Bullets Fever: Wiz Links

Shanah Tovah to everyone celebrating Rosh HaShana, the Jewish new year! I probably shouldn't be on the computer posting, considering this and being ill, but I'm here anyway for some Wiz links.

-The Washington Post reported Friday that first-round pick Oleksiy Pecherov is likely to be left overseas to play for his Ukranian team.

"The Washington Wizards have less than two weeks before they open training camp in Richmond, and while they have yet to make an official decision regarding first-round pick Oleksiy Pecherov , it is becoming more likely that the 7-footer will remain overseas for the upcoming season.

Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld said yesterday that the team is "debating the best thing to do" in regards to Pecherov, who averaged 12.6 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting 46.2 percent in five games with the Wizards' summer league team in Las Vegas in July."

I think the move makes a lot of sense. With Darius Songalia and Andray Blache expected to be the primary backups to Antwan Jamison, there's no need for Pecherov to be brought over only to rot on the bench. Give him another year of seasoning and bring him back next year. With Jamison being a free agent at the end of the season, Pecherov may be an extremely important part of the Wizards plans next year.

-ESPN's Marc Stein rated the Wizards as having the 9th best offseason in the Eastern Conference.

"On the surface, it looks as though the Wiz absorbed a significant free-agent defection for the second successive offseason.
On this scorecard, they've responded to Jared Jeffries' exit smartly, reminiscent of their counter to Hughes' big-money move to Cleveland. The Wiz decided they were better off replacing Hughes with two more affordable players (Caron Butler and Antonio Daniels) and have swung a similar two-for-one by using some of the money earmarked for Jeffries to bring in forward Darius Songaila (a good fit for Eddie Jordan's offense) and swingman DeShawn Stevenson.
They also extended Jordan's contract and, in perhaps the biggest development, should benefit from a Team USA snub that figures to have Gilbert Arenas starting the season at his chip-on-the-shoulder best. The Wiz still have to get bigger up front and drastically improve their defense -- chores that likely will require some creative (and lucky) trading -- but I see a better team than the one that lost three playoff games to the Cavs at the buzzer."

Considering all the praise that Stein gives the Wizards, 9th is an odd ranking to me, but then again, this is the same guy who said Miami had the best offseason despite not adding a single player.

-Kelly Dwyer of CNNSI puts the pressure on Gilbert Arenas for this upcoming season.

In spite of his recent pronouncements, we still think Gilbert has his head in the right place. He should have been on Team USA's latest incarnation, and while he could have handled his dismissal a little better, he also could have brought home the gold medal. Either way, with Washington having made precious few moves outside of adding Darius Songaila (a great find, especially for its Princeton offense) and DeShawn Stevenson, Arenas will find the onus on himself to lead his team closer to 50 wins.

Finally, this is very old news, but it appears that former Bullets super (evil) fan Robin Ficker is running as an independent for the county executive. In the old US Air Arena, Ficker used to sit behind the opposing team's bench and spend the entire game berating and insulting them. Apparently, he is a very active anti-tax advocate and now apparantly wants to get his views out to the public in politics.

By the way, in case anyone was wondering, this is where the blog gets its name.