Enemy Lines

an opposing team's scout sizes up the Wizards

"Center is the Wizards' biggest weakness. Jahidi White is a mountain disguised as a basketball player. He takes up space, players bounce off him, but he can't handle the ball....

I like Kwame Brown. He's a natural four with a perimeter game, he can put the ball on the floor, he's quick and explosive with a sense of poise, and he has none of the pressure of being the No. I pick because the focus is entirely on Michael Jordan. Still, it's going to take three years before he really gets it. The only high school player I can remember playing well as a rookie was Moses Malone....

Courtney Alexander thinks he's really good. He has to be brought down a peg, but it's easier to do that with a talented guy like Alexander than it is to bring along a guy like Brendan Haywood, who has a reputation for having a poor work ethic....

Jordan got beat a few times in the preseason because he was trying to help out on defense so much. You look at the old rosters, and he was surrounded by a better team when he came to Chicago as a rookie. But he gives the Wizards a go-to scorer who knows how to win in the last two minutes, and he's going to get calls. Those are qualities you don't usually find in developing teams. The other bubble teams—Boston, Detroit, Atlanta—have better players overall, but they don't have anyone who has shown anything like the leadership of Jordan. If he can get this team into the playoffs, it would be like winning a championship with his former team. I think he's going to do it."