Wizards preview: Does anyone take 'em seriously?

Head coach Eddie Jordan is personable, smart, a sharp dresser and coached the Eastern Conference All-Stars last February. His three top soldiers are All-Stars, too, paced by one of the league's most popular players, incomparable point guard Gilbert Arenas.

They play an exciting high-octane brand of basketball in the nation's capital, a hoops hotbed.

Gilbert Arenas' Wiz are fun, but harmless. (Getty Images)

With all that in play, why are the Washington Wizards not considered one of the NBA's elite teams? How come, in this era where marketability rules all, they're not on national television as often as teams like the Lakers and the Heat, squads that are comparable from a talent standpoint?

The answer is simple, cold and harsh. The Wizards haven't forced anyone to take them seriously. They haven't won. They're fun, but harmless.

Under Jordan they've finished .500 or better three straight years, reaching the playoffs each time, but they've been unable to make a significant dent. Miami swept them out of the second round in 2005. The next season, LeBron James whispered in Arenas' ear at the line late in Game 6, he missed two free throws, and Cleveland ousted the Wiz from the first round. The Cavs swept Washington last year, but that doesn't mean much since Arenas and Caron Butler were injured and unable to play.

Before both went down to season-ending injuries, the Wizards were in the mix for the Southeast Division title, so it's impossible to tell whether they could've made that jump last season. At full strength, they had just as good a chance of getting to the NBA Finals as Cleveland did. There's no point on dwelling on what's done, though.

Washington has to look forward to picking up where they left off before the attrition sets in. Etan Thomas will miss the season after undergoing open-heart surgery, so the Wizards are down a man at a position where they were already weak.

Brendan Haywood, who Jordan basically gave up on in April, will be counted on to produce at center. So will be Darius Songaila, ineffective last season due to back problems, and possibly Oleksiy Pecherov, a raw 7-foot Ukrainian taken with the No. 18 pick in 2006. In a division where Shaquille O'Neal, Dwight Howard and Emeka Okafor loom, that doesn't put the Wizards in a promising position.

To succeed Washington is going to have to flip the script and get out in transition whenever possible, which is going to hinge on Arenas' ability to rebound from a knee injury. The guy is a gym rat, so there's no doubting his work ethic, but even he knows he has to prove it on the court. As is his custom he's using everything from side bets to slights to drive him towards his goal, knowing the Wizards' fortunes are tied directly to him. If CBS Sports' preseason player rankings help him attain that goal, we're more than happy to oblige.

"Duncan's No. 1, Kobe's No. 2. Then they've got all them bums in front of me," Arenas told reporters during training camp in Richmond. "I'm 20; I feel I'm in the top five. There's motivation right there."

Further motivation is that Arenas plans on opting out of his contract after the season to secure a long-term deal, possessing an even clearer understanding of just how vital financial security is in a profession where your body can betray you at any moment. His level of play is undoubtedly worthy of maximum dollars, but he has to make it through the season without incident to secure that payday.

Guiding the Wizards to their first NBA Finals since 1978 wouldn't hurt his cause either. If the franchise wants to be taken seriously, they're going to have to do a little more than just entertain.