In the John Wall era, the Washington Wizards have made the playoffs four times. But while they’ve consistently advanced past the first round, the Wizards have yet to see the conference finals.
Washington was downed in six games by the Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks in 2014 and 2015, respectively. In 2017, the Wizards reached Game 7 of the second round, but fell short against the Boston Celtics.
According to Wall, the issue is with the team’s depth, or lack thereof.
“We need to help our bench,” Wall said in an interview with Chris Miller of CSN Mid-Atlantic.”Just to be honest, that was our downfall in each series that we had in the [Eastern Conference] semifinals, our bench got out played.”
Objectively, it’s hard to argue with Wall. Game 7 against the Celtics tells a pretty telling story.
Boston’s bench, which is by no means a legendary group, outscored Washington’s 48-5. Other than Bojan Bogdanovic, no other Wizard non-starter scored a single point.
The team really needs to load up on its bench. Washington is not just a tier below the east’s best teams. The Pacers and Hawks both fell LeBron James led teams in the conference finals. Meanwhile, the Celtics are 3-1 behind another LeBron led team.
So, the bench needs to be bolstered and in a big way. Until then, Washington will have to get used to good, but not great seasons.