Nobody will be happier to find the preseason end than the Washington Wizards; if it had gone on any longer, they’d have run out of healthy bodies completely.
Together with Martell Webster on the shelf following his third back surgery in four seasons, the harms just kept coming.
Bradley Beal fractured his wrist, Glen Rice Jr. rolled his ankle, Kris Humphries ripped open his arm onto the rim (because when are those items sharp?) , requiring surgery. John Wall was limited with knee tendinitis.
Somehow, the Wizards’ oldest participant was able to survive the display slate unscathed. Paul Pierce, set to begin at small forward for the Wiz, offered some veteran perspective on the parade to the coach’s table, per Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post:”It’s been tough. It has been hard. We have not had a complete squad the majority of the preseason. The key is understanding it’s a very long season. The crucial thing is to become healthier.”
If the collective swelling recedes and all the stitches hold, Washington can nevertheless make good on the lofty expectations it set last season. Forty-four wins got people believing in D.C., and the Wizards face a world where anything less than a top-four seed will constitute a disappointment.
Demands like that are as refreshing as they are daunting, especially for a company with so little success in its recent past. In 33-1, the Wiz aren’t totally out of the tournament film, but they are still a notch below the East’s elite.
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