As the NBA playoffs get underway, Wizards fans find themselves in an all too familiar situation: waiting for the lottery. Being a Wizards fan, I've grown to despise the lottery. I hate the lottery so much that I no longer play Ping Pong or Powerball and it’s all the Wizards fault.

Now, there is a huge segment of Wiz fans who blame Ernie Grunfeld for everything, even global warming, but while I’m not a huge fan of Grunfeld, the Wizards lottery woes predate Grunfeld's existence in DC. They predate just about everything but dinosaurs.

So, here it is, a homage to Wizards lottery picks. I will warn you, this is going to be painful.

If I could name one Wizards player who had a remarkably overlooked season, it would be Kevin Seraphin.  Following a tiring (yet promising) Olympics run, Seraphin returned to the team, finding himself in a bench role after starring for a stretch to close the 2011-2012 season.

Kevin saw his minutes fluctuate and his roles shuffled, all while the Wizards got off to its worst start in franchise history.

For a player entering his third season, this sort of mess could have easily sent him adrift.

Instead, Seraphin quietly posted career-best numbers.

Unfortunately, Trevor Booker has not held up health-wise for the Wizards to figure out what they have or don't have in him. When he is healthy and on the floor, he can provide toughness, hustle, and rebounding in quick spurts. He has the opportunity to be a solid 20-25 minute per night contributor, but he has been in and out of the lineup more often than not. I still think Booker has the tools to become a good bench guy, but only if he can get on the court.

Nice guy, pretty funny, good defensive player, suspect offense, can’t really seem to get into Randy Wittman’s rotation on a consistent basis and just to be blatantly honest, I’d rather have Kenneth Faried, MarShon Brooks, Norris Cole or Jimmy Butler -- all whom were drafted after Chris Singleton. Singleton played in less overall games in ’12-13 than his rookie year, started in 40 less, went down in minutes played per game, improved his shooting percentage by .010 and regressed in three point shooting, free throw shooting, rebounding, assists, blocks, steals and points per game. The only thing worse than Chris’ Spalding endorsed shoes were the 27 DNP - coach's decisions.

In all seriousness I liked Singleton’s defensive game coming out of college. Hell, one of our Wizards Extreme co-founders was ecstatic the night we drafted him but unfortunately, two years after one of the worst drafts in Washington Wizards history -- you know, the one that saw them select Jan Vesely and Shelvin Mack before and after Singleton -- Washington must be kicking themselves for having passed on Faried alone.

As Ernie said in his end of year presser, this summer will be a big one for Vesely and Singleton but as a Wizards fan you have to ask yourself, how could it get any worse?

First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to thank every single one of our fans, followers and loyal readers. Whether you've been with us since the beginning when our site was just a small forum and community for fans to vent about the team, or whether you've joined the movement over the last 2 seasons and watched our progress. Either way, I know I can speak on behalf of our entire team and say that we really appreciate it. As we get ready to head in to another off season with the draft, free agency and summer league, this is an exciting time for Wizards fans.

The team showed us what they're capable of when healthy and have their star players on the court together at the same time. The Wizards not only showed tremendous character, will and desire; but they showed the fans that they're working to build something special. The development of Bradley Beal was amazing to watch, John Wall showed us why he was taken #1 overall 3 years ago and the emergence of Martell Webster, Okafor and Nene has left this Wizards blogger thinking of the post season next year. i don't think thats too much to expect given how this team played from early January on.

But before we can speculate on post season success, seeding and other things of that nature, we must take a step back and evaluate the current roster. What do players need to work on, what are their strengths and what do they bring to the table. I've been honored and blessed with the first post on Jan Vesely.

Sit back and enjoy..

The only player I've ever seen genuinely digress more in an NBA career has been Greg Oden, whose struggles were simply due to injury. Jan, simply put, is lost on the court. When the Wizards took him 6th overall in the 2011 Draft, the word "potential" was being thrown around as if it was the sole reasoning for the pick. While he's shown the ability to dunk a basketball with mediocre ease, the rest of his game is putrid. He can't shoot, he can't rebound, and can not identify the pick and roll. The only positive in all of this is the fact that he's a decent passer…I suppose. I don't see a need for him on any team's roster. He might just be the worst player in the NBA.

Cartier had a very streaky year with his latest bout with the Washington Wizards. Some games, he was "CARTI3R!", and some games he was "CARTI--ughh". One thing was consistent from him, however, and that was his energy. No matter how he played from a boxscore's standpoint, Cartier always put his all-out on the floor for the team and helped pick up the tempo on the floor. Unfortunately for him, though, Wittman kept Cartier in the dog house for a good part of the season which didn't really give him too much of a chance to be consistent.

Given a choice of John Wall's 47-point game, Bradley Beal's buzzer-beater against OKC, or Martell Webster's career-high seven 3-pointer game, which performance stands out the most for you?

