After beating defending champion Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, the Washington Wizards are currently on a strong 7-3 start. Most people, with the exception of wizards fans, were shocked.
The biggest difference between this season's Wizards and last season's was the deal for Russell Westbrook. Now, the Wizards appear to be a better team than the Lakers — which means the Wizards won the deal for Russell Westbrook.
So far, the Wizards are fifth in the league in defense with a score of 103.1. In their first 11 games, they have limited their opponents' scoring to less than 100 points on three occasions – in an era when scoring seems to be the first priority. Playing well requires a lot of factors.
One of them is that a team must be well coached. It's safe to say that new head coach Wes Unseld Jr. has come up with a set of defensive principles that can be considered first-rate.
Second, the team must have smart and experienced players. Don't forget kyle Kuzma, Kentawes Caldwell Pope, and Monterrez Harrell all wore jerseys for the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers. Both teams have been among the defensive elite over the past few years.
The last element of good defense is game planning. In the NBA, offense is usually done by a lone star player, so the wisest thing to do is to lock that star player. They did just that in their 122-111 win over the Atlanta Hawks, they limited Trae Young to 6-of-17 shooting and scoring just 15 points.
They also did it in their 115-87 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Ja Morant, who played the lowest scoring game of the season, scored just 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting. They defended Morant off the bar, forcing him to make mid-range shots — an art he hadn't mastered yet.
In the past few years, Kuzma has come under heavy fire, especially by lakers die-hard loyalists. Some of them have a basis — Kuzma does have a lot of bad moves when he puts on the Lakers jersey. However, much of it is unfair — Kuzma was in a tough position when LeBron James came to Los Angeles.
For some reason, he was labeled james and Anthony Davis' third deputy. It's a lot of pressure for someone who is still struggling to develop their own game. While he did win the championship, we can never truly say with confidence that his experience in Los Angeles has produced a miraculous growth for him.
Now that Kuzma is wearing the Wizards jersey, he may have finally found his footing. There are still signs that Kuzma has gone a bit too far in his attempts to be the "star" of the team. But overall, Kuzma seems to have calmed down and just wants to be a star in his role. Interestingly, he did it by grabbing rebounds like a madman. So far, he's averaging a career-high 9.4 rebounds per game.
This may be due to the absence of Yamura, coach Unseld Jr. who put him in the big forward position. So in the future, when Yamura returns, we may see Kuzma's rebounding stats drop. But given his progress, we may also see Kuzma continue to maintain his position as a big forward. After all, he's not just more agile than Hachimura, he's also far more experienced than a third-grade rookie.
Early statistics show that the Wizards bench ranked seventh in the league in points (37.8 points per game), first in the league in shooting percentage (49.5 percent), third in the league in rebounds (18.7 per game), and first in the league in blocks (2.7). That's enough proof of how good their depth is — it's not just Bradley Beale's scoring ability that deserves all the praise.
People like Monterrez Harrell (who could win his second Sixth Man of the Year trophy), Denia Avdia (who has made great strides defensively), Raul Neto (who has done a lot despite being on a base-pay contract) and rookie Corey Kisbot have played a big role in the Wizards' success so far.
Gone are the rumors that Bradley Bill wants to leave Washington. Compared to last year's 50-point, 60-point loss, although Beal still bears most of the Wizards' offensive tasks, his teammates have helped him more — it's safe to say that he is now the happiest man in the NBA after so many hardships last season. For the whole team, they should applaud their great performances.