Draft Day Brilliance by the Grun-trust

With the sixteenth overall pick, the Washington Wizards just cemented their perrenial playoff boundedness with the spectacular selection of NBA-sized (6'7") shooting guard Nick Young out of USC. Undoubtedly the Secret-tinged 'Tism wafting through Madison Square Garden, provided by all of our 47-per day readers, allowed the sweet-shooting, adversity-surviving, documentary-inspiring, hyphen-utilizing shooting guard to slip from New Orleans and Detroit into the gratified hands of newly-annointed head baller in charge Ernie Grunfeld. The stepping down of Sue O'Malley, the first-ever female president of a NBA franchise, left room for Abe Pollin to give ultimate decision making duties to Mr. Grunfeld and he responded by plucking another brilliant selection from this ballyhooed pool of college talent. Besides those luscious measurables, Young has shown the ability to take over games, hit major jump shots, have great offensive talent and dunk on people, things that Deshawn Stevenson posesses only occasionally (hence the "Mr. 50-50" nomenclature) when he isn't feeling his face.

Could Young be the replacement for Stevenson, who is looking for a new contract that fits his mediocre, yet solid value? We here at the DC Optimist hope the answer is "no." Deshawn, while having Extreme Accuracy issues at the end of the season, -- a season we have all wiped from our memories like a prominently-chinned Ben Affleck in the gawd-awful Phillip K. Dick abortion "Paycheck" -- was the best free agent acquisition of 06-07, better than Larry Hughes was when his bones managed to hold themselves together for two to three game stretches in Cleveland. He fit snugly into that forth scoring option role like so many Keith David movie appearances. His burgeoning relationship with the now-needing-to-be-pampered Gilbert was also a nice aspect of that forgotten, forever asterisked '06-'07.

Screaming ESPN analysts may again curse the Grun-trust for not finding a big man that doesn't exist outside of Minnesota, but we are in awe of the manner in which Ernie grabbed Young, for now the bench, ever the land of despair, has been boosted further. I am not in favor of sticking the kid into the starting lineup right now, with the newly-reasonably-contracted (hopefully) Stevenson already having earned that position; I want him coming off the vastly improved bench. Before the debacles of last season, the Wiz managed to draft a massive Ukranian kid name Oleksiy Pecherov who marinated in Europe this season, expanding his musculature and improving his basketballing, to be their big man of the future. While Pecherov was gathering his NBA-readiness, Andray Blatche was displaying his, with the occasional brilliant contribution in between earning Eddie Jordan's scorn. Both of these kids should be early bench options, and Young can serve as the first scoring option off the bench, replacing the often sucky Jarvis Hayes.

We have loved Jarvis's tenure in Washington, with his occasional bouts with health that kept him out of his home on the DL, occasional bouts with effective basketball play, and his gleaming dome. But it is time for him to move on and allow for this Young to work his magic.

Lest us not forget the selection of defensive guru Dominic McGuire with the 47th overall pick, who is bound to be an Eddie Jordan favorite with his penchant for defensiveness. According to our scouting department, McGuire (strangley not an Irishman) snatches rebounds out of people's hands, slashes to the hoop and "has all of the tools in place to be a lock-down defensive forward in this league." As if he were Dmitri Young displaying his recent plate (both dinner and home) output, the Grun-trust again strokes another much needed hit. Imagine McGuire being sent into the game in the waning minutes of the forth, causing an ignored travel on Lebron, and being extremely pesky otherwise. DCO Final Draft Grade: A+

MAO of the Week (6-29)

While we continue to soak in the Wizards' drafting brilliance, we pause to honor our Manny Acta Optimist of the Week. In a week where even the brightest of optimists was tested by the struggles of our Nationals, it is good to look back at how we felt at the beginning of the week, in that brief yes-we-have-key-players-hurt-but-we-still-feel-good, pre-Braves-series couple of days. Nobody better expressed the sentiment of the day (and literally, probably one day) than the now-two-time-winner of the MAO of the week, Tom Boswell. He will share the award with His Honor, the President, Stan Kasten, for reasons we will delve into in a moment.

Boz caught a little flak for his 'tism-dripping column on Monday (we hear ya, man), but that doesn't mean he was wrong. Back then, he was writing about how the Nats bounced back from a demoralizing series against the Tigers and took 2 of 3 from the Indians. Surely this bounce-back attitude is even more important now, as the series-from-hell (maybe even below hell) against Atlanta was arguably even more brutal. Thus, time for another bounce-back. Playing the part of Cleveland will be Pittsburgh.

Premier Stan picks up the shared award for his comments (quoted right in Boz's column, how convenient) expressing confidence in GM Jim Bowden and our hero (reverent silence), Manny Acta. Kasten rightly gave Bowden his proverbial props for putting together this lineup (these "pieces") in the face of a rebuild-and-damn-the-present climate. And in Manny, "we've found a manager that can manage." What else do you need?

