Washington, D.C—
With training camp coming to a close and the Washington Capitals skating in their final pre-season game today at Verizon Center, you can tell it is getting to be that time of year, hoops, hockey and well a little playoff baseball.
While packing their bags for a brief road trip, the Wizards open the pre-season tomorrow in Chicago against a whole new look Bulls. Add Pau Gasol and a healthy Derek Rose and its game on. But wait, this Wizards team is one of the best on paper in a number of years right? One would hope so as Paul Pierce and several of the other veterans have certainly stepped up as leaders and other seemed to have followed. Let’s make it happen this season Pierce and Humphries.
Before departing for Chicago the Wizards trimmed their roster to 18 players by waiving Vander Blue and David Stockton. Stockton showed that he can shoot the ball from long range in practice, but the Wizards didn’t have a spot for him. Look for him to end up in D-League this season over overseas for a year. He needs to pack on a little bit of size to compete in this league too.
The only player who won’t make the trip to Chicago is Martell Webster, who is recovering from back surgery in the offseason.
“We’re excited. I’m getting tired of seeing these dudes every day,” shooting guard Bradley Beal joked. “We got to compete against somebody else for a change. I think we’re all looking forward to it. Just the fact that everybody can have Wizards on the front of their jersey and be out there collectively playing against another team and trying to get as many wins as we can even in the preseason.”
“You always want to win when you’re competing, but we got to make sure we’re doing things and getting things in,” Wizards Head Coach Randy Wittman said. “I treat exhibitions as a continuation of what we just did these six days. So it’s an opportunity to see where you’re at and maybe where you need to progress and improve. That’s kind of what I want them to do. I want to make sure when we walk out of there tomorrow night we’re a better team than we were today.”
