Will you welcome Arenas back? POLL

[miller31time]

So you're essentially saying dump your starters and your top reserves and start over.

Basically.

That's a recipe for 6-7 years (or more) of not even making the playoffs.

I don't know about that. If we land a good pick, they can transform a franchise. Not that I'm saying we would get Wall, but if we did, I wouldn't put the playoffs too far out of reach. We'd probably win around 35-38 games with him on-board (much like what Paul did for the Hornets when he first arrived). But the best thing of all? We'd actually be getting better...not, you know, the same every year.

(And even you admit no big-name free agent would sih with such a piss-poor Wizards team.)

Never said they wouldn't. But it would take a culture change and a crap-load of money (which is why I put the caveat of not desperately signing 2nd-tier talent just because no one else is available). If and when Leonsis buys the team and changes the culture we currently have, I think D.C might not be too bad of a place for free agents -- especially if we can land one of the top picks.

Sorry Miller....been there, done that. I'm not interested in going back to the 1997-2003 Wizards.

The 04-10 Wizards haven't exactly been lighting the court up either. Some people, like yourself, were sick of being a bottom-dweller (which I understand), but our management at that period was horrific. There is such a thing as rebuilding the right way. Personally, I can't take any more "continuity".

[miller31time]

Regarding Wall, you seem to be in the incredibly small minority of people that aren't very high on him. I see him being a rich man's Derrick Rose, and on par with Chris Paul and Deron Williams in terms of the game's top point guards. That's a damn good starting point to a rebuilding team.

I love Wall's game. He's probably going to be a NBA superstar. But even the best PGs in the game Nash, Kidd, Paul, Williams haven't won a championship or even been to the finals (maybe Kidd has). And you want to get rid of everybody and start over with Wall? At least, Paul has West and Okafor, and Kidd has Dirk and Jason Terry, and Nash has Amare.

Who will Wall have...Nick, Blatche and Dominic?

I think you're painting with too broad of a brush here. The Suns with Nash were perennially a top team in the NBA. They were incredibly close to making the Finals the year they faced the Spurs in the playoffs (the Horry/Stoudemire incident) and probably would have advanced had Amare not been suspended. Nash basically took a 30-40 win team and made them elite. Thus the 2 MVPs. You already mentioned Kidd going to the Finals a few times. Those teams weren't bad, but they weren't great either. Neither Richard Jefferson nor Kenyon Martin are suitable 2nd options which is what you need to win a title. Chris Paul is working with nothing this season. He has no bench and an owner that wants to cut costs at every turn.

The key for us would first be to actually GET a good player of Wall's caliber. Then can we build around him. It's not as if we're getting a star player then leaving him with trash every season he's with the team. That might be true for the first season but after that, we'll be solely focused on building around that player.

[Hoopalotta]

Miller, fightin' the good fight.

The only things I would disagree on is in signing Foye, which I would do unless he gets a big offer, and I doubt I'd even sign first tier free agent if I could simply because most of those guys are too old for our window (Bosh would work, but I don't like him at Max money, and we all know the Bron-Bron feelings). So I'm more excited about Amundson than Amare.

But those are minor quibles.

The way I see it it's not a matter of 'if we rebuild' but 'when we rebuild'. Jamison's 34 next year. Haywood's 31. Miller and Butler turn 31 during the season. There's nothing to build on there. And if we're saying we need to rebuild after two years (the point at which Jamison says he's going to retire), we're set back a fair bit if we sign Miller and Haywood to long deals. About the best thing that could be done as far as staying competitive is working in some kind of lateral moves where we get a little bit younger (Devin Harris, Iggy, etc.)

All told though, I'm not really convinced by those plans and see 'continuity' as being sort of like a credit card move where we get something now and pay later. In this case, 'something' is 42 wins. We're at a crossroads here where we're in a unique position to reshuffle at this exact point in time. If we move forward with these guys, we're doing it while locked in with new contracts on Miller and Haywood which really works against our flexibility. We'll never have such a clear path as we do now.

I'm not even hoping at this point that we land a 'satr', more just a volume of rotation guys on a rookie deals who we pick up with draft picks acquired for the vets. Of course I'd take a star if one's there

[miller31time]

and I doubt I'd even sign first tier free agent if I could simply because most of those guys are too old for our window (Bosh would work, but I don't like him at Max money, and we all know the Bron-Bron feelings). So I'm more excited about Amundson than Amare.

Agreed about Bosh, Amare and the like. When I said 1st tier, I meant LeBron or Wade. If we have the opportunity to sign them, sign them....quickly.