Wizards Take Last Look Back

Antawn Jamison is usually the last player to leave the Wizards locker room after a game, but there was something different, something more reluctant, about his departure Friday night, after the Cavaliers ended Washington's season with a 114-113 overtime victory in Game 6.

"What are you going to do now?" Jamison was asked.

"I don't know," he replied. "I guess I'll get some rest. I wasn't planning on being done yet."

Jamison was hardly alone. To a man, the Wizards fully expected to win Friday night and set up a Game 7 in Cleveland today. Instead, the Cavaliers moved on to the second round while the Wizards slipped into a long offseason.

"Never did I think that we would lose this series," said guard Gilbert Arenas, who missed two crucial free throws in overtime that would have given the Wizards a three-point lead. "Never. Even after losing [Game 5] the way we did, I thought we were going to win this series. It just didn't go our way."

It could be argued that the Wizards took a step back from the 2004-05 season when they finished 45-37, won a first-round series over the Chicago Bulls as the fifth seed and advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1982.

One factor was the many roster changes. After losing Larry Hughes in free agency to Cleveland, trading Kwame Brown to the Lakers for Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins and signing Antonio Daniels, the Wizards finished 42-40 and once again earned the fifth seed but lost in six games to the Cavaliers.

The season was a repeating loop of ups and downs. The Wizards got off to a 5-1 start that included a 110-95 home win over the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, but dropped six of their next seven games and dipped below .500 for 2 1/2 months.

Once Butler was inserted into the starting lineup on Dec. 21, the team began to jell and play better basketball. A disgruntled Atkins was let go in January, and his departure created a larger role for Daniels, whose game flourished during the second half of the season.

The Wizards went 8-4 in February and kept themselves in playoff contention by going 5-5 in March and 5-6 in April. A thumb injury to Butler coincided with a five-game losing streak. But Butler returned on April 16 against Cleveland, and the Wizards won the final three games of the regular season to wrap up the fifth seed.

The Wizards ranked third in scoring (101.7 points per game) but 21st in points allowed (99.8), and they suffered several last-second defeats along the way. Milwaukee's Maurice Williams, New Orleans's David West and Boston's Paul Pierce hit buzzer-beating shots, and the Wizards blew several games in which they held double-digit leads.

The Wizards beat Detroit three times but lost all four meetings with Southeast division rival Miami. Defensive deficiencies and the failure to win close games were precursors for what happened in the series against Cleveland when the Cavaliers won three games by one point each.

"We're going to be that much stronger next year," said Arenas, who made his second straight all-star appearance and averaged a career-high 29.4 points. "We learn from this. This is a learning experience. We fought this whole series. We showed a lot of character, a lot of maturity. We can't keep our heads down on this one. We can walk proud."

The Wizards will have some offseason business. Arenas, Butler, Jamison and Daniels all hold healthy contracts and figure to be the foundation for the immediate future.

Centers Brendan Haywood and Etan Thomas and forward Michael Ruffin are also under contract. Jared Jeffries will be a restricted free agent and will draw interest around the league, but the Wizards will have the right to match any offer if they choose. Guard Jarvis Hayes missed the final 61 regular season games and the playoffs after suffering a knee injury but said he plans to be ready for training camp.

Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan and his staff are under contract through next season, but Jordan will be looking for an extension this summer. President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld said any discussions about an extension for Jordan would take place "after the season," and the two sides are expected to meet soon.

Unlike last summer, the Wizards will have a first-round pick in the NBA draft (June 28), and that pick and other rookies will participate in the Las Vegas Summer League in July. The summer will be important for the team's youngest players, forward Andray Blatche and guard Donell Taylor, as well as for Arenas and Jamison, who will try out for the national basketball team in July.

It wasn't long after Friday's game that players were turning their focus to next season. Butler, who posted career highs in scoring (17.6), rebounding (6.2) and shooting percentage (45.5 percent), said he planned on getting into the gym "right away."

"That's all I'm going to really do," Butler said. "I'm going to have a photographic memory of what happened and I'm going to work on my game. My conditioning. My strength. Continue to shoot. Ballhandling. I'm going to come back at a whole other level and continue to get better."