Nobody will be happier to find that the preseason end compared to the Washington Wizards; if it had gone on any longer, they’d have run out of bodies entirely.
With Martell Webster already on the shelf after his third back surgery in four seasons, the injuries just kept coming.
Bradley Beal fractured his wrist, Glen Rice Jr. rolled his ankle, Kris Humphries ripped open his arm on the rim (because when are those things sharp?) , requiring surgery. Even John Wall was restricted with knee tendinitis.
The Wizards’ oldest participant was able to live the display record unscathed. Paul Pierce, set to begin at small forward for the Wiz, provided some veteran perspective on the parade into the coach’s table, per Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post:”It has been tough. It has been hard. We haven’t had a complete squad the majority of the preseason. The important thing is understanding it’s a very long season. The key is to become healthy.”
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 believing 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 company with little success in yesteryear. In 33-1, the Wiz are not completely out of the tournament picture, but they are still a notch beneath the East’s elite.
Read more: sports-opinionated.com