Washington Wizards: 5 Predictions for the Season

The NBA is finally here!  Here is five predictions for the Washington Wizards as they begin their journey for the coveted eighth seed in the Eastern Conference Wednesday.

Bradley Beal will lead the team in scoring

Beal has been one of the most talked about players going into the upcoming season.  The recognition is well deserved.  As a rookie last season he averaged almost 14 points a game while shooting 38 percent from beyond the arc.  He struggled early on without talented point guard John Wall, who missed a significant amount of time to start the year because of injury, by his side.  The Wizards lacked a playmaker who could find open shooters like Beal.  It is tough for a rookie to come into the NBA right away and be able to create his own shot consistently, especially with suspect point guard play.

However, John Wall is back and healthy to start this season and the backcourt duo showed how good they could be together late last season and this preseason.  Wall’s ability to penetrate the gaps and find open players makes the Wizards backcourt difficult to defend.  With Beal’s ability to knock down shots at a high rate, defenses have to pick their poison with the two.  Do you send help once Wall beats your point guard (he does this to almost everyone) or do you stick tight on Beal?  It will be a dilemma defenses will be in throughout the 2013-14 season.

The main reason Beal will take the leap this season is because of Bradley Beal himself.  Throughout the offseason there was a lot of talk about how Beal had improved greatly from last season.  It was all evident in the preseason.  He was one of the most impressive players in the entire league.  In seven preseason games, he played an average of 30 minutes and scored 20.7 points per game on 51.9 percent from the field and 45.7 percent from deep.  He will see more minutes in the regular season, which may lower his shooting percentages slightly, but it is no stretch for him to be able to score in the 20s every single night.  From his preseason play, you can tell he has vastly improved shooting off the dribble and his ability to be a playmaker.  That will be a huge advantage for him because defenses will not be able to key in on just his 3-point shot.

You may be thinking, what about John Wall as the leading scorer?  The ultra-talented guard who is finally healthy and destined for a breakout year.  However, I think, especially now with the addition of Marcin Gortat, Wall is going to be much more of a facilitator.  His ability to drive and kick will get Beal and Trevor Ariza open looks.  The pick-and-roll with Gortat is going to be lethal.  Gortat thrived in that role in Phoenix and he and Wall will form a nice combination.  Nene can hit shots consistently at mid-range.  Wall will have a lot of options when he is beating defenders off the dribble, which will allow this unit to be dynamic offensively.  I believe the Wizards will be their best when Wall is finding open guys and that will allow Bradley Beal to lead this team in scoring.

Randy Wittman will get fired

I was extremely confident this would happen before the Gortat trade happened because a slow start seemed highly likely with the Wizards lackluster frontcourt.  But they got a solid big in Gortat which should allow the Wizards to get off to a better start.  However, I am still fairly confident the Wizards will go the other direction at head coach some point this season.  The Gortat trade confirmed the Wizards are in “win-now” mode and if they get off to a slow start, Wittman is gone.  The Wizards really want that seventh or eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and Wittman has not proved he is that guy yet.  He has won only 35.8 percent of his games in his tenure in Washington which does not give him room to mess around.  If he is going to be fired it will happen within the first 25 games of the season so the Wizards can keep the playoffs hope alive.

Jan Vesely will shoot less than 40 percent from the foul line

Breaking news: Jan Vesely is not a good foul shooter.  He shot 30.8 percent last season.  He was 5-for-12 in the preseason.  He is going for back-to-back 30 percent foul shooting seasons.  You go, Jan!

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Otto Porter will have a disappointing rookie season

It is hard for any rookie to jump in the league and make an immediate impact.  It gets even harder when you miss training camp and the preseason because of injuries.  Also, Porter is at a position where there are veterans ahead of him (Trevor Ariza and Martell Webster) as well as the other rookie Glen Rice Jr., who was impressive in the preseason.  There is no timetable for his return and CSN Washington is reporting that Porter had an MRI on his right hip yesterday.  It is going to be tough for Porter to jump in and play minutes for this team.  Even if he was healthy, I think Porter was going to struggle this season.  He was a safe pick because he does a little bit of everything on the court.  However, that is what concerns me.  Does he do anything that well where he could help out a playoff team?  It is hard to make an impact if you are not real good at any one thing in the NBA.  He does not seem to have a very high-ceiling as a player because of that.

Hopefully, Porter gets healthy and has a chance to prove me wrong.  I have my doubts though.

WIZARDS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS!!!

The Wizards are coming for you, Miami, in that opening 1 vs. 8 matchup to start the playoffs.  Be aware, South Beach.  In all seriousness, I really believe the Wizards will be back in the playoffs for the first time since the 2007-08 season (GILBERT!).  They have one of the best backcourts in the league with Wall and Beal.  The Gortat-Wall pick-and-roll is going to be super effective.  They will struggle without Emeka Okafor defensively, but their offense should allow them to be one of the eight best teams in the East.  They are not good enough to be anything better than a No. 7 seed, but at least basketball in D.C. will be a little rejuvenated and could be a potential destination for a key free agent next year, which could allow the Wizards to take that next step forward.  I think that is the biggest thing for the Wizards this year.  Instead of being a bottom feeder again this season, becoming a playoff team makes them much more of an intriguing franchise for free agents then in years past.

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