No secret: Injuries are agent of team’s demise

It is unfortunate the Wizards have arrived too late to the Greg Oden/Kevin Durant sweepstakes, assuming the two freshmen terminate their indentured servitude and accept the straightforward business of the NBA.

The Wizards could lose their last eight games and still not quality for the lottery, so pronounced is the separation between the top six teams in the Eastern Conference and all the rest.

Otherwise, the prospect of next season has come before the Wizards.

They are finished, and the rest of their basketball obligation is mere bookkeeping.

They are a 25-win team with the absence of Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler, their two leading players.

There is no shame in that. No NBA team could overcome the loss of two All-Stars.

Try not to read too much in the individual numbers that will be fashioned in place of Arenas and Butler.

Even bad teams have players who put up gaudy numbers.

Not that those players would produce similarly on good teams.

The birth of the Timberwolves and Magic in 1989-90 demonstrated that.

The Timberwolves selected Tony Campbell from the Lakers in the expansion draft, the Magic took Terry Catledge from the Bullets. Both were limited players.

Yet Campbell led the 22-win Timberwolves in scoring at 23.2 in their inaugural campaign, and Catledge did likewise for the 18-win Magic at 19.4.

Ernie Grunfeld and Eddie Jordan have a number of personnel matters to consider in the offseason, starting with the Pouter and the Poet at center.

The Pouter has sulked his way back into Jordan’s doghouse, no different from where he was at this time last season.

The Poet brings force and energy to the position but will be forever undersized and a marginal option on offense, despite his showing in the last two games.

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