The Wizards wanted to be better defensively this year.
It hasn’t happened.
Even if you want Washington to lose a lot and get a high pick, this is something that you’d like to see improve for cultural reasons/signs that Sarr can be a linchpin on that end of the court.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/11/17/wizards-defense-pistons-losing-streak/
6 comments
Good observation. I think after the Atlanta games, and the GSW game, everyone thought that this would be the plucky upstart annoying team that lost but would keep things interesting. The team defense is a disaster and I am wondering exactly what we are looking forward to with anyone on this squad? They have a swiss cheese defense and shocker, they’re giving up the most points in the league.
I think it will be difficult to be a good defensive team until Poole and Kuzma are gone. They do not have the motivation or inclination to play hard defense. When they are off the court, there is much more hustle and effort from every position on defense. All five guys must buy-in to be good defensively.
The Wizards are the second worst rebounding% team in the NBA. They are second in pace and turn the ball over ~16 times a game. Opponents average 21.1 points off turnovers and 17.6 second chance points (league-worst) so I’m not surprised at all that the Wizards have the worst defensive rating in the NBA.
The raw defensive talent is there, the effort isn’t, part of that is a culture thing, we all know Kuz is just doing what he wants instead of listening to the coach, but the other part of that is coaching itself, people who aren’t putting in effort defensively should be benched and that’s final, the fact that coaches are afraid to hold players accountable is laughable, it’s your job
It’s Kuz. We were fine when he was out and George was in. It’s really just the impact of adding a seive on D into the lineup, esp since he’s replacing a solid defender in the lineup.
They have a kid who is great at defense, shoots well, is the best driver and finisher on the team, is highly efficient, can block, steal, and even pass. Yet, they’ve got him in the bottom corner all game, and he barely ever gets to touch the ball.
It’s not just the D they need to fix.
It’s just mind-boggling. When you have Bilal, you should be giving him the ball. He should never be going long stretches without taking any shots (like happens almost every single game).