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frequently about following the example of the Washington Capitals, and why not? The Caps were ranked 11th in ESPN the Magazine’s just-released “Ultimate Standings,” which measure how much teams give back to their fans. No other D.C. team was in the top 90. This Caps emulation counts for on-ice strategy — building through the draft, trying to form a young core of players who can grow together, not going crazy on long-term deals for pricey free agents until success is near — and it counts for off-ice matters, too.


Which helps explain why Wizards President Ernie


THE SIDELINE S


ince Ted Leonsis assumed control of the Washington Wizards, he’s talked


D.C. SPORTS BOG Dan Steinberg


Grunfeld picked up a phone to join a conference call with about 1,500 ticket buyers Wednesday afternoon and spent more than 45 minutes answering their questions.


One guy asked about the chances of landing Jeff Green, Carmelo Anthony or Kevin Durant next summer. Another was curious about Chris Bosh


Quick Fix 6From the blogs at washingtonpost.com/sports


REDSKINS INSIDER Team expresses interest in the Chargers’ Jackson The Redskins are among teams interested in acquiring Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson, the San Diego Union Tribune reported.


Entering his sixth season,


Jackson is unhappy that San Diego offered him only a one-year tender — originally worth $3.268 million and then reduced to a base salary of $583,000 when Jackson did not sign by the June 15 deadline — and is threatening to hold out until Week 10 of the regular season. Washington’s interest makes sense. The Pro Bowl player has surpassed 1,000 yards receiving in each of the past two seasons and at 6 feet 5 and 230 pounds is the type of big target Coach Mike Shanahan likes. According to an ESPN report, Shanahan looked at Jackson in the 2005 draft when


Shanahan was still head coach of the Denver Broncos. Redskins wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell was a teammate of Jackson’s in San Diego from 2005 to ’06. The Redskins could use help


at wide receiver, where Santana Moss remains the only proven option and where the coaching staff clearly wants competition. There are 11 receivers on the roster, including veterans Joey Galloway, 38, and Bobby Wade, 29, third-year wide receivers Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly, and seventh-round draft pick Terrence Austin. Jackson does have some


off-the-field issues. After pleading guilty to a DUI charge in February, his second conviction, Jackson likely will be subject to the NFL’s personal conduct policy and face a possible suspension. —Paul Tenorio


Mystics at Mercury


Records: Washington 10-5, Phoenix 5-10. Where: U.S. Airways Center. When: 10 p.m.


To play or not to play: After bruising her lower back late in Phoenix’s 95-85 loss to the Mystics this past Sunday, reigning WNBA most valuable player Diana Taurasi is listed as day-to-day. Taurasi missed Phoenix’s most recent contest, a 94-88 loss to Atlanta on Tuesday, but her status is unclear for a rematch with Washington as the Mercury try to snap a five-game losing streak. If Taurasi does not play, look to Phoenix forwards Candice Dupree and Penny Taylor to carry the bulk of the offensive load. Washington held the pair to 14 and seven points, respectively, in the teams’ previous meeting. Quite a start: At 10-5, the Mystics are off to their best start through 15 games since the team went 11-4 in 2002. Washington went 6-2 in June but must continue at its breakneck pace, facing both Phoenix and Tulsa in the next three days. “We went from two games in 14 days to six games in 10 days, it’s intense,” Monique Currie said. “I would much rather play games than practice all the time but you have to take care of your body and figure out how to recover when you’re playing all these extra games, so far so good.”


— Katie Carrera TELEVISION AND RADIO


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WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS First Things First: Tracee Hamilton’s weekday morning chat will return next week.


THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2010


WASHINGTON POST LIVE WITH IVAN CARTER 5 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet Live guests from the AT&T National near Philadelphia join The Post’s Dave Sheinin and Gene Wang.


Making the right call: Leonsis helps Wizards connect with fans


and Carlos Boozer this summer. A woman wanted to know how the Wizards will help their young kids transition into mature professionals. A forward-looking type wanted to know how the Wizards could keep John Wall happy in Washington throughout his entire career. Someone asked how the Wizards could be sure about new acquisition Yi Jianlian’s age. “His birth certificate says that


he’s 22 years old and that’s all we can go by,” Grunfeld said with a laugh. These conference call klatches are old news for the Caps; Coach Bruce Boudreau, GM George McPhee and Leonsis have all held them. So have players like Brooks Laich, Matt Bradley and Mike Knuble. So have the team’s


television announcers, Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin. In fact, for this Wizards call — which was suggested by Leonsis — the host, radio play-by-play man Dave Johnson, actually traveled to the Caps’ offices in Ballston. He started the proceedings with a few generic questions about the recent transactions and the upcoming dawn of free agency. Then the event was turned over to the callers, many of whom wanted to talk about a certain veteran superstar. “I wanted to ask if you have


discussed with Gilbert [Arenas] the idea of Gilbert playing the two-guard position, Gilbert being Ray Allen to John Wall being Rajon Rando?” one fan asked.


