Wizards Are The Cheer Leaders

Glenda Stewart is one of many long-suffering Wizards fans getting excited about the franchise. The team has already surpassed the win total from last season. (Jonathan Newton - The Washington Post)

The team's three stars, Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Larry Hughes, are on pace to become the first NBA trio in more than a decade to average 20 points per game for a full season.

Their success is directly tied to Ernie Grunfeld, the team's president of basketball operations, who acquired Jamison in the offseason from Dallas for a grousing Jerry Stackhouse, and supplemented the roster with experienced veterans, such as Anthony Peeler and Michael Ruffin. Both players have made big contributions and helped humor and police a locker room full of young, impressionable players.

Coach Eddie Jordan and his staff are also responsible for the turnaround. They not only convinced talented, one-on-one players to buy into the old-fangled, move-and-pass, team-oriented Princeton offense, but also created an even-tempered environment. The team became obsessed with compiling a body of work and wins, rather than dissecting each step forward and backward.

The results have helped the franchise reconnect with its once jaded fan base.

Jurgensen was chomping on an unlit cigar on Jan. 15, watching with his sons Gunnar and Erik, as the Wizards came back from 10 points down in the final four minutes to defeat Phoenix, which then had the NBA's best record. "I really do like this team," Jurgensen said. "They play defense. They get their hands on a lot of balls. To me, more than anything else, I think it's a team atmosphere."

"I look at Arenas, Jamison and Hughes and I see three players who actually like each other," Russert said from his center-court seats.

At a time when the NBA is trying to rehabilitate its image after a player-fan brawl at a Detroit-Indiana game in November, it's by no coincidence the Wizards have arrived as one of the league's feel-good tales.

"They're happy with the way we play but I think they also see us as young guys who don't have attitudes or problems," said Hughes, who was having an all-star caliber season before fracturing his thumb. He is expected to be out of action for a month. "When you don't have to worry about off-the-court things -- a guy not being with the team, a guy being kicked out of the league -- the focus becomes basketball. Fans watch the TV and definitely see what's going on. When they don't see negative stuff, they only have one option: to cheer for us."

Arenas has noticed the upsurge in interest, too. "It's been crazy. I went to Best Buy the other day and had to sign at least 15 autographs and take 15 pictures," the point guard said. "People are proud. They're glad to take their city back. They just want a winner in this city in any sport. You can feel the buzz."

Abe Pollin, the NBA's senior owner, recently walked by a hotel concierge desk prior to a business meeting. The clerk made a point to congratulate the owner for hiring Eddie Jordan, a native of the D.C. area who starred at Carroll High School.

"You didn't get that interaction as you moved through the city the last couple of years," said Susan O'Malley, president of Washington Sports and Entertainment.

The average attendance through 20 home games is 16,453 -- about 300 more fans per game than this same point last season. The Wizards have sold out three home games, the same as last year at this time. By comparison, the team sold out every game at the 20,173-seat MCI Center during Michael Jordan's last two seasons as a player.

To attract the casual fan, the Wizards came up with a College Night promotion -- plus Family Night, Singles Night and Tax Day, in which the first person to sink a half-court shot has his or her taxes paid, or refund doubled, by the team. But an almost foreign concept has dawned: People are actually coming to watch the team.

"It's a nice phenomenon," O'Malley said.

"I like how the Wizards play," said Brandy, the entertainer perhaps best known for playing the title role in the sitcom "Moesha." "They're fast-paced and exciting. And I'm a big fan of Larry Hughes."

It helped that Brandy's fiance, Quentin Richardson, was playing for the visiting Phoenix Suns that night. Still, the Wizards were undeterred by the attractive woman across the court from them, practically blinding the bench with her 11-carat diamond engagement ring. They persevered and pulled out the win.

Unlike years past at MCI Center, everybody cheering for the home team left the arena happy.