In the 2021-22 season, the Wizards scored 35 wins and 47 losses, ranking 12th in the east, and failed to advance to the playoffs. This is also the third time they have missed the playoffs in the past four years. Even so, Wizards boss Leon Sith and President Shepard did not press the Rebuild button. The team retained the core lineup during the offseason, and at the same time, they offered help in the position of the point guard to fill their own shortcomings. In the new season, they will reunite and re-attack the top 10 of the partition.
Major personnel changes during off-season
Join: Barton, Monte Morris, Gibson, Johnny Davis, Delan Wright
Leave: pop, Thomas Bryant, Ismail Smith, Neto, Satoransky
Renewal: Bill
Operation redisk
When it comes to the greatest action of the Wizards this summer, there is no doubt that Bill was renewed. As soon as the free market was opened, the two sides reached an agreement that Bill signed a five-year top salary contract of 0.251 billion dollars, in addition, it also won the veto of trading. After signing, Bill was one step closer to the wish of the old genius (34 years old at the end of the new contract), and at the same time, because he occupied a top salary space for the team and held the trading veto power, the rise and fall of the wizard in the next five years will largely depend on his personal performance and his performance in leading the team.
Since last summer, Qi Cai has been looking for a substitute for Wei Shao. They first introduced Ding Weidi, but the cooperation between the two sides was not successful and finally broke up in February this year. After that, the team bought Satoransky in the buyout market, but the Czech defender chose to return to Europe to play this summer. The position of the point guard is still weak, so the team can only start from scratch this year. On June 29, they completed a medium-sized deal, sent pop and Ismail Smith, and exchanged Monte Morris and Barton from the Nuggets. This deal is a beautiful operation for wizards. They need an organization to partner bill for the control guard with certain attack power at the same time. Morris started 74 games for the Nuggets last season, the average game is 29.9 minutes, contributing 12.6 points, 3 rebounds, 4.4 assists, field goal percentage, 48.4%, and 39.5% three points hit. At present, he is perfect for this role. Barton is also a good supplement to the team. He averaged 14.7 points last season, and his arrival undoubtedly enhanced the talent’s squad depth.
In Morris trading, the Wizards sent Ismail Smith away. In addition, the team did not renew the inner support during the off-season, and the thickness of the guard position was in a hurry. Therefore, they introduced delang Wright from the free market. Wright performed generally in the regular season last season, playing 77 games for the Eagles, with an average of 4.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 18.9 minutes, field goal percentage and 45.4 percent, with a three-point shooting rate of 37.9 percent. However, the playoff data all rose sharply, playing 5 games, with an average of 8.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 27.4 minutes, field goal percentage and%, with a three-point hit rate of%. Perhaps this is the reason why the wizard took a fancy to him and gave him a 2-year 16 million contract. He is expected to be a substitute for Morris in the new season.
In terms of the draft, the Wizards selected Johnny Davis, the defender of the University of Wisconsin, with the 10th sign at this year’s draft conference. Davis is 1.96 meters tall. He has an excellent center player and can also eat players shorter than him in the low position. He has excellent defensive talent and is expected to get some playing time in the new season. However, for Wizards, he is more of a reserve talent, and the team will not expect him to help the team soon.
Lineup depth
After an off-season operation, the Wizards have the ability to fight in all positions and have a certain thickness. The guard positions are Bill, Morris, and delang Wright. The flanks are Barton, eight villages, Kuzma, afdia, kispelt, Johnny Davis. The inside lines are Bojin, Garford and Gibson.
After Pop left the team, Wizards need to make up a player to enter the starting line-up. In this respect, there are many candidates in the team. After returning from the middle of last season, the eight villages were in good condition. They played 42 games, with an average of 11.3 points and 3.8 rebounds in 22.4 minutes, field goal percentage and 49.1%, with a three-point shooting rate of 44.7%; the No. 15 show kispend chosen by the team last year has also emerged, playing 77 games last season with an average of 8.2 points and 2.7 rebounds. In addition, Barton can also play pop. How to re-match the team’s lineup will be the test question for coach angselde.
Defense or defense
If you only look at the offensive talent, the Wizards can definitely break up with the top teams in the league, but considering the defense, they have a lot of room for improvement. In fact, defense has always been a problem for wizards. In the past four seasons, their defense efficiency has ranked the third lowest in the league (18-19 seasons), the second last (19-20), the 21st (20-21), the last six (21-22). During the off-season this year, the team not only did not supplement the defensive Hummer (Gibson is famous for his strong defense, but he is 37 years old after all), but also sent pop away in order to introduce Morris, this undoubtedly made their defensive strength weaker.
The comprehensive strength of a team is composed of attack and defense. A team wants all the actions, and one of them should not be too arrogant at least. From this perspective, whether the Wizards can enter the playoffs in the new season still makes people sweat.
Outlook for the new season
Bill is an all-star player. Polzingis played well after coming to the team in the middle of last season (17 games, with an average of 22.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.5 cap, field goal percentage 47.5%, 36.7% hit in three points), the Wizards of the new season are still a force that cannot be ignored in the east. However, the eastern part is not the former eastern part. Now, in addition to Pacers, Pistons and magic, other teams in the eastern part have strong competitiveness. Therefore, it is still very difficult for Wizards to return to the playoffs. During the offseason, the gambling company gave them a 35.5-year victory in the new season, which also showed that they were not optimistic about them.
Looking back on the history of NBA, are there any teams that defend and play in the playoffs? Yes, in recent years. The Trailblazers had the fourth lowest defensive efficiency league in the 19-20 season and the second lowest defensive efficiency league in the 20-21 season. However, they both scored the playoffs in the highly competitive western region, which was won by Suncha goals. For wizards, if they want to make the playoffs under the current defensive quality, they either play a team attack, or they need Bill and Bojin to go crazy, like the Blazers Suncha, they won more for the team.