Doing some spring cleaning while watching the NBA playoffs on Sunday, I found myself ripping off covers of old ESPN The Magazines and trashing the rest, but not before quickly flipping through to make sure nothing was keep-able.

Times were different in December 2007. Well, not so much for Wizards fans. The turmoil was just getting started with the news that Gilbert Arenas would be having a second surgery on his knee just two weeks old. That December 3rd edition of ESPN The Magazine ironically had part of an NBA advertisement featuring a picture of Arenas and the words, “Where I’m back happens.”

In that same edition, which had Terrell Owens giving Tony Romo ‘bunny ears’ on the cover (Jason Witten was in the picture too), was the above ‘Got Milk?’ advertisement featuring two former Dallas Mavericks, coach Avery Johnson and player Josh Howard.

December 2007 represented some of the last days of NBA harmony for each Howard and Johnson. The Mavericks as a one-seed lost to the eight-seed Warriors the previous Spring, an ’06-07 season where Howard also represented the Mavs in the NBA All-Star game. But from there, it would go further downhill.

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Sure it was yet another loss for the Wizards, but it was an eventful one. No, I’m not talking about Gilbert Arenas‘ number change and Mike Miller talking about it. Nor am I talking about JaVale McGee‘s thought process on being so readily available to leave his feet on defense or his career high 20 points and eight dunks. I’m not even talking about Andray Blatche getting frustrated about his turnovers … more on that to come.

Nope. I’m talking about newcomer Alonzo Gee making his NBA debut. Gee, pronounced like the ‘G’ in G-Wiz, the Wizards’ mascot, saw seven minutes of action in the second quarter, certainly no garbage time. In the process, he pulled down two rebounds, one of which was offensive and led to a quick two-hand jam from the former D-Leaguer. So while McGee’s eight dunks were nice, he didn’t score the first points of his NBA career on a dunk (they actually came on a single free-throw in a November 5, 2008 game against the Bucks in Milwaukee).

Gee did.

After the game, after all the other locker room happenings and most of the media had left to file their stories and reports, one guy who most neglected to pay attention to quietly sat in his chair tying his shoe, getting ready to go on his first “official” NBA road trip (Gee met the Wizards in Boston for a game the day he was signed to a 10-day contract).

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I never hid the fact that I was a big fan of Darius Songaila when he was with the Wizards. I wouldn’t call it a man-crush, as Mike Miller once professed (via Twitter) for LeBron James, but let’s just say that I really hated to see Songaila go as part of the Mike Miller-Randy Foye/Etan Thomas-Oleksiy Pecherov-5th Pick (Ricky Rubio) trade with Minnesota this past summer.

Darius is an under-appreciated basketball player, and unfortunately, was under-appreciated by many Wizards fans. Not sure how people could not like a big man who set hard screens, displayed fundamentals that should make JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche jealous, hit outside jumpers, and who did pretty much anything asked without question.

Are injuries abundant and you need Darius to guard, say, Dwight Howard? No problem coach. Caron Butler also loved him some Darius Songaila … whatever that means at this point.

Thank god Songaila didn’t get stuck in Minnesota. A couple of months after acquiring him, the Timberwolves sent Songaila and Bobby Brown to New Orleans for Darius’ former teammate, Antonio Daniels, and a 2014 second round pick. New Orleans, an already financially strapped team, obviously thought highly enough of Songaila to acquire his extra year of contract ($4.8 million in 2010-11) for the expiring contract of Daniels. New Orleans also had a need for front-court depth.

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I’ve been writing this blog about the Washington Wizards since October 2007 and this year I’ve been able to cover the team more up close because of media credentials granted by the team’s PR department. Some may sympathetically say, ‘What a year to start covering the team.’ True, in more ways than one.

As a fan, this season has been nothing short of a tragedy. As a person, this has been one of the most sadly interesting experiences I’ve ever had … and I wouldn’t trade it for much (Well, aside from a million dollars and an NBA title to D.C.).

There’s been some light moments, some dark moments, and everything in between. And I’m just talking about Gilbert Arenas … you know, the “So goes Gil, so goes the Wizards” guy. Now that a suspension for the rest of the season has been officially handed down by David Stern, it would be a good time to dig into the archive and provide the best of Gilbert quotes, Gilbertology if you will, for the 2009-10 season.

As I compose this post, and after just listening to Gilbert Arenas’ father on the Mike Wise Show, this situation still wreaks with sadness, and probably will for quite some time. Not so much because a huge, unfortunate joke has been played on Wizards fans, but because I still don’t get the feeling that Arenas understands the remorse aspect of this case.

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I recently contributed to HoopsDaily.com with an assessment of the Wizards for their “Blogger Knows Best” series.

The questions I was posed are below, click through to read the answers.

1. Based on preseason expectations, how would you grade this season? Please list your team’s top three accomplishments.
2. How would you assess the competency of the team’s current GM and scouting staff?
3. Which young players (if any) can step to the forefront in the future?
4. Time to play fantasy GM: what move that was made the past few years would you undo and what move would you currently make for the team to assess immediate or long term needs?
5. Best case scenario: where would you realistically like to see your team at this time next year?

Blogger Knows Best: Inside the Washington Wizards

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Comcast’s Chris Miller interviewed JaVale McGee’s mom, Pamela, on the sidelines during Friday night’s Wizards-Lakers game. She seems like a cool, reasonable lady.

My favorite quotes are:

“I need a little bit more energy [out of JaVale], you know, if I was doing the ghetto mom, I’d be like, ‘C’mon JaVale, let’s get it done!!’”

“He’s 21, but he has the body of a 17-year old…..he’s in a growth spurt right now, we just measured him and he’s 7’1″ with no shoes on.”

But you can watch for yourself.