By Ivan Carter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 8, 2007

As the Washington Wizards prepare to open their preseason schedule tomorrow in Cleveland, Coach Eddie Jordan finds himself with many of the same players he had last year but a different team.

Inexperience and injuries kept Jordan from developing a consistent playing routine in 2006-07: The Wizards were breaking in new starting shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson, bringing along talented but raw forward Andray Blatche and dealing with forward Darius Songaila's back injury a year ago, so Jordan had to rely heavily on his starters while trying to patch together a bench rotation.

But now Jordan is feeling far more comfortable with his roster. Stevenson, Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison and Brendan Haywood return as starters, while Songaila and Antonio Daniels are locks to be key contributors off the bench.

Blatche, in his second year, had a strong training camp and figures to play power forward and center, and Jordan has expressed confidence in Roger Mason as a guard option off the bench. Rookies Oleksiy Pecherov, Nick Young and Dominic McGuire will have eight preseason games to define their roles for the upcoming season, but Jordan is comfortable with the team's veteran core.

"We definitely have nine guys who know the offense, understand what we're doing, they have continuity and they're driven," Jordan said. "In that sense, it was a weird training camp for me. I never got [angry] like I have in most camps. I didn't have to motivate anybody. We didn't have a bad day. The effort was there, we heard a lot of talk out there and we had leaders. I kept telling my coaches: 'I have to get angry today,' but I didn't have to do it. We have veterans who are motivated and I never had to kick them in the pants. We have a real solid group."

Arenas, who sat out Saturday's scrimmage to rest his surgically repaired left knee, said he won't decide on his status for tomorrow's game until just before tip-off. Arenas said he hasn't experienced any discomfort in the knee but may play only in alternate preseason games.

The Wizards will host Dallas at Patriot Center in Fairfax this Saturday and play at Philadelphia the following night. The regular season opener is Oct. 31 at Indiana.

"I'm going to practice every day and work hard and when I want to know what it feels like, I'm going to get out there and test it," Arenas said. "When you are coming back from injury, the first thing you want is to get out there in the open. Ready or not, you just want to get out there."

Jordan said he's fine with allowing Arenas to set his own pace for the preseason.

"With Gil, we kind of follow his lead in that regard," Jordan said. "I saw him take a few tumbles in training camp and I'll tell you what, that's scary. If he didn't have the surgery and all that, you'd still cringe. But now, you cringe a little more so; he's fine and we're on the same page."

Etan Thomas, who was not cleared to play after a cardiac exam revealed an irregularity, remains out and the team has not set a timetable for a decision about his playing future. Jordan, who was wearing a bracelet Thomas gave him that says "Nuff Respect," said he has spoken with the 6-foot-10 center.