By Michael Wilbon
Tuesday, February 20, 2007; E01

Despite the injury to Antawn Jamison, despite the stupid and disruptive fights between Etan Thomas and Brendan Haywood, despite the preposterous home-court blowout loss to lowly Portland last week, the Washington Wizards are in a pretty advantageous position with 32 games remaining in the season -- if they don't blow it with these hints of dysfunction we saw just before the all-star break.

We've gotten to the point in the sporting culture where we try to judge every action and reaction based on the pro football model, where every little thing that might drive an NFL coach nuts is projected to have some lasting effect on an NBA team. Nothing could be further from reality.

Pro basketball teams have always had and will always have to work through mini-dramas, through mismatched personalities, player-coach disagreements and periodic funks. The greatest NBA teams ever, even Michael Jordan's Bulls, had all of the above.

The Wizards clearly were in such a funk, but it appeared to have been abbreviated by the all-star break, a weekend that should work like a between-rounds salve on Eddie Jordan, Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler. It was something of a stunner to see that many people from the Washington basketball franchise participating on All-Star Sunday.

And when play resumes tonight, the Wizards will be in first place in the Eastern Conference's Southeast Division, five games in the loss column ahead of Orlando, which is slipping, and defending league champion Miami, which is surging. The Wizards have every chance to win their division and enter the playoffs with the No. 2 seed in the East at a time when the conference looks as wide open as it has in many years.

We'll find out whether the Thomas-Haywood brawling and Arenas's philosophical disagreement with his coach were merely frayed nerves near the end of a 50-game stretch, or a sign of legitimate dysfunction that will kill this team's chances to make a run in the playoffs. "Typical NBA season," Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld said last night. "Things happen, issues come up that you have to deal with, and you try to solve some things.

"But I'm looking at the big picture, and I think we're positioned very well."

Grunfeld's optimism is rooted not just in the pending return of the incredibly steady Jamison, which is still a couple of weeks away, but also the delayed debut of Darius Songaila and the improvement of second-year forward Andray Blatche, who has shown flashes while picking up some of Jamison's minutes.

"We're not happy with the way we played the last five or six games before the break," Grunfeld said. "But again, with an 82-game season you can't evaluate the season after every single game. We're starting to get back all of our players, which is a great thing, and as we do that we want to get back to playing the way we were when we were on that hot streak. The defensive end is an area we're always concerned about. But offensive is our strength, and we don't want to become a half-court team."

Part of the big-picture analysis of the Wizards has to take into account that it will be the third consecutive season that Arenas, Jamison, Haywood and Thomas have led a playoff push. Butler was with the Wizards last year, and two years before that played with Dwyane Wade as Miami, pre-Shaq, pushed into the playoffs. Antonio Daniels is a playoff veteran, as is Songaila.

As great a first half as Arenas had, generally, it shouldn't surprise anybody if the key player for the Wizards over these final 32 games is Butler. As Grunfeld said: "Butler is our most consistent player. He just fills up a stat sheet all the time."

And he's also the toughest of the Wizards, physically and emotionally.

There's not a bit of nonsense to him. He'll turn 27 in three weeks, and he's played in enough situations (with Wade, with Kobe Bryant, with Arenas) to understand how to play with a star yet find his own ways to impact a team. Privately, players around the league think they can move Arenas off his game in critical times (see LeBron James talking to Arenas at the foul line in the 2006 playoffs), but there's a certain don't-mess-with-him toughness Butler has developed that ought to serve the Wizards well down the stretch.

"He's very respected in that locker room and very respected on the court," Grunfeld said.

Perhaps Butler is evolving into this team's leader? On the topic of leadership in general on an NBA team, Grunfeld said: "It happens with maturing and it happens with players finding a comfort level, and it usually takes being in the league a long time. Very few players do it right away, and of course some players never become leaders."

The Wizards begin the NBA's bell lap with games at home against Minnesota and Sacramento, then travel to Chicago, Minnesota and New Jersey. Not overwhelming, but certainly not easy. They don't have to play Detroit, the best team in the Eastern Conference, again this regular season and have just one game remaining against Cleveland. There are must-win home games in March against Atlanta, Golden State, New York, New Orleans and Philadelphia. Even the last trip west -- at Portland, Seattle, Golden State, L.A. Clippers and Utah -- doesn't include Phoenix or Dallas. Four of those five teams probably won't make the playoffs.

The Wizards, who lead the Eastern Conference in scoring, know they can outpace any team in their division. And with Miami frantically trying to gain ground, the race is on. But for once, the Wizards start the backstretch with the only truly formidable team in their division in their rearview mirror. The question for the remainder of the regular season is: Can the Wizards keep them there?