Russell Westbrook is now the NBA’s triple-double king. (Getty Images)

Before Russell Westbrook came along, Oscar Robertson’s 181 career triple-doubles seemed unattainable. Even Magic Johnson and Jason Kidd both said no one will ever break The Big O’s record. But someone forgot to tell that to Westbrook.

Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook made history on May 10, 2021, when he produced the 182nd triple-double of his career in just 940 games. Robertson’s 181 triple-double record stood for 47 years, and many thought it was going to stand the test of time much like Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game. Westbrook finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds, 21 assists in a 125-124 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Westbrook had an opportunity to cap his historic night with a game-winning shot, but his 3-pointer with under three seconds left grazed the rim and bounced off to the side.

The loss takes some of the zest off Westbrook’s record-setting performance, but it doesn’t take away what the 32-year-old former UCLA standout has accomplished throughout his basketball journey. He won an MVP in 2017 after posting the first triple-double season in league history since Robertson did it in 1962. Westbrook has averaged a triple-double in four of the last five years, and he will lead the league in assists for the third time. Not bad for a natural shooting guard who learned how to play point guard when he got to the NBA.

“What he’s done and how he’s done it, he didn’t just inch his way to it, he exploded the chart. And not only did he explode it, he said, ‘If you don’t think that was good let me come back and do it again the next year,’ ” two-time NBA champion and current NBA TV analyst Isiah Thomas said.

“Let’s put some respect on Westbrook,” Thomas added.

Teammates respect Russell Westbrook. You’ll never hear any of his current or former teammates say anything bad about him (expect maybe Kevin Durant, but that’s a whole different topic). Opponents respect him. Fans love him. The only people who pour water on his greatness are the basketball TV, radio, online pundits who are into advanced statistics. They don’t like the turnovers and the awful shooting. Those are legit claims. But from a pure basketball standout, Brodie brings it every single night. He has never cheated the game. He plays every game like it’s gonna be his last. You have to respect that.

“It was always a misconception of Russ on how he is as a teammate, how he is as a person, how he responds to coaches. Total opposite,” Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal said on ESPN’s “First Take.” “He’s all about the team, he’s all about winning, he’s all about getting better. And he’s all about pulling his teammates up, trying to get the best out of everybody. That’s something that has helped me. Seeing his mentality, his approach to the game night in and night out. He’s an MVP. He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”

You can argue that a player could be labeled as “selfish” for chasing scoring titles instead of NBA titles, but there is no case or argument to be made when it comes to assists. An assist is a coach’s favorite statistic. It means the ball doesn’t stick and a player’s action ultimately led to a teammate scoring a basket. When Magic and John Stockton and Steve Nash led the league in assists, they were celebrated. They were labeled unselfish, making others better. When Russ Westbrook leads the league in assists, it is seen as padding stats.

Westbrook has been relentlessly pursuing the triple-double record for the past few years now, and some in the media suggested he was padding his stats. Russ’ response to the whole “stat-padding” claim was simple. “People that’s talking or saying whatever they need to say, they should try doing it and see how hard it is,” he said. And he’s right. If grabbing 20 rebounds or dishing out 20 assists were so easy, then why don’t we see it more. LeBron James ranks second in triple-doubles among active NBA players and he’s nowhere near Westbrook.

Westbrook checks a lot of boxes. The only box that’s unchecked is a championship. He came close in 2012 when his OKC Thunder squad with James Harden and Durant reached the NBA Finals, but lost to LeBron and the Miami Heat in five games. But not having a championship ring shouldn’t take away what Westbrook has done in a career that has been doubted from the start.

“Can’t take anything away from him,” said Wizards coach Scott Brooks, who coached Westbrook in Oklahoma City for seven seasons before reuniting with him in D.C. following an offseason trade.

“He’s a winner,” Brooks said. “[He’s] making the basketball and the non-basketball world a better place. Not a lot of guys have had the impact that he’s had, both on and off the court. It’s pretty phenomenal.”

Brodie wasn’t highly recruited out of high school and when he arrived at UCLA he had to earn his way to the starting lineup. He proved the doubters wrong with two Final Four appearances and shot up the NBA draft boards following impressive workouts. He landed as the fourth overall pick in the draft by Seattle — which later moved to Oklahoma City. Westbrook, Durant, Harden turned OKC into a Western Conference powerhouse before Harden left for Houston and KD left for Golden State. Westbrook single-handedly kept the Thunder relevant for three seasons before being traded to Houston in 2019, teaming up with Harden once again. The Harden-Westbrook duo could only get the Rockets to the second round of the 2020 playoffs in the Orlando bubble.

