TOM KNOTT: Season already is potentially bad

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By Tom Knott

This is the first time in the Gilbert Arenas-Antawn Jamison pairing that the upward progression of the Wizards is in serious doubt.

The genuine potential of the Wizards has kept hope alive during the injury-punctuated period of the last 22-plus months.

That potential is looking ever more distant as the Wizards struggle to be competitive in the absence of Arenas and Brendan Haywood.

Their absence has been exacerbated by the sore knee of Antonio Daniels, the departure of Roger Mason Jr. and the confusion of Andray Blatche.

All these elements come with the long-term uncertainty of Arenas, whose left knee has undergone three surgical procedures.

It is not unfair to wonder whether Arenas ever will make another All-Star appearance. Nor is it unfair to wonder whether the Wizards are stuck the next several seasons because of his $111 million contract.

That is the lot of the Wizards, a team that has lost a good portion of its shelf life to injuries.

Jamison, too, has hit the age of diminishing returns. He is resourceful enough that his drop in production will be incremental in the seasons ahead. But it can be assumed that he has made his last All-Star appearance and that his capacity to carry a team for long stretches of a game will decrease appreciably.

The decline of Arenas and Jamison, if it comes to pass, would leave the Wizards with one All-Star in Caron Butler and no real prospects in the Eastern Conference.

Elite teams in the post-expansion NBA customarily have three upper-echelon players, as it is with the Celtics, Lakers, Spurs and Rockets.