The Washington Wizards’ first matchup against the division rival Atlanta Hawks offered one clear player to watch: Trae Young. The 4x All-Star enjoyed all but the last few months of his highlight-filled career as Atlanta’s playoff appearance-churning table-setter, only to get dumped to Washington at last year’s trade deadline and ultimately-set up his first matchup against his longtime employers.
While a few of his teammates, particularly the automatic Anthony Davis and the thankfully-sweet-shooting Kyshawn George, showed up with another pair of 20+ point performances, Young’s struggles to unlock the offense exposed a few nagging patterns. On some of the bigger takeaways that can help explain Washington’s fourth loss in eight games:
Another Battle Lost on the O-Boards
Whether it be for a lack of physical composure, box-out discipline or misplaced priorities, the Wizards haven’t been able to get the better of anyone on the offensive glass. Count this one as yet another instance in which they got doubled up in that category, giving up 19 such additional scoring opportunities to the Hawks compared to their own final total of nine.
Dyson Daniels alone secured seven offensive rebounds, five more than any of his individual opponents, and no Wizard has been able to explain why they’re giving up over twice as many second chance swings as they are. Three rotational seven-footers in Davis, Alex Sarr and Deandre Ayton, for their part, combined for five.
Head coach Brian Keefe is refusing to press any panic buttons this early in the season while the Wizards crater further into their dead-last offensive rebounding rating. He’s leaning on some good habits that his team’s put together over their last week’s worth of performances, even though Washington’s prevailed just once on the glass all season.
The players talk about the rebounding struggles as a want-to, that it’s just a matter of coming down with the loose caroms. Once the schedule starts hiking up against superior competition who are similarly-capable of playing as a unit on the rebounding, defensive and shooting fronts- like they’re slated to over a looming four-game road trip- the need for urgency regarding this seemingly-simple commitment will only snowball.
Trading Threes with Twos Proves Unsustainable
Winning has proven tough when the scheme, one the players will admit remains a work in progress, struggles to generate points outside of their stars. Davis pulled his weight with a combination of looks outside of isolation and tip-ins, but Young’s entrapment under Daniels’ watch slowed the offense to a halt for long stretches at a time.
Theoretically, that’s when the supplementary playmakers like George and the always-energetic AJ Dybantsa should awaken to wreak havoc from the wings, but their absence during one particularly-lopsided stretch revealed the need for some more ambitious role players.
With Tre Johnson struggling with his efficiency while Bilal Coulibaly and Ayton do little to frighten opponents as floor-spacing threats, it’ll grow increasingly-difficult to justify sitting both of the rising starters at the same time amidst Young’s preexisting efficiency struggles and the squad’s already-low 3-point attempt rate. Dybantsa attracts defenders with his raw downhill gravity while George repeatedly accepts the team’s shooting onus, requiring one of Young or more role players to extend them some creating help when the going gets tough.
Riley’s Extended Burn
Johnson fell short as the spark-plug shot-maker off of Washington’s bench, having logged a mere 14 minutes as an early substitution during the home appearance. His inability to free himself up and cash in on his quick releases has sustained as one of the storylines of the season, with his steadily-sinking 3-point hit rate now well below 30%.
Will Riley‘s capitalized on the vacant rotational wing minutes left over by Justin Champagnie’s foot fracture and Khris Middleton‘s ineffective scoring profile with Keefe’s occasional first-half temperature check, but he managed to extend the typical four- or five-minute cameo into a season-high 12+ minutes in the defeat.
Riley’s willing to spot up from deep, though he’s much less interested in getting his than a pure scorer like Johnson. He won dedicated Wizards fans over late last season with some strong reps as a crafty paint-penetrator willing to kick to open shooters off of his drives an entirely different rebuilding context ago, begging the question as to whether he’s capable of getting his game off against consistently-physical deterrents.
As appreciated as Johnson’s proven sniping resume would be in games where the non-Davis offense looks like its running through mud, Keefe figured it fitting to give his project of a self-creator a try. Even though Riley failed to cash in on either of his attempts from distance, he represents the staff’s ongoing hunt for a 10th contributor to spell the fully-healthy rotation and desire for a disruptive presence alongside other play-finishers, as well as some fresh spacing options.
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