At the quarter mark of the season, Washington finds itself at 11-13, good enough for (you guessed it) the ninth pick! It’s shaping up to be another season of mediocrity. And the worst part is that the same issues are continuing to plague the Wizards. This team still can’t match up in transition. The perimeter defense is consistently in the bottom 10. And now, our defensive rebounding has taken a hit.
You would think that with two All-NBA caliber players, a rising star (Kuz), and decent depth that this team would be better. But here we are, 24 games in and under .500. So, why are we so behind other teams? The answer: coaching.
Outlined below are multiple reasons as to why our head coach’s failure to adapt to the modern NBA is inhibiting our success.
Three-point Shooting
If you’ve watched this league for the past five or so years, you would see just how much things have changed. For starters, three-point shooting has taken over, all thanks for Steph Curry. It’s become the primary shot for most teams, launching 34.1 threes per game this season (basketballreference.com).
The Wizards rank 18th in attempts, which isn’t too bad. However, my concern isn’t that they don’t shoot enough. It’s about WHO we’re asking to shoot these threes, that’s a problem.
Take Deni for example. He can’t shoot, yet he’s taking 3 threes per game at a 26% clip. It’s the reason that teams have purposefully left him open from deep. The bottom line is that Deni is not a shooter. He’s at his best when attacking the basket and creating shots for others. Instead, our head coach is putting him in situations to fail. I mean the Lakers literally left him open from 3 and Wes didn’t pull him until he missed his first five.
I’m not sure what the best solution is, but maybe a move to the bench is the correct decision. With Delon out, he can play alongside Goodwin and be the primary playmaker like he was in Israel when he won Finals MVP. At this point, anything is better for him than his current role.
Another player who I believe is being incorrectly used is Kuzma. He’s best when attacking the basket in transition and creating for others. When he plays to his 6’10 frame, he’s unstoppable. His vision has vastly improved since last season, leading to a career-high in assists per game. In this offense though, he’s subject to the corner and does a lot of ball watching. WUJ needs to realize he’s our best playmaker and put the ball in his hands every possession.
It would allow Brad to play off-ball and focus on scoring. In the six games we’ve had of “Point-Kuz,” he’s averaged 22.2 pts, 9 rbs, and 3.2 assists (statmuse). Washington is 4-2 in those games, with close losses in Memphis and Miami. The success is there. It’s not the 2000’s NBA where all forwards just set screens and play off ball. Now they can handle the ball and make decisions on offense, something Wes must realize.
Pace
You see a ton of it on the college level, but pace is making its way into the NBA. Teams, typically younger ones, are starting to push the ball every chance they get to continuously apply pressure to their opponent. The main advantage is that it doesn’t allow the opponent to set their defense, creating easy baskets.
The flip side of this modern-age pace is a slow, methodical offense where you elect to run sets and plays instead of going with tempo. This works if you have a true PG that can get in the paint and break down a defense. We don’t have that, which is why these sets tend to fail.
Washington simply doesn’t push the ball enough. In terms of fastbreak points, the Wizards rank dead last at only 10.3 per game (Teamrankings.com). The Raptors lead the league at 18 per game, with eight of the top ten teams in fastbreak points having winning records. It further proves my point that a faster pace of play, which in turn leads to more fast break opportunities, would help this team.
As of now, we get a rebound, slow it down, call out a down screen for Brad or feed KP in the post, and allow the other team to get set. They usually double KP, force a pass by Brad to an open shooter, and that shooter misses a three. It’s a constant cycle. If we push off the miss, you get Kuz or Brad going downhill and drawing fouls. It’s quite a simple fix.
The days of the big man dominating the post are over. Sure, you have your Embiid’s and Jokic’s that are still getting it done. They’re the best in the game. However, those guys have adapted in the sense that they can both shoot the three, handle the ball up the court, and create shots for others.
They should be examples to Wes that even with a dominant center in KP, you can still play with pace. Although Denver runs the offense through Jokic, they still rank 7th in fastbreak points (teamrankings.com). Just because KP initiates the offense doesn’t mean he must get a post touch every possession.
Wes coaches like it’s the 2000’s with guys like Duncan and Shaq dominating. He’s gotten a rude awakening to the Steph Curry “three-point” era and must adapt soon. If not, he may find himself on thin ice.
Thanks for reading my blog! As always, if you have any questions or just want to talk Wizards basketball, feel free to comment here or send me a message on Twitter @GregFinberg.
All stats and info found on these sites:
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/fastbreak-points-per-game
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=kuzma+without+beal+2022-23
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/avdijde01.html