I know, I know. Try to contain your excitment. I realize it's tough. Breathe in, breathe out.
Smallball attained two victories today, both involving Wizards personnel.
The first victory came last night, after the Heat came back to beat Cleveland on TNT. The win meant that Eddie Jordan, yes, our very own Eddie Jordan, is officially going to coach the Eastern Conference all-stars. The Wizards clinched the best record in the East, so Jordan will be there coaching a team featuring 6 guards, 2 small forwards, 2 power forwards, and 2 centers. Needless to say, it's the perfect team for Jordan. Get ready for a lineup of Gilbert Arenas, Dwayne Wade, Richard Hamilton, Vince Carter, and LeBron James. Get ready for Carter and Caron Butler guarding Kevin Garnett and Amare Stoudamire. It's coming.
Of course, Jordan felt the need to remind everyone of where he stands on smallball today. In a move that surprised nobody, Jordan seems to be leaning towards starting with a small lineup against the Lakers on Saturday. Wizards Insider has the scoop.
The thought of Jarvis Hayes guarding Lamar Odom makes me want to puke. Hayes has started to pick up his play recently, and it seems that he's starting to contribute in other ways besides scoring, but starting him in at power forward is just putting him in a horrible situation. I kind of disagree with Carter; going small will really hurt against the Lakers, because Odom has the ability to exploit his size advantage both inside and outside. That's what made Chris Bosh so dangerous--he wasn't a one-dimensional guy. Going small almost makes sense against a more traditional team like Detroit or San Antonio, but against a less traditional team, it's suicide.
The good news is that Darius Songaila is supposed to play tomorrow. It's unclear how effective he'll be, but if he can play 5-10 solid minutes, that'll be much better than putting Hayes in that spot. Hopefully, Songaila will get healthy enough to start at the 4 while Jamison recovers.