Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Wizards

First home Wizards game at Verizon Center is November 3. I'm looking forward to this year's season. I'll be attending some of the home games this year so hopefully I can provide a unique perspective from my vantage point at the games. My seats are right by the visiting player tunnel so I'll have some good media to post once the season starts. They used to allow fans to reach over the railing and give the players high fives but after the Pistons-Pacers fiasco you're lucky if security even allows you to shout at the players as they run by before and after the game and during halftime.

The 'Zards will be without center Etan Thomas who is out with a heart ailment. This means that Brendan Haywood is going to be handed the starting job which is not a good thing. I've always thought he could be a lot more productive for someone with his size, and not to mention a lot tougher/more intimidating presence down in the post. Thomas and Haywood never got along together on or off the court and I've felt that a little competition, and not even friendly competition at that helps. So losing Thomas means that Haywood is not going to have to look over his shoulder for playing time which is not going to help his motivation in my opinion. You also lose a tough defender and rebounder as well as an additional six fouls without Thomas on the floor. Another result of Thomas being out will be that Andray Blatche will find himself getting more playing time too although I still think his game isn't polished enough yet to make a decent impact for the team.

I'll also be interested in seeing how some of the new blood is going to help the team this year. As for any team maintaining healthy bodies on the floor, especially the big 3 Arenas, Butler, and Jamison is crucial to success. In the Wizards' case I think it is even more crucial because the team just isn't the same if even one of the three is out. It makes the other two try to overcompensate for the missing third. I remember watching a few games last season while Arenas was out and the Wizards were losing by 30-35 points and I thought to myself well that's where Gil's points would have filled in.

The first home game is always entertaining. The team tries to make the intros a little more unique than during the regular season. Last year they had a silhouette of D.C. in the back of the tunnel with a laser show. Gilbert came out last in a Wizard robe. The media staff usually does a good job of putting together a decent jumbo-tron video paired with upbeat music. Below was last year's video:

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