By Andy Charles

You just have to wonder whether the Washington Wizards are snake-bitten after the last week they have endured, just to cap a season in which all they could manage was 19 wins and the worst record in the Eastern Conference.

That record entitled them to a pretty solid chance at getting the first pick in the NBA Draft, due to be held at the legendary Madison Square Gardens in New York next month, and probably a decent chance at getting hold of potential game-changers in Blake Griffin or Ricky Rubio.

Now they are going to need luck if the latter drops down the draft due to signability concerns or to trade back up to where they think they should be – picking in the first two after the balls failed to fall for them.

The fact that Washington and league-worst Sacramento both missed out on the first three picks had those lottery-haters filling message boards again, and it’s hard not to feel a little bit sorry for the teams in the only sport that doesn’t necessarily give the worst teams the first picks.

Apparently GM Ernie Grunfeld likes his options for the Wizards with the fifth pick, but with so many question marks on the roster to start the season – mainly concerning the ever-injured Gilbert Arenas – wouldn’t he just love to get an athletic big man like Griffin or a ball-hawk guard in Rubio.

And now things might be set to get even worse if talks of new coach Flip Saunders getting hold of free agent Stephon Marbury are true.

You could not find a better basketball bet than Marbury and Arenas in the backcourt would be a disaster – just imagine the scenes when one fails to pass to the other, the other starts crying and the pair of them leave Antawn Jamison wondering if he was ever going to see the ball again.

This franchise just has so much talent, but having Arenas moping around spending more time blogging than playing would be enough – adding the travelling circus that is ‘Starbury’ could just be their death knell.

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