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The time is now for the Washington Wizards to blow it up

ByMatt H|
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 25: Bradley Beal #3 Otto Porter Jr. #22 and John Wall #2 of the Washington Wizards pose for a portrait during Media Day on September 25, 2017 at Capital One Center in Washington DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 25: Bradley Beal #3 Otto Porter Jr. #22 and John Wall #2 of the Washington Wizards pose for a portrait during Media Day on September 25, 2017 at Capital One Center in Washington DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images)
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Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

The Washington Wizards are stuck in the middle of the Eastern Conference.  Here’s why the time is now or never for them to blow it up and start all over.

There are four tiers of teams in the NBA. The top, middle, bottom … and the Washington Wizards.

The teams at the top have the league’s best players, pay heavily into the luxury tax and consistently compete for NBA championships.

The bottom tier is represented by the league’s worst-run franchises. These teams are always in the top half of the lottery, struggle to acquire good players and can’t seem to get out of their own way.

The teams in the middle are not good enough to win against the top but are also not consistently terrible enough to be at the bottom. Instead, they muddle through, seemingly content with making the playoffs every so often.

Then come the Washington Wizards. They pay their players like a team at the top, run themselves like a team at the bottom and perform like a team stuck right in the middle. Few NBA franchises satisfy two of the three criteria. Washington’s ability to pull off the trifecta is pure art.

So what can a team like the Wizards do to finally turn it around?

Now I know what you’re thinking: Washington is competitive and should make the playoffs this year, so why can’t they just run it back in a weaker Eastern Conference that just saw its best player move to the Los Angeles Lakers?

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Well, the Toronto Raptors got better this offseason by adding All-NBA superstar Kawhi Leonard, the Boston Celtics are at full health and seem ready to start another NBA Finals run, the Philadelphia 76ers completed The Process and won 52 games last season and the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks have revamped rosters built around their two young stars and are primed to elevate to the next level.

All the while, Washington general manager Ernie Grunfeld locked in the Wizards’ three best players to maximum contracts, essentially dooming them to a continued run of mediocre outcomes until the end of the 2020-21 season. Basically, the Wizards fumbled the last five years only to watch the rest of the Eastern Conference pass them by.

Hence, it’s time to blow it up in Washington. What do I mean by blow it up?

Overhaul the roster, dump as much salary as you can, fall all the way to the bottom of the league, trade for as many young players and draft picks as possible and completely hit the reset button.

So where do you start? Well, it all begins with Washington’s largest contract on the books, John Wall.

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