The 3rd ten-game stretch is in the books, and we have a lot to talk about. The Wizards finished this stretch 4-6. A minute ago, their record was 11-14, but the Wizards have followed up a 3-game win streak with a 1-4 stretch. However, they finished it with an inspiring win against the Lakers. The Wizards are currently 11th in the East and 3 games behind the 8th place Orland Magic. The few things that stand out to me about this team are the usual suspects like rebounding and effort, but more importantly, the Wizards have had more of an injury bug lately and have made two trades in one week. There have been some positives, a lot of negatives, and a few trades to go along with it all. I will start with the negatives so that we can all feel good leaving this blog post today with some positives because recent events have caused for acknowledgment of good things about this team.
The Struggles
The Wizards have been having many struggles on the court, and this has not been helped at all by the amount of injuries they have dealt with over these past few weeks. Dwight Howard is still out recovering from his surgery, and this team is currently last in rebound differential per game. The Wizards are getting out-rebounded by a margin of 8.5 rebounds a game. Granted, they play Thomas Bryant at the 5, who is only 21, and Kieff is coming off the bench to play small ball 5. Either way, it is visible how much the Wizards inability to rebound has hurt them. For this team, defense equates to offense. I think that they are much better when they can get out and run in transition with one of the fastest guards in the game (John Wall). However, it is very difficult to push the ball out in transition when they cannot finish defensive possessions. The Wizards are already a poor defensive team, so giving up 12.1 offensive rebounds a game is definitely a key contributor to them being second to last in opponent’s points per game (117.2 ppg). There is absolutely no communication on defense, and when the ball is on one side of the court, it is astonishing to look at the opposite side to see how many Wizards defenders are standing straight up.
I would think that being on the verge of losing grip on playoff contention would light a fire under these guys, but that just has not happened except against the Lakers. Beal and Wall are both standing straight up here once the ball moves to the right side of the court, and Wall completely loses Emmanuel Mudiay to give up an open 3. Surprisingly enough, the Wizards are a solid defensive team when they give consistent effort and hustle back in transition. Unfortunately, their effort is inconsistent at best, and they do not get back in transition very well.
On top of all these glaring issues, John Wall and Otto Porter have been dealing with injuries. Wall played visibly hurt in a road loss against the Cavaliers, which resulted in one of the worst games of his career. He finished with 1 point and 6 assists on 0/5 from the floor while his matchup, Collin Sexton, dropped 29 on 13/23 shooting in route to a 116-101 win for the Cavs. John Wall sat the next game in the Wizards loss to the Pacers, and Otto Porter sustained a knee injury in the first quarter of that game. He has since been out 3 straight games. This came at tough time for the wing player because in his previous two games before he got hurt, he had scored an average of 17.5 points on 47% FG and 38.5% 3FG. Porter had been the most aggressive version of himself that we had seen all season in those two games. Hopefully he can continue that when he returns. The Wizards were 1-3 without Porter, including the Pacers game, because they missed his length on defense, his rebounding, and his threat as an outside shooter. This stretch was rough, but the large amount of injuries that have been sustained have definitely made it even harder for the Wizards to improve on their rocky start to the season.
The Trades
The Wizards traded for Sam Dekker which I already discussed in my last post. He adds youth, potential, a high motor, and decent 3-point shooting. Now, I am more interested in this trade for Trevor Ariza.
It is unfortunate that a 3-team deal with the Grizzlies and Suns fell apart.That deal would’ve sent the Wizards Ariza along with 2 second-round picks from the Grizzlies while sending out Oubre and Rivers. Once that fell apart due to miscommunications about which Brooks the trade would involve, the Wizards sent out Rivers and Oubre to the Suns to receive Trevor Ariza.
I really like this move because Kelly Oubre is a very inconsistent, young player that the Wizards would not have been able to afford to re-sign after this season. His market value will be higher than his basketball value this upcoming summer due to his potential. Austin Rivers was this team’s best on-ball defender, but he just did not fit well with the second unit. Furthermore, Trevor Ariza is on an expiring contract, and he is a much better shooter than both Kelly Oubre and Austin Rivers. Offensively, there have been players putting up numbers for this team, but the Wizards still rank just 27th in the league in 3pt%. They are only shooting 32.8% from 3, which makes it hard for them to stretch the floor to create space for driving lanes. Trevor Ariza has been shooting 36% from 3 so far this season. The trade gives this team a good player (veteran) that has already played with Beal and wall before. This will help him manage their ego’s, he will demand effort from this team, and he will help lead the team. In less PC terms, Ariza will know how to handle their bull shit. Ariza, apparently, was a great influence on Wall back when he played with the Wizards from 2012 to 2014. Ariza is also a very good defender that has great length, and he will fit in well with Porter’s length and shooting when they are both in the game together. I would love to see the starting 5 be: Wall, Beal, Ariza, Porter, and Bryant. On top of this, Troy Brown Jr., the rookie out of Oregon, should be able to break into the rotation for the Wizards finally.
