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Wizards Notes: Playoffs, Brown, Development, Lottery

August 5th, 2020 at 12:20pm CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards entered the summer with a 24-40 record, worst among the 22 teams invited to Orlando, and things haven’t improved in the last week. Washington is off to an 0-3 start, with a Sunday loss to the Nets potentially driving a dagger into the team’s postseason aspirations.

Although they aren’t technically eliminated from playoff contention yet, the Wizards could be as soon as today. The NBA announced this morning that Washington will be eliminated from the playoffs if they lose to Philadelphia today and the Magic and Nets both win their games.

Orlando and Brooklyn have tough matchups on tap, against the Raptors and Celtics, respectively, so the Wizards’ playoff chances may well survive another day or two. But now that they’re 7.5 games behind the eighth-seeded Magic, it looks like just a matter of time before the Wizards’ odds of forcing a play-in tournament dip to zero.

Here are a few more notes on the Wizards:

  • Although the Wizards haven’t won a game at Walt Disney World yet, the opportunity to have 21-year-old Troy Brown closing Monday’s loss at point guard is an example of the value the franchise sees in playing these games, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. “We have to see what we have in a lot of different positions. These are great minutes,” head coach Scott Brooks said. “That’s why we’re here. We’re here to get better and we’re here to improve.”
  • Brown’s ball-handling opportunities figure to be cut back next season when John Wall and Bradley Beal return. However, Mike DePrisco of NBC Sports Washington makes the case that the Wizards should still find ways to get the ball into the second-year guard’s hands, since that plays to his strengths.
  • The young players seeing action for the Wizards this summer aren’t just auditioning for roles in next season’s rotation, Hughes writes for NBC Sports Washington. In Hughes’ view, those players could become more appealing trade assets if they take positive steps forward during the restart, increasing the team’s offseason options.
  • Assuming the Wizards are eliminated from the playoffs, they’ll enter the August 20 draft lottery with the ninth-best odds and a 4.5% shot at the No. 1 pick. Washington’s full tentative lottery odds can be found right here.
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Wizards Notes: Mathews, Beal, Rotation, Hachimura

July 9th, 2020 at 3:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Having been one of the first NBA teams to arrive at the Walt Disney World campus on Tuesday, the Wizards announced today (via Twitter) that their quarantine period has ended and they’ll conduct their first practice later this afternoon.

However, one player who won’t participate in that practice is two-way guard Garrison Mathews. Sources tell Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link) that Mathews didn’t travel to Orlando with the team for personal reasons. According to Katz, Mathews hasn’t tested positive for the coronavirus, but it remains unclear whether he’ll join the team later or miss the rest of the season.

Mathews, a rookie out of Lipscomb, appeared in just 18 games for the Wizards during the season, averaging 12.6 minutes per contest, so he wasn’t exactly an indispensable rotation piece. Still, Matthews would likely have moved up on the depth chart with Bradley Beal sidelined for the restart, so if he doesn’t eventually join the club at Disney, he’ll be missed.

Here’s more on the Wizards:

  • Although Beal was shut down for the rest of the season due to a rotator cuff injury, Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard said this week that he doesn’t think surgery “is an option at all” for the All-Star guard. Rest and a longer training camp period should have Beal ready to go for 2020/21, according to Sheppard. “I think if we had another month of ramp-up time, Bradley would probably be ready to play,” Sheppard said, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. “These are eight games vs. 82 next season and all the seasons beyond that. I think it’s worth mitigating the risk right now for what’s ahead.”
  • In a separate story for NBC Sports Washington, Hughes contends that Beal’s performance this season showed that we still don’t know exactly what his ceiling is.
  • With Beal, Davis Bertans, and John Wall not participating in the summer restart, a handful of younger Wizards will get a chance to take on larger roles, according to Jackson Filyo of WashingtonWizards.com, who points to Troy Brown Jr., Rui Hachimura, Thomas Bryant, Moritz Wagner, and Jerome Robinson as players who could step up. “I’m so excited for this opportunity,” Hachimura said, per Hughes. “I think we have a chance to make the playoffs.”
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Wizards Notes: Beal, Wagner, Bonga, Stewart

May 23rd, 2020 at 5:32pm CST by Arthur Hill

Bradley Beal‘s agent is downplaying a report that the Nets have had “internal discussions” about trading for the star guard, writes Adam Zagoria of Forbes.

“There are no Beal sweepstakes and that’s why he re-signed with the Wizards,” Mark Bartelstein said. “Brad re-signed with the Wizards because he wanted to stay in Washington and the Wizards wanted to keep him there.”

Beal agreed to a two-year extension in October that will keep him under contract through the end of the 2021/22 season. It also includes a $37.26MM player option for 2022/23.

