I know Jamison says his injury is not serious, but pardon me if I say “prove it.”

Well said my friend.

We’re basically talking about potentially losing 3/5 of your starting lineup before the first quarter of the first preseason game of the year.

Oy. It was bad enough already, but when you put it that way, it’s much worse. Jeez.

Okay, take a minute to cry if you want, but we’re long time Bullets fans, if you ain’t tough as a hockey puck, you’ll shatter like glass. You got to have some scar tissue and callouses already, can’t hurt that bad.

Fact is, while there’s no doubt rain in the short term, in the mid to long term there’s a strong chance of sun in the forecast. And we’re Wiz fans, a chance of sun is all you need to start planting them seeds of hope.

I said some of this on RealGM but I’ll recap a bit.

If you didn’t see the game, you didn’t see how smooth and strong Andray Blatche looks. My god that kid is gonna be good. He’s quicker and stronger and most heartening: not out of control. He’s working with better economy, showing good footwork on offensive post moves, not trying to do too much. The one time he went coast to coast (that I saw, I flipped back and forth to the debate after the first half) he actually made the right decision no tot pass. And when his lane was cut off, managed a deft mid-air pivot and laid the ball in the bucket like he’s putting a book back on a shelf. His midrange and jumper looked good. The only thing he needs now is a little more muscle so he can stuff the ball home instead of rely on finesse. But the kid’s got finesse. He had one Olajuwon-esque midrange fake show pivot and bank off the glass. And a few other calm easy acts of grace and force. Even defensively he was in the right spot most of the time.

Fact is after the six minute mark, I didn’t see much Etan. Dray was making a solid case for taking those center starting minutes. He’s producing right now and plays best when he knows the team needs him. I get the feeling he will buck for the league MIP before the year is out. Be prepared to hear his gunshot story all over and over again in the national media once they figure out what happening. But consistency is the only question mark, the kid is ready to turn experience into production.

Jamison being dinged up. Dunno. There may be a tear, may be a tweak. But there’s nothing Livingstonesque about it. That poor kid’s knee folded up like origami. Jamison just put a little too much lateral sheer at an awkward angle. Then jerked the weight off his leg when he felt it wobble. He stretched the ligament no doubt at the least, question is if his yoga and flexibility work saved him a more serious injury.

But even with Jamison out a few games, there’s room for the positive. The team was already deepest in the frontcourt positions. ‘Deep’, not ‘good’ of course. We have young raw players who need game time. And putting them out there makes us BIG.

Javale McGee had a Pat Ewing turnaround jumper, and a few other flashes of truly pretty moves. For a kid that you only hear about his athleticism, he’s showing some actual skill. Yes his defensive fundamentals need breakdown rebuilding and repetition — he doesn’t bow out, and still vacates the paint on defense. Kid doesn’t know how big he is, but you can see with effort he will build strength in the paint. And once his mass catches up with his frame and work ethic he’s gonna be something startling. In the meantime he’ll actually see play, and catch object lessons in the value of bulking up. All the while he’ll continue to show that talent. He had a block of a rainbow jumper that noone else in the league could have made, I though he was too far away to touch it, and should have been too slow to go get it since it was shot on a catch and release. He extended like Mr Fantastic and tapped it out of the air.

And Pech looked better. Not ‘good’ yet. But he actually hit his shots, defended a little better, grabbed a couple rebounds as if by accident. He looked like he has a chance to develop. Made some nice passes, handled better than most seven footers.

All of these guys need better defensive fuindamentals. But they’ll be playing behind Darius, who is an underrated defender for us. And has strong fundamentals, he just lacks the athleticism and size that these guys have in spades. If they look at Darius as a mentor both for defense, mid-range game and passing at the Princeton highpost, then they’ll be fine.

And the Wiz will be playing LARGE. Anybody else liked seeing Dom at 2-guard for long stretches yesterday? Okay he didn’t do much with the opportunity, but we were big out there.

Point being, we weren’t wining a chip unless the kids develop anyway. If they get extra experience early it can only help in the long term.

So relax, we’re Wiz fans. We’re just building up good karma for future reward. Got to get a little more zen about it, life is suffering, realizing that just makes it that much more precious and glorious. Think how much better a championship would feel after enduring all of this… Boom! Enlightenment. Or maybe just drunken revelry, either way.

You’ve painted a portrait that is both positive and realistic. Thank you. But you know what, how long have the Wiz been building good karma for future reward. And except for 2005 (where even then, Larry Hughes missed six weeks with an injury) and 2006 (Jamison missed a lot of time that year too), the Wizards get it in the neck from in the injury fairy every damn time.
I just hope the kids are ready to step up and rapidly improve.