HoopsHype.com Rumors

Ted Leonsis: I don’t think Nick [Young] and JaVale [McGee] were bad people. But they wanted stats. I understand that, relate and get it. But they weren’t playing as a team. You saw at the end of the year with Nene, who already got his big contract, right. So stats weren’t important to him. The little things were important to him.” Washington Post

Washington Wizards, Nick Young, Ted Leonsis, Nene, Owners 

Alvaro Martin: Brazil beats Greece in SaoPaulo in an exhibition 78-71 with Varejao and Nene as starting frontcourt; Splitter (9 pts, 8 reb) off the bench. Twitter

Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, Washington Wizards, Tiago Splitter, FIBA, Greece, Anderson Varejao, Nene, Brazil 

“It’s going to be amazing, big. The national team is going to be here, but I don’t know if I’m going to be on the list,” Nene said, while shrugging his shoulders. Now he knows. Brazil Coach Ruben Magnano announced on Thursday that Nene, Indiana Pacers guard Leandro Barbosa, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao and Tiago Splitter of the San Antonio Spurs would be on his 15-player list for the national team. Only 12 players will be in London. Washington Post

Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, Washington Wizards, Tiago Splitter, Leandro Barbosa, Anderson Varejao, Nene, Brazil, Olympics 

Nene had asked to be released from the team before the FIBA Americas championship last summer, citing “personal” and “contractual” reasons. Fans and other Brazilain players were critical of the decision, but Nene was a free agent and likely didn’t want to risk injury. He eventually signed a five-year, $65-million contract with the Denver Nuggets before getting traded to the Wizards for JaVale McGee and Ronny Turiaf at the deadline. Barbosa also backed out of the tournament, but Brazil advanced without either player. Magnano said in a news conference that he added both players with the hope of fielding the best team. “I decided to give them another chance after personally talking to them,” Magnano said. “I wouldn’t call up a player if I didn’t have any trust in him.” Washington Post

Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, Washington Wizards, Tiago Splitter, Leandro Barbosa, Anderson Varejao, Nene, Brazil, Olympics 

Jorge Sierra: Wizards big man Nenê and Pacers guard Leandro Barbosa are among the players in Brazil's list for the Olympics. The Brazilian National Team did great at the FIBA Americas tournament without them last year and there was some backlash in the country against both Nenê and Barbosa, who passed on playing. In the end, pragmatism kicked in. Brazil needs to be at full force to compete for the medals. Sulia

Indiana Pacers, Washington Wizards, Leandro Barbosa, Nene, Brazil, Olympics 

Nene arrived in Washington with a reputation for being a skilled big man with the ability to pass, defend and score in the low post. But Nene also showcase a mid-range shooting game that he claims he was unable to display in Denver, where the Nuggets had more offensive weapons. “I just play free here. What they say, ‘I didn’t know you were so good.’ I been working the last four summers. I couldn’t shoot in Denver. Here, I have the green light to shoot it,” he said. “In Denver we had different players who shot a lot the ball. I don’t like to follow the example and shoot a lot. I never see a coach say to the players, ‘shoot the ball, please shoot the ball’. They do that here.” Washington Post

Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards, Nene 

Nene had grown accustomed to the quiet comforts of Colorado living and his visits to Washington as a member with the Nuggets over the years gave him the impression that he would have to adjust to the hustle and bustle of big city living. “I thought the city was going to be the same way like New York, like LA, crazy, fast tempo. I don’t like this kind of city,” Nene said. “But it’s different. It’s a small city. It’s a nice, international city. They have nice suburbs. I just need to learn the streets. Alphabet streets. Maybe I’ll be fine to drive.” Washington Post

Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards, Nene 

Nene was in warm-ups and going through light drills with his teammates during Friday’s morning shootaround, but Coach Randy Wittman ruled out having him – or Trevor Booker – play against the New York Knicks. Nene has missed the past seven games with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, but he has been angling for a return before the season ends. “He’s getting closer. He did a little bit yesterday, but not a whole lot. That’s a positive,” Wittman said.. “Obviously we’re headed in the right direction right now. It looks like we might [have him back soon]. Probably not today or tomorrow. Maybe some time next week. We’ll see.” Washington Post

Washington Wizards, Injuries, Nene 

Though McGee and Young had been at the forefront of the rebuilding efforts the past two seasons, Grunfeld said trading them was still in accordance with the plan. “The two players we traded for Nene, we got in the draft and we were able to combine them to get a player who would fit into what we were trying to do,” Grunfeld said. “We now have two positions that are covered, probably the two toughest positions to fill in the league: point guard and a big man.” Washington Post

