Washington Wizards: Traveling without Moving

Remember Jamiroquai? The English funk band that really hit it big in the U.S. with that crazy video?

"Traveling Without Moving" was the name of that album that spawned the imagery in that video, but who would’ve thought that it would also inspire the Washington Wizards’ approach to improving the 2009-10 roster?

The Wizards are watching the Eastern Conference teams retool for an epic battle for conference supremacy: Rasheed Wallace to the Celtics, Shaquille O’Neal to the Cavaliers, and even Vince Carter to the Magic are all significant moves that could change the balance of the Eastern Conference.

What have the Wizards done? Passed "Go" for $2.5 million and set their sights on Rasho Nesterovic?

This is not going to end well.

Even if Epic Vale (JaVale McGee) grows exponentially in his offensive game and if Nick Young becomes Latrell Sprewell 2.0 under Flip Saunders, there won’t be enough experience in the lineup to match the old guard of the Celtics, the emerging talent of the Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls, or the usual suspects in Orlando and Cleveland.

Maybe the Wizards are playing this to make the seventh or eighth seed in the playoffs and see what happens in the next two years or so. We know they had many injuries last season, but at full throttle, they were only the fourth or fifth best team in the conference under tenured coach Eddie Jordan.

New system + old players = ?

Washington is used to question marks, but that doesn’t make them any better to deal with. If Ernie Grunfeld believes that the Wizards are competitive enough to contend deep into the playoffs with the roster as built and the addition of some underachieving, past-his-prime big, he’s virtually insane.