Category: Washington Wizards Blog

The Washington Post (Ivan Carter) reports: Etan Thomas won’t test himself in an NBA game until October, but yesterday the veteran center took an important step in that direction by going full speed in a practice session with the Wizards’ summer league squad. Even better, Thomas said he felt great afterward. That’s excellent news considering that Thomas missed all of last season after undergoing surgery to repair a leak in his aortic valve. His heart is fine, but Thomas had to allow his sternum to fully heal after it was separated during the surgery.

The Washington Times (Mike Jones) reports: Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas has informed Wizards team president Ernie Grunfeld he will agree to a six-year deal worth $111 million, in his words, giving back roughly $16 million of the max, $127 million deal the team offered him Tuesday morning. “This is in line with what I’ve been saying the whole time,” Arenas said Thursday evening in a telephone conversation from China. “You see players take max deals and they financially bind their teams. I don’t wanna be one of those players and three years down the road your team is strapped and can’t do anything about it.”

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed forward Antawn Jamison to a contract extension.  Per team policy, terms of the contract were not released.

“Signing Antawn to a contract extension was a top priority for us this summer,” said Grunfeld. “He has been a leader for us both on and off the court over the last four seasons, and we’re proud to reward his efforts by bringing him back.”

Jamison led the Wizards in scoring (21.4 ppg) and rebounding (a career-high 10.2 rpg) last season to earn his second career All-Star appearance.  He was one of only five players in the NBA to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds and posted a career-high 44 double-doubles.

The 6-9 forward has averaged 20.4 points and 8.9 rebounds in 299 career games with the Wizards.  Jamison has been a captain and led the Wizards to the playoffs in each of his four seasons with the club.  In 2006, Jamison represented the United States at the FIBA World Championships in Japan.  He was originally acquired by the Wizards (along with cash considerations) from Dallas in exchange for Jerry Stackhouse, Christian Laettner and the draft rights to Devin Harris on June 24, 2004.

Here’s Washington Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld speaking to reporters today:

On the depth of talent available in Thursday’s NBA Draft: “I think it’s going to be a pretty deep draft.  You never know who is going to be available to you, because it all depends on who goes in front of you, but it’s going to be interesting.  There is a lot of conversation going on right now around the league.  We’ve had a lot of conversations and this is always a very exciting time of year.”

More on the depth of talent in the draft: “It’s a deep draft, but it’s also an uncertain draft, because of the youth in it.  The talent level is pretty good.  You can maybe get someone in the 20’s or in the second round that can develop for you but you’re probably not going to get someone that is going to come in and contribute right away.”

On the players that worked out for the Wizards: “We had a good group in.  A lot of the players we brought in are not only for that first round pick (18th overall), but we also have a 2nd round pick (47th overall), so there were a lot of prospects for that position…and also free agent type players that we might want to take a look at down the road.  Bringing players in is just a small part of the whole evaluation process.  The thing that I get the most out of this process is being able to talk to the players and see what type of people they really are and how they handle themselves.  It’s important to get an opportunity to talk to some of these players and really find out about who they are as people.”

On trade talks around the NBA: “There have been a lot of conversations about moving up and moving back and maybe even getting out of the draft.  Some things are contingent on who’s out there for us and who’s available.  You never know what is going to happen, but there have been a lot of conversations (amongst NBA teams), probably more than in years past.”

On the Wizards’ needs: “We are pretty deep at all positions so I’ve always had a theory to take the best available player regardless of position.”

On Washington’s young players selected in recent drafts: “Andray (Blatche) has played now for three years, and played a lot of minutes last year.  Nick (Young) got some significant minutes last year even though he was a rookie.  He got a lot experience because of the injuries we had, and had the opportunity to play and see some valuable game action.  Dom (McGuire) got some good opportunities too, and this is going to be a big summer for Pech (Oleksiy Pecherov) because he did not play that much last year because of the injury.  He had a very good preseason for us, but about five days before the season started he broke his ankle and missed about two months.  Because of that he was pretty far behind.  We are young, but I think we have a good combination of veteran players, players in their prime and young up-and-coming players that still have a lot of room for growth.”

On the Wizards: “I think this group has shown that we can compete on a very high level.  We had some great wins last year and we didn’t even have the full group together.  The last time we had the full group together we had the best record in the Eastern Conference and I think we are an improved team since then.  Our bench has gotten better.  Our young guys have gotten some valuable experience.  I think we feel comfortable if we get everybody back and everybody together I think that this team can be a very competitive ball club.”

The Washington Post (Ivan Carter) reports: Gilbert Arenas said he opted out of the final year of his contract with the Washington Wizards by filing the necessary paperwork with the league office Friday. The move makes Arenas, who was scheduled to earn $12.8 million next season, an unrestricted free agent. Teams will be able to negotiate with free agents July 1. Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld has repeatedly stated that the team plans to re-sign Arenas and all-star forward Antawn Jamison, who will also be an unrestricted free agent.

InsideHoops.com says: Unless something crazy happens, expect Arenas to re-sign with the Wizards. That’s the general rule of thumb with all star players who become free agents. There are barely any teams in the league with the salary cap space to give them big contracts, aside from their own team and maybe a few others.

The Washington Post reports: Washington Wizards forward Andray Blatche was arrested Wednesday in south-central Virginia on charges of reckless driving and driving on a suspended license for the third time, authorities said. Blatche, who is entering his fourth season with the Wizards and signed a five-year contract worth around $15 million last summer, was clocked going 86 mph in a 70 mph zone on Interstate 85, said Brunswick County 1st Sgt. Dwyane Jones. In Virginia, anyone driving faster than 80 mph can be charged with reckless driving said Jones, who was the arresting officer… Blatche has been involved in other notable off-court incidents.

InsideHoops.com says: Blatche is apparently a mental midget. But one who makes so much money, if he loses his license he can just pay people to drive him around, so to him it probably doesn’t matter.

The Washington Post (Sally Jenkins) writes: There is a seemingly compelling case to be made — and some fans are making it — that the Wizards don’t need Arenas. When he was healthy and started 70-plus games in 2006-07, they went 41-41. This season they went 43-39, despite the fact that he made just 13 starts on his bad knee. There was a negligible difference in the team’s shooting percentage, which hovered right around 45 percent during both seasons, or assists, averaging 19.6 per game this season, versus 20.2 in 2006-07. (Both seasons ended in first-round playoff losses.) Moreover, they were better defensively, appeared to move the ball more, and generally seemed more focused when Arenas didn’t play. Why, his critics argue, should the Wizards make a long-term commitment to a point guard who can be selfish and disruptive, has yet to demonstrate leadership, and doesn’t defend?