In what seems like an annual event in the District of Colombia, the Washington Wizards have a new head coach. Michael Jordan, the Wizards president of basketball operations announced on Thursday that Leonard Hamilton would be stepping down as head coach and would be replaced by former NBA coach and current NBA on NBC announcer Doug Collins. Collins, who's last coaching job was with the Detroit Pistons, and who also coached Jordan briefly in Chicago, will be asked to bring Washington's basketball franchise back to the respectability it had back when he was a player in the 70's.

The atmosphere at Thrusday's press conference held at the MCI Center in downtown D.C. was very positive. And considering it's been years since the Wizards had anything to look forward to, that is definitely a good thing. Many questions were thrown at Jordan about why Hamilton was out after only one year. There was also speculation as to whether he stepped down or if he was actually fired. Jordan responded by saying that he and Hamilton had spoken a little under two weeks ago and that it was more of a mutual agreement and not a firing. Jordan also stated that he felt bad for taking Hamilton out of the comfortable position of being the head coach at the University of Miami when he recruited him to come coach the Wizards. Hamilton had to pay Miami a million dollars to get out of his contract with the university.

Things only went downhill from there. The Wizards would go on to have their worst season in franchise history, proving that it was actually possible for them to get worse. They finished 19-63 for the year. Only Chicago(15)and Golden State(17)had fewer wins. The only positives on the year were the trades made by Jordan to clear up cap room for the Wizards. Jordan somehow got someone to take on Juwan Howards inflated contract when he traded Howard to the Dallas Mavericks in an eight player trade.

Howard of course never lived up to the hype of his $105 million contract and was the constant receiver of boos from the Washington crowd. Of course not all of the Wizards woes were Howards fault. Horrible management decisions were made by former GM Wes Unseld(who gets my vote as THE worst general manger in the history of the NBA).

In just two years Unseld traded away two players that would go on to be two of the best players in the NBA. Rasheed Wallace was dealt to Portland for Rod Strickland, and Chris Webber(arguable one of the most dominating players in the league)was traded to Sacramento for Mitch Richmond. Trading Wallace for Strickland didn't seem that bad at first since Washington had Webber to play power forward, but when Webber was traded a year later, the team was flat out awful. The Wizards got nothing out of either of the players they traded away their superstars for. Strickland was bought out and released at mid season and eventually resigned with....the Portland Trailblazers. So basically the Wizards gave Wallace away for nothing. Howard, while a solid player, needed superstars around him to perform at his best. He's just not good at being the number one guy. He is currently flourishing in Dallas because of all the other talent on that team.

This spelled danger for Hamilton who was stuck with a worse team at the mid way point of the season then he had to start out with. The Wizards lack of depth left them with a lose-lose situation, and Hamilton lost his job because of it. So why should Doug Collins be happy about being the next coach of the Wizards? Well, if you can believe it, the future actually looks bright for the Wizards. They have two extremely talented young players to build around in Richard Hamilton and Courtney Alexander. Hamilton was the number seven ovearll pick in the 1999 NBA Draft by Washington, and Alexander was a lottery pick as well from the Dallas Mavericks, aquired by Washington in the Juwan Howard trade.

Hamilton made great strides this season despite the Wizards poor season, becoming a big time scoring threat while showing a strong presence on the court. Alexander was just flat out born to score. Back in college he was the nations leading scorer and he showed the same kind of ability this year for the Wizards, having multiple 20 plus, and even a 30 point game towards the end of the year. It is said that Jordan is very pleased with this young nucleus, especially Alexander, and is determined to surround them with talent. By having the third worst record in the league, the Wizards will have a lottery pick at least in the top five, and if their lottery day luck changes, maybe even a top three pick. Washington will have a number of young players from college and high school to choose from such as Seton Hall sophomore Eddie Griffin and high schooler Eddie Curry, just to name a few.

And quite posibly the biggest thing of all conserning the Wizards future is the free agent crop of next year. It is rumored that Jordan is going to make a serious run at Vince Carter. The buzz around the league is that Carter is not happy in Toronto and that Nike wants him in a major market. D.C. would be the perfect place for Vince to shine and don't think Jordan won't use his Chapel Hill advantage when recruiting Vince. So as bad as things seem right now, the Washington Wizards might actually have a bright future. Jordan and Collins will have to work together to bring the franchise to another level, but both seem up for the challenge.

Name: Spider Monkey
Comments:
I shall say what every basketball fan is saying right now after reading an article about the Washington Wizards: "Who cares?!"