If this Wizards team gets back to full strength by the playoffs and theoritically keeps the 6th seed, which is likely, can they upset the Orlando Magic? Let's go over the facts. This team, after having Arenas/Butler (easily their two best players) out for very long periods of time, they stand at (29-30) after winning 4 of their last 5. Arenas has been cleared to practice and plans to be back before the end of the month while Butler will most likely return within 1-2 weeks. When Butler was healthy and Arenas was out, the Wizards stood at 24-19 including 2 big wins against both Dallas and Boston. They had a hold on the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference seeding but then Butler went out and it took us some time to adjust but now it seems as though we've found a groove. Guys like Roger Mason, Andray Blatche, Brendan Haywood, and Darius Songaila are having career years. This team has improved their defense tremendousely. The one thing this team has struggled to do however, is to put up points on a consistent basis. When Arenas/Butler return, they'll get a duo which at one point last season they were avereging 50 PPG together. Now I understand that Dwight Howard has become the premier big man in this league and is pretty much un-stopabble but let me remind you that Brendan Haywood is a very able defender and can at least slow down Howard like he did in their first meeting not to mention Andray Blatche. However, I'm not naiive I know that Howard will probably still get big numbers but I'm saying that he won't have a field day like many others believe simply because of how far this team has come on the defensive end. Now you look at Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis with their ability to score on the perimiter and Turkoglu's improved slashing ability. You can't honestly say that they'll proved more of a scoring punch than Arenas and Butler. The Wizards, because of these injuries, now have a depth that this team never came close to having before. Nearly everybody on this team can come off the bench and help this team win games. Dominic McGuire and Darius Songaila's hustle, Nick Young's ability to create his own jumper, Roger Mason, Oleksiy Pecherov, and DeShawn Stevenson's ability to hit open looks, Andray Blatche/Brendan Haywood in the post and our 3 All-Stars: Arenas, Butler, and Jamison. What do you guys think?
