Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 12:28 pm  |  72 responses

The Wizards Rules

Sign Coach. Get healthy. Draft well. Trade big. Win.

by Jon Hecht

“And here are your 2010 NBA World Champions—the Washington Wizards!”

I know what you’re feeling. Typical reactions to the above statement are laughing, crying, eye-rolling, choking, or starting an online blog war against whoever could foretell something so blasphemous. In fact, I initially reacted in two of those ways. But I’m not going to write about the Celtics, the Cavs or the Lakers, because you and I both know that come April/May, it’s a given they will all be in the mix Flip Saundersfor a championship. I’m here to discuss what nobody is talking about: The underdog to climb the ranks of the NBA and burst onto the 2010 Eastern Conference playoff scene will be the Washington Wizards.

Been there, done that

Welcome, Coach Flip Saunders. For more than a decade, Saunders has repeatedly made his mark on the NBA. Among the all-time greats who have coached the game, his .597 winning percentage is bested only by Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Don Nelson and Jerry Sloan through their first 13 seasons. He has amassed seven 50-win seasons and 11 postseason appearances, including eight consecutive playoff showings with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

As he moves east for the first time in his coaching career, Flip Saunders faces his most difficult challenge since his initial year with Minnesota. The Wizards matched a franchise record for losses with an abysmal 19-63 record during their ‘08-09 campaign, a shocking total for any team coming off four consecutive playoff births. But the coach has brought a new attitude that may end Washington’s reckless and inconsistent play.

“You have to be able to defend,” Saunders says. “A lot is talked about my huge playbook. About 60 percent of that is defense, 40 percent is offense. Players will know when we walk in that gym, that defense is the priority.”

That strategy is exactly what Washington needs in order to rebound from last season, when opponents scored more than 103 ppg against them (only six teams surrendered more). With new defensive schemes and more physical play required by the Washington bigs, the Wiz should anticipate a major turnaround in defending the half-court set. And the best part—Coach Saunders doesn’t have to teach his team how to score.

“Hibachi”

So what if Gilbert Arenas played only 15 games in his last two seasons? The 27-year-old guard is now 100 percent healthy and hungrier than ever to lead his team to the promised land. He is the alpha of the triple-headed monster that includes Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison. The former Arizona Wildcat averaged roughly 23 points and 5.5 assists per gamGilbert Arenase throughout his NBA career, and will once again provide the Wizards with a cool and collected veteran presence on the floor. Paired with Jamison and Butler, who have averaged nearly 20 and 17 ppg over their respective careers, Arenas puts the team over the top. How many other NBA squads can guarantee at least 60 cumulative points from just three of their starters? And how many of those have a punishing closer like Arenas?

While Arenas routinely “cooked up” defenders via one-on-one play, his role will expand this year on the court thanks to his supporting grill chefs. As a reserve in 2008, Nick Young made the most of his minutes by scoring nearly 11 ppg. He already made quite an impression in 2009, finishing third in scoring (23.8 ppg) in the NBA Summer League while shooting a dazzling 50 percent from the field.

Fellow Wizards forward, Andre Blatche, averaged 19.7 ppg and finished second in the Summer League in rebounding. Young’s success is a direct result of Flip Saunders’ system. Saunders will deploy him much like he did Detroit’s Richard Hamilton, who became a key to that team’s half-court offense by darting off double screens and consistently hitting mid-range jumpers.

With Arenas at the helm, you better believe Washington’s sharpshooters will be getting plenty of good looks. And if Blatche keeps cleaning glass the way he has in July, missed shots will only become second-chance opportunities for the Wiz’s young guns.

New Number, New Team, New Expectations

Let’s say the undeveloped, albeit talented, Nick Young can’t maintain his summertime offensive prowess during the regular season. No biggie. A short time prior to the NBA DMike Millerraft, the Wizards pulled off an incredible trade, sending scrubs Oleksiy Pecherov, Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila and the No. 5 pick to Minnesota in exchange for Mike Miller and Randy Foye.

Throughout his 11-year career, Miller proved time and time again to be a reliable player and deadly three-point shooter. He averaged 13.9 ppg and shot 40 percent from behind the arc over his career. He also averaged more than 6.5 rebounds per contest during the past two seasons.

