Wizards Offseason: Do-or-Die Decisions for Washington

The Washington Wizards franchise is at another crossroads this offseason.

Back in the summer of 2005, the Wiz faced critical decisions regarding free agent guard Larry Hughes and suspended power forward Kwame Brown. 

That fateful summer, President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld made the right calls by letting Hughes walk away with big money from the Cleveland Cavaliers and unloading Brown onto the Los Angeles Lakers for small forward Caron Butler.  Neither were slam-dunk decisions at the time.

Hughes was coming off a career season, in which he averaged 22.0 points per game and led the NBA with 2.9 steals per contest.  In addition, he stuffed the stat sheet with 6.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.

Seemingly, Hughes was the perfect backcourt complement to All-Star running mate Gilbert Arenas.  Both were combo guards with point guard skills who could take turns running the offense or looking for their own shot.  They also swarmed on defense—taking risks, harassing opponents, and creating uncontested layups off turnovers.

But Hughes was commanding a max contract and he was injury prone.  Also, Arenas was evolving into one of the best players in the league, and was soon to command his own long-term maximum deal.

Should the Wiz commit the franchise’s fortunes on two little men?

Would the combination of Hughes and Arenas lead Washington to the promised land?

I didn’t think it was wise to break the bank on two guards, but I didn’t want to see Hughes go.  Seemingly he was on the cusp of greatness and I didn’t want to see another former Wizard/Bullet become a cornerstone star for a different franchise—like Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Chris Webber, or Ben Wallace.

But the dollars were too rich, and Grunfeld wisely put his checkbook away.

The end result? Hughes was a bust in Cleveland and they moved him to Chicago to try to repair the mistake.  In fairness to Hughes, his 20-year-old brother Justin succumbed to heart illness in May 2006, and I believe Hughes hasn’t recovered from that personal loss.

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