2009-10 NBA preview: Washington Wizards
In the 2008-09 season the Washington Wizards only won 19 games, and played most of the season without star Gilbert Arenas. So if you se this team, and its fans pretending like last season didn’t happen, I think we can all understand the reason why. While it seems a little surreal to watch a 19 win team goes out and in the off season and trade for the final missing pieces, that may be just what the Wizards did. While they are acting like thy deserve a first round home playoff series, maybe just maybe they are not totally crazy.
Arenas is reportedly back to full strength and has no ill effects after the knee surgery that keep him sidelined a year ago. Complimentary stars Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler are still in the mix and coming off excellent seasons. Instead of a draft pick the team added marksmen Mike Miller and Randy Foye via the trade market. They also added wily veteran center Fabricio Oberto via free agency. The Wizards have an excellent starting five and one of the deepest benches in the NBA.
Wizard General Manager Ernie Grunfeld continues to make the argument that this is not a true 19 win team. He thinks that the loss of Arenas derailed their 2008-09 season and now that he is back, with the pieces they added they can make a serious run at the playoffs. In fact this argument is starting to gain some ground, in their first pre-season NBA power rankings The Sporting News had this team ranked at 7th. That is pretty high for a 19 win team, so maybe just maybe this team is a whole lot better than advertised.
