NBA: Wizards-Offseason: A ticking time bomb

The Washington Wizards have held the key players after a disappointing season. The core remains the same as John Wall and Bradley Beal, but Austin Rivers and Dwight Howard have invested in depth. Does that make the Capitalists a Contender in the East? The offseason in the analysis.

Already before the draft the offseason started for the wizards. The longtime starter on the Five, Marcin Gortat, was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, in return Austin Rivers came to the City of Angels. Rivers will become a free agent next season and will receive $12.65 million.

This left a gaping hole in Center, which is why the capitalists hit Dwight Howard, who was bought out of his contract by the Nets after his trade to Brooklyn. Superman signed for two years and just under $11 million in Washington, with the second year including a player option.

In the draft, the Wizards had a first-round pick for the first time since 2015 and chose 15-winger Troy Brown Jr., who had already shown good beginnings in the Summer League and also played as a possible ball handler. Thomas Bryant was also another young five-man for the minimum. The centre spent most of last season in the G-League before being released by the Lakers.

The squad will be complemented by Jeff Green, who also played a small part in the final run for the Cleveland Cavaliers and can be considered a real bargain for the minimum. Shooting Guard Jodie Meeks (3.5 million) and Center Jason Smith (5.5 million) drew their player options as expected, but will rather play subordinate roles.

The Guards Ty Lawson, Tim Frazier and Ramon Sessions, on the other hand, are no longer there and are still looking for a club. Mike Scott, on the other hand, signed for part of the mid-level exception (4.3 million) with the Clippers.

LeBron James has left the East, so the Wizards also sense their chance, even though they have repeatedly stressed in the past that they could beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs. But they never got this chance, because the John Wall era ended three times in the second round at the latest.

For years the Wizards were looking for a third star, now it’s at least Howard. Together with the Guard Tandem from Wall and Bradley Beal, this Wizards team is supposedly the strongest in a long, long time. “The team is more talented and deep than ever since I’ve been here,” said Ernie Grunfeld, President of Basketball Operations. Grunfeld has been leading the fortunes of D.C. since 2003, considering how little success the Wizards had during this time.

Now, however, the capital wants to take advantage of the opaque situation in the east and cheat the supposed favourites from Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto. What is particularly striking is that with Green, Howard and Rivers mainly athletic players were brought in. This should suit Wall’s style of play, which can play to its strengths in transition. Athletics is also essential on the defensive, with D21 (the 12 was already assigned to Oubre) Washington finally has something like ring protection.

“We want to defend, play at speed and share the ball,” is the motto that coach Scott Brooks last proclaimed. It’s an interesting mix of players that Brooks now only has available. The team can play big or small, especially in defense the wizards should be very flexible. No bad conditions for a deep playoff run.

As interesting as the mix of players is, this team is a ticking time bomb. There were already differences between Wall and Gortat last season. Beal didn’t always seem happy either. With Howard another capricious diva joins the team, the center has now been traded twice within one year. This leaves a lot of questions concerning team chemistry.

On paper this troupe reads very well, but at second glance there are some problems. With Beal and Porter only two real shooters are available. Rivers, Wall, Oubre, Green or Morris are very streaky. Constancy in D.C. is therefore also likely to be a major issue once again. This fickleness meant that in the end there was only a disappointing eighth place and the play-off in the first round.

The bank has always been a topic in the past and here too there are still question marks. Much will probably depend on how Rivers is going to play the Sixth Man. If he doesn’t follow up on his Clippers performances before his injury, the Wizards will have well-known scoring problems with the Second Unit, which consists mainly of specialists but not very versatile players. Especially Scott will be missing with his accuracy from the middle distance.

Of course, many hopes rest on Wall, who dropped out for months last season and is still the most important player in Washington, but with Howard there is now a player the Wizards never had. If he presents himself well, runs Pick’n’Rolls and subordinates himself to the team, Washington may actually be able to put a leg to one or the other favourite.

At least after the bad years in Atlanta and Charlotte, the center seems to have fallen for the wizards. “I want to play at least until 40 and finish my career with the Wizards,” said the multiple defensive player of the year. But that doesn’t mean much, Howard chose similar words when he introduced himself to the Hawks and the Hornets.

However, Howard will know that this may be his last chance to prove that he can make a good team better. That even the Warriors did not want to commit him under any circumstances, because the cabin spoke out against him, should make him think. In Washington, he can now show the opposite.

Grunfeld is not wrong when he calls the new Wizards team the best of the past years. The wizards are flexible, have a strong starting five and also the bank comes along at least improved. From the talent level, Washington should be at least the fourth force in the East and can calculate chances for the Conference Finals.

Nevertheless, there are a lot of question marks. Are these parts really compatible? Can the Wizard’s Locker Room take another difficult character like Howard? Coach Brooks is facing a Herculean task and has to line up a lot of big egos. Whether any coach can do this at all, must be doubted.

Those responsible, however, will be able to live with it. Almost all contracts except the stars (Wall, Beal, Porter) expire in 2019, then the team could be broken up when the coming season becomes a disappointment again. So it’s only logical that D.C. should have taken this Gamble.

The note: 2-