John Wall is positive the Wizards will compete for an Eastern Conference title once again in 2018-19, and while everyone else seems to be picking the Celtics to win, the 27-year-old guard isn't so sure it will be as easy for them as everyone thinks.

"Boston looks great on paper. But how are all those young guys going to mesh with Kyrie [Irving] being back? Or Gordon Hayward being back?" Wall told Yahoo Sports. "Nobody knows how that’s going to work."

The Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017-18 without Irving or Hayward on the court at all. Adding those two players to some combination of Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Terry Rozier, Al Horford and Marcus Morris appears to be a formidable roster.


Nonetheless, these guys performed collectively for all of six minutes in final season’s opener earlier than Hayward suffered a season-ending leg damage. They have not performed collectively a lot and that’s what Wall is banking on.

What he is not taking without any consideration is how good Boston is on the bench and within the field.

"They’ve got a hell of a coach in Brad Stevens, and (with GM and president) Danny Ainge, they’re going to figure it out," he said. "But you still got to put it all together."

With the departure of LeBron James to the Lakers, the Eastern Conference is wide open. James won eight straight conference finals with the Heat and the Cavaliers. Now the conference is up for grabs.

The Wizards finished 2017-18 with a 43-39 record and the No. 8 seed in the East. They bowed out in the first round to the Raptors in six games.

Nonetheless, Wall absolutely believes the Wizards have an opportunity to go to Washington’s first NBA Finals look since 1977-78 when the group was nonetheless dubbed the Bullets.

“I believe that is deepest group we’ve had and I really feel very snug with this group,” Wall advised Yahoo Sports activities. “All people goes to place Boston No. 1, as a result of that’s what you’re purported to. They’d a hell of a season with these guys coming again. You’ve received Philly, they received their items. I really feel like these prime 4, these prime 5 — you possibly can’t overlook Milwaukee, what they’ve with Giannis [Antetokounmpo] — I really feel prefer it’s all cluttered. I put us proper there.”