Nick, Dray & Dom - photo: Adam McGinnis, TAI
What do we really know after the Wizards’ 108-75 blowout of the Charlotte Bobcats last night?
1) Charlotte is terrible. Yes, they were without Gerald Wallace. And yes, they are still terrible … with no pieces for the future to speak of. None.
2) There’s been a sort of eye-opening moment of clarity after Arenas’ departure. Who knows how long it will last or how much of an effect it will actually have, but for now, the team has been able to re-focus with the ghosts of Agent Zero past and swirling rumors no longer hovering. Not like there can’t be more trades, but none of them will be a “thing” like the Arenas “thing.” — And I think most of these guys realize who Arenas was, how long he was in D.C., and understand, via the “business” of NBA, what such a dramatic move can mean to a franchise … even if they don’t truly understand.
3) Winning always feels good … well, almost always. I mean, the Heat didn’t seem too happy after beating the Wizards last Saturday. I wasn’t in the locker room, TAI’s John Townsend was — you can find the video mix here — but guys like Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Chris Bosh pretty much seemed like dicks. So, let me amend to say that winning on a losing team always feels good (as a player).
In the video below, several Wizards — Kirk Hinrich, Nick Young, Andray Blatche, Hilton Armstrong and Josh Howard — discuss the post-Arenas trade environment on the team … and of course, how good it feels to get a win.
Enjoy it gang, because the Central Division leading Chicago Bulls, winners of seven of their last 10 games and owners of the third best record in the Eastern Conference, come to Washington on Wednesday.
Makes me even happier to see that Pariah areans gone.
Washington looked like it was finally able to exhale on the court, this team should finish the year strong
It was great to see players like Hudson, Seraphin, and others get more minutes, get that experience up. Sure Charlotte is horrible, but that’s NBA Horrible, which means Charlotte could win next time…it was great to be in the crowd and actually watch someone ELSE get blown out…Go Wiz.
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that once we get rid of Arenas, we lose to Miami by one point (a game which we gave away) and beat Charoltte by 33 (although with some help by some awful turnover on Charlotte’s part). With Nick Young playing at a high level right now, we are just much more efficient both offensively and defensively without Gilbert bogging things down. Even though I have a lot of concerns about Hinrich being our primary point guard at the moment, I look for us to be much more competitive against Chicago this time around.