Washingston

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The Wizards are coming off a terrible season and have just 60/1 NBA odds to win a championship this year. But with top rookie John Wall in the fold, there’s hope for a better tomorrow. This is your Washington Wizards 2010-11 preview.

It wasn’t long ago that Washington was handing out huge contracts to Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, and Caron Butler, with the hopes of putting together a long-term contender. That effort imploded faster than a reality TV star’s career, and now the Wizards might as well be starting over.

Starting over is much easier to swallow, however, when you have the first-overall pick in the draft to spend on Wall. The guard was nothing short of brilliant in one year of college basketball with Kentucky and, while he’ll need some seasoning, he could turn around this sorry franchise’s fortunes.

That process will likely be slowed by Arenas. His Agent Zero nickname has been sadly appropriate over the past three years, as he’s put pretty much nothing into the Wizards; Arenas has played just 47 games in that span.

He’s still owed $80 million and, for the moment, his nickname should be changed to Agent Albatross. The best-case scenario for the Wizards is Arenas shows up healthy, plays some basketball, and is dumped on some sucker from Memphis or Minnesota.

There are reasons for excitement besides Wall. Al Thornton played just 24 games for the Wizards last year, but the fifth-year forward is not without potential; he averaged 16.8 points per game in his second season with the Clippers and is a former first-round pick.

Washington also acquired Yi Jianlian. Yi has mostly been a bust three years into his career, but he showed signs of life with the awful Nets last year, setting career highs with 12.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

The Wizards aren’t expecting anything extraordinary this season — just some promising play from Wall and the other youngsters and a steady improvement in the win-loss column. If they can ship Arenas and his dead contract out, the season can be considered a big success.

The Wizards also hired new GM, Marcus Smith.

Team Roster
Gilbert Arenas 9 G 1.6.82 215 6-4 Arizona
Hilton Armstrong 24 C 11.11.84 235 6-11 Connecticut
Andray Blatche 7 C 8.22.86 248 6-11 None
Trevor Booker 35 F 11.25.87 240 6-7 Clemson
Mardy Collins 50 G 8.4.84 220 6-6 Temple
Kirk Hinrich 12 G 1.2.81 190 6-3 Kansas
Josh Howard 5 F 4.28.80 210 6-7 Wake Forest
Lester Hudson 3 G 8.7.84 190 6-3 Tennessee-Martin
Yi Jianlian 31 F 10.27.87 250 7-0 None
Sean Marks 4 C 8.23.75 250 6-10 California
Cartier Martin 20 F 11.20.84 220 6-7 Kansas State
JaVale McGee 34 C 1.19.88 252 7-0 Nevada
Adam Morrison 6 F 7.19.84 205 6-8 Gonzaga
Hamady Ndiaye 55 C 1.1.00 235 7-0 Rutgers
Kevin Palmer 15 G 6.21.87 205 6-6 TX AM Corpus Christi
Kevin Seraphin 13 F 12.7.89 264 6-9 None
Al Thornton 14 F 12.7.83 220 6-8 Florida State
John Wall 2 G 9.6.90 195 6-4 Kentucky
Nick Young 1 G 6.1.85 200 6-6 U-S-C

What's the game?

Hope you can get Agent Zero back up into his previous form. Good luck with John Wall!

and Badger, please quit changing your name. "cryme Time'' just sounds stupid.

Sorry.... I will be using PS3.. NBA LIVE 2010...SUPERSTAR......

ARENAS TRADE RUMORS, PLUS PERSONAL FEELINGS

Arenas hasn't played in an NBA game since January and might be uncertain about the reception he will receive following his 50-game suspension last season for bringing guns to the Verizon Center locker room.

Arenas also offered a puzzling explanation of his new role with the Wizards. "I'm out there to hit open shots. Teach John the ins-and-outs of the game and eventually go on and move on. And I'm on my way," he said, hinting that he could be moved before his contract expires in 2014. "This is the NBA, there are few players that stay in the same city. Right now, the city is John's. I'm not here to fight anybody. I'm here to just play alongside of him. He's Batman and I'm Robin. I'm moving aside so he can become a star."

