Washington Wizards: Healthy, Humbled and Ready To Win
It’s been 35 seasons since the Washington Wizards franchise has won 45 games. The 1978-79 Bullets were defending NBA champions when they won 54 games and lost in the 1979 NBA Finals to the Seattle SuperSonics. The 2013-14 Wizards aren’t going to win the championship, but they’re finally healthy, humble and ready to return to the postseason for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
John Wall Is Ready To Shine
John Wall and Bradley Beal will lead the Washington Wizards back to the playoffs in 2013-14. (Flickr.com photo by Keith Allison)
The team revolves around John Wall and looked as if they were ready to make noise in the Eastern Conference before the 2012-13 season began. In fact, Wall and company caught fire late in the 2011-12 season, winning eight of 10, including six in a row to end the season. Take a look at how Wall started to really put up solid numbers.
| Rk | Date | Tm | Opp | MP | FG% | 3P% | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | 2012-04-18 | WAS | MIL | W (+9) | 35:07 | .385 | .571 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 14 | ||
| 63 | 2012-04-21 | WAS | @ | MIA | W (+2) | 39:42 | .545 | .000 | 1.000 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
| 64 | 2012-04-23 | WAS | CHA | W (+28) | 29:48 | .538 | .000 | .500 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 16 | |
| 65 | 2012-04-25 | WAS | @ | CLE | W (+11) | 32:28 | .438 | .875 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 21 | |
| 66 | 2012-04-26 | WAS | MIA | W (+34) | 25:16 | .375 | .500 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/3/2013.
Then, disaster struck, with Wall being diagnosed with a stress injury to his left kneecap before playing a single game in the 2012-13 season. The Wizards stumbled out of the gate, losing their first 12 games of the season. By the time Wall finally got back on Jan. 12, the Wizards (5-28) had dug a hole much too deep to get out.
With Wall in 2012-13, the Wizards went 24-25 (.490), which would have been good enough to beat out the Milwaukee Bucks (38-44, .463) for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
In his last 26 games of the year, Wall played 36 minutes per game and averaged 22.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 7.8 assists and 1.6 steals with a shooting line of .465/.344/.796. He’s already tremendous and is just getting better.
The Team Is Vastly Improving
Take a look at the drastic improvement on the defensive side of things from the last three seasons:
| Season | PPG | Off. Rating | OPPG | Def. Rating |
| 2012-13 | 93.2 (28th) | 100.2 (30th) | 95.8 (8th) | 103.0 (5th) |
| 2011-12 | 93.6 (23rd) | 101.0 (25th) | 98.4 (20th) | 106.2 (21st) |
| 2010-11 | 97.3 (21st) | 102.4 (28th) | 104.7 (24th) | 110.2 (24th) |
Once the Wizards brought in Trevor Ariza, Nene and Emeka Okafor, the culture of the team started to change. Instead of being horribly undisciplined and inefficient, they started trending the other way. The offense hasn’t caught up yet, but you can’t put together a defensive turnaround like the Wizards have without changing attitudes and desire.
The 2012 NBA draft brought Bradley Beal, who had a decent rookie season–13.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists wasn’t far from expectations, and Beal’s 38.6 percent from the 3-point line put him in the middle of the pack. Wall and Beal will continue to learn how to play off of each other and the chemistry will get better.
The 2013 NBA draft saw the Wizards draft Otto Porter Jr. from nearby Georgetown University. Not only is he a good fit as a guy who’s played in the D.C. area for two years, but he has a lot of the traits that the Wizards are looking for, especially defensively. Porter knows that too, as he talked about it on draft night:
"“I feel I can contribute on the defensive side immediately, being that next guy to rotate around, that next guy to defend and get rebounds to lead to our offense and open up the court.”"
There Will Be Eastern Conference Dropouts
Being successful doesn’t necessarily mean being the best team in the league. The Wizards will have a modest goal of making the playoffs, which means they’ll need to be better than seven teams in the Eastern Conference.
The Boston Celtics lost Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry, which makes their playoff chances plummet. The Atlanta Hawks are undergoing massive changes with the likely loss of Josh Smith and are unlikely to match their 2012-13 playoff seed. The Milwaukee Bucks could be losing both Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis, which means no playoffs for them.
That opens up three spots in the East. Certainly the Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks will be back. Aside from that, is there a team in the East that is better suited to make it to the playoffs than the Wizards?
The Wiz have a superstar in Wall, a stifling defense and veterans to help lead the way. They’re finally healthy, their playoff drought has left them humbled and now they’re ready to return to the postseason. Look for them to grab the No. 7 seed in the 2013-14 season.