The Washington Wizards: Doomed for Mediocrity
Washington has been this kind of team for a very long time. At their best, they’ve been a first, or second round exit for decades. Unfortunately, that’s not an exaggeration. Washington hasn’t made it out of the second round since 1979. They seem to be somewhat competitive most years, yet they never seem to cross that bridge that would take them from mediocre, to contender. To understand how this happened, and is still happening, we need to take a look at the past, present, and future of the Washington Wizards
The Past
To really understand what this fan base has been through, let’s take a journey through the history of Washington basketball and their shortcomings. As you already know, Washington hasn’t made the conference finals since the 70’s, so what happened in the 80’s? Well, in the five-year-span from 1983-1988 the then “Bullets” lost in the first round every year. Other than that, they made no playoff appearances in the 80’s. The 90’s were even worse for Washington, as they only made one post-season in 1997 and were swept in the first round by the soon-to-be champion Bulls. The year after in the 97-98 season, they rebranded. Goodbye Bullets, hello Wizards.
Jordan, Arenas & Jamison
These beginning years for the “Wizards” were rough, and resulted in no playoff appearances, but they were blessed with having Michael Jordan on the roster from 2001-2003. It didn’t lead to anything, but having arguably the best player of all time dawn your colors and represent your team during his farewell was a pretty cool experience for Washington. The Gilbert Arenas and Antawan Jamison era began in 2005, as they made their first postseason as the rebranded “Wizards” with the 5th seed, and managed to knock out the 4th seed Chicago Bulls in just five games, but were beat in six in the next round by the Pacers. As for the rest of this era? Oh, I remember it very well. You see, I’m a Cavaliers fan, so the next part of the Wizards journey was a great memory for me, but awful for Washington. In the three post-seasons from 2006-2008, the Wizards were beat in the first round by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers…every time. Their franchise player Gilbert Arenas had a Mexican-standoff, fully equipped with loaded pistols with Java’s Crittenton (who is now in jail for manslaughter), and just like that, it was a wrap on this era of playoff Wizards basketball. The next one didn’t come until 2014.
Red, Wall & Beal
The Wizards once again made the postseason in 2014 as the dawn of the new era of John Wall and Bradley Beal was officially underway, but a familiar tale was told. From 2014-2018, the wizards made the playoffs (besides 2016 due to John Wall being injured) four times and were knocked out in the second round each time besides 2018 because they were beat in the first round. During and after that, their star player John Wall struggled with constant injuries and was barley ever on the court. As a result, the team struggled and missed the post-season two straight years (2019 & 2020). Because of Wall never being available and Beal averaging over 30 PPG, the Wizards decided to move on from Wall and brought in a former MVP to help Beal.
Moving Sideways
The Wizards decided it was time to move on from playing the “when will John Wall return?” game and move on from him. They were able to bring in Russell Westbrook to pair up with Beal, as well as their two former 9th overall picks; Deni Avdija and Rui Hachimura, hoping to ignite fire in the franchise. Unfortunately, the experiment didn’t work out at all. Westbrook and Beal flat out weren’t a good enough duo to do any serious damage, and their previous two picks were (and still are) playing horrible basketball. The Wizards ended up as the 8th seed and won their second play-in game to earn a berth in the 2021 NBA Playoffs. They were then beat in five games in the first round…we’ve heard this one before. In the off-season, the Wizards traded Westbrook to the Lakers for Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell, as well as snagging Spencer Dinwiddie in the deal from the Nets. After a scolding hot start to the current 2022 season, the Wizards fell off hard and went from the top of the east to not even in the play in by the time the All-Star break came around. Right before the trade deadline, they moved Harrell & Dinwiddie and brought in former All-Star Kristaps Porzingis. Now we focus on the present and the future. Where can this team go? What was the point of that trade?
The Present
Let’s talk about this year. The Wizards are currently 27-31 and hold the 11th seed in the East. That means if the season ended today, not only would they miss the playoffs, but they also wouldn’t even make the play in tournament. Bradley Beal is out the rest of the year due to injury, and his contract is up, which means he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this offseason unless he decides to accept his player option. Porzingis is set to make his debut for the Wizards soon, and will likely play a good amount for them the rest of the year. This year they could potentially make the play-in behind Porzingis (If he can stay healthy) which could lead to a playoff berth. Even if they do that, it’ll likely be another first round exit. So, what can we expect in the future from this team? What is their game plan?
The Future
Their best player Bradley Beal is on the last year of his contract this year, and was most likely headed to free agency to weigh his options. However, bringing in Porzingis in my eyes is a way to convince Beal to stay. If Beal stays, he’ll also be eligible for a supermax, which no other team could offer. The money is already talking, but before the trade deadline, the Wizards had such a lousy supporting cast behind Beal that even with the money on the table, it seemed like he was going to part ways. But now with Porzingis, there is reason to stay…or at least that’s how they see it. That’s why, in my opinion, the remainder of this season is crucial if the Wizards hope to keep Beal. If Porzingis comes in, shows out, and leads the team to at least the play-in, that will most likely result in tipping the scale towards staying for Beal. What does that mean for the future though? Beal, Porzingis, Kuzma, Gafford…is that enough?
The Verdict
The Wizards are like a perfect home that has yet to be moved into. Everything looks great…it’s just…missing something. They have the perfect structure for a championship team, they have for a while, the problem is they’re missing one piece. A “Hall-Of-Fame” and “1st Team All-NBA” talent. I think they know this, because John Wall was supposed to be that guy, but he couldn’t avoid injuries. Russell Westbrook was supposed to be that guy, but he’s not who he once was. The Wizards have relied on a free agent to come to their house and turn their franchise a new leaf for quite some time, but it hasn’t happened yet. They tried through the draft, they tried through trades, but nothing has worked out. Beal is a great secondary scoring option, but as we’ve seen, he won’t win you many games as the first. Porzingis would be a phenomenal third scoring option, but as the second…not so much. He didn’t win much as the first in New York, he didn’t acomplish much as the second in Dallas. He needs to accept that if he wants to win, he must play a Chris Bosh, Kevin Love, or Draymond Green kind of role. Imagine dropping LeBron James on this Wizards team…they’d be finals-bound. That’s the problem with the Wizards right now. Truthfully, it’s been the problem historically for the franchise. They don’t have the cap space to sign anyone, so they either need to trade for someone, or luck out in the draft. Unfortunately, that’s been the story for quite some time, and it hasn’t worked out yet. In a nutshell, the Washington Wizards are doomed to be mediocre.