The Washington Bullets are Back

I thought the Washington Bullets changed their name to the Washington Wizards over gun concerns? Well, with 30 games into a disappointing start of the 2009-10 season, the Bullets, I mean Wizards, have much bigger problems now then trying to get back on the winning track. It’s been reported that on Christmas Eve, three time All-Star Gilbert Arenas and 3^rd year point guard Javaris Crittenton pulled guns on each other in the locker room over…a gambling debt? The 111 million dollar point guard pulled a gun on Javaris first after Gilbert wouldn’t pay the younger point guard in a gambling bet.

When your making 111 million dollars (and not necessarily earning it), especially after sitting out a few seasons with injuries, shedding a few dollars to keep your integrity doesn’t seem like too big of a deal. Well, that’s the way it has been for these lowly Wizards. Before the season started, this team was on everyone’s radar to make some serious noise in the East. With All-Star point guard Gilbert Arenas finally returning healthy, he looked ready to lead these Wizards to a deep playoff run. In the preseason, the once very talkative comedian Arenas declined to speak to reporters, claiming this season he wanted to solely focus on basketball. He even shut down his infamous blog to avoid any distractions. It seems since this disappointing season has started, there has been nothing but distractions for the team.

Early in the season when the team began to struggle, there “captain” Gilbert Arenas called out teammates, specifically Caron Butler for their lackluster play and ironically followed it up with a 12-turnover game. Not many teams have been successful when players didn’t like each other (Kobe and Shaq don’t count cause even though they didn’t skip and hold hands, they always played hard and had incredible chemistry), but when players hate each other to the point were they start to point guns at each other, you know you have big problems. There have been talks of trades surrounding the Wizards and I’ve always had hope in this team. With their own personal big three of Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison, and a good supporting cast in Brendon Heywood, Mike Miller and young prospect Nick Young, I figured the team would eventually get it together and pull out a string of victories, especially in the forgiving Eastern Conference. With a disappointing record of 10-20, they are only two games behind the Charlotte Bobcats for the eighth and final playoff spot, but this situation doesn’t seem reversible. Javaris Crittenton’s agent has already refused to resign him and if Gilbert is a convicted felon, his large contract would be void.

It disappoints me to see such a capable team go out like this. With extremely talented offensive and defensive weapons and a proven winning coach, this team had seemed to have a recipe for success. Yet, once again, the Bullets, I mean the Wizards of course, are living up to their name, and if they don’t pull out a miracle act and get it together, they’ll be a magic act and completely disappear in this year’s playoffs.