There’s more from Washington, D.C.:

  • Fred Katz of The Athletic looks back at 10 storylines he set for the team during preseason to see how they panned out. Among his findings are that former Lakers Moritz Wagner and Isaac Bonga have both been valuable additions, Thomas Bryant has been slowed by injuries and still hasn’t developed into a rim protector, Troy Brown has improved as a ballhandler and shooter and coach Scott Brooks appears more likely than ever to make it to the end of his contract next season. Katz believes the team’s most significant decisions were to hold onto Beal and impending free agent Davis Bertans.
  • Chase Hughes of NBC Sports continues his look at potential Wizards draft picks with University of Washington power forward/center Isaiah Stewart. Hughes believes Stewart could be an effective back-up big man behind Bryant and Rui Hachimura, but he doesn’t have the athleticism or enough of a complete game to justify being taken with a top-10 pick.
  • Playing five more regular season games, which has been suggested in some circles, probably wouldn’t be enough to give the Wizards a shot at the playoffs, Hughes tweets. At 24-40, Washington was in ninth place when the hiatus began, five-and-a-half games out of the eighth spot.
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Southeast Notes: Leonard, Brown, Crowder, Hawks

May 17th, 2020 at 3:33pm CST by JD Shaw

Heat big man Meyers Leonard is set to reach unrestricted free agency at the end of the season, but the 28-year-old is comfortable with his current situation in Miami, he explained this week.

Leonard, who was acquired by the Heat in July of 2019, was set to make $11.2MM and has started in all 49 of his games with the team this season.

“I’m in a good place here in Miami,” Leonard said on a podcast with John Canzano of The Oregonian, as relayed by the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson. “I really feel as though I help Jimmy (Butler) and Bam (Adebayo) in a lot of ways. I space the floor, I give them opportunities to attack driving lanes and get out in transition. Again, I don’t mind taking the physical demand. I don’t mind boxing out every single time. If the ball comes to me, fine. If we get it, that’s great and that’s what I want.”

Leonard is among multiple Heat players set to reach free agency this summer, along with Goran Dragic, Jae Crowder, Derrick Jones Jr., Udonis Haslem and Solomon Hill. Kelly Olynyk holds a player option worth $13.2MM for the following season.

Leonard has fit in seamlessly with the Heat, spreading the floor alongside Adebayo while shouldering some of the workload on the glass. He’s averaging 6.1 points and 5.1 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per contest, shooting an impressive 43% from deep.

There’s more from the Southeast Division tonight:

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Wall: Wizards Should Prioritize Small Forward, Bench Upgrades

May 5th, 2020 at 9:47am CST by Luke Adams

By the time the NBA went on hiatus in March, the Wizards had moved up to the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference and were 5.5 games back of Orlando for the No. 8 seed. While having a healthy John Wall may have put Washington into the playoff mix in the East, the star point guard admitted during a recent appearance on Matt Barnes’ and Stephen Jackson’s ‘All The Smoke’ podcast that the team will need some more upgrades to become a legit contender.

Asked about the Wizards’ priorities in free agency and the draft this offseason, Wall pointed to the small forward position and the bench as two areas he believes the club should be looking at.

“With me and Brad(ley Beal), who is a great cornerstone, and you have Rui (Hachimura) who is a rookie that’s in there, but I feel like we definitely need a three that’s a dog, that can knock down shots and compete and create for us,” Wall said, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. “And then, we’ve also got to build a bench, just being realistic.”

In recent years, Kelly Oubre and Otto Porter have handled small forward duties in Washington, but Oubre was dealt to Phoenix in December of 2018, and Porter was sent to Chicago less than two months later. Since then, the Wizards haven’t identified a permanent solution at the position. In 2019/20, second-year forwards Isaac Bonga and Troy Brown started the majority of the team’s games at the three.

While Bonga and especially Brown have the potential to become important contributors, they’re both just 20 years old and may not be ready to play major roles on a contending team. Speaking to Barnes and Jackson on their podcast, Wall made a similar point about some of the Wizards’ youngsters, though he didn’t specifically single out any teammates.

“I love the team we have now. We have some great pieces,” Wall said. “There are a lot of young guys getting an opportunity to play that (they) would probably not have gotten on other teams. But I feel like if you want to be one of those (contending) teams, you’ve got to have veteran guys around that are willing to understand their role.”

The Wizards aren’t expected to have cap room available this offseason to pursue the top veterans on the free agent market, but the team should have some mid-level exception money available. As Hughes notes, it sounds like Wall wouldn’t be opposed to the club using its spending power on win-now pieces.

“I feel like for a couple of years in the past, we just kept trying to rebuild through the draft like you do in a lot of other sports,” Wall said. “But in the (NBA), your window is kind of short. You don’t have time for that.”

