After beating the defending champions Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, the Washington Wizards are now off to a strong 7-3 start. This was pretty much a total shocker for most outside of Wizards fans. Analysts panned the Wizards' chances even after their massive haul from the Russell Westbrook trade.
Now, some of these critics may be rethinking their position at this point in the season. The Wizards seem to be the better team than the Lakers. Ultimately, this means that it's the Wizards who won the trade involving Russell Westbrook.
Overall team defense
As of writing, the Wizards are the fifth-best defensive team in the league with a 103.1 rating. In their first 11 games, they've limited their foes to less than 100 points thrice — which is in this era where scoring seems to have taken primacy. Playing excellent defense takes a lot of elements.
As for one, a team has to be coached well. Safe to say that new head coach Wes Unseld Jr. has come up with a set of defensive principles that can be considered top-notch.
Second, the team has to have smart and experienced players. Let's not forget that Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Montrezl Harrell once donned the LA Lakers and LA Clippers jerseys. These two teams have been one of the elites on defense for the last couple of years.
The final element to having great defense is the game plan. In the NBA where the offense usually runs through a lone star player, the commonsensical thing to do is to shut down that star player. They did this in their 122-111 win over the Atlanta Hawks as they limited Trae Young to just 15 points on 6-of-17 shooting.
They also did it in their 115-87 blowout of the Memphis Grizzlies. Ja Morant, who's been scoring lights out this season, scored just 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting. They shut down Morant by dropping coverage on him, forcing him to take mid-range shots — an art he hasn't mastered yet.
Kyle Kuzma's rebounding
Kyle Kuzma has been getting lambasted and brandished over the last couple of years especially by Lakers diehards. A lot of it is warranted. Kuzma did have a lot of bad moves while donning the Lakers jersey. A lot of it, however, isn't fair. Kuzma was placed in a tough spot when LeBron James came to LA.
For some reason, he was tagged as the third fiddle to James and Anthony Davis. This is a lot of pressure placed on someone still looking to develop his game. While he did win a title, we can never really confidently say that his stint in LA did wonders for his growth.
Now that he's donning the Wizards jersey, Kuzma may finally be finding his own footing. There are still hints that Kuzma's overdoing things by trying to become “the star” of the team. But looking at it from a general perspective, Kuzma seems to have calmed down and is simply trying to be a star in his role. Interestingly, he's doing it by crashing the boards like a mad man. As of writing, he's averaging a career-high 9.4 rebounds per game.
This could be an effect of coach Unseld Jr. putting him in the power forward spot due to Rui Hachimura's (who's a natural four) absence. As such, we may see a dip in Kuzma's rebounding numbers once he returns. But given the strides he's made, we may see Kuzma retain the power forward spot. After all, he isn't just more mobile than Hachimura, Kuzma's just more experienced than the third-year man.
Wizards' insane depth
Early statistics reveal that the Wizards' bench ranked 7th in scoring (37.8 points per game), 1st in field goal percentage (49.5 percent), 3rd in rebounds (18.7 per game), and first in blocks (2.7). This is enough proof of how deep this roster is. It's not just Bradley Beal's scoring prowess that should be getting all the praise.
The likes of Montrezl Harrell (who could be in the running for his second Sixth Man of the Year trophy), Deni Avdija (who's made strides in defense), Raul Neto (who's doing a lot despite being on a minimum deal), and rookie Corey Kispert have played a big role in the Wizards' success so far.
Gone are the rumors involving Bradley Beal and his desire to leave Washington. Whereas he was dropping 50 and 60 pieces in losses last year, Beal is still carrying much of the offensive load this year albeit with a ton of help from his teammates. Safe to say that he's the happiest guy in the NBA after enduring so much hardship last season. And for the entire franchise, they should give themselves a pat on the back for a job well done. Beal will now definitely stay with them for the time being.
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