Jim James
Picture this, if you will; it is late November, and you’re a Washington Wizards fan. You just wake up and look at the NBA news, to see if there was any goings-on, which you do every day. Russell Westbrook has just been traded to your team for John Wall – who has been injured for almost 2 years, and you have no idea whether he will return to full strength. But now you don’t need to worry, as you have a multi time all star instead to form a deadly guard do with Bradley Beal. You are very excited for the coming season.
Now fast forward to January 29 2021. You have the least amount of wins in the NBA so far, and are on track for a win percentage of .208, the 49th worst in NBA history, and if you lose 1 more game than projected, you will have the 30th worst. (This was before their game tonight) Unfortunately, that is how it has turned out for the Washington Wizards. How did they get here? That is what we’re going to find out today.
This is a puzzling case, there are no major injuries in the team and when a team makes a big decline in form, a big star or stars usually leave. That was how it was for Washington, but their star, John Wall, was out the whole of last season, and Russell Westbrook has been healthy the whole of this season and has had no major injuries to see him decline in productivity.
We should start at the most sensible place, the big trade. That is the biggest move by them in the offseason, so let’s see the trade details. The only other asset was a first round pick, which makes no impact on who won the trade yet. Let’s check the other moves.
They drafted Deni Avdija, which would actually work in their favour as he was projected to go top 5 and they picked him up 9th. They let go of no major pieces and have no major injuries. This looks like simply a bad run of games.
Again, one of the most, if not the most puzzling declines I’ve ever seen, and I think that they will get back on track soon.
See you soon
Jim James