This is not the headline I was expecting to write tonight. An absolute masterclass in tanking by the Wizards tonight. Here are 5 takeaways from tonight’s game:
- This should have been a blowout. I have no clue what happened in the last 7 minutes of the game that we didn’t score. That’s right we did not score for 7 whole minutes. I have no clue how to explain what happened. Kuz was in, but didn’t get the ball. I just don’t know how to explain what happened. I guess we took bad shots and missed? The Raps upped their defensive intensity? Nah, what happened was lack of effort. Everyone just thought this game would fall into their laps, but this is not what happens in the NBA. You have to earn every damn win, and the Wizards did not deserve this win.
- Kuz had a great game. A season high 34 points on 14-25 shooting.He was incredibly efficient and shooting wise this was his best game. He was borderline unstoppable out there. He did little else out there but score, but when you score that many points at that efficiency, hard to be mad. Key for Kuz will be to maintain this level of consistency. He does this then the next night he puts up 14 points on 4-13 shooting. He needs to figure out how he can he consistently put up big numbers on efficient shooting if it’s possible at all. That’s what’s going to take him to All Star status.
- Poole as usual played like utter crap. 6-16 shooting and a total lack of effort tonight. I’m going to be honest, I’m getting very sick watching him play. It’s so clear that he’s just half assing it out there. I know we’re in a rebuild but shit like this is terrible for the culture. We have great competitive young guys like Bilal, Deni, and Gaff. People like Poole who will just slack, give up halfway through, and not put in the effort can easily transfer their bad habits to the younguns. He better pick up the slack, otherwise I want his ass gone at the deadline. He can take his “talents” elsewhere.
- In all honesty, we couldn’t stop Pascal tonight. HOWEVER, that was because WUJ for some inexplicable reason decides to take away our best rim and paint protector when all the Raps got late game were those chip and push shots and layups in the paint. Pascal, Scottie, and even their guards just penetrated into the paint and easily got shots up with no lurking shot blocker. Why Gaff was out was beyond me. I’m just going to assume this was a tank job, otherwise there is ABSOLUTELY no explanation for why Gaff who had a near double double and 3 rejections was on the bench for literally the entire 4th quarter.
- Now for the gamely assessment of the younguns. Deni had a decent outing, but only put up 9 points. He again missed an easy layup at the rim, and had a bad TO at the end of the game where I wasn’t sure what his intention was. I had a feeling this was going to be what we were seeing, and I was right. Everyone was saying “oh look at Deni he’s finally coming out of his shell.” No, 6 games don’t mean shit in this league. It’s not a 6 game season it’s an 82 game season. With that being said, it doesn’t mean he hasn’t improved, it just means he hasn’t shown enough consistency to convince me that he has made a meaningful jump thus far. We have 72 more games to go, so long time for him to prove me wrong. Kispy did Kispy things and knocked down his shots at a high proficiency. Would have liked to see more shots for him. He only had 7 which is unacceptable when Tyus and Poole combined got 27. Now for who is quickly becoming my favorite Wiz on the team, the Ouizard Bilal Coulibaly. Bilal had another nice outing. Get ready for this: 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals and a block. I’m probably going to get flamed, but I think his comp is Miles Bridges. He has LOOOONG arms just like Bridges, and has a silky smooth shot like Bridges as well. He is an absolute disruptor and menace on defense. He was the only one working his ass off and making things difficult when the Raps went on their run in the 4th quarter. This season is going to SUCK, but seeing Bilal play has made this quite enjoyable for me. He is going to be damn good. In my eyes, he has already eclipsed Deni and Kispert in terms of potential and impact. The sky is the limit for the Ouizard.
Overall, a terrible game from the Wiz. This game falls SQUARELY on WUJ. One bad mistake after another. He didn’t use his challenge. He didn’t put in Gaff. He didn’t try to stop the bleeding when we didn’t score for 8 minutes. For those of you who are gonna say “we’re tanking. Stop being dramatic.” No. Stop. You don’t get it. This isn’t about him losing us games. I’m okay with us losing games. I’m not okay with us consistently blowing 25+ point leads. Remember when we blew a 36 point lead? This has been his rapo as a coach. Blowing huge leads and not being able to rally the locker room. He is an abject failure of a head coach, and clearly can’t inspire the players or make them buy in. He needs to go. We need to bring in someone who the players actually respect and will buy in to what he’s teaching. Again, I’m not clamoring for results. I’m clamoring for effort and discipline and that has been missing ever since WUJ came onto this team. We need this especially when we are building a culture from scratch. He’s going to corrupt the guys who are trying and disciplined like Bilal. He needs to GO. He lost the locker room in his first year here. He failed to rally the troops last year. This year, it’s going to happen again. Winger needs to get his sorry ass out of here. I’m sorry if this sounds harsh, but it’s just frustrating to see this happen time and time and time again.