Wizards crumbling as losses pile up

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By Mike Jones

SAN ANTONIO | The Washington Wizards may be only 12 games into the season, but at 3-9 - only one game better than last season at this point - the squad that was supposed to be a contender is again headed in the wrong direction.

Injury woes were to blame for last season's struggles, and the Wizards now have all their core players back. The results have not improved, however, and signs of dissension are becoming more evident as the losses mount.

Two weeks ago, soon after the Wizards suffered their third straight defeat to fall to 2-4, one player told a reporter to "read between the lines" to find the source of the team's struggles. But after Saturday's 106-84 drubbing by the San Antonio Spurs, Brendan Haywood and Gilbert Arenas saw no need for tact.

"Our talent is not winning out over our egos. If you want to win, you have to check your ego at the door. Bottom line," Haywood said while sitting in a silent visiting locker room. "If you normally score 20 and you don't get your 20 but the team wins, who cares?

"Check your ego at the door. Let's try and win," Haywood said, raising his voice to make sure everyone in the locker room heard him. "I watch the Celtics, and that's what they do. Paul Pierce can have 12 in the fourth quarter; if they're up, he don't care. That's what we gotta do. Check your ego at the door. Move the damn ball. Play some defense!"

Arenas, on the other side of the room, then gave reporters his assessment, which wasn't totally contradictory of Haywood's to start with. But then he continued with a different twist.

"Hidden agendas. You can't win like that," Arenas said. "I've never been on a team where you have eight free agents next year. ... I've never seen it turn out well. Sometimes it works out for the best because everybody's hungry and everybody's fighting. Sometimes it works out for the worst when everybody's out for their own.

"I guess when you start losing, everyone wants to start pointing fingers everywhere else," Arenas added. "I converted my game to try to get people involved. ... I think the only person who actually had to sacrifice was me. Everybody else can just play their game."

The Wizards indeed appear to be on a few different pages, but whether impending free agency is to blame is debatable. Of the eight free agents-to-be, only five played, and Haywood - the player calling for selfless play - took only four shots. The other four (Randy Foye, Fabricio Oberto, Dominic McGuire and Earl Boykins) came off the bench. Oberto took no shots, recording four rebounds and two blocks in 10 minutes, and McGuire had only one shot attempt in six minutes. Boykins and Foye were asked to come out gunning but both struggled, going a combined 5-for-20.

Arenas admitted last week that this season he has been driven by trying to measure up to New Orleans' Chris Paul, whom he views as the best point guard in the game; Arenas' goal is to average 20 points and eight to 10 assists a game. But that desire to rack up assists has made him hesitant to pass to fellow All-Star Caron Butler at times while criticizing him for not being a catch-and-shoot player.