For Stan's assurance that the two most important non-player positions on the club are secure and, more importantly, well-manned, and for Boz's never-ending willingness to point out that, despite bad stretches such as the Nats have experienced recently, they continue to defy expectations, we have our first shared MAO of the Week.

This Too Shall Pass

Nationals, Nationals, Nationals. Why must you test us so? 13-0? Already twice this month we have listed reasons to be positive after two disheartening losses. It almost looks like you were responding to specific points from those earlier lists of optimism, in that you refuted them with tonight's game.

We accept the challenge. We will spin this until we are stupid dizzy and we will find the reason(s) to not fall into despair. While sympathizing with natural and understandable reactions, we realize that we must be ever-positive. So even though you took away go-to 'Tism points such as Dmitri Young getting a hit and not being shut out (you even demoted Brandon Watson), we will, as always, defend you and remain your loyal fans.

It happens to everyone. The Yankees have had three five-game losing streaks this season. And they have a payroll of $3.7 trillion. Yes, losing 9 out of 12 hurts, but it might simply be that time of the season for the Nats to temporarily take a dunk in the toilet. They're bound to get out of it, one way or another.

A more experienced, perhaps more expensive team, one that is less ravaged by injury, might be able to ride it out for an extra win or two. These Nats, however, are balancing on a razor-thin edge to begin with. They can only take so much. To paraphrase The Simpsons, this season started on a wing and a prayer, but now the wing is on fire, and the prayer has been answered...by Satan. The four out of five starting pitchers injured was bad. Maybe the Guzman injury just pushed them over the edge, for now.

A team such as the afformentioned Yankees, with their $6.2 trillion payroll, cannot afford to use injury as an excuse for poor performance. We at DCO submit that a team such as the Nationals, universally derided as awful when completely healthy and with a miniscule payroll, absolutely can use injury as a completely legitimate excuse for (temporarily) poor play. When your starters are supposed to be wretched, surely you must be excused if, even after your subs have played remarkably for a month and a half, you encounter a rough spot such as this. Thus, these recent losses, unlike the great post-May 10 string of success, can be written off as fluky aberrations.

It can't, and won't, last much longer. As hard as it might be for some to admit, the Nationals are better than that.

The First 100

This post is our 100th since we launched back on March 28, a relatively modest achievement to go along with our (to this point) relatively modest success. In this brief time, we've tried to cast the bright light of optimism on such things as sickeningly unjust injuries to playoff-bound teams, franchises dealt a bad hand who are trying to climb back to respectability, and teams who just flat out could use some optimism. We've also tried to refute optimism-haters whenver and wherever possible, whether they be based locally or elsewhere (yeah, he claims he's from Bethesda. He's still a jerk).

In a celebration of sorts for our 100th post, we take a look at the overall picture of several DC teams and their (surprise) blindingly bright futures (and in some cases, presents).

Redskins

We already know how the draft went (brilliantly, for those of you who don't want to click the link). We also know how they were intelligent this off-season and didn't indulge in the usual orgy of overspending. The (relatively) minimal turnover, especially in the coaching ranks, plus a schedule that should not be (in theory) impossibly difficult, a healthy lineup featuring what should be one of the most feared backfields in the league, and all key players reporting to camp without incident equal big things.

Nationals

We've commented on them more than any other team, partially because it is baseball season and partially because their leader is so in line with our thinking. Manny Acta lives optimism, and brings it to the field, the clubhouse, and pledge-your-allegiance commercials during Nats games.

Of all local teams, this one could have the brightest future, despite their current situation. With The Plan churning along unstoppably, and with a present team that has played superbly so far this season, one in which they were almost-unanimously projected to be historically horrendous, the future is nowhere but up. As has been described more eloquently elsewhere, these Nationals have faced so much crap (we won't use that horridly overused term "adversity") this year, mostly in the form of cruel injuries to key players at most positions, that often one wonders if somebody has it out for them, and truly means for them to be the worst team of all time. But they won't go quietly, or at all, even as that DL full of players who were supposed to comprise the worst-ever team doesn't get any smaller.

Watch out in '08 and beyond.

Capitals

Perhaps no other local team inspires as much cynicism in their fans as the Caps. We're not sure why that is. Maybe it's the (temporary) lack of a Stanley Cup championship, the well-documented-and-discussed playoff...incidents, or those heavily hyped moody "superstars" who didn't really want to play here in the first place (but eagerly took the big money; who wouldn't?) and who, along with an interesting head coach, left us only with one failed playoff appearance before being shipped off with the rest of the overpriced ballast. Pick any or none of the above, but the end result is a fanbase in desperate need of something positive to latch on to.

