Best outcome 25-26 Season sans a championship

[dckingsfan]

I know, this one is weird. But...

I would like to know what folks think that an optimal outcome would be for the upcoming season.

Optimal outcome be intentionally vague to solicit opinion.

[dobrojim]

Finish with the most wins possible for 4th worst

Get a top 4 pick in the lottery thereby keeping our FRP.

[AFM]

Championship


More realistically it would be Tre winning ROY which I think has pretty damn good odds.

[dckingsfan]

Yeah, can't decide if it is Tre winning ROY, coming in the bottom 4 or real development of our youngsters to with 30+ games.

[gesa2]

Why not hope for it all? Our young guys play well enough that the only thing keeping us from wins is a second big when Sarr is off the court, Tre wins ROY by scoring an efficient 16 a game. We tank at the end with rest and fake injuries and get the 3rd or 4th worst record. Win the lottery and have our choice of true lead players to kick it into gear for the following year

[nate33]

Play terrible early on to stack up the losses. Start figuring things out in January. We trade Middleton for bad contract(s) and a future FRP by the Trade Deadline. We also trade McCollum for an expiring contract and a pick swap with our OKC pick that moves us up from #30 to something in the #24-26 range. (By getting only an expiring back, we preserve max cap room in the summer.)

We finish the final 2 months of the season very strong while playing exclusively young players. After starting with a 16-40 record through mid-February, we finish the final 26 games going 14-12 and finishing with 30 wins. We move up from 2nd-worst up to 7th-worst in the standings. People start talking about the Wizards being a tough and scrappy team that has everything except a superstar.

Finish with the 7th worst record where the odds still give us an 86.2% chance of a top 8 pick. Fall to 8th but Phoenix gets the top pick and we swap with them (or we get the top pick in the lottery ourselves, it doesn't matter).

Enter the draft with an up-and-coming team that looks ready to compete, the #1 overall pick in the draft, a pick in the mid 20's, and max cap room.

[payitforward]

nate...!!! I award you the Nobel Prize in Basketball Prognostication!

[doclinkin]

Flashes and incremental steps forward for all young players:

Breakout year for Bilal. He shows an improved handle. Confident outside shot. Aggressive at both ends. Good chemistry playing with guards.

Bub’s jumper extends easily to the deep three. Both playmaking and shot taking increase while efficiency is stable or improving. Added size allows him to show hints of foul drawing skill, scoring through contact.

Kyshawn likewise adds strength and rebounding. Improving his long term chances of playing 1-4. His always ready three point shooting is justified by better results putting him in a Stretch forward role that forces teams to send front court players to chase him outside.

Cam Whitmore earns a valued and featured role in the offense. Now appreciated and with play time not in doubt he finds it easier to commit effort on the defensive end as well, gaining accolades for being a terror on that end where he prides himself on frustrating opponents scorers and forces turnovers that lead to highlight slams at the other end.

Alex Sarrs outside shot starts falling. In addition he develops a reliable jump hook as a go to move that replaces the weak fadeaway floater in the lane.

Tre Johnson plays as a ROY candidate wire to wire.

A thicker stronger Vukcevic discovers he likes mixing it up on the low post, rebounding and blocking shots. Improves on that end. He cements his role as 2nd string center and even shows decent chemistry playing next to Sarr.

our GoGo players show out to the point they force themselves to the end of the bench and by seasons end Will Riley is in the guard rotation.

Veterans play well enough to earn multiple bids when they are offered to the market. The Wiz trade them for future firsts and swaps 3-5 years from now.

Ultimately we play well enough that our own draft pick is in danger. No matter who we bench the next guy steps up. In a nail biter we end up with the 7th pick in the lotto. But the Suns win the first. We swap and pick our franchise centerpiece. We add front court rebounding and a burly and intimidating 4/5 prospect with a late pick.

And there is much rejoicing in the nations capital.

[thomas1897]

Finding out who will be the cornerstones of this franchise? Now the Wizards have many pieces or some very good ball players. Seven to eight very good players but the problems come down to who will be in the starting lineup. How do these players adapt to playing together and do they have a very good basketball IQ about team chemistry and winning over individual efforts.

[J-Ves]

Improvement from all our youngsters while keeping the pick is best case scenario

[closg00]

Lottery Gods correction - We get pick #1
Bilal becomes a scoring threat, stroking the ball with ease
Tres - ROY, or Top-3 rookie
Artful tanking while exploring which combo of our players will lead to competitive basketball
Alex’s offense starts to come-together by the end of the season
Tristan earns a promotion to a real NBA contract
Keyshawn shoots with better consistency

[payitforward]

Win 60 games. Contend for a title. Duh.

[nate33]

Win 60 games. Contend for a title. Duh.

Yeah, but then we wouldn't get our draft pick.

[payitforward]

How true!
Be kinda fun all the same, don't you think?

[dckingsfan]

Interesting between PIF's outcome and Nate's. One has us playing poorly at the beginning of the season and the other goes for the 60 win season at the beginning of the season?

Clearly, the FO will give the coaching staff marching orders again? Maybe the last season this happens?

[9 and 20]

Cam becomes skinny Zion, Tre is Ray Allen, Sarr becomes overgrown Durant, other young guys keep making progress. Then win draft lottery.

[payitforward]

Interesting between PIF's outcome and Nate's. One has us playing poorly at the beginning of the season and the other goes for the 60 win season at the beginning of the season?

Clearly, the FO will give the coaching staff marching orders again? Maybe the last season this happens?

The question wasn't "most likely," it was "best." We are more likely to lose 60 games than to win 60 games!

[dckingsfan]

Interesting between PIF's outcome and Nate's. One has us playing poorly at the beginning of the season and the other goes for the 60 win season at the beginning of the season?

Clearly, the FO will give the coaching staff marching orders again? Maybe the last season this happens?

The question wasn't "most likely," it was "best." We are more likely to lose 60 games than to win 60 games!

Careful the loaded question. Doubly so on the reply

But your point is spot on - a championship would be the best. Doubling down on my loaded question.

[payitforward]

To approach it differently -- the most important positive outcomes for the Wizards, most to be desired, center on the development of our youth core.

A lot of people project positive outcomes for last year's youth core -- Sarr, Bub, Ky & Bilal -- but so far we have NOT seen anything like that. Inspecting the tea leaves for in-rookie-season improvements may give some positive indicators, but it ain't enough!

Hence, the biggest questions to which we want positive answers this year are about Bilal, Alex, Bub & Ky. Be nice if Ajay showed well too (& Vuk & Martin too -- of course). Plus -- despite a strong SL showing -- we are still in pre-season hope mode about Tre.

In short, all the balls are still in the air.

If all 5 of the above actually play well -- Tre at a high level for a rookie, the other 4 stepping up to above average NBA results -- then we'll be in danger of losing our '26 pick & the swap it might well bring us w/ the pathetic Suns. We want to keep our pick, & we want that swap!

In short, this is going to be a tough season -- our hopes as fans are going to get whipped around in a whirlwind!

[badinage]

Re: the 2026 that is Top 8-protected —

Could we make a deal with the Knicks so that we don’t have to sweat through the season? Give them a guy, so they come out of this thing with at least something? Otherwise, they’re just going to get 2 SRPs. Wouldn’t a player like a Champagnie (who I like) be more valuable to them?