The basics from a game that in many ways perfectly summed up the Wizards’ season, particularly the second half:
– Andray Blatche had another strong leading performance (26 points, 7 rebounds)
– Washington led by double-digits in the first half but trailed for much of the second
– The Wizards suffered yet another injury when Al Thornton got knocked out, literally, by Brandon Rush‘s arm and had to leave the game
– Irene Pollin, wife of the late Wizards owner Abe Pollin, spoke to the crowd in between the third and fourth quarters, promising that next season would be better than this one.
– Former Georgetown center Roy Hibbert had his best-ever professional outing at Verizon Center, with a career-high 29 points and 7 rebounds. (He didn’t have any answers, though, about whether or not Greg Monroe is going to enter the draft.)
– Diminutive former D-League guard Cedric Jackson — Indiana’s Danny Granger had to look at the box score to figure out who he was — scored all of his season-high eight points in the final five and a half minutes to keep Washington in the game. The Wizards finished out the game with only one player on the floor, JaVale McGee, that was on the roster when training camp begin 7 months ago.
— Granger missed an easy game-winner, meaning Washington got its 26th win of the year, one short of the total number of players that were on the roster at one time or another this season. It also dropped the Wizards down in the NBA Draft Lottery.
“Everytime there’s something that ends, there’s something that begins,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “For us, it’s a beginning. The decision we made two months ago, and I think where we’re at right now to where we felt we might be when that decision was made, we’re way ahead, in the development of Andray, JaVale, Nick [Young], Shaun [Livingston], where those guys are at and how those guys competed; knowing that we have three players in the top 35 draft picks, and having the flexibility with the salary cap. We’ve got a lot of things on the table. We can do a lot of things to improve, and also I think the players on this team can improve.”
But the Wizards’ future, as it did this year, depends on the return of Gilbert Arenas.
“He’s an all-star,” said Saunders. “It’s unfortunate that we haven’t been able to have him, and whole situation, I’m sure he’s learned from it. If there’s any positive, he’s coming off knee surgery. He did play this year, played 30 games, and played pretty good. But he still had situations where his knee got pretty sore, so I think he’s had an opportunity to have that knee fully rested. I think he’ll be able to come back through the summer and offseason and be in much better physical shape than he was last year coming in. I think everybody knows, if he’s in physical shape, that he’s going to be a monster to handle as far as playing against him.”
“I see how Gil and Antawn [Jamison] worked together, and that was great,” said Blatche. “I’m real excited about next season, being out there with Gil. I think Gil will come back real humble and ready to get back to his old self and making this organization a winning organization.”
Blatche also has his own priorities.
“My next challenge is going out and continuing to do the things that I was doing the second half of the season, next season,” said Blatche. “That’s my next challenge and my next goal. I want to go out, and I want to compete next season, and I want to lead my team as far as I can. What I got to be satisfied about? I have nothing at all to be satisfied about. We haven’t done nothing. We’re not in the playoffs. We’re not going far from here. This is the last game so I’m not satisfied at all. I’m appreciate to the Wizards for the opportunity, but I’m not satisfied.”
There are many more players and situations to discuss over the next day or so, but for now, I’ll end with Mike Miller, who is among a large group of free agents, and one the Wizards most definitely would like to have back. Whether or not they keep him is another story.
“Obviously, I have some loyalties to the Wizards, they traded for me and Randy Foye and gave up a high draft pick and that’s not easy to do, especially in this day and age where teams are going young and stuff like that,” said Miller. “So they took on us in a cap situation, and I understand what they did for us so my loyalties are here, for sure. But after that, we’ll see what comes through the pipeline.”
For now, like the rest of the Wizards, Miller is going to rest and try to digest the just-completed season from H-E-double hockey sticks.
“It has to be at the top [most difficult of Miller’s career], only because of so many things,” said Miller. “Like I said, 27 guys on a roster. That’s almost unheard of, and different situations always came up. But we bounced back and went through it, and just outside of that, just my injuries. I’ve never been injured like that, and to tear a calf muscle and dislocate your shoulder. Two major injuries. I’m just ready to heal up and be ready to go back at it again.”
Let’s not rush it.
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