Who says the Washington Wizards didn’t improve over the offseason? Last night DCist made our first trip down to the Verizon Center this season and noticed plenty of changes; fancy new press credentials (now with marketing slogans!), shiny, new flat screen monitors in press row in section 104, that snazzy $50 million scoreboard that puts a whole new spin on the Kiss-Cam and a new red carpet themed video set to Kanye West’s “Bigger,…

.354 from the field .203 from three point land 91.7 points per game No matter how you look at the numbers, it’s clear the Washington Wizards struggled in the opening week of the NBA season, a fact reflected in their 0-3 record. The team looks disjointed on offense, taking bad shots and turning the ball over with impunity. And by giving up 105+ points per game – good for 26th in the league -…

A scant 21 days remain until my favorite day of the entire year, the NBA draft. And while Cleveland and San Antonio start the NBA finals tonight (9:00 p.m. on ABC), the rest of the league, including the Washington Wizards, are firmly entrenched in the off season. What’s in store for Team Zero? Let’s take a look. The Wizards have roughly $38 million in guaranteed salaries committed to the core of the team next…

A tumultuous weekend for the Washington Wizards took an unexpected turn for the worse on Sunday when All-Star Caron Butler fractured his right hand in a 121-107 win against the Milwaukee Bucks. Bulter was trying to contest a dunk by Ruben Patterson and hit his hand on the backboard. His availability for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs is very much in doubt at this point. “Caron is going to be…

The Miami Heat took control of a close game last night by repeatedly feeding Shaquille O’Neal in the post and The Diesel responded by scoring 10 of his season high 23 in the fourth quarter, leading the visiting Miami Heat past a depleted Washington Wizards team, 92-83. With Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison out with injuries, the Heat ran multiple defenders at Gilbert Arenas all night, holding him to 15 points on 3-15 shooting….

Forget any anger and antipathy you may have felt towards David Stern and ABC for their draconian TV policy. Trust me, you should be happy this game was blacked out locally. If you didn’t see Sunday’s disappointing 94-73 Wizards loss to Portland, you didn’t miss much. Despite his threats, Gilbert Arenas didn’t score 50 points. Not even close. The Wizards as a team didn’t break 50 until the fourth quarter. The team played lackadaisically…

127-105. Yeah, it was that bad. Worse even. So much for all the talk about “swag” and “tough juice.” Only time will tell if last night’s shellacking at the hand of the Phoenix Suns will start the backlash on the hype and attention the Wizards have earned this year, but boy was it ugly. The crowd of 20,173, not to mention the huge media contingent, came to the Verizon Center last night be entertained…

For the past two days the media have been wondering why no one double teams Gilbert Arenas when he has the ball. So the Knicks tried it last night to great effect. Agent Zero was held to 16 points on 4-14 shooting, but got the ball in the hands of his teammates consistently, which enabled the Wizards to take down the Knicks 99-98. Yes, it was another wild finish at the Verizon Center last…

Gilbert Arenas left the court at the Verizon Center yesterday as fans serenaded him with chants of “MVP! MVP!” after hitting yet another game winner at the buzzer. The Utah Jazz were Agent Zero’s latest victim, falling 114-111 in an incredible Martin Luther King Day matinée. Arenas, who tied a Verizon Center record with 51 points, traded three pointers with Utah’s Memet Okur down the stretch, but got the ball last and made Utah…

Of all the rivalries in recent sports history, few have been as one-sided as the Wizards’ struggles against their Southeast Division antagonists, the Miami Heat. Indeed, it’s not clear you can even call it a rivalry, since in actual rivalries both sides sometimes win. D.C.’s hoopsters, by contrast, have been losing for a long time now. Sixteen straight games, including a four-game sweep in the 2006 Eastern Conference Semifinals, and sweeps of the regular season…