The hasty manner in which the NBA has gone from nuclear winter to the start of the season didn’t give Wizards head coach Flip Saunders enough time to come up with a training camp theme.
After “Our Time” in 2009 and “Back to Basics” last year, the closest Saunders came to an actual title for the upbeat training camp that began on the Verizon Center practice court on Friday evening was calling it a “work in progress.”
“There’s a lot of things right now,” Saunders said. “We just don’t have everybody in yet and everything else. [Saunders is] anticipating to see what’s going to happen with some of our guys we still have out there.”
While Saunders may have been talking about missing restricted free agent Nick Young, potentially re-signed free agent Maurice Evans, and perhaps even center Ronny Turiaf, who is headed to Washington from New York, according to a report, the Wizards still had their two leaders on the floor, second-year point guard John Wall and seventh-year power forward Andray Blatche.
Each took turns leading the team, sliding back and forth, forward and back, and dropping down on their stomachs and springing back up in a defensive movement exercise at the end of a more than two-and-a-half hour practice that concluded with an exhausting two-minute tip drill.
In the post-practice huddle, Saunders extended a Wizards-branded hard hat to Wall for giving the most effort in the session – with the caveat that Wall could in turn hand it to another player if he thought someone was more deserving. Wall decided to put it on.
“I thought about it, but I think I played hard today, so I wanted to keep it,” said Wall afterward in the locker room, which sported a brand new centerpiece rug with the rebranded “DC” team logo that echoes the reaching hands of the Bullets.
Next to Wall’s corner locker was that of the team’s latest top draft pick, 6-foot-11 Czech product Jan Vesely, who after a summer of working out in Los Angeles had opened himself in recent weeks to the idea of shopping for a team to play for back home in Europe before the lockout suddenly ended.
“I think we got good guys,” Vesely said. “We were working hard, and it was fun so I’m happy for that.”
In limited time in front of the media, the sixth pick in last June’s draft showed off an erractic midrange jumper, but the anticipation remains that he’ll put his dunking skills on display soon.
“He was good, considering he got in yesterday,” Saunders said. “I think he did good things. He’s got a lot of bounce. He has a huge upside, because I don’t think he’s had a lot of individual development. That’s something that we really stress a lot and work a lot with so I think that can be beneficial for him.”
The official signings of the rookies – Vesely, Chris Singleton and Shelvin Mack – pushed back the scheduled start time for practice an hour and left them in a euphoric state afterward.
“It was just finally getting it over with,” Mack said. “I’m blessed to make it this far, especially throughout the lockout injury free, just get out there and be able to compete.”
Blatche said he liked the rookie class – “Well, not better than John,” he corrected himself – and admitted having trouble with their names.
“I’ve seen Chris throughout the summer, so I know Chris is going to be one of those guys that really helps us out a lot,” Blatche said. “He’s very tough. He’s a defender, energy player, hit the glass. [Vesely] I can’t pronounce his name, it’s like, remember when we had [Oleksiy] Pecherov? It’s going to be tough. Jan [pronounced YON]? Okay, Jan is going to be a good player out there for us, he’s going to develop some more. Shelby? See, ya’ll got some tough names coming in. Shelby, he’s going to be a major piece to help John out.”
Blatche had no trouble with a familiar neighbor in the adjacent locker and near his Prince George’s County house, guard Roger Mason Jr., who officially became a member of his hometown team for the second time at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon.
“Coming back into Wiz locker room – one of my favorite movies is Groundhog Day,” Mason said, “As I walked in today, it felt good. The last few years I’ve been coming back as a visitor, and it’s good to be home.”
Blatche welcomed the chance to carpool to games for a change and promised to be a team leader.
“I’m just going to try to be [Saunders’] coach when he’s not around,” he said, “try to get guys together, try to keep everybody positive, try to make sure no guys are worrying about themselves and worrying about the team first, let everybody know it’s all about winning. At the end of the day, if you’re winning, everything else is going to take care of itself.”
And after Saunders gave players iPods two years ago and iPads last season, Blatche didn’t mind the lack of gadget gifts so far.
“It might be a good look for us,” Blatche said. “He’s probably trying to humble us.”
*Injuries
Second-year forward Trevor Booker did only some light shooting, sporting a wrap around his upper right leg. Booker, who suffered a thigh injury in Israel, said he expects to be out another week. Restricted free agent Othyus Jeffers, who tore an ACL in July, seems an unlikely participant in camp.
*Training camp roster filled out, for now
The Wizards added small forward Mardy Collins, center Aaron Pettway and guard Mike Wilks for the opening of camp. Restricted free agents and expected camp attendees Larry Owens and Hamady Ndiaye were both absent, which may be in part due to moving pieces such as the acquisition of Turiaf.
