After five straight abysmal seasons, the Washington Wizards finally turned the corner thanks in part to the development of their talented, young backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal. The Wiz won their first playoff series in nearly a decade and brought life back to the franchise. With a good amount of cap space this off-season, Washington could make a couple of big moves that would help propel the team higher up the Eastern Conference standings.
Washington Wizards (44-38 last year)
2014-15 Projected Depth Chart:
C: Nene Hilario
PF: *Trevor Booker/*Kevin Seraphin
SF: Martell Webster/Otto Porter
SG: Bradley Beal/Glen Rice Jr.
PG: John Wall/Andre Miller
NBA Free Agents:
C-Marcin Gortat (UFA)
SF-Trevor Ariza (UFA)
PF-Drew Gooden (UFA)
PF-Al Harrington (UFA)
SF-Chris Singleton (UFA)
SG-Garrett Temple (UFA)
*PF-Trevor Booker (RFA)
*PF-Kevin Seraphin (RFA)
2014-15 Team Salary: Approximately $45.7 million
Team Needs:
1. A Post Player:
Washington’s frontcourt could experience a major facelift this off-season since most of their guys are free agents including starting center Marcin Gortat. The Wiz would love to bring him back and find a way to keep Trevor Booker around but guys like Drew Gooden, Al Harrington, and Kevin Seraphin are replaceable. Finding someone who can start aside Nene is a must and if Gortat is not brought back, Washington has the cap space to bring in a bigger name. (You know would be a good fit, Pau Gasol.)
2. Small Forward:
In a contract year, Trevor Ariza had possibly the best season of his NBA career and proved he still has plenty of gas left in the tank. While the Wiz have Martell Webster and Otto Porter, who had an extremely disappointing rookie year, they should strongly consider bringing Ariza back. If not, management could roll the dice that Porter will make a sizeable leap during his second year and that he and Webster can hold down the fort at small forward.
3. Guard Depth:
The acquisition of Andre Miller added experience and leadership to the Wizard roster but he didn’t exactly play all that well in Washington. The team also lacks a true backup to Bradley Beal at shooting guard so could use some depth and options in the backcourt.
OTHER NBA OFF-SEASON TEAM NEEDS PAGES:
ATLANTA HAWKS
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Milwaukee to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet (Yup, repeat champ… #humblebrag), and finished with the second most accurate 2013 NBA Mock Draft (nearly a three-peat.) You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.