2011-12 Washington Wizards Yearly Outlook
The Wizards are a young squad looking for an identity, after winning a terrible 23 times last year and having the fourth worst win total in the NBA. They do seem to be going in the right direction after adding a lot of young players through the draft. The Wizards played very sloppy basketball last season and their team needs to mature fast if they want to contend every night.
Washington has had a pretty decent offseason after taking Jan Vesely with their seventh draft choice. They also took Chris Singleton with the 18th choice and Sheldon Mack with their 34th selection. Vesely is an athletic forward who can get up and down the court, Singleton was thought of as the best defensive player in the class, and Mack could become a decent reserve. They have also re-signed free agent shooting guard Nick Young, who put up a team best 17.5 points/contest last season. Ronny Turiaf and Roger Mason Jr. were players brought on through free agency.
After putting up 16.4 points, 8.3 assists. 4.6 boards and 1.75 steals last year, John Wall will have a heightened pressure to get better from his rookie campaign. He was hit with health issues last season, and the hope in the franchise is that if he can stay on the court this season, he can provide big numbers that can excite their fan base.
Wall and Young will be joined in the starting lineup by center JaVale McGee, power forward Andray Blatche, and small forward Rashard Lewis. Both McGee and Blatche have the talent to be very good players, but right now they lack discipline, maturity and focus. Blatche averaged 16.8 points and 8.2 rebounds, while McGee averaged 8.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.44 blocks a game. Lewis came over in a trade with the Magic last season, and averaged just over 12 points a game.
The improvement of this squad will rest mainly on the hands of their reserve players. Rookies Jan Vesely and Chris Singleton will surely be given a lot of floor time to display their talents and help Washington generate wins. Also in their bench in back-up shooting guard Jordan Crawford who put up almost 12 points a night last year. Turiaf, Mason Jr. and Trevor Booker will also have big roles for this franchise in the upcoming year.
Pick: 4th in the East’s Southeast Division – While this franchise is clearly capable of advancing from their win totals last season, our NBA handicapper feels a lot of that will be dependent on the improvement of some young guys. They have more skilled players than Charlotte and they can end up in front of them but much of that is also dependent of the improvement and growth of the team. They may end up in front of Charlotte but they’re still at least a year or two away from making the postseason.
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