There were whispers of Brodie being “done” after a slow start to his Wizards season. He was obviously hurt, but he didn’t complain. Once he finally got healthy, the old Westbrook returned. Washington was left for dead during the halfway point of the season and was practically slotted in the lottery before the season turned around dramatically. Now, Brodie and Beal have the Wizards competing for a spot in the play-in series.

“They came from way out of it to where they’re in the thick of this thing. It’s mind-blowing,” Sam Mitchell said.

Marcin Gortat saw his numbers decline after an injury-plagued 2012-13 season with the Phoenix Suns. (GETTY IMAGES)

The Phoenix Suns proved on Friday they have no interest in fielding a competitive team this coming season and are more interested in collecting picks for next year’s NBA draft when there will be quite a few possible franchise players available.

Marcin Gortat was traded to the Washington Wizards, along with Shannon Brown, Kendall Marshall, and Malcolm Lee, for center Emeka Okafor and a 2014 first-round draft pick.

“I wanna say I don’t have any hard feelings towards Suns front office people,” Gortat tweeted on Friday. “Ryan [McDonough] is an amazing GM. He put them back on the right track.”

With the team drafting Alex Len and also having veteran big man Channing Frye on the roster, trading Gortat wasn’t totally unexpected. But the return was less than expected. In 2011-12, Gortat averaged 15.4 points, 10 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. Last year, Gortat played in just 61 games due to a foot injury and his numbers declined (11.1 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks).

Gortat will give the Wizards a solid replacement for Okafor at the center position. Nene will be able to stay at his power forward position and the trade gives Washington an excellent chance to make the playoffs.

Okafor injured his neck and is not expected to start the season on opening day. He has averaged 12.3 points per game, 9.9 rebounds and 1.7 blocks. With his history of injuries and nine seasons in the league, he’s no longer a starter, but he’s a capable backup. When he’s healthy, Okafor is unlikely to stay long in the Valley of the Sun with an expiring contract and playoff teams interested always interested in adding depth to their rotations.

Brown averaged 10.7 points in two years in Phoenix. He’ll give Washington a scorer and defender off the bench. Marshall was a disappointment after being the 13th overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. Brown, Marshall and Lee could all be released to clear cap space.

Darren Jacks is a regular contributor to OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @djroxalot.

Erik Spoelstra led the Miami Heat to 66 wins and the franchise’s third NBA title in 2012-13. (GETTY IMAGES)

Erik Spoelstra sat in the stands inside Cox Pavilion on the campus of the University of Nevada Las Vegas looking very relaxed. He happily signed a few autographs, scribbling “Coach Spo” on one program.

Life is good for Coach Spo. He’s coming off a second championship season and one day before the start of training camp the Heat reportedly is working on a lucrative contract extension that would keep the 42-year-old head coach in Miami for a long time.

Spoelstra is 260-134 in his first five seasons with Miami, going to the NBA Finals the last three seasons. Only 12 other coaches in NBA history have multiple championships and only seven others have collected rings in back-to-back years. And last season may have been Spoelstra’s best coaching job.

The Heat rolled through the regular season, winning 27 straight games at one point on the way to a 66-16 record. Then in the playoffs, Miami had to rally from a 1-0 second-round deficit against Chicago and ultimately had to grind out seven-game victories over Indiana in the Eastern Conference finals and San Antonio in the NBA Finals.

”What’s overlooked for him is the management of the team,” Wade told AP last season. ”It’s not the coaching part of it. It’s, ‘Can you manage these egos, these personalities, without having one your damn self?’ He’s done it.”

Every team in the league are gunning for Spoelstra and the Heat this season. But they were all gunning for them last year as well, and we all know how that turned out.

