Been traveling all day, but here are some critical updates to the way the Washington Wizards' schedule will look in this shortened 2011-12 season. The NBA announced that the 66-game schedule will feature 48 conference games and 18 non-conference games. That means the Wizards will face only three teams from the Western Conference twice this season.
Here's the breakdown:
- Four games: Six Eastern Conference teams
- Three games: Eight Eastern Conference teams (four come to Verizon Center twice, four come once).
- Two games: Three Western Conference teams.
- One game: 12 Western Conference teams (six come to Verizon Center, six don't).
Also, each team will have between 1-3 stretches of back-to-back-to-back games. Here's hoping the Wizards only have one.
In an unrelated piece of news: the new Amnesty clause will likely include some sort of auction for those players who are axed from their teams. The whole thing is described here, and this could get very interesting.