Reality Check! They aren't who we thought they were.

[GilArenas88]

Even after these 4 losses I'm still not panicking, the team still is struggling because of a brand new offense. So badly at times its hurting the defense, which has been pretty solid. Give it some time guys I keep saying this and saying this, give it time were three games below .500 and have had a difficult schedule. Patients is a virtue people, if this team is playing like this in two months then help youself to rants all you want.

[mohammed10]

Yeah, i know its only 6 games into the season, but there are some troubling signs that the roster EG put together isn't as solid as many believed.

1. We aren't as deep as initally thought

This is not a deep team. When totally healthy, we have 8 credible NBA players on the roster. That's good enough to fill out a tight rotation. But there's no depth to sustain injury just like in the past. We see that now with Jamison & Miller being out. Arenas, Foye, Butler, Blatche, Haywood & Oberto are the other 6.

It's not my opinion, but fact... you cannot count on the other 7 players on the roster.

I have alot of hope for Javale McGee but he's not close yet. Although he's a total defensive sieve and practically clueless, his upside is undeniable and his talent is good enough to postively impact games at times despite being so raw. He's the only one of the 7 I'd keep.

The remaining six players are dead weight on the roster. James, Stevenson, Young, Crittenton, McGuire & Davis. You put any of these guys in the game, your likely to hurt the team. Stevenson is an overrated defender and one of the worst offensive SGs in NBA history. Young is too dumb to ever be more than a one-trick scorer. McGuire doesn't appear to be able to develop enough skill to be credible offensively. Critt hasn't really gotten a chance this year but past results don't give me much optimism. And we all watched enough of Mike James to see what he brings to the table.

That points to a more specific problem. Outside of Arenas, Foye is the only true guard on the roster that can be relied upon to produce. Miller can play G as well but is natural SF who struggles to defend quicker players. With Miller out, were forced to play one our ineffective backup Gs which is bad news. If we lose Gil to injury, its definitely over for the Wiz.

2. We still don't play defense.

Not much to be said here, but we still fail to close out on shooters and we still allow dribble drive penetration to the basket. Having Wood back helps, but after seeing CDR get a career high against us and then watch Wade torch us for 41.

I know EJ was part of the problem and I definitely blamed him for it. But the other part falls on the players, outside of Wood & maybe Oberto, I'm not sure if any other our top 8 (not including DS or Dom) care much for defense. And outside of Wood, Gil & Blatche, I'm not sure if any others are capable of effectively defending their position. This needs to fall on EG. He drafted, traded or re-signed every player on our current roster.

3. This isn't 06-07 anymore

It's time to stop living in the past. And I'm not just talking to you all. The front office needs to hear it too. We are not in 1st place and the East is totally different from 3 years ago. Boston & Orlando are league powers now. Cleveland is a proven contender. Atlanta is a proven playoff tested team. Chicago is young and improving, etc, etc.... It goes on and on. The East at that time was historically weak. That is no longer the case. The Wizards refer to one week in January '07 where they were in first place and getting back to that point while all other teams are focused on 09-10 and moving forward.

It's time to evaluate the core for what it is. Not what it could be if everyone was healthy. I know what someone will inevitably type: Lets wait to Jamison & Miller get healthy and give them some time to learn system because we have a new coach and new players. I call bullshxt to that because at some point the injury excuse is no longer an excuse, its an injury problem and it will remain a problem as long as this core is here. Some guys just can't stay healthy. Once Jamison and/or Miller are healthy, someone else will get hurt. Do we say well, lets wait another 20 games until we get X player back? I'd say no, because we've said for 3 years now, lets wait until we get X player back. At some point you have to move forward and not be trapped by the past and present.

Secondly, it shouldn't take half a damn season for teams to learn a new system or new players. This ain't EJ's complicated Princeton offense that has to be learned. By all accounts, things have been simplified on both sides of the ball, especially defensively where EJ used all sorts of complicated junk defenses to try to cover up defiencies. Sure, I don't expect miracles overnight but right now, based on what we've seen thus far, there's been little improvement.

I'm not ready to say blow everything up just yet, but I'm hard pressed to believe that this is a team that's ready to contend, even 6 months from now.

Excellent insight, Dat. I nominate this for a HOF post.

To all of my fellow Wiz fans who have not joined Ji and me on the ledge, all I can say is there is plenty of room up here - we'll see where we stand after 15-20 games.