Do The Math

With tonight's loss to the Toronto Raptors, a game we were leading by 16 points in the second quarter, the Washington Wizards are now mathematically eliminated from the 2012-2013 NBA playoffs. With this death knell milestone passed, of course, all hope for the current season is officially lost. This is the moment when the disappoinment of another failed season hits home but at the same time, it also releases the pressure a little and allows the start of the process of moving on to the offseason. It definitely takes some of the agony out of losing for the next few weeks (and there will be some losing) but it also destroys some of the elation of winning. Probably more so the former rather than the latter.

This is the fifth consecutive season the Wizards have not reached the postseason. It is the longest streak without a playoff appearance since I became a season ticket holder, although that is more a matter of luck and timing than any sort of historical playoff run by the franchise. At the beginning of this season, there were five teams in the NBA with playoff droughts equal to or longer than the Wizards. That number will surely dwindle to three when this season comes to a close. One of those five, the Brooklyn Nets, has already clinched a playoff berth and the Golden State Warriors will surely wrap one up very soon. That leaves the Toronto Raptors, Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves with equal or longer streaks of missing postseason play. Minnesota's absence is the longest at nine seasons.

Now that the season is dead, there will inevitably be calls from fans and pundits for the team to tank and secure the greatest possible chance of getting a top three draft pick. I'm not one of those. Winning the NBA Draft Lottery is total luck and drafting the right player to secure the future of the franchise is, in my opinion, an educated crap shoot. Who would have predicted three years ago that Paul George would have been the first from his draft class to make an All-Star appearance? No way would the Wizards have ever selected George number one overall instead of John Wall. There's no such thing as a sure thing in the NBA Draft. If there were, Rajon Rondo, Tony Parker and Kenneth Faried wouldn't have been selected 21st, 28th and 22nd overall in their respective draft years. I believe more in karma than I do in the ability of NBA general managers to accurately project the success of any given draft pick. Karma matters! Don't tank!

The only good thing I have to say about this moment is that at least it came later in the season than the last few years. I'm still having difficulty getting used to finding the Wizards this far up the standings. There's always next year. I'm still looking to that 2008-2009 Thunder team for hope.

Tuesday's home win against Chicago, our eighth straight W at home.