GILBERT ARENAS couldn't have been any better in the playoffs last spring. A perennial All-Star and one of the league's most innovative ball handlers, Arenas played some of the best basketball of his career at a time when his team needed him most. He went shot-for-shot with NBA poster child LeBron James, carrying his team deep into an extremely entertaining series.
In the end, Arenas' efforts weren't enough. Despite his averaging 47 minutes and 34 points a contest, the Wizards dropped their first-round series to the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games.
Still only 24 and entering his sixth NBA season, Arenas is ready for his team to take that next step from good to great that he himself took last season. The return of the majority of his supporting cast should go a long way toward helping Washington to get off to a quick start.
A year ago, the Wizards, who had made a plethora of offseason acquisitions, struggled to find an identity. It wasn't until late in the season that the team finally played to its potential. By retaining the bulk of their roster this offseason, the Wizards are hoping that cohesion and unity are the least of their worries this time around.
That said, it isn't as if Washington was a non-factor this summer. Rather, they didn't make the kind of addition capable of shaking up a locker room.
The two free-agent signees the Wizards added--swingman DeShawn Stevenson and forward Darius Songaila--will both play pivotal roles in shaping Washington's season. Both players were acquired in an effort to bolster a defense that finished in the NBA's bottom third in just about every major category.
Neither averaged in the double digits in points last season, nor are they expected to do so this year. They don't need to. The Wizards have Arenas and returning starting forwards Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler to compile points. What this team craved was defense. Washington was ravenous for a couple of hardworking defenders, which is exactly what they obtained.
Don't look just yet, but the Wizards could be on the verge of doing something this season that sports teams in this market know very little about. Washington-based teams and measurable success don't like each other. They seem to hide from each other. The Wizards may well be on the verge of changing all that, as they'll look to make their third-straight playoff appearance at season's end.
Anything less than another playoff birth this season will be viewed as an irrefutable setback. As well as Arenas and the Wizards played late last season, you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody who didn't expect at least a follow-up of the success they enjoyed last year.
Washington's journey begins Wednesday where it ended last year: in Cleveland, against Lebron James and the Cavaliers, and on national television.
GRANT PAULSEN is an 18-year-old sportswriter who grew up in King George County and now attends George Mason University. He hosts a talk show each Saturday on XM radio. He can be reached at The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia Street, Fredericksburg, Va. 22401,