There were three topics for new Washington Wizards head coach Flip Saunders yesterday at his one-week-to-go-before-camp news conference: (1) Gilbert Arenas, (2) how good can the Wizards be, (3) specific strategies for offense and defense, and (4) Flip Saunders.
As Saunders was comfortable with all of them, setting the tone for a preseason that promises to be both fever-pitch-level exciting yet calm and collected at the same time. That’s a nice combination because it results in one thing: buzz, which the Wizards desperately want to have.
Topic by topic, then. You can find my print-edition piece here. (1) Saunders was completely unfazed by Arenas’s comments last week in the Washington Times, a pretty strong indication of how he plans to manage his mercurial superstar.
“I haven’t sugar-coated anything with Gilbert, and I think he’s been the same way with me,” said Saunders. “Maybe that’s one of the reasons that I think we’ve had a pretty good relationship because we’re just kind of saying how it is. I think he’s looking forward to the opportunity. I think you gotta realize, he loves to play the game. He’s an entertainer. He loves to entertain. He hasn’t been able to do that for two years, and I think he’s looking forward to that opportunity.”
As for (2) the Wizards themselves, expectations are high, plain and simple. The best quotes about the team’s potential are in my story, but the basis for this is depth and quality of players that are coming back from injury (Arenas, Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson) and joining the team via acquisition and trade (Randy Foye, Mike Miller, Fabricio Oberto): “We’re bringing in six players into the fold right now that are going to be on our opening-day roster, six players that last year at some point, they started for their teams.”
(3) The Princeton is gone, and Saunders takes pride in molding superstars (Kevin Garnett in Minnesota) and point guards (Chauncey Billups in Detroit). Arenas is both: “A true point guard, number one, has to have the ability to get your team into an offense. They have to understand that in the past, basically they played the Princeton offense, which is not really a point guard-oriented offense. [Arenas is] in a totally different situation. He’s going to have the ball in his hands 80 percent of the time. That’s one of the reasons that my teams have always been first or second in the fewest turnovers and the top three in assists because he’s going to make decisions. We’re going to find out, but I don’t think there’s any reason – Chauncey Billups heard the same thing, and now all of a sudden people are saying he’s the prototype point guard. I think it’s one of those situations that you learn… [Arenas] has a great opportunity to really improve a lot because he’s going to have the ball in his hands like he’s never before, and he’s going to be able to make those decisions and get guys open shots and know that it’s on him to key the offense – understand that if he gets a guy hot, he’s got to go back to that play. It’s situation where it can almost be more rewarding for him.”
That’s no less than putting it out there than Arenas has the potential to be league MVP. Yes, I said it.
(4) It’s just the first hint of trying to get inside Saunders’s mind, but he never had any doubt he would coach again: “I was going to make sure it was the right situation. A lot of the jobs that were open, there’s no question that this was the one job that was the right situation. There were a lot of jobs that probably weren’t as appealing as this one because of a lot of things. One, because of the ownership, as far as Mr. [Abe] Pollin, Ernie [Grunfeld], as far as his leadership ability, being extremely proactive as far as trying to improve the team which he showed this summer, the roster when it’s healthy. And then the city, it’s a very vibrant city. I’ve spent some time here, not as much, but I just didn’t know the energy in this city. Hopefully, what you can do is add to energy and carry your energy into this arena here, and that we can have a great home court advantage.”
Grunfeld is set to meet with the press tomorrow. Six days until camp opens.
