Predicting the final records of each NBA team
By Brad Rowland
Washington Wizards
In the “last but not least” department, we find the Washington Wizards.
Washington was a bit of a cinderella story a season ago, making a run to the Eastern Conference semi-finals and nearly toppling the Indiana Pacers, and as a result, there are real expectations. In fact, some “experts” have assigned a 50-win over/under to the Wizards, and that would place them firmly into the number three spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Wizards sport the best starting five of any East team that isn’t named “Cleveland” or “Chicago”, as the backcourt duo of John Wall and Bradley Beal is joined by Nene, Marcin Gortat and the newly-signed Paul Pierce. Wall and Beal are at the center of any “best backcourt in the league” discussion, and while they aren’t there yet, the youth on both players is incredible, with Wall still at only 24 years old and Beal checking in at the tender age of 21.
It is entirely possible (if not likely) that both Wall and Beal could take a step forward this season, and in the case of Beal, it would be outwardly surprising if it did not occur. The former Florida Gators guard averaged 17 points per game in year two, but there is room for improvement on his 41.9% field goal percentage, and with an additional year under his belt, defensive adjustments can be made as well.
Up front, injuries are always the concern for Nene, but his durability woes are likely somewhat overstated, given that he has appeared in 50-plus games in five of six seasons, including three seasons of 75-plus contests. Still, there is a reason that Washington invested in both DeJuan Blair and Kris Humphries (who is now on the shelf for a weeks), and the Wizards were intentional about bolstering their depth behind Nene and Gortat.
The small forward spot is quite interesting in the nation’s capital, especially given that Pierce is replacing Trevor Ariza. On the whole, Pierce is a better basketball player than Ariza, but the now Rockets forward was a nice fit for the Wizards in that he knocked down threes while defending the opposition’s best perimeter player, while Pierce was deployed a lot at power forward for the Nets last season. The Wizards do have some depth behind Pierce with Otto Porter (remember the #3 pick in the 2013 draft?) and Glen Rice Jr., but there is a great deal of pressure on the future Hall of Famer to play well from the downbeat of the season.
Randy Wittman is probably not the coach that can take this Wizards team to the promised land (okay, he’s definitely not that coach), but the addition of Pierce should help in mentoring the young backcourt, and this roster is very good. Any talk of Washington ascending into the class occupied by Cleveland and Chicago is premature, but they are at the head of the next tier, and that is just fine.
Projected Record: 49-33, 3rd in East