RealGM

9
Last Week: 22 ↑

Washington Wizards
2019-20 record: 25-47

Pace: 103.4 (5) OffRtg: 110.2 (16) DefRtg: 114.7 (29) NetRtg: -4.5 (25)

Key additions: Healthy John Wall, Deni Avdija (9th overall pick), Robin Lopez
Key departure: N/A

3 numbers to know:

• The Wizards were the only team that ranked in the bottom five in both opponent field goal percentage in the paint (59.4%, 29th) and opponent effective field goal percentage on shots from outside the paint (52.4%, 26th).

• The Wizards scored 118.7 points per 100 possessions with Bradley Beal and Davis Bertans on the floor together. That was the highest on-court OffRtg mark among 345 two-man combinations that played at least 750 minutes.

• Opponents shot just 46.1% at the rim when Lopez was there to protect it. That was the best rim protection mark among 82 players who defended at least 200 shots at the rim.

Key question: Can John Wall and Bradley Beal revive the Wizards?

The Wizards have the ingredients -- Wall, Beal, Troy Brown Jr., Bertans and Lopez -- for a solid lineup that can score and defend (Lopez is a huge upgrade over Thomas Bryant in regard to the latter). But it's tough to foresee the team-wide commitment to defense they'll need to climb into the top seven in the East, given that we've already heard trade chatter about Wall, who hasn't played in 22 months. GM Tommy Sheppard tried to abate that chatter on Monday, but the "blow it up" cloud will hang over this team unless the return of its point guard results in significant improvement.

closg00 wrote:

• Opponents shot just 46.1% at the rim when Lopez was there to protect it. That was the best rim protection mark among 82 players who defended at least 200 shots at the rim.

nate33 wrote:I think the Orlando Magic got a bit worse because Jonathan Isaac is out for the season and they didn't really add any important players in free agency.

The Atlanta Hawks, on the other hand, definitely got better and will probably leapfrog us.

Brooklyn will be way better. Boston and Toronto will be a little bit worse, but still better than us. The Sixers will be a bit better. Milwaukee, Indiana and Miami should be about the same.

Ultimately, I think the 8th seed will be between us, Atlanta and Orlando, with Atlanta probably getting it. It will take a major injury for one of the top 7 teams to fall below us.

Shoe wrote:

closg00 wrote:

• Opponents shot just 46.1% at the rim when Lopez was there to protect it. That was the best rim protection mark among 82 players who defended at least 200 shots at the rim.

Solid pick up.

The Hawks will be ranked as the 8th seed in most pre season predictions probably.

payitforward wrote:I don't see how the Cavs, Pistons, Bulls or Knicks can be any good this year.

Then there's Atlanta -- they are a real wild card! They added Gallinari, Bogdanovic & Rondo. Plus they'll have Clint Capela, assuming he's past his heel injury, & they drafted Onyeka Okongwu (& a potential bargain R2 guy: Skylar Mays -- not to mention my guy Nathan Knight!). They could be very good this year.

& Charlotte's kind of interesting too; they certainly had an impressive draft, coming away with LaMelo Ball, Vernon Carey, Nick Richards & Grant Riller.

They might improve a lot -- if LaMelo Ball is all that right away & Gordon Hayward plays up to his best years, that is. Not to mention that they have a whole bunch of young players who look like they could improve a fair amount.

payitforward wrote:There's no real way to rank us, because we have one enormous, unpredictable variable -- John Wall. Leave him out of the equation, & we're unlikely to be significantly better than last year.

You'd be reduced to pointing out that IT is gone, so that helps. Or, looking up from your crystal ball & pronouncing earnestly that "Rui's gonna take a giant leap." Well... sure, maybe he will. But, Lopez instead of Mahinmi doesn't improve us, Neto instead of Shabazz doesn't improve us. Anthony Gill...? Deni's a 19-year old rookie. Bonga & Brown ought to improve; then again, Ish is a year older.

So, really, this year is all about John Wall. If he is rejuvenated, revitalized, the John Wall of old, why... we could win as many as half our games! If all those other good things mentioned above also happen, that is.

doclinkin wrote:Altanta probably passed us with the addition of Dunn and Capela alone. Those plugged their two biggest holes: perimeter and interior D. Our answer? We added RoLo. And I guess Neto? Okay and a bionic rebuilt John Wall, we hope.

Watch on YouTube

nate33 wrote:Atlanta's roster is deep as hell though:

PG Young/Rondo/Dunn
SG Boganovic/Huerter/Snell
SF Hunter/Reddish/
PF Collins/Gallo/Solomon Hill
C Capela/Okongwu/Fernando

The 4 starters other than Young could be hurt and they wouldn't miss a beat.

Ruzious wrote:The East is a lot closer to the West than it has been for most of the last couple of decades. Washington's a better team than they've been, but because of the depth of talent in the East, they might not make the playoffs. I have Atlanta at 6th and Washington at 8th. Indiana and Orlando don't make the playoffs. Brooklyn under-achieves getting the 7th seed.