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The Cavaliers, fresh off a 32-point beatdown of the Bulls, play their first home game of the season against the 2-0 Washington Wizards. The Wizards beat Indy on the road 114-107 and eked out a close one at home Friday night against the Bulls, 102-100.
Since we don’t have much to go on this early in the season I’m putting up a portion of Hollinger’s season preview of the Wizards.
Last season: 35-47, 21st in offense, 25th in defense
Key additions: PG Monté Morris, SF Will Barton, PG Delon Wright, C Taj Gibson
Key subtractions: SG Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, C Thomas Bryant, PG Raul Neto, PG Ish Smith, PG Tomáš Satoranský
Draft picks: SG Johnny Davis (10th), C Yannick Nzosa (54th)
Raul Neto was on the Wizards last year so he should be able to give his teammates a great scouting report.
Those two players [Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis] are undoubtedly the biggest variables for this season as well. Beal is a known quantity as a 30-point scorer, especially if he can figure out how to shoot 3s again (seriously, what’s going on there?), but let’s just say there’s more variance in what you might expect from the other two.
Porziņģis looked like an All-Star after Washington acquired him at the trade deadline last season …
[Kyle] Kuzma still has his faults: His shooting remains erratic (33.9 percent career from 3, 72.4 percent from the line), and the idea of him as a switchy, versatile defender has yet to catch up to the reality on most nights. Nonetheless, the 27-year-old has the talent to be a slashing third scorer who thrives on the attention drawn by Beal and Porziņģis.
Those three players should be the centerpiece of an offense that has a chance to finish in the league’s top 10. Washington has no other big stars, but the front office has done a nice job of filling out the depth; the Wizards should be at something of an advantage once the war of attrition strikes in mid-winter. The point guard position looks to be massively upgraded with Morris and Delon Wright, Barton is a proven bench scorer who could be part of a lot of closing lineups and Daniel Gafford (stolen from Chicago two years ago for Troy Brown Jr.) is a solid 25-minute center whether starting or coming off the pine…
It’s not like any of these guys are terrible; Corey Kispert, Deni Avdija, Rui Hachimura and the just-drafted Johnny Davis all figure into Washington’s plans for this season. It’s just that it’s hard to get excited about the idea of any of them ever becoming one of this team’s three best players…
(Kispert is out tonight).
Overall, it feels like a transition season … but a transition to what? A half-decade of Beal-Zinger-Kuzma? Three straight Play-In Tournaments followed by the house of cards collapsing in 2026? It’s hard to say…
Prediction: 38-44, 11th in Eastern Conference
For the first two games the 6’9” Kuzma is averaging 24.0 points and 9.5 rebounds. I imagine the Cavs will put Mobley on him. Beal is at 21 points and 7 assists. LeVert should draw that assignment - he did a great job of frustrating DeRozan last night (to the point where DeRo got himself kicked out of the game). Porzingis is at 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds - Allen will have his hands full with the 7’3” Lithuanian.
The Wizards are averaging 9 blocked shots per game but only 6.5 steals. It looks like they don’t gamble much but try and contest shots, forcing misses and getting blocks.
After two games the Cavaliers’ defense ranks 3rd in effective field goal percentage while the Wizards rank 4th. Small sample but both defenses look good so far. Of course the Wizards played Indy and then Chicago without LaVine.
In the last two days both teams have played (and beat) the Bulls; the Wizards by two points and the Cavs by 32. The Bulls had LaVine against the Cavs; he was out against the Wizards. Based on that I’d say the Cavs look like the favorites, especially since they are at home. But they are playing on the second night of a back-to-back while the Wizards were off last night.
If LeVert and Okoro or Cedi can contain Beal while Allen neutralizes Porzingis and Mobley neutralizes Kuzma the Cavs will be in position for a win. The last two games Kuzma has played against the Cavs he scored 34 and 25 points, so they need to be focused on him. In that 34-point game he was 8-for-11 on 3’s.
Deni Avdija, who many expected the Cavaliers to take instead of Isaac Okoro in the 2020 draft, is averaging 15.5 minutes per game after averaging 23-24 minutes his first two seasons. Eight Wizards are getting more minutes than Deni so far. He's obviously not what they were hoping for from the #9 overall pick.
