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Despite losing Hughes to Cleveland and trading Brown to Lakers, Washington's players are driven to prove their playoff run last season was legitimate. Date published: 10/4/2005
By ADAM HIMMELSBACH WASHINGTON--For a moment last March, Caron Butler nearly forgot which city he was in. Most of the seats were filled with rear ends. Fans were making their lungs sore. Music was blaring. Thunder sticks echoed like popping popcorn. The MCI Center had a pulse. Butler, whose Los Angeles Lakers were in town to face the Wizards, couldn't believe it. "The crowd was one of the best I've seen at any facility," said Butler, who was acquired by the Wizards in a trade for Kwame Brown this offseason. "There was a movement going on, and it was great." For a moment last season, Antonio Daniels nearly forgot which team his Seattle Sonics were playing against. They were passing and cutting and making shots. They were having fun together, laughing and joking. They didn't seem like the Wizards of old. There was something different, something better. "You could see it," said Daniels, who signed with Washington during the offseason. "You could see their team chemistry." Last season, thumbing their noses at precedent and presumptions, the Wizards made the league take notice. They reached the playoffs for the first time since 1997 and won their first playoff series since 1982. Washington's magical run ended when it was swept in the Eastern Conference semifinals by the Miami Heat. The thing is, now they're expected to do better. As the Wizards' weeklong training camp gets underway today at Virginia Commonwealth University, the standard season-opening optimism is being mixed with a decent dash of expectation. "We're not going to sneak up on anybody anymore," all-star point guard Gilbert Arenas said. "That's going to be the hardest part of all. But we don't want anyone thinking this was just a one-time thing." Arenas and fellow all-star Antawn Jamison return to anchor the squad. They'll move on without guard Larry Hughes, who signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers last summer. But the Wizards reloaded. They traded the disgruntled Brown to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Butler and guard Chucky Atkins. They signed Daniels--a defensive specialist--from the Sonics. And forward Jarvis Hayes is returning from a knee injury that caused him to miss 28 games last year. "I'm exactly where I need to be coming off the injury," Hayes said. "I'm running, and nothing has an asterisk on it."
Date published: 10/4/2005
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