Wizards (finally) buy G League team

[keynote]

Read on Twitter

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wizards-insider/wp/2017/06/21/wizards-becomes-the-27th-nba-franchise-to-buy-a-g-league-affiliate/?utm_term=.1b6ca2d7cf69

I guess all this time, Ted was just waiting for the name of the league to change.

Anyway, we're the 27th franchise to own a G League team. Here's to being on the cutting edge.

Snark aside, this is clearly a good development for the team; one that's been a long time coming.

[closg00]

Better late than never, this is good new, hopefully we start keeping 2nd round picks and bring our rooks-up in our own system.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

A few thoughts.

1. This is good. And a long time coming.
2. We should be all in on PIF's buy 30 second round picks idea.
3. It's a little scary to think that the 'stache will be populating the roster. But, at least we have a coach with a great track record of player development, so we do now have a few of the pieces of a coherent organizational strategy.

[payitforward]

A few thoughts.

1. This is good. And a long time coming.
2. We should be all in on PIF's buy 30 second round picks idea.
3. It's a little scary to think that the 'stache will be populating the roster. But, at least we have a coach with a great track record of player development, so we do now have a few of the pieces of a coherent organizational strategy.

It's great news. Smart to locate it in DC as well.

As to the "buy 30 second round picks idea" -- at first I thought you were saying teams should have 30 seconds to make their R2 picks! I love that idea.

In fact, how about putting names on slips of paper, throwing them on the floor & then having GMs dive in & try to get slips of paper for the guys they want? Then they could swap the slips of paper w/ each other.

In fact, there should be multiple slips for the players; multiple GMs could have slips w/ someone's name on it, & then they'd have to have a wrestling match to see who gets e.g. Caleb Swanigan.

What do you think?

As to the other idea -- buy the whole of R2 -- I love it. But there should be a quantity discount, don't you think?

Ok, how's this? There's an auction for the whole of R2. Then the team that bids highest can turn around & sell picks to other teams.

Actually, that's a good idea -- but there should be a R3 to accommodate it. You feeling me?

[closg00]

I remember years and years of debating Rico (son of Ernie ), and others on the value of having an affiliate, it always fell on deaf ears.

[keynote]

Any guesses/predictions on the name? I kinda doubt that the team will do another riff on the Wizards/Mystics/magic motif, seeing as the Wizards' rebrand has moved away from virtually any wizardry-related imagery (except for G-Wiz).

Predictions:
1. They could double down on the nickname "Wizards," but change the name of the city. Plenty of other teams do this (e.g., Long Island Nets; Westchester Knicks; Northern Arizona Suns). Of course, those teams actually play in other locations, whereas this team will play in DC. So, they'll have to come up with a nickname for the location. E.g.,
- Ward 8 Wizards (my #1 prediction)
- DMV Wizards
- Southeast Wizards
- Anacostia Wizards (my #2 prediction)

2. They try to build a new brand for the G League team -- something very local, but that has nothing to do with politics. It's minor league, so they can take more liberties. E.g.,
- Washington GoGo (or, better yet, the DC Soul Searchers, with permission from Chuck Brown's estate)
- DC Cherry Blossoms

[montestewart]

They'll be playing home games at St. E's. They can call upper level seats Congress Heights.
Nicknames:
The Hammer of Thorazine
The Ezra Pound (there could be a fan section called the Dog Pound)
The Strait Jackets
The Shock Treatment
Trephinators (the Trephinators need another loss like they need a hole in the head)
Ward 6
The DCs (for diminished capacity)
The Nukkin Futz
The Psychlones
Lobos (short for Lobotomies)
The Thorazards
The River Rats
The Sea Dogs
The Alabama Avenue Bullets
The Anacondas
The X (Malcolm X Avenue ends at the St. E's campus)
The Spelz
The Black Cauldron
And Wand
The Naylor Garden Party
The Ballou Cats
The Green Mile
The Freemen
The Not Barry Farm
Shootland Parkway

[keynote]

It's great news. Smart to locate it in DC as well.

Actually, I thought they would've been better off locating the team in Baltimore, in order to better penetrate that market. Most people from Baltimore don't root for the Wizards. In this 2014 map, the Wizards don't even rank in the top 3 in Baltimore.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/05/12/upshot/basketball-map.html#10,39.290,-76.612

Now, a lot of this is because the Wizards have been lousy: people in Hartford or Providence have no problem rooting for the Celtics, despite having "town pride" in their own cities distinct from Boston. That said, if the Wizards want to harness the full economic potential of this mega-metropolis, they'll have to figure out how to get folks in Baltimore and the surrounding counties to rep for the team 45 minutes south of them.

