Washington Basketball: Present and Possible Future

I think it’s pretty obvious if you watch basketball that the Wizards aren’t exactly playoff material. Being 19-33, and with only two of their players averaging more than 20 per game, Washington’s in a weird spot. They’re not the worst, which means they have less likelihood to get the undoubted top 3 picks of the draft, Jalen Suggs, Cade Cunningham, and Evan Mobley. However, with the fourth draft pick, they could possibly make a push for the playoffs next year. With the off-season approaching, the Wizards have a really long time to think about what to do, and I’m no General Manager, but I’ve got a few ideas.

Time to Enter Rebuild Mode.

First, there is a glaring problem with their front office. Though Scott Brooks has an above-average defensive mind, his team couldn’t guard a rock for their life, and his way of running an offense is at best questionable. There are two options here: though I wouldn’t fire Brooks, I would demote him to assistant coach for his defensive mind and pair it with a good offensive coach, like Mike D’Antoni, now the assistant coach of the Nets.

This switch could help the system work so that the bright minds behind these plays could be more balanced.

The second option would be to completely wipe all the coaching staff and replace them with a head coach like former Warriors coach Mark Jackson, assisted by Jeff Van Gundy, a coach who values offensive spacing and sharing the ball. This switch could help the system work so that the bright minds behind these plays could be more balanced. I, however, can’t speak on the man upstairs, as CFO and Training are more inclusive within the team.

Though they have talent at the guard position with icons like the All-Star in Bradley Beal and the Triple Double Master in Russell Westbrook, many of their guards are young and inexperienced.

Second, there’s a player problem. Though they have talent at the guard position with icons like the All-Star in Bradley Beal and the Triple Double Master in Russell Westbrook, many of their guards are young and inexperienced. With the game evolving, many of their players, including Westbrook himself, can’t isolate that well, so to run a pick and slip around the offense would open a lot of areas in the game, seeing that many of the players are bigger guys who could drive to the basket easily.

Then there’s Beal. Many say that the Wizards should move on from him and see which picks or players they can get for him, which is a good option, but they could keep Beal and trade their smaller guards, like an aging Ish Smith or Isaac Bonga, for draft picks from lower projected teams, like the T-wolves. They could also trade their overstock of forwards for guards and attempt to play small ball, then trade guards for future draft picks to get high pick choices for a chance at big guys that are reliable shooters, like Emoni Bates or Chet Holmgren. They have a choice here, and being a big fan of Bradley Beal’s Wizards career, I think he should stay.

These are all theories, of course, and there are certain intangibles that can not be factored in, like personal wealth, finance, loyalty, and how well the team connects with each other. But, theoretically, many of these ideas could dramatically help the Wizards franchise and turn them from a rebuilder to a contender.