It’s Alright D.C. Sports Fans, We Are in Good Hands

Washington Wizards fans feel the disappointment of another season without a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals more than most. See they’ve endured the same longstanding pain with the other D.C. franchises, the Capitals, the Nationals, and the Redskins. But like the former two teams, the Wizards are close to breaking through the invisible barrier, and causing fans to breathe a sigh of relief.

1998 through present day, the drought still lives on.

No major D.C. sports team has made an appearance to its league’s conference finals since that year. Yes D.C. United we are excluding you.

The Washington Wizards’ courageous and inspiring run this season was put to an end by Isaiah Thomas and the Boston Celtics.

It was when the city’s hope was the highest – game seven of the Eastern Conference Semifinals – that they suffered the most pain in their hearts by the unlikeliest of foe.

The man who Kelly Oubre unleashed his raged at – Kelly Olynyk – was the one who secretly transformed himself into the Larry Legend himself and ended the season for the Wizards by scoring 14 points off the bench when his team needed someone to close the game out on his way to a 26-point night.

Typical D.C. sports fashion.

Although the Wizards franchise has not been to the conference finals in 38 years, fans should not be discouraged. This Wizards team exceeded expectations.

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This team was not expected to finish one game short of 50 wins.

Scott Brooks was expected to need some time to develop this group.

Moments after being hired, Brooks immediately began making phone calls to schedule in person meetings with his six most crucial players, starting with John Wall and ending with Oubre.

His ability to instantly connect on deep levels with his players, a skill of his that has been praised since his coach career started in Oklahoma City, is unparalleled.

Wall was expected to take his game to an All-NBA level, but what about the others?

There were some serious doubts about whether Bradley Beal could raise his game because of his history of injuries, even though he still has few years until he reaches his prime.

After receiving his max contract – just like his backcourt mate Wall – Beal received serious criticism.

Beal played his highest number of games of his career (77 ) in his fifth season. That in itself is a cause for celebration for a guard who had missed 25 percent of his career games coming into the season.

That newfound durability allowed Beal to display the talent that has always existed within. He was nearly selected for his first All-Star appearance, but because of Carmelo’s selection to replace the injured Kevin Love, he remained as one of the biggest snubs of All Star Weekend.

What about Otto Porter? We had a feeling Porter was going to raise his game, but seriously did we expect him to turn into Ottomatic.

Fans began noticing the improvements in Porter’s game after the departure of Paul Pierce, who played a huge factor in mentoring and guiding him in his lone season in Washington.

Many feared that Porter would be another name added to the list of the Wizards’ draft woes, but in 2015 we began to see the efficiency that scouts were drooling over.

This year, Porter solidified his 3-and-D draft scouting reports that many scouts marveled about.

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He finished the season top five in 3-point field-goal percentage (43.4) and at one point, he was even leading the league in 3-point percentage at 45.4 percent back in January.

He also shot 51.3 percent from the field while increasing his points 1.8 points per game to 13.6.

We expected to see a huge plummet in Marcin Gortat’s game after the acquisition of multiple big men in free agency, but he was still one of the main constant’s on the team.

While he fell just short of eclipsing a double-double in 2015-16, this season Gortat reached his first double-double season average since 2012.

In regards to Oubre, we wondered what his role would be.

But before he even stepped on the court, Brooks had already defined him as a wing defender and energy player.

Oubre put the tenacity in the Wizards’ defense, guarding on many occasions the opponent’s best scorer.

Oubre is able to guard positions one through three pretty well and can hold his own against some fours. This takes plenty of pressure of the likes of Wall, Beal, and Porter, whom the Wizards need to carry the offensive load.

Even Bojan Bogdanovic had his moments. Some that carried the team to big wins.

We shouldn’t be surprised, however.

Next: Wizards 2017 Season Review: Kelly Oubre Jr.

The mastermind behind all the progress this season is Brooks. If the Wizards front office is able to give him two to three more additional weapons off of the bench to work with, there is no reason to doubt that an Eastern Conference Finals appearance is something the Wizards can accomplish going forward.

Don’t fret D.C. fans, a conference finals appearance should be right around the corner.