Wizards’ Monthly Recap - October to November
Welcome to the first of many monthly reviews of the Washington Wizards’ regular season. In this edition, I’m going to be looking at four games from October, highlighting trends in the team’s performance, and using all of this information to highlight my general hopes and expectations for the November schedule.
I could use these four games to establish expectations for the entirety of the regular season, but I think it’s best to take it month-by-month with how much of a rollercoaster the Wizards are.
The first game I’ll be looking at is the home opener, in which the Wizards narrowly defeated the Bulls 102-100. I’ve referred to this game as the game of foul trouble in everyday conversation due to a combination of the Wizards getting into foul trouble and the referees’ suspected bias toward Chicago. A win is a win, of course, but this was a scrappy, almost concerning win.
The team stepped up offensively, a reminder to Bradley Beal (G) that he doesn’t have to do everything by himself. Beal might be the franchise player and might have signed a ridiculous max contract, but the Wizards have something of a balanced (although not perfect) roster around him.
Scoring only 19 points and getting eight assists and a rebound is respectable, especially when one of Beal’s shots secured the win for the Wizards. Kyle Kuzma (F) was the one to the team in scoring with an impressive stat line of 26 points, two assists, and six rebounds, and Rui Hachimura (F) showed a lot of improvement from the previous game, marking the return of his preseason spark. Hachimura scored 12 points from the bench, made an assist, and got four rebounds.
There were two major issues with the home opener: foul trouble and messy defense, which go hand-in-hand for the Wizards. Kristaps Porzingis (C) fouled out of the game, Deni Avdija (F) was one foul away from fouling out after being one of the only players to guard Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan actively, and Daniel Gafford (C) was also in foul trouble.
Anthony Gill (F) won defensive player of the game after blocking DeRozan’s game-winning shot attempt, but AG isn’t known for breakout defensive (or offensive) performances. Beal, who doesn’t play much defense either, could have just as easily won defensive player of the game for covering DeRozan (instead of Avdija) for the last few minutes of the game.
The next notable game is the first game that the Wizards won comfortably, hosting and defeating the Detroit Pistons 120-99. The fact that this game was a blowout is a highlight on its own, but getting to that point was a team effort. After metaphorically dropping the ball in Cleveland on October 23, Kuz returned with 25 points, six rebounds, and an assist. There was also decent scoring from Porzingis and Will Barton (F).
While Beal showed glimpses of defensive capability, Avdija’s defensive efforts stood out, and he was crowned defensive player of the game. Johnny Davis (G), the rookie from Wisconsin, also made his NBA debut against Detroit, and while he didn’t score, he also showed defensive promise.
Deni Avdija (9) moving the ball for the Wizards | Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images
Despite this game being everything I could have wanted, there were some important problems to discuss. The entire team had difficulty consistently making layups, Hachimura threw the ball out of bounds at least three times (this may have been more noticeable because I was physically present at the game), and Delon Wright (G) got hurt. Wright is out for the foreseeable future with a hamstring strain, and his absence is noticeable, especially on the defensive end.
The third game was the Wizards’ rematch and subsequent loss to the Indiana Pacers, with a final score of 127-117. This game makes me wonder whether the Wizards’ first matchup against the Pacers, the game that opened their season, was a fluke. But it’s important to note that Myles Turner was on the floor for Indiana, where he wasn’t in the previous matchup.
The only thing that went well for the Wizards was their scoring. Avdija was hot offensively from the get-go, Davis scored his first two points in the NBA, Beal scored 31 points, Porzingis scored 22, and Kuzma scored 18. Unfortunately, the game was so lackluster that it took away from all of that.
The Big Three put up decent numbers despite lacking offensive consistency, and Indiana was able to take the lead due to lacking defensive consistency. After the game, Porzingis said, “we are going to get better from this.”
Unfortunately, and this is hardly Porzingis’ fault, that didn’t happen in Boston on the 30th. I’d like to forget that the Wizards dealt with their first blowout loss on October 30 in Boston (112-94), but it highlighted many areas for growth. That’s the nicest thing I can say because it’s difficult to find positives in this game.
Porzingis got a double-double, Hachimura scored 13, Jordan Goodwin (G) made an impact with his six points, and without Avdija’s efforts, Boston would have been leading by more than 11 points at the end of the first half. But this game lacked defense, and despite being the only one who played moderately effective defense, Avdija was benched (and was replaced on the starting five in the game after).
The offense also fell flat, with Kuzma only scoring nine points and Beal scoring 12. Beal didn’t even score a field goal until the third quarter was almost over, which is not what anyone wants to see from a team’s franchise player.
Bradley Beal (3), Kyle Kuzma (33), and Boston’s Jayson Tatum (0) on the court as the Wizards fall to the Celtics 112-94 | retrieved from nba.com
Some of the biggest problems across all four games are, broadly, lacking consistency on offense and an effective defensive presence. A lot of weird passing goes on, leading to holding onto the ball too long. Beal doesn’t pass enough sometimes, and layups are an issue for almost everyone. Regarding defense, Wright’s injury means a lack of an assertive presence getting stops, and the entire team will need to step up in his absence.
It’s still early enough in the season that the coaching staff can change up some rotations, which they’ve already done by adding Gill to the starting lineup in place of Avdija, but that wasn’t an effective change. I would consider, for at least one game in November, starting Barton just to see how his chemistry with Morris (reminder that they were teammates in Denver) fits in with the Wizards’ Big Three.
By the time the City Edition cherry blossom jerseys debut on November 10, when the Wizards host the Dallas Mavericks, I want to see at least some positive change.
