The Washington Wizards were one victory away from making it to the Eastern Conference finals, dropping a decisive Game 7 to the Boston Celtics to end their playoff run.
It was a great season for Washington, but once again the franchise fell short of escaping the second round. Washington hasn't seen the conference finals since 1979, a huge drought for the historic franchise once known as the Bullets.
All-Star point guard John Wall enjoyed his best season since joining the league but couldn't burst past the Celtics for a chance to clash with LeBron James. Wall pinpointed what the biggest issue he sees with the Wizards is, including the one player he'd like to see get more playing time.
The Wizards have a talented roster, but once you look past the starting five, it's easy to see why Wall points to the bench as the biggest need and reasons why they've been struggling in the playoffs in recent years.
"We need to help our bench. Just to be honest, that was our downfall in each series that we had in the [Eastern Conference] semifinals, our bench got out played," Wall told CSN's Chris Miller.
"We have our main core guys. I think adding a couple little pieces here and there will help us get over the hump. Even with all that, we still feel like we had a chance by getting to a Game 7. We had a 50-50 chance of getting to the Eastern Conference Finals. We were one game away," Wall added.
As far as how the Wizards could have done a better job using the bench talent they do have on the roster, Wall feels Sophomore swingman Kelly Oubre could have helped Washington if he was on the floor more.
"I think Kelly Oubre could've played a little bit more. … But Coach [Scott Brooks] makes the decision, and we stick behind him 100 percent,' Wall said.
Oubre averaged five minutes less per game in the NBA playoffs than he did during the regular season, going from 20.3 to 15.3. It's a small drop off in minutes, but it definitely existed. Whether those five minutes would have mattered, of if Wall envisioned an even larger role, remains to be seen.
The Wizards drafted Oubre with the 15th pick in the 2015 NBA Draft and certainly hope he develops into being one of the pieces they rely on to take a step forward. Wall, Bradly Beal, Otto Porter and Oubre were all draft selections by Washington.
Oubre developing into a sixth man and a little help in free agency could seemingly go a long way in Wall's view, and he might be right. The Wizards could be in for an interesting summer.