<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">With the issue of Eddie Jordan's future resolved, Ernie Grunfeld is left with the issue of a roster that could use a significant addition. Or so that is the conventional wisdom. Yet neither Grunfeld nor Jordan subscribe to that notion. They like where the Wizards are. They like the team's relative youth. They like its upside. They believe the Big Three of Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison does not have to defer to any of the top trios in the NBA. They see a team that was on a 50-win pace with Butler in the starting lineup last season. They see a marked change in the NBA that rewards up-and-down teams like theirs. They see an Eastern Conference in which the two leading teams, the Heat and Pistons, are expected to slide. They also see the postseason success of the Mavericks and Suns as a potential model. The Mavericks and Suns did not so much stop teams defensively as they outscored them last season. That, of course, is the mind-set of the Wizards. They just do not execute that philosophy as well as the Mavericks and Suns, in part because they lack the overall playoff experience of the Mavericks and the Suns. Not too many seasons ago, the Mavericks were the forerunners to the Wizards. They had the Big Three of Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Michael Finley and a big hole in their interior. Their postseason adventures were mostly stuffed with frustration, which is what prompted Mark Cuban not to re-sign Nash two summers ago. We know how it has worked out for the various parties. Nowitzki became a more complete player in Nash's absence, and Nash became the two-time MVP of the NBA in Phoenix, which is to say it has worked out exceedingly well for everyone. </div> Source
I'd still prefer to ship of Jamison for someone, I just don't think this team will get past the 1st/2nd rounds with what they've got right now. Their future lies in Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, and Andray Blatche...not Antawn Jamison.
