In their first city edition jerseys game of the year, the Wiz lost in gut wrenching fashion to Charlotte. Here are my 5 points from tonight’s game:

1. The reason we lost this game was the lack of rebounds. It was plane and simple. The Hornets snagged 58 boards, and the Wizards had 35. That is a difference of 23!!! Mark Williams was EATING up the Wizards all night. There was no answer for Mark tonight. Gaff tried, but Mark was simply too big, too strong, too long, and too athletic. At least when Gaff was in, there was some (albeit not a lot) resistance. When he was off, it was wraps. Mark Williams and Nick Richards got whatever they wanted. The Wiz desperately lack size, and it’s showing. Gallinari just isn’t it. There’s a reason he’s been deployed as a stretch 4 everywhere else in his career. He’s too slow, too unathletic, and too weak to be a 5. FO might make a move to get a good young back up C (cough cough James Wiseman).
2. This was an off night for both of the Wizards’ top dogs. Neither of them really got it going. Kuz had just 15 points and Poole had 14. They were both fairly modest in their shot chucking tonight, there was actually less aggression than I had hoped to see especially from Kuz. There were a lot of shots that usually go in that just rimmed out tonight for the Wizards. Tough luck there. As for Poole, where do I start. Guy has terrible tunnel vision when driving to the rack, and has no playmaking ability whatsoever. He always tries to force terrible passes, and takes terrible shots. The coaches really need to make Poole aware of what he’s doing, and if he’s still playing the way he is, his role might need to be reduced then. JP just can’t seem to play contained and pick and choose his spots. A lot of work needs to be done from JP if he ever wants to be a 1A or even 1B option on a team.
3. Gaff had a nice game tonight, sans the rebounding. He tried his best, but there’s only so much he can do. You have to remember, rebounding is not a man effort. It takes multiple people to secure a rebound. Gaff can have his man, but if people aren’t boxing out, there’s only so much he can do. Granted, Gaff does need to work on rebounding, but he was putting in work tonight. Containing Mark Williams is no easy task. Gaff had 10 points, 4 rejections, and 2 steals tonight. He had 8 boards as well. The real leap I want to see from Gaff this year is to get 10 boards a night. He can easily do it. He has the physical tools and the athleticism to do it. It’s just a matter of getting the right positioning to do it. Rebounding isn’t just about being the tallest or strongest guy, there’s an art of positioning. I think Gaff will pick up on it over the course of the season. At least that’s what I’m hoping.
4. Wizards actually shot well this game. Almost a 50-40-90 game from them. There were more air balls than usual, which was weird. It was noticeably bad. I think like 3-4 air balls happened this game. Anyway, the reason they lost this game wasn’t because of that. We did a fairly good job finding the open shooter and knocking it down when we had a high percentage shot. The reason we lost as I said before was the inability to snag rebounds.
5. Now for the assessment of the young guys. Deni had another mid game. He didn’t crack double figures for the second game in a row. He’s missing a lot of tip ins and easy lays that usually went in for him the first 5 games. I’m not too worried because I do see marked improvement, but those are the shots he needs to make if he wants to take a TRUE leap this year. CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY, AND CONSISTENCY. That is the name of the game for Deni. Kispy had a nice game tonight. He had 15 points and canned 3 triples that were DEEP. He was near perfect tonight. Don’t know why we didn’t call his number more when he was obviously hot. The thing is he was open but Poole and Tyus missed him. It was disappointing to see, and something that will need to be looked at film. The rule of thumb in ball is get the hot hand the ball. Feed the hot hand. One of the most basic principles of basketball, and yet it wasn’t followed. I will say a guy who has consistently impressed me is Bilal in the early days of the season. Of our last 3 lottery picks (Deni, Kispy, and JD), he has impressed me the most in his first 7 games of the season (comparatively). I remember watching him during summer league thinking this kid’s shot is going to need WORK. I look at him now and his shot is so fluid and the mechanics look great. I find myself actually expecting him to can the triple every time he takes the shot. He’s also nost just containing himself to taking threes, and is driving to the rack and trying to use his length and size to get buckets. He canned all 4 of his FTs and made a tangible impact on the game. I want to see him attack the basket more, and be the point of attack defender. We aren’t using him for all he’s worth on the defensive end. I’m going to say it now. This kid is going to be the most impactful of any lottery pick we’ve had since Beal. The kid’s a hard worker, he has all the tools, and most of all, he’s cool as a cucumber. He shows no emotion whether he scores or gets a TO and gets back to doing his job. That is SOOO important for a young player. He has already improved so much and I cannot wait to see how great he is going to be by the end of the season. Remember folks this kid is a teenager. He has such a LONG way to go.

Overall, this was a bad game for the Wiz to lose, but great for the tank (No Wins for Sarr). The tank rolls on ladies and gentlemen. I really hope we can get some more size though, because the games are becoming unbearable to watch. We are getting torched on the boards because of our lack of size and the games are just becoming insufferable to watch. Anyhow, I’ll see y’all at 3:30 PM when we take Brooklyn @ Barclays. It’s a good thing I’m a Ravens fan, because if I was a Commanders fan alongside the shittery that’s going to be the Wizards this season, I might just lose sanity. I’ll see y’all Sunday!