Joining him from the Timberwolves is the ever-promising Foye, who netted more than 16 ppg in 2008. While the slasher has a few kinks to work out on his shooting stroke, Foye is a 6-4 menace when defending smaller point guards. I expect him to learn a great deal this season from another double-digit scoring threat off the Wiz’s bench—veteran Mike James. Foye’s commitment in the weight room and to relentless defense will surely be noticed by Saunders, and should earn him either a sixth-man role or starting position in 2009.

Road from worst to first

Washington’s new acquisitions as well as the return of their captain will make the team a formidable opponent in the East. The Wizards’ record in the upcoming season should not suffer from a difficult schedule either. There are only three other legitimate contenders in the East—the Cavaliers, Celtics and Magic (I’ll put the Hawks and Bulls on the bubble). The Bucks, Nets, Heat, Pistons, Sixers and Pacers have all lost star or solid players to free agency; all should be grateful to hit the .500 mark in 2009.

If the Eastern Conference unfolds as it should, the Wizards will be sitting pretty with a fourth or fifth seed come postseason play. Against the elite, Washington’s size and athleticism match up extremely well with Orlando’s (Butler/Carter, Jamison/Lewis, Arenas/Nelson, Blatche/Howard, Foye or Miller/Pietrus). If anyone can devise a way to dismantle the Celtics’ Rasheed Wallace or Kevin Garnett, it has to be their former coach, Flip Saunders. And against LeBron and company…well let’s just see if Shaq is healthy enough come May.

My prediction is in: Washington will not only make the Playoffs in 2010, but will genuinely contend for the title. Do the Wizards really have what it takes to win the whole shebang? Well, for that to happen, they’ll need their brethren at Hogwarts to conjure up a little magic.

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  • Jacob J Posted: Jul.27 at 12:34 pm
    First!!

  • James the Balla Posted: Jul.27 at 12:43 pm
    Second!!

  • matt the jazz fan Posted: Jul.27 at 12:44 pm
    over/under on games played by arenas this season = 41. over/under on games won by wizards this seasob = 60% of games arenas plays in and 30% of the others = 24 + 12 = 36. this does not a playoff team make, let alone a contender. that’s free pseudo-scientific analysis for you. still think i’m about right, though…

  • Young C Posted: Jul.27 at 12:45 pm
    I wish the Sixers would just build around thier youth and blow it up. They have alot of contracts that expire in 2011(Green,Kapono,Dalembert). All they have to do is get some good value players/picks and expiring contracts for Iguodala and Brand and they’d be on their way. As for the Wiz…yeah, they’ll be good

  • riggs Posted: Jul.27 at 12:45 pm
    you cant call occasional slam columnist etan thomas a scrub man, just cant. :(

  • wayno Posted: Jul.27 at 12:46 pm
    If they stay healthy they’ll be the sleeper team in the east for sure…I said that about Milwaukee last year though…lol.

  • Eboy Posted: Jul.27 at 12:46 pm
    Jon writes a really good, in-depth article on the Wiz and their potential going forward. His thoughts on how the Wizards will be some sort of a devastating force in the playoffs is completley horrible.

  • Vittorio De Zen Posted: Jul.27 at 12:51 pm
    I love Saunders and Gilbert as much as the next guy, but I can’t help but think this is too optimistic. They’ll probably make the playoffs if healthy, but I don’t think Flip’s schemes are enough to seriously challenge any of the top 3 Eastern teams. Also, to me you can’t analyze the Foye/Miller trade without even mentioning Ricky Rubio’s name.

  • Harrell Posted: Jul.27 at 12:52 pm
    This is blasphmey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Drew Posted: Jul.27 at 1:04 pm
    Brendan Haywood+ Antawn Jamison+ Andray Blatche+ JaVale McGee= you have got to be kidding me thinking the Wizards can match up against the deep big man rotations of Orlando, Boston, or Cleveland. However, I agree a 5th seed is within reach, and I like the direction the Wiz are heading. I just don’t see how their perimeter scoring can carry their lack of in-the-paint production enough for a deep playoff run.

  • Marijn Posted: Jul.27 at 1:05 pm
    Probably an unintentional mistake, but Mike Miller averaged over 6.5 rebounds, not assists.

