Perhaps the most important questions that the Wizards need to resolve this preseason is not whether John Wall and Gilbert Arenas can coexist, the state of Arenas' psyche, or JaVale McGee's NBA2K 11 ranking, but one that is simple meat and potatoes basketball, who gets the start at small forward for the Wizards?

I attempted to first answer this piece for SBN D.C. pointing to the fact that Josh Howard is the prohibitive favorite to start at the position when he return from injury, but Al Thornton could make a case for a starting role with rookie Trevor Booker, and veterans Nick Young and Kirk Hinrich as dark horses in the competition:

Booker showed flashes of his defensive ability and toughness in summer league, and will it be interesting to see whether coach Flip Saunders prefers the defensive mentality of Booker. Young and Hinrich are long shots to start at the position, as they would be moving away from their natural guard roles, but Young at least had the height and athleticism to be considered for spot starts at the position.

And then Flip Saunders has to go and prove that I'm not a great prognosticator.

Instead of being a dark horse, Hinrich has been inserted into the starting small forward role to begin preseason play. By going with his "three little guys lineup" Saunders is adding more basketball IQ  and outside shooting to the starting lineup with the insertion of Hinrich. Hinrich brings better ball movement, greater passing and a headier defensive presence to the role of small forward. Arguably, by starting the trio of guards, Saunders is sticking to the mantra of "you play your best" players, regardless of the situation.

Unfortunately, the problem with starting Hinrich is three-fold.

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With Wizards training camp come and gone, Bullets Forever is still asking 20 questions about key issues with the team in 2010/11.

Everyone in Washington is familiar with the Redskins' struggles over the past decade. Yet, despite failing to meet expectations, they've managed to put together a solid defense more times than not. The Redskins have been among the top 10 in overall defense seven times since 2000.

Though the Wizards haven't fared much better than the Redskins over the last 10 years, they have not been able to maintain respectability on defense. The last time the Wizards finished with the season a defensive rating (points allowed/100 possession) in the top half of the NBA was the 1997-98 season. The last time they were in the top 10? Try 1987-88, the season during which JaVale McGee entered the world.

Defense has been a problem for a long time in Washington, and it will be the weakness that holds the Wizards back if John Wall can lead this team to contention down the road. In order to fix a system that's been broken for so long, you have to scrap any vestige of previous defensive schemes and start over with a fresh mindset and a fresh roster. The fresh mindset and roster are now in place, which leads us to our next question:

Will the roster moves translate into a better overall team defense?

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With the first day of Wizards training camp coming, Bullets Forever is asking 20 questions about key issues with the team in 2010/11.

The most immediate positive return from the Wizards' roster demolition last season was the emergence of Andray Blatche. Without veterans Antawn Jamison and Brendan Haywood around to take minutes, Blatche was finally given a true opportunity to blossom, and though there were some ups and downs, there were more positives than negatives. 

Blatche showed last season that he can harness the gifts that he had shown glimpses of throughout his five-year career and put it together in a role worthy of a starting spot in the NBA, averaging 22.1 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game after the All-Star break. On the flip side (no pun intended), he also showed that he won't be leading a team to the playoffs, much less an NBA title as a team's top option. After the break, the Wizards went 9-23, including a 16 game losing streak.

Thankfully, with Gilbert Arenas back and John Wall now on the squad, Blatche won't be asked to shoulder the load each night like he was at the end of last season. Now he faces the challenge of trying to build on his success from last season, while at the same time adjusting to no longer being the team's top option. Which leads to our next question:

How will Andray Blatche respond to having more talent around him?

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The question of how Flip Saunders tries to go about coaching the youngest team he's coached in over a decade and a half (possibly ever) was always something on my list of topics to explore, even before 20Q was conceived.  That said, the question became even more relevant after Michael Lee revealed this nugget earlier in the week.

He has already tried to connect with his youngsters by coming up with an idea for a Midnight Madness practice that will help the rookies get their first NBA practice out the way at the time when their emotions and nerves are high.    

Evidently, Saunders knows this is a legitimate question too.  It's not his fault, but it's worth noting that it's been a long time since his players have been this young.  With that said, here's our next question:

Will Saunders be patient enough to maximize the development of such a young team like this?

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With the first day of Wizards training camp coming, Bullets Forever is asking 20 questions about key issues with the team in 2010/11.

JaVale McGee's first two seasons in the NBA have brought a lot of promise, but looking at his statistics, not a lot of progress. We covered a lot in our end of season evaluation, but going into last season, Basketball Prospectus listed the following players as his closest comparables after 1 year in the league: Andray Blatche, Al Jefferson, Jermaine O'Neal, and Tyrus Thomas - an awesome list, but obviously no guarantee of stardom. With Brendan Haywood gone this season, the Veil of Cashmere is set for a dramatic increase in minutes and a full opportunity to show his skills. He has taken care of his asthma problem, and spent time with Team USA, but the big question is:

How far has JaVale McGee progressed?

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With the first day of Wizards training camp coming, Bullets Forever is asking 20 questions about key issues with the team in 2010/11.

Notorious, talented, enigmatic, fun-loving, insane, hated and loved; Gilbert Arenas is not an easy man to understand. The Agent Zero and Hibachi that we grew to love did a complete 180 last year. After two lost years to knee injury and a coaching change, he was pushed to become a leader and showed a serious side for the first time in his career. It is unclear how much Gil's seriousness contributed to the gun incident, his on-court performance or his leadership, but there is no doubt that his demeanor this season is a big factor for the Wizards, particularly with him being partly responsible for the development of John Wall.

Which brings us to our next question:

Which Gilbert Arenas personality will we see this season?

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With the first day of Wizards training camp coming, Bullets Forever is asking 20 questions about key issues with the team in 2010/11.

First let me explain what I mean by struggle, survive or thrive.  I actually believe that these players will eventually mesh pretty nicely.  While it is reasonable to wonder if John Wall and Gilbert Arenas can share a backcourt, I believe that Gilbert will respond nicely to being able to focus on his specialty and more natural position of scorer, which will complement Wall's abilities as a true pass first, point guard.  Mix in  Andray Blatche and Josh Howard's ability to score and you have the makings of a very interesting offensive team.

Will they click right away?  No, it's not likely.  You may have heard that Gilbert hasn't played much lately.  Howard is recovering from ACL surgery and will likely be ready by November, and Blatche is nearly healed from surgery on his foot.  Wall is talented, but is a rookie and will likely make his fair share of mistakes.  This will likely add up to some uneven play early in the season as these four players adjust to one another.

With that as the backdrop, instead I am thinking of struggle, survive and thrive in terms of the team's performance.  Will the team struggle - performing well below .500 basketball, survive - play at or around .500 ball, or thrive - perform above .500.

Question 10: Will Wall, Arenas, Howard and Blatche struggle, survive or thrive together?

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With the first day of Wizards training camp coming, Bullets Forever is asking 20 questions about key issues with the team in 2010/11.

Four games.  Just four games.

In case it wasn't clear, that's how long Josh Howard's tenure with the Washington Wizards has been.  I feel the need to point it out because, as great as those four games may have been, they represent a very, very tiny sample.  As much as we all want to do it, it's pretty much impossible to glean any relevant trends from a sample equal to less than 1/20th of the regular season, especially when many of the players on the roster then aren't on the roster now.  

So to me, Howard's basically another newcomer on the roster.  This inevitably leads us to our next question in this series.

How will Josh Howard fit in with this team next year?

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