FanHouse ErnieGrunfeld

Home sweet home. Well, for one night anyway. In front of a 42-inch big screen on opening night in the NBA. Let's go ahead and try to read too much into it ...

• You can't tell me the Cleveland Cavaliers aren't going to come knocking for Stephen Jackson at some point. Looks like LeBron James is going to need some more help.

Hard as this is to say, it doesn't seem like Shaquille O'Neal can even be your No. 2 option. Apparently, the Cavs are reluctant to give up Zydrunas Ilgauskas for Jackson because Cleveland doesn't want to get smaller.

Washington tastes all flavors of bad. The Wizards will almost assuredly end the season among the three worst teams in the league; as such, the team is due at least a top-six pick, with the probability skewing toward Picks No. 2-4.

As Bullets Forever's Mike Prada identified a month ago, Washington also faces a devastating cap figure for 2009-10. Owner Abe Pollin isn't one of these brave billionaires who can afford a $100-million payrolls. So, the Wizards really need to cut at least $8 million of '09-10 salary. Once Thursday passes, the degree of difficulty will become much greater.

But based on reports, it seems instead of unloading expensive veteran Antawn Jamison or hot prom date Caron Butler, the team is considering trying to attach a bad contract to the high pick to slink under the tax while maintaining a talent base.

An odd rumor bouncing around the past week had Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl in play for the future Wizards vacancy. Nothing was ever solid -- the only real connection seems to be Washington GM Ernie Grunfeld's Volunteer history and a smattering of talk that Pearl was considered a year ago as Eddie Jordan's tenure became more tenuous.

The rumor was news to Pearl on Wednesday, and the coach dismissed the idea he was a candidate. Today, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports Pearl isn't a serious option, as the Wizards will be looking for a bigger name with pro experience.

Washington is quietly confident that it will have no shortage of good applicants when it decides it's time to choose a permanent successor to Eddie Jordan, with the Wiz believing, among other things, that the attractiveness of the job and the city where they play has only been enhanced by Barack Obama's forthcoming installment as the nation's 44th president.

Obama as an incentive to take the D.C. job seems odd, and misplaced. Regardless, the job is attractive. The Wizards are no longer a league-wide punchline, and the roster has more strengths than a lot of other teams. To me, a defensive-minded coach makes sense: a team with a remotely free Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison will score a-plenty. Even last year, with Brenden Haywood playing awesome and Antonio Daniels starting, the team's defense was mediocre. The team needs new eyes on that end, and perhaps a half-court style that allows the efficient D.C. assault to dominate.

An odd rumor bouncing around the past week had Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl in play for the future Wizards vacancy. Nothing was ever solid -- the only real connection seems to be Washington GM Ernie Grunfeld's Volunteer history and a smattering of talk that Pearl was considered a year ago as Eddie Jordan's tenure became more tenuous.

The rumor was news to Pearl on Wednesday, and the coach dismissed the idea he was a candidate. Today, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports Pearl isn't a serious option, as the Wizards will be looking for a bigger name with pro experience.

Washington is quietly confident that it will have no shortage of good applicants when it decides it's time to choose a permanent successor to Eddie Jordan, with the Wiz believing, among other things, that the attractiveness of the job and the city where they play has only been enhanced by Barack Obama's forthcoming installment as the nation's 44th president.

Obama as an incentive to take the D.C. job seems odd, and misplaced. Regardless, the job is attractive. The Wizards are no longer a league-wide punchline, and the roster has more strengths than a lot of other teams. To me, a defensive-minded coach makes sense: a team with a remotely free Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison will score a-plenty. Even last year, with Brenden Haywood playing awesome and Antonio Daniels starting, the team's defense was mediocre. The team needs new eyes on that end, and perhaps a half-court style that allows the efficient D.C. assault to dominate.

Yesterday in his blog, Gilbert Arenas made it clear that he considered he and teammate Antawn Jamison a package deal:

If Antawn is not back, then there's no point in me coming back because he's part of my success, too. When you're doing pick and roll with a player like him, they can't double you, they can't trap you because you have a pick and pop guy who can shoot the three at your four position. My success is because of him too. If he doesn't come back, I'm not coming back.

During his end of season press conference, GM Ernie Grunfeld indicated he had no problem with Gilbert's ultimatum:

"We're on the same page, then. Because we want to sign Antawn. We want to sign Gilbert," Grunfeld said. "I kind of liked it. He's supportive of his teammate. And he enjoys playing with Antawn. And that's been our plan all along. I'm glad to see everyone in the organization is on the same page."

Wizards general manager Ernie Grunfeld played the role of cold water yesterday afternoon, telling the Washington Post's Ivan Carter there was no truth to the rumors he'd talked to the Lakers about a Gilbert Arenas-Kobe Bryant swap. The Chicago Tribune's Sam Smith pushed those rumors Monday morning, followed by Marc Stein of ESPN validating them.

While D.C. talk is dead, things are still rather auspicious on opening day in L.A. For one, Kobe's on the Lakers' inactive roster for tonight's game against the Rockets. Andy Kamenetzky of the Los Angeles Times' Lakers Blog says this doesn't mean anything and quotes the team as saying Kobe probably won't be in a suit tonight. (?!) Meanwhile, Phil Jackson told reporters the team has spoken to Chicago, but nothing is imminent. He also made the obvious-but-still-interesting comment that "it's better sooner than later in my estimation" for the team to trade Kobe or decide they're keeping him.

And Kobe isn't diffusing anything (try as he might) by dropping nuggets like this regarding a possible trade to Chicago:

"I'm sure they're dealing with my representatives. That's something that they're going to work on.

Feels like it's just a matter of time.