  • wiz Posted: Jul.27 at 1:10 pm
    Great article slam, cant wait for the wizards season to start i do think stevenson will still be starting at the shooting gaurd unlike everyone else, i wouldnt take out my best defender to replace him with miller, foye would be a good two gaurd but i would rather have him as a back up point.

  • Alan Posted: Jul.27 at 1:12 pm
    You don’t think the Raptors are on the same level as the Hawks and Bulls this year? And Flip Saunders coached the Pistons before so its not his first time coaching in the Eastern Conference.

  • iamse7en Posted: Jul.27 at 1:33 pm
    Wizards will shock the world and crack 50 wins this year. That’s my prediction.

  • TADOne Posted: Jul.27 at 1:34 pm
    Brendan Haywood? Remember him? For Washington to have a good season, they need their big man to come back to full strength and be improved.

  • Z Posted: Jul.27 at 1:39 pm
    the wizars are going to be terrible. too many guys hunting for shots: arenas, young, butler, jamison, foye, miller, blatche, stevenson, james… that’s a terrible mix. and they’re still soft as hell under the boards. foye and miller don’t fill a need at all, they just duplicate what’s already out there.

  • Z Posted: Jul.27 at 1:40 pm
    Brendan Haywood+ Antawn Jamison+ Andray Blatche+ JaVale McGee = 4 softies

  • cb 34 Posted: Jul.27 at 1:41 pm
    That was terrible. I do see the upside in the team. In my book, it’s caron’s team. He’s just as good as gilbert if not better. Arenas completely lost me last year and i don’t think he can even come close to the old gilbert. The miller and foye acquisitions were definitely a plus and they hardly gave up anything. Their frontcourt needs help. Scoring won’t even be a problem for them but they can’t touch the top teams in the east defensively. Everyone is stacked.

  • niQ Posted: Jul.27 at 1:59 pm
    “How many other NBA squads can guarantee at least 60 cumulative points from just three of their starters?”… How about Boston?

  • sierradave Posted: Jul.27 at 2:02 pm
    Arenas lost you last year?!? He only played two games? Hell, he had double-digit assists in both games, but I’m not gonna claim that makes him Steve Nash. He played in TWO GAMES. *If* the Wiz stay healthy, then I think they’ll be fighting with Orlando for the Southeast crown. Haywood is underappreciated as a defender (recall that he was injured all of last year as well), and Miller and Foye make this a deep, deep team. Also, if they are in serious contention when the trade deadline approaches, expect them to swap out Mike James’s expiring contract, possibly Mike Miller’s expiring contract (if Foye and/or Young has a breakout year), and one of their young guards for a serious upgrade to the frontcourt.

  • niQ Posted: Jul.27 at 2:08 pm
    And I don’t think Gilbert is 100%. To me, he’s just an injury waiting to happen.

  • chiqo Posted: Jul.27 at 2:15 pm
    detroit would have been saunders’ first trip east. and they fired him for underachieving, which is kind of his mo. if the wiz do well, which they could do presuming health and a mediocre east schedule, it might be in spite of saunders and not because of him.

  • doyouwantmore Posted: Jul.27 at 2:29 pm
    Ummm….No.

  • Brad Long Posted: Jul.27 at 2:45 pm
    For Caron’s sake, I hope your right.

  • ab_40 Posted: Jul.27 at 3:10 pm
    yeah teams with three guys who can together average 60 points here we go boston, cleveland, orlando, san antonio, lakers, denver, and *GULP* OKC. washingtons team isn’t that special to me. a lot of loose parts who need shots to be happy. young guys can’t develop without shots and guys who try to get back can’t get back doing that. they’ll be interesting to watch. not fun because they don’t have that vibe of a young up and coming team or an older team poised for a championship. they’re just a mix of guys of whom some were sort off all stars and sort of superstars but arn’t now. do you need a superstar to win in the nba? yes. do the wizards have one? nope. case closed

  • a_whiteman Posted: Jul.27 at 3:12 pm
    its not his first time out east cuz the last team he coached was detroit. And co-sign drew, there is no way that haywood/blatche/mcgee can compete against the froncourts of orl bos cle. I dont even think that combo can match up with the raptors front line, let alone the conference’s heaveyweights. They will be a fun team to watch with all that backcourt scoring.

