- Lawrence echoes an earlier report, writing that the Wizards are showing no inclination to break up their team or to fire head coach Scott Brooks. However, one Eastern Conference executive cautions that could change. “Brooks’ seat could get hotter if they don’t win and management thinks the team is better than it really is,” the exec tells Lawrence.
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Here are Tuesday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Wizards have assigned Chasson Randle to their Capital City affiliate, the team announced on Twitter. Washington waived Randle in training camp, but he signed with the team yesterday because the 14th roster spot needed to be filled.
- The Hawks assigned swingman Daniel Hamilton to their affiliate in Erie, according to the team’s website. He returned to practice last week after recovering from a tear in his right rotator cuff and has yet to play this season.
- The Sixers announced that Jonah Bolden has been sent to their Delaware affiliate. A draft-and-stash player who played in Israel last season, Bolden has appeared in four games for Philadelphia.
- Dwight Howard is working in the same facility with the Capital City Go Go while rehabbing a strained piriformis muscle, but he has to coordinate his schedule so he doesn’t actually practice with the team, relays Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. The NBA doesn’t let its players practice with G League squads, so Howard has been working out with Wizards player development assistants Alex McLean and Mike Williams. He is expected to make his season debut on Friday.
Dwight Howard, who signed with the Wizards in July, appears ready to make his debut for his new team, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania, Howard plans to suit up for the Wizards when they host the Thunder this Friday.
Howard, who has been on the shelf so far this season due to an issue with his piriformis muscle, is capable of providing a major boost to a Wizards club that has struggled mightily on defense and on the glass so far this season, as Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington wrote earlier this week.
Washington has allowed 122.4 points per game and ranks in the NBA’s bottom three in both offensive and defensive rebounding rates. Howard, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, is one of the league’s best rebounders, having averaged 12.5 RPG for Charlotte last season.
Here’s more on the Wizards:
- With the Wizards off to a 1-6 start, there have been several theories about why the team has struggled so much to open the season, says ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. According to Windhorst, one theme brought up by a few Wizards players he spoke to was the number of 2019 free-agents-to-be on the roster. Some players may have to recommit to prioritizing the team over individual stats as they approach free agency.
- History shows that the Wizards’ ugly start doesn’t mean they should throw in the towel on the 2018/19 season, writes Nick Ashooh of NBC Sports Washington. As Ashooh outlines, it was just two years ago that Washington started 2-8 and eventually finished with 49 wins.
- Acquired in a June trade with the Clippers, Austin Rivers hasn’t made the impact that many predicted he would, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington, who suggests that Rivers has “appeared lost” while adjusting to his new role and new team.
3:07pm: The Wizards have officially signed Randle, the team announced today in a press release. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks outlines, Randle will earn $7,624 per day on his new minimum salary deal, which will increase Washington’s projected tax bill by $14,956 per day.
1:09pm: The Wizards intend to sign point guard Chasson Randle to an NBA contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Randle was in camp with Washington this fall, but was waived by the club just before the regular season began. Two and a half weeks later, he’ll be re-added to the roster.
As we explained earlier today, NBA teams are generally required to carry at least 14 players on their 15-man regular season rosters, but league rules allow clubs to carry less than that amount for up to two weeks at a time. Because the Wizards only had 13 players on their roster for the first two weeks of the season, a transaction to add a 14th man was required.
Washington was considered likely to stay in-house to fill that roster spot, and it will be Randle who gets the call after having reported to the Wizards’ G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go. The 25-year-old last appeared in the NBA during the 2016/17 campaign, when he played eight games for the Sixers and 18 for the Knicks. He averaged 5.3 PPG and 1.3 APG in 11.5 minutes per game during his brief NBA stint.
While Randle will fill the Wizards’ 14th roster spot for now, he’s not locked in for the rest of the season. His new one-year contract will be non-guaranteed, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The league-wide salary guarantee date is January 10, so Randle will have to stick on the roster through that date in order to fully guarantee his salary.
After carrying just 13 players on standard NBA contracts for two weeks to open the 2018/19 season, the Wizards now face a deadline to add a 14th player to their roster. The team is considered “highly likely” to fill that opening by promoting a player from within the organization, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington.
As Hughes details, two-way players Jordan McRae and Devin Robinson are candidates to receive an NBA roster spot, but they’re not the only options for Washington. The Wizards may also consider calling up a player from their new G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go.
Lavoy Allen, Chasson Randle, Chris Chiozza, and Tiwian Kendley all spent time with the Wizards during the preseason before being waived and heading to the G League, so they’d be the top candidates for a promotion. Both Allen and Randle have previous NBA experience.
NBA teams are generally required to carry at least 14 players on their 15-man regular season rosters, but league rules allow clubs to carry less than that amount for up to two weeks at a time. Because the Wizards have only had 13 players under contract since setting their opening-night roster, those two weeks are just about up.
Whichever player fills that 14th slot on the roster seems unlikely to get a guaranteed contract. The Wizards, who are off to a 1-5 start and have had the league’s worst defense so far, will probably want to maintain flexibility to add roster reinforcements via free agency or a trade down the road.
The Wizards came into the season with the expectation of being a serious contender with LeBron James out of the Eastern Conference picture.
Following a 1-5 start, the Wizards might have to start thinking soon about breaking up their nucleus. They’re not only losing, they’re bickering once agin.
John Wall and Bradley Beal have criticized teammates for having their own agendas. Austin Rivers says the rest of the league is laughing at them.
