Jamison anxious to return

“As I told our guys, we’re not going to worry about the nine games that we’ve played,” said head coach Flip Saunders. “We’ve got to worry about the next 73 games we’re going to play and build off of what we’re going to do starting now.”

The Wizards’ dismal 2-7 start, including losing their last six games, came without All-Star forward Antawn Jamison, who is anxious to make his season debut Wednesday against Cleveland (7-3), the same team Washington was playing when he dislocated his left shoulder in a preseason game on Oct. 14.

Jamison was cleared last week but then fell ill, so both his conditioning and his sharpness could be factors against the Cavaliers. But his presence will be unmistakable.

“There’s just certain things there that you know with me out there, things are going to be done differently,” said Jamison. “The energy hasn’t been there, playing smart down the stretch, things of that nature.”

Guard Randy Foye (right ankle sprain) and center Fabricio Oberto (left hamstring) both expect to play. Foye, who was injured at Miami last week, missed one game and was held out of practice on Monday but participated fully on Tuesday. Oberto said he’ll be available despite not practicing fully in either practice this week.

Foye said there was a noticeable bounce among the players, who have a chance to back up the high preseason expectations that surrounded the Wizards before so many injuries befell them. But he’s not erasing the memories of the last three weeks.

“I want to learn from them,” he said. “I think as a team, you want to learn from them and don’t let this happen again. We’re trying to put that behind us. But we definitely don’t want to forget about it because later on in the season if you lose a couple, you want to bounce back real quick because you know where it can go.”

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