Washington Wizards 2006-07 Preview
Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan could be on fire as he enters his third season as the team’s head coach. Despite leading Washington to back-to-back playoff berths, the team as a whole hasn’t shown any improvement on the defensive end and no one takes it seriously as a championship threat.
The Wizards’ strength is their eccentric guard, Gilbert Arenas. Arenas was the fourth leading scorer in the NBA last season, but he still didn’t get much respect as he only made the All-Star team as a replacement. While the points are there, some feel Arenas would be better off shooting less and looking better. His 36.8% 3-point percentage certainly doesn’t justify shooting nearly seven 3-pointers a game. However, there is no doubt that Arenas can fill the bucket any night he wants.
Rounding out the Wizard’s “Big Three” are Caron Butler and Antwan Jamison. Butler is a young winger who was injured for a fair amount of time last season, but made a big impact on his team when he was able to play. He should be good for 17-18 points per game. At the other forward position, Jamison is a good inside scorer and averaged nearly 20 points and 10 rebounds per game last season.
The rest of the Wizards’ supporting cast includes guards DeShawn Stevenson and Antonio Daniels and big man Brendan Haywood. Stevenson and Daniels together should provide enough offense to complement Arenas at guard, but neither is among the best in the class. Both guards averaged close to or better than 10 points per game last season, but Stevenson wasn’t a wizard when he did it. Haywood is a useful, if slightly underwhelming, big man who he will count on for tough rebounds. That means averaging more than the usual 5.9 per game.
The Wizards’ main problem seems to be that they are perceived as a one- or two-man team at best. They are not defensive minded and are very inconsistent from game to game. They have a lot of work to do to get to the next step, especially with the surge of talent throughout the Eastern Conference. It really is hard to project this team, despite Arenas’ talent, finishing better than a bottom-four playoff berth and a first-round exit like the past two seasons.