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**MJG** · 10-01-2004, 11:54 AM

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As we approach the beginning of training camp and the regular season, the Washington Wizards appear to be on the cusp of a break-out season. Most, if not all, of the spots on the roster have been filled. There remains some question as to the rotation and who will get playing time but that will be answered as camp progresses.

If you’ve been a Wizards fan before, you know that the city believes that the Wizards are cursed. For whatever reason, this franchise has been down in the dumps for many, many years. Even with the revival in attendance through the MJ years, the team still could not get over the hump and into the playoffs – even in the talent depleted Eastern Conference.

With the recent additions to the team (Antawn Jamison, Anthony Peeler et al), and the return of key members Gilbert Arenas, Larry Hughes and Kwame Brown, expectations are much higher than they were this time last year. The returning players have had one season of head coach Eddie Jordan’s system and the rookies have seen what the NBA has to offer. All of these various equations should equal a winning campaign.

However, as with any team, several questions must be answered if this team wants to continue playing after the regular season ends. Most of the questions involve newcomer Antawn Jamison and fourth year man Gilbert Arenas. In my humble opinion, they are the keys to this team.

1. Can Gilbert Arenas, Larry Hughes, and Antawn Jamison ("The Big Three") exist as a cohesive unit?

2. Will Gilbert Arenas become the true playmaker the Wizards envisioned when they signed him?

3. Will Kwame Brown continue his strong play from the second half of the 2003-2004 season?

4. Will the arrival of Antawn Jamison slow the growth of second year forward Jarvis Hayes?

5. Are the Wizards fully committed to playing defense, individual and team?

Definitely some questions that will determine our level of success this year, and honestly, I am not too sure how most of them will play out.

Will the GS trio be able to begin the season thinking about the group first, and then be able to remain unselfish if we suddenly go on a losing streak? The second part is the key. I don't doubt that for the most part they'll come into the season with pretty good team outlook, but will it be maintainable throughout not only the good, but also the bad? They all need to be strong about this. One slipup early can easily snowball for an awful long time.

I think the team can do decent whether Arenas stays a scorer or becomes more of a distributor, but the latter will make things both easier and overall better in the long run. It'll really help the first question if Arenas is happy scoring a point or two less and dishing out an assist or two more. As I said I think we can still do okay if he doesn't take that route, but it is much riskier.

For Kwame's question, it all depends on this mystery injury we still don't know too much about. If he can't start playing until a week before the season starts, it'll probably take him a month just start getting back into his rhythm from last year. If he gets to play in at least some preseason games, it could speed things up a tad. Either way though, by no later than the time we hit December, I think he'll be starting to flash what we've all been expecting him to this summer. This is one question I, nor anyone else here I'm guessing, is really having much doubt on.

I don't think the Hayes question has as much to do with our success as the rest, but it is a topic worth looking at a bit. Jamison will eat up probably a good 30 minutes a night at SF, but I'm guessing almost all of the remaining 18 will go to Hayes. The question is, will Hayes get time as our backup SG as well? Some of us, myself included, feel that he is capable and should get those minutes. Regardless of that though, the key is that he makes better use of whatever minutes he does wind up getting. He really dropped like a rock after the first few weeks of the year, and only occasionally showed us what he had to start the season. For those that forgot, his numbers for the first ten games: 14.4 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 45.3% FG (6.3-13.9), 39.1% 3P (0.9-2.3), 38.4 MPG. The key numbers there: the shooting percentages. He shot under 40% from the field and 30% from three point range the rest of the year, which made him all but useless in most games. If he can hit at his early season clip off the bench, he'll be a big boost for us, whether he's getting 18 minutes a night or 30.

Ah, the defense. We certainly are not going to be a great defensive team, so the question is, can we be a decent one? We have players at almost every spot who are very capable one on one man defenders, especially down low. However, we were very much five individuals as opposed to one team most of last year on defense. Weak side help was MIA, and generally an opponent beating his man meant a pretty easy opportunity to get a score. This is what I think makes or breaks our season. We should be scoring 100 points a night with our offensive-oriented team, but will we be giving our opponents the same output? The difference between double and triple digits for the opponents' average can be the difference in a losing and winning season.

jazzy1 · 10-01-2004, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by <b>MJG</b>!
Five interesting questions ...

Definitely some questions that will determine our level of success this year, and honestly, I am not too sure how most of them will play out.

Will the GS trio be able to begin the season thinking about the group first, and then be able to remain unselfish if we suddenly go on a losing streak? The second part is the key. I don't doubt that for the most part they'll come into the season with pretty good team outlook, but will it be maintainable throughout not only the good, but also the bad? They all need to be strong about this. One slipup early can easily snowball for an awful long time.

I think the team can do decent whether Arenas stays a scorer or becomes more of a distributor, but the latter will make things both easier and overall better in the long run. It'll really help the first question if Arenas is happy scoring a point or two less and dishing out an assist or two more. As I said I think we can still do okay if he doesn't take that route, but it is much riskier.

For Kwame's question, it all depends on this mystery injury we still don't know too much about. If he can't start playing until a week before the season starts, it'll probably take him a month just start getting back into his rhythm from last year. If he gets to play in at least some preseason games, it could speed things up a tad. Either way though, by no later than the time we hit December, I think he'll be starting to flash what we've all been expecting him to this summer. This is one question I, nor anyone else here I'm guessing, is really having much doubt on.

I don't think the Hayes question has as much to do with our success as the rest, but it is a topic worth looking at a bit. Jamison will eat up probably a good 30 minutes a night at SF, but I'm guessing almost all of the remaining 18 will go to Hayes. The question is, will Hayes get time as our backup SG as well? Some of us, myself included, feel that he is capable and should get those minutes. Regardless of that though, the key is that he makes better use of whatever minutes he does wind up getting. He really dropped like a rock after the first few weeks of the year, and only occasionally showed us what he had to start the season. For those that forgot, his numbers for the first ten games: 14.4 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 45.3% FG (6.3-13.9), 39.1% 3P (0.9-2.3), 38.4 MPG. The key numbers there: the shooting percentages. He shot under 40% from the field and 30% from three point range the rest of the year, which made him all but useless in most games. If he can hit at his early season clip off the bench, he'll be a big boost for us, whether he's getting 18 minutes a night or 30.

Ah, the defense. We certainly are not going to be a great defensive team, so the question is, can we be a decent one? We have players at almost every spot who are very capable one on one man defenders, especially down low. However, we were very much five individuals as opposed to one team most of last year on defense. Weak side help was MIA, and generally an opponent beating his man meant a pretty easy opportunity to get a score. This is what I think makes or breaks our season. We should be scoring 100 points a night with our offensive-oriented team, but will we be giving our opponents the same output? The difference between double and triple digits for the opponents' average can be the difference in a losing and winning season.

The main questions to me are this.

1. Can Larry Hughes sustain a team mindset despite falling back in priorities.

2. How quickly can Kwame get back and return to form.

I'm actually not worried about Gilbert so long as Hughes stays in team mode. It seems Hughes has more impact on Arenas's erratic play then anything because he seems to increase Arenas impatience level when they play together. Hughes makes Arenas play outta control by pushing the ball too much and not passing the ball.

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