OneManFastBreak.net examines teams in the Eastern Conference’s Southeast Division and where they’ll finish:

1-MIAMI HEAT

LeBron James is at the height of his powers and no one is no longer doubting his ability to win, especially in crunch. He delivered a virtuoso performance in the 2013 playoffs, including a dagger mid-range jumper from the right elbow to seal Game 7 of the Finals against the San Antonio Spurs. If there are chinks on the Heat’s armor it’s injuries and fatigue. Dwyane Wade’s knees are beginning to fail him and his health has been a concern for three years. Wade turns 32 in January and he has 100 percent relinquished the team’s “Batman” title to his buddy LeBron. The Heat are about to embark on a historic journey. Since the NBA-ABA merger, only two teams have gone to four consecutive NBA Finals: Magic Johnson’s L.A. Lakers teams from 1982-85 and Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics teams from 1984-87. The Heat have played well over 100 games the last three seasons, so fatigue will definitely be an issue.

2-WASHINGTON WIZARDS

Owner Ted Leonsis, team president Ernie Grunfeld and coach Randy Wittman are going all in on point guard John Wall, as the Wizards inked the No. 1 overall pick in 2010 with a five-year, $80-million contract. The team is shaping entire game plan around Wall, a player who is blessed with many physical gifts but is still learning how to run an offense. Wall made great strides last year after missing the first 33 games with a bum knee. He averaged 18 points per game, but more importantly nearly eight assists. Instead of going end-to-end looking for his own shot, Wall started sharing the ball and finding open teammates. Wall’s evolution as a point man helped Washington play .500 ball over the final 50 games. Bradley Beal got off to a slow start but finished strong, earning third place in the rookie of the year voting.

3-ATLANTA HAWKS

Larry Drew did a commendable job in 2012-13 despite having a depleted roster and losing All-Star Joe Johnson to free agency. Instead of getting a hearty handshake, Drew was shown the door and was let go. Enter new coach Mike Budenholzer, an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich. Budenholzer was hired by general manager Danny Ferry, another former Spurs employee. Ferry believed that the Hawks were “locked into an identity that was hard to change and was going to be harder to maintain.” Change is coming in Atlanta. Aside from losing Drew, the Hawks won’t have Josh Smith. Jeff Teague and Al Horford are now the focal point of Budenholzer’s new attack, and free agent pickup Paul Millsap replaces Smith in the starting lineup. Lou Williams, who is coming off an ACL tear, should bolster scoring off the bench.

4-ORLANDO MAGIC

The Magic organization is now two years removed from the Dwight Howard drama and, frankly, Orlando seems to be doing just fine; the rebuilding process is well under way. Second-year head coach Jacque Vaughn was given a bad hand to start his coaching career, but he should have more pieces to work with this year beginning with prized rookie Victor Oladipo. The second overall pick in the 2013 draft shined during the summer league, averaging 19 points, four rebounds, five assists, and two steals while primarily playing point guard. Oladipo comes into the NBA with reputation as a defensive standout who loves to slash to the basket. But he impressed the Magic coaching staff with his ballhandling and outside shooting. The former Indiana University star will be a strong candidate for rookie of the year in 2014.

5-CHARLOTTE BOBCATS

Charlotte fans are absolutely giddy, and it’s not because they picked up Al Jefferson in free agency or drafted Indiana University stud Cody Zeller. The reason for the big buzz in the city is the return of the “Hornets,” as in the Charlotte Hornets. The NBA Board of Governors recently approved the name change after New Orleans changed its name to the Pelicans. Charlotte just needs to tough it out for one more season as the Bobcats before switching to the Charlotte Hornets at the start of the 2014-15 season. The change can’t come soon enough for team owner Michael Jordan because since taking over majority ownership in 2010 the Bobcats have become comatose, winning just 28 games in two years. But help is on the way. First-year head coach Steve Clifford has armed himself with great assistants in Patrick Ewing and Mark Price. Too bad Ewing and Price can’t put on uniforms.

Joel Huerto is editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Dwyane Wade and LeBron James are looking to add to their championship ring collection. (GETTY IMAGES)

The road to the 2013 NBA Finals got a little easier for defending champion Miami.

Dwight Howard left Orlando and headed for Hollywood and Joe Johnson left Atlanta for Brooklyn. The defections gutted the Southeast Division, leaving the Heat without a legitimate sparring partner in the division. Unless Josh Smith turns into Dominique Wilkins overnight and John Wall develops a Gilbert Arenas-like jump shot, the Heat should finish with the best record in the Eastern Conference based on the simple fact that it has little competition within the division. And last time we checked, LeBron James still wears the Heat colors and he’ll have a healthier Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and a new sniper in Ray Allen to help him defend the NBA title.

