Around 6 p.m. on Tuesday night, John Wall confidently strode into the NBA Draft Lottery media room, flanked by a member of the Wizards’ press relations staff and an NBA escort. He pointed and smiled at a few people, gave former Georgetown and current Detroit Pistons center Greg Monroe a half hug/half handsake, and then did the same to projected number one pick Kyrie Irving. Then he smiled and shook hands with some members of the Washington D.C. media, before finally settling down in his designated area for interviews. He looked like a young man who ready to take on any and everything thrown his way.

Two weeks ago against the Miami Heat, the Washington Wizards played their hearts out for three quarters, only to fall short in the fourth, 102-90. John Wall was ejected, but Jordan Crawford stepped up admirably and scored 39 points in a valiant, but losing effort. After the game, the Heat’s Dwyane Wade had some interesting comments about Crawford’s performance.

Remember in Return of the Jedi, when the Ewoks battled the Evil Empire? The Ewoks had the homecourt advantage on the planet of Endor, but their weapons of choice were of the primitive variety — rocks, logs, rope and so forth. The Empire had superior weaponry, but the unfamiliar terrain prevented them from steamrolling their lesser competition right away. The Ewoks sprinted to an early lead, then the Empire delivered a series of crushing blows to pull into the lead. But thanks to their overwhelming numbers and perhaps a bit of the Force, the Ewoks eventually won, and they joined the Rebel forces in the victory celebration.

My decision to use a 28-year-old movie to prove a point may be a bit farfetched, but the Ewok/Empire battle in Jedi is analogous to last night’s Heat/Wizards game.

JaVale McGee’s play, wildly inconsistent and frustrating — but, at times, thrilling — is the epitome of this year’s Wizards.

The final attendance number on the stat sheet I received at the end of last night’s Washington Wizards game told me that there were 17,865 fans in the Verizon Center. My eyes told me there were really only 10,000 fans there (if that), and of that number, only about 7,000 or so were Wizards fans — the rest came to see Stephen Curry, Monta Ellis and the rest of the Golden State Warriors.

Wall’s adjustments to the NBA are two-fold. On one hand he has to run the Wizards, take on guards like Derrick Rose and Steve Nash, and develop into an elite NBA player. But off the court he has just as formidable challenges like cooking, laundry and determining who he can and cannot invite into his inner circle. So what can he learn from former Wizards number one pick Kwame Brown’s experience?

Friday night, the Washington Wizards will take on the Orlando Magic. This is one of a handful of games — along with Celtics, the Heat and the Lakers — that should sell out the Verizon Center, and bring droves of fans to downtown D.C. bars. But if you’re still skeptical and bit hesitant to commit your time and money to a 13-35 (0-25 on the road) team, allow me to give you an addition reason to tune in on Friday: Gilbert Arenas.

Going into last night’s contest, the Wizards had dropped 19 consecutive road games, and I knew that their 20th chance to break that streak would be intriguing. Either they would finally get off the proverbial schneid and get that first road win, or they would sink even deeper into the abyss of losses.

At the beginning of the 2010-2011 season, there was every reason to believe that Andray Blatche was going to vault himself from an inconsistent player to a bonafide All-Star candidate.

1988 was a great year to be 13 years old and living in the Washington D.C. area. In March of that year, I saw Michael Jordan play in person for the first time, as his Chicago Bulls played the Washington Bullets at the Capital Center in Landover, Maryland. Jordan scored 25 points, but there were none of the fancy breakaway dunks I had come to appreciate — still it was a thrill for me to see the man play just a few hundred feet away.