With having John Wall and Bradley Beal in the backcourt, the Washington Wizards should be contenders to make it to the NBA finals every single season. The Wizards should have beaten the Boston Celtics in the conference semifinals a season ago, but the Wizards forgot how to win a game on the road in the playoffs.
The reason why the Wizards should have beaten the Celtics in the playoffs a season ago is that I thought the Wizards had a better roster than the Celtics and I thought the Washington Wizards were ready to take the next step to be elite contenders in the NBA. Boston was lucky to beat the Chicago Bulls in first round because of a Rajon Rondo injury and the Celtics trailed 2-0 in that series and I thought, if Rondo was doing damage, imagine wh
The Eastern Conference wasn't as good a season ago compared to this season. Is it clear that the Washington Wizards are underachieving? Well, the Wizards record this season is 25-20 and they currently sit in fifth place in the east. They are more talented than the Miami Heat, but Washington is 1.5 games back of the Heat in the Southeast Division.
Scott Brooks is Washington's head coach and they have not been well coached at times. Brooks was let go by the Oklahoma City Thunder for a reason. He had once had Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and other calibre pieces together but Brooks sometimes struggled to use it. This could very well be the same case here with Beal and Wall.
Bradley Beal is averaging 23.7 PPG 4.3 RPG 3.8 APG and 1.1 SPG so far this season. John Wall is averaging 19.6 PPG 3.6 RPG 9.3 APG and 1.4 SPG so far this season. After that, Otto Porter Jr. is averaging 13.7 PPG 6.3 RPG and 1.5 SPG so far this season. Kelly Oubre Jr. is averaging 11.9 PPG and 4.9 RPG so far this season. Marcin Gortat averages 9 PPG and 8.3 RPG so far this season.
They get decent bench play from Jodie Meeks, Mike Scott, and Kelly Oubre Jr. The Wizards average 106.9 points per game which is the 10th best in the NBA. They are ranked 13th in the NBA points given up per game (105.3).
Those stats aren't bad, but they could be a lot better in the win-loss column. They should be better than the Miami Heat and the Toronto Raptors but they are not. Washington isn't better than the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Boston Celtics this season, but they should be able to compete with them or give them a scare.
The Wizards are 3-3 this season against the top teams in the east. What concerns the Wizards is that they are losing to below .500 teams like the Charlotte Hornets. Washington was crushed by Charlotte 133-109 this past Wednesday.
If Washington is truly a contender, they will beat the Miami Heat in the first round and then upset the Boston Celtics in the second round. Washington then should give the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Toronto Raptors a run for their money in the Conference Finals.