Team president Pat Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra went into the offseason with a mindset of upgrading the roster, something the Heat didn’t do the season after they won the championship in 2006. Allen provides the Heat with another spot-up shooter — arguably the greatest 3-point shooter in history — to open up the floor for Wade and LeBron. Spoelstra has also asked Chris Bosh to slide over to the center position full-time, freeing up LeBron to play power forward. About the only major question mark for the Heat heading into the season is Wade’s surgically repaired knee. If all the reports are accurate, Wade should be back to being D-Wade for 2012-13.

OneManFastbreak.net predicts the order of finish in the Southeast Division:

1-MIAMI HEAT — LeBron finally rid of that humongous monkey off his back when he got that elusive championship ring in 2012. James should get a big bump off his championship season, and this is bad news for the division and rest of the league. But the Heat are much more than just the Big Three. What makes Miami so difficult to beat is balance. The Heat have players (Mario Chalmers, Shane Battier, Udonis Haslem) who know their roles and make “championship” plays each and every night. Chalmers is not afraid to take and make big shots down the stretch. Battier and Haslem are committed to doing all the dirty work: playing defense, taking charges, diving for loose balls. Those are all the type of things that don’t show up on the box score.

2-ATLANTA HAWKS — You don’t lose a Joe Johnson and consider yourself a championship team. This is the dilemma the Hawks are facing this year. But the Hawks can point to the addition-by-subtraction theory, and the feeling is the ball should move better without Johnson, who can be a ball-stopper. Former 76ers guard Lou Williams may not have Johnson’s All-Star credentials, but he’s an explosive scorer who plays better when the game is on the line.

3-ORLANDO MAGIC — No D. Howard, no Stan Van Gundy, no expectations. The Magic are starting over and it begins at the top with the hiring of Jacque Vaughn as head coach. During his NBA career, Vaughn was remembered for being a smart player on offense and tough on defense. Expect the Magic to be those things, but it will take time to recover from the mess left by all the Dwight drama.

4-WASHINGTON WIZARDS — The Wizards ditched their youth movement and brought in more experienced players. The team felt there was too much knuckleheadedness and not enough professionalism. But what the Wizards don’t realize is sometimes experience doesn’t make up for youth and talent.

5-CHARLOTTE BOBCATS — Coming off one of the worst seasons in NBA history, there is nowhere to go but up for the Bobcats. Starting with the choice of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist in the draft and naming last year’s top pick Kemba Walker as the starter at point guard, the Bobcats are putting the franchise on the shoulders of two college basketball winners and hoping their championship pedigree rubs off on the entire team.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

The No. 1 overall selection in this year’s NBA Draft shook off some early jitters and entertained the sold-out crowd who came to see him play in the 2010 NBA Las Vegas Summer League. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound guard out of Kentucky showcased his blazing end-to-end speed and surprised some with his improved mid-range jump shot in leading the Washington Wizards to a 84-79 victory over Golden State Sunday.

Wall, wearing jersey No. 2, led the Wizards with 24 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the field, was 10-for-11 from the free throw line and had a game-high eight assists. There were some glitches in his first NBA game, but those were to be expected. The 19-year-old led all players with eight turnovers, including three in the first quarter, and appeared a little tight in the first half, missing five of his first seven shots.

“I was just too hyped to play and I was playing too fast,” said Wall, who hasn’t played in an organized game since Kentucky lost in the regional final at NCAA Tournament. He was also nursing a minor groin injury, which forced him to miss one practice last week.

“I was trying to throw lobs and find my teammates, and a little jitters there in the beginning so I had a little bit of turnovers,” Wall added. “But I think I did good running the team and getting to the basket and helping my team to a tough win.”

Wall admitted he got careless with the ball because he was too anxious. But once he slowed down and cut down on the “hot dog” plays, he began to show the skills that made him a first-team All-American as a freshman.

His first shot was so off he clanked it off the backboard, but settled himself quickly and finally made his first basket three minutes into the game when he buried a pull-up jump shot near the free-throw line from about 16 feet. His first assist came at the 6:30 mark of the first quarter when he came around a screen and served a perfect lob pass to JaVale McGee, who slammed it home.

It would be the first of three alley-oop dunks Wall and McGee orchestrated during the game.

“When he comes off the screens and I get enough angle when I get in the paint, I could pull up or I can find him, and I did a great job of finding him today,” Wall said of McGee, the Wizards’ first-round pick in 2008. The 7-foot center scored 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds.

