Today's quality shots

by Mike Prada on Nov 29, 2007 3:10 PM EST in Rumors

Basketball Prospectus has an in-depth look at the future of Gilbert Arenas, his knee, and the team. Let's just say it's not pretty.

Arenas' knees are simply breaking down under the stress of his activity, as proven by continued, chronic swelling and the reduction of function in the twice-repaired meniscus complex. The three-month recovery quoted by the Wizards is extremely aggressive--most physicians interviewed for this piece felt that six months was a more likely scenario--but none would rule it out. "Pain tolerance is what it will come down to," said one orthopaedist who regularly performs this type of surgery on skiers. Arenas may be able to come back from this on his schedule, but for his career, the clock is ticking.

As for the team's chances to survive without him, Kevin Pelton and Will Carroll hedge their bets a bit, but are fairly pessimistic, pointing to the incredible efficiency of Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison as evidence that they can't stay this hot for long. They also question the defense, which has struggled since Gilbert went out. A good read.
An interesting tidbit from deep inside this Rocky Mountain News article: The Wizards have some interest in Mike Wilks, who was just released by the Nuggets. At least that's according to Wilks himself. Here are his career numbers. UPDATE: According to Wizards Insider, no moves are planned at this time.
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Comments

Hey

You linked to the same David Thorpe article twice. Looks like you're a pessimist.

The Washington Wizards: providing career scoring nights for unknown opposing bench players since 2004.

by mamemimo on Nov 29, 2007 3:13 PM EST reply actions

Whoops

It's fixed now.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Nov 29, 2007 3:17 PM EST up reply actions

Many readers may already know this...but just an hour after BF went to press, Wiz Insider says that Wilks interest is legit but nothing for now, as team doesn't want to go over salary cap for bottom-of-bench player.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/2007/11/no_moves_at_this_time.html

Here's what I'm curious about...how detrimental is it to the WIz kids to have only 10 active players, really? In terms of fatigue, adjusting matchups, practice time and so on. In some ways, it seems good for morale/chemistry, because every active player knows he'll be needed...only downside being trouble in case of another injury, certainly.

by crucifictorious on Nov 30, 2007 2:49 AM EST reply actions

When you think about it

The Wizards are really only using nine players, considering that Dominic McGuire gets about 38 seconds of playing time per game (slight exaggeration).

Bullets Forever: Your place for the very latest in Wizards news and PhD-level analysis.

by Jake Whitacre on Nov 30, 2007 4:32 AM EST up reply actions