November 8, 2018 Record: 2-8

Thanks for joining me! We are going to go through this 2018-19 season together. I will be providing summary, analysis, and reactions every 10 games. If anything major happens such as an injury, a firing, or a trade it will immediately be covered. Here we go!

Personally, I am a former high school basketball player from northern Virginia, a sport management major at the University of Minnesota, and a life long Washington Wizards fan. The website is called “boosbulletsblog” because my nickname from my family is boo, and the Wizards won the NBA finals when they were the Washington Bullets. This will by far be my longest post in the upcoming months. Due to it being the start of the 2018-19 season there is a lot to cover, so bear with me…

The Wizards have had a very rough start to the season. I will acknowledge that they played their first 7 games without Dwight Howard, Mahinmi missed a game during that stretch as well, and Markieff Morris missed a game and a half with a concussion. These injuries look substantial and definitely affected the team, but are nothing close to a viable excuse for their play so far. If Dwight Howard was healthy, maybe they win the first two games because they would have rebounded much better. Aside from rebounding though, not a whole lot has improved since Howard has come back healthy. The Wizards have been absolutely blown out multiple games and injuries did not cause that.

 

The way I see it, the wizards biggest problems are:

1) Point Guard

2) selfish attacking

3)Lack of creativity with the offensive system

4) Inconsistent defensive effort

 

1) POINT GUARD: JOHN WALL

Before I talk about his over dribbling habits, I want to point out that John Wall came into this season out of shape. According to Stephen A. Smith, John partied too much over the offseason which is extremely unprofessional considering his game relies on his athleticism. On top of that, his super max kicks in next year. He will be making an immense amount of money over the next four years (38, 41, 44, 47 mil each year), so he needs to live up to expectations.

John Wall is a super star and there is no denying that. However, he is hurting this team more than he helps it. John Wall is averaging 21.5 ppg, but he is shooting 46% from the floor and a terrible 28% from 3. He is taking 5 3s a game and has a  7.6:4 assist to turnover ratio. John Wall should not be shooting 5 3s a game, and he NEEDS to cut his turnovers down. However, these statistics are not even his worst problems. 

Worst of all, John Wall over dribbles the basketball. There are multiple possessions a game where no one else touches the ball besides Wall, and it ends in an off the dribble three. Also, often times Wall will waste 16-20 seconds of a shot clock dribbling the basketball until he passes it off late hoping someone else will make an isolation play.

2) Selfish Attacking

The selfish attacking is a problem throughout the entire roster. Teams are at their best when they attack and create for others. John Wall puts his head down and just goes, Bradley Beal puts his head down and attacks without thinking about passing, and multiple other players are guilty of this too. Bradley Beal, Otto Porter, Markieff Morris, Jeff Green, and Austin Rivers are all capable three point shooters that need touches. With all of these good shooters, the wizards players need to attack with the thought of creating for others. As a team, they are shooting poorly from 3 so far this year, but I believe that is a result of poor chemistry and shot selection; it is not indicative of the shooting ability of this team. Otto porter shot 44% from 3 last year, and so far this season he is getting even less touches than he did last season. He finally got more involved against the Mavericks, and it paid dividends. He scored 19 points on 7/12 FG and 5/6 3FG. I have seen multiple possessions, most notably in the losses to the Raptors and Grizzlies, where players have opted not to kick to a wide open shooter in the corner and it resulted in charges, missed layups, or rarely, a made contested layup. The Wizards need to create more open shots for players of Porter and Beal’s shooting caliber instead of attacking only for themselves.

3) Lack of Offensive Creativity

This problem is very simple: the wizards do not run a variety of offensive sets. A lot of the times it just seems as though Wall and Beal take turns attacking isolation on offense which is not a recipe for success. Open jump shots and easy driving lanes are created from ball movement and screening, not by isolation. This was the downfall of Scott Brooks in OKC. Durant and Westbrook did not trust their teammates, so they went one on one too much. That coupled with some great performances by Klay Thompson and Steph Curry was the reason they blew a 3-1 lead to the warriors. John Wall and Bradley Beal are not as talented as Russel Westbrook and Kevin Durant, so there is an even worse chance of that philosophy working in D.C.

4) Inconsistent Defensive Effort

Poor defensive effort has plagued the Wizards for years. Their defense looked much better in their opener against the heat but took a turn for the worse on their west coast road trip. They are the worst defensive team in the NBA right now giving up 120.5 points per game. This is a result of lack of communication and the inability to keep ball handlers in front. John Wall and Kelly Oubre are having the most trouble with this. John Wall is great at getting steals and chase down blocks, but too often lets his man drive past him. He also does not fight over a screens very well which leads to his man creating easy scoring opportunities. Kelly Oubre gambles way too much and tries to pressure his man way out pass the three point line too often.

However, it is not just these two. Bradley Beal has not been the usual lock down defender he has become, Otto Porter seems half a step slow, and Markieff Morris’s lateral quickness is not what it used to be. There are good on ball defenders on this team: Beal, Porter, Rivers, Green, but they have not been playing like it consistently. The help defense has not helped the cause at all because there is no communication on the back end when someone does get beat.

The inconsistency was really illustrated in their last loss to the Mavericks. The Wizards gave up 70 points in the first half.Then, they turned around and only gave up 17 in the third quarter. They played more inspired defense, created turnovers, and kept their men in front of them. This needs to become a 48 minute habit.

What Needs to be Done?

The Wizards need to turn this around in the next ten games, or they should probably be looking for a new head coach. Then, Ian Mahinmi should be waived, and his contract should be stretched because Scott Brooks has been favoring Jason Smith off the bench instead of Mahinmi anyways. Mahinmi is set to make $15 million this year and $15 million next year. Stretching his contract would free up some cap space. Also, if there are no improvements in the next ten games, the Wizards should look to trade John Wall for a good young player, a guard on a small or expiring contract, and a pick. If multiple teams are needed to get this done and a package with Oubre or Morris is necessary, then the wizards should try anything to make that happen. Wall’s contract is enormous, and he is not running this team the way it needs to be run. The phoenix suns or the Los Angeles Lakers could be possible suitors.

What’s Next?

Coming up the Wizards have a home stand with multiple games against teams under .500. Hopefully they can use this opportunity to right the ship.

I plan for my next post to come sometime shortly after the Wizards matchup with the Houston Rockets on November 26. Stay tuned!

References:

https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/opponent-points-per-game

http://www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/4237/john-wall

http://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/2594922/otto-porter-jr

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