That said, I understand why Ted wanted to kill three birds (practice facility + G league + Mystics) with one stone. A Baltimore-based team would probably have to play in an existing facility.

[montestewart]

It's great news. Smart to locate it in DC as well.

Actually, I thought they would've been better off locating the team in Baltimore, in order to better penetrate that market. Most people from Baltimore don't root for the Wizards. In this 2014 map, the Wizards don't even rank in the top 3 in Baltimore.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/05/12/upshot/basketball-map.html#10,39.290,-76.612

Now, a lot of this is because the Wizards have been lousy: people in Hartford or Providence have no problem rooting for the Celtics, despite having "town pride" in their own cities distinct from Boston. That said, if the Wizards want to harness the full economic potential of this mega-metropolis, they'll have to figure out how to get folks in Baltimore and the surrounding counties to rep for the team 45 minutes south of them.

That said, I understand why Ted wanted to kill three birds (practice facility + G league + Mystics) with one stone. A Baltimore-based team would probably have to play in an existing facility.

Maybe they could play some games in Baltimore, and if the Wizards played preseason "home" games in Baltimore (and Richmond) that would help promote the team.

[keynote]

It's great news. Smart to locate it in DC as well.

Actually, I thought they would've been better off locating the team in Baltimore, in order to better penetrate that market. Most people from Baltimore don't root for the Wizards. In this 2014 map, the Wizards don't even rank in the top 3 in Baltimore.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/05/12/upshot/basketball-map.html#10,39.290,-76.612

Now, a lot of this is because the Wizards have been lousy: people in Hartford or Providence have no problem rooting for the Celtics, despite having "town pride" in their own cities distinct from Boston. That said, if the Wizards want to harness the full economic potential of this mega-metropolis, they'll have to figure out how to get folks in Baltimore and the surrounding counties to rep for the team 45 minutes south of them.

That said, I understand why Ted wanted to kill three birds (practice facility + G league + Mystics) with one stone. A Baltimore-based team would probably have to play in an existing facility.

Maybe they could play some games in Baltimore, and if the Wizards played preseason "home" games in Baltimore (and Richmond) that would help promote the team.

They've done that in the recent past. A few years ago, they "hosted" a home preseason game in Baltimore vs Memo's Knicks. The crowd was solidly pro-Melo/NYC. Perhaps the opponent was a bad choice, given Memo's local roots and the Knicks' fan penetration up.and down the 95 corridor.

[BigA]

They'll be playing home games at St. E's. They can call upper level seats Congress Heights.
Nicknames:
The Hammer of Thorazine
The Ezra Pound (there could be a fan section called the Dog Pound)
The Strait Jackets
The Shock Treatment
Trephinators (the Trephinators need another loss like they need a hole in the head)
Ward 6
The DCs (for diminished capacity)
The Nukkin Futz
The Psychlones
Lobos (short for Lobotomies)
The Thorazards
The River Rats
The Sea Dogs
The Alabama Avenue Bullets
The Anacondas
The X (Malcolm X Avenue ends at the St. E's campus)
The Spelz
The Black Cauldron
And Wand
The Naylor Garden Party
The Ballou Cats
The Green Mile
The Freemen
The Not Barry Farm
Shootland Parkway

Hinckley's Hellcats

[Illmatic12]

Actually, I thought they would've been better off locating the team in Baltimore, in order to better penetrate that market. Most people from Baltimore don't root for the Wizards. In this 2014 map, the Wizards don't even rank in the top 3 in Baltimore.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/05/12/upshot/basketball-map.html#10,39.290,-76.612

Now, a lot of this is because the Wizards have been lousy: people in Hartford or Providence have no problem rooting for the Celtics, despite having "town pride" in their own cities distinct from Boston. That said, if the Wizards want to harness the full economic potential of this mega-metropolis, they'll have to figure out how to get folks in Baltimore and the surrounding counties to rep for the team 45 minutes south of them.

That said, I understand why Ted wanted to kill three birds (practice facility + G league + Mystics) with one stone. A Baltimore-based team would probably have to play in an existing facility.

Maybe they could play some games in Baltimore, and if the Wizards played preseason "home" games in Baltimore (and Richmond) that would help promote the team.

