Only thing certain as season starts is Arenas is out with bad ankle
It has been much longer than the end of last season since the Wizards played a meaningful game.
After the dismantling of the roster in February, the final two months of last season were merely a test run to see what usable pieces were left behind. A new foundation was then laid when the team landed John Wall via the No. 1 pick in the draft, and a combination of trades and signings garnered additional building blocks over the summer.
But with Wall just 20 years old and most of his teammates either unproven or unfulfilled, there’s no telling what this year’s Wizards can achieve or — given that coach Flip Saunders hasn’t settled on a starting lineup — what they’ll even look like.
“You’re going to see a group of young players that’s hungry, humble, that’s going to work hard and give it our all every time we step on the court,” said forward Andray Blatche, who averaged 22.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists after the All-Star break last year. But the stakes are higher now, and Blatche is still finding his way after suffering a broken foot in the offseason.
JaVale McGee has yet to prove he’s a night-in, night-out starting center. Presumed starting small forward Josh Howard won’t be fully recovered from a knee injury until at least the middle of November. And Gilbert Arenas, who will miss the first two games with a strained right ankle tendon, has said he’s willing to accept a diminished backcourt role.
“Right now we don’t have no go-to player like most teams in the NBA do,” Wall said. “We don’t have one person that can go out and carry this team for 48 minutes. We don’t have that, so we have to work together as a team.”
Saunders, who dubbed training camp “Back to Basics,” has seen the lack of identity translate into unselfish play.
“What that means is there is no assumption of anybody, as far as who is going to play, how many minutes they are going to play, who is going to take shots, who’s not going to take shots,” Saunders said. “What happens is there is more of a sense of urgency … to perform at a high level or else they won’t have an opportunity to perform.”
Just like the players, Saunders has had to retrain his eye on the immediate after he expected to be on the fast-track for the playoffs when he arrived in Washington last season.
“We need patience, especially early because we’ve got two tough games to start with,” Saunders said. “We just need to go out and compete and play hard and not beat ourselves. If we do that, we’ll give ourselves chances.”