  • a_whiteman Posted: Jul.27 at 3:15 pm
    @niq, dont forget orlando!

  • Tarzan Cooper Posted: Jul.27 at 3:42 pm
    most of you probably missed haywood’s return at the end of the season, he played great. the wiz have a fighters chance.

  • Old School Baller Posted: Jul.27 at 3:42 pm
    You forgot to add “play defense” to the list. This is most talked about franchise in the NBA, but the talk is about everything other than winning. “I can’t feel my face”, . . . “I think I just BS’ed my my way outta the league”.

  • J-Sizzle Posted: Jul.27 at 3:46 pm
    Spot on. With Gil, Antawn, and Caron on the floor, it’s solid. My responses: Etan Thomas – scrub central. Kwame Brown and Etan Thomas should go start a new basketball league in the depths of a cave in alaska. Niq – he never said that other teams couldn’t do it. He was just saying it was an impressive stat and the wizards can’t. Rasheed’s going to poison Boston. Good luck Beantown fans. CB34 – you’re foolish. I’m trying to understand your opinion but I can’t get my head far enough up my ass. doyouwantmore – of your opinion? no I don’t. ab_40 – they don’t have the vibe of an up-and-coming team? Randy Foye? Nick Young? Boom – lawyered. Put that in your pipes boys.

  • J-Sizzle Posted: Jul.27 at 3:58 pm
    Spot on. With Gil, Antawn, and Caron on the floor, it’s solid. My responses: Etan Thomas – scrub central. Kwame Brown and Etan Thomas should go start a new basketball league in the depths of a cave in alaska. Niq – he never said that other teams couldn’t do it. He was just saying it was an impressive stat and the wizards can’t. Rasheed’s going to poison Boston. Good luck Beantown fans. CB34 – you’re foolish. I’m trying to understand your opinion but I’m having trouble throwing all reasoning, logic, and intelligence out the window. doyouwantmore – of your opinion? no I don’t. ab_40 – they don’t have the vibe of an up-and-coming team? Randy Foye? Nick Young? Boom – lawyered. Put that in your pipes boys.

  • Exile Posted: Jul.27 at 4:14 pm
    Still need another “Big Trade.” They will do well, but inevitably fail to make it past the second round with this group. Still… a huge improvement from last year for the Wiz.

  • badnewzb8ller Posted: Jul.27 at 4:35 pm
    if your in the east you have a chance!

  • Luigi Posted: Jul.27 at 4:36 pm
    HELL YEAH! GO WIZ!

  • D Posted: Jul.27 at 5:01 pm
    Too bad we’ll only have Gilbert until the next Halo game comes out and he fakes another injury.

  • TADOne Posted: Jul.27 at 5:03 pm
    This J-Sizzle guy is kinda funny.

  • Anton Posted: Jul.27 at 5:06 pm
    The first rule of the Washington Wizards – you don’t talk about the Washington Wizards.

  • dsleepy Posted: Jul.27 at 5:17 pm
    YES OMG YES

  • wayno Posted: Jul.27 at 5:32 pm
    I still call them the Bullets…

  • AlbertBarr Posted: Jul.27 at 5:44 pm
    The Second rule of the Washington Wizards…DONT TALK ABOUT THE WASHINGTON WIZARDS!

  • AlbertBarr Posted: Jul.27 at 5:46 pm
    Actually, I really hope Gil comes back healthy…he is enormously entertaining. My ultimate hope is he ends up with Shaq and LeBron. Most. Entertaining. Team. Ever.

  • Am West Posted: Jul.27 at 5:48 pm
    Where the raptors at, son? Show T.Dot some love… they’ve lost maybe one serviceable player, and gotten a lot more back in return. At LEAST put them on the bubble with the Hawks and Bulls.

  • Joel O's Posted: Jul.27 at 6:33 pm
    Seriously? Granted, the Wiz have a heck of a lot of firepower right now, with 5 or so guys who are (or have the potential) to be give you at least 15-20 a night. But the frontline is thinner than ever. Also, I didn’t know Flip had such a good coaching record, but I think it might be a bit inflated by the fact that he inherited a championship calibre Pistons team over the last coupla years…

  • wayno Posted: Jul.27 at 7:03 pm
    Saunders is an excellent regular season coach, but he chokes under pressure. That’s the only reason he’s only good and not great. If he’d won a chip’ in Minny and/or Detroit he’d be great.