They've done that in the recent past. A few years ago, they "hosted" a home preseason game in Baltimore vs Memo's Knicks. The crowd was solidly pro-Melo/NYC. Perhaps the opponent was a bad choice, given Memo's local roots and the Knicks' fan penetration up.and down the 95 corridor.

Yeah I remember that, everyone there was a Knicks fan. It's funny because Melo stopped claiming BMore and started claiming NY when he went to the Knicks, but people here don't care I guess.

I see Wall jerseys every now and then around here in the greater Baltimore area, but rooting for the Wizards is definitely seen as an esoteric thing. Most NBA fans here who actually follow the league know more about the Cavs etc than they do about the Wi

[keynote]

I have a sister who lives in Baltimore. Her middle school-aged son roots for the Orioles, Ravens, and...Thunder. I asked him why he doesn't root for the local basketball team; he explained that he didn't have one. I countered by saying that CSN Mid-Atlantic is the local cable sports station, and they cover all local teams, including the Wizards. That argument didn't resonate with my nephew.
"Well, what about John Wall?"
"Westbrook's better."
"The Wizards play like less an hour away. It's not like you live in Arkansas. Why not root for the local team?"
"They don't play in *Baltimore*."

I get that smaller markets with sports teams like Baltimore establish their own sports identities. But I'd bet that Sacramento Kings fans root for the Niners or the Raiders. Jersey Devils fans certainly root for the Giants and Yankees (I don't get the sense that the Jets/Mets do as well in NJ).

Do Baltimore fans ignore the Wizards because of their history of stinking? Do Baltimore hockey fans ignore the Caps as well? Or is it due to a "little brother" rivalry?

[payitforward]

I have the perfect name. You will love it. You will wish you thought of it.

Spoiler:

The Bullets

[gambitx777]

Like this is great, because not longer will we have to let younger promising Summer leage guys go we can just offer them a D league contract. We don't need to send guys like white to eurpoe, we can keep them here at home. I can think of a lot of summer league guys over the years that it was a damn shame we didn't get to keep and develop. That one euro kid form a couple years ago was pretty interesting can't remember his name but I wish we had a place to keep him. Camp invites like Johnny O'bryant would be great to keep too. Also great if guys go down or get hurt makes call ups or rehab stints much more viable in the nba.

[gambitx777]

Yo they are going to sell the team name as a sponsorship lol.
The Washington new balance
Washington Sheetz/WaWas
Washington under armor.
The washinton Chiquita
The washinton gillettes
The washionton trojans (although with the level of D that's going to be played maybe you should go with Durex or life styles)
Washinton Axe or Old spice.
Washinton Jagers, bacardis, quiervos, jack denials, Captains (morgan)
Something like that I can 100 % see happening.
I mean you sell that for a million a year you make a profit and pay for the entire D league teams salary

[Ruzious]

That's quite a location - SE DC at the former mental ward. The Washington Wackjobs? SouthEast (or St. E's) Psychos? Washington WallNuts?

Saint Elizabeth's... really? That's the best they could come up with... wow. From the Phone Booth to the Mental Ward. Smh. Really? LOL, the Nats top minor league team plays in Potomac, while the Wizlets are going to play at Saint Elizabeths. Did I say wow? Wow. I'm guessing the options were - Put a new Trump Towers there or a minor league basketball franchise.

[AFM]

The Fireballs

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

That's quite a location - SE DC at the former mental ward. The Washington Wackjobs? SouthEast (or St. E's) Psychos? Washington WallNuts?

Saint Elizabeth's... really? That's the best they could come up with... wow. From the Phone Booth to the Mental Ward. Smh. Really? LOL, the Nats top minor league team plays in Potomac, while the Wizlets are going to play at Saint Elizabeths. Did I say wow? Wow. I'm guessing the options were - Put a new Trump Towers there or a minor league basketball franchise.

WallNuts!!!

ROFL.

[Howard Mass]

Nice!'

I figured this would happen with the opening of your practice facility next season.

New Orleans is likely to have one in 18-19.

Denver really wants to get one and I guess they join in 18-19.

It's really going to be about pushing Portland to get a team so the League is at 30 and I think they will be nudged with having to send two-way players to a team not owned by them.

I think two-way players will be late second round picks or undrafted players. I do not think it will be early second round picks that much as the money is much better if they are on the 15-man roster.

Congrats to you guys though.