If you want to ask which team is the most surprising in the new season, I believe that the answer for many people will be the Wizards. The Wizards, who led the team to the playoffs, made a deal and wanted to play for their hometown team, the Lakers. In desperation, the Wizards sent Westbrook, 2024 and 2028 second-round picks through a five-party deal, getting Kuzma, Harrell, Pop, Dinwiddie ($62 million for 3 years), Aaron Holliday and Isaiah Todd in this year's No. 31 pick.
Dinwiddie has been reimbursed for the previous season, has not played in a season, and Kuzma has been criticized by the Lakers for two seasons, the best sixth man Harrell is completely unworthy of the Lakers, as for Pope, the performance in the playoffs is also very bad, shooting 37.9% from the field and 21.1% from three-point range! With a superstar averaging 20+ triple-doubles per game, in exchange for a bunch of questionable role players, many people think that the Wizards will enter the reconstruction period.
Unexpectedly, however, the Wizards' new season took off directly, and it seems that the rebuilding work has been completed. The Wizards are currently 5-1, the first team in the league to win 5, tied for first place in the East with the Knicks, and the best start in Wizards history in the past 16 years.
Speaking about the team's 5-1 record, Wizards star Bill said: "I told my teammates that we are now part of history. I'm a little surprised by this record because we've played badly offensively and we've got a lot of improvements and it's just the beginning. Imagine that when we're all healthy, everybody's all together and the team is in place, we're going to be terrible. ”
Scattered is full of stars! Kuzma, Harrell, Pop and Dinwiddie all performed well when they came to the Wizards and proved themselves again. Harrell has averaged 23.3 points and 12.7 rebounds per game in his last three games, shooting 60.5 percent, and he has proven that he is not using it correctly with the Lakers; Kuzma, who is bent on playing a bigger role, has averaged 15.5 points and 11.8 rebounds per game this season, ranking in the top ten in the league; Pop's new season three-point shooting rate is as high as 46.2%, re-becoming the league's top 3D, Dinwiddie averaged 19.8 points, 5.6 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game, and 40.7% from three-point range, which is a quasi-All-Star statistic.
Take the last game, Dinwiddie contributed 20 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists, Harrell cut 20 points, 14 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block, Kuzma contributed 17 points, 17 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks, attacking and defending, Although Pope did not feel good, but the defense was online, he stepped forward in the last moment, cut brown's absolute three points, and helped the team win the game.
Now it seems that the Wizards traded West a little less, in exchange for Kuzma, who still has room to sculpt, champion 3D Pope, best sixth man Harrell, full of talented two-powered defender Dinwiddie, and a young point guard Aaron Holliday. The Wizards don't lack talent right now, they have a decent lineup depth, and if the run-in goes well, they'll be able to take their place in the East, we'll see!