There are three obvious such positives: Alex O., Alex S., and Calder-Trophy-winner-in-waiting Niklas Backstrom. Perhaps only slightly less obvious are: the maturing leadership of Captain Chris Clark (30 more goals this season, guaranteed), the emergence of Boyd Gordon as a top-tier shutdown forward, and a deep pool of young defensemen whose time is coming (the franchise is so stacked at the AHL level that it has to translate to success at the NHL level, right?).

While there is skepticism in some quarters over the ability (or desire) of the Caps to add that coveted big-name free agent come Sunday, the immediate reaction should not be panic if Chris Drury isn't donning red, white and blue by sunset. We may feel slightly saddened if Daniel Briere is, since, his point-producing prowess aside, we don't dig the groin-spearing. Still, even though he should probably go someplace like Philadelphia, where we can all keep disliking him in peace (and possibly watch that dislike grow and mature), if by some miracle he ends up in DC, we'll...deal...with...it.

Regardless, there are quality players and trade scenarios out there. One particularly delicious hypothetical situation has Drury going to San Jose, who could in turn be willing to deal Patrick Marleau. Even a slightly above average center like Mike Comrie or Viktor Kozlov would constitute a significant upgrade. Then there's just the matter of finding that elite defenseman everyone is clammoring for. So let's wait and see. Something good can, and likely will, come of this offseason.

Also, the uniform: still continuing to grow on us. Looking good.

Wizards

Flat out, they were robbed this past season. Robbed, perhaps, by that same force that may or may not be conspiring to keep the Nationals downtrodden. Noted optimism-haters seemed to forget that point while kicking the team in their collective ribs as they valiantly struggled against the "Chosen One" and the Cleveland Cavs in the playoffs.

These same optimism-haters failed to regard the Gilbert Arenas opt-out as the non-story that it was, and seem to somehow think that the Wiz are facing some sort of dire dilemma heading into the NBA draft. It's a silly perception, of course, for there is no real dilemma. The core of the team is strong. They were cruising through the East before tragedy struck at the knees. Tweak, but don't blow up, the team and watch the playoff run unfold.

United

Sure, it looked bleak early on. But things have come around nicely, and the United find themselves right in the middle of the Eastern Conference, only five points out of first (with a game in hand). They only recently lost for the first time in two months, and have scrubby Colorado up next tomorrow to get back on the right track (no comments please about scrubby Real Salt Lake).

Mystics

We mentioned that they were looking good at 1-8. They are well on their way to the next Nationals-inspired milestone of 9-25, at which point they will dramatically turn their season around and once again pack 'em in to Verizon Center.

So thanks everyone for reading at one point or another over the first 100 posts. Thanks especially to those who have given our hit counter a boost by mentioning us in blogs or wherever else: Dan Steinberg of the Bog, Chris Needham over at Capitol Punishment, Pradamaster at Bullets Forever, and the dude abides, amongst others. Thanks also to the Caps and their tremendous media relations staff for granting us a bit of legitimacy in inviting us to the uniform unveiling and taking great care of us.

End of Sugary Thank-You Session and of Clip-Show-Like Post.

Go team(s)!

Eight More Reasons to Feel Good About the Nats

In a way, it's a little harder to find optimism in yesterday's 4-1 defeat to Atlanta than it was to find it in last week's massacre at the hands of the Tigers. While that game against Detroit could be chalked up to a complete fluke with no long-term implications, yesterday's game, while perhaps not significant in itself (other than it was a loss against a team that had shown itself completely incapable of scoring recently), was accompanied by grim news regarding Christian Guzman's seemingly innocuous thumb injury (regular long-time readers should already be familiar with the nature of these things). There was also lurking the specter of Shawn Hill travelling south to see a specialist about his tendons, a meeting that could potentially have meant more surgery and an extremely extended period of absence.

The news on Hill has, of course, since turned out to be positive, but there still is the loss of our resurgent Guzzy and the slightly spiritless loss yesterday. That the Brandon Watson Watch has to be re-set to 0 makes it hurt that much more. In that light, we try to find the positives from yesterday:

1. Jason Bergmann - The obvious high point. Only four innings, but only one run. Considering the little jam he found himself in during that fateful fourth inning, it could have been much worse, but he pulled himself out of it. Sure he got tired fast, but nothing indicated the bottom was dropping out of his magnificant season with the sub-3.00 ERA.

2. Billy Traber - But wait, didn't he give up the three-run homer that blew open the close game? Sure, but really that's just because of one slightly hanging curve. Until that point, he was getting that wicked little pitch past just about everyone. It's unfortunate that he had to pay such a high price for that one less-than-great pitch (and even more a shame that the ball couldn't have been hit at RFK, where it would have died a grisly death at the warning track).

3. Ronnie Belliard - He'll step in at second while Felipe moves over to cover short. While not having Guzman's .329 average in the lineup will hurt, Ronnie's no slouch. He had a nice double yesterday, and he can pick up at least some of the slack left by our would-have-been Comeback Player of the Year.

