Washington Wizards Season Preview
The Boston Celtics raised championship banner number 17 to the rafters last night and Greg Oden apparently can't play more than three minutes without getting injured. NBA basketball is back! The Washington Wizards start their season tonight at home against the New Jersey Nets at 7 p.m. Here are five hot issues that the Wizards will need to solve this season if they want to make it to the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season:
1) Health: It's quite the understatement to say that the Wiz have had some health issues over the last two years. All of the team's big guns have missed significant amounts of time in the last two seasons, and Gilbert Arenas still has yet to make his way back from last year's knee injury. Losing starting center Brendan Haywood for up to six months is a crushing blow. Haywood was coming off of his best season as a pro and was finally at the point where the team could consistently count on him for a strong post presence on both offense and defense.
2) The Center Position: Haywood's replacement? Etan Thomas. Thomas isn't exactly the picture of health himself. He missed all of last season after open heart surgery. Even when he's healthy, he still only averages 57 games a season. Rookie JaVale McGee showed flashes during the preseason, but can he be counted on during the regular season?
3) The Bench: Moving two bench players into the starting lineup thins the bench considerably. What's left isn't going to scare anyone. Dee Brown certainly isn't the answer as the back-up point guard. Who is long-term answer as the backup small forward? Will the team get anything from the up-and-down Andray Blatche? Oleksiy Pecherov? Can Nick Young be a consistent scoring threat off the bench?
4) The East: The Celtics seem focused on banner #18. On paper, Toronto, Cleveland and Philly figure to be much improved. Detroit is still there. Atlanta took Boston to seven games in last year's playoffs. Chicago should rebound from a disappointing year. Miami added Michael Beasley and gets a healthy Dwyane Wade back. Orlando won 52 games last year. It's safe to say the Wizards begin the season as a long shot to make the playoffs.
5) Maturity: Will this team ever grow up? Do we want them to? They're incredibly entertaining on the court and off, but does that work against them? In the playoffs last year they seemed more concerned with talking trash and getting Soulja Boy courtside seats than they did about winning basketball games. And Gilbert is already talking smack to the Cavs. What gives?