 Washington Wizards WiretapWizards LinksNews Archive
NBA News
Washington's McGuire Had Productive Summer
"He is almost a different player (than last season). He understands what we are doing. He understands his role and he is playing at a very high level. You can see the seriousness in him," Jordan said. "We saw his improvement in summer league and he has been on pace to improve from the end of the last season until summer league. We now see his improvement from summer league to the beginning of training camp." McGuire averaged 1.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 70 games for the Wizards last season. He was drafted by Washington with the 47th overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. "I have been working hard. I started going to the gym to workout two times a day this summer. I have been focused and have been working on what the coaching staff told me to work on during our exit meetings last season," McGuire said Sunday. "They told me I needed to work on my mid-range game and to be more professional. I think those are the biggest things that are showing now." He also claims it has helped that he's going against a player like Caron Butler in practice. "It helps me a lot," McGuire added. "I am going against an All-Star everyday on the offensive and defensive end. You can’t help but get better. He shows me a lot off of the court as well. I also try to take things from Antawn. I watch his professionalism and how he handles himself off the court." Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Wizards' Thomas Gets Back Up To Speed
"It started with just walking," said Thomas. "Just getting up and taking a little walk around this little track they had at the hospital. I'd walk around maybe twice and I'd be exhausted for the day. Not tired. Exhausted. Wiped out. There would be older people out there doing the walking too, and they were whizzing by me. I was like: 'Man, I'm doing bad.' " Thomas missed all of last season after undergoing surgery last October to replace a leak in his aortic valve. Almost one year later, Thomas took the court for the Wizards for the start of training camp. He was seen running at full speed and bumping bodies with teammate Brendan Haywood. "I felt good, real good," Thomas said. "It was just fun to get back out there and play again. Everything's going great so far." Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Arenas: Focus On Healthy Wizards
"I felt that training camp, I wasn't going to be involved, playing and going out there practicing, so I shouldn't be grabbing all the spotlight," Arenas said. For the third time in seventeen months, Arenas is rehabbing his left knee. "If I'm sitting here grabbing up all the attention and there's people healthy, that starts to weigh on people, so I figure if I back out of it, let them get the attention, then everything is cool peace," Arenas added. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Wizards Sep 2008 Archive
|
Wizards' forward Dominic McGuire claims he worked very hard this summer, and Coach Eddie Jordan likes what he sees.
Wizards' center Etan Thomas says the process of recovering from open-heart surgery is almost complete.
Gilbert Arenas claims that he didn't speak during the team's media day on Friday because he didn't want to take the attention away from his healthy teammates.