With LeBron James out of the East for the first time since 2003, confidence is on the rise around the conference. Jaylen Brown essentially guaranteed that the Celtics will make it to the NBA Finals, while Brook Lopez has said the Bucks love their chances to come out of the East.
Wizards point guard John Wall joined the chorus this week, telling Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports that he feels like “we’re all equal” in the East. While the Wizards haven’t made it to the NBA Finals in recent years, neither have the Celtics, Raptors, Sixers, Pacers, or any other non-LeBron Eastern team, Wall points out.
“Y’all might have been to the Eastern Conference finals, where we haven’t been to, but none of y’all were going to the Finals. It was one guy going to the Finals,” Wall said. “Ain’t nobody separated from nothing. I know one guy that separated himself from the Eastern Conference every year and that was LeBron James and the Cavs. Other than that … if you lose in the second round, or the conference finals, you still didn’t get to your ultimate goal.”
Wall went on to say that “on paper” a handful of Eastern teams look strong, but he observed that there are still questions about how the Celtics will mesh with Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving returning, or how Kawhi Leonard will look with the Raptors. In Wall’s view, the top four or five teams in the East are all bunched together, and he’s willing to put the Wizards “right there” in that group.
This kind of talk is nothing new from the Wizards. Heading into the 2017/18 season, Bradley Beal called Washington the team to beat in the East, despite the fact that the club had been eliminated by Boston in the second round of the 2017 playoffs — multiple Wizards that year claimed publicly that they would’ve beaten the Cavaliers in the postseason if given the chance. This past spring, after losing as the No. 8 seed to the top-seeded Raptors, Markieff Morris told reporters that “sometimes the better teams don’t win.”
So far, the Wizards have done little to back up their big talk, and oddsmakers aren’t convinced they’ll do so this year either — the Wizards’ early over/under of 44.5 wins ranks sixth in the East, behind Boston, Toronto, Philadelphia, Indiana, and Milwaukee. Still, perhaps with LeBron out of the conference, this is the year that Washington makes its run.
What do you think? Are the Wizards a top-four team in the East? Will they claim home court advantage for the first round and/or win a first-round series in the spring?
Vote below in our poll and jump into the comment section to weigh in on the Wizards.
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
As Alex Trebek would say,
“Nooooo, sorry.”
Lol no. Maybe without wall lol.
They did have a good run without Wall but in the long run the Wizards need him.
Boston, Toronto, and Philly will take up the top 3 seeds. Milwaukee and Indiana will battle for 4 and 5. Washington, Charlotte, Miami, and Detroit will fight for the 6-8 seeds.
I agree with your entire comment…except that I’d swap out Charlotte for Cleveland. Washington and Miami seem like safe bets for two spots, which leaves the last one for Cleveland or maybe Detroit. I don’t see Charlotte as a serious contender.
I think Charlotte is better than Detroit. Griffin and Jackson can never stay healthy and the divisional games are tougher for Detroit than they will be for Charlotte.
It’s close, but I’d just give the edge to Detroit because they have a good (although possibly poor-fitting) frontcourt, and Casey is a huge coaching upgrade over Van Gundy.
Could they be the 4th best team in the east? Sure, maybe. I could see them outplaying the Pacers, bucks, heat, pistons, etc. But the East will be owned by either the celtics, 76ers, or Raptors this year.
I think JB is just having some youthful bravado, Lopez clearly knows more with experience on his side. But I do totally agree with Wall in that everybody thinks Boston is automatically better by adding Kyrie & Hayward, but to me it looks always a very difficult thing to mesh players, will Rozier be happy with his minutes cut by Kyrie after proving his worth in the playoffs, will JB & JT be happy to lose PT & importance to Hayward, again after they proved themselves both in the RS & in the playoffs, I really don’t see all playing happily, with less minutes & less weight in the team, so they have a lot to work out this year, hence I think Philly is ahead of them because essentially is the same team but Simmons/Embiid will be much improved. If Boston goes off the rails maybe Milwaukee could catch up with them & Washington is next at #4. Again I cannot see the Kawhi experiment working for Toronto so they are my #5. I know a lot of people won’t agree, but hey is my opinion & I won’t change it unless some trade or injury happens that changes the outlook.
Along with the new coach for Toronto, I dont see Toronto higher than #4. I have Indy ahead of both Toronto and Milwaukee.
With Brad Stevens as coach, and a lineup of Tatum, Brown, Horford, Hayward, and Kyrie along with Baynes, Theus, Smart, Williams, and Rozier, I respectfully disagree with you about the Celts not being happy and the Sixers finishing ahead of them. We’ll know early. The Celts will be thumping tje Sixers on national tv twice in the first month. I have the Celts finishing 27 games ahead of Philly.
Wow my friend that is a bold claim, I like it, counting that the odds have Philly winning 54/55 games, if Boston finishes 27 games ahead that means they will win 81/82 games, basically a perfect season, oh my I truly wish they can do it, it would be truly awesome, that’s for sure, you cannot have complains if you get beaten by the best team ever.
I like Indiana in the top 4 this year. Coaching changes can have a dramatic effect on a franchise. I think Raptors and Philly fighting for 4 seed.
AGREED!! Pacers top 3 seed.
People don’t give john wall enough credit. I think 4 seed is doable for sure.
Seems as though the Pacers are not given enough credit!
Sure Wizards could be a Top 4 team, as could the Bucks…..
Boston
Pacers
Philly
Toronto
Milwaukee
Wizards
Cleveland
Miami
Cleveland and Miami? No way!