Lebron James Comes To Washington: The Fact and The Fantasy

The Washington Wizards are set to "welcome" LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Verizon Center for their second meeting of the season. The outcome will not be as one-sided as the first, as Antawn Jamison makes his season debut against the Cavs.

With LeBron coming to town now, and his impending free agency next summer, it is difficult to overlook the potential impact on the Wizards.

The Fact

James and the Cavaliers have had the Wizards' number in recent memory. In the playoffs, Cleveland with LeBron has won 12 of 16 against the Wizards. But in the regular season, the Cavs with LeBron are 11-11 against Washington.

Cleveland already owns a 12 point victory over Washington this season, but the score does little justice to how badly the Wizards played.

Good thing this isn't the playoffs.

In their first meeting of this season, the Wizards shot 39 percent from the field and 29 percent from beyond the arc. In comparison, the Cavaliers shot 41 percent from the field and 42 percent from beyond the arc.

The big difference in this next meeting is the Wizards get Jamison back and the Cavs may be without Shaquille O'Neal and Anderson Varejao. Even with Zydrunas Ilgauskas still playing, the size advantage lies with Washington this time.

There are very few things the Wizards need to do in order to win, but overlooking just one could spell disaster.

LeBron is going to get his no matter what. Caron Butler is a capable defender, but LeBron has so many weapons he can utilize it is nearly impossible to keep him from scoring, unless he has an off night.

What the Wizards can do is make sure he doesn't get his teammates involved. Don't let LeBron get any easy assists by overplaying him. It will mean playing straight man, but a zone is too dangerous with the slashing abilities of LeBron and Mo Williams.

In the absence of Shaq and Varejao, the Wizards need to own the boards.

Ilgauskas is still a good rebounder, but he is up in years and doesn't match up well with the youth and athleticism of the Wizards big men.

Lastly, don't get beat by role players. The Wizards allowed Chris Douglas-Roberts to score a career high and Rafer Alston to score 20 points in their game against the Nets. They let Tyler Hansbrough score 13 in his season debut.

Allowing role players to gain a level of comfort is a dangerous habit. Although, so is letting Dwayne Wade average 40.5 points per game doesn't help either.

With the Cavs short on big men and the Wizards returning some players, there is no reason why Washington can't pull out a win at home. Don't expect fireworks from Jamison, but his presence will do wonders for the chemistry on the floor.

The Fantasy

LeBron James is almost guaranteed to opt out of the final year of his contract and hit the free agent market after this season.

There are more than a few teams interested in bringing King James to their cities, but who could possibly benefit more than the Wizards?

Washington has cap problems and two giant contracts in Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison. But Ernie Grunfeld has shown in the past that he has no problem moving fan favorites or good players to bring in a big name or two.

With the Knicks, Grunfeld shipped out Charles Oakley and John Starks for the likes of Marcus Camby and Latrell Sprewell. If anyone is capable of bring in LeBron, it is Ernie.

While still very unlikely to occur, it is impossible to overlook what LeBron would mean for Washington. The Wizards would have a massive draw, which would make basketball relevant again and they wouldn't have to go through the Cavaliers in the playoffs anymore.

No more dreading trips to Cleveland to face the "Chosen One." No more whispering in Arenas' ear, costing the team a playoff win, and ultimately the series. No more hating the crab dribble.

LeBron has sported some ugly uniforms with the Cavaliers. Their red/blue standards are alright, but the gross yellow throwbacks should have stayed thrownback. There is a reason teams update their uniforms, and the Cavaliers represent a prime example.

So why not have LeBron sport some blue and gold? Washington fans may hate him now, but it would be nearly impossible to hate him when he's dropping 30 a night in the nations capitol with the Wizards winning because of it.

Washington Wizards fans haven't started a site taking in donations to sweeten the deal for LeBron. New York Knicks fans have, but what do they really know about basketball?

But wasn't it Ernie Grunfeld, the current GM for the Wizards, that started the Knicks fall from grace with a gigantic move away from the formula that brought the team success?

It may be safe to say that LeBron will not be sporting a Wizards uniform anytime soon, but with the Wizards failing to live up to expectations what would be the harm of bringing in the biggest name in the sport today?