Last Year’s Record: 19-63
Key Losses: Juan Dixon, Darius Songalia, and Etan Thomas
Key Additions: Mike Miller and Randy Foye

What Significant Moves were made during the off-season?
Given that the Wizards fired Eddie Jordan after a 1-10 start last season, and his replacement, Ed Tapscott was always viewed as a temporary solution, the first and most significant move that needed to be made was the naming of a head coach to lead the team.  On April 22, 2009, the Wizards remedied that problem by naming Flip Saunders to the head coaching position.  Flip brought a 60% winning percentage, his reputation for being an offensive-minded coach, and 13 years of head coaching experience to a team that looked utterly lost towards the end of the 2008-2009 season.  As Ernie Grunfeld said at Flip’s introductory press conference, “We were looking for experience. We felt that Flip was the whole package…he’ll bring us back to where we feel we belong.”

The next significant move the Wizards made was bringing in Mike Miller and Randy Foye via trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves.  This move did not sit well with Wizards fans, not necessarily because they lost Darius Songalia, Etan Thomas, and fan favorite Oleksiy Pecherov, but mainly because the Wizards forfeited the fifth overall selection in the 2009 NBA draft.  The thought was that the Wizards would get a young exciting player like Ricky Rubio, or possibly trade for an established big man, but the Wiz eschewed both options in favor of Miller and Foye.  Foye can play either guard position, and he brings career averages of 13 points and nearly four assists.  Miller can play shooting guard or small forward, and he has averaged 14 points and 40% from three point range–an area where the Wizards have historically shot poorly

The final and perhaps most underrated of the Wizards’ major offseason moves was the signing of Fabricio Oberto.  Although he’s 34-years-old and coming off significant heart surgery this offseason, Oberto brings a tremendous amount of experience to this roster.  He played for 2007 NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs team, and he was also the starting center for Argentina’s 2004 gold medal winning team. When Oberto was asked what he could bring to this Wizards roster he said, “I like to see what is missing from the team and help that part. If I have to play D, and not take a shot for 10 games, I’ll do it.”

What are the team’s biggest strengths?
When you have a roster with Gilbert Arenas (22.8 points per game career avg.), Antawn Jamison (20 points and 8 rebounds for his career) and Caron Butler (has averaged 20 points over the last two season) they are automatically considered to be the strong point of your team.  When you add Brendan Haywood, who is the outright starting center now that his nemesis (Etan Thomas) has been traded away, you have four established starters who are headed into their fourth year of playing together, and they alone can give you 80+ plus point on any given night.  That’s a tremendous amount of strength (on paper) if you ask me.

The second biggest strength is the depth.  The reason I only mentioned four starters in the above paragraph, is that Flip Saunders has still not named his starting shoot guard for the 2009-2010 season.  Why?  He has many options to choose from.  There’s DeShawn (I Can’t Feel My Face) Stevenson who had the starting job for two and a half seasons, until his back gave out last year, who is known as a defensive specialist; there’s Mike Miller who is a shooter, who has demonstrated a knack for finding the open man; there’s Nick Young, who by his own admission, is ready to be a starter, and is a threat to score 30 points on any given night; and finally, there’s Randy Foye who gives Arenas the unique option of vacillating between point and shooting guard.  The strengths and weaknesses of each player can be debated, but the depth they provide for the Wizards cannot.

The other point that can be made about the strength of this Wizards team is experience. When they Wizards were trudging along through their 19-63 season, some of the younger players like JaVale McGee, Javaris Crittenton, Andray Blatche and Nick Young, got a tremendous amount of playing time.  That type of experience, even in a low expectation environment like last year, is still invaluable going into this season.

But let there be no mistake about it, Gilbert Arenas is still the biggest asset this team has.  Whether he’s averaging 30 points, or dishing out 13 assists, he is still the focal point of the offense, and he can get hot and win 10-15 games by himself.

What are the team’s biggest weaknesses?
Back when Tony Kornheiser was a writer for the Washington Post, and the Washington Wizards were still the “Bullets”, he coined the phrase, “Curse of Lez Boulez”.   No matter how much success the Bullets seemed to have, bad coaching, bad play or injuries would invariably have them off to a 9-20 start by December, and the curse was in full effect.  A new team name, several playoff appearances, and a several coaches later, that curse still hovers over the team like the Balloon Boy–and it hovers in the form of injuries

First, Javaris Crittenton hurt his foot in training camp (strained tendon and a double bone bruise).  Then Brendan Haywood sprained his right ankle during the Wizards first preseason game against the Mavericks (he’s since been declared healthy).  And then the major blow came yesterday, when the Wizards announced that Antawn Jamison would miss 3-5 more weeks for a subluxation of his shoulder that he got courtesy of Cleveland’s Zydrunas Illgauskas.  Jamison’s injury takes away a key player for several weeks, a player who is a double-double threat on a nightly basis. The other injuries have not allowed new coach Flip Saunders to establish any type of rhythm and cohesion with his substitution patterns.  That can be a recipe for early season struggles if the Wizards aren’t careful.

The other major weakness is the lack of frontcourt depth, and this is an issue that has also plagued the Wizards since the “Curse of Lez Boulez”.  When Haywood is healthy, he is a force to be reckoned with on both ends of the floor.  But if he gets in foul trouble, of if he misses of the season as he did last year, the Wizards are trouble.  McGee, for all his dazzling dunks and big blocks, still is a work in progress, and consistency is an issue.  Oberto was mainly brought in for defense and rebounding, and he hasn’t averaged more than five points in his four years in the NBA.  And Andray Blatche, as talented as he is, is mainly a perimeter player who makes cameo appearances in the paint, and can be easily overwhelmed by Eastern Conference big men such as Dwight Howard, Shaq, and even Kendrick Perkins.  If the Wizards outside shots are not falling, there really aren’t a whole lot of consistent inside options.

Normally I would list the Wizards’ lack of defense as a weakness, but to do that would just be dishonest.  This team will sink or swim with their ability to score.  As former NBA player and current ESPN NBA Analyst, Jalen Rose said about the Wizards, “They[the Wizards] will never be a team that can hold you to 80 or 90 points.”

What are the goals for this team?
Since staying healthy is not a goal that any team or player can actively control, the biggest goal for this Washington Wizards team should be consistency.  Flip needs to establish who the starting shooting guard will be, establish a eight or nine player rotation, and stick with it, so that everyone’s roles are clearly defined.  That is especially important for a new coach.

The other major goal? Get Arenas to be himself.  There was a huge void both on and off the court last year when Arenas basically missed the entire year.  This season, Arenas is back, but his play has been inconsistent, and his words (since media day) have been extremely limited.  Since this Wizards’ team still will live or die with the play of Arenas, he needs to find a consistent comfort zone.

Projected Finish
Last year I picked the Wizards to go 41-41, and injuries and a coaching change pretty much derailed me from the start.  This year, despite the Jamison setback, I think the Wizards will return to their 2005-2008 “heyday” and come out with a 43-39 record, which will be good enough to make the playoffs and play the Cavs once again.

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