August Preview: The Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are an interesting case in my opinion. The Hornets and Bulls weren’t too far behind them in the standings, and yet the Wizards were the only Eastern Conference team to be invited to Orlando outside of the top 8. Why is that? The Hornets were 1.5 games back of the Wizards, and the Bulls were 2.5 games back. However, if we’re being honest with ourselves, there was no chance that the Boylen led Bulls or Borrego led Hornets had a chance at making it into the playoffs. Scott Brooks is a solid coach who has a star on his roster that can put up 30 points a game.
Bradley Beal, in my opinion, should have easily been an All-Star this season. Before the season got suspended, the man was averaging 30.5 points, 6.1 assists per game, and 4.2 rebounds, leading his team in the first two of those categories. Not to mention the fact that he was averaging over a steal per game as well. It is an absolute crime that Beal wasn’t an All-Star this season. Trae Young was averaging roughly the same amount of points as Beal and started the game for God’s sake. Yes I understand that Young was also averaging nearly 10 assists, but he was averaging three less rebounds, less steals, and less blocks than Beal was. And to top it all off, the Wizards were, and still are, having an infinitely better season than the Hawks. I get that Young is a fan favorite, but I just think Beal deserved the spot more. Even if he didn’t replace young, if Young was a starter, Beal at least deserved to be on the team.
Anyways, the point of this article is not to sing Beal’s praises and defend his honor, it’s to go over what I expect to see from the Wizards come August. To be honest, I think that Washington could make some noise when the season returns. I don’t hate their roster overall, but the big issue is the lack of a second option. Beal is a player who can will his team to victory if he's having a good game, but the issue comes when he doesn’t have the perfect game. If Beal even just has an average game, the rest of the roster doesn’t always pick up the slack. Who’s going to be the second option? Thomas Bryant? Davis Bertans? Mo Wagner? The answer is a no to all three.
I see their starting lineup looking like Shabazz Napier, Bradley Beal, Troy Brown Jr., Rui Hachimura, and Thomas Bryant. Add Davis Bertans and Mo Wagner to the mix and you got a solid group of dudes. The only issue being that there’s no CJ McCollum on the team. No Khris Middleton. No Klay Thompson. No second option for Beal to fall back on when he needs help. That’s going to be the downfall of the Wizards in Orlando, and for the foreseeable future until John Wall comes back. That being said, there isn’t too much strong competition in front of them competing for the 8 seed.
The way I see it, Bradley Beal is the best player across the board when looking at the three teams competing for the 8 seed in the Eastern Conference. The only other player who’s been an All-Star in the last few seasons on any of the teams is Nikola Vucevic, and I would consider Beal far and away the better player out of those two. That means a lot when facing off against one of those teams, but considering the only teams the Wizards are going to play during the 8 game stretch are really solid opponents, I don’t know if Beal will be able to carry the weight of his teammates.
I feel like if Beal can get hot early, then the WIzards do actually have a shot at making the 8 seed. Whether or not it’ll be over the Nets or Magic is a question for another article. Overall, if I had to just pick a black or white option of yes they will make the playoffs, or no they will not, I think I’m going to go with a yes. I’ll take a risk with this pick. I believe in Beal and that he’s a top 25 NBA player. He can carry the offense, and the Wizards, to the 8 seed in the East