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Wizards Notes: Draft, Avdiji, Hachimura, Giles

May 3rd, 2020 at 3:53pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Deni Avdija, who is expected to go in the top 10 of the NBA draft, plays the style of basketball that the Wizards like, as Chase Hughes of NBC Sports details. His versatility and passing skills would fit well in Washington’s system, though his lack of shooting and rebounding may force the franchise to look at other options in the draft.

Here’s more from Washington:

  • The Wizards may see Rui Hachimura as their best young prospect on the roster, but former NBA executive John Hollinger believes that distinction goes to Troy Brown, as he explains on The Athletic. Brown, who is nearly 18 months younger than Hachimura, has play-making skills and Hollinger is curious why the young team didn’t feature the 20-year-old more often.
  • Washington is hoping that Hachimura can improve on defense and be the team’s go-to defender for larger wings, Hollinger passes along in the same piece.
  • The Wizards were terrible on the defensive end in 2019/20, but the franchise is hoping to acquire a rim protector this summer. Hollinger notes that either Thomas Bryant or Moritz Wagner could find themselves on another team as a result of Washington’s pursuit of a big.
  • Harry Giles is a name to watch for the Wizards’ mid-level exception, Hollinger relays in the same piece. JaVale McGee is another name worth monitoring, though the former executive cautions that it may not be feasible for the Wizards to use all of their mid-level, as they don’t want to enter the tax.
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Wizards Notes: Centers, Wall, Draft, I. Smith

March 9th, 2020 at 1:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard participated in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Sunday afternoon, and while not all of his answers were especially juicy, he shared a handful of interesting tidbits with fans over the course of that Q&A.

As Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington passes along, one of Sheppard’s most noteworthy responses came when he was asked about the Wizards’ center position and how much of the team’s cap flexibility this summer might be put toward addressing it. Sheppard’s answer suggested it won’t be a top priority, according to Hughes.

“If you look at the way the game is played, it’s harder and harder to have significant money tied in to one player at the center position,” Sheppard wrote. “We found it as a necessity to do center-by-committee. We’re pleased with the progress of Thomas Bryant, Moe Wagner, and Anzejs Pasecniks.”

Here’s more on the Wizards:

  • Within that Reddit AMA, Sheppard also addressed the progress John Wall is making as he rehabs his Achilles injury, noting that the point guard has scrimmaged with Washington’s G League affiliate. “We’re extremely pleased with John’s condition right now, his participation throughout the rehab process has been fantastic,” Sheppard wrote, according to Mike DePrisco of NBC Sports Washington. “I’ve never seen him this motivated to make a full recovery. We see John scrimmage with the Go-Go, we see him at practice with the Wizards. And while the rust is still there, there’s plenty of signs that point to a full recovery.”
  • Jackson Filyo of WashingtonWizards.com passes along a few more of the highlights from Sheppard’s AMA, including the GM’s comments on drafting Rui Hachimura, Troy Brown‘s position, and the Wizards’ plans for the 2020 draft. Sheppard described this year’s draft class as “deeper this year than people realize.”
  • Wizards point guard Ish Smith will be re-evaluated later this week, as his left hamstring injury has gone from a day-to-day issue to a week-to-week ailment. Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington has the details.
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Southeast Notes: Reddish, Parsons, Brown, Silva

January 15th, 2020 at 11:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

Cam Reddish hasn’t been the shooter the Hawks were hoping for when they made him the 10th pick of the draft, but the organization hasn’t lost faith, writes Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Reddish has been erratic during his first three months in the NBA, shooting 32% from the field and 27% from beyond the arc. Teams have started giving him plenty of space and daring him to shoot from long distance.

“I swear I just feel like it’s been bad luck — a lot of in-and-outs,” coach Lloyd Pierce said. “He’s had some awful ones; he’s had some that have been way off. But he’s had a lot where he’s been wide open in rhythm; I’m slowing the film down and watching it to try and critique where we can help him. It’s the same thing he’s practicing. I think the biggest thing for him is to continue to attack the rim.”

For now, Reddish makes his greatest contributions on defense. Kirschner states that he has become Atlanta’s best individual defender and often draws the most challenging matchup. Reddish said he didn’t expect that to be his primary NBA role, but it’s one he’s willing to accept as he searches for his offense.

“I know what it is,” he said. “But it doesn’t bother me when I’m shooting. I just missed. It happens. A lot of people miss. When I make it, it’s going to be a different story.”

