Busy offseason ahead

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Giving his assessment of the season and outlining his plan for the offseason yesterday, Washington Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld gave coach Eddie Jordan his stamp of approval, said he plans to re-sign both Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison and noted that the keys to the team's success are continuity and health.

Grunfeld credited Jordan and his staff for the team's ability to overcome the 69-game absence of Arenas and 24-game absence of Caron Butler and still reach the playoffs for a fourth straight year.

"The coaches did a very good job for us under tough situations and kept us afloat," Grunfeld said. "If you said our leading scorer was going to be out for [69 games], I don't think most people would've thought that our record would be what it was and that we'd have the fifth seed. So I think our coaches did a very nice job for us."

The Wizards were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs last Friday by the Cleveland Cavaliers for a third straight year. And although several high profile coaching candidates are on the market, Grunfeld gave a resounding "no" when asked whether he had considered a coaching change.

Arenas, who had his season cut short by knee surgery Nov. 21, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer after opting out of the final year of his deal. He reiterated in his NBA.com blog Wednesday that he would not return to the Wizards if Jamison — also an unrestricted free agent — did not.

"If Antawn is not back, then there's no point in me coming back, because he's part of my success, too," Arenas wrote.

Grunfeld said the statement didn't alarm him because he expects both signings to be completed.

"It's good because we're on the same page," said Grunfeld, who said he has no problem going over the luxury tax to sign both players. "We want to sign Antawn, we want to sign Gilbert, so I kind of like that he supported his teammate and he likes playing with Antawn and that's been our plan all along."

Jamison, 31, was one of only five players in the league this season to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds and made $16.3 million max under the old contract he had signed with Golden State. His new price tag reportedly could be $12 million to $13 million a year, but he could sign for less to remain in the District.

Arenas made $11.9 million this season and, if he hadn't opted out would have earned $12.8 million next year. But by opting out and signing a max deal over the summer, he would be up for a 12.5 percent increase in the first year of a contract that could exceed $100 million.

The only other unrestricted free agent on the team is shooting guard Roger Mason Jr., and although the backcourt will be crowded with Arenas healthy, Grunfeld said he would like to re-sign Mason as well depending on how much flexibility the Wizards have under the salary cap.

Though he didn't rule out trading away the team's 18th and 47th picks of next month's draft to bring in a veteran player, Grunfeld said he likes his current roster and believes if healthy the Wizards can "compete with anyone."

"We're going to add two players to this roster just by being healthy. One is [center] Etan Thomas, because at times we could've used a bigger body and someone with some experience," Grunfeld said of the center, who missed the entire season following heart surgery. "And then putting Gilbert back out there is like adding another player.

"And also the development. We were very pleased with the development of our younger players," Grunfeld added before praising third-year forward/center Andray Blatche, Mason and rookie Nick Young.

Grunfeld said this summer will be key in the developments of Blatche and Young, both of whom he envisions as key contributors next season.

Grunfeld and his staff are in the process of further evaluating this year's draft class. He said they will travel to the predraft camp in Orlando, Fla., later this month and that he likely will take another trip to Europe to watch prospects play.

He said as always, he will select the best player available — "if we keep the pick."