Washington Wizards: The Keepers (and Why)

Every NBA coach from Phil Jackson to the poor shmoe who ends up coaching Phoenix knows that a good basketball team needs at least eight-to-nine solid players who understand the game and have a real chemistry with each other. It's these teams that not only make the playoffs, but get into the Second Round, Conference Finals and NBA Finals. Sure defense, offense and rebounding matter, but how many teams have won the whole shebang with one guy doing each of those things very well while the other players were stinking the joint up?



So here are my Top Nine Keepers for the Wizards from (and why) with an "Untouchability Factor" ranking from 1 (aka, "give us Kobe and maybe we'll talk") to 10 (aka, "well, if Kwame Brown is all you have...OK"):

1. Caron Butler (UF of 2): I cannot stress this enough: this guy is the best player on the team. Best. Player. On. Team. He can score, defend, rebound and pass. He's athletic and a smart baller. He can bring the ball up the court. His nickname is frickin' Tough Juice, for crying out loud! Seriously, if someone can mail him the Matrix of Leadership so he can just open it, all will be good.
2. Gilbert Arenas (UF of 3): I know, I know; "He's the best clutch scorer on the team." That's part of the problem: I may have heard the phrases "good defense by" and "Gilbert Arenas" together maybe once this season. Any spectacular scorer can be an All-Star, Superstars are exemplary on both sides of the floor. Nevertheless, he's one of those guys that wants to take the game-winner and believes that it's going in. You can't put a price tag on that kind of character.
3. Antawn Jamison (UF of 3): When he's on, he's pretty hard to defend. His unorthodox way of scoring gives coaches fits, and it's always good to have at least one scorer who gives opposing coaches fits. His rebounding since being in Washington has been greatly understated, and (surprise, surprise!) he's actually showing that he can play some defense (but we're never going to mistake him for Bruce Bowen). Plus his leadership both on and off the court is not to be ignored (if Butler's Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime, than Jamison is Ultra Magnus).
4. Brendan Haywood (UF of 6): It took several years, but the team finally got the Haywood they were hoping to go into a playoff series with. The question is whether he'll be like this from here on out. the way I see it, coach Eddie Jordan needs to realize that Haywood is the team's best big man and Haywood needs to realize that the possible return of Etan Thomas says nothing about his ability to play center.
5. Antonio Daniels (UF of 7): A little known secret: Daniels is the toughest backcourt player on the team. He takes hard hits and keeps on attacking. His assist-to-turnover ratio is pretty good. Not-so-big-secret: Next year will be Year 11; and the body can only take but so much punishment.
6. DeShawn Stevenson (UF of 7): He came in for defensive purposes, and ended up being another scorer. I'm still torn as to whether that's a good thing, mainly because he can still handle an above-average player. But other than annoying the Kobes and LeBrons of the world, he doesn't bring much in terms of assists and rebounds.
7. Oleksiy Pecherov (UF of 7): some want to make him a poor man's Dirk. Hey, if the team can convince some down-on-their-luck team that and get a decent pick and/or player in return, go right ahead. If not, you really may want to hang on to a 7-foot gut who can shoot from the outside for another season or two.
8. Nick Young (UF of 8): He can score. But until the team decides what to do about Roger Mason, it's hard to say whether or not just being a scoring punch is enough.
9. Dominic McGuire (UF of 8): He plays "D" in a manner conductive with the team's game plan. But like Young, the rotation may be preventing him from showing his full potential.

I'm still leaning toward trading some of our young guns for more mature talent, but I'm not adverse to having one backcourt guy and one frontcourt guy who are under three years in the League. But looking at some of the recent Championship teams, you can argue that they didn't have a kiddie bench.

As for the core, if you were to stick with Arenas, Butler and Jamison you have to acknowledge that this team is an offensive team first and a defensive team second. I don't see two of the three changing their defensive mentality in any drastic way. That said, I think you can change their scoring mentality: get them more accustomed to attacking the basket early in games (to get high percentage shots and put opposing teams in foul trouble) and then taking more jump-shots as they get in rhythm.