The Washington Wizards have spent the 21st century peaking by merely making the playoffs. Now, they have spent the past two seasons finally taking the steps to properly rebuild — at least that’s how it seems right now.
The Wizards are two years into a rebuild and still lack true blue-chip talent or a conceivable plan other than letting players under 23 years old play 30 minutes a night.
This theoretically is not a concern, but remember that the Oklahoma City Thunder’s rebuild only consisted of two true losing seasons, and they made the play-in tournament in year three. I would be absolutely floored if this Wizards team finished any higher than the bottom two in the East this year.
It is my opinion, then, that the Wizards should start targeting veteran players and properly rebuild, not just lose games for the sake of losing.
I’ve written ad nauseum recently about the Indiana Pacers and what the Wizards can learn from them. But look at some other teams that recently turned around hopeless-looking rebuilds.
The Detroit Pistons improved their win total by 30 whole games this past season and went from one of the worst teams in NBA history to a credible threat to win a playoff series or two. The Houston Rockets dragged themselves out of the mud to crack the playoffs as a no. 2 seed this season after years of toiling away in the lottery.
Both teams did this by finally abandoning the idea that running on a hamster wheel of losing basketball would lead to internal development while simultaneously prodding the basketball gods into awarding them top talent.
Instead, the Pistons and Rockets went out and signed steady and solid veterans like Fred VanVleet and Tobias Harris, who not only helped them win games immediately but also aided in the continued development of both teams’ respective young stars.
Contrast that approach to the one taken by the Charlotte Hornets, basketball’s court jester. The Hornets are a perennial loser, having last made the NBA playoffs in 2016. They last won a playoff series in 2002, before I was even born.
Charlotte’s “philosophy” is the exact trap the Wizards desperately need to avoid falling into. Tanking is NOT the same as rebuilding. Losing games and perennially picking high in the lottery sounds like a path to building a stacked team of talented prospects, but if there’s anything teams like the Pistons, Thunder, and Rockets have proven, it is far more important to establish a young core and flank them with proven veterans.