Nobody will be happier to find the preseason end compared to the Washington Wizards; when it had gone on any longer, they’d have run out of healthy bodies entirely.
With Martell Webster already on the shelf following his third back surgery 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 (because when are these items sharp?) , requiring surgery. John Wall was limited with knee tendinitis.
Somehow, the Wizards’ oldest player was able to survive the exhibition slate unscathed. Paul Pierce, set to begin at small forward for the Wiz, offered some veteran perspective on the parade to the trainer’s table, per Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post:”It has been tough. It has been challenging. We have not had a full squad the majority of the preseason. The key is understanding it is a long season. The key is to become healthier.”
If the collective swelling recedes and all the stitches hold, Washington can still make great on the lofty expectations it set last season. Forty-four wins got people believing in D.C., and now the Wizards confront a world in which 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 are not totally out of the championship film, but they’re still a notch beneath the East’s elite.
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