Even though Wall turned the ball too much in his debut, he was still able to make plays for his teammates and showed a great ability to get inside the teeth of the defense and create offense. Twice he drove to the basket, took the bump and finished at the rim for three-point plays. When he didn’t get all the way to the basket, he was able to pull up near the free-throw line and convert mid-range shots, something most NBA scouts thought he didn’t possess during the pre-draft evaluation process.

“What we liked about him as much as anything is his ability to make other people better,” Wizards coach Flip Saunders, who was a spectator in the stands, told the Associated Press. “He doesn’t have to score a lot of points. He’s got the potential to be one of the top point guards in this league. Maybe, [Wall is] the best all-around point guard at both ends, both offensively and defensively.”

One thing that is also noticeable about Wall is he is a quick study. In the third quarter, Wall didn’t bother putting a hand up when Warriors point guard Brian Chase launched a 3-pointer from the top of the key. On the Warriors’ next possession, Chase tried another 3-pointer but this time Wall was there to block the shot.

Later in the quarter, Wall came off a high pick-and-roll and dropped a nice assist to a cutting Raymar Morgan (from Michigan State) near the baseline for a dunk. Moments later, Wall set up Lester Hudson for an open jumper to give the Wizards a 54-44 lead.

Wall’s overall performance was certainly better than his 2010 draft classmates Evan Turner, Derrick Favors, Greg Monroe and Gordon Hayward, who are all struggling to adapt to the pro game. Wall already has a pro game. He just needs to clean up his turnovers and make the simple plays instead of going for the spectacular plays.

“When you consider everything … the atmosphere, the first game,” said Saunders, “to come out and play as he did, he’s got unbelievable intelligence and he’s unbelievably competitive. He’s one of the most coachable guys I’ve been around. He makes a mistake and he wants to know what it is.”

Video courtesy of NBA.com

Zzzzzzz. Zzzzzzz. Is the draft over yet? Man, that was a snoozer. I think ESPN should re-hire Stephen A. Smith just to give the draft a jolt. That was like watching paint dry. Or, maybe ESPN should hand the draft over back to TNT so we can listen to Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley make fun of all the picks.

Outside of Jeff Van Gundy, who was easily the funniest guy on the set, the draft coverage put me to sleep, not to mention the inordinate amount of sleeper picks (sleeper in a bad sense) NBA teams kept writing down on the card for Commissioner David Stern, and the bald guy who took over later in the evening, to read and announce to a very intoxicated crowd at Madison Square Garden who kept chanting “Jeff!…Van!…Gundy! “Jeff!…Van!…Gundy!”

The NBA Draft was the same old story: the good teams did well and the bad teams … well, to quote Barkley, they were terrrrrible! It’s impossible to opine how well or how poorly each did based on one night, but I’m going to do it anyway because it’s entertaining. OneManFastBreak.net breaks down the winners and losers of draft day.

WINNERS

— Sacramento Kings: GM Geoff Petrie is one of the best talent evaluators in the business and he landed the second-best player in the draft in Kentucky big man DeMarcus Cousins with the No. 5 pick. The Kings play in a division that includes the world champion Los Angeles Lakers, who boasts one of the biggest and tallest frontcourts in the league, so it was extremely important for the Kings to get bigger and stronger up front to compete with the Lakers. Cousins (6-11, 290) can complement 2010 Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans, giving the Kings a solid inside-outside punch for the next 10 years. There were questions about Cousins’ lazy attitude, but as Van Gundy pointed out, you can’t be lazy when you average 10 rebounds in 23 minutes. The Kings also took Marshall center Hassan Whiteside (6-11, 215) with their second selection, adding more length to their roster.

— Washington Wizards: The Wizards instantly became better by selecting Kentucky point guard John Wall (6-4, 195) at No. 1. Wall is not only the best player in the draft, but he is also the most charismatic. He is a leader and plays with a ton of energy, which the Wizards severely lacked last season after Gilbert Arenas was sent home for bragging about his gun collection in the arena. Washington also improved its roster by reportedly bringing in guard Kirk Hinrich, who is expected to be dealt next month by the Chicago Bulls to the Wizards in a cap-clearing move. With Wall, Arenas (assuming he’s on board with the team this season) and Hinrich, the Wizards have a dynamic three-guard rotation. The Wizards also added two physical frontcourt players in Clemson’s Trevor Booker (6-7, 240) and frenchman Kevin Seraphin (6-10, 255).