“I was very heartened when I


heard Ted Leonsis and you say that you really were gonna give Gilbert another chance, and that you thought he’d be an important part of the team,” another said. “Most of us love him, everyone in our section misses him and wanted him back.” “We’re all excited, we love the


Hibachi, we love what he did in the past and looking forward to seeing this again,” someone else said.


Grunfeld, truth be told, wasn’t terribly more quotable with the fans than he is with the media. He told them that Arenas is “really looking forward to playing with John [Wall] and not having to have as much of the ball-handling responsibility.” He


declined, politely, to discuss any players under contract with other teams. He said the team needs to pick up at least one more big man and somebody who can play on the perimeter before next season. He acknowledged that John Wall is already “the Great Wall of Chinatown,” and decided that Yi could be “the Great Supporting Wall, I guess.” He allowed Johnson to make


several pitches for fans to be connected with the ticket staff, and he did not shy away from the hockey comparison. “We are gonna follow what the Capitals did, building through the draft and building through youth and trying to do it the right way,” Grunfeld said. steinbergd@washpost.com


Hot Topic Wizards Insider Blog excerpt from washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider


The LeBron effect hits D.C.


While other teams are clearing cap space for James, the


Wizards are bargain hunting by Michael Lee


Anybody else out there looking to free up some cap room to lure LeBron James? Is Miami still trying to give away Michael Beasley? Could it be that risky to take him on for one year? Maybe, but what the hay? Teams are giving away their best players and the Wizards have been opportunistic, to say the least. They are taking advantage of teams that have visions of James wearing their No. 6 jersey while he gets booed at Verizon Center. In the meantime, the Wizards haven’t made many friends in Cleveland or New York, two cities that have a lot riding on signing the two-time league MVP. Now Chicago and New Jersey have moved up the line to land LeBron, but the Wizards aren’t concerned. “I think we’re concerned about our own


situation,” Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld said. “We made a decision that we’re going to save some of our powder for the future and try to right now put a core of young players together that can grow and we can build with, and that is the reason that we do have those opportunities right now. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t be there for us.” Yi Jianlian was the latest player the Wizards were able to swindle away for next to nothing. In essence, the Wizards received a free one-season rental of Yi, using the $4.5 million exception they acquired in the Drew Gooden deal with the Los Angeles Clippers at the trade deadline. The trade exception basically ensures there are no luxury tax implications, given how hard the Wizards worked to get under them last February — giving away Dominic McGuire, strong-arming a $1.5 million buyout from Zydrunas Ilgauskas. The Nets also took on Quinton Ross (and his $1.15 million) and gave the Wizards $3 million for the trouble. “We’ve got a player who’s had success in


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Celtics announce Rivers will return as coach Boston Celtics Coach Doc Riv-


ers will return for another sea- son, staying with the team he led to the NBA Finals twice in three years for a run at another cham- pionship.


“Doc is a fantastic coach and leader and I am thrilled he is coming back for the upcoming season,” Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca said Wednesday in an e- mail to the Associated Press. “Doc is re-energized and en- thusiastic about coming back to make another run at winning a championship with the Celtics,” General Manager Danny Ainge said in the two-sentence state- ment.


Rivers’s decision does not mean that the nucleus of the Celt- ics team that won the franchise’s unprecedented 17th NBA title in 2008 will be back for a run in


2010-11. Paul Pierce has report- edly said he will opt out of his contract and become a free agent, and Ray Allen is also due to be- come a free agent Thursday. . . . Amare Stoudemire has opted out of the final year of his con- tract with the Phoenix Suns to be- come part of an illustrious list of free agents this season. Agent Happy Walters said the


five-time all-star made the move after talks with Suns owner Rob- ert Sarver failed to result in an agreement on a contract exten- sion. The last year of Stoude- mire’s contract was worth about $17.7 million.


