Wizards Again Left Holding the Fort

By Mike Wise
Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Caron Butler's earnest voice reverberated through my car speakers last week -- "Character. Commitment. Connection." After all the cloying and cheesy team slogans in sports-marketing history, this one seemed to fit; it communicated a simple, authentic message and reflected who these Wizards are and what they're about.

And it certainly topped "Ready to Rule," which in 2006 they weren't. By a mile it also beat 2007's "Go All In," which never seemed to connote the right meaning for a club whose former assistant coach allegedly lost $70,000 to a star player in a high-stakes card game -- on a three-hour flight.

But character, commitment, connection? That worked.

Until the most popular thrill ride in franchise history underwent another knee procedure last month, meaning Gilbert Arenas won't be back till late December. Until Brendan Haywood, their best defender -- the guy who went from 7-foot malcontent to game-changing center in the blink of the 2007 offseason -- tore a ligament in his right wrist during training camp. Unless the Wizards go deep in the playoffs, it's doubtful Haywood will return this season.

Suddenly, 2008-09 needed a more accurate, if depressing, label:

Character. Commitment. Convalescence.

There's a reason America's inpatient team feels forever trapped in first-round NBA playoff purgatory. The Wizards don't underachieve; they simply can't build any connections until they mend their disconnected cartilage.

Instead, they've settled into their now-familiar role of holding down the fort, whereby Eddie Jordan waits for reinforcements while somehow siphoning a .500 or better record out of a 35-47 roster.

"It's basically, 'Ride the ship until the wind starts coming again,' " Antawn Jamison said. "It's what we do. It's why we get paid. You know, I don't like it that we're not at full strength. Because when we're at full strength, we have great potential to really, really make some noise. Not at full strength, people are saying, 'Well, maybe .500 or above .500.' We'll see.

"I do know this: I love when people doubt us. I love when people don't think we can get certain things done."

Jamison and Butler have grown accustomed to the challenge of playing without Arenas, who missed 69 games last season. (Butler missed 24 games.) At the bottom of their respective guts, though, they actually relish the opportunity. They know they're a more potent, fuel-injected offensive team with Arenas. But Life Without Gil enables Jordan to isolate his other big scorers, who thrive in half-court offensive sets, breaking down and beating the poor souls assigned to guard them. Playing without Arenas also allows some of the young players to get their bearings in a slow-it-down game more suited to learning than merely reacting; Nick Young can actually think the game rather than just trying to secure a spot on the AND1 bus.

The problem is, if players such as Young, Andray Blatche and maybe even rookie JaVale McGee don't grow up quick -- and major questions about the center and sixth-man positions aren't answered -- the team Arenas comes back to might be taking on more water than even a three-time all-star can bail out.

"The X-factor is going to be from my center spot," Jamison said. "Whether it's going to be Etan [Thomas] or Andray or Darius [Songaila], we need productivity from our center position. With 'Dre it's more offensively, with Etan and Darius, it's more on the defensive end. Either way, we need that center to fill that void of what Brendan brought to us."

"Then it's having someone come off that bench," Jamison continued. "Last year it was Roger Mason, who was a constant offensive threat and played savvy, veteran basketball. Who is it going to be, Nick or somebody else? If we find those two guys, we won't miss a step. And we have to deal with it as soon as possible."

A prominent player recently told me that even the NBA's elite talents take off about 10 games a year, meaning they go as hard as they can mentally and physically in 72 of 82 games. If that's so, Blatche has got to play hard at least 50 times this year, not 30.

Those elongated arms, his knack for understanding time and space underneath the rim with the ball in his hands, the way he can run the floor and thread a no-look pass from the high post -- all Blatche's qualities, really -- have to come to the fore on a much more consistent basis this season. If not, he risks being what Shaquille O'Neal used to call a "sometimey" player, the coasting veteran who doesn't love the game as much as he professes.

Thomas has to be one of the league's best comeback stories. Open-heart surgery threatened to end his career after a cardiac irregularity was discovered last season. Tonight, he'll start in the pivot in a game that counts for the first time since that life-altering scare. For merely taking the court, the man should get a standing ovation.

But once the adrenaline wears off, he needs to rotate defensively and play with the same intelligence on the court that he has off of it. If not, McGee will eat up some of those center minutes.

There's a reason the 7-foot Nevada rookie's gigantic shoes grace the cover of our sports section this morning: With Haywood out, the kid and his teammates have some big shoes to fill in the middle.

The reason for the urgency is obvious: This isn't the for-the-taking Eastern Conference of the past two years. Kevin Garnett (32), Paul Pierce (31) and Ray Allen (33) might be a year older, but the Celtics are still the defending NBA champions and Detroit is San Antonio of the East, that old-man team that believes it has one more NBA Finals run left.

The Bron-Brons signed a known Wizards assassin, Mo Williams, to bring the ball up and shoulder some of Cleveland's scoring load, and the 76ers have a Brand-new star in the pivot; Elton Brand flat-out runs the floor almost as well as his coach, Mo Cheeks, used to in Philadelphia.

Between other teams' star acquisitions, the maturity of younger, more athletic teams such as Atlanta and their own health issues, the Wizards probably went from about fourth or fifth in the East's invisible pecking order to probably seventh or even eighth.

"I'm not worried," Jamison said. "You know you got a lot to deal with with Boston, Detroit has a lot to prove, Orlando is playing well, LeBron -- you know what you're going to get when you face him, you expect those things," he said. "Elton Brand is a low-post threat you got to worry about. But I'd rather see great competition night in and night out, where you have to bring it. We've been in this situation before so we'll see if we can withstand it again."

The Wizards are one of just two Eastern Conference teams to make the postseason four straight years, which sounds nice given the awful place the franchise used to be in. But for the past three years they've been seen nationally as LeBron's warmup act before he plays for something big.

The likelihood of that changing probably hinges on how well they play before Arenas returns.

"We still have two all-stars, we have some very good complementary players, outstanding leadership in the locker room and on the court and we have some promising young players," Ernie Grunfeld, the team president, said. "I expect us to see a very competitive ballclub. We expect to make the playoffs again. And if we're at full strength come playoff time, I think we'll be very dangerous."

Grunfeld was essentially saying the thrill isn't gone. But there is much work to do, more growing up to do, before he gets back.