— Oklahoma City Thunder: OKC enters the 2010-11 season one big man away from seriously contending for an NBA title. Heck, they took the Lakers to six tough games with Nenad Krstic as their starting center so anyone with a pulse should be an upgrade. Thunder GM Sam Presti picked up Kansas center Cole Aldrich (6-11, 245) via a trade from New Orleans and then traded for 20-year-old center Tibor Pleiss (7-0, 220) of Germany. Aldrich is a strong rebounder and defender, and should contribute immediately for head coach Scott Brooks. Pleiss is a project they can stash in Europe for a year or two. Euroleague guru Fran Fraschilla compares him to Rik Smits. And for their second-r0und selection, the Thunder drafted Louisiana Tech’s Magnum Rolle (6-11, 225). You can’t go wrong drafting a guy named Magnum.

— Los Angeles Clippers: This is the only time of the year when the Clippers trump the Lakers on the front pages of the L.A. sports sections. The Clippers hold a draft lottery party every year, it seems like, and most of their picks normally end up as fodder for stand-ups at The Laugh Factory on Sunset Strip. But this season, whoever is doing the picking, the Clippers made some solid decisions. Wake Forest’s Al-Farouq Aminu (6-8, 205) is a capable small forward and Kentucky’s Eric Bledsoe (6-1, 190) is not a starting point guard, but he could be a decent backup. But the biggest news of the day in Clipperland is that Blake Griffin, last year’s top overall pick who missed the entire season because of a knee injury, has been cleared to play.

— San Antonio Spurs: Year in and year out, head coach Gregg Popovich and GM R.C. Buford make excellent picks in the draft and this season is no different. With the 20th overall selection, the Spurs took Oklahoma State shooting guard James Anderson (6-5, 210), who many consider as the best shooter in the draft and San Antonio badly needs guys who can put the ball in the basket. Then, with the 49th pick, the Spurs nabbed center Ryan Richards (6-11, 230) from England. San Antonio has a history with picking international gems, and Richards could turn out to be a steal.

LOSERS

— Portland Trail Blazers: Billionaire owner Paul Allen fired GM Kevin Pritchard on the day of the draft. Then, to add salt to the wound, he made Pritchard work the rest of the night. On his final shift as Blazers GM, Pritchard selected Memphis guard Elliot Williams (6-4, 180). A lame pick for a lameduck GM. But who could blame him? The Blazers also traded small forward Martell Webster to Minnesota for forwards Luke Babbitt (6-9, 225, Nevada) and Ryan Gomes. Gomes could be a nice player, but Babbitt could be another Luke Jackson.

— Minnesota Timberwolves: The Timberwolves keep taking athletes who like to run, but then they try to fit them in a triangle. It won’t work. I’d like to think Syracuse forward Wesley Johnson (6-7, 195), taken fourth overall, will be a stud but, for some reason, I keep seeing Hakim Warrick or John Wallace. Outside of Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse players tend to flame out in the NBA and Johnson could fall into that category.

— Orlando Magic: The Magic selected Kentucky center Daniel Orton (6-10, 255) in the first round. Orton averaged 3 points a game as DeMarcus Cousins’ backup and had trouble with keeping his weight down. Now, unless Orlando has plans of trading Marcin Gortat, they now have a logjam at the center position. Dwight Howard, obviously, is the starter and Gortat is an excellent backup. So where does that leave Orton?

— Atlanta Hawks: The Hawks not only didn’t address their needs in the frontcourt, but they seem to be planning for life without All-Star Joe Johnson. Atlanta swapped first-round picks with New Jersey, acquiring scoring guard Jordan Crawford (6-4, 195), and then took Pape Sy (6-7, 225) from the Senegal in the second round. Jordan Crawford is basically Jamal Crawford, so the Hawks have too many Crawfords on the roster.

— New York Knicks: The Knicks might as well have taken the day off because they basically have put all their chips in the LeBron James sweepstakes. Andy Rautins (6-5, 193) and Landry Fields (6-5, 185)? Are you kidding me? That’s the best they can do? It’s LeBron or Bust in NYC.

