(Nick Wass/AP)

In recent weeks, some fans have vented their frustrations at the former first-rounder for not being further along in his development by now.  Looking strictly at the numbers, such concerns are understandable.  3.6 PPG on 35.2% shooting isn't exactly the what you expect out of #18 pick, but he's had to deal with a lot more than most of the players in his draft class.

Just imagine the stress you've dealt with when you've moved.  Now take that and instead of moving to another city or state, imagine going to a new country that's nothing like your old one.  New food, new timezones, new music, new everything.  Add to that the stress of learning a new offense as complicated as Eddie Jordan's on the fly, adjusting to the nuances of the NBA game, and dealing with all the hazing that rookies have to deal with in their first year, especially being a rookie on the Wizards.

As tough as that is, you're only hitting the tip of iceberg with Oleksiy.  Consider that if he has to fight for minutes with an All-Star in Antawn Jamison, an multi-skilled player in Andray Blatche, and a savvy vet like Darius Songila.  Not only that, but teammates can't spell his name, his nickname is the "White Hole", he looks like Stewie from Family Guy, and to date, his biggest highlight was being dunked on by Andres Nocioni.  Oh, and let's not forget about that ankle injury that cost him playing time and the chance to mesh with his teammates early in the season and another ankle injury that kept him from playing in this year's summer league and is still keeping him from being 100% right now.

He had a lot more to deal with in his rookie season than most rookies and it's looking like it's not going to get any easier this season for everyone's favorite Ukranian import.  Here's the sobering report from Mike Jones (who!):

"For me, this year has been a lot of injuries, starting last year at start of preseason," said Pecherov, who averaged 11 points and six rebounds playing professionally in France in 2006. "But this time at least it was summer time, so I didn't miss any games, but still it's frustrating. I haven't been so hurt in my life."

Another factor making minutes hard to come by for Pecherov is that he has two All-Stars ahead of him in Antawn Jamison and Butler, a savvy veteran in Darius Songaila as Jamison's backup and an improving Blatche, who can spell either starter.

"He's not getting a lot of minutes because Darius and Andray are the forwards on one team and Antawn and Caron are the forwards on the first team, and then we rotate him in, so he's missing some rotation minutes right now even in practice," Jordan said.

When he does see action, Pecherov said he plays tentatively because of his ankle. He said he tries not to think about the ankle or the pain, but without even realizing it, he hesitates before jumping or doesn't run as hard. And in a competitive camp in which every player goes hard, he's left behind.

"I need to be tough mentally and not be afraid to run and jump like I did before, but I just think I need some time to do that," Pecherov said.

So, it looks like we'll have to wait a little while longer to see Pecherov in full.  Maybe it'll take a month, maybe it'll take another year until we get to see what he can do when he's fully healthy.  Once he gets there, we'll finally be able to see if he was deserving of being drafted where he was.  I'm not sure if he'll be able to live up to his draft slot or not, but I do know one thing: If he doesn't live up to it, it won't be because he took the easy road out.

The season is still two months away, but most of the rosters are set, barring the requisite Michael Jordan comeback rumor (just kidding, but only a little).  We have an idea where our team stands, but we can't really know unless we discuss everyone else.  In that spirit, I'm going to throw up a "competition discussion" thread for each of the other 29 teams over the next month or so.  We'll go in alphabetical order from A to Z.  Today's team: Chicago.

Last year's record: 33-49

In: Derrick Rose
Out: Chris Duhon, Adrian Griffin, Victor Khryapa

Projected starting lineup: Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, Drew Gooden, Joakim Noah.

Key themes:

• What's going to happen with Ben Gordon?
• Was last year the outlier, or the beginning of a theme?
• How good will Derrick Rose be right away?
• Vinny Del Negro has no coaching experience.  How will he do as the coach?
• Will Tyrus Thomas finally get extended minutes?  If so, will he take advantage of them?
• Will we see Kirk Hinrich or Mopey Iowan?
• How exactly do they plan on scoring this year?
• Does the defense return to its 2007 level?

Chicago's a really tough team to read.  In 2006/07, they were sneaky good because while they posted only 49 wins, they had the point differential of a 55+ win squad.  They just happened to run into a bad matchup in Detroit, who punished their guards like crazy.  With no big changes to the roster and another expected year of growth for the young guys, many, including me, had them as the top team in the East. 

