Arenas and Wizards, Not a Return. Simply Improved

Flip says Arenas "is our Team Leader."  His new found seriousness and dedication are clearly recognizable through his lack of goof but more importantly, his insurgent gameplay.  In an fan anxious three games, Gilbert Arenas has returned to his cucumber cool game-high scoring and Arenas' style arena-changing attributes.  Gil ended Saturday night's 1st-quarter with a nylon soaked half court three pointer, sending all Wizard and NBA fans alike into many a flash-back of a healthy and competitive Agent Zero. Still, what should be considered impressive? Is it too early to gauge the new Gil verse his former healthy self. Gil's return has been ultimately proven already by the new aggressive and effective efforts of his young teammates, whether they be new acquisitions or the young friends he has kidded along with for some time new, on court and off.

If Gil is the Wizards inglorious leader, those young "SOB's" he plays alongside are clearly playing with a swagger and tempo only seen previously by Gil in all of DC sports, sans Alex the Great on Ice.  The tenacity of Blatche, Foye, and a better late then never to bloom Brendan Haywood are obvious indicators of the new Arenas Effect.

Blatche specifically adopting a work ethic similiar to Gil's, even changing his number to 7 in reference to his "7 days of hard work."  Blatche is firing off to a career start with a 20, 16, and 30 point effort in this early week and a half of play. Yes it is early, but what an obvious change in his confidence and abilities from anything he has ever displayed in his very young 4 year career.  Great news for Wiz fans, Andray Blatche's is only 23 years old.  His stature an astounding 6ft 11, AB has the height to dominate and is suddenly developing the moves to compete with such dominance as any Kevin Garnett of the future but much more presently, against names such as a Lamar Odom in the west or a Chris Bosh in the east.  Blatche's abilities have always required much maturation, but no one was expecting him to come out this year with such a hot shooting hand and high field goal percentage at .718%.

Foye and Miller are two acquisitions gained by arguably the greatest teammate the Wizards can boast at this point, President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld. Randy Foye in three games is averaging 32 minutes per game due to Caron Butler and Antawn Jameson's injuries.  In 30 minutes against Dallas, Foye scored 19 as the Wizards cruised to a win in the season opener.  Game number 3 against New Jersey, Foye put up another 17 as the Wizards won their 2nd.  It was against Atlanta the night before where Foye stood cold, shooting 3-12 and only accounting for 9 points as the Wiz lost by 11.

 Foye's hand may be one of the x-factors that boost the Wizards output, give or take 10 points night after night.  Randy's assists are another barometer for the Wizards success.  In their 11 point win against Dallas he had merely 1 assist but still 19 points to support his importance.  In the Wizards loss to Atlanta, Randy had an acceptable 6 assists alongside his mere 9 points attributing to their loss by 11. Proving his worth, Randy's 8 assists and 17 points against New Jersey simply states that his abilities can equate to an 123 point effort by the Wiz.  Most importantly, with Gilbert and Foye together in the backcourt, Arenas has the ability to truly take only the shots he wants to take- proven in the win against the Nets where Arenas shot an emphatic 9-13 for 32 points in only three quarters of play.

At center, standing 7-0 and 263 pounds, the Wizard 29 year old veteran Brendan Haywood is healthy once again. His 8 years of experience and UNC college play combined with his size have equated to much disappointment as the Wizard's big man. His 7.5 ppg and 5.9 in rpg for his career are not nearly enough to push the Wizards into the dreamland all Washington fans wish to achieve. It has not been any specific night of the first three where he has shown significant change but most impressively all three.  He has dunked with authority, boxed out with proven consistency, and stayed strong in the paint, providing his team with the energy and dominance that only a contagious blue collar work ethic can provide.  His attitude, vigor, and co-leadership is the compliment to Arenas' swagger that the Wizards will require in their quest against the present NBA power-houses such as Orlando and Boston in the East, and of course Washington's rival Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Arenas effect is alive and running, thanks to many offseason factors such as epic trainer Tim Grover in Chicago, credited with the return of the Flash, Dwyane Wade.  Arenas' ferocious drives to the hole, consistent free-throw shooting, dazzling no-look/bounce-pass assists, even more consistent three-point shooting, and defensive intelligence have reminded the league of his former self.  More importantly, his attitude, leadership and new tutelage from Flip Saunders have bled into excellence from this young team around him. Arenas is enabling his abilities to grow into phenomena once again. His effect is a desire becoming truth in DC sports itself, respiring much needed sport-life air back into DC fans of the beltway and beyond.