The Wizards are on hold yet anew, down a point guard and center, the two most important positions on the basketball floor.
This condition is a matter of habit with Gilbert Arenas, the point guard with the mercurial personality and chronic left knee.
His return date is anyone’s guess, and the quality of his return is in serious doubt.
Brendan Haywood has joined Arenas on the bench to lend encouragement and cheers to a team that needs both in abundance if it is to survive.
That is the somber prognosis before the Wizards, forever unable to see who they really are because of medical setbacks.
Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison, All-Stars both, are entrusted with preserving the team’s dignity. That is the scaled-down challenge, unpleasant as it is.
No one is at fault, except perhaps Lady Luck. For whatever reasons, she has been at odds with the franchise since the ’80s. She shows no signs of relinquishing her grip on the Wizards.
The 82-game regular season is a grind, both mentally and physically. The mental aspect becomes especially daunting if a team is less than whole and the remaining parts are required to produce more than customary.
Good teams win on bad nights. Beat-up teams have no such luxury. A bad night merely leads to the preseason eyesore at Ohio State, as the Wizards learned.
It is not wise to place a lot of emphasis on the preseason. Yet coincidentally enough, the Southeast Division standings in the preseason looked reasonable enough, with the Magic on top, followed by the Hawks and Wizards.
Until further notice, the Wizards are consigned to basketball purgatory, uncertain of their fate.
It is possible Arenas could return and be the force that earned an $111 million contract from the Wizards.
Or he could become something decidedly less imposing.
That is the question that possibly won’t be answered this season.
No player is apt to return to his previous self as quickly as he would like after three knee surgeries.
The Wizards are hoping a center-by-committee approach negates the absence of Haywood, who had both a career season and a stress-free relationship with coach Eddie Jordan last season.
That committee includes Andray Blatche, the enigma in desperate need of a shot of maturity. That he has the capacity to be something worthy is inarguable. The argument is whether he understands what it takes to be worthy.
Blatche remains the first place to look in this season of discontent.
If he is unable to progress to a point of consistency, the Wizards will be that much more reliant on Butler and Jamison.
Butler, for one, has shown that heavy minutes and a tough disposition lead to injuries.
Jamison, who overcame a preseason scare involving a knee, is looking to fashion another 20-10 season behind a series of unorthodox moves and Velcro-like hands.
Nick Young, the scorer who wears blinders, has an either/or propensity about him. He can shoot a team into a game or shoot a team out of one, plus remain ever certain that his next shot is destined to go through the cylinder.
Antonio Daniels is another year older and slower, not necessarily reassuring qualities in a point guard. He is deep in savvy as long as he is standing. Yet whenever Daniels goes airborne near the basket, he usually goes smashing to the floor. That is no way to be if one of the goals is to stay in one piece.
DeShawn Stevenson is as defensive-minded and fearless as Butler. As a complementary part, he has exceeded all expectations since landing in Tony Cheng’s neighborhood. He also has been resilient, just as the Wizards have been.
Alas, their resiliency is certain to be tested again.
The Wizards have two All-Stars, several decent role players and a whole lot of doubt.
That could add up to another playoff berth, if not another meeting with the Cavaliers, dreadful as that prospect would be.
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