Washington
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
Mike Kahn of SportsLine.com lists his view (see Newslines below) of the top 50 players in the league today. Two Wizards -- Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas -- cracked the list.
Jamison was listed as #32 and Arenas at #50. Given that there are 30 teams in the league, on average you would expect to have 1.67 players per team on the list of the top 50. So Washington is a little above the average.
How does that bode for the franchise? The one-two punch of Arenas and Jamison, combined with one of the deepest frontcourts in the league of Brendan Haywood, Etan Thomas, and Kwame Brown, will not only be exciting but may achieve that rare feeling of working well together that we commonly dub "chemistry."
Arenas is a scorer with the ball while Jamison is one of the league's best scorers without the ball. If Arenas at times even slides over to the shooting guard spot, and Larry Hughes takes the reins at the point, that is an imposing lineup for any opposition. You have three players capable of going off for 40 points if you just forget about them for one moment, and the slightest mismatches can be exploited again and again.
This should be an exciting year for Washington basketball.
TEAM NOTES
See the2004-2005 Wizards dance team, whom Wizards center Brendan Haywood helped select and judge.
Mike Kahn of SportsLine.com writes: 32. Antawn Jamison, Washington Wizards: Last season's best sixth man, he now has a chance to help a young and talented team sneak up in one of the weakest divisions in NBA history...50. Gilbert Arenas, Washington Wizards: He suffered through an abdominal injury last season, but he truly is on the brink of stardom, and with Jamison at forward, it will help.
Eric Fisher ofThe Washington Timeswrites: They won't be the Washington Expos. That much is certain. Commissioner Bud Selig said yesterday that Major League Baseball plans to have a new nickname, logo and uniforms for the Expos in place by Opening Day in April... The last such regionwide naming poll was conducted by Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin in the mid-1990s to rename the Bullets.That process, however, left many fans cold because the assumption was heavy that Wizards would be the final choice long before polling began.
Patrick Hruby ofThe Washington Timeswrites: Before becoming the Wizards, the Washington Bullets solicited roughly 3,000 fan suggestions for a new name.Hundreds were already in use.
David Teel ofThe Virginia Daily Presswrites: So Major League Baseball wants to move the Montreal Expos to Washington, D.C. In other shocking news, Dan Rather is liberal, the Earth is round and Babe Ruth is dead... The NBA? OK, it's intriguing. And for a small market such as Hampton Roads, selling an 18,000-seat arena for 41 home basketball games is much less daunting than selling a 35,000-seat stadium for 81 home baseball dates. As a product, the NBA is passable. The players are too young, and you wouldn't wish a Bulls-Wizards game on your in-laws.But at the highest levels, and especially in the playoffs, professional basketball can be entertaining. Would Hampton Roads support an NBA franchise? Absent a quality arena, the question is pointless, albeit intriguing. And the notion of building such an arena, without a guaranteed tenant, isn't likely to wash with the public and politicians.