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No Crying in DC: No Boo Hughes

Authored by “Doc” Linkin - October 10, 2005 - 10:31 am

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October 10, 2005 By “Doc” Linkin Tonight, we get to welcome back our pal Larry ‘Smoove’ Hughes. Some ‘fans’ think we should boo him -- he left us, took more money elsewhere to play with ‘King’ James. But I’ll tell you what; personally I’m not booing Larry Hughes -- not now or ever. At least not for taking his game elsewhere. I owe him better than that. But let’s go back a bit… Sweep the confetti from the floor, sweep the Bulls in their own building; be swept in turn by the Heat, here at home. Our first and last home games—our home season beginning and ending with a loss to Shaq’s backcourt, to their other star on the rise. Last year DC was swept off its feet, by the young team that played with such reckless joy. Everybody loves a Cinderella story -- from 25 wins to the playoffs. One day sweeping ashes -- the next: invited to the big dance, with a chance for ‘Happily ever after.’ Our team won by playing beyond its abilities: somehow clocking W’s despite poor defense, high turnovers, and low shooting percentage. Winning despite injuries, clawing back from deficits, stealing away victories, despite losing long leads. Winning in overtime, hitting last-second shots. But no fairy tale ending here. The season’s sudden ending left fans with mixed feelings. It has been 23 years since our team had this sort of success--could we build on it? Or was it possible this was ‘one year and done.’ Here we reached the playoffs but were snuffed anticlimactically, our Big Three coming up small, even with the League’s Biggest player out of the game. DWade alone was enough to sweep us off the court, like routine, with the demeanor of a janitor, just taking out the trash. If we couldn’t beat the best team in our new Division when they lacked the most dominant player, could we ever hope to advance? Or maybe this is one of those brief happy memories, one night at the party, and nothing more. ‘Where’s the cake?’ indeed. And then we lose Larry. Doom. Doom and Woe. Tear your shirts to shreds; hear the lamentation of the women. A typical post [edited for the kiddies]: "Your girlfriend leaves you for some rich guy. Are you thankful for the wonderful [time] you had with her for the last year or are you [peeved] because she left your [sorry self] for someone else?" Right, best thing to do is, cry about it. Tear up all her pictures, call her answering machine and leave boozy weeping messages. Sneak into her house and boil her bunny. Or do you instead thank your lucky stars that you dodged a bullet, that she made an easy exit, that you’re free to find a better one. No harm no foul, pick yourself up and move on. In this case it isn’t like Larry cheated on you. Or left in the morning without a kiss or cooking you breakfast. Your Franchise and Larry just had an honest disagreement about Values and decided to call the wedding off. Disagreement about values? Specifically: His value. To the tune of $12-14 mills per year. And I’m pretty sure that as soon as Ernie saw the market lining up that way he arranged for L-Boogie to find his own way out, in whatever way wouldn’t alienate the fans and the rest of the team. No harm no foul. Think clearly now: no we couldn’t let him go without looking like we tried to keep him—Larry’s got too many friends on the team, too many fans in the stands. But if we wanted to keep him at all costs, do you think we would have waited to offer him a raise until after he’d already agreed in principle with LeBron’s Cavaliers? We couldn’t let Larry leave without at least looking like we offered him reward for the good work he gave us. But I guarantee you our GM was relieved when the money was turned down. Leastways, Ern-dawg certainly reacted quickly when Larry made clear he was leaving. One might think he already had the deal in place before then… No, I’m not booing Larry, for being Gamed by our GM. And I’m not faulting Ernie either. Because here we were, facing who knows how many years of Miami in the playoffs -- and for all his ‘defensive first team’ accolades, L-Boogie couldn’t stop DWade nor any of his backcourt mates. And what is worse, versus Miami our second leading scorer couldn’t hit a basket if you held it down and stood on its throat for him. He took shots on full automatic, but couldn’t hit the target with a Vulcan auto cannon. With the team we had we were looking at: more games lost to injury, more first round flame-outs, long contracts, high dollar, no chance of trading players, no chance of moving up. But now… Now with the flexibility we gain by losing Larry, Ernie has assembled a team that is smarter, stronger. Bigger in the backcourt, possibly more durable -- but if even if we’re not, we’re deeper, better able to weather the injuries that naturally show up in an 82 game season. The team is versatile, flexible, and more coachable. The team is a better fit for Eddie’s Wizards. Could be, despite losing two of our best defensive players, we’re paradoxically better on Defense. We picked up one of the few players in the league that could hold Wade below average last year, and recruited a decent back-up center to feed to Shaq. Better still perhaps, our franchise player won’t follow the poor example of his high-volume gunner backcourt role-model, but may listen to the coach and help forge a better Team. We all know it’s Gilbert’s team, but now he’s got to know it, to grow up, to own it. He's got no reason to defer to nobody... So I’m not booing Larry. I’m gonna cheer for him in introductions, root for his Cavaliers at least 78 games a year. I’m gonna show we know that Larry brought us wins and legit NBA league-wide cred. And that -- no harm no foul -- we’ll cheer for him now that he’s moved on. I aim to show that DC is a big enough town, has Class enough to appreciate hard work from a player who played all-out for us, who never cheated the game. To show, not just Larry, but any future free agents, that this is a City that knows Ball, loves Ball, and appreciates players who give their full effort on our behalf. I’m just gonna cheer for my new-look Wizards when they kick the ass of the Cavs and any other squads that come through town. Doc can be reached at doclinkbox@yahoo.com with any comments, questions, or general musings.