The Atlanta Hawks signed Joe Smith as a free agent in August of 2009, and although he’s only averaged three points and two rebounds so far this season, his veteran leadership will almost certainly come in handy come playoff time.

On every team there is dirty work to be done on both ends of the floor, and on the Washington Wizards squad, that is what James Singleton has to do on a nightly basis.

Last night prior to the Wizards/Rockets matchup Aaron Brooks, Trevor Ariza and Chase Budinger watched film and quietly joked with one another, and I was the only journalist/blogger in sight. I took advantage of this serene atmosphere, and struck up a conversation with newly acquired guard Kevin Martin.

The referee handed the ball to Shaun Livingston, and instantly he began to frantically look for a teammate to throw the ball to, but he could not find an opening. Finally, Livingston called a timeout, hoping Washington could use one of the two 20 second timeouts they had left, but it wasn’t to be. The referee blew the whistle, turned to face the scorer’s table, and indicated that a five second violation had taken place.

Prior the trades that saw the Wizards trade their former starting front line (Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and Antawn Jamison) to different teams, McGee was barely getting off the bench. But since entering the starting lineup four games ago, McGee has averaged 9 points, 6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks a game in 22 minutes have play.

Washington Wizards Team President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that Josh Howard would miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL in his left knee.

Friday night, when the Washington Wizards took on the Denver Nuggets, it represented the first game Young played without his “crutches”, and, on the surface, his performance was nothing special. He wasn’t in the starting lineup, and in the 22 minutes he did play, he scored just scored 12 points. But a closer examination of his play on and off the court revealed a slight change in the third year player.

In the eighth edition of the Hoops Addict Podcast, Ryan and Rashad analyze the major trades made in the NBA this past week, Rashad shares his experiences covering the All-Star festivities in Dallas last weekend, and announce the winner of the Flip Cam contest.

The first sign that something was definitely about to happen, was when the Wizards finally ran out on the court. Blatche was there, Young and McGee were there, and newly acquired players Josh Howard, Quinton Ross and James Singleton could also be seen making their way on the court. But Jamison was nowhere to be found.

Where the Globetrotters would overwhelm their opponents with dazzling play and slapstick antics, the all-black Rens team simply focused on hard-nosed play as their calling card. Their style was also much more appealing to the African-American community and press during the 1930′s, which further distanced them from the Globetrotters.