Something Has to Give

For those who don't know me, I'm a really optimistic guy. But that optimism has been taking too many hits lately. First with the Skins, who I thought were playoff bound, then with the Caps, who seem to be a different team every day, and now with the Wizards.

At the beginning of the season, I did a scan of the entire Eastern Conference. When I looked at each team's roster and past seasons, I honestly could not find eight teams that I thought would be better than the Wizards. There was very little doubt in my mind that we would finish the season with a better record than at least Philadelphia, Indiana, New Jersey, Toronto, Detroit, Charlotte, and Cleveland.

Well...Whoops.

With Philly and Indiana having 9-3 records and our only win being against a Toronto team with a better record than us, I'm starting to regret all the trash talking I did in my circle of friends. But thus is the life of a DC sports fan. Picking up Rashard Lewis, Roger Mason and Ronni Turiaf was supposed to be the balance of age and experience that would make the Wizards successful. Instead, one is on a cold streak, one is out for another couple weeks and the other can't even get on the active roster sheet on occasion.



For some reason, though, I'm still optimistic.

During last night's game versus the 76ers, it was mentioned that Philadelphia started off last season 3-13. They turned that season right around after that and ended up being a 7th seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. I don't think that Philly has a better roster than us. The difference between the two teams is young mistakes. The Wizards still, in my optimistic mind (thanks to Phil and Steve), have a shot to prove my claim at the beginning of the season right.

I watched both of the 76ers games with two different people. One was a novice basketball fan who only watches for his fantasy team or when he sees a team he can jump on a bandwagon for. The other comes from another country and had no interest in the game but watched it only because I wanted to.

They both separately told me the same exact same thing. They both said that the Wizards looked like they had just met each other and that this was a pick-up game.

I thought about what they said and I have to agree. Blame it on the lockout or blame it on the injuries, but Flip Saunders has not found a rotation to give this team a good mix of experienced and rookie talent on the court.

I'm not jumping on the "Fire Flip" train yet, but if he doesn't get this roster figured out soon, it's going to be too late to turn our 1-11 record into an 8th seed playoff spot; and my optimism is not ready for another hit.