The 2nd to last 10-game stretch is over. The team played well going 6-4, but they are still in 11th place and 3.5 games out of 8th. Thank goodness. It is good to see the Wizards play hard, play well, and still find a way to lose. Their close losses keep them engaged which will allow them to avoid falling into a trap where they don’t care anymore. If everyone stops caring well before the season ends, that creates a toxic culture for young guys, veterans, and stars. Playing well but coming up short in just enough games to stay in the middle of the draft lottery has been a blessing. As long as they keep believing in themselves, this team full of young guys will continue to grow, and with a possibly good draft pick this summer, there could be excitement in the nation’s capital again sooner rather than later. However, I will hold off on offseason talks and organizational outlook until the offseason. Let’s talk about what happened in our 6-4 stretch
Troy Brown’s Minutes Increase
Would you look at that… Troy Brown shows improvement when he is given opportunities to grow in real NBA games. In the last 10-games he has average 15.9 minutes a game which is a huge uptick compared to his 9 mpg average for the season. In the recent stretch, he showed me more than I was even expecting out of the 19-year old this early. Jump shooting was a concern for him, still is to an extent, but he has shown a great touch with his jump shot especially off of the dribble. In general, he needs to work on his confidence (he is only 19; it will come) and his shot off of the catch. Brown is extremely poised and smart for a young player. He averaged a solid 6.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg, and 2.4 apg in the last 10, and I like that Coach Brooks stated that he plans to increase his minutes even more.
Beal Continues to Be a Beast
Enough said…. Fine, I will say a little bit more but will keep this short and sweet. Beal capped off this 10-game stretch with 2 40-point games in 2 nights. One of those games came against the Grizzlies who only give up 104.3 ppg as a team which is 2nd in the NBA. Overall in the last 10, Beal put up a marvelous line of 29.9 ppg, 7.0 apg, and 6.6 rpg. Not only is he a force on offense but is an incredibly discipline on-ball defender who creates a lot of problems for the players he guards. He is literally unstoppable, and he just keeps getting better and better. Here were his stats in February alone…
Now there’s enough said…
Thomas Bryant Coming Off of the Bench
As we all know by now, Thomas Bryant has been one of the Bright spots for the season. Not only does he bring energy and personality to the locker room, but also a ton of potential that I think surprised a lot of people. In college, he was a very solid center in the Big Ten at the University of Indiana but came into the league unpolished and a tad light. Boy has he made strides this year. Now with the addition of Bobby Portis through the trade deadline, Bryant has been coming off of the bench for the Wizards recently and has excelled quite nicely in his role. He is a great spark off of the bench that can hit the occasional 3, grab some rebounds, and will always give you effort. We saw this when he was the starter. Bryant still needs to get stronger, but the kid is young and has time for that. While coming off of the bench the last 10-games, he has put up 9.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in just 18 mpg. That is 18.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per 36 minutes. His play off of the bench has made me entertain the idea of wanting the Wizards to draft a big and commit to Bryant being a very very good back up. However, there are financial and roster complications that would come with a move like that which I will discuss once the season ends.
Why Do They Lose to Bad Teams?
With Bradley Beal going off, Jabari Parker playing great, and the wing tandem of Trevor Ariza/ Jeff Green hitting their 3s you may be wondering why this team continues to lose to subpar teams. One of the few answers is defense. As seen since the trade deadline, the Wizards 100% have offensive weapons and are a tough team to guard. However, they cannot guard anyone. They do not start a center now that Bobby Portis (PF) is starting in place of Thomas Bryant, and no one but Beal and sometimes Sato seems to keep their man in front of them.
They have such a tough time defending ball screens and guarding on-ball that players are helping off of their man 5 seconds into every possession. After the initial ball handlers beat the first line of defense and help comes, kick outs happen and the defenders that had to help fly out to chase shooters off of the line. Now everyone is in chase mode the entire possession. I went to the game last night against the Grizzlies where the Wizards gave up 128 points, and it was driving me crazy how every possession the Wizards were just chasing the entire time. Here are the rankings for points allowed in the NBA. You’ll have to scroll pretty far down to find the Wizards….
Here they are down at 29. That is a huge reason why they lose to teams that everyone thinks they should beat. Every NBA player is ridiculously good at the sport, and if you give players a lot of room to shoot, they will hit shots no matter who they are. The Wizards’ awful defense combined with the skill level of NBA players on offense is exactly why they have lost to the Hawks and the Cavs twice each but have beaten the Thunder, the 76ers, and the Bucks. You can lose to anyone but beat anyone with poor defense of shooters and good offensive talent.
Enough about defense, I will leave you with a positive. Did you forget about Dwight Howard? He looks to be making good strides towards a full recovery.. check it out!
Remember when I said drafting a center might be complicated? (Bryant, Mahinmi, Howard, and the draft pick?) We will discuss later!
Overall, I am happy with what I am seeing out of this team and am excited to talk about the offseason with you all when we get there. Let’s hope that the team can finish out the season healthy. If that happens, we will have a 12-game update to end the season in April since it is an 82 game season, and then can talk about the future of the team!!
If you have any thoughts about the team or the blog feel free to leave a comment here or tweet at me @BoosBulletsBlog!
Boo On The Bullets 