— University of Kentucky: Coach John Calipari was shedding a tear a little bit Thursday night. For one, he was happy his guys all went in the first round. Secondly, he knows he’s got some serious rebuilding (or reloading) in Lexington. But don’t feel too bad for Coach Cal because he’s got another stout freshman class coming in this season.

Whether it is self-inflicted or not, the Washington Bullets…oops, I mean Wizards…have been a huge disappointment this season, and the team’s problems go beyond Arenas and his penchant for carrying weapons and storing them at the Verizon Center in case someone calls him out on a gambling debt.

Washington is only 11-22 for the season and has dropped seven of its last 10 games. The latest loss was a 121-98 thrashing at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Jan. 6.

Those are very dismal numbers for a team that was projected to be a playoff contender in the East, boasts three legitimate NBA All-Stars in Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison, and owns a resume that includes four postseason appearances in the last five years and an offense – when all three stars are healthy – considered one of the best in the league.

And, as if the team needed more bad news, Arenas was recently involved in a troubling gun incident with teammate Javaris Crittenton in which Arenas admitted to pulling out unloaded guns from a strong box stashed in his locker.

Arenas – who has five years remaining on a $111 million contract he signed in 2008 – says it was all part of a “practical joke” and denied threatening or assaulting anyone. He reasoned that he brought four guns to the Verizon Center to keep in his locker in order to get them out of his house and away from his children.

Well, NBA commissioner David Stern didn’t find the humor in Arenas’ so-called prank, as Stern suspended Arenas indefinitely without pay and the incident is still under investigation by the police.

Even some of his peers are having a tough time defending Arenas.

“Gilbert has been a little quirky at times on and off the court. This should get him straight,” former NBA player and current TV analyst Jalen Rose said on ESPN’s First Take. “If he doesn’t get a felony, he doesn’t get any jail time and he has a misdemeanor or anything less, if I’m David Stern I suspend him for the rest of the season.

“[The season] is only halfway through, and the Washington Wizards are the most disappointing team in the league anyway,” Rose continued. “They’ll get a lottery pick and it gives them and their fans a fresh start for next season.”

Washington’s implosion was definitely a mystery to many oddsmakers and handicappers, including Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which had the Wizards at 50-1 to win the NBA championship at the start of the season. Did the oddsmakers simply overrate them?

“Absolutely we overrated them,” said Mike Seba, sports book manager with Las Vegas Sports Consultants, who dropped the Wizards down to 200-1 in his latest power rankings.

“This is a classic case of the parts being greater than the whole,” said Seba, who added that the Wizards’ troubles started well before the Arenas-Crittenton situation.

“You have great individual players, but this is a team that doesn’t play together. They don’t look like the same team as they did before,” he said. “There are not enough basketballs to keep them happy. Too many offensive weapons and there’s a lot of animosity.”

It’s quite obvious that the Wizards are not playing with the kind of free-flowing style that they enjoyed under former coach Eddie Jordan and, so far this season, the players have not bought into Flip Saunders’ more structured approach.

“Flip has tried to come in and change things. With this kind of a team, they’re better off letting them play,” Seba explained.

When Arenas, Jamison and Butler are in sync, which was in the 2006-07 season, the Wizards were fourth in the NBA in scoring (104.3). This season, they are in the middle of the pack at 17th (99.1).

But whatever the team’s issues are, the firestorm starts and ends with the eccentric Arenas, the noted self-proclaimed goof ball whose been known to drift in and out of reality from time to time.

Often times, Arenas seems to be more concerned with his statistics than his team’s success, which hasn’t exactly endeared himself to his teammates. “Arenas is not the same player since the injury,” Seba said. “He’s still a good player but he just doesn’t like the players around him. He’s kind of an individualist.”

When he was healthy, Arenas was a 28-point scorer and comparable to Kobe Bryant when in comes to late-game heroics. But after two injury-plagued seasons that limited him to just 15 games from 2007-09, Arenas’ scoring average has dipped to 22.7 and the multiple surgeries have robbed him of his explosiveness off the dribble.

Now with this latest gun incident, Arenas may have robbed himself of his freedom.

“The problem for Gilbert in dealing with the commissioner is he’s not the first NBA player to have issues with guns,” Rose said. “You saw it with Stephen Jackson and now you see it in the news with former Net Jayson Williams. Gilbert may unfortunately be the example, and you don’t want to be the example like Michael Vick was.”

This article also appears on Covers.com.