This trade is a last ditch effort to salvage this season. It would definitely be fun to make the playoffs, maybe surprise some people, and win a series. However, that would just be the same old thing. Ernie Grunfeld loves to make these “win now” changes, but the Wizards over the past simply do not do it. They have not been past the second round with this core, and they need a plan for the future. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, they have no future; they need to create a future.
The Lakers wanted to get Ariza very badly, so when the trade deadline is coming around, the Wizards should evaluate their situation and record. If they are not turning it around as they hoped, they should trade Ariza to the Lakers who may be in “win now mode” at that point. The Wizards could then get some value out of him if the on-court results are not there. Overall, I love the flexibility this trade gives the team, but I just hope the front office has some type of plan in place for what to do to create a future with this roster.
The Positives
Now it is time to feel good about this team! There are some things I really like about the Wizards currently. First off, as much as I point out the shortcomings of John Wall’s game, I feel the need to go on record and say that I still love John Wall. He, in big games, plays with a ton of passion, and he is unquestionably a superstar when he is healthy. Since getting past his injured stretch, John Wall has averaged 27 points and 13.3 assists in the last 3 games. If Wall can continue to hit shots and GET OTHER PEOPLE INVOLVED the way he did against the Lakers tonight, he can run this team perfectly. It was his best showing of good shot selection and avoidance of over dribbling thus far this year. I hope this great play continues with the changes of the roster.
The addition of Sam Dekker has been very good so far. He plays with a ton of energy, cuts to the basket very well, and is a smart player with the ball. His best game with the team thus far was against the Lakers tonight when he put up 20 points on 10/15 shooting. Bradley Beal continues to be a superstar averaging an efficient 26.2 points and 5.3 assists in the last 10 games. I think Satoransky has been great since being inserted into the starting line-up. I expect his high-level play to continue when he, presumably, changes roles back to being this team’s backup PG. I also cannot say enough about the energy Thomas Bryant has been playing with. He runs the floor very hard, does not take ill-advised shots, and he always works hard on the glass no matter how physical the center he is playing against is. He needs to put on some weight, but he is young and has a great foundation to build on as a player. I cannot mention all of these players without mentioning Jeff Green who has played great so far this season. He has been a great surprise and a key piece to Washington’s bench.
All of the positives were on display against the Lakers tonight in a 128-110 win. Wall really set the tone early with his effort, and this team playing players like Troy Brown, Thomas Bryant, Sam Dekker, and Thomas Satoransky- who are all trying to prove themselves in this league- more than likely influenced the Wizards to play very hard. John Wall played absolutely out of his mind putting up 40 points and 14 assists on 16/27 shooting. On top of this, Jeff Green and Thomas Satoransky continued their great play. Most importantly, the ball moved a ton, and the Wizards gave GREAT effort defensively the whole game. Thomas Bryant had his best game so far having 8 points and 11 rebounds. He was all over the court, and his effort was hard to miss. Troy brown got minutes off the bench and really held his own out there; I saw a ton of positives. He had a rough time scoring, but he made some great plays defensively and made good decisions on offense. Not having Oubre to make bonehead plays, and not having Austin Rivers to take ill-advised shots helped the ball move more. This created energy within the team, and the Wizards played great.
As my dad put it perfectly, it was “addition by subtraction”. Dekker and Brown are better for the team than Oubre and Rivers; it is that simple. The game tonight was by far their best game of the season, and I think getting Porter back from injury and adding Trevor Ariza will help them trend upwards.
Final Thoughts….
Trevor Ariza coming in and Porter getting healthy soon will hopefully help this team salvage the season. I think I will really like this roster with a Porter-Ariza combo. I am cautiously optimistic about this team’s prospects for the rest of the season. Hopefully, the effort can consistently be like it was against the Los Angeles Lakers. I also want to add that I do not see Wall and Beal getting traded during the season. Those moves, if they happen, I presume will come in the summer when teams looking to add a superstar in free agency whiff on their attempts. I am very intrigued to see where the direction of this team is headed. I hope they salvage this season, but I also hope that if they turn it around, it does not skew the front office’s thoughts into believing running it back again is the best way for this team to win. However, If Wall and the rest of the team continue the effort from the Laker’s game, and continue to play together, a blow up would not be necessary. We will see how they respond, and this next 10 game stretch I think will say a lot about the Wizards possibility of turning the season round. Should be fun!!
My next blog post, barring injury or trade, will come January 6!! Happy holidays!!
And here is a nice photo of my dad, John Ayanian aka the GOAT, at the game tonight cheering on the Wizard’s great effort!
Boo On The Bullets 
Great blog post. Keep up the good work
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