Stoudemire has been with the Suns since he was drafted out of high school, as the ninth pick overall, in 2002. Walters said he and Stoude- mire met for three hours with


the NBA and, at the same time, is only 22 years old,” Grunfeld said. It was the second time in a week that a team paid the Wizards to take their player. The Chicago Bulls gave them $3 million to take Kirk Hinrich (and his $9 million contract) and the 17th overall pick, which turned out to be Kevin Seraphin. The Wizards are essentially paying Hinrich just $3 million since the going price for first-round picks is $3 million, which they were prepared to spend for other picks before the Bulls gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse.


On the other side, you could also argue


that a player can’t be all that good if a team is willing to do all of that just to get rid of


CHRIS GRAYTHEN/GETTY IMAGES Yi Jianlian, acquired from New Jersey, is the newest face on a changing Wizards roster.


him. But these are desperate times for teams chasing James and, overall, the Wizards feel pretty good about what they’ve been able to accomplish before the free agent signing period began at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday. Yi has averaged 9.6 points and 5.8 rebounds in his career, an undistinguished one so far after he arrived from China with so much hype. Yi was hailed as China’s greatest import since Yao Ming and was supposed to represent the younger


generation of Chinese basketball. When the two players met for the first time in the NBA, Yi scored 19 points with nine rebounds and Yao said that Yi would be better than him. Yao told me a few weeks later, “He’s going to have a lot of success.” But now Yi is on his third team in four


years. In a lot of ways, it’s worth a shot, because this could be the place where it finally clicks. If not, they can move on without regret.


leem@washpost.com


DIGEST


Sarver and Suns Coach Alvin Gentry in Los Angeles on Tues- day night. . . . Restricted free agent Rudy Gay


(Spalding High School) has re- ceived a qualifying offer from the Memphis Grizzlies. The qualifying offer means the Grizzlies have the right of first re- fusal should another team try to sign Gay, their longest-tenured player. . . . Dirk Nowitzki saved the Dallas


Mavericks a trip to Germany, a sign they could be a step closer to keeping their biggest prize in free agency. Mavericks President Donnie


Nelson said he was moments away from boarding a plane for Nowitzki’s homeland when the former MVP’s adviser called to say they were flying to Dallas in- stead. . . .


San Antonio Spurs swingman Richard Jefferson has opted out of the final year of his contract and will become a free agent.


PRO FOOTBALL The spokesman for the Vir- ginia Beach nightclub where Mi- chael Vick held his birthday bash says the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback left in a car minutes before a shooting outside, contra- dicting Vick’s attorney’s timeline. Vick’s attorney, Larry Wood-


ward, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that Vick left the es- tablishment at least 10 minutes, and perhaps as many as 20 min- utes, before the shooting. Allen Fabijan, spokesman for Guadalajara Mexican restaurant and nightclub, said that time- stamped footage from a surveil- lance camera outside the en- trance of the club shows a car with Vick inside leaving at 2:07 a.m. — about 4 minutes before the shooting a block away. Fabijan said police have asked the club not to release the video to media but allowed the AP to view the grainy footage.


HIGH SCHOOLS Longtime Howard County foot- ball coach Ken Hovet died Mon- day night after fighting kidney cancer for several months. He was 49. Hovet, a 1979 graduate of Oak-


land Mills, taught and coached for more than 20 years in the county he grew up in. He most re- cently served as football coach at Marriotts Ridge, but the bulk of his coaching career came at his alma mater, where he led the Scorpions to the Maryland 1A ti- tle in 1998.


— Katie Carrera


OLYMPIC SPORTS Eight-time Olympic gold med- alist swimmer Jenny Thompson says would-be robbers punched her in the face in a failed bid to steal her scooter outside Boston. Thompson told WBZ-TV that she was riding in Brookline, Mass., on Monday night when a vehicle stopped behind her with


its headlights out. She says two people got out, punched her, pushed her down and tried to grab her ride. Thompson held on to the scooter and screamed for help, forcing the assailants to flee on foot. The 37-year-old suffered a cut on her nose and several scrapes.


HOCKEY The Philadelphia Flyers signed


goalie Michael Leighton to a two- year deal, keeping the playoff hero away from free agency. . . . Rod Brind’Amour is retiring af- ter 21 NHL seasons to take an un- specified front-office job with the Carolina Hurricanes. The team’s former captain said his decision was made simpler af- ter he talked with General Man- ager Jim Rutherford and they de- cided the aging veteran wouldn’t fit with their rebuilding plan. — From news services and staff reports


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