Bullets midseason report card

Gilbert Arenas — Only played 8 games before undergoing surgery and shutting it down until…well, we don’t know until when. Soon, though, hopefully. While he played, Arenas was clearly bothered by his injury and looked like a shadow of his former self. Grade: Incomplete.
Andray Blatche — It’s been an up and down season for Bulletproof. He hasn’t quite fulfilled the hopes of Bullets fans this season, but he hasn’t been a disappointment either. He’s averaging 7.2 points and 5.3 rebounds in 20 minutes per game, but over 13 ppg in his 9 starts. He still plays out of control too frequently — his fouls and turnovers are quite out of control, but he’s a good rebounder and shot-blocker who is slowly improving. Things are not coming quite as quickly for Andray as we’d hoped, but they are coming. Grade: C+
Caron Butler — Caron just keeps improving. He’s shooting almost 48% from the field, has improved into a pretty decent 3-point shooter, is pulling down almost 7 boards per game and 4.5 assists. His 2.5 turnovers per game is a bit high, but when you consider how much Caron is asked to do on defense, it’s not so bad. Caron’s also improved from a bad defender into a passable one. He’s done some decent work on the defensive side of the ball and has helped keep the team competitive without Gilbert Arenas. All in all, Butler richly deserved being named to his 2nd straight All Star game, as his PER of 22.21 indicates. Without Butler, the Bullets wouldn’t win many games at all. So far this year, they are 2-7 without Tough Juice. ‘Nuff said. Grade: A

Antonio Daniels – It hasn’t been an easy year for Daniels. Forced into a starting role he’s not really suited for anymore, he’s played well when healthy, but struggled with nagging injuries that have forced him to miss 10 games. His assists-to-turnovers ratio is better than 3 to 1 and he best at running Eddie Jordan’s version of the Princeton offense. Daniels isn’t a great shooter, but he has a knack for getting fouled in the paint and is, as usual, shooting better than 80% on his free throws. Nevertheless, Daniels isn’t playing as well now as he did in December. I think his performance will improve when he’s back in a reserve role, so he will definitely benefit from the return of Gilbert Arenas. Grade: B-
Brendan Haywood — I think it is safe to say this is Haywood’s best year. The big man has really blossomed without Etan Thomas looking over his shoulder and his scoring, defense and rebounding have all improved. Averaging almost 11 points and more than 7.5 boards, Haywood has become a productive center aside from his superb defense. It’s clear Haywood worked on his game over the season, becoming a better inside scorer and improving his free throw shooting from awful to good. Haywood still doesn’t play as much as he should [only 27.5 minutes per game], but he’s playing better as he plays more. The center position has gone from a weakness last season to a strength this season. Grade: A
Antawn Jamison — AJ’s second All Star selection was a nice reward for a fantastic season. Jamison is doing all the things he’s known for — scoring, rebounding, leadership — but he’s also improved defensively, which I definitely didn’t see coming. Jamison’s PER of 20.46 tells you that despite not having a great shooting year [43% from the field], he is still an enormously productive player. One of the few players in the NBA averaging over 20 points and over 10 rebounds per game, AJ has been a rock on this team. Despite playing 39 minutes per game, Jamison hasn’t missed a contest, showing younger stars [like Arenas and Butler] what durability is all about. His 3-point shooting is down, but he’s made up for it at the free throw line and with his usual assortment of post moves that lead to baskets only Antawn could make. Grade: A
Roger Mason — How can you not cheer for this guy, who took less money from the Bullets to stay in Washington and take his chances with a 1-year contract. Mason’s shooting has improved, his ball-handling and defense have improved and he’s become a real NBA player with value. Playing point guard, as he has often had to do this year, is not Mason’s strength, but his 2 to 1 assists-to-turnover ratio proves he’s working at it. Mason’s outside shooting has become a force to be reckoned with and his free throw shooting, at well over 90%, continues to be first rate. Mason has earned himself a nice contract next year — in Washington or some other NBA city. Grade: B+
Dominic McGuire — Run DMc has got skeeels. The cat can’t shoot and you don’t want him dribbling a lot, but his rebounding and defense are top-notch. His 9 rebounds per 40 minutes of play are 4th on the team, behind only Haywood, Jamison and Blatche. The kid has a lot of work to do on the offensive end — he just can’t do much to score at all — he’s got the athleticism to make real contributions to this team as a defender and rebounder, which just happen to be things this team needs. Playing behind a healthy Caron Butler, McGuire doesn’t get a lot of minutes, but he’s shown a bit more with Butler on the shelf. Run DMc has got real potential. Grade: B-
Oleksiy Pecherov — We’ve only had 15 games from OPec, due to an injury suffered before the season began. Grade: Incomplete.
Darius Songaila — Darius played pretty well after the All Star break last season. He missed the first 45 games of the season due to injury, but shot well and rebounded reasonably well upon his return. Bullets fans expected him to pick up where he left off. Uh, not so much. Songaila has been terrible. His shooting has fallen to just over 40% and when you consider how little he offers the team on the defensive side of the ball, it’s not clear why Darius deserves any minutes at all. Songaila’s PER of 9.42 is dreadful, more suitable for a raw rookie than a seasoned veteran. Aside from shooting free throws at 92 percent, there really isn’t anything that Songaila is doing particularly well. Grade: D-
Deshawn Stevenson — Last year Stevenson flirted with a 50% shooting percentage and this season he’s hitting about 38% of his shots. So he’s having a down year, right? No, not right. Without Gilbert to attract all the defensive attention, Deshawn’s shooting percentage has declined, but he’s still hitting 36.5% of 3-pointers and has improved his free throw shooting to 78 percent. Meanwhile, Stevenson’s defense has been first-rate. He covers the other team’s best backcourt scorer every night and most of the time does a very, very good job. The highlight of Stevenson’s season was the back-to-back games against Boston, where he led Washington to two victories by scoring well and thoroughly outplaying future Hall of Famer Ray Allen. Grade: B
Nick Young — It didn’t look like Slick Nick was going to get a lot of burn playing behind Gilbert Arenas, Deshawn Stevenson and Antonio Daniels. When Arenas went down, though, Young was forced to play some minutes and he’s done all right. Nick is shooting 40% from the field, which obviously isn’t good, but it isn’t embarrassing for a rookie. He’s also hitting 81% of his free throws and has turned himself into the best 3-point shooter on the team in Gil’s absence. Nick’s defense isn’t too good yet [also to be expected] and he needs to take more care with the ball, but he’s demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nick Young can score in the NBA and should be a productive player for years to come. Looks pretty darn good for 18th overall in the draft. Grade: B
Coaching: If you knew that before the All Star break, Gilbert would miss 44 games, Caron would miss 9 games, Daniels would miss 10 games, and OPec would miss 37 games, you’d think the Bullets would be one of the worst teams in the league. Instead, Washington won 25 games and lost 27. It’s not a great record, but considering what the team has been through and the incredible misfortune it has suffered, it is something of an achievement. The Bullets have played better defense and radically improved the free throw shooting of a number of important players. Butler and Jamison continue to be stars and Brendan Haywood has taken a real step forward. There is no doubt that contributions by defensive whiz Randy Ayers and shooting guru Dave Hopla have been enormous. However, it was Eddie Jordan who hired those men and it is Eddie Jordan who has guided this team through some very rough waters. He still doesn’t play Haywood as much as I would like, but that’s not a huge complaint compared to the many things he has done correctly. If the Bullets can get Caron back healthy for the rest of the season and see Arenas return some time next month in good shape, they can make a run at that 4th spot in the conference playoff race. If that happens, Eddie Jordan should be on the short list for coach of the year. Grade A-