3 Washington Wizards who could be secret weapons in Orlando
By Ethan Smith
If the Washington Wizards are going to make a surprise playoff run, one of these guys could be key.
The road to the playoffs for the Washington Wizards will be a tough one. And it will start in Orlando.
As the season restart date – July 30 – gets closer and closer, so does the start of that journey. Unfortunately for the Wizards, they’ll start in a hole, trailing the Orlando Magic by 5.5 games and the Brooklyn Nets by 6.0 games with only eight more “regular season” contests to play.
Since they only need be within four games of either team to force a play-in scenario, they still aren’t technically out of it. However, they can’t afford to have any sub-par performances when they get back on the court.
From here on out, every game is essentially a must-win. Maintaining focus and intensity for a final playoff push will be even more difficult this year. The Wizards will be battling a few months of rust and will only be seeing the NBA’s best in Orlando.
The league’s eight worst teams stayed home.
If the Wizards want to shock the world and make the playoffs (after being projected as one of the NBA’s worst squads) they’ll certainly need Bradley Beal, Davis Bertans, and Rui Hachimura to step up. A John Wall return would certainly help, but that almost certainly won’t happen.
But beyond the obvious, the Washington Wizards will need a few other players to step up. Beal can’t do it all himself, and the team has usually struggled when he is forced to shoulder the entire scoring load this season.
Here are three possible secret weapons that could propel the Wizards into the playoffs…