Apr 3, 2014
The last time the Washington Wizards made the playoffs it was 2008. This was back when the Wizards employed Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antwan Jamison as their Big 3. This was back before Arenas had guns in the locker room and way before John Wall was in town.
Back in 2008 the Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors, Cleveland Cavaliers and the Wizards made the playoffs in the East. Right now 3 of those teams (Magic, 76ers and Celtics) are already out of playoff contention and 3 more of those teams currently sit outside of the playoff picture (Hawks, Cavaliers and Pistons). From those teams, only the Wizards and Raptors have clinched playoff seeds in the East this year and feature completely different rosters from then.
So pretty much a lot has changed since the Wizards last played in the playoffs.
Although the East has been noticeably weak compared to the West (its pretty crazy out West) the Wizards have earned their spot in the playoffs. For a team that had a very similar core last year, this team has been pretty good this season. After swapping the injured Emeka Okafor for Marcin Gortat before the season began, the Wizards looked serious about making the playoffs. Their next problem was the back up point guard spot so they traded draft bust Jan Vesley and Eric Maynor in a three team deal to get Andre Miller.
The Wizards front line features veteran big men who can play both ends and young bigs who can replace them when needed. Then they have a pretty good wing combination of guys who can shoot and defend. Oh yeah and John Wall has been having an all star season averaging 19 points and 8 assist.
If the playoffs started today the Wizards would face the Raptors in the first round. The Raptors are a good team but they don’t strike fear into anyone. If the Wizards can keep things up they should be in good position to do some damage in the playoffs, which in other words means they have a chance at making it to the second round. The Wizards had a good season this year now lets see if they can have a good playoffs too.
Everick Davis Jr.
Was good though, it's me Everick Davis Jr. Born and raised in Portsmouth Virginia, I'm currently a senior at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. I watch every sport (not so much golf) but I am huge on the NBA. My favorite players right now are J.R. Smith, Russell Westbrook & Nick Young. Drinking beer and watching sports is my favorite past time and I do it year round! I used to play basketball on the regular until everyone else kept growing and I still stood at 5'6. So that's when I channeled my efforts into becoming the next Stephen A Smith or anything close to that. I currently write for "The Carolinian" newspaper in Greensboro, NC and intern for http://theurbantwist.com/ Random Fact about me, I love anime, my favorite one is One Piece! Second random fact, I got beatz! check me out http://www.reverbnation.com/ielabs