  • JPizal Posted: Jul.27 at 7:18 pm
    In studying Le Bullets you have to forget about the last two seasons. This is Gil’s squad and he was out. He is in Chi-Town for the next several weeks with Kobe’s & D-Wade’s trainer and is reportedly in East Coast Assassin shape. The fate of the team is in the $111 Million Dollar Man’s hands and head (this is why Cassell has been brought in). Tough Juice 20 & 10 Jamison 20 & 10 Nick Young – look for him to be the next Rip Hamilton. Lot of easy buckets for these guys with Arenas coming back. Stevenson’s, aka Mr. 50, head got so big from all the wide open shots when in with Gil, look for that again. Lots of 3′s next season. Haywood is going to surprise a lot of heads with his improved play, before he went down with a broken hand he was killing it (or as much as you can with a 3 headed monster on your team). He is also the defensive glue of the team, which isn’t saying much since they don’t play D. Cats won’t be able to call him Brenda no mo’ Speaking of D Flip’s phone book sized playbook is 60% D and the man is a straight up winner. NBA champions have head coaches that are better than their counter part. Sam “I come in peace” Cassell and his 3 rings will fire up our guys on the daily and give Gil the insight to be one of the most prolific players of this generation. The man has the best shot in the league, from anywhere… blindfolded. Look for many more assists. McGee after tearing it up in Summer League got an invite to Team USA workouts. Look for this second year 7 foot, jump out of the gym, beat making, transformer, x-man to be one of the best centers in the coming seasons. His mother Pam played in the WNBA and his father played college ball so you could say he was born and bread for this and the kid is just straight up likable. Which brings me to Le Bullets weakness – A bunch of nice guys. Will the 19 win season or should I say 63 loses take the grin off of Nick Young’s grill and replace it with the a cold blooded ballers mind-state? For Wiz fans I hope so. Deep, deep team… some experts call it the deepest Bullets team in 30 years since the last time they won it all. The additions of Miller, Foye, and Oberto are going to make it hard to choose Flip’s tight rotation. Gil
    Foye
    Caron
    Jamison
    Haywood Crittenton – Mike James
    Young – Miller – Stevenson
    Miller – McGuire
    Blatch – McGuire – Oberto
    McGee – Oberto No problem outscoring anyone in the league, but will they play enough D? You only need to win by one. If health they will make it to the Eastern Conference Finals and loose to Boston or Orlando. *Detroit is in the Eastern Conference, but it’s not East. Stop trying to correct everybody all the time and enjoy the craft. Peace & Blessings

  • Leo Posted: Jul.27 at 7:41 pm
    I totally agree with wayno. In fact, this whole team chokes in the playoffs. I’m predicting a pretty good regular season and another first round exit.

  • Joel O's Posted: Jul.27 at 7:50 pm
    Yay the Raptors might be a low playoff seed team again next year!

  • quick wit it Posted: Jul.27 at 7:55 pm
    Jon Hecht, ladies and gentleman (although I’m guessing 99% gentleman), is the future of sports reporting- keep your heads up. Had you peeped this one?
    http://dimemag.com/2009/07/wizards-crashing-the-2010-postseason-party/

  • Dave Zirin Posted: Jul.27 at 8:12 pm
    No. You cannot call Etan a scrub. He has been hurt, but when he plays, he balls.

  • Blinguo Posted: Jul.27 at 10:22 pm
    Hibachi always needs to be written with the exclamation point! The Wizz are Nutz, and their T-shirt store was not up at last look. Damn, no Obama 23 shirt + video of Hawaii HS game today. Their long running God Shammgod Mixtape side-blog was also worth a look. You get a Chris Webber single where he tries to emcee, as well as a We Don’t need Chris Webber ska tune, and an Etonic brand Hakeem the Dream full release. – Actually because of Flip, didn’t the Detroit Pistons stop playing major lock down D? & the Wiz need a better bench spark/glue guy than that guy who really doesn’t like LeBron and really likes Lil Wayne. That’s something a fan should prioritize, not an NBA player. One of the Hibachi crew said he’s a wanna be cultural icon more than a real NBA player.

