Sitting 12th in the Eastern Conference are none other than our hometown team, the Washington Wizards. They seem to be one of the most streaky teams, sitting at an underwhelming 17-29 record. They have the potential to be a playoff team with pieces such as one of the league’s leading scorers, Bradley Beal, Former MVP Russel Westbrook, and promising young players like Rui Hachimura and Deni Avdija. In this article I will take a deep dive into how the Wizards have performed this far in the season.
The Wizards have pieces and potential to be a playoff team as stated before, but what’s holding them back. Well to start it off, the Wizards struggle with depth on their bench and even in their starting lineup. With really the only two main scorers being Beal and Westbrook, there is no one else to take the lead when either Beal or Westbrook, or both, are out.
Davis Bertans was one of the Wizards biggest free agency signings as he was signed to a five-year, 80 million dollar contract. With such high stakes in Bertans, he has played underwhelming and has under performed to the expectations the Wizards had. There were even rumors near the trade deadline that Bertans could be traded because of his disappointing play.
One of the positives of the season has been Rui Hachimura, last year’s first round draft pick. He has performed decently this season, as he is the 3rd option behind Beal and Westbrook, but he still has a lot of room for improvement. After dropping 30 points just a couple of nights ago, he has shown improvement from last season but he is a player that will not become a star instantly, and will take a while to develop if he becomes one.
On the other hand, the Wizards first round draft pick this year, Deni Avdija has not played the greatest but you can attribute that to lack of playing time or poor coaching. Avdija is averaging 6.1 pts per game and shooting 42.5% from the field. He has been back and forth from the starting lineup to the bench, and an inconsistent player all around.
As stated before, there is a lack of coaching on the Wizards as Scott Brooks doesn’t seem like a good fit despite his 5 year tenure with the Wizards. There was some hope that since Westbrook was coming to DC they could have a reunion and fit well together, as they were together from 2008-2015. If Scott Brooks is let go, then in the near future there is a better possibility of the Wizards being a better team.
