Wizards Need to Address Two Key Issues

The Washington Wizards will play the Indiana Pacers tomorrow night, their final game before the All-Star break. Thus, the first half of the 2024-2025 regular season will be over.

After a flurry of moves aimed at the future, the Wizards will be a much younger team in the 2nd half. While there are no expectations, there are some things that I'd like to see from the young Wiz-Kidz.

Shot selection

Three-point shooting has become not only a fad in the NBA, but is also starting to become a problem. The Wizards shot 47 threes last night vs the Spurs and only made 14. It's possible that the Wizards had shot better shots inside of the arc, they would have been in a position to beat the Spurs.

When you look at the Wizard's offense, you have centers either in the paint or at the top of the key, does a pick, and there's a pop or a roll but no imagination. Where's everyone else? Standing around on the perimeter. It's not hard to defend that. They can't find high-percentage shots because they don't move without the basketball.

Moving without the basketball

The Wizards do not move well without the basketball. Because the NBA is so perimeter-centric, players are looking for the three-point shot before they're looking to slash or create openings by moving their defender around.

The center sets picks or posts up in the paint and the other players wait around on the perimeter. That's a problem. It's going to be a bigger problem now that Valanciunas is in Sacramento. Sarr hasn't mastered the skill of playing with his back to the basket. That means he'll be on the perimeter a lot more and when you have too much spacing but not enough consistent shooting, it makes the offense stagnant and predictable. That never works and is a recipe for disaster.

If the Wizards want to get the most out of their young players and make them better, they will have to learn to move without the ball, keep the defense guessing, and create openings that can be exploited. If they do that, they're cooking with fish grease and you will see improvement.

Make sure you bookmark Washington Wizards on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!