<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Washington Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed Mike Hall, James Lang, Roger Mason Jr. and Kevinn Pinkney. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. "These are versatile and hard-working players who will help make our training camp very competitive," said Grunfeld.</div> Link
Roger Mason is an awesome player. I hope he makes the roster so he'll be in NBA Live and I can edit his ratings and make him a god.
[<div align="center"><u>Washington Wizards 2006-2007 Season Preview</u> <u>The 05-06 Recap</u></div> The Washington Wizards had a rough start of the season with the injury of Jarvis Hayes, lack of chemistry new additions, and lack of defense. They came off finishing strong in the season with Antonio Daniels coming off the bench strong with 15 points per game since the all-star break, Antawn Jamison shooting for 20 points a game with 9 rebounds per game, Caron Butler with career high 17 points, and Arenas leading the team with nearly 30 points per game, which led to a team record of 42-40 by the end of the season.[imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/wizards/arenas_200_031024.jpg[/imgl] Unfortunately though in the postseason, the Wizards were stopped short by the Cleveland Cavaliers led by LeBron James with questionable official ruling on the floor, not capitalizing near the end of the games, and perhaps lack of experience. They left game game 6 with a heart-breaker in overtime where Gilbert Arenas missed 2 critical free throws and Flip Murray hitting a daggering three pointer, which ended their season, and left the Wizards disappointed, but more hope for the Wizards in the 06-07 season. <div align="center">2006 Off-season Outlook</div> After the comments made by Gilbert Arenas stating for Ernie Grunfeld to ensemble a championship-caliber team, the general manager went out and made some decent off-season moves. Going out the draft, the Wizards selected 19th overall Oleksiy Pecherov and 2nd round draft pick Vladimir Veremeenko. Heading into the free-agency period, teams had interest in restricted free agent Jared Jeffries. Isiah Thomas of the Knicks made a big offer for him which made him sign and pleaded the Wizards not to match the offer, which they didn’t after they went signing DeShawn Stevenson to a minimum deal in replacement of him. Ernie Grunfeld has also surprised us with the signing of Darius Songaila who can be a presence down-low on offense and is already familiar with the Princeton offense back in Sacramento, so our eyes are focused, if he can benefit for this team. <div align="center"><u>Players Lost</u></div> <u>Jared Jeffries via Free Agency</u>: 6.4 points per game, 4.9 rebounds per game, and 1.9 assists per game Total Loss: 6.4 points per game, 4.9 rebounds per game, and 1.9 assists per game <div align="center"><u>Players Gained</u></div> <u>Darius Songaila via Free Agency</u>: 9.2 points per game, 4.0 rebounds per game, and 1.2 assists per game <u>DeShawn Stevenson via Free Agency</u>: 11.0 points per game, 2.9 rebounds per game, and 2.0 assists per game <u>Oleksiy Pecherov via NBA Draft</u> <u>Vladimir Veremeenko via NBA Draft</u> Total Gain: 20.2 points per game, 6.9 rebounds per game, and 3.2 assists per game With Ernie Grunfeld showing how ruthless he is when it comes to losing players, he went out to retaliate and it looks like it’s going to benefit for the Wizards, so let’s see how the final roster looks. Breakdown Of Starting Lineup [IMGL]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/gilbert_arenas.jpg[/IMGL]G Gilbert Arenas 6’4”, 215 lbs 2005-2006 Stats: 29.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 6.1 apg, 42.3 mpg There’s no doubt you can see Gilbert’s desire to win an NBA Championship, which he’s gunning for one by the next couple of years and if Ernie Grunfeld does not do a lot to improve the roster, Gilbert may be gone by off season 2008. Gilbert Arenas has shown from since his rookie year that he’s a great leader, explosive, a great shooter, a playmaker, and very passionate. He’s leapfrogged in his second year with the Wizards playing 25 more games and scoring 6 more points and again last year scoring 29 points with 44% shooting. The last two years, the Wizards were sent home from the playoffs because their lack of containing key players, such as LeBron James and Dwayne Wade and there has been roster moves from here and there and with the new additions. He’s also quite attracted the media over the summer claiming that he got a foul call during the FIBA Championships. He’s going to have a lot more on his back this season and now it’s time for the two-straight year 3rd All-NBA teamer Gilbert Arenas to prove them wrong. [IMGL] http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/deshawn_stevenson.jpg[/IMGL]DeShawn Stevenson 6’5”, 210 lbs 2005-2006 Stats: 11.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.0 apg, 32.3 mpg Deshawn Stevenson’s been brought to fill in the role of Jared Jeffries who’s job was to make a presence on the defensive end. Deshawn Stevenson has been known for his perimeter defense and the Wizards hope it will help the 36% the Wizards let from the perimeter last year. Last year, he’s been able to start all 82 games and score a solid 11 points to help the Orlando Magic, but he did have recent history with Orlando’s front office being frustrated by the lack of playing time in Winter of 2004 that he requested a trade out of Orlando. But recently this past off season, Deshawn opted out of the third and final year of his contract with Orlando and signed a two year minimum contract with the Washington Wizards looking to raise his stock values for a bigger contract in the future. For now, he’s looking to become a fan favorite in DC and help the Wizards get further into the playoffs. [IMGL] http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/caron_butler.jpg[/IMGL]Caron Butler 6’7”, 228 lbs 2005-2006 Stats: 17.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.5 apg, 36.1 mpg When Larry Hughes left Washington to join the Cavaliers, the Wizards knew they were missing a huge part of their lineup. Ernie Grunfeld went out and traded 1st pick overall bust Kwame Brown for Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins. For Caron Butler quickly made a presence and replaced Larry Hughes with career high stats 17 points and 6 rebounds in 36 minutes. He quickly became a crowd favorite and worked his way up to the starting lineup creating chemistry between him, Arenas and Jamison becoming the new “Big 3”. Caron soon earned the nickname “tough juice” for his aggressive and passionate play. He earned his nickname after playing against the Cavaliers last year in the playoffs averaging 18 points and 10 rebounds. With his strength and athleticism, he’s able to drive to the hole, post up and set for rebounds. Caron Butler is going to be entering his 5th NBA season and look to improve his career numbers, become an all-star, and help lead this team far into the playoffs this season.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting asdf:</div><div class="quote_post">Roger Mason is an awesome player. I hope he makes the roster so he'll be in NBA Live and I can edit his ratings and make him a god.</div> LOL that's a lil extreme. Roger Mason Jr. is a pretty good player but you don't need to boost his stats so he can shoot 3s and dunk on everybody.