With those words raging out on twitter, and the web, trade rumors began to stir up:

Wizards recieve:
R.Hamilton
R.Stuckey
2nd round pick

Detroit recieves:
G.Arenas
1st round pick

Nothing has been finalized as of yet.....

Best of luck with this one mate; I'm not big on you acquiring Rodney Stuckey, but I think Rip Hamilton is awesome, so I think that'll work out well for you

Marcus Smith
As far as trading Gilbert Arenas, why would we? We have absolutely no reason to trade Mr. Arenas. He is a very vaulable asset to our team. I planned on seeing Arenas, and Wall playing together for a while, what did you guys expect?

First preseason game thursday against China, friday against Japan

Wizards Preview
Many people are simply discarding the Wizards as just "The Wizards," the team that year after year sucks. Well, I will show you why those people are wrong, and why in fact the Washington Wizards will be a truly interesting team to watch next season. Let's start with the obvious. The Eastern Conference has been for quiet a while now, the easiest Conference in which to win.

While there has been some shifting of major stars, it has done little to effect the teams that missed the playoffs.The Wizards have had a decent offseason and if everything goes right, they should rise above the other teams.When most basketball fans hear the words "The Washington Wizards" they immediately picture a terrible team that is the bottom feeder of the NBA.Well, that is not the case, but since the expectations are so low; they have little pressure going into next season.They should find themselves with very little media attention for quiet some time since the newly-formed Miami Thrice will be stealing all the reporters.People underestimate the pressure of media and the fans, and how well a team can play without them.

The Washington Wizards have a lot of young and new players on their team looking to contribute. Last year, most of the young players improved during the season and Javale McGee cmade the Olympic Team, even though he recieved little or no time.(In my dynasty, I had McGee make the team)

If the talent improves as it should, the Wizards should find themselves with some very able young talent to play with.Combine that with the first pick of this year's draft in John Wall, and you have a dangerous young cast. The Wizard front office has officially tackled rebuilding, and I am sure that if they see anything during the season that needs to be corrected that they will be sure to do so in very short notice, especially with new GM Marcus Smith.

They have the money to spend and the people willing to spend it, and the lack of it is why many teams miss the playoffs.You can't have cheap owners with no vision (that's your cue Mr. Smith) with great owners and a great front office, the doors for a team's potential open.
Yes, you need depth and the Wizards have a lot of depth heading into this season. They have multiple options at the guard positions as well as in the forward sports.

Al Thornton, Andray Blatche, Yi Jianlian, and Josh Howard are all pretty capable of running the forward spot, and Blatche and Yi could even rotate into center positions.

They will always have ready manpower on the bench to contribute, and that should play a large part in getting the Wizards into the playoffs.
Believe it or not, the Wizards actually weren't that bad last year. Their record was not by any means good, but when looking at the roster they had for most of the season, it is quite an accomplishment to win 26 games.

The Bulls made the playoffs last year after winning only 41 games. Now, the Wizards were only 15 behind that without Gilbert for most of the season, and without Josh Howard, Kirk Hinrich, and John Wall.

If those four are not enough to add at least 15 wins to a team, I don't know what is. The Wizards should definitely make the playoffs based on simple logic.

The Wizards are going to be a high-powered offense this season. They now know that. Last year, it seemed like they had no idea what they wanted to do. Even though I feel like they have very able defensive players, the coach isn't.

Flip likes offense and he likes a lot of it. The Wizards have athleticism, speed, and raw ability to give him the perfect blueprint.

Hopefully, he does not completely forget about defense because like I mentioned earlier; his team is capable of it.

The "lowly" Wizards should find themselves in the playoffs this season, and I would expect them to finish above the eighth seed.

They have a very underrated team and while most writers seem to ignore, them, don't make the same mistake. When the Wizards are playing your team, don't dismiss as an easy win; it's not going to be.