Until the Wizards get healthy, Grunfeld withholds judgment

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld didn't know what to expect record-wise of the team that he assembled over the summer, but he was hoping that the injection of youth and enthusiasm would yield a scrappy, hard-working unit that competes every night and makes opponents earn whatever victories they get.
With one-fourth of the season complete, Grunfeld is willing to be somewhat patient, since he believes the root of the sporadic play has been an inability to get the desired team on the floor every night because of injuries.

"I wish we would've had all of our players from Day One," Grunfeld said. "We're always going to look for ways to improve this team, but first we also want to see how this group comes together when we have our pieces. It seems like one guy goes down, and when somebody comes back, somebody else comes down. So we didn't have the kind of consistency and continuity that we really wanted."
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"What comes with youth is inconsistency," Grunfeld said. "But as we go along, we want to see more improvement, more consistency on a nightly basis. Of course, you'd like to win more games and there were several games along the way that we maybe let get away or we could've won. At the end of the season, we'll see how it comes around."
Grunfeld added that he is excited Josh Howard is about to make his season debut some time in the next two weeks after spending the past eight months recovering from his left knee injury. Howard said he would be used sparingly early on but he could eventually provide a veteran presence at small forward, a position that Al Thornton held when he wasn't missing games or coming back from a sprained left ankle.

"I think we're all competitive, but we know where we are," Grunfeld said. "Continuity and consistency [are] very important. We want to get the group, and have all of our players come together for a period of time to see what can come of it and see how it meshes and comes together."