Suggestions for Wizards 2008-2009

Interesting to see how the WashPost sports writers see the Wizards situation...as in, "how will they ever get past the first round?" for example, Mike Wise thinks that consistency is the key, while Michael Wilbon thinks the Wizards need their own LeBron James.

There's issues with both ideas. With Wise, "consistency" can quickly become "old" and "stale" as the the San Antonio Spurs (who Wise cited) are learning. With Wilbon: well, a LeBron James come along about as often as a Shaq, which isn't often.

Since I'm just an average joe who blogs, let me offer this: make the offense more efficient, get a slightly-older-yet-still-athletic-and-savvy-bench, and toughen up the defense.

The best way to improve the offense and still be a matchup threat is to move Arenas from the PG and get a purer PG who can score.

The bench, meanwhile, has been better than in years past, but then again, so has the starting lineup. Teams with young benches just don't make it far in the playoffs, and with three All-Stars either entering or in their prime, such energy isn't as necessary as a good basketball IQ.

The defense has gotten better (mainly due to Haywood's play) but the rotations (particularly when defending the 3-ball) wasn't as good as you'd expect from a team with so many quick, athletic players.

For example, (and this is purely hypothetical) let's assume that I want to keep Arenas, Butler, and Jamison as the core players. And let's further assume that for what they're being paid, Daniels and Haywood are keepers. That means that the following players (either due to what they're making, how they've preformed, or both) are expendable:

1. Andray Blatche


2. Roger Mason, Jr.


3. Dominic McGuire


4. Oleksiy Pecherov (aka, Pesh)


5. Darius Songaila


6. DeShawn Stevenson


7. Etan Thomas


8. Nick Young

Now in this scenario, let's say that we had an opportunity to get Andre Miller (to address the PG issue) from the 76ers and Udonis Haslem (to address the defense issues) from the Heat. According to one example trade (using the NBA Trade Machine) the team could send Stevenson and Thomas for Miller, and Pesh, Blatche and Young for Haslem. In this scenario, the team would have the following starters:

• Center: Haywood


• Forward: Jamison


• Forward: Butler


• Guard: Arenas


• Guard: Miller

And the following bench:

• Center: Songaila


• Forward: Haslem


• Forward: McGuire


• Guard: Mason, Jr.


• Guard: Daniels

Yes, you get rid of many promising young players, but you gain a more experienced squad. I personally would hesitate on trading anyone at this point, but to get what we got here would be worth the sacrifice.

Just note that as of today, Arenas, Jamison and Roger Mason Jr. cannot be traded...but everyone else can be.

Try the trade machine. Maybe you can find your own dream combo.