Wizards Can Improve in Three Key Areas

If the Washington Wizards hope to properly utilize the 2nd half of the season, they will need to address these three problems.

Feb 21, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards guard Jordan Poole (13) dribbles the ball past Milwaukee Bucks guard AJ Green (20) as Wizards forward Alex Sarr (20) sets a screen in the second half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Washington Wizards are back in the safe confines of Capital One Arena to face the Brooklyn Nets tonight. A fellow bottom dweller who hopes to strike gold in the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes, can the Wizards capitalize against them, or will the usual issues get in the way? The Washington Wizards on SI breaks down the three biggest areas for improvement in the second half of the season:

Perimeter defense

Teams tend to break slumps against the Wizards. While they have shown better energy on defense since the trade deadline, they fail to do so consistently. They're doing better closing out on shooters but their rotations could be faster.

Friday night's game vs. the Milwaukee Bucks was a good example of defensive rotations when Kyshawn George and Bilal Coulibaly did great slowing down Giannis Antetokounmpo. Still, when the Wizards are slow on rotations, swift ball movement by opposing teams destroys them. Getting back on transition and setting up faster could help too.

Not utilizing the shot clock

The Wizards do not use the clock to their advantage and it hurts them more than it helps. They take a lot of transition jumpers and don't attack the rim in stride. If the opposing defense sets up quickly on transition where it prevents the Wiz from finishing a quick basket, the Wizards don't attack, they settle for the jumper, which just doesn't make sense. The shot clock is your friend.

Stop settling for threes

The young Wizards are three-point-hungry as they come. The offense set up is usually four guys on the perimeter and the center in the lane, with no player movement unless it's the center who merely sets a pick for a quick pick and roll/pick and pop. It looks predictable and stagnant.

The Wizards offense lacks creativity. That will need to change, quickly. If not, the young Wizards core better learn how to improvise and that remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

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