Few would have bet less than a year ago in favor of the current situation of the Washington Wizards after a month of the regular season. Not so much for being in fourth position in the Eastern Conference with a balance of 11-7 as for having sustained this success on defense.
The general data is devastating: the capital franchise occupies the seventh position in defensive rating, receiving 105.1 points for every hundred possessions. Last year they conceded seven more points to fall to 20th place. Two years earlier we even called it a complete disaster. Undoubtedly, the team’s performance in this area under Wes Unseld Jr. has made a significant qualitative leap.
“Make a good job”, Kyle Kuzma shared in the middle The Washington Post two weeks ago. “A lot of times in this league what separates the good teams from the bad ones are the defensive schemes. I’ve been on both sides of the court. I’ve been on good teams and I’ve been on bad teams for the first part of my career. One of the reasons I thought we were bad was because we didn’t really have schematics. When I get here, the first day of training camp, he told us he wanted us to be in the top ten defensive teams. Okay, how do we get it? Wes puts us in fantastic situations, and there really aren’t any mistakes. Knows what to do.”
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