Written by Dave Pustilnik
| 15 January 2010
The Bulls square up against an unimposing Washington Wizards team tonight. This should be an easy W for the Bulls. But as we have found out this season, wins for the Bulls rarely come easy, regardless of the opponent. This Wizards team is just about ready to begin the rebuilding process. They've been shopping Caron Butler, with talks even suggesting that he was coming to the Bulls in a trade for Kirk Hinrich a few weeks ago. Clearly this trade never happened, but it shows the Wizards are ready to start over. Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler are the Wizards' two best players. Jamison is having a very very good year, averaging 22.4 points and 8.8 rebounds a game. Very much all-star caliber numbers. And Butler is averaging 16.4 points and 6.6 rebounds, also very solid numbers.
But of course, the biggest story of all involving the Wiz revolves around the enigmatic Gilbert Arenas. Unless you live under a rock or have been in a coma, you have heard about Gilbert Arenas and his spaghetti western style showdown with teammate Javaris Crittenton. One of the best players in the league when healthy, and also probably the most entertaining, Arenas has been indefinitely suspended since catching a couple felony gun charges after bringing his guns to the Wiz practice facility. Probably the dumbest move by a professional athlete of all time. In my opinion, it surpasses anything Ron Artest has ever done. Especially considering Gilbert's $111 million dollar contract that now might be VOIDED. This is a huge deal for the Wiz because they'd love to get rid of his contract, since Gilbert has not at all lived up to it and has been injury prone since he signed it. If the Wiz can void Gilbert's contract and trade Butler, they can truly clear up a TON of capspace and now will have the ability to totally change the complexion of the franchise. Something I'm sure they'd love to do.
I liked Gilbert...I thought he was entertaining, so it's upsetting to see that he pulled such a bonehead move. But I also simultaneously hate Gilbert ever since the 2005 game 5 buzzer beater, giving the Wizards a 3-2 lead in the Bulls' first playoff series since Jordan retired. The Wiz ended up winning that series. So I guess I actually don't like Gilbert that much.
Tonight, the Bulls obviously face an Arenas-less Wizards team with only two solid players. Taj Gibson and Tyrus Thomas will collectively be dominated tonight by Antawn Jamison. This much I promise you. I think Taj will fair better than Tyrus guarding him, because Taj is simply smarter (which is sad considering he's a rookie), but I expect him to be in foul trouble, allowing Tyrus to maybe use his athleticism to stall Jamison a little bit.
Caron Butler should have a tough time tonight with Luol Deng playing terrific as of late on both sides of the floor. Deng is longer and more of a threat, so the Bulls win the matchup there.
The Bulls' two stars, Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah should have nice games. Rose should have no problem dominating Randy Foye at home as long as he remains focused defensively. Foye won't do too much to hurt you. And Joakim matches up against Brendan Haywood who is nearly averaging a double-double. Haywood is a good player, but Joakim has started to play on another level and should outduel Haywood similar to how he outdueled Kendrick Perkins last night. Hopefully neither of them are too fatigued, as this is the second leg of a back-to-back.
Bulls need to come out and take care of business tonight. Losing this game would be a major let down after a three-game winning streak and a big win on the road against the Celtics last night. You want to go out on that road trip with your head held high instead of worrying that your play is inconsistent and you can lose on any given night against any given team. The key is not to underestimate this team just because of their record and the drama surrounding them.
Prediction: Bulls win 104-90. Bulls will go out and do what they're supposed to do with the road trip in mind, and win their 4th in a row and 8 of their last 11.