Since we don’t have much to go on this early in the season I’m putting up a portion of Hollinger’s season preview of the Wizards.
Last season: 35-47, 21st in offense, 25th in defense
Key additions: PG Monté Morris, SF Will Barton, PG Delon Wright, C Taj Gibson
Key subtractions: SG Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, C Thomas Bryant, PG Raul Neto, PG Ish Smith, PG Tomáš Satoranský
Draft picks: SG Johnny Davis (10th), C Yannick Nzosa (54th)
Raul Neto was on the Wizards last year so he should be able to give his teammates a great scouting report.
Those two players [Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis] are undoubtedly the biggest variables for this season as well. Beal is a known quantity as a 30-point scorer, especially if he can figure out how to shoot 3s again (seriously, what’s going on there?), but let’s just say there’s more variance in what you might expect from the other two.
Porziņģis looked like an All-Star after Washington acquired him at the trade deadline last season …
[Kyle] Kuzma still has his faults: His shooting remains erratic (33.9 percent career from 3, 72.4 percent from the line), and the idea of him as a switchy, versatile defender has yet to catch up to the reality on most nights. Nonetheless, the 27-year-old has the talent to be a slashing third scorer who thrives on the attention drawn by Beal and Porziņģis.
Those three players should be the centerpiece of an offense that has a chance to finish in the league’s top 10. Washington has no other big stars, but the front office has done a nice job of filling out the depth; the Wizards should be at something of an advantage once the war of attrition strikes in mid-winter. The point guard position looks to be massively upgraded with Morris and Delon Wright, Barton is a proven bench scorer who could be part of a lot of closing lineups and Daniel Gafford (stolen from Chicago two years ago for Troy Brown Jr.) is a solid 25-minute center whether starting or coming off the pine…
It’s not like any of these guys are terrible; Corey Kispert, Deni Avdija, Rui Hachimura and the just-drafted Johnny Davis all figure into Washington’s plans for this season. It’s just that it’s hard to get excited about the idea of any of them ever becoming one of this team’s three best players…
(Kispert is out tonight).
Overall, it feels like a transition season … but a transition to what? A half-decade of Beal-Zinger-Kuzma? Three straight Play-In Tournaments followed by the house of cards collapsing in 2026? It’s hard to say…
Prediction: 38-44, 11th in Eastern Conference
For the first two games the 6’9” Kuzma is averaging 24.0 points and 9.5 rebounds. I imagine the Cavs will put Mobley on him. Beal is at 21 points and 7 assists. LeVert should draw that assignment - he did a great job of frustrating DeRozan last night (to the point where DeRo got himself kicked out of the game). Porzingis is at 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds - Allen will have his hands full with the 7’3” Lithuanian.
The Wizards are averaging 9 blocked shots per game but only 6.5 steals. It looks like they don’t gamble much but try and contest shots, forcing misses and getting blocks.
After two games the Cavaliers’ defense ranks 3rd in effective field goal percentage while the Wizards rank 4th. Small sample but both defenses look good so far. Of course the Wizards played Indy and then Chicago without LaVine.
In the last two days both teams have played (and beat) the Bulls; the Wizards by two points and the Cavs by 32. The Bulls had LaVine against the Cavs; he was out against the Wizards. Based on that I’d say the Cavs look like the favorites, especially since they are at home. But they are playing on the second night of a back-to-back while the Wizards were off last night.
If LeVert and Okoro or Cedi can contain Beal while Allen neutralizes Porzingis and Mobley neutralizes Kuzma the Cavs will be in position for a win. The last two games Kuzma has played against the Cavs he scored 34 and 25 points, so they need to be focused on him. In that 34-point game he was 8-for-11 on 3’s.
Deni Avdija, who many expected the Cavaliers to take instead of Isaac Okoro in the 2020 draft, is averaging 15.5 minutes per game after averaging 23-24 minutes his first two seasons. Eight Wizards are getting more minutes than Deni so far. He's obviously not what they were hoping for from the #9 overall pick.
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