It’s been a long, long time since the Washington Wizards were expected to be a top team in the Eastern Conference.
But after defeating the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the 2014 NBA playoffs for their first postseason series win in nine years, the Wizards are entering a season with high expectations.
How high? Well, there is some talk that after last season’s 44-38 mark, the Wizards could win 50 games – which they haven’t done since the 1978-79 season.
Here are five things to watch for as the Wizards prepare to become a contender in a much improved conference.
1. Will John Wall and Bradley Beal build on their career seasons? It’s no secret that the Wizards will go as far as John Wall and Bradley Beal can take them. Beal’s training camp injury is a setback, but eventually the self-proclaimed best backcourt in the NBA will finally get a chance to play on the national stage after gaining some recognition from their success in the postseason.
Wall is coming off a season in which he averaged over 19 points, shot a career-high 35 percent from 3-point range, led the NBA total assists and earned an All-Star berth. Despite playing the best basketball of his career, Wall has to continue to develop for the Wizards to become a legitimate championship contender. Specifically, he needs to cut down on turnovers and show that he can consistently shoot well from the outside.
After averaging over 19 points, 4.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds in the first round of the playoffs, Beal delivered when it mattered most and showed why he is often included in the conversation of best young shooting guards in the league. Instead of settling for inefficient mid-range shots, Beal drove to the basket, got to the line and created scoring opportunities off the dribble against two of the league’s best defensive teams in Chicago and Indiana. Although the Eastern Conference has improved, the shooting guard position is still not very deep. After being out 6-8 weeks with a wrist fracture suffered in preseason, Beal will need to improve his ballhandling and continue to develop defensively.
2. Defense in the post-Ariza era. The Wizards have been a top-10 defensive team since Randy Wittman took over for Flip Saunders in 2012. With that said, Trevor Ariza played a major role in Washington’s success on both sides of the floor, and now that he has rejoined the Houston Rockets, the Wizards will have to find a way to replace his defensive efficiency.
Ariza was one of the best 3-and-D players in the NBA last season and often was called upon to defend the opposing team’s best player. When Washington struggled to guard Chicago’s D.J. Augustin in the playoffs, Ariza stepped in and nullified his production. Now that Ariza is gone, the Wizards won’t have the luxury of relying on an elite wing defender.
Otto Porter Jr. and Glen Rice Jr. will be asked to take on some of Ariza’s past responsibilities, while Garrett Temple could also 
get an expanded role this season. Washington will not have one player that can replace Ariza but could potentially replace him by committee.
3. How much does Paul Pierce have left in the tank? Mere hours after Ariza decided to leave the nation’s capital, the Wizards managed to snag future Hall-of-Famer Paul Pierce on the free agent market.
Even though LeBron James’ return home to Cleveland dominated NBA headlines this summer, Pierce’s decision to join the Wizards was perhaps even more shocking.
The Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Clippers and even the Los Angeles Lakers were reportedly rumored to be interested in “The Truth,” but he ultimately decided to pass on a potential reunion with Doc Rivers in order to join Wall and the Wizards.
Washington did not want to overpay to keep Ariza after he played extremely well during another contract season, yet found a way to improve offensively while also keeping flexibility for the summer of 2016, when hometown hero Kevin Durant is expected to become an unrestricted free agent.
The Wizards failed to win a single home game in the conference semifinals against Indiana as their need for more veteran leadership became evident. Pierce’s experience in the postseason will not only help the Wizards on the court, but he should become a leader in the locker room.
Although Pierce won’t be able to replicate Ariza’s play – especially defensively – he should give the team more versatility on offense. However, he does turn 37 before the start of the season, and Father Time eventually catches up to every player.
Pierce had an above average PER (16.81) with Brooklyn last season despite playing power forward for the first time in his career. He will be back at his familiar small forward slot with the Wizards. But if Pierce cannot contribute on a consistent basis, the Wizards might find themselves struggling in a much-improved conference.
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4. “The Juniors” adjust to new roles. Trevor Ariza and Martell Webster were both capable of starting and competed for minutes throughout training camp last season, with Ariza winning the battle. However, missing from that training camp was Otto Porter Jr., the third overall pick of the 2013 draft.
