Brown

On March 17, Brown paid dividends with 30 points and 19 rebounds in a 114-108 win over Sacramento, both career highs. Two nights later, he dropped 27 and 11 against the Hawks. He then proceeded to score 23 points in his next four games combined.

Brown is now 22 and three years removed from becoming the first high-school player to be drafted first overall. The selection is far from a bust; Brown's numbers have increased substantially in each of the last two seasons. Although he could miss the first month of the season due to surgery on his right foot, in order for the Wizards to be anything but an also-ran, Brown needs to produce consistently.

Jamison

General Manager Ernie Grunfeld and Head Coach Eddie Jordan enter year two of their tenure, and though last year's 25-57 mark doesn't reflect progress, the team does enter the 2004-05 season with continuity and a stable of young players who will be allowed to develop together.

Grunfeld, the architect of winners in Milwaukee and New York, is being very patient with the team's young nucleus. Eight of the team's top 10 scorers are back, and the two that aren't – Jerry Stackhouse and Christian Laettner – were injury-plagued veterans who were largely ineffective.

Somehow, Grunfeld parlayed them into Jamison, a younger player who might just be a better fit. He figures to be the starter at small forward, though it's difficult to tell, since 11 players started 10 or more games a year ago. That was in part due to injuries; only Jared Jeffries appeared in all 82 games.

The starters figure to shake out as Gilbert Arenas, Larry Hughes, Jamison, Kwame Brown and Brendan Haywood, though there's enough depth to invite several intriguing battles during training camp with Steve Blake, Juan Dixon, Jarvis Hayes, Jared Jeffries and Etan Thomas challenging.

Interestingly, all but two players on the roster were born in a six-year span between 1976 and 1982. If nothing else, this group should have few arguments about what goes into the locker-room CD player.

There are too many good teams ahead of Washington to place them in the playoffs, but while other teams overhaul their rosters and clean out their coaching staffs, the Wizards look like a stock worth buying and holding on to.