Washington Wizards, Trade, Javale McGee, Ernie Grunfeld, Nick Young, Nene 

In his 10th season, and back on a lottery team, Nene believes the Wizards (11-39) are going through similar growing pains as his team in Denver. And, after the Wizards lost, 93-89, on Thursday to the Indiana Pacers, Nene said he remained encouraged by how his new team is playing and drew a parallel to his challenging rookie season. “I learned,” Nene said. “This is a long process. It’s hard. I’m going to repeat this every time: This young team, a lot of second-year players, a lot of rookies. You need to learn. You need to get this type of game. See what you can learn from the loss and get better. To win, you need to learn from losing a game. It’s a big experience right now. We work, step by step, we’re improving in a lot of areas.” Washington Post

Washington Wizards, Nene 

When I heard about the trade, I instantly deduced the Nuggets had re-signed Nene to protect their asset. I felt for sure they must have planned to move him for someone special. In view of what happened, that doesn’t make sense because McGee wasn’t exactly in demand. Fact is, re-signing Nene simply did not work out. He wasn’t particularly helpful to his young teammates. And every day became a grind for both Nene and the team. Who knows, had the Wizards not come a-calling, things might’ve degenerated to such a degree, the Nuggets would’ve been stuck with his contract for the whole five years ... or forced to swap Nene for someone else’s damaged goods or overpaid cap albatross. New York Post

Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards, Trade, Javale McGee, Nene 

Like, Wise asked Nene if he would ever throw an alley-oop to himself off the backboard when his team was down by 20. (Audio below.) “Definitely no,” said Nene, who did not seem to know at first that these were JaVale-flavored questions. “First of all, I’m not gonna think to throw nothing, man. I’m probably gonna think to throw the chair because I’m gonna be so mad.” Right answer. Then Wise asked Nene if he would dunk two balls in one leap during a dunk contest. “Oh come on,” Nene said. “You know, I can dunk one ball, I can’t imagine dunking two, man. One for a time.” Right answer! And finally, Wise asked Nene if he would ever run back on defense while his team still had the ball. And here Nene laughed. “Probably if I do that I need to do drug test,” he said. Washington Post

Washington Wizards, Nene 

Josh Kroenke explained his frustration about a couple of national reports he read, which stated that Denver signed big man Nene with the intention of trading Nene later in the season. “I want to squash that right now,” said Kroenke, the Nuggets president. “This organization is not in a situation where we can take a $60-plus million gamble like that. Masai (Ujiri) and I, before the season started, we had numerous plans in place, even if we weren’t able to retain Nene. Our initial plan was to have Nene around for quite a while. It hurt me to see that (people) thought that I would view someone like that. Nene has been such a vital cog in this organization, he’s been so great on and off the floor, he married a girl from Denver, they just had a baby. Things like that go into a decision like that and it affects me big-time. To see (those rumors) out there, I want to step out in front of it and say – that’s not the case. Denver Post

Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards, Trade, Josh Kroenke, Nene 

Emiliano Carchia: Nuggets president Josh Kroenke said that the franchise had no intention of trading Nene after he signed a multi-year contract Twitter

Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards, Trade, Nene 

Craig Stouffer: Nene spoke w/ #Wizards media, asked how he found out about trade: "You don't want to know." Fave soccer teams: Sao Paulo, Barcelona Twitter

Washington Wizards, Trade, Nene 

Rudy Fernandez: "This is a business. I've got Nenê here who had just bought himself a huge house in Denver after re-signing and now he's in Washington." SER

Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards, Rudy Fernandez, Nene 

Tony Allen: Don't understand why would they trade nene and they just signed him all that money!! Twitter

Memphis Grizzlies, Washington Wizards, Trade, Tony Allen, Nene 

Sam Amick: And Denver's "buyer's remorse" on Nene, as @Ken Berger called it, very real: Source says Kings rebuffed Nugs' attempt at Nene- Cousins swap Twitter

Denver Nuggets, Sacramento Kings, Trade, DeMarcus Cousins, Nene 

Chris Mannix: Three-team deal that will send Nene to Washington, JaVale McGee to Denver and Nick Young to LAC is done, source involved in deal says. Twitter

Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Washington Wizards, Trade, Javale McGee, Nick Young, Nene 

Ken Berger: League source says Nuggets had experienced some "buyer's remorse" after signing often-injured Nene to a five-year, $67M deal in Dec. '11. Twitter

Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Washington Wizards, Trade, Javale McGee, Nick Young, Nene