Porter dealt with numerous injuries prior to even stepping on the court, missing most of summer league, all of training camp 
and preseason. After getting cleared to play, Porter was in and out of the lineup and did not look ready to contribute for a team heading to the playoffs.
On the other hand, the Wizards acquired Glen Rice Jr. in a draft day trade with Philadelphia. He was not expected to contribute and spent much of the regular season in the D-League where he averaged 17 points and six rebounds.
Ariza is gone and Webster is out three to five months following his third back surgery. The Wizards went from one of the deepest small forward spots in the league to not having much depth at all. That’s where Porter and Rice can come in. Porter’s ability to shoot from the outside, defend multiple positions and move without the ball were on full display in Summer League, while Rice wowed everyone with his scoring and won Summer League MVP.
Both are expected to play bigger roles this season and help make up for Ariza’s departure. Pierce averaged less than 30 minutes in Brooklyn lastseason, so “The Juniors” will have a great chance to solidify their rotation spots.
5. The crowded big rotation. One of Washington’s biggest concerns this past season was its lack of frontcourt depth. After Emeka Okafor went down with an injury, Wittman inserted Kevin Seraphin into the starting lineup, which proved disastrous during preseason. That led to GM Ernie Grunfeld acquiring Marcin Gortat from Phoenix in a three-team deal.
Gortat fit perfectly in Wittman’s system and contributed almost immediately alongside Wall, but the Wizards suffered another setback in February when Nene was diagnosed with a sprained MCL.
Washington scrambled to find a backup big and gave Drew Gooden multiple 10-day contracts before signing him for the remainder of the season. Gooden was a pleasant surprise, but if that move did not pan out, the Wizards could have potentially missed the playoffs due to the absence of Nene.
The Wizards addressed their need for more frontcourt depth by acquiring Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair this offseason. Trevor Booker left via free agency, but they replaced his rebounding and hustle while also keeping flexibility for the future.
Nene and Gortat will continue to start and Humphries (who has looked great in training camp but now is injured), Blair, Gooden and Seraphin will compete for backup minutes. Wittman will have to find a way to incorporate all of his big men. It’s a good problem to have.
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Ben Mehic is the editor of Wiz of Awes, FanSided’s Washington Wizards blog. You can follow the site on Twitter @WizofAwes and follow Ben @BenMehicNBA.
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This article is pretty awful. There is no mention of Beal injury, no mention of Kris Humphries injury, and Webster is not out 3-5 months. I could understand if this drivel was written 3 months ago but do you even bother to research what you write on?
There is a lot of misinformation about Paul Pierce, that was recently cleared up by Nets’ Billy King (though he’s not going to publicly tell the Truth about his poor defense). Pierce was so bad, he had to be moved to PF for most of last season.
He also was a turnover machine for the Nets (5 per game wasn’t uncommon). The media always liked to play up Pierce and ignore is deficiencies. Pierce had one good fourth quarter vs. TOR in the playoffs, and one great defensive stop in game 7 vs TOR. Otherwise he was subpar vs TOR, and just awful vs Heat (tried to cover LeBron, LOL). With Deron Williams having ankle problems prior to his surgery, Pierce took over the on court leadership.
The Truth is that while Nets were ready to re-sign Pierce for around 14 million over 2 years, his agent demanded 20 million over 2 years. Nets never responded and in the interim other longer term options opened up (Bogdanavic & Jarrett Jack) and allowing a more traditional KG, Plumlee, Kirilenko and Teletovic to play PF, with Lopez back at Center and Joe Johnson at SF.
Pierce also likes to play Hero Ball, and be the center of attention. That might not sit well with John Wall. And if Pierce isn’t playing at the end of games or getting at least 25 mpg, he’s going to be an unhappy camper. Of course Pierce will be a year older, and he managed to be relatively injury free last year.
Pierce recently admitted that the Clippers never made an offer for him (they went in another direction).
Wiz were lucky though to get Pierce to accept a reasonable offer after being rejected by Nets and also Clippers.
The Wiz once again seem to be injury prone, but unless things get worse, you have to give them the benefit of the doubt, as one should for do for the Bullsl and Nets. Ranking them 3rd in East is reasonable, but TOR and Brooklyn should be ready if they don’t have setbacks.