4. Brian Schneider - He went 3 for 4, including a double in the ninth when all was basically lost. His batting average is now at .251, higher than even Ryan Zimmerman.

5. Dmitri Young - Keeps getting hits. Still batting .338. No need for all-star ballot fraud here. He's a deserving candidate who should somehow make the game based on his accomplishments (perhaps a new Comeback Player of the Year?).

6. Team Resiliency - They've already shown they can be competitive with most of their starting pitching rotation down in an injured heap, now apparently they must pass the test of having one of their best hitters out (and let's not forget that Nick Johnson is still nowhere to be found in this lineup). They've come this far with bafflingly cruel injuries, so what's one more on the pile?

7. No Errors - Yes, we're recycling points from last week now, but it's still true: no errors last night. It's worth pointing out any time it happens.

8. They're not the White Sox - What the hell happened there?

Manny's Premonition (and the Brandon Watson Watch begins)

Yes, Saturday night hurt. The insults on top of what would already have been a horrific injury were myriad: a blown save, a home run over that cursedly deep center field wall, a sudden deficit, a promising ninth-inning rally brutally cut down before its time, and thousands of Cleveland Indians fans there to let us all know about it. What does a good manager do? Does he rip into his closer who gave up the monstrous home run, or his struggling reserve outfielder whose baserunning blunder squelched the last hopes of the team? No! He digs deep into his seemingly bottomless well of faith in his players and says, "I want to be in the same position [Sunday] with a two-run lead and my closer on the mound in the ninth inning."

Now, we have previously explored how 'Tism can affect the course of human events, and we seem to have more confirming evidence here. For what did ChairManny find in the ninth inning today? His closer on the mound in the ninth inning with a two-run lead. And as the theme of redemption rolls on this season, Chad Cordero delivered, even overcoming a brief scare caused by a wild throw on a would-be double play.

Thus the Nationals have a big series win against Cleveland, one badly needed after the, um, events of the Detroit series. Just when things were starting to look bleak again, with the team losing five of six and perhaps finally succumbing to the expectations that they be a pushover last-place team, 'Tism pulled them back. Bring on the squabbling Braves (yes, they claim to have made up, but our optimism towards our own teams is only matched by our pessimism towards others, so we don't believe it).

The impressive season debut of Brandon Watson should not be lost in all of this. He has now hit in three straight games since going 0-3 on June 20 against Detroit. Is he perhaps setting the table for an encore to his minor league hitting feats? Only 40 games left (and maybe 13 beyond that?) until we know for sure.

Bob asks the tough questions

During Friday's uniform unveiling at Kettler Iceplex, I had the pleasure to ask a few tough questions to the available Capital players. Tarik El-Bashir's piece in Friday's paper noted that the brand new, super sleek, updated-throwback look includes newly designed underwear. It was up to me to find out what the players thoughts were on these new undergarmets, as well as their feelings about hurting opposing NHL players. I first want to give a strong shout out to Jeff Shultz who tolerated me through a couple of questions, but I managed to lose the audio. But I did manage to chat with superbly spent-on defenseman Brian Pothier, grinding gritty winger-defenseman Ben Clymer and the Captain and all around good guy Chris Clark. And you get to hear my amber-toned voice as well!

Brian Pothier: ("...are you serious?")



Chris Clark: ("...a whole team's worth of blood")


Ben Clymer: ("...we'll get our shots in.")

Tattoo Update

Loyalists lined up (or layed down; or laid down; or lay down; whatever) for the new logo. And judging by how many of the 2,088 fans in attendance tonight were lined up for new merchandise, the logo looks to be a hit. This despite the protestations of the naysayers and optimism-haters on various boards who declared they would not purchase anything with the new logo, and urged others to boycott in a similar fashion.

As for Marc, he who earlier pledged to get the new logo emblazoned on his neck or calf, well, he chose the neck.

And the Future Contributor to Winning the Cup is...

Karl Alzner. He's big (6'2", 206 lbs.), he stays at home defensively (as the blogger does), and he looks like a thoroughbred. "Al," (as in "Iafrate") models his game after Chris Pronger and Niklas Lidstrom as opposed to Sergei Gonchar, who no one should model their game after. He even wears number 27 in honor of recent Conn Smythe trophy winner Scott Niedermeyer. As the Caps' time on the clock wore down, the DCO braintrust discussed the possibility of a Niedermeyer-Pronger package in exchange for the #5 pick, but the deal was likely rejected due to Alzner's embodiment of both players simultaneously.

A word on the uniform: It's no coincidence that the letter "T" is most prominent. The DCO has no doubt that this "T" represents the mantra that is sweeping the area: 'TISM (the dot on the "i" represents the apostrophe).