Certainly, Washington’s defense has been a joke. They’ve given up the most points per game in the NBA. During their current three-game losing streak, they’ve allowed 144 to Golden State, 116 to Sacramento and 136 to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Their rebounding has also been atrocious, though in fairness Dwight Howard hasn’t played a game due to injury.
The overriding concern is whether the Wizards can be taken seriously with the pieces they have. They’re currently over the cap and the luxury-tax line. Their top three players — Wall, Beal and Otto Porter Jr. — will eat up over $92MM in cap space next season and more than $98MM the following season if Porter exercises his player option.
Wall and Beal have always had an uneasy partnership and it doesn’t appear to be getting any better. The supporting cast has been underwhelming, with Porter in particular not producing at the level expected of a team’s No. 3 option. Perhaps the return of Howard will help settle things down in the interior, though Howard has a way of quickly wearing out his welcome.
This brings us to our question of the day: Should the Wizards stay the course and keep the John Wall-Bradley Beal backcourt intact or should they try to shake things up with a major trade?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to what you have to say.
Austin Rivers, one of the newest Wizards, had some pointed words for his teammates after the team dropped to 1-5 this season, E. Jay Zarett of the Sporting News relays. Washington is giving up a league-worst 125 PPG. “Nobody’s going to feel bad for us,” the combo guard said. “People are laughing at us. … I don’t know how we expect to get wins when they are just walking into the paint, (we are) giving up threes. It comes from effort and talking. You have got to have personal pride. You’ve got to get mad when someone scores on you. We are not the Warriors.”
We’ve got more on the Wizards:
- Breaking up the backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal and finding a taker for Otto Porter Jr.’s big contract is the only way for Washington to begin a meaningful rebuild, Frank Urbina of HoopsHype opines. Wall and Beal remain the team’s best assets despite Wall’s extension kicking in next season and Beal having two more years left on his contract, Urbina continues. If the front office doesn’t do something bold, it seems destined to deal with constant dysfunctional mediocrity, Urbina adds.
- Rivers told father Doc Rivers that he was unsure whether he’d re-sign with the Clippers as a free agent in 2019 before he was dealt to Washington, Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times reports. Austin Rivers wanted to establish that he could be an effective NBA player without playing for his father. Rivers, who is making $12.65MM this season, was swapped for center Marcin Gortat. “I felt like my head was hitting a ceiling because I was ultimately playing for my dad and no matter what I did it always came back to that. … I could score 60, 50, 40, whatever and people would be like, ‘Oh, his dad’s the coach,’” Rivers said.
- Porter has not been carrying his share of the load offensively, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington notes. Porter is averaging just 9.8 PPG while shooting 41.1% from the field and 21.7% from 3-point range.
- Coach Scott Brooks continues to have the full support of the organization despite the club’s poor start. Get all the details here.
The Wizards are off to a 1-5 start this season, but head coach Scott Brooks doesn’t appear to be on the hot seat at this point, writes Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. According to Haynes, Brooks continues to have the “full support” of the organization.
The Wizards managed to eke out an overtime win in Portland last Monday, but have lost the rest of their games this season, including home contests against the Heat and the Kawhi Leonard-less Raptors, as well as road games against the Kings and Clippers.
As Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington writes, the club’s defense has been historically bad so far, having surrendered 750 points through six games (125.0 PPG). No team has given up that many points through six regular season games since the 1990/91 Nuggets. The Wizards are hoping that Dwight Howard – who is expected to make his debut with the team this week, per Haynes – can help stabilize the defense a little, but one player can only do so much.
Austin Rivers, who referred to the team’s defense as “horrendous” after Sunday’s loss, said that Brooks is putting the Wizards in position to succeed and that the club’s early-season struggles on “not on” the head coach (video link via Ben Golliver of SI.com). John Wall and Bradley Beal spoke over the weekend about some players on the team possibly having their “own agendas.”
While the Wizards’ position on their head coach could change if their struggles continue, it appears Brooks will get every opportunity to right the ship. He still has three years left on his five-year, $35MM contract, Haynes notes.
To say that the Wizards have gotten off to a rough start would be an understatement. At 1-4 heading into their Sunday night clash with the Clippers, the Wizards continue to struggle with consistency and playing to their competition. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they have yet to have the services of Dwight Howard, putting the team at a major disadvantage on the glass on a nightly basis.
Ian Mahinmi and Jason Smith have struggled to fill that void, while inconsistent effort has plagued the team on the defensive end. While John Wall and Bradley Beal are putting up solid numbers, the team continues to struggle closing out games and getting a full team effort on a nightly basis.
With Otto Porter struggling with his shot (and confidence) and the team going on an early West coast road trip, it’s easy to see why the Wizards have stumbled out of the gates.
Despite their early bumps, it’s very possible that Howard returns, Porter shakes off the slump and the team picks things up to regain its footing in the Eastern Conference. After all, it can’t get much worse than it has so far for the Wizards. The hope will be that Howard provides much-needed rim protection and rebounding while Wall, Beal and Porter work together more to attack defenses from all areas of the court.
Luckily for the Wizards, they aren’t the only team to get off to a slow start. The 76ers are just 3-3, the Celtics have had a modest 4-2 start, and both the Rockets and Thunder sit at 1-4.
With that being said, how good you think the Wizards can be this season? Are they a contender in the East, a team that barely makes the playoffs, or a team that misses the playoffs altogether? Vote below in the poll and share your thoughts in the comments section!
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