The Wizards have won just 2 of their last 10, and the injuries keep piling up. Davis Bertans, Rui Hachimura, Mo Wagner, and Thomas Bryant are ALL OUT. On top of that, Bradley Beal left in the middle of the last game with lower leg soreness and is now questionable for tonight’s game against New York. The Wizards have been calling up players from the G-League like Admiral Schofield, Garrison Matthews, and Justin Robinson while signing others in an attempt to find enough bodies to throw out on the court.
New Additions
Gary Payton II: Payton has been back and forth between the NBA and the G-League since coming out of Oregon State 3 years ago. It is not too surprising that the Wizards signed him because he had a stint with the team last year and was pretty impressive. Payton was extremely good in college and has a very high basketball IQ. However, he won’t blow anyone away with his athleticism and still needs to become a little more comfortable dribbling the ball through traffic in the NBA. He has only played in 2 games so far but has scored 10 points and recorded 5 assists in both games.
Johnathan Williams: Williams is a 6’9″ PF who played for Mark Few at Gonzaga from 2016-2018. Most of his time since Gonzaga has been spent playing in Europe with Israel being his most recent stop. During the Pistons’ beatdown of the Wizards a few nights ago, Williams played 33 minutes off of the bench and finished with 9 points and 8 rebounds.
Updates on Injuries
Bradley Beal: Beal sustained a lower leg injury against the Pistons, but it is not thought to be serious. His status for tonight’s game is “questionable”.
Rui Hachimura: Against the Pistons on the 16th, Rui injured his groin and has been out since. He is expected to be reevaluated this weekend and is hoping to be back for Monday’s game against the Heat.
Davis Bertains: Bertans, who has been having a great season, has a quadricep injury and his considered to be day-to-day. Hopefully, he will be back soon because his elite shooting helps open up the floor for the young guys who are trying round out their games still. If Bertans continues to shoot how he has, he could be a huge trade asset later in the season or a role player in D.C. for the foreseeable future.
Thomas Bryant: A stress reaction in the foot is what has kept Thomas Bryant sidelined this month, but the word on him is that he is progressing nicely and practiced yesterday. He will remain out until everyone is comfortable that this stress reaction is behind him.
Mo Wagner: A couple of weeks ago, Wagner injured his ankle. Last Saturday, the word was that he would be out for at least another week, and today marks 7 days from that report. Thus, that means the high energy, enthusiastic big will be back in the near future.
What to Watch For
The two players that I’m most interested in watching during this injury plague are Troy Brown Jr. and Justin Robinson. Troy Brown played pretty horrendously after being inserted into the starting lineup a while back. However, since Scott Brooks has returned him to a bench role, he has gotten back on track. Over the last 10 games, he has been averaging 13.5 points, shooting 50% from the floor and 35% from three, and limiting his turnovers to just a little over 1 per game.
Justin Robinson has spent the vast majority of his rookie season in the G-League after being undrafted out of Virginia Tech. I personally think Robinson will turn out to be a legitimate NBA PG (off of the bench), and these are the moments that he needs to take advantage of to do that. He has a solid shot, but it definitely needs to be more consistent. However, he made huge strides with his jump shot during his time at VT, so I don’t have any reason to believe that it won’t keep trending upward. Robinson is very fast, has good court vision, and has exceptional finishing abilities around the rim, so I hope this opportunity will allow him to gain valuable experience and continue to grow.
Injuries suck, but they are part of sports. The mentality of this team must be “next man up”, and I don’t see that being a problem. I expect nothing less than maximum effort every night since a lot of the players on the active, healthy roster are young, usually in the G-League, and/or fighting for a spot in the NBA. The next few weeks should be interesting, to say the least.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Boo On The Bullets 