It's over. The Washington Wizards' worst season in three years is history. It ended last night with a 94-78 loss to the playoff-bound New Orleans Hornets at MCI Center.
Immediately after Washington's 34th double-digit loss that capped its 15th sub-.500 season in the past 17, its players gave their game jerseys to some members of the non-sellout crowd -- something guard Gilbert Arenas has done already several times this season. Forward Kwame Brown addressed the departing crowd over the public address system, thanking fans for supporting the team through a "tough" season.
No, it's not the towel; Wizards' Etan Thomas throws his warmups to the crowd at the end of Washington's season.
(Joel Richardson -- The Washington Post)
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Wizards Insider
WHO'S NEXT?
End of regular season
The experience gained by the Washington Wizards' young players in this disappointing season is the main reason cited by people throughout the organization for optimism. Playing in the soon-to-be-formed Southeast Division is another potential light at the end of the tunnel.
With the expansion Charlotte Bobcats coming in as the NBA's 30th team next season, Washington will be grouped with the new North Carolina franchise, the Miami Heat, the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic. The winner of the division automatically qualifies for the playoffs.
Though it is unknown how the Bobcats would have finished, Washington (25-57) would have had the third-best record among the existing teams. Miami (42-40), the only team among those to be in the Southeastern Division that qualified for the playoffs this year, would have won the Southeastern, with the Hawks (28-54) coming in second with the Wizards topping only Orlando, which finished the season with a 21-61 record, the NBA's worst. . . .
Washington center Etan Thomas will be a restricted free agent this offseason, which allows him to negotiate with other teams but gives the Wizards the right to match any offer, which the team appears willing to do unless Thomas receives a bid the team finds well out of its economic forecast. Thomas said he wants to come back, but is unsure of what will happen.
"They could decide to make certain decisions and go in a different direction," Thomas said. "Everything I've heard is positive about coming back, but you never know. A lot of things could happen. You don't know what they're going to do in the draft or with other things. You never know."
Thomas has had a career-best season, averaging 8.8 points and 6.7 rebounds, second best on the team.
-- Steve Wyche
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___ Fixing the Wizards ___
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Others, some of whom may have played their last game for the Wizards, mingled with fans. At least for a night, it was a bon voyage.
"We talked at halftime that you've got fans out here and they want to see a good basketball game," Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan said. "For the most part they want to cheer for you but they want to see a good NBA basketball game. Don't take this for granted. Don't think you're going to play six more years or even a month next year. You just can't take it for granted. You have to go out there, be professional and play with a lot of energy. That team played 81 games, too."
The Wizards cut a 20-point first-half deficit to 11 in the second half, but they never got within single digits.
Of course, the season couldn't end without another misstep in a season full of them. Arenas, who finished as Washington's leading scorer (19.6 points per game), didn't start his second straight game. Following his benching Monday in Detroit because he missed the team plane, he was late to yesterday morning's shoot-around. Arenas said he got stuck in traffic from Virginia into Washington and arrived at MCI Center as the hour-long walk-through ended. Rookie Steve Blake started in his place, again.
"I've just been slacking lately," Arenas, who finished with a season-low two points, said, somewhat jokingly. "My fault."
The Wizards (25-57) also closed out the season with swingman Jerry Stackhouse (sore right ankle) and Brown (sprained left ankle) out with injuries. It was a fitting culmination of a season that started with mild expectations and quickly went awry when Stackhouse was forced to have knee surgery in the preseason, which kick-started a series of crushing injuries that derailed any serious shot at sneaking into the playoffs.
"It was tough, playing and losing games and knowing that we had enough to get it done but not putting it on the court at the same time," said guard Larry Hughes, the Wizards' second-leading scorer (18.8 points per game). "The amount of games we kept losing was tough. I don't really see a positive other than I finished healthy and Gilbert finished healthy but Stack's still out. Kwame's still out. I don't really get too many positives. This is embarrassing to come out and lose as many games as we did."
The silver lining of the Wizards finishing with the NBA's third-worst record is they have a 15.7 percent chance of winning the top pick in the draft lottery. When Washington finished with the third-worst record in 2001, it landed the top pick, which it used on Brown.
Washington's players began packing their belongings before last night's game and today they will go through exit interviews with management and season-ending physicals with team doctors. Most will catch the first airplane they can to get out of town. Some, such as Arenas, Juan Dixon, Etan Thomas and Blake, will stay in the area and waste little time before starting offseason workouts.
They will try to erase this long, painful season, which took one final blow from New Orleans (41-41), which enhanced its Eastern Conference playoff seeding. As the fifth seed, the Hornets will play at Miami to open the playoffs.
Washington got off to its typical good start, with Jarvis Hayes (15 points) and Brendan Haywood (eight points) leading it to a five-point edge 6 minutes 30 seconds into the first quarter. The Hornets took the lead for good at 21-20 on David Wesley's 19-footer moments later. New Orleans ended the period with a 24-20 lead, as Washington managed only a five-foot hook shot by Jared Jeffries (13 points, 11 rebounds) over the final 2:37 of the opening period.
Things only got worse from there as the Hornets went on a scoring rampage, dropping 33 second-quarter points -- the second-highest total the Wizards allowed in the second period all season -- to cruise into halftime with a 57-39 lead. New Orleans stretched its lead to double figures less than four minutes into the second half and to 20 later in the quarter.
Hughes and Arenas, the team's leading scorers, had just two points in the opening half, while committing four turnovers, three by Arenas. Washington got as close as 11 late in the third quarter, but New Orleans went into the fourth period up 72-59.
