Tom Knott: Franchise knee-deep in doubt

Continuity has been shown the door, along with Eddie Jordan, Antonio Daniels, Brown and other players to be named later.

Continuity has been the rallying cry of the Wizards the last two offseasons, even as other teams in the conference made moves that enhanced their situations.

This is not to imply that continuity is a trivial positive. As the addition of Elton Brand in Philadelphia shows, the acquisition of a big name does not necessarily yield results right away. Assimilating to a new system and teammates can take more than a preseason.

With cries of do this or do that all about the Wizards, plus cries of what they should have done in the offseason, their plight comes down to one person: Arenas.

Did Grunfeld make the correct decision in re-signing him?

That is the easy second-guess now, coming as it does after Arenas underwent a third surgery.

Yet if Grunfeld had allowed Arenas to walk, the outcry would have been long and loud.

Arenas essentially has been out of commission the last 20 months. Grunfeld may work around the edges of the team, as he did so on Wednesday, but he does so without the guts of the franchise in place.

Imagine where the Celtics would be without Kevin Garnett, the Cavaliers without LeBron James, the Magic without Dwight Howard and the Heat without Dwyane Wade.

They, too, might have an interim coach and a roster that would be psychologically fatigued from having to play above its means for so long.

The psychological drain on the Wizards cannot be overstated. No entity functions well in seemingly endless purgatory.

If the Wizards did not have bad luck, dating to the tweaking of Antawn Jamison’s knee in late January 2007, they would have no luck at all.

They have been defined by their injury report and Abe Pollin’s aversion to exceeding the salary cap ever since then.

Here is the season: The Wizards allowed Roger Mason to sign with the Spurs before losing Arenas in September and Brendan Haywood the next month.

The latter was an especially cruel shock to the system after the Wizards spent the summer believing it would be different this season, that they finally would be whole again.

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