Can the Wizards Surprise Everyone?
Photo by Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards have gone through many changes this off-season, the biggest one being that they traded away Bradley Beal. In turn, they traded away Chris Paul after acquiring him through the Beal trade for a trio of players, including guard Jordan Poole. As of right now, this trade looks to be very beneficial for the Wizards as they were able to flip a 38-year-old point guard in Paul for a promising young player in Poole, and that's not mentioning the other players as well as draft picks they picked up in that trade. Another move the Wizards made was trading forward Kristaps Porzingis to the Boston Celtics for some veteran players who could help guide their young roster. All of this seems to indicate that the Wizards are fully in rebuild mode and planning for the future. But can they speed up the process and sneak into the playoffs next season?
The Bright side
To be realistic, the chances the Wizards make the playoffs are not high, and there are a lot of question marks surrounding the team. However, there is a slight chance they can surprise everyone. Those chances will increase if the team can build chemistry and a consistent rotation that outperforms expectations. When looking at the Wizards, you can see that they are in full rebuild mode. However, they still have some positive things going for them. The first is that they have a young player in Poole that has untapped potential and can blossom into a superstar in the coming years with the team. While in Golden State last season, he averaged 20 points per game and 4.5 assists per game, which was a career-high. Now that Poole is in Washington, it is safe to say he will be their number-one option on offense and will presumably be running it. Additionally, Poole has playoff experience, and playing with Steph Curry seems to have benefited his overall game. Whether he can lead the team is debatable, but may be answered this upcoming season. Another bright spot for the team is the play of forward Kyle Kuzma. He averaged 21 points per game and seven rebounds per game last season, giving them another primary scoring option. The leadership of these two players will be key to overcoming the odds. Lastly, they drafted Bilal Coulibaly, among other players, in the 2023 NBA draft. So far, Coulibaly has shown some promise in the NBA Summer League and will likely keep developing as the season starts.
Wizards Issues
This Wizards team is not the most talented in the league, and they have their issues. One of these issues is their lack of defense and a big frontcourt presence. Right now, their best rim protector is Daniel Gafford, who had one block per game last season, which is respectable, but no one else has proven themselves, so their depth is also an issue. Lastly, there is a question mark with their head coach Wes Unseld Jr. and his ability to lead a team that is not the most talented, seeing as he has had two losing seasons in his two years coaching the team. Although to be fair, he did not have the best team to work with. Now the head coach will have a worse roster than in previous years, and his challenge will be to uplift his players and put them in a position to outperform expectations. Despite the current issues with the team, I believe that Jordan Poole will become a player that can erase some of those issues this upcoming season and lead this team in the right direction.
Photo by ClutchPoints/Jay Postrado
Last season the Wizards finished 12th in the Eastern Conference, falling short of the play-in tournament. While the roster looks significantly different than last year, they can still compete with the other teams looking to sneak into the playoffs. Overall, I expect the Wizards to be good on the offensive end of the floor. With the weight of the team's success on Poole and Kuzma, the Wizards can surprise everybody by sneaking into the playoffs next season, most likely through the play-in tournament.
