- There’s a feeling of familiarity for Russell Westbrook with the Wizards, starting with his former coach with the Thunder, Scott Brooks, Michael Lee of The Washington Post writes. Westbrook is seeking a comfort zone while playing for his third organization in as many seasons. “Really, it’s just being at peace,” Donnell Beverly, Westbrook’s business partner, told Lee. “I don’t think that’s where he’s been the last few years. I don’t think he’s been at peace.”
Wizards forward Rui Hachimura will be sidelined for approximately three weeks due to bi-lateral epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC), the club announced today in a press release.
Hachimura is essentially dealing with a severe case of pink eye, according to Wizards head coach Scott Brooks, who said the second-year forward has blurred vision and is sensitive to light (Twitter link via Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington).
Hachimura, who missed Washington’s last two preseason games, is “getting better,” Brooks said. However, it sounds like he won’t be able to make his regular season debut until sometime in the new year. The Wizards will play their 11th game of the season three weeks from today, so Hachimura will likely be sidelined for at least 10 contests.
The ninth overall pick in the 2019 draft, Hachimura averaged 13.5 PPG and 6.1 RPG in 48 games (30.1 MPG) last season, earning a spot on the All-Rookie Second Team.
While Davis Bertans would be the most obvious candidate to take Hachimura’s spot in the starting lineup, Brooks has typically liked to bring Bertans off the bench, notes Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link). If Bertans doesn’t get bumped into the starting five, the club could turn to Anthony Gill or shift Deni Avdija to the four and start another wing, says Katz.
The Wizards enjoyed their first look at Russell Westbrook, who made his preseason debut Saturday night, writes Ava Wallace of The Washington Post. He contributed eight points, seven rebounds and three assists in 17 minutes and helped Washington outscore the Pistons by 11 points while he was in the game.
Wizards coach Scott Brooks was encouraged after watching Westbrook and Bradley Beal on the court together for the first time in a game situation.
“I like the fact that they were looking for other players, not just playing back and forth,” Brooks said. “Russell’s going to find whoever’s open; he’s going to make the right play. And Brad’s the same way.”
There’s more from Washington, D.C.:
- First-round pick Deni Avdija is making a strong bid to be the team’s starting small forward on opening night, Wallace adds in the same piece. The 19-year-old got his second preseason start Saturday and played 32 minutes. “He’s definitely working his way to being a starter one day,” Brooks said. “Don’t know when that will be; it might be Wednesday night. He’s playing hard, he’s tough, he has great size, and he’s going to make us a better team. … He’s making a good case (to start) — there’s no question.”
- Point guard Raul Neto has been a surprising standout during the preseason, notes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. The 28-year-old was brought in to improve the defense, but he scored 34 points in three preseason games. With Ish Smith as the primary backup to Westbrook, the Wizards may consider using Neto at shooting guard, Hughes adds. He played there for a while Saturday, taking minutes that normally would go to Jerome Robinson and Garrison Mathews.
- With seven international players on their roster, the Wizards are tied with the Mavericks for the most in the league, Hughes writes in a separate story. In addition to Avdija, who is from Israel, and Neto, who hails from Brazil, Washington has Rui Hachimura of Japan, Davis Bertans and Anzejs Pasecniks of Latvia and Moritz Wagner and Isaac Bonga of Germany. “Those seven guys have the attributes we look for, not the passports we look for. It doesn’t really matter to me where you’re from,” general manager Tommy Sheppard said. “If there’s talent all over the world, it’s your job to go find it. It’s never intentional.”
11:00pm: Bell has been released by the Wizards and figures to play for the club’s G League team in the proposed bubble, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic.
9:25am: The Wizards have signed veteran big man Jordan Bell, according to RealGM’s official transactions log.
Bell, 25, was waived by the Lakers in late November after L.A. acquired him as part of the JaVale McGee trade to the Cavaliers.
It’s likely that Bell’s deal with Washington is an Exhibit 10 contract, which is a non-guaranteed one-year, minimum salary pact that allows a player to make a bonus of up to $50K if he is waived and remains on the franchise’s G League squad for at least 60 days.
