So much for those brilliant ideas.
When the Wizards’ preseason schedule was announced, it was immediately significant to me that not only would their opener be against Allen Iverson in his debut with the Memphis Grizzlies, but that AI’s debut would come barely an hour down the highway from his hometown in Hampton, Virginia.
I spoke to Iverson’s old high school coach, Craig Brehon, and unsuccessfully reached out to his manager, Gary Moore, for this sidebar in today’s print edition.
And Iverson’s sitting out the game with a hamstring strain. Figures.
In any case, all the more time to focus on the Wizards tonight, including Nick Young, who’s earned the start at shooting guard.
“I was excited,” said Young of his initial reaction to the news. “But Gil [Arenas] was talking trash, ‘Just as fast as they say Nick Young, they gon’ say Nick Young sub if you mess up,’ so I got to deal with that all night.”
Good thing I talked about Mike Miller and DeShawn Stevenson in today’s preview piece.
“I just think our veteran players, DeShawn and Mike and those guys, have been through a lot of these,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “It’s a good opportunity for [Young] and to bring those other guys a little bit slower.”
Young was just fine with not seeing Iverson – “No, I ain’t disappointed. He got his braids back,” – and psyched to play against fellow USC alum O.J. Mayo.
But back to Arenas. The strategy has clearly shifted into one of bringing him along slowly toward the first regular season game.
“We’ll see from Gil. I might give him a good blow early and that might be it,” said Saunders, meaning 8-10 minutes. “He’s gone nine practices, 10 practices now, in seven days. He did some things this morning and he was on his feet a lot and I don’t want to keep yo-yoing him at this point.”
Adjust those expectations accordingly.
