Seriously, Wizards, I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing and really, I don’t care.  Enough of the Tuff Juice, Agent Zero, best-dressed contests, lame fights, whatever.  The fact is you’ve got the best chance you’ve had at winning the conference in twenty-five years.  Who’s counting, you say?  I’M COUNTING.  So it’s time to get your tails in gear and beat crappy teams like Portland when they come into the Verizon Center.  There’s not really a move to be made here unless the Grizzlies decide they want to give you Pau Gasol, so you’re stuck with what you’ve got.  That means you, Brendan Todd Haywood and Etan Thomas.  Let’s chat for a minute about some of the players we here at FBB root for unabashedly:

Gilbert Arenas
What, you mean he’s not as good as Kobe?  Shocking!  Really, though, I think you have to chalk this up to a simple mid-season swoon.  Gilbert’s temporarily lost his shooting touch, his boy ‘Tawn is hurt and that means defenses can focus more on Gil, the rest of the team isn’t playing well and he’s getting embarrassed by Kobe and then by himself for making a crazy prediction.  (Side note - I think that even Gilbert didn’t expect to get 50.  I think he said that in an attempt to get ABC to pick up the game because it wasn’t being televised elsewhere.)  I think that while this part of the season is going to be tough for fantasy owners, in the long run it’ll make Gilbert a better player.  He’s not as good as he was during his incredible December, but he’s not as bad as he is playing right now.  Give him a few weeks to get his head straight (the All-Star break is coming at a GREAT time for Gilbert), and I think he’ll end up somewhere in the Top 10 on the player rater when all is said and done.

Caron Butler
This is one that I’m a bit more worried about.  Caron has carried my fantasy team while Rashard Lewis was out, but now he seems to be suffering from All-Star letdown.  To put it bluntly, he just seems to be smelling his own shit a little too much these days.  Back in the eaerlier parts of the year, he was getting his points with open mid-range jumpers and with tough offensive rebounds and putbacks.  Now, he’s backing out a bit farther on the mid-range jumpers, and trying to break down his man off the dribble, which just isn’t one of his strengths.  He goes to the rim with no hopes of actually hitting the shot, just looking for refs to bail him out, but he hasn’t earned that status.  Again, losing Jamison is coming at an awful time for Butler, and it doesn’t help that no one else is really stepping up, letting defenses key in on Butler and Arenas.  But unlike Arenas, Butler played well above his typical level early in the year and he could be in for a let-down in the second half.  While he’ll still give owners good value for the 5th-round pick or so that they spent on him, don’t look for Top-15 value like he’s given you so far this year.

Antawn Jamison
I’ve been down on Jamison for awhile - yes he’s a great scorer but I just think he’s too soft, not to mention an awful defensive player.  But you know, ,he sure does space out that defense, and he’s got that veteran leadership thing going for him … but that’s not important in terms of fantasy.  What’s important in terms of fantasy is that he’s not due back until early March.  So that means that he’s due to miss at least 7 of the Wizard’s 33 remaining games.  The sooner he gets back, the sooner we can hopefully get out of this mess.

Brendan “Brenda” Todd Haywood
Here’s the thing with Brendan - he’s the same player he was when he came into the league six years ago.  He’s good for 20-25 minutes, decent rebounds, shoddy points and a block or two.  Here’s the other thing - the front court is about to get a lot more crowded.  Now that Michael Ruffin is back, Darius Songaila is healthy, and Andray Blatche is earning minutes, Haywood might be looking at a cut in minutes.  One of Eddie Jordan’s favorite lineups this year has been going small with Jamison as the de-facto center.  Now that there are three guys (Ruffin, Songalia and Blatche) who can play the 5 in the “small” lineup and allow Jamison to play the four, that means less minutes for Haywood and Etan Thomas both.  That also means that Haywood will be unhappy, and when he’s unhappy he’s generally unproductive.  Let’s just say I’m not too high on Haywood right now.

Andray Blatche
Oh MAN, am I ever excited about Andray Blatche.  He’s a complete energy machine, he shows up on the boards, he’s disruptive on defense, and … well, he fouls a lot.  Still, he’s only 20 years old, he’s 6-11, can play inside and out, and right now he’s the best story on the Wizards.  Think Jared Jeffries but with athletic ability and hand-eye coordination.  Ladies and gentlemen, I think we may have a sleeper for 2007 right here.

Jarvis Hayes
Well, thanks for playing, Jarvis.  This was his last shot at earning a real contract after this year and he pretty muich blew it.  I still think that the injuries held Jarvis back more than people think, but the fact is that when your best quality is you jumpshot, and yet you only shoot 39%, well … you do the math.