The Capital City Go-Go (the Wizards’ NBAGL affiliate) claimed Bell off waivers in March, so the team holds his returning rights for the upcoming season. He’ll likely report there after being waived by Washington, assuming the Go-Go participate in the proposed G League bubble. The Wizards and Pelicans have reportedly discussed combining NBAGL teams for that event.
The Los Angeles native started his career with the Warriors during the 2017/18 season. Golden State won the NBA championship that season with Bell as a key reserve for the team, averaging 4.6 PPG and 3.6 RPG in 57 games (13 starts).
Bell appeared in 68 games for the Warriors the following season but has since bounced around the league. After signing with the Timberwolves in 2019, Bell was traded as part of the four-team, 12-player trade in February and subsequently released.
Wizards center Thomas Bryant has been fined $45K for repeatedly making inappropriate contact with an official on Thursday, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets. Bryant, who received a technical foul as part of the incident, was aggressively attempting to confront Pistons forward Blake Griffin, who had committed a Flagrant Foul 1 against Bryant.
The 2020/21 NBA regular season will get underway on December 22, so it’s time to get serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign.
With the help of the lines from a handful of sports betting sites, including Bovada and BetOnline, we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division. In a series of team-by-team polls, you’ll get the chance to weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.
Of course, there are plenty of wild cards to take into account this season. For one, teams are scheduled to play 72 games instead of 82, so if you’re picking a team to win 41 games, you’re not just expecting them to be a .500 club — you’re projecting them to finish 10 games above .500. For each team’s over/under below, we’ve noted the record they’d have to achieve to finish “over” their projection, as a reminder.
It’s also worth noting that the coronavirus pandemic could cause some games to be canceled in 2020/21. We don’t want you to have to take possible cancellations into account when making your picks though, so don’t let that stop you from taking the “over.” If a team has a couple games canceled, we’ll adjust their over/under figure downward, so you’re essentially just projecting that team’s winning percentage.
We’ll turn today to the Southeast…
Miami Heat
- 2019/20 record: 44-29
- Over/under for 2020/21: 44.5 wins (45-27)
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Avery Bradley, Maurice Harkless, Precious Achiuwa
- Lost: Jae Crowder, Derrick Jones, Solomon Hill
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Heat poll.
Atlanta Hawks
- 2019/20 record: 20-47
- Over/under for 2020/21: 36.5 wins (37-35)
- Major offseason moves:
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Hawks poll.
Washington Wizards
- 2019/20 record: 25-47
- Over/under for 2020/21: 34.5 wins (35-37)
- Major offseason moves:
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Wizards poll.
Orlando Magic
- 2019/20 record: 33-40
- Over/under for 2020/21: 31.5 wins (32-40)
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Cole Anthony, Chuma Okeke, Dwayne Bacon
- Lost: D.J. Augustin, Wesley Iwundu, Melvin Frazier
- Note: Jonathan Isaac will be out for the season due to a torn ACL.
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Magic poll.
Charlotte Hornets
- 2019/20 record: 23-42
- Over/under for 2020/21: 26.5 wins (27-45)
- Major offseason moves:
- Added: Gordon Hayward, LaMelo Ball, Vernon Carey, Nick Richards
- Lost: Nicolas Batum, Dwayne Bacon, Willy Hernangomez
Trade Rumors app users, click here for Hornets poll.