  • Blinguo Posted: Jul.27 at 10:25 pm
    Miller could be that guy if he’s done monkeying around after his short Minny stint where he wasn’t doing the damn thing. And really they don’t have any sort of roster to be talking about Defense. Jv McGee is dope though. But probably not leaning towards defense at this stage in his career and around this group of scorers.

  • Tong Po Posted: Jul.27 at 11:48 pm
    Not to be negative but Arena’s is way too self centred. I was reading his blog on nba.com and he came across as self absorbed and probably a lame leader. So Wizard’s will probably be bullied out of the post season by a team of OG’s.

  • Dacre Posted: Jul.28 at 1:24 am
    It sounds okay on the surface…but to knock out the Bulls, Pacers and Atlanta within half a sentance makes me think the writer is allowing the bias to over-cook the prediction a little more than you would allow…
    Sure the wizards will be better than last year. No doubt. But this writer needs to REALLY sit down and think this thorough… How are the wizards going to keep GARNETT, LEBRON, SHAQ, WALLACE, PERKINS, DWIGHT, VAREJO away from the lane and the boards when it comes down to a playoff series…? They would need a MAJOR upgrade at the C and rebounding PF spots for their team to have a truly plausible shot at the Eastern Conference finals…
    Whomever they face in the playoffs out of these three teams, Cavs, Magic, Boston would beat them over 7 games…as it stands today.
    If they could get some decent bigs, I think I’d be interested further. But for now 7/10.

  • Chukaz Posted: Jul.28 at 2:03 am
    Idk why ya’ll b*tches hatin’ on da Washington Wizards. They have a hell of a team. They will be NBA Champions next season… well, on a video game, maybe haha. Them dudes is gonna have a real good video game team.

  • Cahyo Posted: Jul.28 at 4:21 am
    The third rule: If u want to talk about Washington Wizard, please check the first & second rule…

  • Joey E. Posted: Jul.28 at 4:48 am
    too many guards. otherwise i love them. glad some of you do too. and yeah, killer videogame team. this is gonna be my squad on the console lol

  • tom Posted: Jul.28 at 5:06 am
    the wizards should trade for tyson chandler.

  • freddy Posted: Jul.28 at 10:26 am
    “as he moves east for the first time in his career..” last I remember he was coach of the pistons. Aren’t they in the East?

  • ngoiekafita Posted: Jul.28 at 10:34 am
    Etan Thomas = scrub?
    Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure…

  • Devaughn Posted: Jul.28 at 11:08 am
    thier are alot of wiz haters on here.
    1st) the wiz are the deepest team in the east. 2nd) every1 on here seems to be hating on haywood but the only difference between the 08 season when they went to the playoffs and beat boston 3 out of the 4 times they played in the regular season (only team to have a winning record over the celtics that season) is that haywood diddnt play. that means haywood makes a HELL of a difference. and mcgee was invited to usa mini camp. and was called the best center in camp untill brook lopez broke out for 18 points. but mcgee scored 31 in summer league and had 7 blocks in one game and 4 the next. 3rd) the last time the wiz were healthy for a significant amount of time, they had the best record in the east, eddie jordan coached the eastern all-star team, gilbert was on the cover of nba live and dropped 60 points on the lakers in a victory only to come back a few nights later to drop 54 on the suns in another win. they were the second highest scoring team in the league. 4th) yes the east has gotten better since then but so have the wiz. nick young, miller, foye, blatche’s continued improve. (he can probably handle the ball better than any in the league at least 6-11.) 5th) the cavs probably wont have shaq by the time playoffs come around due to injuries, orlando lost its best scorer in hedu and the lakers showed everyone in the league how to stop howard, and boston, well like i said the wiz beat them 3 out of 4 times last time they were healthy and gilbert only played in one of those games. wiz got much better since then and boston has pretty much stayed the same other than adding rasheed. hope people dont think that old man who will most definitely have a T.O. effect on the teams cohesiveness. im not saying the wiz will definitely reresent the east in the finals but i wouldnt be suprised.

  • Anony Mous Posted: Jul.28 at 11:36 am
    Do miller and Foye fill needs though? Everyone says they would have taken Rubio, but Flynn would be a better fit for Washington. They could have had Arenas/Flynn, Stevenson/Young/, Butler/..Maguire. Now they have Arenas/Foye, Stevenson/Miller/Young, Butler/..Maguire. Their really isn’t a difference except now they don’t have a legit frontcourt to contend.

