, including Indiana’s Roy Hibbert and Denver’s Ty Lawson.

Saunders needs the 25-year-old Blatche to stay healthy and to be one of his on-court leaders.

“We have eight guys (who are) 23 and under. That’s pretty young. He’s not one of those guys. He’s a veteran player. When you’ve been in the league six years, you don’t have that crutch anymore of saying, ‘I’m a young guy.’ He’s not,” Saunders said. “I think he understood that people look up to him and now it’s a point where he has a responsibility not only to himself but to the team and to his contract.”

In talking about how he thinks the Wizards are capable of making a run at the playoffs, Saunders ran down a lengthy list of “ifs”: Wall — the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft — and McGee must develop; Rashard Lewis must be healthy and revert to the multidimensional player he was back in Seattle; Washington needs to have more success down the stretch in close games.

Add it all up, Saunders said, and he’s “hoping that the development of your team is going to give you more, and you can put yourself in position to be a 40-win team.”

Wolf Blitzer has long featured a dry sense of humor that stands in stark contrast to his rather awesome name, which sounds like the titular video game character your little brother played with on Sega Genesis 18 years ago. So we suspect he’s working with his tongue placed firmly in cheek as he discusses his role in convincing then-Washington Wizards GM Michael Jordan to return to the NBA following a three-year absence in 2001.

From an interview with the Washington Post’s Michael Lee:

“At one point, I said to him, ‘This city would really explode if you put your uniform back on and starting playing a little bit.’ And he laughed. Then I pressed him and pressed him. After the interview, he did it,” Blitzer said in a recent telephone interview. “Now being an egomaniac that I am, I take personal credit. But I suspect there were other factors besides my excellent questioning that convinced him to come back and play.”

Again, this is probably a sly joke on Blitzer’s part. And a needed one, because it reminded of the forum in which he asked Jordan — an awful (though no fault of Blitzer’s) town hall meeting on CNN to discuss what was so terribly wrong with the NBA while using 47 descriptions of the same insinuation (“too young, too black,” essentially) while ignoring the real problems (hand-checking and physical play was killing the offenses, stars were in short supply, and too few coaches let their teams run).

If you do take Blitzer at his word, jokes aside, understand that Jordan was going all out at Wizards practice the day he signed with the team as GM and part-owner 13 months before the Blitzer back and forth. He was a regular with the team in practice throughout 2000-01, rumors began to spread about his slow build to a comeback midway through that season, but he waited until Sept. 10, 2001 (seven months after Blitzer’s question) to admit (without much fanfare and late in the evening to the Associated Press, and on the steps of his go-to workout center in Chicago) that he was planning a full-fledged comeback as a player.

Of course Wolf is joking, though. Right? Right.

(Please tell me he’s joking. HT: Tom Ziller at SB Nation.)

Related: Washington Wizards

Photo by bigdaddywookie on instagram.

If everything falls into place, Smart Gilas Pilipinas will have the Washington Wizards’ seven-foot center JaVale McGee as naturalized player for the next FIBA Asia championship.

McGee had been in the country twice in the last four months and, in his last visit, expressed willingness to be part of the Philippine team vying for a slot in the 2014 World Championship.

Via McGee Tapped For Smart Gilas, 10/29/11

Of course this is happening. Three months ago, he took part in a set of exhibition games in the basketball-loving country with guys like Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, and Derrick Rose. He clearly made the most of that opportunity, with the crowd loving his ridiculous coast-to-coast drives and even more ridiculous act of planking in the middle of the game. Just over a week ago, he went back there to sign on as an endorser for Smart Communications and, um, had some excellent pictures taken. While in the country, he filmed commercials, made appearances, and conducted a basketball clinic. Playing for Talk N Text in the PBA and/or joining the national team seems like the logical next step, right? Right.

It’s worth noting that McGee took part in the U.S. Team’s mini-camp last year before the World Championships, but since he didn’t make the team he is allowed to become a naturalized player elsewhere. He’s had a busy summer — as well as all this Philippines stuff and traveling to China for promotional appearances with Peak, he’s spent time playing in the Drew League and just returned from participating in a USO showcase in Hawaii. While most things about JaVale McGee are hilarious to us, his team is taking this off-season seriously.

Tags: cantwait, internationalsuperstar, JaVale McGee