Draft, Trades, Free-Agency, Busy Summer For Washington Wizards

With the worst record in the Eastern Conference during the 08'-09' season, the Washington Wizards know they have to get better in order to compete with the best teams in the East next season.

Washington has plenty of options this summer, they have a good lottery pick and they have expiring contracts that are attractive to teams. Washington will go through three important steps this off-season. The Draft, Trades, Free-agency.

Draft: Washington, has had workouts with several draft prospects the last couple of weeks. Some of the players that have attended the workouts are, Stephen Curry, James Harden, Demar DeRozan, Jonny Flynn and Brandon Jennings. Harden was the most impressive player, as he showed great ball handling skills and tremendous explosiveness.

In recent mock drafts, Harden is picked going fiftth to Washington. However, Wizards general manager Ernie Grunfeld, is shopping this pick and if he gets an offer that he likes, he would package the pick in a heart beat.

Trades: Their is no secret that Grunfeld would love to package that fifth pick, also he would love to package a player with the pick. Players like Etan Thomas and Mike James have been rumored in most rumor trades, because they have expiring contracts . The most obvious trade rumor that is going around, is that the Wizards and the Dallas Mavericks are discussing a trade in which, Washington would get Jason Terry and one of Dallas expiring contracts may be Jerry Stackhouse.

Dallas gets back the fifth pick, Mike James, and Etan Thomas. Another crazy trade rumor that is going around, is that Washington and Phoenix are discussing a trade. In this trade, Wizards would acquire Amare Stoudemire, while Phoenix would get the fifth overall pick, Antwan Jamison, Andray Blatche and Nick Young. First of all, Phoenix will probably not make this deal, because they are probably not shopping Stoudemire as much as they are shopping Shaquille O' Neal. Unless Phoenix gets an offer that's going to make them better, they probably wont trade Stoudemire.

Free-agency: Washington will not acquire any big name free-agents this summer, because they already are over the salary cap. The only way they can acquire a good player is through a trade, however, acquiring Antonio McDyess won't cause them a lot of money. McDyess would be a good player to pick up in free-agency, because he played under Flip Saunders in Detroit and would be familiar with the offense.

Biggest Challenge: Health is the biggest concern for Washington, last season Gilbert Arenas missed most of the season, due to the same knee he has had three surgeries on. Brendan Haywood also missed most of the season due to torn ligaments in his right wrist in which he suffered during training camp. DeShawn Stevenson missed 50 games due to back surgery and Caron Butler missed 15 games last season due to multiple injuries. So, the biggest concern is health. If they are able to stay healthy they are a very dangerous team.

Players that probably won't be back:

1. Juan Dixon

2. Mike James

3. Etan Thomas

4.Oleksiy Pecherov

Conclusion: The last concern for Washington, is Arenas. Arenas has to be healthy in order for Washington to be a championship contender. He has to take on the challenge this year of playing defense and being a good leader. Who knows, may be Washington may go all the way next year. Only time will tell.