Listening to whispers around the water cooler is appears that the Wizards will keep 28-year old point guard Gilbert Arenas instead of trading him for pennies on a dollar and I think it is a smart move. Arenas will likely move to shooting guard next season and he should be able to handle it as long as he behaves both on and off the court. Arenas played in 32 games (all starts) for the Wizards before his suspension last season and he averaged 36.5 minutes, 22.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Arenas has now played in 336 games (327 starts) in his 7 years with the Wizards and he has averaged 39.7 minutes, 25.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game. He is the Wizards’ all-time leader in three pointers made with 821. He is also #6 in assists (1,929), #5 in steals (606) and #10 in points scored (8,567) in Wizards’ history.

The Washington Wizards have 11 free agents (8 unrestricted, 3 restricted) coming into this summer. Quinton Ross has a player option and I have no doubt that he will pick it up. Josh Howard has a team option and I think they will set him free but they might come back an offer him a smaller deal. Mike Miller is a player the Wizards should want back but he’s going to get paid a lot of money from someone in 2010-11. Shaun Livingston will cost the Wizards a lot more money than he made last season and point guard is a weak position in free agency. Earl Boykins, Javaris Crittenton and Fabricio Oberto are all likely on the way out. I would think that the Wizards would want James Singleton back as he played well for them after coming over from the Mavericks but some other teams could be after him too. Randy Foye is a restricted free agent but I just don’t see the Wizards matching a big offer for him if he gets one. Cedric Jackson and Cartier Martin might get a chance to return to the Wizards because they play cheap.

23-year old, 6′11″, 248 pound PF/C Andray Blatche’s play really took off when the Wizards had there little fire sale near the trade deadline. But he got into trouble with the coach despite playing terrific basketball. I think that Coach Saunders and Blatche should mend the fences because they need each other. Blatche played in 81 games (36 starts) for the Wizards last season and he averaged 27.9 minutes, 14.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steal per game. He has now played in 319 games (100 starts) in his five years with the Wizards and he has averaged 20.3 minutes, 8.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. I think that Blatche is just starting to come into his own and I think he will be the best player on the Wizards in 2010-2011.

The Wizards were the third team that Cedric Jackson played for in his rookie season. Jackson played in 4 games (0 starts) for the Wizards in which he averaged 9.8 minutes, 3.0 points, 0.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. He played in 12 games (0 starts) overall this season for the Spurs, Wizards and Cavaliers in which he averaged 6.2 minutes, 1.7 points, 0.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. It remains to be seen as to whether the Wizards will keep Jackson around for next year or not.

The Wizards outscored the Pacers 24-17 in the 4th quarter to pull out a nice home win to end the year. Andray Blatche led the way for the Wizards last night with 26 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals. Javale McGee filled up the stat sheet with 14 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocked shots last night. Cartier Martin pitched in with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists off the bench. The Wizards finish the season with a 26-56 record.