Objectives and opening day roster
It always start by a discussion with management, and my governor asks us to win 28 games... so his confidence level is pretty low.
So that is a good thing to keep our job safe, at least I hope so.
The results sideshould be fine, but the financial might prove tougher. Since our payroll creates a structural deficit of $30M which hopefully will not put us in trouble...
On the roster shape, we already said in the introduction that the core players on this roster look solid enough to give us a chance.
Westbrook and Beal should average 36mn per game. If one of them fall for a significant part of the season then our expectation would suffer especially if we loose the Real Beal.
Smith seems a decent backup at the point.
Given that we will get
Hachimura or Bertrans at 4, the small forward ideally must be a solid defender. Still a work in progress for Brown Jr. Bonga could be serviceable, but
my main problem is Avidja.
He is obviously a high draft pick just arrived but I struggle to be excited by his presence in our roster. First he does not have any high selling point, second i have players at 3 and 4 which i like more than him. So he will need to convince me that my early impression is wrong.
At center
Bryant will be there early in games sharing time with Mo Wagner who has appreciated athletic and shooting skills. Behind them
Lopez looks like valid depth with a solid post game and good leadership as selling points.
Note that we resigned
Ian Mahimi to give us a paint protector option on the roster and mentor our young fellas.
So we have "protected" a few core players from any offer and defined a wish list. Obviously we would love a stronger presence at Center able to protect the paint, and eventually, stronger presence at small forward... Now back to our point on cap we are unlikely to be able to address that any time soon. But we may work on it...
On the
tactical side coach Brooks and I had a lot of work to preapre a playbook. Basically we shoudl expect the following
- The first option to score is the Real Beal. We are working on importing some isolation and handoff plays to use Westbrook slasher skills.
- Westbrook or Beal should always be on the field (unless injured).
- When Westbrook is on the field without Beal, we need to ensure to have a solid shooter on the floor to keep the defense honest. So basically Bertrans should always be in when Beal is out.
- We will play a Pick N roll centric offense focusing on plays between guards and bigs. Bryant, Mo Wagner, Hachimura or even Lopez all give us flexibility to fade and keep the defense guessing.
- Lopez has elite post hook, while Bryant or Hachimura can offer decent post play. that is an additional option for us.
The defense... well for Wizards best defense is offense. I dont see us having much talent to dominate on defense especially against talented "bigs" or wingers. So we will have to do our best to contain and be patient.
| Washington Wizards |
| # | NAME | POS | AGE | HT | WT | SALARY |
| 4 | Russel Westbrook | PG | 32 | 6"3 | 200 | $41.35M |
| 14 | Ish Smith | PG | 32 | 6"0 | 175 | $6.00M |
| 19 | Raul Neto | PG | 28 | 6"1 | 180 | $1.62M |
| 3 | Bradley Beal | SG | 27 | 6"3 | 207 | $28.75M |
| 12 | Jerome Robinson | SG/SF | 23 | 6"4 | 190 | $3.73M |
| 24 | Garisson Mathews | SG | 24 | 6"5 | 215 | n/a (2W) |
| 6 | Troy Brown Jr | SF/SG | 26 | 6"6 | 215 | $3.22M |
| 9 | Deni Avidja | SF/PF | 19 | 6"9 | 215 | $4.46M |
| 17 | Isac Bonga | SF/PF | 21 | 6"8 | 180 | $1.66M |
| 8 | Rui Hachimura | PF/SF | 22 | 6"8 | 230 | $4.69M |
| 42 | Davis Bertans | PF | 28 | 6"10 | 225 | $15M |
| 13 | Thomas Bryant | C | 23 | 6"10 | 248 | $8.3M |
| 21 | Moritz Wagner | C/PF | 23 | 6"11 | 245 | $2.16M |
| 15 | Robin Lopez | C | 32 | 7"0 | 281 | $7.3M |
| 18 | Anzejs Pasecnicks | C | 24 | 7"2 | 229 | $1.52M |
