I've enjoyed myself plenty of Michael Wilbon columns in the past. Sure, he plays his agendas (as I suppose it's the right of a nationally recognized columnist to do so), but he brings a commodity that resonates with MSM outlets and their target audiences alike.

However, with his ever increasing presence on the national scene, I can't help to feel that Wilbon tries to be outrageous, just to be outrageous. Then again, he is chums with Charles Barkley.....but Barkley has a sense of humor.

Wilbon's latest column, "For Wizards, It's a Pain to Look Ahead," was obligatory I suppose...you know, with the Wizards injury situation. Perhaps Washington Post executive editor, Marcus Brauchili, desired, posthaste, to get Wilbon's good name on an NBA piece before getting trumped by ESPN/ABC with the professional basketball season around the corner. Unfortunately, the result was a disappointing show and an unfortunate display of naiveté.

Wilbon leads with stories of an NBA "brimming with good news" and optimism. However, the first team he gushes over is the Houston Rockets and their attempts to tame Ron Artest. Sure, the Rockets made a great low-risk move in getting Artest from Sacramento for a rookie, Donte Green, and Bobby Jackson, a 35-year old who is an inch away from retirement and a starring role in a movie about Baltimore gangster, Little Melvin Williams (if you are a fan of The Wire, you'll know Williams served as inspiration for the show, along with playing 'The Deacon' - Williams and Bobby Jack are dead look alikes).

Stories out of Rockets camp read much like the high the Wizards were feeling upon leaving Richmond....great camp, excited to match-up against someone other than teammates. But if you're telling me that "optimism" in Houston is anything more than extremely guarded, you've got to be kidding yourself.

The team's two stars, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, have missed a combined 148 games over the past three seasons. In fact, T-Mac had knee surgery in May and has already announced that he's got an arthritic shoulder which will require surgery after this season. Rockets fans may be excited about their prospects, but if they're not walking on egg shells regarding that key issue of health, just as Wizards fans were after this latest setback with Arenas, then I'm at a loss.

But here is where Wilbon is borderline insulting....at least to the common knowledge of Wizards fans:

Haywood has his share of haters, people who'll undoubtedly use what he doesn't do (dominate the game) to argue that he won't be sorely missed, and that his absence will free up time for the rookie first-round draft pick, JaVale McGee.

That would be a silly position to take. McGee, who played only two years of college basketball, isn't ready for the NBA's big-man mayhem.

It's a misnomer to even write that first paragraph. Yes, I have been a Haywood Hater in the past. But last season more than quelled those feelings for me...and I considered myself to be amongst the far reaches of Haywood haterdom. I suppose it's plausible that Haywood would still have detractors who are relishing in his absence.....but even if such a person does exist, they are beyond "silly" and more likely not literate enough to read the words of a blog-hating scribe in the first place. And who in their right mind would expect Haywood to "dominate" a game with three other All-Stars on the team?

That's fine if Wilbon wanted to tell us that McGee isn't ready, and then a couple paragraphs later, say that the Wizards will do nothing without their youth catching fire. But using what is now a pointless debate about Haywood is a fallacious means to his end.

Look, I understand the point Wilbon is making. When healthy, the Wizards may compete in the east, but when not, the chances are slim. Not exactly ground-breaking material. Maybe I'm overreacting, but I don't think it's beyond reason to expect better from a national media figure. I'm not saying I won't continue to sporadically enjoy PTI, or that a greatly penned column is out of question for Wilbon in the future. I'm just saying that when it comes to sports inside the Beltway, if Wilbon were to look behind him right now, he might see a shark swimming below.

Sorry this is late.....I realize the game has started (now about 6:00 left in 2nd) and is not on TV.

You can listen online via WashingtonWizardsBlog.com.

Wizards now up 31-27.....JaVale McGee has 9 points on 3-5 shooting and Dee Brown is being described as a game changer.

Talk it up.

WARNING: The preseason game blog below elicited immediate postings last night/this morning from all three contributors to this blog. Enjoy!

• I hate being a fan of this team sometimes [Pradamaster, 1:13 am]
• That's one way to start your preseason off with a bang [Jake The Snake, 11:18 pm]
• Latest on Brendan Haywood from Comcast's Chris Miller [Truth, 11:16 pm] (oh yea, and this one at TAI - What 'Being In Good Spirits' Means For A Washington Wizards Fan)

1st Quarter

Well, disappointing news to start....both Nick Young and Juan Dixon will be out tonight.

With Brendan Haywood out as well, Etan Thomas gets the start and not Andray Blatche. Good. AB needs to stay used to bringing his energy off the bench.

11:37: To start, DeShawn Stevenson loses his man (Antoine Wright) off a curl, Jamison must help and the pass goes right to AJ's man, Dirk Nowitzki, for the baseline jumper.

11:08: Hmmm... the offense starts with an iso for Stevenson, not a lot of movement and Antonio Daniels has to force up a long J, no rim, shot clock violation.

DeShawn loses Wright again, who drives, opens the lane for a pass to Erick Dampier, and a dunk. 4-0 Mavs. I'm not going to lie though, I do like the look of Stevenson's ol' school flat top.