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

  • Hawks forward Chandler Parsons was diagnosed with a concussion and whiplash after being involved in a car accident today, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Parsons has been placed in the NBA’s concussion protocol (Twitter link).
  • One bright spot among the Wizards‘ injury woes has been the emergence of Troy Brown, writes Fred Katz of The Athletic. Given consistent playing time, the second-year swingman has averaged 14.7 points and 7.1 rebounds over the last 18 games. “I feel like I grew a lot this year in becoming a young man and maturing,” Brown said. “But last year — I don’t know — my confidence was just so up and down just based on playing time and stuff like that.”
  • Chris Silva‘s new three-year contract with the Heat is fully guaranteed at $1.6MM for next season, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Silva’s guarantee date for $1.8MM in 2021/22 will occur shortly after the end of next season.
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Wizards Notes: Chemistry, Wagner, Thomas

November 26th, 2019 at 6:48pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The atmosphere in Washington is much more upbeat than it was last season, as Troy Haliburton and I recently discussed on the Wizards’ Locked On podcast. Team chemistry is something that’s hard to measure (I’m no body language doctor as Bill Simmons would say), though this year’s edition of the Wizards are noticeably having fun playing basketball and they are outperforming their low expectations that many gave them entering the season.

The Wizards are second in the league on offense entering the night and while the team only has five wins on the season (5-9), many of the losses have been close with three of those by four points or less and a total of six losses by eight points or less.

As the team begins its four-game road trip, let’s take a look at more notes from Washington:

  • Former University of Florida star Chris Chiozza is with the Wizards on the first leg of their road trip, the team announces. Chiozza is on a two-way deal with Washington.
  • Moritz Wagner, who is helping the Wizards own one of the better bench units in the NBA, recently admitted to Hoops Rumors and other media in attendance that he has a ways to go on the defensive end. “I’m still learning too. It’s my second year and my first opportunity to actually play,” said Wagner, who came to the Wizards in the Anthony Davis three-way trade this offseason.
  • Coach Scott Brooks left Isaiah Thomas and Ish Smith on the floor together in the Wizards’ recent contest against the Kings and Thomas feels the two point guards (both of whom came to the franchise this past offseason) can play together in the future. “I’ve played off the ball in my career a lot, it’s not that different,” Thomas told Hoops Rumors and other media in attendance after Sunday’s game. “It’s a different dynamic. I like playing off the ball, switching it up…Ish is a hell of a guard who changes the pace of the game and definitely finds everybody that is open. Hopefully, we can make that lineup happen a little more because I think it’s dynamic if we get used to playing together.”
  • Thomas offered advice for 2018 No. 15 overall pick Troy Brown Jr., who has struggled with his shot recently. “Continue to work, it’s 82 games. You’re going to have good ones, bad ones, going to have a lot of them,” the veteran said. “You’ve got to continue, no matter how good your games are. I always say the best players have the shortest memories, whether good or bad.”
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Wizards Notes: Brown, Offense, Thomas, Brooks

November 25th, 2019 at 11:24am CST by Arthur Hill

Troy Brown Jr. is still trying to discover what he can do well at the NBA level, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. The 15th pick in last year’s draft spent much of his rookie season in the G League and only played 52 NBA games. His progress this year was delayed by a calf injury that forced him to miss all of training camp and the preseason. He has been part of the starting lineup since returning, but is averaging just 6.5 PPG on one of the league’s highest-scoring teams.

The Wizards picked up Brown’s third-year option in September and have shown a willingness to be patient with the 20-year-old. He has been taking on the toughest defensive challenges and has displayed good rebounding instincts for such a young player.

“It’s still early for him,” Bradley Beal said. “He’s all right. He’s just gotta find his rhythm. We threw him into the starting lineup right when he came back. We’ve just gotta keep making him comfortable and keep him continuing to be aggressive to instill that confidence.”

There’s more from Washington, D.C.:

  • Rob Mahoney of The Ringer examines how the Wizards have been able to assemble the NBA’s second-best offense without adding another star to play alongside Beal. Davis Bertans, Rui Hachimura, Ish Smith and Moritz Wagner are all thriving as Washington freely moves the ball without the presence of a dominant guard like John Wall. Hughes notes that the Wizards lead the league with 28.8 assists per game, and that no team has averaged 28 assists for an entire season since 1992/93 except the Warriors of the past three years (Twitter link).
  • Terry Rozier tells Hughes in a separate story that he’s thrilled to see former teammate Isaiah Thomas revive his career in Washington after two injury-plagued seasons. “I’m just happy for him, just to get that joy back of playing ball,” Rozier said. “Whether he ever gets back to where he was at or not, I’m sure he’s just happy to be out there and playing. It’s just a guy that I look to as a big brother that taught me a lot in my first two years.”
  • Coach Scott Brooks has made it clear to the team’s younger players that minutes have to be earned, relays Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. Players can find themselves on the bench quickly if they don’t follow instructions and give a consistent effort while they’re in the game. “You can only play nine or 10 guys, and you can only play five guys at time, and I understand that. It’s hard,” Brooks said. “You got to be strong and have convictions and reasons and the things that are important to you. We have some areas we know we have to develop and get better. My job is to teach.”
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