Washington Wizards: 3 Biggest Storylines For 2013-14

The Washington Wizards will enter the 2013-14 season as one of the Eastern Conference teams expected to battle for a playoff spot.

These expectations may surprise many after the team won only 29 games last season, but there’s reason for optimism. The team had a relatively quiet offseason and mainly focused on keeping its core group of players together. Point guard John Wall was recently re-signed to a five-year, $80 million extension and that may have been the biggest move of the summer for the franchise.

While Wizards fans continue to hope the team can get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2008, let’s look at the three biggest storylines heading into the season.

Will John Wall prove the Wizards made the right decision to re-sign him?

The Wizards are banking on Wall leading them back to the playoffs. He’s coming off his best season as a pro, averaging 18.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game. He’s also been busy preparing to earn a Team USA roster spot next summer. The top five seeds in the Eastern Conference are pretty much set already, but the last three are up for grabs. Wall should be able to lead the team at best to a sixth seed, as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons will be in the mix as well.

Bradley Beal‘s sophomore season

Will he avoid the sophomore slump or continue to show why he was a top five pick? Beal can score in a variety of ways and at times last season, he played very well with Wall in the backcourt. Both can create their own shot, but Wall is the better penetrator and Beal is the better shooter. As a result, we should see Wall’s assists increase a little and Beal’s scoring improve as well.

The battle at small forward

The small forward position will have the most competition next season, by far. The Wizards re-signed Martell Webster and then drafted Otto Porter out of Georgetown. Veteran Trevor Ariza also returns and hopes to have a healthy year. Porter had an awful showing in the summer league, but one cannot be judged solely on summer league play. At this point, Webster and Ariza may have the edge to get most of the playing time, with Porter being the odd man out. That could change though by the end of the season.