An extended preseason finally behind them, the Washington Wizards returned to practice Sunday after a day off and turned their focus to Wednesday’s season opener at Verizon Center against the New Jersey Nets.
The preparation begins with a degree of relief after a tumultuous month of October.
With a 107-80 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, the Wizards capped a 2-5 preseason that began with them losing starting center Brendan Haywood for up to six months after wrist surgery. It continued as the team survived a scare when team captain Antawn Jamison appeared to hurt his knee seriously in the preseason opener but ended up missing only a week.
From there the Wizards went to Europe, where they had two poor performances against the New Orleans Hornets. The Wizards played well Wednesday in a defeat of the San Antonio Spurs but on Friday reverted to the problem they have had all preseason: a struggle to muster the consistency they will need to reach the playoffs for a fifth straight year.
During the seven preseason games, no starter other than All-Star forward Caron Butler averaged double digits, and as a team Washington recorded just 81.9 points a game. Meanwhile, the strong defense the players displayed during training camp waned as the Wizards allowed 94.4 points a game.
Although aware they have much improving to do, the Wizards are eager to play games that truly matter. And they plan to attack the season with purpose.
“It’s time to take it to the next level and be ready to play,” said Jamison, who along with Butler will be counted on to carry the Wizards while they wait for Gilbert Arenas to recover from a third knee surgery in the last 18 months.
“No excuses,” Jamison continued. “We’re not waiting for anybody. It’s the guys that can get it done that are gonna get it done.”
That sense of urgency is even more crucial this year considering last season the Wizards began the year with Arenas and Haywood and still lost their first five games. Washington had to reel off six straight wins just to get back on good footing - a feat Jamison credited to the veterans the team had last season.
But the Wizards are younger this season and can’t afford to fall into a sizable hole while trying to work through growing pains and define key roles.
Jamison, Butler, Antonio Daniels, DeShawn Stevenson will start - as they did the majority of last season - and Etan Thomas likely will get the nod at center. But who will spell them with effective play remains to be seen.
“Hopefully, we can get that a guy that’s going to give us strong minutes [off the bench],” Stevenson said. “Gil got hurt last year, and we went on a roll. I think we can do the same thing with me, [Daniels], Caron and Antawn. Caron’s going to do what he does. Antawn’s going to do what he does. Hopefully, we can come out with a bang.”
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