It’s hard to take a headline like that seriously when you remember the Wizards’ laughable season last year. They won just 19 games last season, and finished the NBA betting season 31-48-3 ATS. Granted, they were without Gilbert Arenas for nearly the entire season, and were mired in coaching troubles and other injuries. Now that Flip Saunders has arrived to turn this team around, they might be able to turn the corner, are you willing to take the ride?

The only starter on the team that managed to play more than 75 games last season was Antawn Jamison, who led the team in scoring with 22.2 points and rebounding with 8.9 per game. Those are the numbers you expect out of the all-round sensation, but he had little help. Arenas appeared in two games and Caron Butler managed just 67 games, averaging 20.8 points per. Brandon Haywood, the frontcourt anchor under the rim, played in just 6 contests. Those aren’t the numbers you expect, or desire, when your roster is costing you over $70 million.

Yet 2009 is a new NBA season, and with it comes a new coach and a renewed sense of vigor for the Wizards. Washington has been in the playoffs for 4 of the past 5 seasons, losing in the first round to Cleveland in three of those playoffs. They’re a contender, at least in the shoddy Eastern Conference. And with Gilbert Arenas on board, anything can happen. Of course, with Arenas, the umbrella term “anything” also includes the dreaded term “season ending surgery”.


But reports out of Washington around Arenas are positive. Flip Saunders says that he is moving with burst and purpose, and stands to regain the form he held between 2005-2007 where he averaged 28.9 points per game. Injuries slowed him down over the past two years, despite his signing of a massive contract that pays him over $96 million through 2014. Arenas has to start putting his money where his mouth is, especially since the Wizards have virtually built this entire team around him.

Caron “Tough Juice” Butler, may have the worst nickname in all of basketball, but he’s certainly worth the price of admission. He’s averaged over 20-points in his last two seasons, but missed 53 total games in those seasons as well. It’s hard to continually justify paying Butler $10 million each of his next two seasons. With Butler and Arenas in the fold, the Wizards are a deadly team.

Adding Randy Foye, one of the more under-celebrated role-players in the league to a team full of dynamic scorers like Jamison, Butler and Arenas, makes the Wizards a very interesting play. They were tooled mainly in the post without Brandon Haywood, who is also going to be back in action this season.

When you’re betting on basketball, it’s all about fun on the underdogs in the NBA futures, which is why the Wizards can be virtually the most appealing low-buy on the market. They’re at +8000, sharing the same oddsmaker-given fate as teams like the Raptors, Nets and Sixers. Now, if you were going to ask me which of those four teams has a better chance at net return, it’s the Wizards undoubtedly…but only if they’re 100% healthy.

Most teams are gearing up for new seasons with new players. The only difference in Washington is that everyone is finally healthy, and Flip Saunders is on board. This could be the very same Wizards team which had everyone and their grandmother hitting the OVER in the regular season, or it could be the same franchise that has been ruined by injuries for the past two seasons. If there’s any diamond in the rough, however, it’s in our nation’s capital.


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