addByline("Zach Rosen", "WashingtonWizards.com", "ZacharySRosen");
Live basketball is finally back. And wow, we’ve been here two weeks already!
On Wednesday at 3:30 P.M. ET, the Wizards will take on the Denver Nuggets in their first of three exhibition games. I won’t dive too far into the game itself; Jackson Filyo has the preview for the game and what to watch that you can check out here.
The Wizards have been ramping up considerably over the past week, with multiple 5-on-5 full runs. Monday included one of those 5-on-5 intrasquad games, which featured a lot of solid play from both teams. Troy Brown Jr. and Isaac Bonga stood out to me on that day, as they were both making plays on both ends of the court. Tuesday was treated more as a shootaround type day, with Jarrod Uthoff making his first appearance on the court.
The intrasquad matchups have been very beneficial for the team, but that was with play calls players were familiar with and personnel they know all too well. This first scrimmage will be another step for all of us to get ready for the seeding games and playoffs thereafter.
Personally, I’m curious what the court setup will be like. We’ve been told that we will have a designated spot to work from, presumably near the court. Understandably so, restrictions have been placed on where we can go. This will be a new experience for everyone, and hopefully I can get a system down during these exhibitions as well.
As you probably saw, the NBA released a statement noting that there were zero coronavirus cases when testing last week. It’s a testament to how hard the league, NBPA, and teams have worked to get to this point. There’s a long way to go in this process, but the news was very comforting and reassuring.
In other news, we released episode three of “Ballin’ in the Bubble” with Troy Brown Jr. In this episode, we featured one of the funniest people I’ve ever met in the league in assistant equipment manager Dave Avery. Hopefully you enjoyed this episode. Next one drops on Friday.
Navin Hettiarachchi, our director of player care & wellness, joined the Full Court Press podcast today. Navin, arguably the nicest and most positive person on planet earth, talked a lot about the experience here and how he is helping the players get ready physically and emotionally.
Lastly, I know I haven’t talked about the food in a long time, but I’ve got great news for you. They switched up the way they will be serving meals now – going with a plexiglass buffet that will help curtain the amount of food we waste! Prior to this, we would just grab things in to-go containers from heat warmers and refrigerators. We started posting our menus in our meal room so now I can share you the menus every day once again.
Breakfast menu
• Chilled peanut butter granola clusters
• Spinach & mushroom quiche with feta cheese
• Pork sausage links
• Canadian bacon
• Hash brown casserole
Lunch menu
• Tomato Florentine soup
• Italian Panzanella style salad
• Bocconcini, tomato, and basil salad
• Olive oil grilled seasonal vegetables
• Rosemary garlic potatoes
• Whole wheat pasta with beef Bolognese
• Slow roasted pork loin with crispy prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes, & sage
• Baked white fish with lemons & capers
Dinner menu
• Pasta salad with broccoli, apple, walnuts, & lemon vinaigrette
• Lentil stew with cabbage
• Herb grilled vegetables
• Moroccan spiced chicken breast
• Braised Thai beef short rib rendang
• Grilled sugar cane shrimp
Looking forward to writing to you after tomorrow’s scrimmage, which will be quite the experience.
P.S. get yourself a D.C. / Black Lives Matter logo t-shirt and support a great cause in When We All Vote. And don’t forget to wear a mask.