The Wizard

Respect

"Keeping on trucking baby..."

Eddie Kendricks - Keep on Trucking Baby

Last week I traveled to my favorite NBA city to work on an assignment...today I was saddened by some disheartening news.

Legacy

Abe Pollin passed away after losing his battle with a rare neurological disease. After my initial shock wore off...I emailed my friends on the Wizards PR staff to give them my regards and condolences.

There are a few reasons why DC stands head and shoulders above the other 29 teams in the league.

1. The PR staff do their best to assist the smaller media outlets. In fact when I first started AXG, it was the Wizards who allowed my photographer and I access to the team and games.

2. Milt Newton, Vice President of Player Personnel and I used to work together at the League offices in New York, and he always offered me advice and a helping hand.

3. Brian Sereno, Director, Public Relations is the one that believed in my talent as a writer, granting me media passes to cover games under AXG.

4. Proximity to Philadelphia.

5. It is after all Chocolate City...

6. Free ice cream sundaes at halftime.

7. Daren Jenkins, Senior Coordinator, Public Relations...he and I have become good friends, as I respect how he has risen from an intern to a senior member of the PR staff...his story reminds me of mine.

8. Caron Butler is not only one of the best players on the team, but he allowed me to work as a counselor for his summer basketball camp at McNamara High School in 2007. He's a really great player and even better person.

9. Nick Young is the future of this league...he is truly a diamond in the rough, and his best is yet to be made evident.

10. The Wizards/Cavaliers "rivalry"

Photo: Ned Dishman/NBAE/Getty Images