2015-16 NBA Previews – Wizards
The Washington Wizards will rely on their great young guards to take them over the hump and deep into the postseason. The Eastern Conference is filled with up and coming teams and the Wizards are one of them.
Washington Wizards Season Preview
Head Coach: Randy Wittman
2014 Record: 46-36
Wizards Odds to NBA Title: 65/1
Wizards Odds to Win Conference: 14/1
Wizards Strengths:
The Wizards have a great set of young perimeter players that really started to click at the end of last season. Bradley Beal was slowed by a wrist injury that caused him to miss a handful games but clearly was bothering him for a majority of the year.
John Wall has turned into one of the best point guards in the league and has the Wizards poised for a big season. Otto Porter, Jr is another exciting young player that fits in perfectly with the Wizards offense.
Kelly Oubre is a Rookie of the Year candidate and will provide a nice spark off the bench for Washington.
The Wizards have the best group of guards in the league and they will ride them all season long. As the NBA Finals showed us last year, the NBA is a guard league right now. Washington will go as far as Wall, Beal, and Porter take them.
Wizards Weaknesses:
The Wizards might have the best guards in the league but their inside presence is lacking. Marcin Gortat and Nene both are polished professional big men. But it drops off significantly after that.
Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair, and Drew Gooden aren’t going to get the job done if one of those two goes down. Nene is injury prone and the Wizards will have a tough time defending the rim and that is a big part of success in the NBA.
Wizards 2015 Betting Prediction:
The Wizards season win betting total is 46.5. The Wizards won 46 games last year and didn’t make too many significant improvements to their roster. Oubre could be a stud in a few years but rookie contributions historically don’t have too much of an impact.
Alan Anderson and Gary Neal will add some depth at guard but how much will they even contribute with Wall and Beal in front of them?
The Wizards will be in the playoffs for sure but protecting the rim could become an issue for them. Once they get into the playoffs, a team filled with a bunch of guards like Washington could get hot and make some noise.
In the regular season though, they will find themselves below this betting total.
Wizards Key Personnel Losses:
Paul Pierce and Kevin Seraphin.
Pierce is old now but his late game performance and veteran leadership will both be missed. The Wizards likely didn’t have a problem with Pierce leaving for Los Angeles in order to open the spot up for Porter and Oubre.
But they will miss what Pierce brought to their lineup and the locker room.
Wizards Top Newcomers:
Kelly Oubre, Alan Anderson, Gary Neal, and Jared Dudley
Oubre has a bright future and Neal and Anderson are great bench options. These three will definitely have an impact but it will be more in the Wizards second unit as Wall, Beal, and Porter will take a majority of the minutes on the perimeter.
Depth is always important though in case of an injury.
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