The Wiz look a step behind on D so far...whether it's closing out, fighting through screens, etc....Etan Thomas makes a nice move on Dampier. 6-4 Mavs. The Wiz are aggressively playing the passing lanes.

8:41: Ohh...on a broken play, Butler makes a great back door cut on the baseline, gets the ball from DeShawn (who had picked up his dribble), and dunks on Dampier. They'll cite the Princeton, and that's true...Princeton cuts allow you to recover from broken plays.

The Wizards are not crisp so far....but that's okay. It's is the preseason.

7:42: Dirk makes Antawn Jamison look silly...uh oh...somehow, AJ gets caught in a bad position on the close out....gets frozen by the shooter and Dirk just goes right by Jamison for the baseline dunk. The initial replay doesn't show contact, such as a banged knee. AJ is rolling around on the floor...this doesn't look good at all. Going back to the close out...it just didn't seem right, Jamison was almost standing straight up with his hands at his side...giving Dirk the baseline......And now Jamison is being carried to the locker room. The second replay shows his right knee buckling as he planted, then tried to recover (albeit waaay too late) for Dirk's drive.

Weird....before that happened, I was just about to wonder..."If AJ shows that he's lost a significant step and Andray Blatche shows out in a major way, does AJ come off the bench like he did in Dallas that one year?".....then that happened. I gotta let out a huge sigh.....with a strong dose of here we go again.

Back in the action: Blatche, Songaila, Daniels, Butler, and Stevenson in the game.

6:15: Dallas goes up 14-11...no one accounts for Howard coming straight down the middle on the break after a long Blatche miss.

The Mavs don't exactly look in sync either....but again, to be expected from all angles in the first game for both teams.

4:55: Blatche tries to do a spin fade away over Dampier....and gets blocked.....bad shot.

3:24: Nice strong move by Blatche...give and go with DeShawn....AB used his length to get to the hoop for the scoop. 20-17 Mavs.

2:36: Dee Brown enters for Daniels (or Stevenson)....looking for some pushing with him, McGuire, Blatche, Butler, and Pecherov.

And the Presidential debatin' begins.

2:02: Blatche showing his ambidexterity with a lefty scoop. The update on Jamison is a sprained right knee.....judging from how it looked, that's about the best the report could be....but sprained knees could mean a wide range of missed time. 22-21 Mavs.

0:51: Taser gets a foul call on Jason Terry....driving against the smaller guy to the hoop. Dominic nails both FTs. On the other end, D-Mac is having to keep up with Terry on D....Brown is on Jose Barea.

0:22: Playing the two spot, D-Mac drives again, gets bothered and blocked on reverse, but Pecherov picks up the slack, gets a board, fouled and FTs. 25-25 tie.

0:02: Pech nails a three off a high screen and roll with Dee Brown at top of the key....Pech's face looks serious...and the Wiz take the lead, 28-27, after one. Blatche leads with 9 points, Butler second with 8.

Continue reading this post »

About 15 minutes ago, Comcast's Chris Miller reported that he just got off the phone with Brendan Haywood. He said that BTH seemed in good spirits, and is still set to see a hand/wrist specialist in New York tomorrow, but at this point, if surgery is the consensus, then he will go ahead and get it right away. Haywood would rather not wait, deal with it later, possibly going into the summer and into next season, which is a contract year for him.

Miller seems to be under the impression that right now, Haywood is intent that surgery will be necessary and that his time out would fall under the latter part of the four to six month diagnosis, and thus, BTH would most likely miss the entire 2008-2009 season. Miller also reports that Ernie Grunfeld is cautious, as would be expected, and won't really comment until that second opinion is in.

Basically, we should expect the worst. I'm trying to remain positive...and hopefully Jamison will be okay with his sprained or strained knee. But the theme seems to be (once again, the impression I got from Miller's reporting) that since Gilbert is already out, ultimate hopes of being a title contender are unattainable. No one is using that "mail it in" phrase...far from it....but let's be honest, the thought has crossed everyone's mind in some way or form.

Again, with both Haywood and Jamison, I'll stress that as of 11:17 pm, it's a "wait and see" situation. But then again, we're Bullets fans, we've been waiting and seeing and keeping our fingers crossed for as long as I care to remember.

Ok, so the season hasn't even started and I'm already defending Eddie Jordan like we were kin.

But after reading the latest Wizards Insider post....sizing up the "Other Side" Dallas Mavericks, I can't help but thinking that Avery Johnson would be wrong for the Washington Wizards....partly because of the lil' Dictatorship environment (the fastest way to lose players), but mostly because of Johnson's purported stringency on offense.

Now, I'm not going to name the names of those who have stated that they would rather have the Lil' General instead of Eddie Jordan.....and I'm not even saying that the names I'm not naming are wrong.

Rather, I'm just thinking that what was good for the goose (or geese) in Dallas may not be good for the ganders in DC (and yes, I'm calling those in Dallas females....suck it Cowboys fans).