Joe: All three performances were highlights for another non-playoff year but Wall’s stood out to me for a couple of reasons. First, it wasn’t just the 47 points, it was the fact that he did it despite the absence of his wingman, Bradley Beal and his big man, Nene. Wall also scored his 47 points off 22 shots, got to the line 24 times and added 7 rebounds and 8 assists against one of the better defensive teams in the league in the Memphis Grizzlies. All of this was on the heels of every possible detractor of Wall’s offensive game coming down on him for not living up to his draft position and the organization given nickname of the “Game Changer.” Being the ever optimistic Wizards fan that I am, games like this just make me salivate more at the thought of what Wall can do when he is surrounded by more talent. 40 point games were the norm in the playoff days of the Agent Zero-led Wizards but seeing John do it combined with his continual shooting improvement as the season was winding down should make every Wizard fan excited about what the Wizards do this offseason.

Charles: Wall's 47 point game was easily the highlight of my season. My wife keeps asking me to delete it from the DVR but it's currently enjoying the "Keep Until I Delete" status. After months of hearing how bad his jump shot was and how much further along Kyrie Irving is, this was the moment that Wizards fans had been waiting for from our #1 overall pick. This was the moment when we let out the collective breath that we were holding for three years.

Trevor: I loved each and every one of these moments. I couldn't have been more pumped for Webster that game when he was raining threes, minus the fact that he may have shot himself out of the Wizards price range. The Bradley Beal game winner was so money, I think my excitement and celebration may have scared my couchmate/game partner/dog. This was right around the time of Beal's January turnaround, and it proved he is ready to be a leader on the floor. He also went 5-for-7 from three that game and finished with 22 points. But the king of these highlights has to be John Wall's 47 point game. Not only because it was great watching him drop 47 by scoring in all kinds of ways -- which it was -- but more so what it symbolized. This what right in the middle of his takeover, and that game represented that John Wall had officially taken that next step. People had been questioning whether he was ever going to get to that next level, including myself, and this game helped silence all those questions and quiet all the critics. The real John Wall has arrived.

Remember all that buzz about John Wall having issues with his Reebok shoes and how it was a factor that lead to his injury? Do you also remember when Wall and Reebok parted ways earlier this year and he ended up signing with Adidas?

Well, here’s a preview of his latest shoe, the first in his new partnership with Adidas.



As you can see below, these shoes won’t hurt Wall’s feet nor do they seem like they can cause an injury thanks to the new cushioning flexibility and all the other sneaker mumbo jumbo.  Let’s just say there is a reason why Reebok couldn’t hold up, they don’t know basketball shoes. A job well done by Adidas and Jimmy Wall!

Photos courtesy of Adidas via email distribution.
 

As I walked through the press entrance doors for the final time this season as a member of the media, nothing appeared to be out of the normal. It was a gloomy, rainy day in the nation's capital and very fittingly, Chris Singleton's tone was up to par with the mood of the weather outside. Anyone who has heard Singleton talk knows what I mean: very low voice, very open to the media, but at the same time, very sheltered in what he says.

As the members of the media stood in the hallway awaiting each player to finish their end of the season routines, the conversation was all the same. Questions about individual things each player should work on, what do they expect the team to do in the draft and who will participate in the Summer League. Then something amazing happened. Something that really made me appreciate the character of this team and finally understand the direction they're going in.

In the middle of Chris Singleton's mundane interview, Martell Webster decided to come in and crash the party. Martell is such a fun-loving and charismatic person it's very easy to see why everyone loves him. He cracks jokes on everyone, always smiling, teasing his teammates and he has a lot of fun with the media. Basically, he's the kind of guy you would love to go to the bar with and kick back a cold one. I've been around a number of great personalities in sports, but Martell Webster has to be one of the more enjoyable players I've spoken to and it's very easy to see why he has quickly become not just a fan favorite, but an irreplaceable part to this Wizards core. He even interrupted a reporter earlier in an interview and told him he had a female hair hanging from his face to which the equally witty reporter responded with, "At least you said it was a female hair." The room lit up as everyone, including Martell let loose for a few moments and went with the joke.

Last night, the Washington Wizards closed the door on yet another disappointing season.  The team fell short of 30 wins, and of course missed the playoffs.  It’s a morose feeling that Wizards fans have come to expect since our ephemeral run of success was dismantled and the indefinite rebuilding began.

If you’re like me, you just swallow it.  You turn your back on the laughably bad record and scrape together enough positives to make yourself feel like the season was, well, something.

Or maybe you turned into an unofficial NCAA scout long ago because you knew the Wizards would, once again, be in the draft lottery.  You try your hand at which area of the team is most talent-deficient and mentally plug in the next top prospect.  But your franchise player doesn’t like this approach.  He wants more veterans.  And he’s right to demand it.

Maybe you’re trying to imagine a way the Wizards can squeak out some salary cap room this summer.  But with so much money tied up in three players, it’s difficult to be creative.  (Well, maybe if they’re able to tra --- no?  Okay.)

I remember the last time the Wizards were in the playoffs.  I went on a Carnival cruise with about 20 people and we departed from Miami the day of game 1 against the Cavaliers.  I saw the Wizards take their first loss of the series, but being out on the water with no satellite signal, I didn’t’ see much else.  There was a guy I’d bumped into later in the week wearing a Lebron jersey (likely a bandwagon fan) and I asked him if he’d heard how the series was going.  Drunk, he raised his cocktail and yelled, “Sh*t, man, I don’t know!”

I returned just in time to see the Wizards get bounced from the playoffs (again) by the Cavaliers.  It took as long for me to absorb the loss as it took for me to flush the vacation alcohol from my body.

And here we are again, hoping for a better season next year.