  • wayno Posted: Jul.28 at 12:12 pm
    Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the Wizards jerseys/logo/team name? Bring back the Bullets!!!

  • [...] eventually turn one red paperclip into a house, or a least a solid rotation player Slam Online   The Wizards Rules 2009 USA Basketball Showcase Results Grizzlies World     It’s time for NBA to ditch [...]

  • Stickz Posted: Jul.28 at 4:08 pm
    The Wiz will be a playoff team without Arenas, so anything you get from him is a bonus. The only teams deeper than them right now are the Mavs and the Magic.

  • Stickz Posted: Jul.28 at 4:15 pm
    Oberto! Oberto! Oberto!

  • Gabbo Posted: Jul.28 at 4:57 pm
    The Wizards are in the best position of any of the other teams in the East. The Wiz vets are in their prime. Gil, Jamison, and Butler are each All-Stars who average 20+PPG. They are supported by several very solid role-playing veterans in Miller, Stephenson, James, and Oberto. They have a bonafide double/double center (Haywood). They have a group of young guys (Blatche, McGee,Young, Foye, Critt) all of whom have started multiple NBA games. There is no one on this team that has to hidden at the end of the bench. Even though Coach Saunders likes an eight-man rotation, they’ll all get a chance to contribute to a championship.

  • JPizal Posted: Jul.28 at 6:14 pm
    Miller & Foye + dumping contracts(Poet+DS) & lovable bums(I get buckets) > Rubio. Much Greater.
    Miller and Foye are proven and can contribute on day one. Foye is not a PG, he is a 2. They tried putting at the 1 in Min. and it was ugly. Foye will most likely start at the 2 and Miller will be the six man at the 2 & 3. Can you say a ton of threeees. Between Arenas, Jamison, Miller, Foye, and just about everyone else on this current squad love the 3ball. With Miller, and a few 7 footers Haywood 7’0″, McGee 7’2″(still growing, and has 12’3″ Max Vertical Reach highest in the NBA, rumored to be able to dunk on a 12’6″ rim), Blatche 6’11″ there rebound should improve.

  • steph "starbury" Posted: Jul.29 at 3:30 am
    who is this guy? jon u r a bs columnist, this is total garbage. the wiz are nowhere near contention, they are a paltry 6th or 7th seed at best, theyre not better than atlanta or miami, espicially because wade will be a beast this year. they cant play any D, mike miller is useless now. terrible bigmen other than jamison, and their coach isnt tht great, oh and btw get ur facts right u bum, gregg popovich has a better winning percentage also, and he’s not coming east for the first time, he coached detroit, duhh. SLAM! make sure u proofread this bs, get yo facts straight son!

  • steph "starbury" Posted: Jul.29 at 3:31 am
    i was talkin bout flip in the end there, dont get it twisted

  • ti-sizz Posted: Jul.29 at 1:53 pm
    ARENAS~~~~~ the wiz are looking really good so far. lotsa able bodies, lotsa ppl who can contribute. hopefully they’ll be able to buy into some kind of defensive philosophy and they’ll be able to kick ass, cuz they got the offense that not many teams can keep up with. best part about that offense, it will be there consistently on a nightly basis. might take a bit of time to properly gel together, but they’ll definitely be in the mix near the end of the season.

  • Stickz Posted: Jul.29 at 4:48 pm
    Totally agree wit ti-sizz. The Wiz are so deep, it doesn’t matter if someone has an off night. Arenas off, u got 16PPG Foye to step in. Miller off, 11PPG Young or Fote or Stevenson step in, butler off…..u get the point. And McGee is gonna be really good. He was VERY impressive at the Team USA minicamp, and that’s not summer league comp. That against the future stars of the league. Haywood actually might be underrated(God don’t strike me down, please)! But I have been a fan of Les Boulez since pops used to take me to games in the early 80′s, so I ain’t gonna fully buy into the notion they could be in the Finals till at least All-Star break. But like I said before, this team is a playoff team w/o their best player, so…..u do the math.

  • Richard Sullivan Posted: Jun.23 at 1:01 am
    It looks like you guessed wrong.

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