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(making it to)

Ist round
2nd round
ECF
NBA Finals?

Grunfeld firing? (not freaking likely given our recent success)

I'd say the playoffs are dang near a forgone conclusion barring a Wall injury.

my opinion - we need to make it to at least the ECFs to truly be successful.
But I'm arguably delusional after watching so many of these home wins as well
as the extended minutes when they never trailed in a game.

Given that we're finally seeing this team play to its full potential, I'm saying ECF, which is amazing considering in November I was hoping to acquire as many ping-pong balls as possible. I still however think our shallow bench will be a huge liability in the playoffs. Our starting five will be running on fumes by then.

First-round exit would be a big disappointment for me.

Second-round exit would be a mild disappointment - mostly because we haven't been to ECF in FOREVER.

ECF would certainly be a success.

Finals is a pinch-me-I'm-dreaming situation.

A month ago, I'd have said :
1st round of playoffs = acceptable
2nd round of playoffs = successful
ECF's = pipe dream

Now I say:
1st round of playoffs = mildly disappointing
2nd round of playoffs = successful
ECF's = very possible but I'm not expecting it.

daSwami wrote:Given that we're finally seeing this team play to its full potential, I'm saying ECF, which is amazing considering in November I was hoping to acquire as many ping-pong balls as possible. I still however think our shallow bench will be a huge liability in the playoffs. Our starting five will be running on fumes by then.

Thing about the playoffs is rotations get tighter and benches become somewhat
less important. But I'll concede that our rotations can't get much tighter than
they already are.

dobrojim wrote:(making it to)

Ist round
2nd round
ECF
NBA Finals?

Grunfeld firing? (not freaking likely given our recent success)

I'd say the playoffs are dang near a forgone conclusion barring a Wall injury.

my opinion - we need to make it to at least the ECFs to truly be successful.
But I'm arguably delusional after watching so many of these home wins as well
as the extended minutes when they never trailed in a game.

Given that two Wizards teams made it to the 2nd round recently, and the three top picks look like they're justifying all the confidence placed in them by management, going a step further than in the past (ECF) is a fair expectation, or at least a reasonable desire. Other than the Cavs, the Wizards have at least a decent chance in any 7-game series with any EC team. On the other hand, if they show well in the playoffs (full series, no blowouts) but exit before the ECF, especially if there is a key injury, that could be more "not this year, not just yet" than it is failure.

I'd still like to see EG booted upstairs and replaced with a younger, more dynamic GM, but I don't see that happening unless EG wants it, so I'll remain nervous about his next moves.

another question - what'll take for us to become a bandwagon team?

While I would enjoy the success that that would probably mean, it would
almost make being a Zards fan uncool.

Does Ernie even needed to be fired?? His contract is expiring. If we don't go out and resign him, we'll have a new GM!

dobrojim wrote:another question - what'll take for us to become a bandwagon team?

While I would enjoy the success that that would probably mean, it would
almost make being a Zards fan uncool.

At the very least, we'd need to take Cleveland to Game 7 in the ECF's. But more likely, we'd have to actually make the Finals.

daSwami wrote:Given that we're finally seeing this team play to its full potential, I'm saying ECF, which is amazing considering in November I was hoping to acquire as many ping-pong balls as possible. I still however think our shallow bench will be a huge liability in the playoffs. Our starting five will be running on fumes by then.

It's possible that come playoff time, Oubre, Smith, and Satoransky (and possibly Mahinmi) are rounded into a respectable backup unit, certainly more so than the bench was looking in the first two months, and there's of course the possibility that EG actually does something before the trade deadline that might bolster the bench. If that's the case, coupled with the increased time off between playoff games, it may not be as big an issue as it's appeared to this point. Many teams try to use smaller rotations where they can in the playoffs, keeping their best players on the floor.

On the other hand, winning playoff teams frequently seem to have some x-factor coming off the bench in the playoffs, and other than Oubre, it's hard for me to see the Wizards having that. Maybe Oubre will be a true difference maker come playoff time.

I love how KO has been playing. FWIW, his father sits one row and a few seats over from where I sit.

dobrojim wrote:another question - what'll take for us to become a bandwagon team?

While I would enjoy the success that that would probably mean, it would
almost make being a Zards fan uncool.

It's uncool being a Wizards fan right now. By definition, we'd be cool if people actually wanted to be on our bandwagon.

To answer your question, it would take a championship.

Meliorus wrote:Does Ernie even needed to be fired?? His contract is expiring. If we don't go out and resign him, we'll have a new GM!

Do we know for sure that his contract is expiring? Because last time we thought he was expiring we found out he'd gotten a secret extension.

Success will be that Ted is satisfied so much with this season that he is willing to pay lux tax for next season and keep their 2017 1st round pick.

What I think would satisfy Ted in that way would be to make the EC finals and give Cleveland a reasonably good fight in it.

And allow Ted to raise ticket prices yet again?

Don't really care about the outcome, but success to me would be Grunfeld gone.

No injuries to Wall, Beal, Porter and Gortat through the playoffs.

stevemcqueen1 wrote:

Meliorus wrote:Does Ernie even needed to be fired?? His contract is expiring. If we don't go out and resign him, we'll have a new GM!

Do we know for sure that his contract is expiring? Because last time we thought he was expiring we found out he'd gotten a secret extension.

Last spring the Post found out from anonymous sources EG was under contract through this spring. The team hasn't said anything official and on the record about Ernie's contract status for years, so we have no idea if he's expiring, has 10 years, or something in between.

Double post

First round exit would be a failure.

2nd round exit would be acceptable. This team has better top end talent than our other playoff era wiz teams but inferior depth--so I'd expect a similar result.

Would really like to make a move to improve though. Masai has shown himself to be the sort of GM that isn't just going to sit there and Boston is already destined to improve quite a bit talent wise.