Previous voting results:
- Boston Celtics (45.5 wins): Over (66.3%)
- Brooklyn Nets (45.5 wins): Over (58.6%)
- Philadelphia 76ers (44.5 wins): Over (57.4%)
- Toronto Raptors (42.5 wins): Over (54.7%)
- New York Knicks (22.5 wins): Under (59.5%)
- Denver Nuggets (44.5 wins): Over (69.7%)
- Utah Jazz (42.5 wins): Over (59.9%)
- Portland Trail Blazers (41.5 wins): Over (70.1%)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (29.5 wins): Under (50.3%)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (22.5 wins): Under (64.4%)
- Milwaukee Bucks (51.5 wins): Over (73.7%)
- Indiana Pacers (39.5 wins): Over (57.9%)
- Chicago Bulls (29.5 wins): Under (61.6%)
- Cleveland Cavaliers (23.5 wins): Under (68.5%)
- Detroit Pistons (22.5 wins): Over (53.9%)
- Los Angeles Lakers (48.5 wins): Over (79.1%)
- Los Angeles Clippers (47.5 wins): Under (50.4%)
- Phoenix Suns (40.5 wins): Over (51.0%)
- Golden State Warriors (38.5 wins): Over (60.3%)
- Sacramento Kings (29.5 wins): Under (60.7%)
The Wizards have waived three training camp players on Exhibit 10 contracts. Guards Marlon Taylor and Caleb Homesley and forward Yoeli Childs have all been released, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter links).
In his two seasons for LSU, Taylor played in 56 games (27 starts), averaging 6.4 PPG and 4.1 RPG in 23.3 MPG.
Homesley spent five seasons (including a redshirt sophomore year) at Liberty University, where he averaged 10.8 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2.1 APG, 0.9 SPG, and 0.5 BPG in 143 games (88 starts).
Childs started in 111 of his 119 games played over four seasons at BYU, averaging 17.1 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.3 BPG, and 0.9 SPG.
All three players could still suit up for the Wizards’ G League affiliate club, the Capital City Go-Go, this season.
Katz notes that the Wizards’ head count after these moves is 14 guaranteed deals, plus two-way guards Garrison Mathews and Cassius Winston, as well as center Anzejs Pasecniks, who is signed to a partially guaranteed $1.52MM contract for the 2020/21 season.
Russell Westbrook has yet to make his Wizards debut, and it won’t happen on Thursday night vs. Detroit. The team announced today (Twitter link) that Westbrook has been ruled out of tonight’s exhibition game for rest purposes.
As Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington writes, it’s somewhat surprising that the Wizards wouldn’t be more motivated to get Westbrook into an actual game to allow him to establish some chemistry with his new teammates. However, Scott Brooks suggested on Wednesday that the team doesn’t think preseason action is all that necessary for the veteran guard.
“With him being whatever it is, 13 years (in the NBA), an exhibition is not gonna make much a difference for him,” the Wizards head coach said. “… Normally, sometimes you say that you need a couple of games under your belt before you start the season, but with him, he’s probably the exception to that rule. He’s been in the league long enough. He knows what he needs to do to get his rhythm back.”
Like Westbrook, Davis Bertans will sit out Thursday’s preseason contest too, but Bradley Beal is expected to make his 2020/21 debut for the Wizards.
The Wizards will likely hold Russell Westbrook out of either the first or second game of the team’s back-to-back sets this season, head coach Scott Brooks said on Sunday, as Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington details.
Before sending John Wall to Houston in exchange for Westbrook, the Wizards had been planning to employ a similar strategy with Wall as he returned from his torn Achilles. Westbrook is believed to be fully healthy, but Washington still wants to play it safe with its star point guard during a season that will be more condensed than usual.
“This is going to be a grind,” Brooks said. “He’s not a youngster anymore even though he still has as much energy as anybody as I’ve seen.”
As Hughes notes, the Wizards have seven back-to-back sets on tap during the first half of the 2020/21 schedule. The NBA has yet to release the second-half schedule.
Teams have been strongly discouraged from resting healthy players during nationally televised games, even if they’re part of back-to-backs. However, that shouldn’t be a problem for the Wizards, who aren’t scheduled to appear on ESPN, TNT, or ABC at all during the first half.
- Wizards guard Ish Smith is dealing with lower body soreness, coach Scott Brooks said, as relayed by Ava Wallace of the Washington Post. Smith missed the team’s first preseason game against the Nets on Sunday, with Brooks expecting the soreness to heal in the coming days.