The Wizards had a fun season in 2019/20. They played in an uptempo offensive style: Bradley Beal padded up his scoring stats, Davis Bertans hit 42.4% on 3pts but the Wizards couldn’t defend anyone and were the worst defensive team in the league. In the first week of the season, the Wizards allowed 124, 159 and 131 points in three consecutive games. None of those games went to overtime…
During this offseason, the Wizards made a big move and traded John Wall (who didn’t play for almost 2 years) for Russell Westbrook.
NBA 2019/20 Player Usage% Rankings:
Westbrook and Harden were in the top 6 of usage in the league and things didn’t go well for the Rockets. Westbrook wanted out to have his own team but he’ll now have to share the spotlight with Beal in a similar situation. The chemistry between these two players will be the X factor for Washington this season. At least, on paper, Beal is a bitter fit to play alongside Westbrook due to his ability and willingness to play off the ball, something that Harden couldn’t or didn’t want to do.
The Wizards also added Robin Lopez to give them a better inside presence and they drafted Deni Avdija, who could be the steal of the draft, as a much needed addition to the forward position where the Wizards really struggled last season.
Washington was #7 in the pace factor last season and they will continue to be one of the fastest paced teams in the league this season. Westbrook will make sure of that. They need their young players to keep developing but now at a faster pace due to their increased expectations.
Thomas Bryant was their only option on offense in the bubble and he showed some good stuff there. Davis Bertans was one of the best shooters in the league last season before getting injured. Rui Hachimura had a decent rookie season but he was given a lot of space to grow and committed plenty of errors, something that he can’t do again this season.
Washington was an average offensive team last season and they have room to be better on this end this season. However, their success will depend on how they do on the defensive end.
It won’t matter if they are a top 10 team on offense if they are the worst defensive team in the league once again. The Wizards were a top team in the league last season at forcing turnovers (ranked #4 with a 13.9% rate) but they struggled in every other defensive facet of the game.
This is going to be the biggest challenge of the season for them and the decisive factor on whether they will make it to the playoffs or not.