Nobody will be happier to see that the preseason end compared to the Washington Wizards; if it had gone on any longer, they’d have run out of bodies completely.
Together with Martell Webster already on the shelf following his third back operation in four seasons, the injuries just kept coming.
Bradley Beal fractured his wrist, Glen Rice Jr. wrapped his ankle, Kris Humphries ripped open his arm onto the rim (since when are these items sharp?) , requiring surgery. Even John Wall was limited with knee tendinitis.
The Wizards’ oldest participant managed to survive the exhibition slate unscathed. Paul Pierce, set to begin at small forward for the Wiz, provided some veteran perspective on the parade to the coach’s table, per Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post:»It has been tough. It’s been hard. We have not had a full squad the majority of the preseason. The important thing is understanding it’s a very long season. The crucial thing is to become healthier.»
If the collective swelling recedes and the stitches hold, Washington can nevertheless make good on the lofty expectations it set last season. Forty-four wins got people thinking in D.C., and the Wizards face a world where anything less than a top-four seed will constitute a disappointment.
Demands like which are as sterile as they are daunting, especially for a franchise with little success in yesteryear. At 33-1, the Wiz are not totally out of the championship picture, but they are still a notch beneath the East’s elite.
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