The Wizards Have The Potential To Be A Playoff Team
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What is your current assessment of the Wizards?
This Wizards team has the potential to be a playoff team but some work needs to be done. They are over .500 in the win column, but they have struggled against teams like the Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, and Charlotte Hornets. These teams were missing major pieces to their lineups while the Wizards were close to 100 percent. My early grade for the team would be a “C”. They are average with room to improve.
Which player(s) has/have been a surprise (pleasant or need for improvement) so far this season and why?
Jordan Goodwin has been a nice surprise for this team. When Bradley Beal and Delon Wright went down, he came off the bench and gave some productive minutes even scoring his career-high 17 points vs. the Hornets. His continued growth will be important to the depth of this team.
What are some of the challenges you've seen with the team in their first (close to) 20 games?
The biggest challenge I’ve seen is they are not dominating teams they should beat by double digits. This Wizards team plays up to the level of their competition. The biggest examples have come against the Nets (11/4), Heat (11/18), and Hornets (11/20) teams that were missing major pieces to their lineups. Washington should have dominated these matchups. Yes, I know they won two of the games, but by extremely small margins. Washington needs to start putting teams away in a more dominant fashion.
What has been the favorite(s) player match-up (Wizards player vs Opposing Team player) so far?
Kristaps Porzingis’ performance against the best team in the West at the time, the Utah Jazz. Porzingis scored 31 points and 10 rebounds in a huge win 121-112 over Utah. Those are the type of wins that this Wizards squad can put together.
What are the upcoming games you are looking forward to?
There are two games I’m looking forward to. The first game will be John Wall’s return to Washington on December 10. This will be a fun game to see how fans will receive John Wall playing in a different uniform. The second game I’m excited about is the matchup vs. the Kings on December 23 in Sacramento. Led by De’Aaron Fox, this Kings team is explosive and are playing extremely well.
