Washington Wizards
The 2020-21 Washington Wizards season can be defined by the fact that the Wizards turned things ALL the way around and not only made the play-in, but also won the second play-in game to make the playoffs.
What did we learn?
The Wizards were left for dead.
The Wizbrook era got off to a horrendous protocol-laden start. Bertans was an $80 million man who couldn’t hit a shot. Thomas Bryant tore his ACL. The Wizards defense, as expected, was one of the worst in the league.
It was not just the beginning of the season either. Bradley Beal dealt with a lingering hip issue and was clearly labored by it. The Wizards were 3-15 over the first 18 games after the All-Star Break, sitting with an abysmal record of 17-32 on April 6th, a half game behind the Cavs and only a half game in front of the blew-it-up Magic, at 13th place in the Eastern Conference.
But that was the turning point.
The Wizards got hot at the exact right time with an outstanding record of 17-6 the rest of the way. That’s right, the Wiz won 17 out of the remaining 23 games after winning only 17 games in the first FORTY NINE. There was an 8-game winning streak in April and a stretch of winning 11 out of 13 games.
It was the arrival of Daniel Gafford that transformed this team. An easy schedule sure helped, but the Wizards defense instantly improved dramatically with Gafford in the lineup. An afterthought throw in at the deadline, Gafford was relegated to scarce garbage-time minutes in Chicago, yet he was able to spread his wings and fly in D.C., using his size in small-ball lineups to his grand advantage. The Wizards defense seriously improved drastically, all the way up to 3rd in the NBA in the month of April. And Gafford was the perfect pick-and-roll partner for Russell Westbrook fully unleashed.
Westbrook’s numbers kept growing and growing in stature. His season average of 22 points, 11.7 assists and 11.5 rebounds per game is absurd, silly, ridconkulous — take your pick. His fourth time averaging a triple double for the season, Westbrook broke the great and legendary Oscar Robertson’s triple-double record and is now officially Mr. Triple Double himself. Sure, there are still glaring efficiency issues, incorrigible turnovers, late-game fuck ups and 3-point bricks, but analytics don’t show you resilience and sheer-will determination, always leaving it on the court. That’s all worth something. That’s all worth a lot.
Russ lead the league in assists all the while Bradley Beal averaged over 30 points per game, the #2 scorer in the entire NBA. We mentioned the lingering hip issue, and props to Blue Panda for fighting through it to see this season to the end. Brad Beal is a real one. Blue Panda might have still looked dejected when all those losses piled up early, but you could tell that playing with a nonstop-hustle guy in Russ was refreshing for him. And there was a swaggering bravado when the winning commenced.
There were other contributors down the stretch in D.C. Rui Hachimura looked snazzier than ever. His size will take you by surprise. Bertans starting not only making his 3’s, but was sniping away, finishing the season at almost 40% after his terrible start, once again the Latvian Laser. Ish Smith was reliable and quick. Robin Lopez was cracking us up all season with those Kareem sky hooks.
Nevertheless, the Wizards did not stand a chance in their first round series against Philly. But it was admirable as hell that they even made it there at all.
Resurrected and impressive, but at the end of the day…
Still mediocre.
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
Under 33.5 wins. We went back and forth on this one.
Wizards 2020-21 Record: (34-38)
Nope, our preseason Over/Under did not hit. The Wizards win on the last day of the season (against our beloved Hornets) pushed them Over.
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What’s Next?
Tommy Shepard elected to not bring back Scott Brooks. It’s probably for the best. Can a new coach maximize Westbrook’s talents to the fullest? The latest sounds like Wes Unseld Jr. is the front runner here. He’s got D.C. in his blood.
The #15 pick in the draft is going to need to be some 3-and-D.
Get Thomas Bryant and Deni Avdija healthy.
A full season of Daniel Gafford!
The vets, Ish Smith and Robin Lopez, are free agents and free agency here is going to be tricky. Ya know, because $80 million is tied up between two players.
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Favorite Wizards Highlight from the 2020-2021 Season:
Down by 5 points with 12 seconds left.
WHY NOT
