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washington Wizards (Last Year: 26-56)
2010-11 Projected Depth Chart:
C: Javale McGee/Hilton Armstrong/Kevin Seraphin/Hamady Ndiaye
PF: Andray Blatche/Yi Jianlian/Trevor Booker
SF: Al Thornton/Cartier Martin/Josh Howard
SG: Gilbert Arenas/Nick Young
PG: John Wall/Kirk Hinrich/Lester Hudson
Head Coach: Flip Saunders (2nd season)
2010-11 Team Salary: Approximately $52.5 million
Off-Season Grade: B
Scoring the first-overall pick in the NBA Draft was huge for the Wizards. After holding a fire sale last season and dealing three of their top players, Washington needed a new face of the franchise to breath some life into an organization that was facing a re-building effort. John Wall will provide exactly that.
The Wiz also took advantage of the Bulls’ desire to clear as much cap space as possible by acquiring Kirk Hinrich and the 17th pick for cash considerations. Hinrich’s salary is a little pricey at $17 million over the next two years but he should provide some solid depth in the backcourt behind Wall and Arenas. Washington has even toyed with the idea of starting all three in their preseason action.
Other than those moves, it was a fairly “meh” offseason. I think Washington reached to trade up for Trevor Booker with the 23rd pick. The team made another Hinrich-like deal in getting Yi Jianlian from the salary dumping Nets. The Wiz also re-signed wing Josh Howard who is coming off a torn ACL and will not be ready for the beginning of the season.
2010-2011 Outlook:
All eyes will be on the Wall/Arenas backcourt and how they can co-exist together. Throughout his career, Agent Zero has been a player who thrives with the ball in his hands. With Wall’s play-making abilities at the point, Arenas switches to the two and will need to adapt to playing off the ball. So far, Arenas has said all the right things about allowing Wall to take over the franchise but we will see how long that lasts.
Up front, expect a major improvement from third year center Javale McGee. He spent the summer participating in the Team USA camp and showed what he can bring to the floor with his length and athleticism. The Wiz are fairly inexperienced with their post players so he and Andray Blatche should see a lot of minutes as they are currently building blocks for the future.
If the Wall/Arenas marriage proves to be a good match and Arenas manages to stay on the floor for an entire season, Washington should be improved this year. But this team is in Year 1 of re-building mode so sniffing the postseason will be a long shot.
Looking Ahead to the Summer of 2011:
If the opportunity presents itself, I am sure Washington would happily trade Arenas and the four years, $80 million remaining on his deal. But that is an ugly contract for any team to take on so that seems unrealistic. Still, the Wizards are in a solid position with their cap situation and figure to have some money to play with next summer. If they stick to their plan, do not expect them to overpay any free agents, but rather build through the draft and try to stockpile young players who can complement future superstar John Wall.
2010-2011 NBA Power Ranking: 24th
Written by Paul Banks of the Washington Times, and David Kay of the The Sports Bank.
Send Paul an e-mail here: paulb05 AT hotmail DOT com.
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