The Washington Wizards have reached the halfway point of the season, and guess what? They still stink! Despite reaching the playoffs last season after a strong play-in performance, this team seems to have regressed despite landing all star forward Alen Smailagic, a strong starting big man in Jontay Porter along with other additions such as rookies Tari Eason, and Amir Coffey. The Wizards are currently spotting a 15-31 record, and it seems like this will be another lottery bound season for this poverty franchise. Let's take a look at some of the good and the bad so far for this young Wizards team.
Positives:
1. They are scoring the ball.
The Wizards might suck, but at least they are making it entertaining, as the team is averaging around 105 points per game this season. They are shooting at around 46% as a team, and is averaging 24 assists per game as a team as well. Sophomore point guards Jose Alvarado and Delano Banton have done a good job as playmakers for this team. Also with Jordan McLaughlin finally recovering from his broken ankle injury, that has helped stabilized this backcourt as well.
2. Alen Smailagic is HIM.
The young 21 years old forward is once again having another all star caliber season, as he's averaging around 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists per game. He's also shooting 47% from the field and 90% from the line. Smailagic had no trouble adjusting to the Washington offensive system, and has thrived despite the team's struggles. Smailagic has done well partnering with other Wizards big men such as Jontay Porter and Moses Brown, as Smailagic's playmaking ability has seems to allow him to a secondary playmaker when the opposite defenses are keying in on him.
3. Jordan Nwora is having a MIP season.
The former lottery draft pick for the Wizards have returned to D.C. After spending his last 2 seasons in Houston, Nwora was traded back to Washington, and he is having a great season as the team's 2nd offensive option while J-Mac was out with his injury. Nwora is averaging around 16 points per game while spotting a 56% true shooting percentage. Nwora is making a strong case as one of the most improved player this season, and it seems he's slowly proving to his doubters why he was drafted as a lottery pick with his scoring prowess.
The BAD:..
1. Poor rebounding.
For some reason this team just cannot grab a rebound to save its life. The Wizards are consistently getting outrebounded by the opposite teams, and it has been extremely frustrating to watch. Maybe the guys just want to get on the break and score the ball, so instead of securing the defensive boards, they all just leak out in an attempt to start a fast break? It's been almost comical at how many games the Wizards have given 20+ offensive rebounds. This has been a huge factor in a lot of Wizards losses this season.
2. Bad defense, bad defense...
The Wizards are once again a poor defensive team as a whole similar to last season, as they are giving up a terrible amount of 2nd chance opportunities to the other team. Overall they are giving up around 109 points per game, and that is simply unacceptable. Even though the teams have shown signs of being capable of playing strong defense at times, the lack of consistency has been infuriating. The defense has definitely suffered from giving up all those 2nd chance opportunities, and this will be an area that the front office will be focusing on this off-season.
3. Injuries, injuries, injuries...
Sure, we shouldn't blame injuries for this terrible first half, but it was almost comical a the amount of injuries this team had for the 1st half of this season. At one point the team had a streak of almost 3 weeks straight where a player or more has been dinged up. Since then the team has fired its training staff, as that high rate of injury is simply unacceptable. Later on the team has found out their team trainer was not a certified trainer... I mean just take a look at this so called trainer... That is a KID! How did the front office managed to botch this job posting is simply baffling. So yeah.... this team is a dumpster fire.
