Wizards being heard around the web

[JWaLL]

Wiz Around the Web

These really are the dog days of the NBA summer, because there is very little going on. Fabricio Oberto is expected to finally make it official and sign with the Washington Wizards this week. But the Wizards are getting considerable buzz around the web, with many national writers buying into the hype around a possible turnaround for the local five.

 

Vince Thomas of Slam Magazine wrote a column for NBA.com about how he expects the Wizards and Los Angeles Clippers to be two of the most pleasant surprises of the 2009-10 season. Thomas said he thought both teams could possibly win 50 games: "The Wiz will play three All-Stars (Gil, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison), a stopper (Deshawn Stevenson), one of the better young combo guards in the league (Randy Foye), a long-range bomber (Mike Miller), a rising scorer (Nick Young) and a center (Haywood) that can average close to a double-double. Both rosters are among the league's 16 best -- period. That means what? Playoffs. Yeah, I said it."

 

ESPN.com's John Hollinger offered a breakdown of the player movement in the Eastern Conference. Hollinger had the Wizards under the category of Mystery Meat, along with the Toronto Raptors, but said, "Only one offseason move can allay my cynicism, and that's the hiring of Flip Saunders. Yes, he's had some playoff failures, but the dude wins ... If somehow Arenas can regain his old form, it might all work out spectacularly well."

 

David Aldridge of TNT and NBA.com rated the Wizards with the sixth-best offseason, but said that aside from the additions of Miller and Foye, the key to the Wizards will be Arenas: "Well, duh. The Wizards are a lottery team without him; a second-round team with him. Simple as that."

 

Sports Illustrated.com's Scott Howard-Cooper gave the Wizards an "A" for their offseason moves and added, "The Wizards set themselves up to make the biggest jump in the league, from an injury-induced 19-63 last season to at least .500 and the playoffs in 2009-10."

 

And finally, SI.com's Steve Aschburner spoke with Flip Saunders about restoring some playoff glory for the Wizards. Saunders had some interesting things to say, but his most entertaining comments were about President Obama. Saunders said his goal is to get Obama to switch his allegiance from the Chicago Bulls to his new hometown team: "I think I'm just going to challenge him to play me in 1-on-1," Saunders said. "Now he's a lot younger than me [actually, Saunders is 54, Obama just turned 48] and he's building a court over there. But if I beat him, he's going to have to go with the Wizards."

 

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/2009/08/wiz_around_the_web.html?wprss=wizardsinsider

 

I really think we're going to have a promising upcoming season. Looking forward to a winning season.

Edited August 11, 2009 by Gil-Zero

[billt chamberlain]

no flip, you are a wizard now, you'd probabyl suffer a season ending injury if you played obama just because you are part of the wiz org now.