The heat might be on for the Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan as he enters his
third season as the head coach of the team. Despite leading Washington to
consecutive playoff spots, the team as a whole has not shown any improvement on
the defensive end and are not taken seriously as a championship threat by
anyone.
The strength of the Wizards is their wacky guard, Gilbert Arenas. Arenas was
the fourth best scorer in the NBA last season, but still failed to get much
respect as he only made the All-Star team as a replacement. While the points are
there, some feel Arenas would be better off shooting less and taking better
looks. His 36.8% three-point percentage certainly doesn't justify shooting
almost seven three-pointers a game. There is no question, however, that Arenas
can fill up the bucket any night he wishes to.
Rounding out the Wizard's "Big Three" are Caron Butler and Antwan Jamison.
Butler is a young wing scorer who was injured for a good amount of time last
season but had a big impact on his team when he was able to play. He should be
good for 17-18 points a game. At the other forward position, Jamison is a good
inside scorer and he averaged nearly 20 points and 10 rebounds a game last
season.
The rest of the supporting cast for the Wizards include shooting guards
DeShawn Stevenson and Antonio Daniels and big man Brendan Haywood. Stevenson and
Daniels together should provide enough offense to compliment Arenas at the guard
position, but neither is near the top of the class at the two. Both of the
guards averaged near or over ten points a game last season, but Stevenson was
not a Wizard when he did so. Haywood is a serviceable big man, though slightly
disappointing, who will be counted on for tough rebounds. That means averaging
more than the usual 5.9 a game.
The main problem for the Wizards seems to be that they are perceived as a one
or two man team at best. They have no defensive mentality and are very
inconsistent from game to game. To get to the next step they have a lot of work
to do, especially with the increase in talent throughout the Eastern Conference.
It really is hard to project this team, despite the talent of Arenas, as
finishing better than a bottom-four playoff spot and a first round exit like the
past two seasons.
