The losing streak has reached 15, having blazed past the former franchise-worst stretch of 13 defeats in a row like it wasn’t even there. While harping on the list of reasons why they can’t get close to getting over the hump any more, talk about the Wizards’ cap space has trickled down well past president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld through head coach Flip Saunders as far as the players — even Andray Blatche was talking about the flexibility Washington will have this summer. Because it’s starting to feel like the Wizards have little chance of winning again this season. They’re 4-18 since the All-Star break.
“Their bigs mauled our guys,” said Saunders. When was the last time an NBA coach used that term? Ouch. “It wasn’t for lack of trying, but they’re an extremely physical team as far as how they play.”
The Wizards also suffered another casualty, with Randy Foye joining Al Thornton (hip) among the latest injuries after aggravating a wrist knock that he first suffered against Chicago on Feb. 22.
“That was the main thing, just trying to fight through it, trying to grind it out because it was my left hand,” said Foye. “So I felt as though as long I didn’t hit it, where it was sore or it could hurt me, that I was just going to play through it because it was my left hand.”
But after hitting it against Charlotte last night, Foye said the pain took over on the plane ride home. He said he’s scheduled for an MRI on Monday. Mike Miller characterized the Foye and Thornton together as being “out for a while.”
“With this team, we got to play harder than guys,” said Miller. “In order to play harder than other teams, you gotta have 9-10 players so you can play at that level for the whole 48 minutes, and when you’re missing guys, it makes it more difficult.”
The only thing that’s changed is now that Gilbert Arenas has been sentenced – and not to any jail time, which cements the fact that the Wizards can’t and won’t try to void his contract – his name isn’t taboo in the locker room any more.
“Picture if we had Gil,” said Blatche. “Picture if we had Josh Howard on this team. It’d probably be a completely different team. We’re just missing one more piece. All the games we’re losing, it’s not like we’re going every night getting our tail whipped. We’re losing by a couple points. If we had Gil to take over in the fourth quarter, bam, that’s a different story for us. We’re just missing another piece, and once we get that other piece, I think we’ll be great.”
Utah forward Carlos Boozer, who will be a free agent this summer, even gave a boost Washington’s credibility when asked if the Arenas gun saga has made players leery of coming to D.C.
“First, I’m happy for Gil not getting any jail time,” said Boozer. “I’m happy for him. That’d had been a tough thing for anybody so I’m happy he at least got a chance to be out in the open, not to go to jail, number one. Number two, D.C. is a great environment. They got talent. They got a pretty good organization, and I’m sure they’ll get somebody this summer.”
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