It has been nearly three-and-a-half years since “Do the John Wall” came out. Back then, the popular dance was about the only good thing to come out of the Washington Wizards. Sure, they had a hot new prospect in Wall, the explosive guard from the University of Kentucky, but they also had not gotten past the first round of the playoffs since 2005 and were in the middle of what would be a five-year postseason appearance drought. The team only warranted an ESPN appearance when former forward Javale McGee made a boneheaded Not Top 10 play or when shooting guard Gilbert Arenas brought a firearm to his locker at the Verizon Center.

Following the rise of LeBron James on the Miami Heat, the Wizards were relegated to irrelevancy in the Eastern Conference.
Fast forward to the 2013-2014 season: It is easy to see that the front-office executives have worked some magic. Wall has grown to be one of the league’s most effective point guards, averaging 19 points and nine assists per game. With athleticism matched only by the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook, Wall played suffocating defense and averaged two steals per game, winning this year’s NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

Fellow guard Bradley Beal has flourished, playing to the tune of an efficient 17 points per game thanks to his 41 percent sharpshooting and low turnover rate. A solid backcourt pairing eluded the Wizards for years, as the likes of Shaun Livingston, Nick Young and Arenas failed to pan out. Now, Washington has two stars to build around.
The determining factor that led the Wizards to this past season’s Eastern Conference semifinals, however, was the improvement of role players. Center Marcin Gortat rejuvenated his career in 2013-2014, averaging 13 points and 10 rebounds per game. Granted, at age 30, his five-year contract extension for $60 million had many scratching their heads. But, in reality, this was just a reflection of the annual salary cap increases from the current iteration of the collective bargaining agreement.
Forwards Nenê and Martell Webster also provided a combined 24 points per game. Even Drew Gooden and Andre Miller, who are well past their basketball primes, provided veteran leadership off the bench and played competently in limited backup minutes. Forwards DeJuan Blair and Kris Humphries are notable additions for the 2014-2015 season, brought in to shore up the Wizards’ depth in the paint. Meanwhile, former Georgetown student Otto Porter Jr. and Glen Rice III are coming off impressive co-MVP performances in the Las Vegas Summer League.

Of course, there is one key difference between this year and the last: “The Truth,” or former Brooklyn and Boston great Paul Pierce, who replaced small forward Trevor Ariza. Both players averaged close to 13.5 points and four rebounds a game, with impressive three-point shooting, but the details are in the contracts.

As a free agent, Ariza was demanding around $8 million per year. Because Beal’s rookie contract will expire in 2016, the Wizards wanted to leave cap space available. Enter the aging Pierce. The Wizards were able to leverage a two-year deal for the future Hall of Famer for only $5 million annually. Was it the right decision? The numbers say yes.

Despite whatever assumptions fans might make about his age, Paul Pierce was a slightly better defender than Ariza. With Pierce’s offensive ability and veteran leadership that will undoubtedly help to groom Rice III and Porter Jr. to fill his shoes, the Wizards clearly got the best of the contract dealings.
So, where does all of this change put the Wizards in the Eastern Conference? At the end of the day, the Cleveland Cavaliers and their Big Three — James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving — are the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards are also projected to finish near the top of the conference — as long as injuries don’t sideline the team’s stars and Pierce doesn’t slow down too much. If these factors fall into line, I predict that the Wizards will see yet another conference semifinals berth and finally begin to build a team that perennially challenges for the league title.

Max Fiege is freshman in the School of Foreign Service. Out of Our League appears every other Friday.