22-year old JaVale McGee has been moved into the starting lineup at center for the Wizards and he is playing solid basketball. In his last four games McGee is averaging 22.5 minutes, 9.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 2.3 blocked shots per game. McGee has now played in 32 games (4 starts) for the Wizards this season and he is averaging 9.9 minutes, 3.1 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.1 assists and 1.2 blocked shots per game. The Wizards need him to keep up the good work.

23-year old power forward Andray Blatche has moved into the starting lineup because of the trades the Wizards recently made and he is taking advantage of it big time. In his last four games, Blatche is averaging 34.5 minutes, 25.0 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocked shots per contest. Overall this season Blatche has played in 53 games (8 starts) in which he is averaging 22.8 minutes, 10.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Blatche is already making everyone forget about Antwan Jamison and it will be interesting to see if he can maintain his current play the rest of the year.

The early returns are good for the players the Wizards acquired in the last couple of weeks in trades involving Caron Butler, Antwan Jamison and Brendan Haywood. Al Thornton is playing the best basketball of the new guys so far. He has played in 3 games (0 starts) for the Wizards so far and he is averaging 30.3 minutes, 16.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.7 blocked shots per game. Thornton is shooting 52.6% from the floor so far this season for the Wizards. Josh Howard has also played really well for the Wizards as he has played in 4 games (3 starts) in which he is averaging 22.8 minutes, 14.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. James Singleton is providing some muscle off the bench for the Wizards so far. He has played in 4 games (0 starts) for the Wizards so far and he is averaging 22.3 minutes, 7.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 1.3 blocked shots per game. Quinton Ross had also pitched in off the bench for the Wizards playing in 4 games (0 starts) in which he is averaging 11.0 minutes, 4.0 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game on 58.3% shooting from the floor. Emir Preldric is still in Europe and Zydrunas Ilgauskas is in Cleveland awaiting a buyout from the Wizards.

The Wizards have traded 24-year old small forward Dominic McGuire to the Kings for a future 2nd round pick. McGuire played in 41 games (0 starts) for the Wizards this season and he averaged 5.9 minutes, 0.7 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. In his three years with the Wizards, McGuire played in 190 games (58 starts) in which he averaged 15.8 minutes, 2.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. This is not much of a loss for the rebuilding Wizards.

The Wizards also got the draft rights to small forward Emir Preldrzic from the Cavs in the Antwan Jamison trade. Here is what was said about him when the Cavs acquired his rights from the Suns on Draft Night:

The Cavs bought Emir Preldzic from the Suns on draft night. The 21-year old small forward is a typical soft European player. He played in 156 games in five seasons in Europe and he averaged 8.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. Don’t expect him to make much of a impact for a long time….if at all.

So don’t get too excited about Preldzic as he is still playing overseas.