Washington Wizards took a step back last season after making the playoffs and winning a couple of series in the past years. They have struggled all season long and just couldn’t get on a roll. Their defense was highly questionable, and they just couldn’t stay healthy. Has anything really changed in Washington?
Not really. Bradley Beal and John Wall are still starting for this team. And they need to play like All-Stars if this squad wants to get back to the postseason. Beal missed few games last year because of an injury, and that was what hurt this team.
It also didn’t help that they couldn’t find that stretch four that they so desperately needed. Kris Humphries was their experiment as they tried to make him that power forward who can knock down some shots from outside, but it really didn’t work. And as we look at this roster, they still haven’t found that guy to stretch the floor for Beal and especially John Wall.
Al Horford was their last hope, but he chose to go to Boston, so Wizard gave a boat load of money to Mahinmi. And nobody knows what did they think when they decided to do that.
Marcin Gortat is a reliable center, you always know what you get when he is on the floor, but they need him to step up on the defensive side of the ball. Mahinmi will help, but he is not productive on offense.
Otto Porter Jr. will need to play better than he did last season. He was pretty good tho, but they need all of their players to step up and play at a high level in order to hide their weaknesses and restrictions.
This team can sneak into the Playoff picture, but we don’t think that it will happen. 38 wins are about right for this squad, and we believe that they will be 9th or 10th in the Eastern Conference Playoff race. We wouldn’t be surprised if Beal and Wall carry this team all season long and they go to the postseason, but we are not so sure about that.
