John Wall, the face of the Wizards franchise, has been asked multiple times on the specific year end goal for the Wizards 2016-2017 NBA season. Over and over again he has responded saying “I see ourselves getting to the Eastern Conference Finals."
Just the Conference Finals, though? Not the NBA Finals? Is John Wall setting the bar too low? Or is he just being realistic based off what history tells us (and him)?
Well, what does history tell us?
The last time the Washington (Bullets at the time) Wizards franchise made it to the Eastern Conference Finals was back in 1979, when they also went on to represent the East in the NBA Finals. They eventually lost in the Finals that year to a hungry Seattle Supersonics team in five games, led by hall of fame player Dennis Johnson and Hall of Fame head coach Lenny Wilkens. The series was a rematch of the 1978 NBA finals which the Bullets had defeated the Supersonics 4-3 in a 7-game series, earning the first and only NBA title for the Washington franchise.
However, since appearing in the Conference Finals in consecutive seasons (1978 & 1979) the Bullets / Wizards have had a small drought, failing to make a single appearance. The small drought has now lasted 37 straight seasons to be exact. Okay, so maybe it's more than just a small drought.
Let me repeat that one more time… the last time the Wizards won the Eastern Conference was in 1979. Thirty-seven years ago!
To give us perspective, let’s take a look back at what life was like in 1979.
None of the players on current Wizards roster were alive.
The San Antonio Spurs were still in the Eastern Conference (the Spurs were the team the Bullets beat in Eastern Conference finals that year).
Scott Brooks was a 13-year-old in 8th grade.
Michael Jordan was some unknown hooper in the 11th grade who made the Varsity Basketball High School Team for the first time after being told he wasn’t talented enough to play Varsity his sophomore year.
A sophomore at Michigan St by the name of Magic Johnson and a senior named Larry Bird at Indiana St. faced off in the 1979 NCAA Tournament Championship game.
Fast forward 37 years…and all the Wizards players are alive and NBA-ready, the Spurs have had 20 consecutive winning seasons in the Western Conference, Scott Brooks is the Wizards Head Coach, MJ is the owner of the Charlotte Hornets, and Magic and Larry are now both serving as the president of operations for the LA Lakers and Indiana Pacers.
That much has happened since the Wizards last made it to Eastern Conference Finals.
Now, let’s revisit John Wall’s year end goals. Hmmm now I’m beginning to understand. So how realistic is an Eastern Conference Final birth?
After a dreadful 2-8 start to the season the Wizards have gone from ice cold to the hottest team in NBA behind the Golden State Warriors.
Since Washington’s loss on January 11th in Boston, which ended with a Jae Crowder and a John Wall scuffle, leading to a $15,000 fine for John Wall, the Wizards have gone 15-2. Their only two losses happened from a tip-in, buzzer beater by Marcus Morris and of course, the “one in a million” game tying fall away three at the end of regulation by LeBron James (Wizards went on to lose in OT).
For the last 27 games, there are three major keys to the Wizards success:
Starting 5 remains healthy and hot.
It begins and ends with the starting 5. Through 55 games: John Wall is healthy is as he has ever looked as he just participated in his third consecutive all-star game. Bradley Beal is finally healthy and playing lights out, slowly proving he was worth the 5 year $128 million contract he received this past summer. Otto Porter is a candidate for Most Improved Player of the year and he is having a break out season leading the NBA in 3-Point shooting percentage. Markieff is having himself quite year as he has been playing well in his stretch 4 role. And as for the Polish hammer, despite being 33 years of age he is still controlling the paint, setting good hard screens, and averaging a double-double. If this starting core stays healthy they have a great opportunity to remain successful in the second half of the season.
The East remains wide open.
The is the Eastern Conference through 55 games has many times looked like it may be up for grabs. Outside of the Raptors and Celtics the Wizards look like one of the favorites to challenge the Cav’s for a spot in the NBA finals.
Bogdanovic sparks Wizards' bench play.
Ernie Grunfeld once again was active during the NBA trade deadline as the Wizards acquired Bojan Bogdanovic and Chris McCullough from the Brooklyn Nets for a 2017 first-round draft pick, as well as Marcus Thornton and Andrew Nicholson. Bogdanovic, who started 54 games for the Nets, will immediately improve the Wizards bench who currently ranks 29th in scoring and minutes per game. The 27-year-old Croatian native is averaging 14.2 PPG on the season.
Overall
The Wizards have a 34-21 overall record, currently in third place in the East sitting just 5 games from the first-place Cav’s with 27 games remaining in the regular season.
17 out of those 27 games are against teams with a losing record
The other 10 games are against the Cavaliers, Celtics, Hawks, Clippers as well as two games against the Jazz, Raptors, and Warriors.
Since the Wizards selected John Wall with the #1 overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft the Wizards seasons have finished:
The Wizards have gone 21-6 in the last 27 games. If they can stay hot and keep this up, theoretically the Wizards have a really good opportunity to crack the 50-win mark for the first time since… Want to take a guess? 1979 when they went 54-28 in the regular season, it was also the last season they made it to Eastern Conference Finals.
So, you’re saying the last time the Wizards had a 50-win season was also the last time they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals??? Hmm… Is that just a random coincidence or is it destiny?
I guess only time will tell.