FanHouse BrendanHaywood

WASHINGTON -- Gilbert Arenas may be eliminating the often outrageous, sometimes peculiar behavior that once added to his popularity, but the rest of his game is coming back just fine.

The explosiveness has returned.

The 28-29-point scoring average may be fading into history, along with the Agent Zero and the Hibachi personas, but a more valuable, more productive 20-point, 10-assist guy could be brewing inside him.

It's what the Washington Wizards need.

Every Tuesday this offseason, two of our NBA experts will go at it with a Debate in the Paint. This week, the topic is which team will be the most improved.

There are two generally accepted ways to massively improve your team's chances during the summer offseason: draft new talent, or acquire new talent by trade or free agency. But the Wizards -- my choice for most improved team of 2009-10 -- have tapped a little-known third way: let all your injured stars return to health.

That was the biggest factor in the return of the Heat, 2008-09's most improved team: Dwyane Wade got healthy, and the team got back to contention. The Wiz stand at the start of a similar path, with Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood ready to roll. Of course, Wade is more vital than either. But together, it's like signing two major free agents at arguably the two most hard-to-fill positions.

On Tuesday, some comments Brendan Haywood made about Stephon Marbury and perceived homosexual behavior in Marbury's lifestreaming escapades came to light. In short, Haywood said that because Marbury got a shirtless massage from a male friend and danced to a disco song on video, no NBA player would want to share a locker room with him. Because, you know, he might be gay. Kelly Dwyer and Kevin Arnovitz have both responded in exemplary fashion -- read those reactions if you care at all about the issue.

Haywood has since posted what he dubs an apology on Yardbarker. As an avowed fan of the newly unfiltered relationship between athletes and fans, I'm encouraged that Haywood knew enough to know he needed to apologize. But in that apology, Haywood invokes the name Tim Hardaway (as in, "I wasn't trying to come off like Tim Hardaway") and offers up ye old "if it doesn't affect me, I don't really care" response to the very existence of homosexuality.

In other words, Haywood notifies us that he will continue to be a part of the problem.

Michael Lee of the Washington Post followed up recent Wizards rumors in a piece this morning on the No. 5 pick and Caron Butler. Lee said the 'Zards and Suns discussed an Amar'e Stoudemire trade, but D.C. balked when Butler became a requirement from Phoenix's end.

Washington GM Ernie Grunfeld famously has little interest in keeping No. 5. Phoenix needs to do two things in short order: get younger, and get rid of its (spiritual) question marks up front (Stoudemire and Shaquille O'Neal), one way or the other. So can the Wizards and Suns arrange a deal without involving Butler, Gilbert Arenas or Antawn Jamison?

Ready or not, here Flip comes.

After much discussion, rumor mongering and ballyhoo, Yahoo! Sports reports that the Washington Wizards will make former Pistons and Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders their new head coach, reportedly agreeing to a four-year, $18 million deal.

That's not Yankees money or corporate bailout money, but for the Wizards, that's a pretty hefty chunk of change.

As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.

Only one NBA team can legitimately claim its season ended before it began. Starting center Brendan Haywood, Washington's defensive anchor, tore a wrist ligament during a preseason practice. The injury basically ensured a mediocre defense would be destined for completely awfulness.

But Eddie Jordan's Wizards have always scored efficiently and frequently. Surely, the offense could save Washington. That'd be nice ... except that a month prior, the team's most potent scorer -- Gilbert Arenas -- had another surgery completed on his knee. His return date went from December ... to January ... to post-All Star break ... to Saturday.

You can understand how Washington finds itself at the bottom of the standings.

There was a dead certainty that some changes would be occurring in the Washington Wizards' organization following the team's 1-10 start.

And because it seemed unlikely that Ernie Grunfield would fire himself, and it was already too late to start trying to trade Gilbert Arenas or Antawn Jamison and because Caron Butler is the truth ... well, it stood to reason that the first scapegoat would be Eddie Jordan. According to the Post's Wizards Insider, that has now come to fruition.

According to sources familiar with the situation, the Wizards have relieved Coach Eddie Jordan of his duties. Jordan was informed of the decision this morning.

Ed Tapscott, who had carried the title of Director of Player Development but traveled with the team and essentially served as an extra assistant coach, will take over coaching duties, starting with a practice that will begin today at 11 a.m.

Again, I don't know if it's deserving -- Jordan has done a pretty fine job of coaching up what is a quasi-limited roster since he's been in Washington. And additionally, he's currently missing about $110 million worth of said roster ... but yeah, the team is in the basement of a very winnable division, Gil and Brendan Haywood are talking about not coming back this year if the playoffs aren't an option, and someone has to get blamed. If the reports are accurate, looks like that guy is Jordan.

If Gilbert Arenas' continued medical issues with his knee weren't worrisome enough, losing Brendan Haywood for four to six months because of that pesky wrist injury he suffered in practice this week. The Washington Post's Ivan Carter reports that Haywood needs surgery to repair a torn wrist ligament; the recovery period will keep him out until at least February, and possibly the entire season. Meanwhile, Antawn Jamison has an injury that keeps most players out two months; Jamison, however, says he will be ready for opening night.

Haywood was a huge, undersung cause for Washington's improvement last season. Perhaps being unshackled from constant battle with Etan Thomas allowed the ease of mind to finally perform well. Maybe Haywood finally got it. Some would argue Haywood had a fluke year, and would have come crashing back down to Earth in '08-09. Whatever the case, we aren't going to find out.

It appears Thomas will get the starting nod, though Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee figure as options, according to the Post's Carter. Is it an opportunity for the Wizards to see what they have in the youth corps? Sure, but it's also enough to suggest Washington won't be making the playoffs this season unless someone unexpected comes through in a major, major way.

Okay, so basically, we're going to take this one in two strides. First, we'll do the half-full version for any Wizards fans who might be reading as to not send them airborne, and then we'll do the half-empty version for the sadists among us.

Fresh off finding out that Gilbert Arenas had more surgery and won't be back for a while, the Wizards headed toward their first preseason game with the same "us-against-the-world" attitude that got them to the fifth seed last year without Arenas. Then center Brendan Haywood sprained his wrist in practice. No problem, there's a good chance he'll be back in a few weeks. And now, not five minutes into their first preseason game, Antawn Jamison hits the deck with what is being described as a strained knee.

Luckily, there's a good chance neither injury will be serious. Barring any severe second opinions or terrible MRI results, both players should be back within the month.

Okay, Wizards fans, that's all you need to hear, you can head back to whatever you were doing before. Drive safely.

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NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. TrueHoop. Spending a day with NBA referees. Tons of great notes in here.

2. Palm Beach Post. Michael Beasley comes ... err, clean: "And when asked if he was hiding in the hotel room when security first entered Beasley answered, 'Honestly, I don't know.' I'm not sure our young protagonist understands what that word means.

3. Ball in Europe. Highlights from Josh Childress' first preseason game in Greece.

4. OregonLive. Nate McMillan wants to dampen the high expectations facing the Blazers. Good luck.

5. Washington Post, via Bullets Forever. The Brendan Haywood-Etan Thomas war is over!

6. Sactown Royalty. (Self-link alert!) Investigating the causes of Sacramento's bloated salary.