As I was watching the end of tonight's Celtics demolition, I kept thinking to myself: "What can the Wizards learn from these franchises?"  This is kind of an unfair question, because it's been proven that you can win the title in many different ways, but it's only natural.  When a guitarist looks for inspiration for success, he studies Jimmy Paige or Keith Richards.  When an artist does the same, he studies Van Gough or Michaelangelo. 

There are two ways to think of the Celtics winning the title.  On the one hand, you could argue that it proves that no team should ever be afraid about making big changes.  Boston basically revamped their entire team, and it still came together perfectly.  To apply it to the Wizards, you could say that they should not be so dead-set on maintaining the status quo. Consequently, you could also argue that this year proved the age-old (and mind-bogglingly annoying) adage that "defense wins championships."  Boston had the best defense, LA had the best offense, and Boston emphatically won.  (I'd argue more that the difference between Boston's defense and everyone else's was greater than the difference between LA's offense and everyone else's, for the record).  The Wizards don't play defense right now, ergo they are not a championship team until they ditch their offense-first players and get defensive players.

However, I chose to think of it in another way.  When I think of the Celtics and the Lakers, I think of two teams that were only able to win by stockpiling cheap assets and using them for real upgrades.  Boston's assets were all their young players from previous seasons.  Al Jefferson.  Delonte West.  Ryan Gomes.  Gerald Green.  Sebastian Telfair.  Four of those guys were first-round picks.  One of them, Jefferson, was turning into a really good young big.  It was only because of them (and Theo Ratliff's expiring deal, with an assist from Kevin McHale) that the Celtics got Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.  They also were able to get production out of Rajon Rondo (another mid first-round pick), Kendrick Perkins (ditto) and second-rounders like Leon Powe and Glen Davis.  That's the textbook example of stockpiling and managing asssets.

Both the Celtics and the Lakers got to the point where they could bring in stars without having to trade their own (unless you count Jefferson).  That's how teams improve.  Teams don't improve by trading their stars, they improve by stocking assets around them and using those assets either in trades or to fill specific roles.  Young talent is the most effective talent in this league, because it's cheap and it carries the prospect of future stardom.  All championship teams draft well and use those picks effectively.  Boston and LA are textbook examples of this.

What does that mean?  It means re-signing Arenas and Jamison doesn't automatically mean we can't improve our team down the road.  Both Boston and LA took a lot of lumps, but they persevered by never stopping to stockpile assets.  Ernie Grunfeld needs to step up and do the same this offseason.  He needs to hold onto the 18th pick, draft a useful player, and let him develop.  Maybe guys like Nick Young and Andray Blatche become players, maybe they get moved in two years when AD, Haywood and Etan all expire, but either way, they eventually help you build around your core players.  Trading your core players just brings you back to square one, and I'm not sure we're ready for that.

Again, that's just another way of looking at it, but it's all I was thinking about as the clock ran out.  I saw Paul Pierce, a star who played for so long on crummy teams, who suffered tons of criticism for hurting the rest of the team with his selfish play, who was involved in so many trade rumors and who visibly showed his frustration, win the Most Valuable Player award, and I couldn't help but think about Gilbert Arenas.  Imagine if the Celtics traded Pierce instead of keeping him and building around him?  Certainly the Celtics wouldn't be where they were right now.  Admittedly, Arenas' situation is different because of the knee injuries, but there are some eerie parallels to their situations.  At 26, Arenas still has lots of years left to get to where Pierce is right now.

Hey guys, Prada is still out of commission thanks to the power outage and now that he's been out for far more than half an hour, I'm guessing that he's not just faking it to make a dramatic re-appearance.  Anyways...

• Game 1 went about how I thought.  The Celtics D frustrated Kobe for most of the game and L.A. had no answer for Garnett on the boards.  Kobe will get better, he'll see what they did to slow him down and he'll make the proper adjustments.  But If Garnett pulls down as many rebounds as Radmanovic, Gasol, and Odom combined like he did in Game 1, the Celtics are going to take this series, regardless of how well Kobe is playing.
• With all that said about KG's inside presence, at some point Kendrick Perkins is going to have to step up his play as well.  1 point and 4 rebounds isn't going to cut it.  Yes, he was banged up near the end, but still.
• Maybe I just haven't watched enough Ray Allen, but he just seemed to have a way better handle last night than I can ever remember.
• The Washington Post has the names of some of the players that will be visiting the Wizards in the next few days:

  Today, the team will have workouts for six more prospects: forward-center Frank Elegar (Drexel), forward-center Jeff Ferguson (Wayne State), guard Stefhon Hannah (Missouri), forward Michael Lee (St. Bonaventure) forward Quan Powell (Auburn) and guard Jason Rich (Florida State).

  Workouts will continue Monday, when guard Ty Lawson (North Carolina) and forward D.J. White (Indiana) are scheduled to visit, along with four other prospects.

  It's nice to see after all of those years on the NBA beat with the Post, the Wizards are finally letting Michael Lee tryout for the Wizards.  (That's a joke, people.)  In complete honesty, outside of White and Lawson, I haven't heard of any of the players just mentioned.  Of course, I hadn't heard of Dominic McGuire before last year's draft either, so maybe that's a good thing.
  
• If you're looking for some good draft coverage, make sure you check out Hoops Addict, they've got a few interviews with some players that the Wizards might be considering at #18, including Robin Lopez, Darrell Arthur, and one of my sleepers in this year's draft, Jason Thompson.
• Elijah Dukes swag was phenomenal last night.
• The two names that have been popping up a lot in recent mock drafts for the Wizards are Donte Green and Nicholas Batum.  I like both players but I don't think either would be a good fit in Washington.  They'd both provide some offense at the 3 when Caron is out, but I think there's more pressing needs that could be better filled with the 18th pick.
• A random trade proposal: How would everyone feel about trading #18 to Seattle for #24 and #32?  We might have to throw a little extra in there to even it out, but I think there's probably some better value in the late 1st/early 2nd round area than there is in the middle of the first round where we're currently at.
• Finally, in all seriousness with the Paul Pierce joke at the beginning, I don't think it was that big of a deal.  If I hurt my knee in my first ever Finals game, I'd probably start fearing the worst and reacting as such.  At least he used a wheelchair for a knee injury rather than a shoulder injury.  The key for Paul is going to be this morning, adrenaline can keep you going for a while, but once you get some rest and that knee stiffens up, it's a whole new ballgame, both in terms of how it affects Paul's game and how it affects the rest of the series..

The Wizards might not produce the number of highlights that you'd see with teams like Phoenix and Denver and Golden State, but there were still a lot of great plays from this season from several different players

Which one stands out above the rest?  After the jump, a better look at each of the top play candidates...

No voting for Ramon.

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