There's so much out there about the Wizards today, so here are some more nuggets to chew on.
First off, congrads to regular blog contributor Howie (aka "TheHype"). In case you don't know, Howie's been selling some T-shirts on his blog, and one of his featured T-shirts is this Gilbert Arenas one. Well, thanks in part to reporter/blogger/cool guy extraordinare Dan Steinberg, Howie was able to get Gilbert Arenas to pose with his T-shirt. Here's the link.
Speaking of Mr. Steinberg, he has a three part series on some of the Wizards' crazy fans. This cracked me up, even if the third one claimed that Michael Ruffin was one of his favorite players "because he's just such a Wizards guy." Also, he was giving away these Arenas donut posters (say what?), adding to Arenas' mystique.
Speaking of the wierd, via Deadspin comes this story of a blogger who asked Arenas to rate his swag.
Gilbert Arenas: [laughs] "It was a mellow swag until the end."
Leaf: "Is there a scale? Can you get better than phenomenal or is that the top?"
Gilbert Arenas: "No, phenomenal is the top. Phenomenal swag is the top swag."
Leaf: "So mellow swag is in the middle?"
Gilbert Arenas: "Yeah, you're just chilling."
I think we need to start a Gilbert Arenas swag scale somewhere, and since nobody else has stepped up to do it themselves, I'm thinking of starting it here. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being a dead swag and 10 being a phenomenal swag, where does Arenas' swag really rank yesterday? I say it was a 3, somewhere between dead and mellow, but that's just me.
As for on the court stuff, SLAM's Johnny Mann was at the game and had some notes, while FOX Sports' Charley Rosen was also watching and has made some conclusions of his own.
So what teams meet this scenario? Cleveland, with Ziggy in the middle. Indiana , with J. O. Miami, once Shaq materializes. Houston, ditto for Yao. San Antonio, with you-know-who. Utah, with the big Booz. And Phoenix, with a resurrected Stoudemire.
Which means that the Wizards can possibly lap the slumping, centerless Pistons. But their chances of overtaking Cleveland, and also of advancing deep into the playoffs is minimal. And because of their limited capabilities on offense, the same holds true for the Bulls.
In the eastern conference, nobody fits that description except for a healthy Miami. Cleveland with Big Z? Huh? How do you explain Big Z's struggles against Brendan Haywood last season? Indiana with O'Neal? The Pacers guards would be ripped to shreads by the Wizards. If the Wizards collapse on O'Neal, I don't see any shooters that can continually kill Washington from the outside. You need more than just a big guy; you need shooters and solid guards as well. Nobody in the East has both.
He obviously sees Washington and Chicago on the same page, and he says the Wizards have the potential to pass Detroit, so who else is there to beat in the East? I don't see why the Wizards don't have at least a decent chance of going far in the playoffs. It may or may not happen, but given the state of the East, the Wizards have as good a chance as anyone at this point.
Also, Rosen spelled Jamison wrong. Just saying.