5 Reasons for the Washington Wizards to Be Optimistic

Washington has not been playing well this season and has fallen to the bottom of the NBA standings.

Even though the Wizards are currently in second-to-last place in the league, there are plenty of reasons for them to be optimistic looking ahead. Whether it be young players, their star point guard or the promise of fresh new faces, Washington has a future that it can begin to look forward to. 

John Wall's Growth

Even though Wall has not risen to be an elite player in the NBA, he is still having a very good season. With 17.6 points per game and 7.8 assists Wall has proven that he can be the cornerstone the Wizards can build around.

Some of the blame must go to Wall's teammates, who have not been converting on all of his attempts. The SB Nation blog "Bullets Forever" has begun tracking how many missed assists Wall has been getting this season, and he is averaging 9.8 missed assists per game in which his team could not connect on a good pass from him. Rajon Rondo, on the other hand, is only averaging 7.6 missed assists per game. Wall has been setting up his teammates this season, they have just not been able to score. 

Even with the missed assists, Wall is still playing at a high level and point guard will not be an issue in the next few drafts as they can look to rebuild at other positions.

The 2012 NBA Draft

If the Wizards were going to be bad, this was certainly a good year to do it. With the stacked draft class of 2012, the Wizards will walk away with an excellent player, and one who would fit their system is small forward Harrison Barnes out of North Carolina.

Barnes would be a good complement to Wall in that he does not need the ball to be effective on offense and can get a quality shot late in the shot clock after Wall has tried his moves. With an excellent mid-range game and great hustle, Barnes would complement Chris Singleton, who gets playing time almost exclusively for his defense. 

Even if the Wizards go a different direction in the draft, they are sure to come away with a big-time player. For now, they must address scoring from the small forward spot and a low post presence in this year's draft.

Jordan Crawford/Nick Young

These two men are only on the team to score. They don't bring that much else to the table in terms of passing, defense or rebounding, but they both know how to fill up the basket. 

Young has been the starting shooting guard for most of the year, averaging 16.8 points, but was benched and has been injured the last few games. Crawford is scoring 13.1 points in five less minutes and has seen his playing time rise in the last few games because of Young's absence.

Both Young and Crawford play the same style as Jason Terry as the prolific sixth man scorer but have been forced into the starting role because of the lack of depth in D.C. Ideally, the team should only keep one of them and have him be the instant offense teams have coming off the bench. 

Young Players

While each of them started slow, Jan Vesely, Trevor Booker and Chris Singleton have started to step it up in recent games and are starting to show promise for the future.

Singleton has been the least impressive of the group but will continue to get playing time because of his defense. If he can improve his offensive game, he could become an elite perimeter defender and earn valuable minutes for the Wizards.

Vesely has been improving throughout the season, but is an extremely raw product who will need a few years to mature into the NBA player he is going to be. "The Dunking Ninja" has shown the ability to contribute to the Wizards in the future as a versatile swing player.

Booker is in his second year in the league and has really started to shine as the year has progressed. Getting increased minutes at the power forward position, Booker has started getting double-figure points about every other game. With his increased productivity, Booker looks to be one of the only bright spots for the Wizards this season and will surely have a vital role in their rotation in the future. 

The Trade Deadline

As the March 15 trade deadline approaches, many Washington fans are hoping the front office will make a move or two to shake things up. 

Andray Blatche and Rashard Lewis are simply not producing and JaVale McGee continues to astound fans with his crazy antics. Out of those three, McGee has the most potential to remain a Wizard as he is still growing as a player and, if he learns to control his odd behavior, could be a versatile big man.

While moving Blatche and Lewis may be a challenge, Washington desperately needs veteran leadership for this young and growing team. The ideal situation would be a veteran low post player that could help mentor McGee and Booker to become more efficient players.

Even if the Wizards don't make a move by the deadline, they are sure to be active in the offseason with trades and signings to help this developing team.