Then, somehow everyone decided to completely suck.  It's unprecedented, really.  Kirk Hinrich somehow turned into a below-average point guard, Ben Gordon suddenly turned into a negative presence, Luol Deng got hurt and Ben Wallace fell completely off a cliff.  Scott Skiles quit, Jim Boylan sucked, etc etc. 

It's tempting to say last season was a complete outlier, considering how poorly it went, but there were a lot of disturbing problems.  Without the consistent energy level, the defense suffered.  There was still nobody who could score, leaving Gordon in tons of awful positions.  Worse yet, there was nobody who could pass and set others up for easy scores. 

The hope is that the final problem will be alleviated with Derrick Rose in town.  I'm not sure how great Rose will be, but while he was a pretty good passer in college, he seems more Gary Payton than John Stockton.  That's hardly a bad thing, but Rose may not be as pure as the Bulls need him to be. 

The biggest issue next year, though, is Gordon.  Is he or isn't he returning.  He's being a little ridiculous with his contract demands, but the Bulls have definitely given him shoddy treatment.  They're using the luxury tax as an excuse for not upping their offer like they did with Deng while simultaneously saying they do not plan on making any moves until the Gordon situation is sorted out.  Think about it: all they need is a Cedric Simmons for an unguaranteed contract trade and possibly a Nocioni for smaller salary swap, and wallah, there's the money Gordon needs.

Whether Gordon is worth it or not is irrelevant, because there's almost no possibility that Gordon will be on another team next year.  He'll be a Bull, either with a new contract that is lower than he wants or with the qualifying offer.  Neither will be good for team chemistry, which killed the Bulls last year. 

Add that problem to their young frontcourt, their unproven coach, their lack of a true go-to scorer and their pile of suck (read: Larry Hughes) in the backcourt, and I'm thinking they will be about where they were last season.

Prediction: 33-49, fourth in Central, 11th in East.

Previously (predictions are me/Jake/Truth)...

• Atlanta: 35-47/34-48/37-45.
• Boston: 58-24/58-24/55-27
• Charlotte: 31-51/35-47/38-44
  

Here's some stuff to read up on while you try and figure out if anything can top this "There Can Only Be One" parody.

• Let's kick things off with a little Top Ten list action.  The Wizards' website broke in down into moments 10-6 and the top 5, with the retirement of Earl Monroe's jersey number taking the top spot.  To be honest, the choice surprised me, but I can understand where some would see that as the top moment, since number retiring doesn't happen all too often in D.C.
• For another perspective, here are Ivan's top ten moments from the season:

Butler's dunk on Kevin Martin was No. 1. Nick Young's dunk on LeBron was No. 2. Caron's game-winner in the playoffs is 3 following by Stevenson's game winner in New Orleans. At five, give me the win at Boston. At six, I'll take Haywood's classic response to LeBron James being a crybaby. At 7, I'll take the dunk Andres Nocioni threw down over Oleksiy Pecherov. When Chicago's game operations folks put a picture of Stewey from Family Guy over Pecherov's face on the replay, I lost it.

At 8, I'll go with the game itself and Butler's 40-point performace in Milwaukee on Jan. 27 (just an incredible game to see live). At 9, I'll go with two games in Miami when I got to watch the Heat dancers perform from only a few feet away. (The Miami Heat dancers: where amazing happens). And at 10, give me the Nov. 2 game in Boston when Kevin Garnett and the new-look Celtics made their first regular season appearance. Just a great atmosphere.

• Vanilla Gorilla turned up this in-depth scouting report on the Wizards from Draft Express.  Like he mentions, it's a little over the top on Mason, but other than that it's a solid breakdown of the roster.
• In the last week, two new sites have been added to the SB Nation fold.  Make sure you check out At The Hive (focusing on the Hornets) and Ridiculous Upside (focusing on the draft, D-League, prospects, etc.).
  
• The best part of the off-season is that it's so open-ended that all sorts of different ideas.  Truth About It looked into whether or not Elton Brand would be a feasible option in the district, and KDP proposes a trade with the Sonics.
• As always, Kevin Broom delivers spectacular analysis as he looks into the Wizards "improvement" on defense this season.
• Wizards uncovered this video from back in '02 of Roger Mason from back when he was at UVA, going up against the Terrapins.  Most of Roger's damage was done before the video starts (the video focuses on the Terps' late-game comeback), but the high praise from the announcers gives you a feel for how well he played that night.
• Hey, what happened to all the players that got drafted ahead of Gilbert Arenas?