I'm afraid our Washington Wizards haven't been no great shakes this year. In fact they've lost more games than they've won and most likely they won't even qualify for the playoff series. Maybe next season we'll do better.

My comments:

The Wizards are no great shakes this year?

That means the Wizards are not very good. If you follow the NBA, it won’t be difficult for you to figure out this meaning. As of now, the Wizards have a 6-22 record, i.e. they’ve lost 22 games out of 28. Poor Wizards.

The phrase “no great shakes” comes from gambling, alluding to the shaking of dice. If it’s a single dice, you roll it. If it’s a few dice, you put them into a bottle, shake the bottle (give it a good shake) and pour them out on the table. Hence if good numbers come up, you’ve got a good shake. If the numbers are small, you’ve got a bad shake.

Hopefully next year, the Wizards will get a better shake, i.e. better luck.

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本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.