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#7 Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards have, once again, submitted a letdown of a regular season campaign. While some portion of the blame for their less-than-spectacular 42-38 record has to fall on the injury woes of John Wall, who's missed half of their season so far with only 40 appearances out of a possible 80 - the Wizards have been underwhelming for the best part of this season.
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Even with Wall in the lineup, they went 7-8 during the month of November. To Scott Brooks' and the Wizards' credit, however, they dealt with Wall's absence better the second time around, as they finished with a 16-12 record from the last week of January till the last week of March (when Wall made his comeback).
During this time, they pushed Tomas Satoransky into their starting five and led the league in assists per game as a team (even better than the Golden State Warriors), setting the blueprint for what could be a winning formula in the playoffs.
The Wizards have a solid starting five of Wall, Beal, Otto Porter Jr, Markieff Morris and Marcin Gortat that could hold its own against any team on a given day. Their bench is better than it has been for the past couple of seasons, what with the emergence of Kelly Oubre Jr as a legitimate two-way player and the likes of Ian Mahinmi, Mike Scott, Jodie Meeks, Ramon Sessions and Tomas Satoransky all capable of making a genuine impact on the game.
The Wizards, Bucks and Miami Heat are locked in a three-way battle for the 6th seed, and the Wizards hold the advantage in the tiebreaker against the Bucks. The Wizards' last two games are against the Celtics, who have locked up the #2 seed and have nothing to play for, and the Magic, one of the worst teams in the league.
The Wizards should be able to lock up the #6 seed this way. But they will certainly be underdogs against the likes of the 76ers and the Cavaliers - whichever team they face in the first round, and for this reason, they are ranked one spot lower on our power rankings.
