

The Wizards are coming off a terrible season and have just 60/1 NBA odds to win a championship this year. But with top rookie John Wall in the fold, there’s hope for a better tomorrow. This is your Washington Wizards 2010-11 preview.
It wasn’t long ago that Washington was handing out huge contracts to Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, and Caron Butler, with the hopes of putting together a long-term contender. That effort imploded faster than a reality TV star’s career, and now the Wizards might as well be starting over.
Starting over is much easier to swallow, however, when you have the first-overall pick in the draft to spend on Wall. The guard was nothing short of brilliant in one year of college basketball with Kentucky and, while he’ll need some seasoning, he could turn around this sorry franchise’s fortunes.
That process will likely be slowed by Arenas. His Agent Zero nickname has been sadly appropriate over the past three years, as he’s put pretty much nothing into the Wizards; Arenas has played just 47 games in that span.
He’s still owed $80 million and, for the moment, his nickname should be changed to Agent Albatross. The best-case scenario for the Wizards is Arenas shows up healthy, plays some basketball, and is dumped on some sucker from Memphis or Minnesota.
There are reasons for excitement besides Wall. Al Thornton played just 24 games for the Wizards last year, but the fifth-year forward is not without potential; he averaged 16.8 points per game in his second season with the Clippers and is a former first-round pick.
Washington also acquired Yi Jianlian. Yi has mostly been a bust three years into his career, but he showed signs of life with the awful Nets last year, setting career highs with 12.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
The Wizards aren’t expecting anything extraordinary this season — just some promising play from Wall and the other youngsters and a steady improvement in the win-loss column. If they can ship Arenas and his dead contract out, the season can be considered a big success.
The Wizards also hired new GM, Marcus Smith.

Gilbert Arenas 9 G 1.6.82 215 6-4 Arizona
Hilton Armstrong 24 C 11.11.84 235 6-11 Connecticut
Andray Blatche 7 C 8.22.86 248 6-11 None
Trevor Booker 35 F 11.25.87 240 6-7 Clemson
Mardy Collins 50 G 8.4.84 220 6-6 Temple
Kirk Hinrich 12 G 1.2.81 190 6-3 Kansas
Josh Howard 5 F 4.28.80 210 6-7 Wake Forest
Lester Hudson 3 G 8.7.84 190 6-3 Tennessee-Martin
Yi Jianlian 31 F 10.27.87 250 7-0 None
Sean Marks 4 C 8.23.75 250 6-10 California
Cartier Martin 20 F 11.20.84 220 6-7 Kansas State
JaVale McGee 34 C 1.19.88 252 7-0 Nevada
Adam Morrison 6 F 7.19.84 205 6-8 Gonzaga
Hamady Ndiaye 55 C 1.1.00 235 7-0 Rutgers
Kevin Palmer 15 G 6.21.87 205 6-6 TX AM Corpus Christi
Kevin Seraphin 13 F 12.7.89 264 6-9 None
Al Thornton 14 F 12.7.83 220 6-8 Florida State
John Wall 2 G 9.6.90 195 6-4 Kentucky
Nick Young 1 G 6.1.85 200 6-6 U-S-C