Washington Wizards Will Find it Hard to Win in the New NBA

Washington Wizards Will Find it Hard to Win in the New NBA by Grant Thomas

On Wednesday night, the Washington Wizards picked up their most impressive victory of the season — a win over the San Antonio Spurs at home. While it’s still very early in the 2015-2016 campaign, Washington’s win over San Antonio was undoubtedly a signature victory. Getting a win over a team of that caliber this early in the season could potentially do a lot for Washington going forward.

After picking up their first “w” in the nation’s capital, Washington will look to continue their success on the road.

They’ll meet the Boston Celtics on Friday at 7:30pm EST.

Here’s what they need to do to get their fourth win:

Rebound the ball…seriously

The Washington Wizards are playing more small-ball this season and they don’t have Andrew Bogut nor Draymond Green on their roster. With that said, the rebounding will inevitably take a hit.

Randy Wittman‘s club has always been a solid rebounding unit, and with Kris Humphries in the starting lineup, you’d think they would continue to have success in that aspect of the game. For whatever reason, the Wizards have fallen off in that category.

Washington is currently the third worst rebounding team in the NBA. The guards are doing their part, but the bigs are leaving a lot to be desired.

There were times against the Spurs (and the other three games, quite frankly) where I wanted to bash my head against the television.

The concept around rebounding involves two things: grabbing the ball and getting good positioning underneath the basket. The Wizards have failed miserably at both. They’ve struggled to control the ball and they’re getting man-handled inside, to put it bluntly.

Humphries and Gortat have to do a better job on the glass. They can’t continue relying on the guards and Otto Porter for help. Gortat, especially, has to play better. He’s averaging 7.5 boards per game — his worst average since he was coming off the bench in Orlando.

Amir Johnson is questionable for Friday’s game, but Tyler Zeller, Jared Sullinger and David Lee are all scrappy. If the Washington Wizards have trouble controlling the glass, this game could be a lot closer than it should be.

Second unit must play better

For the first time in what seems like forever, the Washington Wizards actually have a solid second unit. However, over the past several games, they haven’t played very well.

After scoring 23 points against the Milwaukee Bucks last month, Ramon Sessions has made just two of his 9 field goal tries. Wittman cannot play Wall 35+ minutes every night. Ernie Grunfeld added Sessions prior to last season’s trade deadline so Wall could have a competent backup. Sessions has to increase his production.

The same applies to Drew Gooden and Gary Neal, who’ve been inconsistent.

We’ve already gotten enough of the Drew Gooden Experience. Washington has moved the ball well, for the most part, but Gooden has completely taken the bench out of their rhythm. It’s hard not to wonder what goes through Gooden’s mind when he takes those two dribbles and decides to throw up awful shots inside.

The Celtics don’t have any marquee names on their team, but they do have a very deep roster.

Isaiah Thomas, Marcus Smart (who’s also questionable), Avery Bradley and Evan Turner are all capable of playing multiple positions.

Their bigs are also capable of spacing the floor and playing inside-out.

They have a handful of players on their roster that could easily be replacement starters.

The second unit has to provide more stability and they will be tested against Boston’s bench.

Take advantage of open looks

Transitioning to a new offense is going to take some time, but the Washington Wizards have already looked solid on that end of the floor. They’re moving the ball well, attacking the basket and knocking down threes at a consistent rate. But, I have noticed that they’ve passed on open looks as a result.

Sometimes, the Wizards — especially the bigs — pass on open looks to move the ball an extra time. Humphries, in particular, has been struggling to find his shot from the perimeter and second guesses himself. If he wants to become a legitimate three-point threat, he has to shoot it without hesitating.

The Celtics are essentially a top-10 defensive team in the league. Brad Stevens has gotten his group to play solid defense ever since he became head coach a few seasons ago. They rotate well and they do a good job of contesting.

Washington can’t give up open looks to make the extra pass every time. The ball movement has been excellent, but you can’t pass up open shots, especially from three.