Eddie Jordan was in Vegas watching his summer league compete, but took a few minutes to catch up with HOOPSWORLD and tell us he's confident his team can take out the Boston Celtics.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=9520 

I think you are kind of distorting what Jordan said

But we beat Boston three times when we had all of our guys on the floor so that's something we can hang out hats on a little bit. Certainly we've got to come out and show it again.

All he says is that they beat the Celtics in the regular season last year and they should look at that as an accomplishment.  I think its a stretch to say he's confident they can "take out" the defending champs. He cerianly never implied they would win it all.

I also find it amusing that people say "the one thing or biggest thing that derailed the Wizards was injury". Now no one is saying injuries don't hurt but even when they are healthy the Wizards have proven that they aren't capable of being contenders becuase they play no defense. They actually played better basketball for long stretches without the injured Arenas because they played better defense and passed the ball. I certainly undertand why a coach would be diplomatic but unless Jordan can get them to pay defense they aren't going anywhere.

 He also said a number of times that they retained their big three because they believe they can win a title. Obviously, to do that, they're going to have to beat Boston . . .and he talked about their specific success against Boston at some length.

Health takes a toll on defense, and I have to  believe that the Wizards would play well on both ends of the court if they could just get everyone healthy for a bulk of the 82 game schedule. At the very least they'll be an exciting team to watch . . .even if a title is the extreme best-case scenario.

Bill Ingram:

 He also said a number of times that they retained their big three because they believe they can win a title. Obviously, to do that, they're going to have to beat Boston . . .and he talked about their specific success against Boston at some length.

Health takes a toll on defense, and I have to  believe that the Wizards would play well on both ends of the court if they could just get everyone healthy for a bulk of the 82 game schedule. At the very least they'll be an exciting team to watch . . .even if a title is the extreme best-case scenario.

I've read the article and there are no quotes where Jordan say "I think we can win a title or a championship" In fact he's very careful not to say anything HE belives.

"It shows that our ownership is serious about winning a championship," says Jordan. "Mr. Pollin and (GM) Ernie Grunfeld approached those two guys personally and told them that they're the guys who can help us win a championship. They showed them our gratitude, gave them the contracts that they're worthy of, and showed that they mean a lot to this city and this franchise. Mr. Pollin believes we can win a championship and our guys believe in him."

All he talks about is that OWNERSHIP belives these guys can win a championship and theat they spent a zillion dollars and locked in the franchise for the forseeable future based on that. Not one word about if Jordan belives it. He very well could think that these guys don't play enough edfense or play unselfishly enough but he's not going to come out and say that and buck ownership.

If you are going to title it Jordan :Wizards can unseat Celtics I'd expect it was based on a direct quote. Maybe there are some things he said not in the article.

As for healthy holding back their defense. In 06-07 Gilbert missed 8 games, Jamison 12 and Butler 19. They SUCKED on defense Opponents shot 48% from the Floor and 38% from 3. I hardley think that can be attributed to those guys missing those small amounts of games. Having Areanas and Jamison healthy is not going to make their D better. It will make it worse becuase the guys that replace them are much better defnders that those two. Far inferior on offense yes but does anyone really think that Gilbert and Jamison are going to start playing defense at this stage of their career?

Saying they beat the Celtics 3 out of 4 times gives them confidence they can do it again . . .tells me he thinks they can.

But enough on semantics.

The defense issue is surely one they will have to address, but again, I think the sense of urgency and a strong dose of health will take care of that. Jordan has to send the message that if they don't get it done this year things will change. I think Jamison becomes a very attractive trade piece at the deadline if things aren't coming together for the Wizards - teams would LOVE to have him. That may be this season's escape clause.
 

 At the very least they will be very, very competitive . . .