The Wizards are being pulled downward in the standings at about the most inopportune time.
With eight regular-season games to go, Washington (41-33) desperately needs John Wall back on the court to avert a potential seeding crisis in the first round of the playoffs. But, two months after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, Wall's not quite there yet.
"It's really close," said Wizards head coach Scott Brooks, who is presented by Greenberg and Bederman. "We want to still get him a few more sessions on the court. Hopefully we can have another good practice (Wednesday)."
"I don't see him playing in Detroit (on Thursday), but you never know," Brooks told The Sports Junkies. "But it's getting close, and, like I said, it's really mind-boggling that the guy can miss two months of basketball and do the things that he's done the last few practices. But we're excited to have him when he does come back.
"We definitely need him and it's hard to play an extended stretch of games without him, but give our guys a lot of credit. They've handled it very well."
Asserting the Wizards' need for Wall can't possibly be overstated. If the playoffs were to start tomorrow, the sixth-seeded Wizards would face the three-seed, Cleveland (44-30). Yikes.
Separated from the ninth-seeded Pistons by seven wins, the Wizards could conceivably even miss the playoffs altogether. Although, that would require a catastrophic confluence of events.
Of course, if the Wizards slide any further, they could drop below Miami (40-35) or Milwaukee (39-35), who trail Washington by only 1.5 and two games, respectively. That would pit Washington against either the Raptors (55-20) or Celtics (51-23). Double yikes.
Asked if he's started to think about the seeding possibilities, a question Brooks shrugged off weeks ago, the Wizards coach said, "There's still a lot of games left, considering it can go one or two games here and there, because there's the teams up top, too, teams above us. You never know what's going to end up on their schedule and their games. But there's still a chance that we can play anywhere from the top to the fourth seed."
"We have to get better ourselves. We have to right the ship," he said. "We've lost three in a row, 4-6 out of the last 10. We've got to get better and we know we have to play much better. We've got to play a consistent two-way game and we haven't been able to put that together, and it's kind of disappointing this late in the season."
"But, still, we've got John coming back," he added. "And I know we're not looking to him to save the day, but he's definitely going to give us a great player in our lineup."
In the meantime, Wall has somehow lost 10 to 15 pounds while rehabbing, meaning he could be lighter and quicker whenever he does eventually return to the lineup.
"It's good and bad -- the good, that he's lost it. The bad, that I think I've gained it," Brooks quipped. "So, I'm not happy with that."
"You know what? He looks great, and, if anything, it's going to definitely help take some weight off the joints, and the knees and his ankles, and it probably adds some speed, if you can believe that," he said. "But he looks good. He feels great. That tells you all the work that he's put in. It's hard to lose weight when you have a knee injury or a leg injury, and he's been able to do that, and give him credit with the staff. He works closely with our staff every day. Like I said, it's pretty impressive that he's been able to do what he's done with the injuries and kept his weight off, and actually he looks better than before he got hurt with his body."
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